Future's First Marriage, Later Love - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

When he was about to peel a fruit with a peculiar shape, the doorbell rang at a very inopportune moment. Polack twisted his head to the side; he was surprised by his own powerful possessiveness toward Mai Hai, finding himself jealous even of a robot…

When Mai Hai opened the door, he was startled by the massive package in front of him. Only then did he remember it was his luggage plus the pile of souvenirs he had bought. Mai Hai pressed his identification against the robot’s palm, letting the courier robot help move the items into the living room.

Polack was clearly startled by the pile of things as well. Once the courier robot had left, he asked Mai Hai, “What is all this?”

Mai Hai said with a beam, “Souvenirs I bought.”

“Souvenirs…” Polack was somewhat speechless.

After Mai Hai unpacked the items, he first took out his own suitcase, and then slowly laid out the huge, messy pile of things he had bought before Polack. Finally, Mai Hai excitedly picked up that palm-sized pyramid, pulled Polack’s hand, and placed it in his palm, saying: “This was bought specifically for you.”

Polack looked at the pyramid in his palm and whispered disdainfully, “I’m not a child; why would I like these little trinkets.”

He looked at Mai Hai, thinking to himself: Is this guy really older than me? Why did he feel that Mai Hai was completely like a child who hadn’t grown up at all… but why was his heart still so happy? It must be an illusion.

Even as Polack said those things, his hand unconsciously gripped the pyramid tightly. Later, he even quietly placed it in his study. Before this, Polack’s study had absolutely no decorations aside from necessary items.

Mai Hai enthusiastically tidied up the luggage he brought back and then pulled Polack to look at the photos from his trip. Polack claimed there was nothing worth seeing, yet his eyes were fixed deathly still on Mai Hai’s photos, not letting a single detail slip by.

After looking at the photos for a while, Polack suddenly said, “The day after tomorrow is my birthday.”

“Birthday?” Mai Hai furrowed his brows. “Then how do you want to spend it?”

Polack shook his head and said, “I don’t know…”

He truly didn’t know. After all, in the past, every birthday was a painful day for him because his biological mother had passed away then. He hadn’t celebrated a birthday since he was small. His father was away from home year-round, leaving him to be cared for by nanny robots, and then sending him to school once he reached the right age. In the army, he often forgot about it when things got busy. He didn’t think there was any problem with not celebrating, but today, for some reason, he suddenly told Mai Hai, and a tiny bit of expectation quietly rose in his heart…

After chatting for a while and tidying the house, Mai Hai and Polack went upstairs to shower and prepare for bed. Both were quite tired—one having just finished a mission, the other just back from a trip.

Lying in bed, Mai Hai was still somewhat unaccustomed to two grown men sharing a bed in this capacity.

The lights were turned off, and the entire house fell into darkness, with only a few rays of moonlight filtering through the curtains… Polack and Mai Hai lay with their backs to each other. Polack asked Mai Hai, “Do you feel wronged having to marry me?”

“Eh?” Mai Hai was startled. He turned his body over, looked at Polack’s back, and asked, “Why ask that all of a sudden?”

Polack also turned his body over, but he didn’t control his strength well. At the moment he turned, his lips pressed tightly against Mai Hai’s.

…

Sob sob, scared to death… coding words in the middle of the night and suddenly the computer screen went black… luckily there’s auto-save, otherwise I would have cried to death…

Because I’m going back to my hometown, I might not be able to update at the normal time tomorrow. Well, I’ll try my best! I am the Daily Update Fox, I’m so industrious, would you really have the heart to ‘lurk’ (read without commenting) on me! Would you!

…

Birthday Gift (Part 1)

Both of them were startled by this sudden kiss. Mai Hai was the first to regain his senses. He turned his body away, pulled the corner of the quilt, and said, “Let’s sleep early.”

Hearing this, Polack also nodded: “Mn, goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

In fact, neither Polack nor Mai Hai was asleep. Though they both appeared shrewd and capable on the surface, they were actually very simple-minded when it came to feelings.

Getting up the next morning, Mai Hai found that Polack was already gone. He didn’t know where Polack had gone, but hearing Polack say his birthday was coming up, Mai Hai began to worry. What kind of birthday gift should he give Polack? This became Mai Hai’s biggest headache.

