After waiting in the living room for eight hundred years without seeing Eno, Martin’s patience finally ran out and he took the lift up and knocked hard on Eno’s door: “Are you done?”
“Coming, coming!” Eno said, opening the door and saying: “Let’s go.”
Their relationship had eased after that day, and when Martin mentioned offhandedly that he could take him to bask in the sun, Eno said excitedly that he wanted to go to an amusement park.
Although Martin didn’t know what fun it would be for two spirited guys who were nearly 30 years old to go to the amusement park, he couldn’t resist Eno acting like a baby every day, so he finally decided to go, everything was based on Eno’s happiness.
Eno pushed Martin downstairs and was about to go out when Martin suddenly remembered something and said suspiciously: “Describe to me, what are you wearing today?”
Eno’s expression froze, and he immediately said: “Grey sweater and black pants!”
“Is that so?”
Martin sneered, pulling out his own personal terminal and voice manipulating it to bring up the colour recognition applet to scan Eno’s body — the ruthless electronic mechanical sound revealed the fact that the fluorescent green slacks were on.
“……”
“Go change into something normal, the organisation does not advocate fancy dressing.” Martin scoffed, “Nonsense.”
Eno grunted twice in displeasure, thumped upstairs to change and came back, pushed his wheelchair sullenly and said: “Changed.”
Martin reached out and held the wheelchair down: “Changed into what?”
Eno simply took his hand and ran it over his body: “Pullover grey jumper with an embroidered lion in the middle, you can feel the texture right?”
“Leggings, plain black.”
Martin’s hand was forced to run around his tight thighs, his heart tingling a little, and he hastily withdrew it, coughing clearly and saying: “All right, let’s go.”
Eno answered quickly and pushed the door open, his steps so light and quick that he seemed about to take flight. A smug grin spread across his face, with a hint of rebellious pleasure, like a child who has succeeded in his prank.
He had a large red flower on the butt of his leggings, an enlarged version of the one the kindergarten teacher used to reward the children with.
The two of them walked slowly along the blind path in the long autumn afternoon sun, the amusement park was not far from the slums, Eno could walk there in half an hour without looking left or right. On the way, Martin picked out a few funny things about the army and told him about them, which made Eno giggle. Martin was not originally a closed-off person, at most, he looked a bit aloof because he looked like a cool guy, but when he got to know people, he was quite cheerful and didn’t make people feel bad at all.
The two laughed and talked as they arrived at the amusement park, and Eno leapt away in a flash, stuffing a cotton candy directly into Martin’s hand after a while and pulling him to sit on a stone bench by the roadside: “Eat it quickly, it’ll melt later.”
“Greasy.”
“It’s not greasy, I ordered lemon and sea salt flavour for you.” Eno smiled and took a bite of the most expensive cotton candy in his hand, a mixture of several fruit flavours, known as the supreme tropical version, and ate a mouthful of satisfyingly sweet and fruity flavour.
He actually hadn’t been to the amusement park many times, and every time he accompanied Lea, he just stood and watched from below, and occasionally goes up to play two Ferris wheel-style health projects and does not dare to openly smile, and he couldn’t eat the cotton candy because it would get all over his mouth at the end, which was very unattractive. Now that he is an old man, he has been given the opportunity to make up for his childhood, not sure whether it is heartbreaking or funny to say it.
Speaking of which, his teenage years were a real bore. He followed the schedule to a tee perfectly, and there was no fun to speak of. It was like a lifetime ago now, not sure how he survived at that time.
Martin took a sceptical bite of the cotton candy in his hand and found that it was actually salty and sweet, so he reluctantly gave him the benefit of the doubt and took two more bites. Eno didn’t bother with him either, finishing his cotton candy and heading straight for the rollercoaster, leaving Martin in the shade within sight.
Martin didn’t have to worry about whether Eno gets lost or not; he was howling more than a seven-year-old Omega boy on the rollercoaster, and it was really hard for Martin not to feel his presence. At first he felt a little embarrassed, but then Eno laughed so happily that he licked the half-melted cotton candy in his hand as if it were infected by the joy.
Martin thought: Forget it, I originally took him out to relax, as long as he is happy.
