FD Chapter 23

Dong Dong was forced into action.

Ming Shao held up the cat toy borrowed from the neighbor, waving it from side to side.

“Dong Dong—look here—”

Dong Dong ignored him and instead jumped straight onto Shen Luo’s lap.

The little cat stretched lazily, demanding Shen Luo pet it.

The cat didn’t know many humans, but apart from its own owner, this neighbor was its favorite.

However, the neighbor often stayed alone, leaving a light on late at night, seemingly waiting for someone.

A lonely cat could understand that a person might also feel lonely.

Its owner was always “fighting” at night, so Dong Dong frequently slipped over to the neighbor’s house.

Dong Dong wanted to keep this lonely human company.

Don’t be sad.

Shen Luo reached out, just like before, and gently cradled Dong Dong in his arms.

Ming Shao, easing his movements, quietly slipped into the kitchen.

Shen Luo had just gotten off work and hadn’t eaten anything yet.

Ming Shao were learning how to cook. He wasn’t skilled, but this time, he remembered that Shen Luo didn’t like onions.

“You’re cooking?” Shen Luo asked, hearing the noise from the kitchen, still holding Dong Dong as he walked over and leaned against the kitchen door.

The kitchen was quite clean, the previously messy bottles had been tidied up by Ming Shao. On the counter were various ingredients: dried beancurd sticks, beef, basa fish, tomatoes…

Ming Shao was wearing an apron, a black-and-white checkered one that Shen Luo used to wear.

A tablet was set up on the side, and Shen Luo glanced at it—it was a recipe app, and the title on the saved page read, “Foolproof Dinner Recipes.”

“Yeah… Why don’t you sit down for a bit, okay?” Ming Shao was handling the dried beancurd sticks. “Stay for dinner. It won’t take long, I promise. I won’t keep you too late.”

Ming Shao spoke carefully, afraid that Shen Luo might refuse.

“Or should I get you a drink first? It’s that fruit drink you used to like.”

“Still have that fruit drink?” Shen Luo paused in surprise.

Although he hadn’t been gone long, it had been a while. Besides, back when they lived together, Ming Shao never paid attention to such things.

“It’s from just the other day, not expired.” Ming Zhao wiped his hands clean, opened the fridge, and handed the drink to Shen Luo.

“Is this okay?” Ming Shao asked nervously.

The fruit drink was indeed freshly prepared.

But it wasn’t the first time Ming Shao had prepared it.

After Shen Luo left, the villa became empty.

Ming Shao’s heart felt the same—empty, floating, ready to drift away with the slightest breeze.

He needed something to ground himself, a thought to hold onto. But the messages he sent were met with silence, and all attempts to find Shen Luo ended in failure.

He felt like he was drowning, like a piece of driftwood caught in a river without Shen Luo—lost, with no direction, nothing to cling to.

His heart had a gaping hole, and the life within him seemed to be slowly seeping out through it. Even as his gland was healing, Ming Shao often lay awake in pain, eyes open until dawn.

But that wasn’t the worst of it.

Countless times, he wondered—if he had been a beta, would he not have missed his chance? Could he have held onto Shen Luo? But there were no what-ifs. He was an alpha, and his stubbornness and prejudice had pushed Shen Luo farther and farther away.

It was his fault.

So the people around Shen Luo, those who knew where he had gone, didn’t tell him.

You see, everyone else knew how much he had hurt Shen Luo.

Everyone but Ming Shao, the fool who, under Shen Luo’s protection, had acted like a spoiled child.

And it wasn’t until Shen Luo took that protection away that Ming Shao finally realized it.

One day, Ming Shao found an empty fruit drink carton in the trash.

It reminded him of how Shen Luo used to enjoy those drinks—he would always find them in the fridge.

That afternoon, Ming Shao bought a bunch of fruit drinks, stuffing the fridge to the brim.

As if that could make up for something, or hold onto something.

But those fruit drinks expired without the person he was waiting for ever returning.

Everything expires, Ming Shao thought, and during the shelf life of this relationship, he had made every mistake he could.

He deserved it.

Yet, after that, Ming Shao developed a habit—he even added a special reminder in his schedule.

“Go to the store, get fresh fruit drinks.”

“Thank you.” Returning to the present, Shen Luo took the drink from Ming Shao’s hand.

“Oh, by the way, can you make the flavor a bit milder? I’ve caught a cold recently,” Shen Luo added.

This was his way of agreeing to stay for dinner.

“Sure, sure!” Ming Shao’s eyes lit up instantly.

“Anything else? You shouldn’t eat spicy food if you have a cold…”

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