After My Rebirth, My Husband Pampers Me Everyday!

Chapter 151: WHY IS IT ALWAYS YOUR DECISION TO MAKE?

Guiying hesitated.

"There’s someone in the hospital right now," he said, his voice uncertain. "It feels wrong doing this when..."

"He’ll be fine," Liuxian said, his voice dropping into something lower and unhurried while his hands stayed where they were, warm against Guiying’s skin. "But I won’t be. We haven’t done this since we got back from the States, and I’m feeling pent up, my love."

Guiying was still not entirely convinced, but Liuxian was already moving with the quiet, focused intention of a man who had made a decision. After one more moment of hesitation, Guiying exhaled.

"Okay," he said. "Just a quick one."

It was not quick.

Liuxian’s rut was closer than he’d let on. Once it took over, it consumed everything: his patience, his restraint, his agreement to keep things brief. Guiying, who’d consented to a quick one in good faith, was significantly outmatched in both stamina and intention, with no say in how or when things concluded.

By the time Liuxian was satisfied, Guiying was barely conscious, warm and completely spent against the sheets. Liuxian, rather than doing anything sensible, simply gathered him close, his nose buried in Guiying’s neck. His rut hummed with one quiet, insistent thought: his. He stayed buried inside him without pulling out, sleeping there without moving until morning.

Guiying woke to pale light and immediately knew. He lay still for a moment, taking stock of his body, the deep muscular ache, the heaviness in his bones, the particular exhaustion that had nothing to do with sleep, before shifting slightly to confirm what he already suspected, then closing his eyes.

He extracted himself carefully, sat up on the edge of the bed with his hands on his knees, and turned around.

"Did you do that on purpose?" he said.

Liuxian opened his eyes and blinked once in the morning light, with the composed expression of a man who had slept extremely well. "Good morning," he said.

"You know I can’t take contraceptive pills that often," Guiying said, holding his gaze steadily. "If we’re going to do this, we need protection. But you didn’t use any, and you kept it in all night." He didn’t raise his voice. "I told you I don’t want children right now."

Liuxian sat up slowly, ran a hand through his hair before letting it drop. "Why not?" he said, genuinely unhurried about it. "I’m rich. I can raise them without difficulty and take care of you through all of it, so I genuinely don’t see the issue."

Guiying looked at him for a long moment without speaking. What moved across his face was not anger but something quieter, considerably more painful.

"I can’t believe you’re saying this to me," he said finally, his voice still even. "If you knew me, if you actually understood me, you wouldn’t have." He exhaled slowly. "I’m not angry with you, Liuxian. I’m disappointed."

He held his gaze. "I don’t mind children, and I don’t mind having them with you one day. But right now, a child will slow me down, and I told you that because I believed you understood me better than anyone."

He stood from the bed, straightening. "I’m sorry for being younger than you, but children are not where I am right now, and I need you to respect that."

He turned toward the bathroom, but Liuxian was on his feet before Guiying had taken two steps. His hand closed gently around his wrist.

"I’m sorry," Liuxian said. "I shouldn’t have said that."

Guiying turned to look at him, held his gaze for a beat. "You’re right, you shouldn’t have," he said, still measured but with something raw moving underneath it.

"That isn’t even everything. I told you yesterday: a quick one. But you did as you pleased regardless, and now I have work today with a body aching in every muscle and bone, while you walk out of here completely unaffected."

He pulled his wrist free, not roughly but with finality. "I’m always the one who has to adjust, Liuxian. Think about that."

Liuxian was quiet for a moment, then let out a slow breath. "I think my rut is approaching," he said. "That’s why I lost myself the way I did and couldn’t pull away even after. The truth is, I wasn’t in my right mind when I fell asleep."

Something in his expression shifted into something more honest. "But that’s not where the apology starts. It starts from yesterday. You told me you didn’t want to do it, and I should have respected that. I’m sorry." He held Guiying’s gaze steadily. "When we first got married, I told you I wouldn’t have sex with you if you weren’t ready, and I mean that in the same way now. I won’t have sex with you again until you’re ready for children."

Guiying looked at him.

"Why is it always your decision to make?" he said, his voice still even but with an edge that hadn’t been there before. "I never complained about the sex, Liuxian. I love having sex with you, but I want you to use protection and moderation. That’s all I’m asking for." He shook his head slightly.

"You apologize, but you’re still not seeing the actual issue. You went from doing as you pleased to making another unilateral decision. And just because you’re older doesn’t mean you hold the reins here." He held his gaze. "I’m not a child, and this is not your call alone."

Liuxian was quiet, looking at him with the stillness of a man absorbing something he hadn’t fully considered until now.

"You’re right," he said finally, and left it there.

Guiying looked at him for a beat longer, then turned and walked into the bathroom, pulling the door shut behind him. The quiet click landed in the room with considerably more weight than a slam would have.

Liuxian stood looking at the closed door for a moment, then dressed quietly and efficiently before leaving the room to prepare for work.

There was nothing else he could do except give Guiying space to cool off, and he knew it.

Guiying stood at the bathroom mirror, looking at his reflection for a long moment, then dropped his gaze to the contraceptive pill sitting in his palm.

The rage came up fast and clean.

"Inconsiderate, thick-headed, presumptuous bastard," he started, listing every unflattering thing he could think of in a low, furious undertone while running the tap. He worked through them with genuine feeling and no particular hurry, each one more creative than the last, until he’d thoroughly exhausted himself and arrived, slightly breathless, at his conclusion: "He is so damn lucky I like him."

He threw the pill back with a mouthful of water and swallowed it down.

Then he stood there and thought about it properly, because his anger was real, but so was his fairness. Fairness required him to consider the rut.

Liuxian had said it himself: his rut was approaching. Guiying, who understood better than most what an oncoming rut did to an Alpha’s judgment and restraint, felt some of the heat drain out of his anger, settling into something more resigned and considerably more tired.