Randy didn’t welcome Craig’s sudden confession. Didn’t they already agree that Craig would help him through his heat so that they could have a baby and use the stem cells to cure Aiden? Craig was willing to help, and Randy was very grateful for that, but that was all he felt. The way Randy saw it, both of them agreed to this, and after the agreement was over there was no need for them to have any further relationship. Randy wouldn’t cling to Craig, and he naturally didn’t want Craig to cling to him either.
In the end, this bigshot general ran to his door holding a pile of children’s clothes and snacks, in order to confess to him. Randy looked at the general in front of him who had a serious expression, and hesitated for a long moment, before saying: “Actually...General, you don’t need to care too much about this. I’m the one who specifically requested that you help me with my heat. After the child is born, I can raise him with my own ability. I won’t use that as a reason to entangle you. If you have an omega you like, you can feel free to marry them...”
He hadn’t finished his words yet when Craig forcefully interrupted him, his face black. “What nonsense are you saying?! How could I marry someone else? If I wanted to marry, I could only...I could only marry you, do you understand or not!”
“...I don’t really understand.” Randy said.
Craig was almost driven up the wall. This fickle omega didn’t place one shred of importance on his heat. Once it was over, it was goodbye to him. What did he take Craig for?
What about the textbook that said that after being marked, an omega would develop a strong sense of dependence on their alpha? Was that textbook scamming him? Never mind a strong sense of dependence, this omega instead held the straightforward attitude of: “The matter’s over with, and I’m over you.”
Thinking of this, Craig felt a burst of pain in his heart. He looked at Randy’s confused face, and simply didn’t know what to do.
After a long moment of silence, Craig finally made a decision.
He put down the things he had bought for the baby onto the ground, and with one hand he pulled Randy close by the waist, and firmly kissed him.
“Ah...” The sudden kiss made Randy’s eyes open wide in surprise. Craig’s clumsy, reckless tongue wantonly stirred up his mouth. His kissing technique was really just terrible. Randy frowned, and couldn’t help but lightly bite him.
Craig: “...”
He actually dares to bite me! Bite me...bite...me...
After being bitten, General Craig’s face turned first red, then white. He stared blankly at the omega in front of him, overcome with surprise.
He found that ever since he met Randy, all the knowledge he previously learned about omegas became useless.
What “omegas have a timid character, they’ll be shy and trembling when the time comes for them to be marked?” His Randy was very bold and aggressive. Nevermind shy and trembling, on the contrary, he impatiently stripped off Craig’s clothes, and took the initiative to push him down.
What “omegas rely on their alphas, they’ll be broken-hearted when they’re forced to part”—Randy put on an attitude of “you should go, I’m busy right now,” and didn’t care at all where his own alpha went off to.
Also, hadn’t the textbook said that when they were kissed, omegas would be docile and blushing? More nonsense! This omega had actually fiercely bitten him, his tongue was even bleeding.
After biting him, Randy stepped back, and smiled a little apologetically, saying, “I don’t like being kissed so hard, it’s a little uncomfortable. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“...” Looking pitiful, Craig wiped the blood off his lips, and glumly said, “No.”
The once cold and hard general now seemed like an eggplant wilted by the frost. Dispiritedly, he bent his head and picked up the things on the ground, then stuffed them into Randy’s arms, saying, “You should be able to make use of these. You should rest early. I’ll come see you some other day.”
Randy really wanted to say that there was no need to come see him again, but facing Craig’s fierce look, he didn’t have enough nerve to get the words out of his mouth.
Craig deliberated on how an alpha ought to best take care of his family, and decided that he should still buy Randy some more things. But if he ran to the store, as a big single man buying children’s clothes, he’d be stared at. So he ordered them surreptitiously online, under his good friend Anderson’s name.
When the goods were delivered to Anderson’s door, he was quite surprised. “Didn’t you say that you haven’t confessed yet? You’re getting ahead of yourself sending these things to him. You haven’t even confessed, so what are you doing buying children’s clothes? He’s going to think you’re a mental case for sure.”
Craig awkwardly touched his nose. “He, he can use these.”
Anderson said in surprise, “Don’t tell me that the omega you like actually has children? What about his alpha? Did he die at war?”
Craig said angrily, “He’s perfectly healthy!”
—His alpha is right in front of you! He’s just not officially recognized as such at the moment. Craig thought, feeling a bit depressed.
Anderson looked like he’d seen a ghost. “His alpha is still alive? So you’re stealing his omega? That kind of behavior isn’t decent. If they’re a legally married couple, and you’re coming between them and causing trouble in their household, His Majesty will definitely be angry if he hears about it. This isn’t good for the reputation of the Royal Guard either. Craig, you need to think clearly about this...”
“Alright, alright,” Craig waved him off irritably. “I can’t give you a clear explanation for this matter at the moment. For now, just keep this a secret for me. You absolutely can’t tell anyone about it, you hear me?”
Craig looked at the other man with a serious expression, and Anderson could only force himself to say, “Fine, fine, I wish you all success.”
Although his mouth was saying one thing, his mind was thinking another. He felt that the probability of his friend’s success was infinitely close to zero.
That afternoon, Craig went to visit Randy again, but it turned out he wasn’t at home. Craig could only stand and wait next to the door like a statue.
He waited all the way until dinnertime, until Randy finally returned with Louis in a hovercar. When Louis saw Craig standing like a statue by the door, he couldn’t help but ask, “Isn’t that the general who came to the hospital looking for you the other day?”
Randy nodded, smiled and said, “Yes, he’s the alpha from that year.”
Louis said, shocked, “He’s Aiden’s father? They don’t look alike at all...cough, your child still looks cuter, like you.”
“Of course.” Randy completely agreed. Thankfully Aiden looked more like him. If his omega son took after Craig and walked around like a statue with an expressionless face, that wouldn’t be good.
Randy got off the car, waved to Louis and said, “You should go back, thanks for sending me home.”
Louis waved back. “Don’t mention it. If you start feeling uncomfortable, contact me right away.”
“I will. Bye.”
Craig stood at the side watching this scene, and couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. He couldn’t help but walk up and ask with a cold face, “Who was that?”
Randy said, “That was my good friend, Dr. Louis from the Central Imperial Hospital.”
The tension on Craig’s face eased a little, and he asked worriedly, “You went to the hospital? Were you feeling ill?”
Randy smiled and said, “No, it was just a routine check-up.”
His words had only just landed when his stomach suddenly turned, and he leaned over to the side and threw up. He looked like he was going to vomit his guts out. The sound of him retching without break filled Craig’s heart with alarm.
He understood that this was a normal reaction during the first months of pregnancy, but he couldn’t help but reach out a trembling hand, and clumsily pat Randy’s back. He helped him slowly straighten up, and said worriedly, “You, you should be more careful. Are you alright?”
After throwing up for a while, Randy finally felt a bit better.
Craig hurried to pass him a napkin, and Randy used it to wipe his mouth. His face was a little pale. He shook his head and said, “Don’t worry, it was also like this when I was pregnant with Aiden. I just need to endure it for the first few months, and then I’ll be fine.”
That year...when Craig wasn’t by his side, when he went through the most difficult months of his pregnancy, was he suffering alone like this?
Looking at his pale face, Craig felt an unspeakable pain in his heart. He immediately took Randy up in his arms. “You’ll feel better if you drink some water.”
Suddenly being picked up made Randy a little surprised, but the strange thing was, when this man was holding Randy his movements were very careful. His footsteps were very steady, which gave Randy an inexplicable feeling of safety. Because of this, Randy didn’t struggle, but allowed Craig to carry him into the house.
Craig carried Randy all the way to the sofa in the living room. Randy’s stomach felt uncomfortable, and he reached for the glass of ice water on the living room table, wanting to drink it. Craig caught his hand and said in a low voice, “You’re pregnant, don’t always drink ice water. It’s not good for your body.”
He moved the cup of ice water off to the side, and thoughtfully exchanged it for a glass of warm water at a suitable temperature. He put it in front of Randy and said softly, “Here, drink a little.”
This feeling of being taken care of was a little awkward, but his throat did feel uncomfortable, so Randy wordlessly accepted the water, and drank it slowly.
Craig waited until he finished drinking, then took out the things he had bought from his storage device and asked, “These things...where should I put them?”
Randy looked on in astonishment as Craig brought out a stroller, milk powder, clothes for baby girls and boys, toys, and other things. Randy couldn’t help but remind him, “I’ve only been pregnant for a month, it’s too early to buy all of these.”
“It’ll be used sooner or later anyway.” Craig touched his nose with some embarrassment and said, “I didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl, so I bought clothes in two different colors. If it’s a boy he can wear the blue clothes, and if it’s a girl she can wear the pink ones.”
Randy looked at him and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. This alpha must be very excited to be a father. Last time he had brought a pile of baby food and other essentials, and today he had even bought a stroller. Randy really didn’t know what to say to him.
“Where should I put these? Have you prepared a room for the baby?” Craig asked seriously.
Randy was helpless, and could only point him upstairs, saying, “You should put those things upstairs. It’s the first room to the left when you reach the top, that’s the room I’m going to set up as a nursery.”
“Okay.” Craig immediately took his things upstairs.
When he pushed open the door, he found that this room was very spacious. Randy deserved to be called nouveau riche, all the rooms in his villa were very large.
Randy had put up some adorable cartoon wallpaper. He had clearly made preparations for the arrival of the baby, but the room looked very messy, and the newly-bought bed hadn’t been made. The children’s clothes and toys Craig gave him last time were scattered all over the bed, looking a sight.
Craig frowned slightly, rolled up the sleeves of his military uniform, and with swift movements picked up the children’s clothes Randy had left in a pile and folded them. One by one, he put them away neatly in the cabinet, and gathered the toys into a storage container as well, organizing them according to category.
This was his first time doing this kind of thing. Looking at these adorable children’s items, a hint of softness suddenly flooded Craig’s heart.