After a while, he was gnawing on the small stick that was left over from the cotton candy when he felt a cold glance fall on him. He held his breath and he didn’t move, and the piercing sensation of the sight really intensified, stirring him uncomfortably.
Martin finished gnawing on the stick slowly and methodically, patting the scraps from his hands and dropping both hands to the wheels as if he was just too sunburnt from the shifting sun and preparing to turn the wheelchair to the shade in front of him. With a few pushes he touched the hidden pager hidden on the inside and the invisible headset hidden in his ear automatically connected to Nightingale’s communication channel: “Someone’s following me.”
Nightingale was shocked: “What?! Hang in there boss!!! I’m coming to save you!!!”
“Don’t be glib.” Martin scolded gently, “It’s not necessarily me that’s exposed, they could be following Eno. They think I can’t see, so they won’t do anything too stealthy, just send two people over to check it out.”
Nightingale’s side immediately responded and the communication cut off, Martin let go and stretched out, leaning lazily back in his wheelchair. His eyes were half-squinted as if he was really enjoying a relaxing afternoon at the amusement park, except that no one noticed his suddenly throbbing eyelids fluttering and the constant grinding of his teeth.
Half an hour later, Eno came down from the drop tower and returned to Martin’s side, slipping him a bottle of mineral water, as if he’d finally remembered he was there, with perfunctory concern: “Hey, are you bored?”
“Still ok.” Martin’s low voice sounded so gritty, “Why did you have to paste a red flower?!”
Eno was shocked: “I thought you couldn’t see it?”
Martin said grimly: “I just went to ask the owner of the cotton candy vendor, he has a deep impression of you.”
The truth was that two of his trained men were dying laughing into his earphones.
Immediately conceding as soon as the story was revealed, Eno said sarcastically: “I’ll tear it off, don’t be mad.”
With that, he reached for his buttocks and with an ear-piercing tear, Eno crumpled the torn sticker into a ball and threw it in the trash, saying with sullen eyebrows: “Ok, there’s really nothing left.”
Martin thought he sounded quite aggrieved and felt, good-naturedly and amusingly, like an old father with kids: “No, you just had to be mischievous?”
“……”
Eno didn’t say anything, just scuffed his toes against the gravel floor and looked down at the small stones swirled out from under his feet by the tips of his shoes.
“Say something.” Martin said without a smile, “It’s not like I can see.”
Eno simply leaned over and took his hand, saying in a tone that seemed soft but was actually roguish: “……I was wrong ma, I’m sorry.”
Martin was going to ask him what he was thinking, but now he couldn’t. He waved his hand and told the boy to go and have a good time. Eno sat next to him and gulped down two gulps of water, rested for a while and then came back to life, excited to drag Martin to the haunted house.
“I’ve asked, the wheelchair can be pushed in! How exciting it is to play without being able to see, you can’t even run if the female ghost reaches for your feet hehe…”
Martin said to himself that in case the Kersi family sent someone to stab them both in the haunted house, the bones would be half cold and no one would even notice. The stalker was indeed not a professional. He could not escape the anti-tracking detection that had been trained in the army for years. He had been locked down. The only thing left to do was to monitor his whereabouts after work. Martin breathed a sigh of relief, and said flatly: “Not going, scared of ghosts. Is there anything else you want to play besides the haunted house?”
Eno was a little lost: “I just wanted to play with you ma.”
Martin heard the deep anticipation in his tone and said: “Wait till my leg is better, we’ll come back again.”
The corners of Enoch’s mouth grinned slightly, a slightly sad smile, and he whispered a soft ‘ok’. Then he ran out and played like nobody’s business for nearly two more hours, waiting for the sun to sink and the staff to clear the park with a loud speaker before he reluctantly ran back in and threw Martin a huge light brown plush bear and pushed Martin’s wheelchair, smelling like sweat: “There’s a shooting competition over there, and I won a bear for you. Let’s go home.”
Martin woke up from a light sleep, hugged the bear helplessly, and was in a trance for a while before remembering that he was in an amusement park: “Are you happy?”
Eno replied loudly: “En!”
“I don’t have anything to do for the next two days, where else would you like to go?”
Eno mused: “A lot.”
“No rush, take your time.”
“Okay.”
They walked out of the park against the sinking sun and headed home the way they had come. The streets were crowded with people leaving work, and Eno deftly pushed his wheelchair through the crowd, careful to protect Martin from being bumped into, while Martin bowed slightly, forced by Eno to protect his bear. The two men stumbled home and the moment the door opened Martin felt the world clear. Eno fished the bear out of his arms, laid it on the sofa, turned to the kitchen and put the blackfish in the pot to stew, then returned to the living room and slumped on the sofa, his puffed chest still excited.
Martin could still hear Eno’s bellows of breath as he emerged from the room and helplessly went over to him and nudged him: “Are you ok?”
“Yeah.” Eno said, “Happy.”
Martin smiled back and sat next to him for a while as Eno huffed and suddenly asked what time it was, then jumped up from the sofa like a fire and went to the kitchen to turn off the fire. In the evening Martin was given a cup of rich, creamy tofu and fish soup that tastes completely fresh. After dinner, Eno carried the bear upstairs and set it squarely next to his pillow, returning to his desk to glance at the calendar, getting closer and closer to the day marked by that red circle.
He sighed wordlessly and collapsed into bed.
As soon as Martin entered the recovery room, he heard Nightingale and the others greet him with a smile in their tone that they couldn’t hide.
Martin: “……Laugh if you want.”
Nightingale was the first to break out: “I really can’t hahahahahahaha new brother-in-law is too funny too hahahahahahaha!”
Martin woodenly: “Is it really that funny?”
“It is.” The Alpha who had been sent to protect them laughed so hard that tears were coming out of his eyes, “I took a picture for posterity, you must see it when you can see boss hahahahahahaha!”
They were laughing so hard that Martin imagined a big red flower on the back of Eno’s ass and finally laughed along. He only laughed twice, however, and then he said coolly: “Logan, send a copy of the photo to my terminal, and then you delete the original, you’re not allowed keep it.”
The Alpha, Logan, immediately looked bitter, and finally deleted the photo because of Martin’s power. Only then was Martin satisfied and turned to business: “How is the stalker’s investigation?”
Nightingale also restrained her smile, and said seriously: “It’s a Beta. Followed him for three days, he’s been living in a group rented house in the main city. Goes out at six o’clock every morning, and works as a cleaner in your residential area, Boss, they’ve been around your house all the time. We have checked, and the real estate company he works for is the property of the Duke Kersi’s family.”
“One more thing, the people we sent to monitor Kersi’s house took a photo of someone with crimson eyes entering the house, it was too far away to tell if it was an Omega or an Inhuman, but the eyes were clearly photographed and it really wasn’t a naturally occurring pupil colour.”
Martin immediately said: “Send the photo to Grey and inform our legion to be more vigilant when patrolling these days. The Inhumans have been popping up less at the star boundary in the last two years, but it’s hard to say they’re not planning a new attack. Also, get more men from the legion to York to make sure we can round up all of them as soon as we have solid evidence to press Kersi to death.”
Everyone looked serious. Two years ago the Inhumans suddenly shrank back to their own star field as if they were defeated, and the Federation had become increasingly relaxed, focusing on power reform, considering whether to expand the way Alpha’s earned merit points to encourage them to invest in society, and even calling for the abolition of the merit point system and the repeal of the Omega Distribution Act. Even the Ministry of the Army has begun to discuss whether to abolish some of the troops stationed at the star boundary.
But Martin had been stationed at the star boundary for nearly ten years and knew that the Inhumans, confident of their power, were by no means a character to rest on their laurels and would return sooner or later. If they let up now, it would be too late to react then. He regarded all his men as brothers and did not want to see any unnecessary sacrifice from them.
Nightingale bowed his head in agreement and went off on an encrypted channel to send a message to the Silver Cross. Martin then went to the doctor for a muscle maintenance massage, who again politely stated that his muscles were not in good condition and that he might not be able to return to his pre-injury peak if his nerve links were not repaired on its own.
Martin remained silent and the doctor finally sighed in frustration and handed him over to Nightingale to be escorted out. As the wheelchair was about to be pushed out of the building, Nightingale suddenly said: “Boss, you’re really much more cheerful now than you used to be, Logan and I are particularly happy.”
Martin froze: “Wasn’t I like this before?”
“You always used to be sullen.” Nightingale said heartily, “Especially after the crash…I haven’t seen you smile so much like today in a long time.”
“……Is it?”
He wasn’t sure if that was a question to Nightingale or himself, it did seem like life had been different in some ways since Eno had arrived, and he couldn’t really say why if he had to. But just the thought of Eno did give him a headache and a bit of unexplainable pleasure.
He mused all the way home and heard the conversation inside come to a screeching halt as he pushed open the door.
Sigor rose from the sofa and greeted him cordially: “Mr. Martin, I’m Sigor, the prison guard from York. I was the one who brought Eno here last time, I don’t know if you remember me. I’m here today to review Eno’s condition.”
Martin nodded slightly and said: “I remember you, please sit down.”
Sigor resumed his seat on the sofa and Eno came over and pushed his wheelchair so that he was face to face with Sigor and sat himself down on the sofa next to him.
When Sigor saw that everyone was present, he said without further ado: “Mr Martin, since Eno married you, there have been no violations such as going out without permission, right?”
Martin said in a quiet voice: “No. He’s been out with me three times, to the hospital, the aquarium and the amusement park. I’ve signed the corresponding outing reports.”
“Ok. Our side shows a movement track consistent with the surveillance bracelet.” Sigor said, “And has Eno shown any aggressive intent or other tendency to reoffend? If there is a threat, you can report it to me now, the Federation will definitely protect the personal safety of every citizen.”
“No.” Martin said after a pause, “He’s very well behaved.”
Prison guard Sigorl dutifully filled out the search report, and he asked some more routine questions, which Martin answered. Finally Sigor closed the folder, glanced at Eno with some concern and spoke, “Based on the bracelet’s monitoring of the pheromone levels in Eno’s bodily fluids, you two haven’t made the final mark.”
Martin: “……What’s wrong?”
Eno, who had been sitting on the couch with his eyebrows lowered, pretending to be good, suddenly widened his eyes at the words and said: “Don’t—”
Sigor couldn’t help but frown: “Eno should be approaching his heat period, and if the final mark is not completed by the end of the heat period, the prison authorities will consider the two of you to be fraudulently married. This is a very serious offence and you will be forcibly divorced by the mastermind, and you, sir, will probably have to pay a small fine, which will be very small given your health, so don’t worry. Eno on the other hand will be sent back to prison to continue his sentence.”
He glanced at Yinuo with some complaints: “Don’t you know yet? I should have informed you when you signed the letter of consent, but Eno said in the escort car that he wanted to tell you personally, and told me not to tell you. This matter is my fault.”
“Fortunately it’s not too late.” Sigor knew by the look on Eno’s face that he probably hadn’t said anything at all and wasn’t going to get more involved in what was going on between them, so he got up and prepared to go out, “I wish you two a happy life.”
Eno pursed his lips and got up to see Sigor out, closing the door behind him and sitting down next to Martin.
Martin was caught off guard by the news and his mind went into a tizzy, and the atmosphere was rather silent. After a long time Eno smiled frankly and said: “Take me to Irene ba. We’re going to divorce anyway, so you can give me to them and let them cure your eyes and legs, and count it as a thank you for taking me in all these days.”
“I thought you didn’t want to go to the waste planet?”
“I won’t go.” Eno’s tone sounded unsure if he was comforting him or himself, “I have my own ways…you stay out of it.”
What ways could he have? Martin thought. It was true that Eno might be able to take the guards by surprise when the power inside him exploded, but even if he escaped from the escort van with all his luck points, he would be the most wanted man in the Federation from then on, not to mention being hunted by the Kersis and living like a rat in the dark underground of some remote planet for the rest of his life.
It seemed that everything suddenly became clear, why Eno had been so brazenly pestering him to keep him company, why he had acted in such a childish and capricious manner. It was because he felt that these were his last days of freedom and he really wanted to be friends with him for a while.
It was probably the first day they met, when he finished saying that he didn’t want to have a relationship with him because he had another Omega in mind, that Eno had given up on the idea of seducing him into bed. Eight years had passed and Eno seemed to have changed a lot, but in fact he is still the innocent little boy who is acting foolishly.
A heavy sigh issued from the bottom of his heart, with a subtle hint of relief. Martin looked up at him and said, word for word: “The doctor says there’s another way to cure me, why don’t we both try?”
melon: 🌺🍑🤣🤣🤣
