A Single Father’s Troubles - Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Lies

Previously, it had only been a hazy feeling, but as Kuang Ye connected the images in his mind like a line, this feeling became clearer and clearer. He felt as if he was about to grasp something very blurry.

Aside from the first time he barged into Lin Tingwan’s house and saw that brat, even though he and Lin Tingwan had met so many times since then, forget the kid himself he hadn’t even seen the boy’s back or a photo more than a few times.

Kuang Ye finally found the loose thread.

Lin Tingwan did not want him to meet Lin Guagua.

And at this moment, Lin Tingwan’s suddenly deathly pale face further confirmed his deduction.

Kuang Ye narrowed his eyes: “Regarding Lin Xiangning, are you hiding something from me?”

Lin Tingwan hadn’t expected Kuang Ye to realize this so quickly. His hands hanging at his sides unconsciously clenched into fists, his nails digging deep into his palms, the slight pain awakening his logic. Lin Tingwan struggled to steady himself, his gaze meeting Kuang Ye’s probing look directly.

Lin Tingwan opened his mouth, “…Yes, I indeed didn’t want you and Guagua to meet, which is why I kept making excuses.”

“The reason.” Kuang Ye stared into his eyes. His heart felt icy cold.

Lin Tingwan was clearly both afraid and nervous, his fingers twisting together forcefully.

He summoned his courage and met Kuang Ye’s gaze, “…I don’t know how to say it. Look at this photo first.”

Kuang Ye took Lin Tingwan’s phone. With just one glance, his pupils constricted sharply.

Lin Tingwan silently watched the changes in Kuang Ye’s expression, his palms drenched in sweat from nervousness. He tried his best to make his voice sound normal, his expression carrying a hint of slight distress.

“I, I don’t know why, but Guagua… looks a bit like you.”

A possibility flashed through Kuang Ye’s mind. He snapped his head up, his gaze shooting toward Lin Tingwan like a torch, his lips trembling slightly.

Lin Tingwan took a deep breath, breaking his theory: “I know what you want to say, but it’s not… Guagua is my son, biologically. I have the appraisal report.”

Lin Tingwan took the phone back from his hand, opened a file, and handed the phone back to him.

Kuang Ye was so shocked that his hands shook, and he nearly failed to hold the phone.

The file opened was a testing report issued by the city’s forensic identification institute.

Kuang Ye scrolled straight to the bottom. In the identification opinion column, it clearly stated: Based on the results of this DNA test, excluding special circumstances such as identical multiple births, close relatives, and exogenous interference, it supports that a biological relationship exists between Lin Tingwan and Lin Xiangning.

Lin Tingwan explained in a low voice, “I asked some doctor friends, and they couldn’t give any good suggestions, nor can I give you an answer. But the fact is as it stands. I don’t know why, but Guagua doesn’t look like… his mother. Instead, he looks a bit like you and me.”

Kuang Ye stared fixedly at the child’s full face shown on the screen.

It was Guagua’s kindergarten enrollment photo. Under the high-definition lens, his facial features were magnified very clearly. Kuang Ye stared intently at Guagua’s eyes.

Kuang Ye was very familiar with a pair of eyes like these; he saw them in the mirror every morning when brushing his teeth. Even the folds and width of the double eyelids were exactly the same as Kuang Ye’s.

As Kuang Ye observed carefully, he miraculously discovered that aside from the eyes, Guagua’s features showed a twenty to thirty percent similarity to his own.

It was only because the child was still small and hadn’t fully grown, plus the shared living habits and diet, that Guagua’s temperament was soft like Lin Tingwan’s. Therefore, without looking closely, one wouldn’t notice the resemblance in their faces.

Miraculous. It truly could only be described as miraculous.

Guagua looked very much like a fusion of his and Lin Tingwan’s genes. Even looking at certain individual features alone, Lin Xiangning looked almost like his own biological son.

Kuang Ye cursed his own brain for failing him. Even though he had caught a fleeting glimpse of this child that day and only thought he looked a bit familiar, he hadn’t realized the boy had a pair of eyes so similar to his own!

“…So now you know why I didn’t want you and Guagua to meet, right?”

Even with Kuang Ye’s vast experience, he was stunned into silence at this moment.

It took Kuang Ye a long, long time to find his voice: “What exactly is going on here?”

He grabbed Lin Tingwan’s hand: “I want to see him!”

He didn’t even realize his voice was trembling slightly, nor did he notice the urgency within himself.

To be honest, Kuang Ye had been working hard to convince himself to overlook Guagua’s background and accept him. But a child with the traces of another woman versus a child who looked like him was completely different to Kuang Ye.

His dislike for children and his PTSD were all tossed aside by Kuang Ye. When Lin Tingwan asked if he wanted a child, he had also thought about it. The child in his fantasies looked roughly like this having both Lin Tingwan’s shadow and his own. But he wanted the child to look more like Lin Tingwan so that he would love the child even more.

And now, such a child had truly appeared before him. He could not wait to see this child who seemed to have fused his and Lin Tingwan’s genes.

A man giving birth to a child was a truly rare occurrence. Seeing that Kuang Ye indeed didn’t suspect anything, Lin Tingwan let out a small sigh of relief in his heart, but he didn’t dare lower his guard, continuing to control his emotions.

“…Guagua doesn’t have a good impression of you. I’ll go back and do some prep work with him. Next Sunday… next Sunday we’ll have a meal together, how about it?”

Hearing he had to wait until next Sunday, Kuang Ye immediately wanted to object. But seeing Lin Tingwan’s soft gaze, he silently swallowed the words he wanted to say.

