A Single Father’s Troubles - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Unease

5:40 PM, entrance of Dandelion Kindergarten.

School had been out for a while. Most of the children had already been picked up by their parents, leaving only a few scattered little ones lined up behind the retractable gate, waiting.

At the front of the line was a little boy wearing a small white T-shirt paired with ginger-yellow polka-dot corduroy pants. On his head sat a matching bucket hat, the little sunflower sprout on top swaying in the wind.

Every now and then, the child in the sunflower hat would poke his head out to look around. Not seeing the familiar figure, he wasn’t disappointed. He just asked in a milky voice, “Teacher Xiao Liu, why hasn’t Daddy come to pick up baby yet?”

“There must be a traffic jam on the road. Daddy will be here soon,” the teacher knelt beside him, patiently comforting him.

The little boy clearly trusted his teacher very much and nodded vigorously. “Mhm, everyone else’s cars are big cars, but Daddy’s is a little car. Little cars run a bit slower.”

“That’s right, that’s right. Perfect logic! Guagua is so smart!”

“Guagua!”

Hearing the familiar voice, the little boy snapped his head up. A huge smile spread across his fair little face—a carbon copy of Lin Tingwan’s—as he jumped up happily and ran toward Lin Tingwan’s direction: “Daddy!”

Lin Tingwan quickly knelt, opening his arms to catch the child who flew into his embrace like a little cannonball.

“Sweetheart, Daddy is late. I’m sorry,” Lin Tingwan gently stroked his son’s chubby cheek, his eyes full of apology.

Organizing data was meticulous work. By the time he had looked up from the screen again, it was already past five. Because he took a detour to avoid certain areas, he had only just managed to reach the kindergarten now.

Guagua hugged Lin Tingwan’s neck and, with great ceremony, gave him a big kiss on both the left and right cheeks. Then he buried his entire small head in Lin Tingwan’s chest, humming softly in a spoiled manner, “Not sorry.”

Lin Tingwan took the opportunity to lift his treasure, supporting the heavy little bottom with his hands and bouncing him upward.

Looking at his son’s fair and adorable face, Lin Tingwan felt his eyes grow hot, his voice carrying a hint of a sob: “Baby, Daddy loves you. Don’t ever leave Daddy.”

Guagua was baffled. “Why would baby leave Daddy?”

“Yes, you’re right. No one can separate us.” Listening to his son’s soft voice, the fear and regret in Lin Tingwan’s heart began to dissipate.

All the way here, he had been worried that Kuang Ye’s appearance wasn’t a coincidence, but rather because he had found out about Guagua’s background.

Four years ago, while he was still a grad student at B-Normal University, he learned from a close friend of his mother that his body structure was special—he could actually bear children.

He was gay. After losing his parents, he thought he would never have family again in this life. He never expected God to give him a chance to have a relative who shared his own bloodline.

At that time, he planned to find a partner who could accept his special body and be willing to have a child with him. By a stroke of luck, he met Kuang Ye. Captivated by the man’s face and physique, he ended up in bed with him in a muddled daze.

Just as Lin Tingwan was agonizing over whether to develop a relationship, Kuang Ye suddenly sent him a large number of incredibly expensive gifts the next day.

Sending gifts right after sleeping together—what does that mean? Even someone as insensitive as Lin Tingwan knew he was being treated like a paid companion!

Although Lin Tingwan had been gentle-natured since childhood and rarely quarreled with others, he was truly incensed this time and immediately wanted to draw a clear line with Kuang Ye.

But as soon as he mentioned ending it, Kuang Ye would lose his temper. Lin Tingwan didn’t dare resist; every time he said it was the last time, it happened again.

Later, Lin Tingwan could only comfort himself with the idea that since “every action has an equal and opposite reaction,” if Kuang Ye slept with him, he was also sleeping with Kuang Ye—no one was losing out.

The two of them stayed together in a muddled state for over forty days. If he hadn’t discovered the pregnancy, their relationship might have lasted even longer.

He had thought about being honest with Kuang Ye about the child, but when he asked a probing question, Kuang Ye stated categorically that he hated children and that Lin Tingwan shouldn’t even think about having one.

Being Kuang Ye’s bed partner meant he couldn’t even have a child—that was too cruel!

After an intense internal struggle, Lin Tingwan despicably kept the matter a secret. Taking advantage of graduation, he decisively ended the relationship with Kuang Ye and went to City S to seek refuge with his mother’s friend, Fang Jie.

If not for the accidental encounter today, they should have remained worlds apart, never to cross paths again.

But who would have thought it could be such a coincidence? City B was so large, yet they actually ran into each other!

Thinking of that old matter made Lin Tingwan feel deathly worried.

“Daddy?”

Submerged in his thoughts, Lin Tingwan was jolted awake by the call. Seeing his son’s face full of worry, his heart ached. He quickly cleared his throat to distract the child: “Baby, were you a good boy at school today?”

“Yes! The teacher even praised me.” As expected, the child’s attention was quickly diverted.

Lin Tingwan had only asked casually, but hearing this, he perked up: “Really? What did the teacher praise you for?”

Guagua stood up straight, puffed out his little belly, and tilted his head back, saying very proudly, “Teacher praised me for loving to talk. Praised me for talking a lot, and it’s even ‘dense’!”

Lin Tingwan’s smile froze. He secretly regretted giving Guagua this nickname—was that why the child loved to talk so much?

“Baby, were you whispering with the other kids during nap time again?” he asked, stroking his son’s head.

Guagua nodded, then shook his head. “Bengbeng asked me to tell a story. I told Bengbeng a story. Daddy, is telling a story ‘whispering’?”

