Your Wife? Mine! - Chapter 13

The child was kindhearted to a fault, immediately leaning down to blow soft breaths onto Shen Xi’s wound. The air felt light, like a spring breeze brushing against her skin, warming her very soul.

Shen Xi couldn’t help but reach out to pat the girl’s head, a gentle smile spreading across her lips.

As the child looked back up, however, her eyes suddenly landed on something hidden in Shen Xi’s hair. Her face lit up with curiosity. “Ooh… Hope, what’s that by your ear? Is it a hairclip?”

Shen Xi’s body stiffened instantly. Beside her, she felt Meng Xiyao’s searching gaze shift toward her as well.

Sensing the scrutiny, Shen Xi pursed her lips and forced herself to remain calm. “It’s a hearing aid,” she explained softly. “My ears… I have some trouble hearing.”

As she spoke, her gaze drifted toward Meng Xiyao, almost as if she were waiting for her to ask more. But Meng Xiyao said nothing, maintaining a polite, social silence.

Shen Xi withdrew her gaze, looking down with a trace of dejection.

In that moment, Little Wutong took her hand, looking at her with deep sympathy. “Hope, you’re so ‘brave and broken.’ You have to treasure your body, okay? Or else you’ll have lots of owies…”

Shen Xi: “…”

After a moment of silence, she couldn’t help but let out a snicker. “Honey, it’s not ‘brave and broken.’ It’s ‘broken but brave.'”

The little girl’s face turned bright red, and she buried her head in her hands, overwhelmed by shyness.

Shen Xi cupped the child’s face and playfully tweaked her nose, her smile full of indulgence. “Little Wutong is getting quite good at using idioms, though.”

The girl shyly dodged the touch, trying to play it cool. “Fine, fine, I remember now. Broken but brave!”

Sitting nearby, Meng Xiyao watched the interaction between the two. Out of the corner of her eye, she found herself staring at Shen Xi’s ear, her thoughts drifting far away.

She can’t hear? Since when?

For a long while afterward, Meng Xiyao remained somewhat preoccupied. Fortunately, Little Wutong and Occidens were lively enough to command all of Shen Xi’s attention, allowing Meng Xiyao to narrowly hide her distracted state.

They played under the starlight of the fairy lights all evening, enjoying themselves to the fullest. It wasn’t until eight-thirty, when it was time for Little Wutong’s bath and bed, that the game finally ended much to the child’s vocal disappointment.

Meng Xiyao held Little Wutong’s hand as she walked Shen Xi to the door to say goodbye. The girl had clearly taken a shine to her new “Auntie Hope.” She tugged on Shen Xi’s hand, her voice sweet and milky as she made an invitation: “Auntie, you have to come play with me all the time from now on!”

A wave of warmth washed over Shen Xi’s heart. She gave a solemn nod of promise. “Mm, I definitely will.”

She looked up at Meng Xiyao, who was standing behind the child, and said softly, “Bye. Get some rest.”

Meng Xiyao gave a small nod, her gaze appearing softer in the darkness of the night. “You too.”

“I’m going then,” Shen Xi said, yet her feet seemed glued to the spot. She stared at Meng Xiyao with lingering eyes, secretly hoping for an invitation to stay that she knew wasn’t coming.

Meng Xiyao saw the longing in those eyes, and a chord in her heart vibrated slightly. On the surface, however, she remained as calm and unruffled as a still pond. “Drive safely,” she instructed a standard, polite parting.

“Right.”

Heart heavy with reluctance, Shen Xi finally shoved her hands into her coat pockets and forced herself to turn and walk away. After only two steps, she couldn’t resist looking back.

But Meng Xiyao had already turned around, holding the child in her arms. Her elegant silhouette was slowly retreating toward the warm, inviting lights of the house.

Watching her back as she disappeared into the safety of her home, Shen Xi was swallowed by a massive wave of loss that felt as heavy as the night air. Simultaneously, a tide of bitter regret surged through her.

If she hadn’t been so cowardly and fled all those years ago, would she have the right to be there right now? Would she be the one playing with the child during bathtime? And then… and then, together with her Omega, would she be tenderly tucking their child into bed?

Argh!

It made her so angry she could scream!

This surge of irrepressible regret and jealousy completely overrode her reason. Shen Xi suddenly lashed out, delivering a vicious, venting kick to a bush in the nearby green belt, sending leaves and branches shaking violently.

That dog, Gu Hai!

Gu Hai, you dog!

I am absolutely going to slaughter her!

First, I’ll win back my wife. Then I’ll reclaim my child. And finally, I’m going to cave her skull in!

AAAAARRRRGH!

Shen Xi screamed silently at the top of her lungs.

At that exact moment, Meng Xiyao who had just reached the porch felt a strange sensation and glanced back. She was met with the sight of Shen Xi’s childish tantrum against the innocent shrubbery.

She knit her brows slightly, utterly baffled. What is wrong with her now?

Wasn’t she having a great time tonight? Why is she throwing a fit the second she leaves?

Twelve years later, and the Alpha’s temper was somehow even more unpredictable than it had been when they were kids.

Meng Xiyao shook her head, putting the thought out of her mind. She stopped looking, carried the sleepy child inside, and stepped into the brightly lit house.