Randy was intimately connected to him through their children, who carried their shared blood...their genes had been passed down in them. Blood was thicker than water, and the affection born of blood ties could never be altered. So although he couldn’t attain Randy’s approval for now, if he could persevere in staying at his family’s side, he believed that there would eventually come a day when he could truly walk into their lives, and not simply be taken as a stranger.
Having thought to this point, Craig couldn’t help giving Aiden a call.
Aiden’s smartwatch lit up with a call, and when he opened it, he saw General Craig standing at the door of the bedroom in his house. He said with a serious expression, “Aiden, your dad’s pregnant. You’ll soon have a little brother or sister.”
It was like he was giving a military report.
But when Aiden heard the news, he couldn’t help but feel happy anyway. He smiled and said, “That’s great! How’s his health?”
Craig said, “Pretty good.”
Aiden nodded. “Good, then I’ll have to ask you to take care of him.”
Craig said, “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of your dad, and of your little brother or sister as well. You should take care of yourself at school as well. If you come across any problems, remember to call me right away.”
“I know.”
After he ended the call, General Craig was in a pretty good mood. He had a thoughtful eldest son, and there was a second child on the way. The way things were now, he didn’t believe that Randy could still run!
When he went downstairs after his call, he found Randy lying on the sofa, fast asleep. Although this omega did things in a bold style, his features were delicate and refined. Under the lamp’s illumination, his profile looked particularly gentle.
Craig walked over to him and lightly stroked his chestnut hair. The silken strands slid through his fingers, and that soft feeling seemed to transmit itself to the bottom of his heart. When Craig saw him sleeping quietly, his heart moved, and he couldn’t help but lean over and kiss him on the forehead.
Half-conscious, Randy felt a warm, damp touch on his forehead. It felt a bit ticklish, so he reached out his hand to wipe it. When he reached out, he just so happened to put his hand next to Craig’s lips, so Craig seized the opportunity to kiss his fair, slender fingers. He smiled, took hold of Randy’s hand, and gently took him into his arms.
If the soldiers of the Royal Guard were to see this scene, their jaws would definitely drop.
—Our facially paralyzed general actually knows how to smile? This was simply too terrifying!
Craig also didn’t know why he smiled. It was just that every time he saw Randy, he always felt like his hard and icy heart was instantly flooded with warm water. He couldn’t help but want to kiss him, take care of him, protect him for a lifetime, and never let him suffer any kind of harm.
Perhaps this was instinct, the natural-born desire of every alpha to protect their omega?
Craig knew he was falling in too deep, but there was nothing he could do about it. Randy was carrying his child right now, and he was just angry that Randy seemed to be fine with or without him. But he couldn’t bring himself to scold him for it, and even less could he hurt him, so for now...he could only be patient.
In order to make this unusual omega completely open his heart, how could he be anything but patient?
He brought Randy to his bedroom, set him on the bed, and laid down beside him. He gently embraced him, thoughtfully covered him with the blanket, and contentedly fell asleep with his omega in his arms.
The next morning, Randy woke to find himself in Craig’s arms, and sat up immediately in surprise. “How come you’re here?!”
Craig said calmly, “Last night, you fell asleep on the sofa. I was afraid you’d catch a cold, so I carried you to the bedroom...”
Randy interrupted him. “What I mean is, how come you’re also sleeping here?”
Craig said, “I was afraid you’d feel ill during the night. It’s said that omegas are likely to have problems with their health in the first months of pregnancy, so I felt more at ease staying by your side.”
Randy said seriously, “I’m not used to sleeping with other people.”
Craig said, “You’ll get used to it with practice.”
Randy suddenly discovered that this general was really thick-skinned; once he was set on his course, nothing could move him. He was obviously asking him to leave, yet Craig actually couldn’t seem to hear it. Just as he was thinking of saying it straight out, Craig suddenly got out of bed and started dressing. He looked at Randy with a serious face, and said, “Are you hungry? I’ll go make breakfast. You should eat nutritiously during the first trimester, it’s good for you and the baby.”
“...”
Watching Craig’s back as he turned and bustled off to the kitchen, full of purpose, Randy scratched his head in bewilderment.
This alpha, did he mean for Randy to rely entirely on him?
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So, I was reading this novel the other day and the translator kept a running count of how long it took her to translate each chapter. Thought it was a good idea to keep track of my progress, so I tried timing myself...end result? 8 hours and 20 minutes to translate and edit 3,008 words, or about 2:46 for each 1K. Which is really just...ridiculous, haha, I think the translator I was reading took like an hour and a half to translate 3,000 words... Orz
Why does it take so long? I read over each sentence in Chinese three times in my head, I search up the etymology of each word I don’t know (which is like...1/10 of them?), and as a lit major, I’m super anal about what I produce. I know I could just edit what Google Translate spits out, but then I wouldn’t be learning much Chinese, and then I’d have to wait longer to fulfill my dream of reading BL novels in their original language...
It seems like a long time for something that only takes fifteen minutes to read, but if you think about it, 2000 views x 15 minutes = 500 hours, so in the big picture, it’s still worth it.
So, yeah, now you know why I only update weekly! Hopefully my speed improves from here on...
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