The tutor did not leave until close to eleven o’clock. Eno slowly packed the stationery scattered on the table, tiptoed through the dark corridor and entered the back garden through the pine wood back door.
He stepped on a tree trunk with ease, and climbed up the fence with bricks and tiles, like a cat in the night, as lithe as could be expected. He jumped off the fence in the clear moonlight and saw that Drake’s house was also dark.
Dispersed so early? he muttered inwardly, groping slowly through the undergrowth towards the gate. I’ve come to call Lea home to bed, he said to himself. Just as he had done for hundreds of nights before, he scaled the towering fence to get the playful Lea back to bed in case he was too sleepy to get up for school the next day.
It was an unusually quiet night and he was a little unsure when he couldn’t hear Lea’s cheerful laughter from inside the house. He accidentally stepped on a dead branch and it crackled, scaring a wild cat away with a mournful cry. He was so scared that he didn’t know what to do, but suddenly there was a flash of light around him, and the trees all over the garden lit up with coloured lights, and Lea leapt from the tree and creamed him in the face before Drake leapt from the tree and stood next to Lea.
Eno’s heart finally dropped, wanting nothing more than to give the little bugger a good beating. He wiped the cream from his face carelessly and cried out: “What are you doing?”
Lea pouted slightly: “I just wanted to play with you ma. Drake said you looked quite unhappy today.”
He pinched Eno’s face with his cream-covered hand: “Smile ma, Ge Ge.”
Eno glanced at Drake subconsciously, but the Alpha’s eyes were focused on Lea, a smile on his lips. He grabbed the cream from his head and smeared three slashes on each side of Lea’s face, decorating him as a little tabby cat.
“All right.” Eno said amused, “Go home and go to bed.”
“Wait!” Lea tugged at him, forcing him towards the house, “Drake and I left fireworks for you to set off together.”
He was dragged by Lea through the large but cosy main house of Drake’s house, a special empty space in front of the front door had been left, strewn with messy fireworks debris. Lea pointed out the best place for Eno to stand, which he had found from observing all night, and turned and ran inside to carry the fireworks.
Drake stood beside Eno, keeping a distance. Ignoring the cream all over his face, Eno said to him, embarrassed: “It’s obviously your birthday…sorry to interrupt.”
“It’s okay.” Drake said lightly, “Lea will be happy when you’re happy. He’s been distracted all night without you today.”
“What are you talking about?” Lea poked out from behind the door holding the fireworks, and Drake took three steps over to help him put them on the floor. Lea pulled a lighter out of his pocket and handed it to Eno, “Quickly!”
Eno looked at the lighter, which was only half full of oil, by the light of the moon, and tugged Lea over to sniff at the nape of his neck, wondering: “You’re not smoking, are you?”
“No, no! It’s Drake’s dad’s lighter!” Lea held his hand to light the fuse and laughed, “You’re more naggy than the housekeeper sometimes!”
The thin cotton cord was ignited and a small cloud of sparks lit up suddenly. Lea ran backwards with Eno in tow and watched as the fuse burned out and a bright smiley face bloomed in the sky, changing colours, not scattering for as long as Lea’s cheerful laughter.
It was beautiful. Eno stared blankly at the sky, thinking, it’s just as pretty as he imagined.
It was a night that was destined to leave a strong mark in his memory. Eno and Lea held hands as they watched the fireworks go off, laughed and had fun, and finally used the Drake bathroom to wash their hands and faces — if they had touched the walls of their house with their cream-covered hands, they would provoke the housekeeper’s wrath the next day. Eno had a rare meeting with Drake’s Alpha father, Grey, and Omega father, Carl. Both were very English looking and Drake had inherited almost everything from them perfectly, handsome, decent and proper. Both of Drake’s parents were as affectionate to Lea as their own sons, and smiled gently at Eno, greeting him with concern. It was indeed getting late, so Eno politely took Lea to say goodbye to them, and the two of them slipped over the wall back to their bedroom, where Lea did not want to sleep in his own room and made a fuss about sleeping with him.
Eno was used to it and let him be. The two Omegas lay side by side in the large single bed without being cramped, and the bright moonlight was blocked by the muslin curtains, shining hazily on Lea and reflecting his starry eyes. His tone could not hide his excitement, having held it in all night and finally unable to resist sharing it with his dearest brother: “Ge Ge, Drake said today that he wants to marry me, and both his fathers have agreed.”
Eno’s heart was raw with pain and it took a long time before he found his voice and forced a smile: “That’s good. Drake is very good.”
“En en.” Lea smiled happily, “I think he’s very good too.”