As a general, although Polack was young, he had everything he should have. From Mai Hai’s observations, he didn’t seem to lack anything, and Mai Hai didn’t have anything good to give him. Because of his marriage to Polack, Mai Hai now had nothing to do all day. He hadn’t received Polack’s permission to go to work yet, so he had completely become a so-called “housewife”…

Mai Hai thought for a long time and decided to go out to the streets to see if there was anything he could give to Polack. After changing his clothes, he left a note on the table at home and went out.

The streets of Planet Juhua were very clean, and the greenery was well-maintained. The plants planted on both sides were a special species, soft and boneless like willow branches, floating around; they lived specifically by consuming dust and pollutants in the air.

Mai Hai rode the little blue jellyfish robot from outside his door to Ramulado Street. This was one of the most prosperous areas of Planet Juhua. He saw many people bringing their own small robots here to shop. Looking at those robots of various shapes, Mai Hai felt a bit of fondness in his heart, thinking that when he returned to Planet Pandora, he must ask Toffler to get him a small intelligent robot that could turn into a spaceship, wash dishes, do laundry, and cook… it would completely fulfill his childhood dreams.

Mai Hai walked while thinking, not looking at the road ahead, and bumped right into someone. As soon as he looked up, he was captivated by the person in front of him. This person was truly beautiful… Mai Hai marveled in his heart.

Long, dark purple hair, with a pair of eyes like water-blue gems embedded in fair skin—it looked exceptionally beautiful.

“Sorry, sorry,” Mai Hai apologized good-naturedly.

The beautiful person glanced at Mai Hai, nodded coldly, and walked away.

Mai Hai wandered around Ramulado Street for a long time but still didn’t find anything he could buy as a gift for Polack. In the end, he had no choice but to head back home.

What he completely did not expect was that in the evening, he would see that very beautiful person he had seen at the market during the day right inside his house—and he was actually Polack’s colleague.

Polack had called Mai Hai in advance to tell him that guests were coming over in the evening and to have the food ready.

Mai Hai enthusiastically ordered fresh vegetables and interstellar beef, preparing to show off his skills. He found it tragic that he had truly been reduced to a “house-husband,” but he knew that only by serving a certain someone well could he escape this fate. However, how much longer would he have to live this humble life…

When evening came, Mai Hai was busy in the kitchen wearing an apron. Polack arrived home with seven or eight people in military uniforms. Polack told them to sit wherever they liked and then walked into the kitchen, saying, “The people are here. Is the food ready?”

Mai Hai nodded and said, “Wait a bit, it’s almost done. The tea is brewed—brought back from the Global Village. Take it out first.”

Polack nodded, took the tea tray, and said, “Thank you for your hard work.”

Mai Hai smiled and said, “It’s nothing.”

But as for what he was actually thinking in his heart, that remained unknown.

Although Polack still maintained a poker face, anyone with sharp eyes could see that his expression had indeed softened significantly. However, while some were happy, others were worried. Frenel watched their smiling faces and gave a cold snort.

Everyone could see that Frenel liked Polack, but their attributes simply didn’t match. Although on Planet Juhua, “Yang” attribute generals like them represented privilege, and they could marry someone they liked as long as the King approved, Polack didn’t have any extra feelings for Frenel. Furthermore, his rank was higher than Frenel’s, leaving Frenel helpless.

Polack had always been a person who kept public and private matters separate. He didn’t want to bring personal feelings into his work, as it would affect his judgment. However, Frenel refused to give up, and had even taken a lethal bullet for Polack during a battle, nearly losing his life…

Afterward, Polack hadn’t even gone to see him. At that time, the only request Frenel made to his superiors was the hope for autonomy in marriage, rather than having to marry an attribute-matched person. His attribute was “Yin”; if he met a “Yang” person, he still couldn’t enjoy privileges without the King’s special approval.

After Mai Hai finished the food and brought it to the dining table, he untied his apron, walked into the living room, and said with a smile, “It’s time to eat.”

Polack invited everyone over. Everyone looked at Mai Hai and felt a collective sense of pity—one of the two most handsome guys among their ten great generals had married such a “wife.” But at least he looked very virtuous…

They knew that with Polack’s temper, if another attribute-matched person didn’t appear, he might live with Mai Hai forever. Besides, looking at him now, he was likely tempted, though he himself hadn’t realized it yet. The group exchanged knowing looks.

When everyone had sat down, Frenel pulled out the empty seat next to Polack and sat down…