“Dad will be having surgery in two months. So… Dad begs you, can you try to accept Dad’s kindness to you? I don’t need you to respond enthusiastically, just reach out and accept what I can give, and I’ll be satisfied.” Shen Donghai also cried, stroking Shen Moyu’s shoulder repeatedly, just like when they were children.
Shen Moyu sniffed, wiping away his tears. He looked up at his father, and for the first time, he looked at him closely and carefully.
My father is not young anymore; there are too many traces of time on his face, and he really looks old.
"Can I say that this is moral blackmail?"
Shen Donghai sighed, smiled, and patted his shoulder: "Yes. As long as you promise Dad."
Shen Moyu buried her face back in her palms, and after a long while, she raised her head, staring blankly at the ceiling. The sea breeze in her heart swept over her and then subsided.
"Um."
It doesn't matter anymore. What I'm enjoying now is what I used to dream about day and night. Now, I might as well make the best of it.
Even if there is a great gap between two people, being able to fulfill each other's greatest wish is already the best outcome.
For the next few days, Shen Donghai came over every day, getting up early to make breakfast for Shen Moyu. At first, he was quite resistant, but gradually he was able to chat with him for a few minutes, about school, class, and recent events. He hadn't eaten with his parents in a long time. Although Xia Wei and Shen Donghai didn't talk often, they seemed to get along well.
Shen Donghai kept trying to persuade them to move into the newly bought villa, but neither of them wanted to. They had lived in the house for over ten years and were really reluctant to leave. Xia Wei said she wasn't lucky enough to live there and couldn't get used to it. Shen Donghai smiled and said that good fortune comes from living in a big house.
That was the first time Xia Wei was made to laugh by Shen Donghai. It was like a joke played on an old friend she hadn't seen in a long time, and Shen Moyu also inexplicably laughed.
But they all knew that they could never go back.
Because Shen Donghai's apartment was too far away, he would occasionally stay here. He would heat up milk for Shen Moyu at night and watch him do his homework. He didn't talk much, but he was always smiling. Whenever Shen Moyu needed anything, he would be the first to arrive. Sometimes, when Shen Moyu went to the bathroom in the middle of the night, he would see that tall man curled up on the sofa, covered with a blanket, sleeping. He looked quite cramped.
He used to be a big CEO who always slept in a big bed, but now he's lying on this tiny sofa without even a room. It's quite pitiful.
It was around that time that Shen Moyu suddenly felt a little sorry for him and gradually accepted his kindness towards her.
As he said, he was his father, and he owed him.
Not long after, Shen Donghai coaxed and pleaded with his wife and daughter to finally move into the house he had bought. It was a villa with a similar layout to Su Jinning's house, and the decoration style was also very simple. When they first entered, the spacious and luxurious atmosphere made Shen Moyu feel very uncomfortable.
Like a mouse that has been living in a burrow for too long, I was a little scared when I came to the vast open ground.
It all seemed like a dream. His father had returned and taken him to live in the big house.
His father seemed to be fulfilling all the wishes he had made as a child, but no matter what, he only felt helplessness and indifference, and couldn't feel happy at all.
In the afternoon, Xia Wei and Zhou Xingqi went to pick out furniture, while Shen Moyu stayed home cleaning the room. Su Jinning called, and the ringtone was amplified five times in the empty living room, startling him.
"what?"
"When are you moving? I'll come help."
Shen Moyu smiled and said, "I finished moving this morning. There wasn't much stuff, so I didn't call you."
Shen Donghai said he would buy all the furniture again and just take the luggage. He would discard the old things and contact a real estate agent to sell the house at a low price in a couple of days.
"Damn, that was fast! Why didn't you tell me? Hey, send me your location, I'll come to your house..." He paused for a moment, then asked cautiously, "Uncle, is he not home?"
"Yeah, he said some friends invited him to dinner, and I don't think he'll be back for a while. Why don't you come over?" Shen Moyu put down the mop in his hand and washed his hands.
"Okay."
After mopping the floor, he felt as tired as if he had run five laps. In the past, he could clean every nook and cranny of his small 60-square-meter apartment in ten minutes, but now it took him half an hour to clean upstairs and downstairs, and there were still places he hadn't cleaned thoroughly.
In the empty room, he lay back on the sofa and looked around at the large villa with his name on it.
It felt so unreal. He felt like he had been possessed by someone else, and these things didn't seem like something he should be enjoying.
Is this where he'll be from now on? The old house that's been with him since childhood has just been sold off like that? He'll have to take a different route to and from school from now on; this huge house will be his home, right?
Many thoughts and questions lingered in his mind, and he was completely puzzled by everything that had happened recently.
The doorbell rang at that moment. He got up and opened the door. Su Jinning walked in with a look of surprise on her face. Looking at the impressive house, she exclaimed, "Holy crap, this is so cool!"
"I just cleaned the floor, hurry up and put on your slippers." Shen Moyu opened the shoe cabinet on the left and took out a pair of slippers.
"Hey, you know what? This place is pretty close to my house, just two streets away. My dad told me that all the villas on these streets belong to the same developer." Su Jinning seemed a little excited.
"Really? That's quite a coincidence," Shen Moyu said with a smile.
He showed Su Jinning around what was nominally his home, and they discussed which room would be suitable as a study. Su Jinning suggested the room next to Shen Moyu's, as it was close to the room and near the stairwell. However, Shen Moyu chose the room at the end of the first-floor corridor because it had better lighting and more space. The two argued incessantly like children, and soon found themselves on the bed, completely engrossed in their playful banter.
"Do you know how painful it is when you pinch someone?" Su Jinning pinned Shen Moyu down.
"You didn't start it!" Shen Moyu, unable to move, retorted, "You're so heavy, get down right now! Did you gain weight over the winter break?"
"Damn it, bullshit!" Su Jinning suddenly stood up and lifted her shirt to show him her abs: "I'm still as dashing as ever, there's no way I'm fat! Holy crap!"
To everyone's surprise, Shen Moyu pinched her directly, and Su Jinning screamed in pain.
"You pinched me again!"
Exhausted from playing around, the two lay down on the floor to rest. Perhaps because the house was too quiet, Su Jinning was a little sleepy, but Shen Moyu spoke first: "Let's buy a house like this together in the future."
Su Jinning was slightly taken aback, nodded, and then snuggled up to hug Shen Moyu: "Buy one even bigger than this one."
"Damn, how big do you want it to be? Are you going to cramm the whole car in here?" Shen Moyu nudged his shoulder.
"It's not that it's not a bad idea, is it? It's so convenient, you can drive back and forth to the toilet, it's super cool."
"Go to hell!"
"Ha ha ha ha……"
It seemed like only a moment had passed, but everything about Shen Moyu had changed. There was no longer any gap between them, and Shen Moyu was even more outstanding than him.
But does this also prove that he's getting further and further away?
The coolness of the floor seeped into his body, and he leaned closer to Shen Moyu's chest: "Shen Moyu, you must remember, no matter when, no matter what happens." He squeezed Shen Moyu's hand tightly; his hand was still so warm, always warming his heart.
"As long as you don't let go, I will always choose you."
“Me too.” Shen Moyu grabbed his hand in return.
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Author's Note: