Chapter 13 - A Little Cruel (1/2)

The two men didn't have to wait long. With the first rays of sunlight filtering through the tree tops, Jing Yi's eyelids twitched. He opened his eyes and … went into a daze.

What is a tree doing in our house?

Jing Yi couldn't wrap his little head around this idea. He blinked again. Making sure it weren't his eyes, that were playing tricks on him.

Qiu Ling snickered. Ah, my love, you'd certainly think I was mean, if you knew, who I am right now. But you really can't fault me. I thought and thought, but I can't see any other solution anymore. You can't want me to see how you fall in love with somebody else. This is just for your own good! For our future together!

Mister Zhong noticed, too, that his son had woken up. ”Jing Yi! Good morning. How did you sleep? Isn't it such a nice day?”

Jing Yi looked up at his father and noticed all the other trees and the star-littered sky above their heads. The boy was dumbfounded and could only stare. Mister Zhong waited patiently. He'll be laughing and jumping around in no time!, he encouraged himself. Only … he didn't know his son as good as his wife did.

Jing Yi scrunched up his face. Tears gathered in his eyes and the tip of his nose turned red.

Now it was Mister Zhong's turn to be dumbfounded. ”What to do? What to do?! The child is about to cry … It wasn't supposed to be like that!”

Qiu Ling put a hand to his forehead and sighed. Yes, it wasn't supposed to be like that! As his father, shouldn't you try to pacify him?!

”Wife … How am I supposed to react now?” Unfortunately, Madam Zhong still slept at home, completely unaware of what her husband had done. And if she knew and found the two of them like that, he would have probably gotten himself a good scolding.

Thinking about that, Mister Zhong manned up. ”Jing Yi, there's no reason to cry. Look, there are such beautiful stars up in the sky! How about daddy tries to catch one?” Mister Zhong reached up, trying to distract the boy, but Jing Yi didn't even notice.

He had clenched his small hands into fists and furiously rubbed at his eyes, that got redder and redder, while tears spilled down.

Flustered, Mister Zhong dropped his hand and cudgeled his brains. What would his wife be doing in such a situation? But he just turned up with a huge blank. Jing Yi was normally so well behaved, that he had never seen his wife needing to pacify him.

Qiu Ling leaned against one of the trees and closed his eyes. He didn't want to see Jing Yi's crying face. But without looking, Jing Yi's cries sounded even more mournful.

”Damn it! I shouldn't have sent that dream! But what's with you?!” He furiously turned to Mister Zhong, even though the man couldn't see him. ”Your child's crying! Aren't you going to do something? Sing him a song? Cuddle him? Damn, I should just cuddle him myself!” Qiu Ling set out to do exactly that, but stopped just short of reaching out.