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A phone call in the middle of seemingly mundane Wednesday changed Shen Wenlang’s life.
Seven years of searching without result, all changed when the phone call from a hospital from a country a few hours flight away from Jianghu. Shen Wenlang almost ignored the call. Now he was glad he didn’t.
The call was brief and professional, asking his details and whether he was the rightful emergency contact name for Mr. Gao Tu and Gao Lele. When he heard Gao Tu’s name, his whole body stiffened, and immediately he consented. The hospital then mentioned that Mr. Gao Tu was admitted to the hospital after fainting in his apartment. They diagnosed him with kidney failure that needed urgent surgery. However, he has no emergency contact available to give consent, up until Gao Lele told them to contact the number with Shen Wenlang’s name on it.
He wasn’t hoping to find Gao Tu like this, but he was thankful at least now he knows where his Bunny was.
Leaving everything on the spot (ignoring every meetings and schedules made by his secretary team–Wenlang knew some of them must be crying right now from frustration), Shen Wenlang barked the order to get his private plane ready, his accommodation on the other country ready, and sending all the billing and medical information from the hospital so he could read the details.
Once he reached the hospital room, it almost felt surreal. He had been searching for seven years for his secretary-slash-the-one-who-got-away, Gao Tu. He had been missing the man’s smile and his tea. He missed Gao Tu’s no nonsense attitude. He missed Gao Tu’s presence. He missed his… omega, something Shen Wenlang never knew he would have. He had been hating omega since childhood, yet now he would give his everything just to get a glimpse of the omega. He wanted to know his … son as well, born out of one night where both Gao Tu and him were not able to give consent. He thought he never wanted kids; but now, if it’s from Gao Tu, he wanted them so much. He would cherish them like no one else could.
And Gao Tu was behind this door.
He opened it to find a cramped emergency unit with nine beds. Two of the nine beds were occupied. The room itself was rather quiet, and there was one nurse on duty walking around with a trolley. Shen Wenlang opened the flimsy blue curtain one nearest to him, only to find a stranger sleeping soundly on her bed. Shen Wenlang pulled back the curtain and went to the only other occupied curtain, his feet heavy with anticipation.
The curtain revealed Gao Tu, looking much thinner and sicker than Shen Wenlang remembered.
His omega was unconscious, an oxygen mask covered his mouth and nose. The IV drips next to him contain three liquid pouches, and Shen Wenlang knew two of them were very strong grade medicine. His hair was unkempt and he had no glasses on. The sweater he was wearing was clearly threadbare but clean. And he was also connected to a heart rate scanner.
On the side of the bed, sat a small boy, looking thin but healthy. Compared to Little Peanut, he was a bit taller and clearly way quieter. The boy looked at Gao Tu with empty eyes, hand holding Gao Tu’s hand. The boy’s eyes were red, but he wasn’t crying. Anyone could guess the boy was Gao Lele.
The boy looked away from Gao Tu when he realised Shen Wenlang was standing there.
“... Are you really my father?”
His soft voice carried no emotion. The boy looked tired. His face was pure Shen Wenlang. Nobody could dispute that. But his mannerism was all Gao Tu. Calm and selfless.
“Ye..Yes. Can I call you Lele?”
The boy nodded. “You can call me anything, Sir.” The boy spoke softly, but clear. “Thank you for coming.”
Shen Wenlang didn’t know how to answer.
“Baba gave me your number, before he fa-int-ed.”
“O..Oh.” Shen Wenlang felt like he was unable to speak properly. “That’s.. That’s good.”
“I am sorry to make you come here.” Lele continued. “But I don't have money to pay for Baba’s bill. And they won't let me si-gn anything, because I am not a-du-lt yet.”
Shen Wenlang felt something clenched his chest. “How old are you?”