He thought for a moment and then moved over to give Eno a little kiss on the cheek: “But I still like my Ge Ge best! When Drake and I get married, we’ll even go to the Duke’s house to see you, okay?”
“I don’t want to be separated from you when you’re marrying as far away as York. Drake promised me to buy a house in York and we’ll move there later so I can visit you more often.”
“I don’t ever want to be separated from Ge Ge.”
Lea’s crystal pupils were so rosy and innocent that they dug right into his heart. He stroked Lea’s head and gathered him into his arms, exhaling a hot breath.
“We won’t separate.” He shuddered, “I love you too.”
After a long moment, the sound of Lea’s even breathing came from his arms. Eno released him and rolled over against the snowy wall, biting into the covers and sobbing silently.
Drake had just saved him today, and Lea was so close to him. How could he, how could he like his younger brother’s Alpha?
Martin couldn’t really recall much of what had happened at that time, he was just quite amazed that Eno had been able to remember his words for so many years. After all, in his mind Eno was just Lea’s brother, a future Duchess with a demeanour like something, and a posture that was always superior and didn’t care to hang out with them mortals.
Every Alpha who had met Eno said he was beautiful, gentle and noble, but Drake just thought he was a porcelain doll with impeccable elegance in every gesture, like a puppet on a string, beautiful but lifeless, only slightly able to lift his disguise and reveal a little of his loveliness when he faced Lea.
When he heard the boys in the back row say that they had seen some Alpha’s sneaking around behind Eno when they were playing basketball in the playground at night, he decided to follow them, fearing that something might have happened to the young man. Unexpectedly, he happened to save Eno, and he didn’t take it to heart.
Now that he thought about it, it was like a lifetime ago. How could such a gentle and reserved young master like Eno, who was a good family man, become what he is today?
He couldn’t understand.
Seeing that he was not moving, Eno rose from the floor and unceremoniously put Martin’s arm around his shoulders. Still caught up in his doubts about his life, Martin was caught off guard as he lifted him up and practically set him up on the bed.
“So good1the good he uses here is usually used to compliment kids..” Eno complimented him casually and sat him on the bed, leaning over to pick up the tipped wheelchair and the bedside table, and reaching down to untie Martin’s top, which was scuffed dirty on the floor.
Martin swatted his hand away, his voice gruff and unpleasant: “I’ll do it myself.”
Eno shrugged, thinking there was no difficulty in undressing, that he should be able to do it himself, and went downstairs to get the medicine and bandages, ready to re-bandage him. When he returned upstairs Martin was indeed stripped down to his singlet and sat on the edge of the bed without a word.
Eno scanned him from top to bottom and commented: “Nice body.”
Martin grunted coldly and didn’t reply. Eno walked over and sat next to him, unravelling the gauze to see that the wound inside had been abraded by the struggle earlier, revealing bright red flesh and blood, with pus dripping out constantly in an ugly way.
It hurt for sure, and Martin huffed as he taunted: “Isn’t it ugly, satisfied?”
“It wasn’t your own doing.”
Martin sulked and stopped talking as Eno carefully finished clearing his wound with clean gauze, then untied his own robe and grabbed Martin’s hand to touch his lower abdomen, letting him feel the mound of scars that ran across it.
Martin shuddered and drew back his hand in a flash, but did not open his mouth to scold him. Eno said lightly: “I have scars like that all over my body, and if you could see them, you’d know I’m no better than you. Don’t be embarrassed, I used to look a lot worse than you when I was thrown to the ground and kicked. Let’s just get on with it, no one should be ashamed of anyone.”
Martin was quiet for a moment, then snorted: “Who’s going to get along with you? We’ll get a divorce tomorrow.”
“Don’t divorce okay?”
“Not okay.”
“Then I’ll push you down now.”2HAHAHA!!!
“You—!”
Martin was about to get angry when he suddenly heard Eno chuckle. Eno’s own voice is clear and gentle with a hint of gentleness, which is very nice to hear, just that he used to speak in a subdued manner, ruining his good voice. Now that he didn’t pretend, it sounded very pleasing to the ear, with a slight air current brushing against the skin around his neck, causing a little itchiness.
How can this person turn his face like a book, pretending that what happened just now didn’t happen in a blink of an eye, and delicately act coquettish with him: “Don’t divorce, okay?”
Martin raised his eyebrows: “With your performance? When you begged me to sign the consent form that day, you could do anything, but it’s so hard to get you to scram?”
Eno whispered: “You can’t believe a word a man says before getting married.”3can I just say I really love Eno? 🤣
Martin: “???”