He also needed a bit of time to digest this. He had to go consult some friends who had children on how to be a good father.

“Okay.” Kuang Ye had now completely forgotten about his anger and jealousy; his brain was dazed by the massive surprise.

He stroked Lin Tingwan’s face. “I’ll be on my best behavior. I will also try… to be a good father.”

“Even though I might not do well at first, as long as he is willing to accept me, I am… willing to accept him.” Kuang Ye turned his head away. In the dim light, a mysterious flush appeared on his handsome face.

“I understand. Thank you, Kuang Ye.” All of Lin Tingwan’s focus was on the fact that he had “passed this hurdle,” and his spirit relaxed.

“Then, I’ll head back first? Guagua is home alone…”

Kuang Ye briefly helped Lin Tingwan straighten his clothes, then took his coat and draped it over him, kissing his cheek. “Go on.”

Lin Tingwan looked at him with a gaze that seemed both shy and grateful. Under Kuang Ye’s watch, he pushed open the car door and walked out calmly.

Entering the elevator lobby, he faced Kuang Ye’s direction, waved his hand, and said softly, “Go back and rest early. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” Kuang Ye’s lips curved up; his mood was clearly very good.

The elevator doors slowly closed, and Lin Tingwan’s smiling face disappeared bit by bit.

Just as the elevator closed to a sliver, Kuang Ye felt as if Lin Tingwan’s entire face had collapsed, but the image flashed by so fast he didn’t see it clearly.

Tsk, must have seen it wrong.

Kuang Ye shook his head and returned to the car that still carried Lin Tingwan’s scent, taking a deep breath.

Phew— Refreshing.

Inside the elevator.

Lin Tingwan was like a fish out of water, leaning against the elevator wall and gasping for air.

Ever since Kuang Ye learned of Guagua’s existence, Lin Tingwan had been determined to hide it from him and prevent them from meeting. But now, he knew he couldn’t hide it anymore. If Kuang Ye developed even the slightest bit of suspicion toward Guagua, he very likely wouldn’t be able to keep Guagua.

No matter what, he couldn’t lose Guagua. Guagua was his child too.

The more normally he behaved, the less Kuang Ye would suspect.

He had to hold on.

Lin Tingwan propped himself up against the elevator wall and stood up again. The coat draped loosely over him fell, revealing his sweat-soaked back. His shirt clung to his body, outlining his thin spine.

He kept his body tightly tensed, walking toward his home with firm steps.

Lin Tingwan walked to the bedside with a body full of exhaustion. Guagua was sleeping soundly, his posture unchanged, his breathing long and deep.

Lin Tingwan watched for a long time, straightened the blanket for him again, and tucked the small hand that was outside the blanket back in.

He took a shower and sat leaning against the headboard for half the night. It was only when dawn was breaking that he woke the sleeping Guagua.

Guagua hadn’t had enough sleep; he rolled over and was about to fall asleep again face-down on the bed.

Lin Tingwan dug him out of the blanket and carried him to wash up.

Guagua finished brushing his teeth with his eyes closed and a grumpy face. After finishing breakfast, his mood finally improved.

Lin Tingwan picked up a backpack from the entrance and handed it to him.

Looking at the new backpack, Guagua suddenly became wide awake.

The backpack was shaped like a little frog, and the thermos inside was also frog-shaped.

“Daddy, are these all for me?” He looked up blankly, his eyes sparkling with disbelief.

He stretched his two arms long, hugged the frog backpack, and buried his face in it. He didn’t feel uncomfortable even though the hard backpack straps pressed against his face, taking a deep breath as if intoxicated.

“When we went shopping last time, didn’t you like this backpack very much?”

Guagua couldn’t wait to put the backpack on his back and ran to the mirror. He looked left and right, up and down.

Frog backpack, frog water bottle, paired with his frog shoes and his frog robot—along with one Lin Guagua, he was practically a “frog” through and through.

“Daddy, I love you!” Guagua’s mouth was very sweet, and even sweeter when he was happy, hugging Lin Tingwan’s leg and nuzzling his small face against it.

Lin Tingwan looked down at the small whorl of hair on the crown of his son’s head and rubbed his head. “Daddy didn’t give it to you. An uncle gave it to you.”

“Eh?” Guagua stopped his spoiled movements. “Is it the Good Man Uncle, Daddy?”

“Mhm.”

Guagua immediately clapped his hands, his face beaming with joy. “Wow, the Good Man Uncle is so nice!”

“Do you like him very much?” Lin Tingwan asked.

Guagua nodded vigorously. “I do!”

Lin Tingwan crouched down in front of Guagua, his eyes level with the child’s. He looked at him with a complicated gaze and said, “The Good Man Uncle… might… in a couple of days, come to our house to play.”

Guagua had been looking forward to thanking the Good Man Uncle for a long time. Hearing this, his face immediately bloomed into a smile. “Yay! Baby is going to give him lots of yummy food!”

Lin Tingwan looked at the brilliant smile and the unconcealable anticipation on his face. After hesitating for a long time, he said, “Daddy has something to tell you… Guagua, stop playing with the little frog for a second.”

“Oh!” Guagua stealthily hid the toy behind his back, stroking it gently with his fingers.

Lin Tingwan closed his eyes and said, “Daddy has something to apologize to you for. Actually, that Good Man Uncle you like is the same uncle who barged… came into our house that one night.”

Guagua’s small movements stopped. He stared straight at Lin Tingwan, his eyes full of confusion.

Lin Tingwan repeated: “On Saturday, the uncle will come to our house to play. Promise Daddy you won’t throw a temper, okay?”

Support