“I am almost seven, Sir.” Lele answered, and continued without giving Shen Wenlang a chance to interrupt him, “Doctor said Baba doesn't have in-su-ran-ce,” the boy slowly spelled the hard word, “ But the doctor said Baba needs sur-gee-ree. Quickly. So I ask them to call you. I am sorry. Please help Baba with the money. He needs to have it now, and the auntie next door doesn't have enough to cover Baba’s sur-gee-ree. Please help us.”
Shen Wenlang felt his mouth dry, and for the first time in his life, his tongue was tied.
“Please get Baba healthy. I promise I won’t call you again. I know you don’t want me. That’s why you left Baba. Auntie next door told me there are special places for unwanted boys like me, called or-phan-a-ge. I can go there, but Baba needs your help. Please take care of Baba. I beg you, Sir.”
Lele started to cry, but his voice was still soft and calm. “I will pay you back. I can work and do chores. You can have my toys and my books. If it’s not enough, I promise to pay you money from or-phan-a-ge. Just please help Baba, please get him healthy. Please.” Then the sobs got louder as the boy hung his head down. “Please… I only have Baba, please. I am sorry. Please. Please help, Sir.”
Shen Wenlang felt very, very guilty. The next moment he kneeled and hugged the sobbing boy. The boy tried to push Wenlang away, but Lele never let go of Gao Tu’s hand and he was too small to go against S-Class Alpha strength. The boy kept mumbling ‘Please’ and ‘help Baba’ over and over again.
“I am sorry, Lele.” Wenlang whispered to his son’s hair. They smelled like Gao Tu’s sage, like a pup scented with their mother’s scent. The scent was so faint, clearly Gao Tu didn’t have the time to scent their son in recent times. His son was sobbing and behaving like no boys of almost-seven years old should. “I want you. I miss you. You are my precious son. I will take care of everything. Your Baba will be fine. You will be fine. Let me handle this. You are not alone anymore.”
Lele sobbed louder and Wenlang gathered him tighter into his arms, rubbing his son’s hair over and over again. He felt his own eyes getting wet. It was so hard for him to process everything that happened but now his son needs him.
“I won’t let you go, Lele. I will help Baba be healthy. I promise both of you. You two will lack nothing from now on.”
That was a bittersweet promise Shen Wenlang would uphold until his last breath.
After Lele slept from exhaustion, Shen Wenlang rose to do what he should’ve done.
He consulted the doctor and decided to move Gao Tu back to Jianghu with his plane, to get the best treatment from HS hospital. He settled everything (his team worked over hours for that) and managed to bring Gao Tu to JiangHu the next morning. Luckily Lele was in deep sleep after crying so much, so Shen Wenlang just carried him in his arms the whole flight.
The boy was so light and thin. Definitely different from Little Peanut, whose body was compact and heavy. Shen Wenlang spent the whole flight holding Gao Tu’s arm while holding his son on the other arm. He released his own pheromones to calm the two most important people in his life. The flight felt longer than usual, yet Shen Wenlang didn’t dare to close his eyes, lest the whole thing disappeared like a dream.
The surgery went well and Gao Tu became more stable. He lost his right kidney; but he still has the left one left, albeit not in maximum capacity. He would need weekly dialysis and Shen Wenlang put him on the kidney transplant list. The diagnoses told him what he had guessed: Gao Tu, as a single omega parent, tried his best to work two jobs while taking care of Lele. It was an admirable but stupid thing to do. Wenlang wanted to berate his Bunny for always being so self-sacrificing. But he knew it was now up to him to keep Gao Tu from overexerting himself.
All they needed was to wait for Gao Tu to wake up and recover.
Lele was truly a Wenlang’s carbon copy with Gao Tu mannerism. The boy whimpered in fear when he woke up on a foreign big bed. Wenlang spent the whole morning calming the boy down. Despite the melt down, Lele was not loud. He just ate what he was given and wore what he was told to. Shen Wenlang had a hard time getting him out of his shell.