“I don’t want to develop any relationship with you, I just want to talk to someone.” After debridement, Eno took the ointment and applied it to his hands, his voice was soft and soft, “You and the person I like feel very close. Like, I feel safe by your side, so I just want to talk to you more. Can you just stay with me?”
Martin didn’t answer him, but asked: “Who do you like ah, Drake?”
“En en en.” Eno nodded repeatedly, “The first time I saw Drake’s interview on TV, I recognised him as my husband.”
Martin rolled his eyes silently in his heart, he now knew a thing or two about Eno’s full of shit nature and wouldn’t believe a word of it. But come on, with the way Eno used to treat him, if he likes himself, he will eat his wheelchair on the spot.4waiting to see that happen 🍿🍿🍿
So which Alpha does Eno like, and does this count as cheating on his husband during the marriage, and did little Kersi know about it? Should he ask clearly and find that Alpha to see if he can make arrangements to fulfil his brother-in-law’s wish?
Heavens, how could he have such a flamboyant brother-in-law.
Martin had a headache when he suddenly felt the man beside him lean closer again, wrapping a bandage around his palm. Presumably the movement had torn open the neckline of his robe and the fragrant scent of roses hit his nose, making him sneeze in irritation.
Martin: “Isn’t your bathroom’s body wash cucumber-scented??”
“Yeah.” Eno said matter-of-factly, “I didn’t like that smell and switched to rose. Doesn’t it smell good?”
In his pyjamas, using such a flirty shower gel, he isn’t going to seduce me, is he? Martin mentally upgraded Eno’s flamboyance position to flirtatious and said with a grunt, “I feel like you’re ready to go out and seduce an Alpha for the night.”
“En en.” Ino was so kind, “I had a date, but when I opened the door and heard the commotion in your room, I released pigeons5to stand someone up, you can also replace pigeons with aeroplanes to the Alpha and didn’t even ask for my money back. Look how good I’ve been to you, don’t divorce, okay?”
Martin’s breath stuck in his throat, and he was so angry that he didn’t speak for a long time. Eno looked at his shifty face, thinking he wouldn’t really believe it ba, and reluctantly explained, “No la, it’s just that I like the smell of roses.”
At this Martin grunted haughtily and heard Eno say: “Don’t heng heng heng6onomatopoeia for his grunting lmfaooooo all the time, you’re not an air pump.”
This day is really impossible, Martin thought ruefully, and said: “Di—”
Eno covered his mouth and filled his nose with the strong smell of alcohol, his tone more serious than ever: “You also know that after divorcing, I will go to the waste planet to get fucked by thousands of Alphas. You’re always threatening me with this, I’m really scared. If you really, really hate me and you have to get a divorce, I’d rather wipe a knife on my neck right now.”
His voice was delicate and soft with a vague sobbing tone: “I just want to get on good terms with you so I can talk more in the future, I’m sorry. I haven’t spoken properly to anyone in eight years since my younger brother left. I don’t know how to get people to like me.”
His words were like silver needles, sticking in his heart with a slight pain. Martin, who had no experience of dealing with this type of Omega, had a headache and said loudly, “No divorce! Don’t cry!”
He actually wanted to say that Eno was fine the way he was, like a long-wilted flower that had finally been infused with life and blooming into gorgeous colours. If the object of suffering is not him, he would be willing to bang gongs and beat drums to send Eno back into society.
“Really? And you won’t mention it again?”
“No more mention! Don’t cry, don’t cry anymore!”
Eno burst into a smile, wanting to kiss his face but not daring to, ending up kissing one of the only remaining fingers on the palm of his right hand, leaving a hot, wet warmth and a crystal droplet of water.
It was then that Martin came back to him, furious: “You lied to me again?”
“Really.” Eno drawled, “I grew up with my younger brother and I was very lonely when he was gone.”
It wasn’t like Eno was orthopedically involved with Lea and was destined to be separated from him. But if all goes well, there should be an Alpha to take Lea’s place in his life, to give him the companionship and care he is used to. Only fate had played a terrible joke on him, and he had become destitute and reduced to this.
Martin sighed inwardly and spoke: “So?”
Eno watched his expression carefully and circled back: “Wanted to find someone to talk to.”
Martin could kind of tell that this guy, if he really hadn’t said much in eight years, was purely bottled up and just had to say enough to him.
He slumped back on the bed with an expressionless face, “Speak ba.”
Eno hadn’t expected him to suddenly become so nice to talk to, and for a moment was surprised that he didn’t really know what he could talk about, and after a long while he said: “I’ll tell you a story.”
“Say.”