“Well, telling a story isn’t exactly whispering. But baby,” Lin Tingwan guided him patiently, “next time, sleep nicely during the nap, and tell stories after you wake up, okay?”

“Okay~”

Lin Tingwan pulled him in for a kiss, placed him on the electric scooter, guarding him between his legs, and asked conversationally, “Did you sleep ‘fragrantly’ at noon today?”

Guagua thought for a moment and said very distressedly, “I don’t know if it was fragrant or not. The teacher didn’t come to smell me.”

“Daddy. Tomorrow you tell the teacher to smell me, okay?”

“…”

Looking into his son’s expectant big eyes, Lin Tingwan couldn’t find it in himself to refuse. He nodded against his conscience: “…Alright.”

The child giggled, happy now.

The rented house wasn’t far from the kindergarten; they arrived in just a few minutes.

Lin Tingwan propped his foot on the ground, holding the scooter with one hand. Once he ensured it was stable, he said, “Get down, baby.”

Gaining permission, Guagua skillfully crawled out from under his arm and ran ahead to the elevator, pressing the light.

The elevator had just reached the first floor. The silver doors slid open, and a tall, grumpy-looking college student with his hands in his pockets walked out.

Seeing the newcomer, Lin Guagua’s eyes lit up, and he greeted the other party loudly and excitedly, “Wangwang-gege!”

The boy called “Wangwang-gege” saw Guagua and subconsciously looked behind the child toward Lin Tingwan. He slowly broke into a brilliant smile, revealing two sharp little canine teeth.

“Guagua! Brother Tingwan, you’re back.”

Lin Tingwan patted the child’s head to show he did well before shyly greeting the downstairs neighbor: “Mhm. Are Teacher Bian and the others back?”

“They’re back. As soon as we got in, the Empress ordered me to go buy things for her,” Bian Wang shrugged. “I’m not her son, I’m just an errand boy.”

Lin Tingwan pursed his lips and smiled silently.

Looking at that smile, Bian Wang’s throat rolled. He quickly looked away. “I’m heading out. My mom brought back a lot of local specialties; I’ll send some up to you later.”

“Oh, no need—”

Before Lin Tingwan could finish, Bian Wang had already strode out of the elevator. Lin Tingwan stood there awkwardly; he wasn’t quite used to such pure kindness.

As dusk fell, the sky was painted orange-red, and the aroma of cooking drifted in through the window. Inside the small but cozy apartment, Lin Tingwan was holding Guagua, reading a picture book to him.

Since he was a baby, Guagua had been amazing at providing emotional value. Every time Lin Tingwan told him a story, he would provide sound effects or ask all sorts of strange and wonderful questions, making it a very interactive experience.

Today, when Lin Tingwan reached Guagua’s favorite story, The Lion King, he noticed that the usually vocal “little critic” had gone silent.

Wondering why, he looked down to see the child holding the book in his lap with his head nodding and drooping. His eyes were half-open, and he was almost drooling on the pages.

Seeing Guagua trying so hard to stay awake, Lin Tingwan suppressed a laugh. “Baby, let’s go to bed?”

The child rubbed his eyes and shook his head. “Listen to Daddy’s story.”

“Be good. I’ll tell you more tomorrow. Sleep now, you have to sleep early and wake up early to grow tall-tall.”

Guagua had a “height obsession”; he fantasized every day about waking up as a giant. Lin Tingwan always felt that the reason Guagua liked Bian Wang so much was simply because Bian Wang was a tall guy standing at 183cm.

Hearing that he wouldn’t grow tall, Guagua immediately closed his eyes: “Sleep, sleep. Baby is sleeping.”

“Daddy sleep together.”

“Daddy will come after a shower,” Lin Tingwan kissed Guagua’s cheek.

“Oh, okay. But you have to be fast. Otherwise, I’ll miss you.” Guagua hugged his neck and rolled over, pouting his little bottom and lying in his arms. Just like a little frog, he let himself be carried into the bedroom.

The child fell asleep the second he hit the bed. Lin Tingwan sat by the bedside, quietly watching Guagua’s peaceful sleeping face.

He had a single eyelid, but Guagua had a beautiful double eyelid. It was obvious—the gene came from the other person.

The face of Kuang Ye involuntarily surfaced in Lin Tingwan’s mind.

Realizing what he was thinking, Lin Tingwan felt extremely annoyed. Although over the past four years, on certain sleepless nights, he would occasionally think of Kuang Ye, it had never been this frequent. Lin Tingwan felt agitated and a slight, inexplicable sense of unease.

Holding Guagua’s hand and listening to his son’s rhythmic breathing for a while, Lin Tingwan’s restless heart gradually calmed down.

After stepping out of the room, Lin Tingwan pulled his phone from his pocket to check the time. Several unread messages popped up.

The first was from half an hour ago. Bian Wang asked if it was convenient to come up and drop off the specialties. Ten minutes later, another message came saying to rest well and he’d bring them tomorrow.

There were indeed many coincidences in the world. Only after he moved in did he realize the downstairs tenant was actually Bian Wenmao, his Ancient Chinese teacher from university. Teacher Bian had taken great care of a student living alone with a child.

Lin Tingwan was always grateful to this family. Therefore, although he wasn’t good at social interaction, he never refused when Bian Wenmao’s only son, Bian Wang, occasionally brought over homework to ask for help.

After replying to the messages, Lin Tingwan was just about to shower when the phone rang again.

Lin Tingwan picked it up and saw it was an unknown number. The digits looked familiar, but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember whose number it was.

Thinking it was a harassing telemarketing call, he reflexively rejected it.

During his shower, Lin Tingwan still felt a bit uneasy, fearing it might have been an acquaintance’s call and that rejecting it was impolite.

Fortunately, when he came out after his shower, there were no more missed calls.