The third morning, the boy dropped his glass of milk, and it shattered on impact with the marbled floor. Lele looked aghast and started to apologise over and over again, trying to clean up. Shen Wenlang needed to physically remove Lele to sit on the sofa while he took care of the sharp shards and sticky liquid mess. The boy stayed pale the whole morning and kept promising to pay it back. Shen Wenlang was at loss on how to make Lele understand that it was fine, he was way more precious than a single ugly glass.
Suddenly Little Peanut rushed into the house like a ray of sunshine from heaven. It was Saturday morning, and usually his little Godson came to his house since Hua Yong wanted to have a special weekly date with his toilet scented Alpha. They usually dropped Hua Sheng without calling Wenlang as Peanut has the access to his premium housing complex. And today was no different.
“Papa Wenlang! Morning Papa Wenlang! … Who is that?”
And the little tyke just took Lele under his wing–the boy cornered Lele so well until Lele forgot about the glass just to match Peanut’s excitement. Peanut pulled his new ‘friend’ to his room–the room Lele slept nowadays, and they spent the morning playing and talking. Wenlang watched them in relief as he saw Lele’s first smile when Peanut told him stories about silly Papa Wenlang and Hua Yong’s fight.
When Peanut left that noon (after a whole morning of playing with Lele and Hua Yong called Wenlang to let Peanut out of the house), Lele asked him a question so innocent yet so hurtful to Wenlang.
“Why is Peanut not living with you? Isn’t he your real son?”
Shen Wenlang took the whole drive to the hospital telling Lele that Peanut was NOT his real son, but his GODson, and Lele is the only REAL son he has. Lele just nodded and fell silent for the whole ride.
Gao Tu woke up the day after that. He was still weak and in so much pain; but he recognised Shen Wenlang and almost wanted to run if he could.
Surprisingly, it was Lele who calmed Gao Tu down. “Baba, it's OK now. Father is here now. He takes care of you. You will be healthy soon.”
It wasn’t smooth, but slowly Gao Tu accepted Shen Wenlang’s effort and devotion. Gao Tu was still hard headed and unable to let himself be pampered; but Shen Wenlang was more stubborn than the omega. Wenlang even took a week off work to manage Gao Tu’s treatment and Lele’s adaptation to Jianghu. He gave them everything he could, from the best food to the best clothing money can buy. Gao Tu was too out of it (he spent almost twelve hours a day sleeping) to complain too much. Shen Wenlang took it as approval to do whatever he wanted.
Meanwhile, Lele started to enroll in Peanut’s school and Wenlang requested to have them in the same class. Sheng Shaoyou received the news of Peanut’s new friend who also was Wenlang’s biological pup, and naturally he became curious. He came to visit Gao Tu with Peanut and Lele after they finished school. It seemed the selfless, sick omega with big eyes were still his type, as Shaoyou immediately bent over backwards to help Gao Tu and Lele. Wenlang tried to interfere, but nothing stands between Shaoyou and Peanut with their new project.
Hua Yong took longer to warm up to Gao Tu and Lele, because they took his precious Mr. Sheng’s time. But when Shaoyou praised him for helping Gao Tu’s recovery with a new less invasive dialysis method from X holdings, Hua Yong became more cheerful and started to accept Gao Tu as a brownie-point source. He also happy that since Peanut was taken with Lele, Hua Yong has more time alone with Mr. Sheng. But to ensure nothing unwanted happened, he pushed Wenlang to quickly propose to Gao Tu.
Wenlang growled and ignored the Enigma’s crazy demand. He would propose to Gao Tu when Gao Tu felt better and was able to accept Wenlang better. Right now he needs to make both Gao Tu and Lele feel more comfortable with him before taking the next step. As he saw Gao Tu smiling gently from his hospital bed, listening to Lele and Peanut tell him stories about school that day, Shen Wenlang couldn’t help but feel satisfied. He knew he was still fighting an uphill battle, but for now, this was fine. He has both Gao Tu and Lele here, and he would make sure they knew they were the most treasured omega and pup in Jianghu (yes, he would compete with Hua Yong on this).
He would never let Lele feel the need to beg and felt unwanted ever again.