“Once upon a time there was a kingdom where a princess was taken captive by an evil dragon. The warrior fell in love with the princess and went to slay the dragon with his sword, but found that he could not defeat the evil dragon. The warrior wandered through the forest and met a witch who had always loved him, who couldn’t bear to see him upset and gave him improved dragon blood to help the warrior defeat the evil dragon and take back the princess. Done.”
Martin tsked and said, “So short?”
Eno said: “Would you think the witch would have found true love in the end?”
“I think she’s stupid.”
“Ah?”
“If I were her,” Martin said with little emotion, “I’d feed pure dragon blood to the warrior and make him the new evil dragon, slaying that evil dragon and the princess so that the warrior would have only me.”
Eno froze for a moment and muttered: “Your thoughts are a bit dangerous…”
Martin searched for the possibility that Eno couldn’t simply be telling him this boring story, there had to be some meaning in it. Did he have a crush on some Alpha and then was afraid to pursue it because of his marriage to little Kersi? Anyway, now that little Kersi is dead, if an Alpha was willing to take in his brother-in-law, he will immediately and joyfully send Eno away.
“Tsk, what age is it to get all self-moved?” Martin said, “Who knows you like them if you don’t say so, everyone is so busy, how can they have the heart to spend all day wondering if someone likes them or not, just chase them if you like them, so much crap.”
“And what if the witch and the princess are very good friends?”
Martin cut to the chase: “Out of humanitarianism, I’d hide the princess and drug her to make her think the warrior doesn’t love her anymore. Where’s all this this and that, if you like, you like, even sacrificing yourself for others. Is it so noble ah?”
Eno sat on the edge of the bed, his fingers clutching the corners of his bathrobe. He thought for a moment and then suddenly smiled: “You really are a lot like Drake ah.”
“Heh.” Martin raised an eyebrow, “I’m as handsome as he is?”
“Bah.” Eno scolded with a laugh, “All self-righteous idiots.”
Only those who have never experienced it can say such high-sounding words. How can the shackles of love be broken away by simply chasing them if you like them? His emotional experience must also be very smooth. Only after his heart has been bathed in the happiness of love can he be so confident in relationships.
“I…” Martin was about to retort when he remembered to maintain his persona of not knowing him, “You know Drake?”
“No.” Eno said calmly, “Just worshipped some of his famous statements as an avid fan of his, like how Omegas shouldn’t be in the military and are better off giving birth to babies at home…”
Martin remembered, this was what he had said when Nightingale stood in front of him after going through various selections. He hadn’t been very discriminatory about Omegas entering the army either, it was just that for a long time after Lea’s death, he would only think of that innocent and warm smiling face when he saw Omegas, and he just found an excuse to send Nightingale to another officer as an adjutant. Although he later explained the situation to Nightingale, some bastard recorded this sentence and passed it on to the public, where it has been repeatedly criticised and millions of Omegas announced on the spot that they would quit being fans.
It’s not easy being a public figure ah. Martin sighed and said solemnly: “I’m not as straight-A cancerous as he is, okay. What do you Omegas like about Drake anyway?”
“He’s handsome.” Eno said gently, “Appearance is the beginning of love, you know?”
He leaned over and moved Martin’s limp legs to the bed, tucking him in thoughtfully, and casually rambled: “I’ll be honest, that Omega of yours must really like you to be able to set his eyes on you. So nice, I’m especially envious of you.”
“I also want someone to like me a little too…” Eno suddenly paused and sniffed down at his neck, “You haven’t had a bath in a few days?”
Martin’s face went black as a pot: “You hurry up and get lost ba.”
“So how do you usually bathe?” Eno said with interest, “I’ll help you, I want to see if it’s big, I’m really curious if you can do it or not.”7and we’re back to this 🤣🤣🤣 If it wasn’t clear enough, he’s referring to his third leg again
“There’s a caretaker who comes to bathe every week, coming tomorrow.” Martin’s face was expressionless, “Don’t always think of having sex with me. If there’s nothing else then get lost.”
“Is there a caretaker? How come I’ve never seen one.”
“Because you weren’t even up when he arrived, lazy pig.”
Eno rubbed his nose in embarrassment: “Okay. But let me clarify, I wasn’t thinking of sleeping with you, I just wanted to talk to you.”
He opened the door and prepared to go back to bed.
“I’d probably be more willing to find a vibrator.” Eno said and immediately closed the door, and not surprisingly two seconds later heard Martin’s heart-piercing roar, “Get out!!!”
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly and he went back to his room humming a soft little tune and fell asleep with his clothes on.
melon: Eno really has a way with Martin 🤣
