Oh. My. Fate?! (BL, Volume 11, Part 1)

198 Shattered

Author's Note: Sorry for not updating the last week! I was sick again and it took forever to get the results from my blood test back and be put on meds so I wasn't up to being online much. I'm finally feeling better now though and will update the missing chapters of OMF (and everything else ...) today ~

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Jinde crouched down next to the child, his heart squeezing painfully while listening to the heart-wrenching sobs. He observed the child for a moment, not wanting to be rash in approaching.

Judging by the somewhat sharp nails on their fingers, this should be a child of his race. They looked young but seeing as dragon children grew up quickly at first, it was still difficult to tell the age. They might be less than ten years old. At that age, the development usually started to slow down. After that, it became difficult to tell a more exact age. Either way, this child was too young to be left unattended like this.

With nobody around and a crying child in front of him, Jinde naturally spoke up. "What's the matter with you?" He softened his voice deliberately, not wanting to scare the child. Who knew what was going on, after all? If they had been scared, it would be worse if they ran off in fright again.

The child didn't speak and just continued to cry, the small hands clenched into fists that rubbed at their eyes, only letting some tears escape.

Jinde didn't mind. This child seemed old enough to speak but that didn't mean that they would tell a stranger what was going on. That would need a bit of convincing.

He looked at the child more closely, noticing the pale green robe they were wearing. It seemed to be of good quality, definitely the kind that would be worn by the child of a well-off family. "Who are your parents?"

There wasn't any identifying feature on the clothes. He only saw a jade bangle peek out from the sleeve. It was beautifully carved, with clouds and small animals. The kind that a child would like but not the kind you could just buy. It had probably been specifically made for this child which only added to the conjecture that this was someone from a well-off family.

Unfortunately, these were all the clues he could find and the child still just cried in front of him, constantly wiping at their tears. They didn't say anything whether it was about their identity or what had caused them to cry so much.

Jinde could only sigh lightly. He reached out and gently rubbed the top of the child's head. "It's alright. Whatever happened, I'm sure we can find a way to solve it. Don't worry about it."

The child finally stopped rubbing their eyes and instead burrowed into his arms, continuing to cry there.

Jinde gave a faint hum and still continued to stroke their head. Looking down, he could only see the black hair and some of the green robe peeking out. Meanwhile, the heart-rending sobs still rang out. It was quite pitiful.

"So, what happened?" He tried asking again but still didn't get a response. Without knowing, there was nothing he could do for the child though. He thought for a moment, continuing to gently rub their head, and then just gave it a few guesses.

"Did you get lost as well?" Glancing at the dark surroundings and seeing how he didn't know how he had gotten here either, it seemed not that unlikely. Unfortunately, the child still had no reaction.

"Then ... did you get hurt?" He hadn't seen any wounds but with a child this small, just tripping and falling could make them cry for a long time. He had experienced it several times with Jin Ling. No matter how durable the body of a dragon child was, pain was still pain, after all.

The child continued to cry so Jinde could only assume that he didn't get it right this time either. What else was there then? "Do you miss your parents?" This might be a bit like getting lost but maybe the child knew where they were but felt all alone. It shouldn't be impossible.

This time, the crying actually stopped for a moment.

Jinde nodded to himself. Sure enough, something was up with the child's parents. "Well, how about going to find them then?" He reached up and cupped the child's cheeks, gently lowering his head to look at the small face.

The child that had been crying so desperately finally stopped completely. Instead, they opened their eyes and looked at Jinde exploringly as if not sure if they could trust him.

Jinde stared at those eyes in a daze. It was for no other reason than their color. These eyes ... they were of a dark golden color, very similar to his own. And even though he didn't understand, his heart immediately gave birth to a certain thought.

"... Xiang Ling?"

Hearing this name, the child blinked their eyes. Then, it grabbed Jinde's arm and clung to him, making an aggrieved expression. "Hungry!" This was the word the little one finally spit out.

Jinde couldn't respond though. He simply stared at the golden-eyed and black-haired child clinging to his side, his heart racing and his mind in a mess.

Xiang Ling, that was one of the names he and Leng Jin Yu had decided on for their child, the one that was not yet born. Their child ... the one that he had longed for many, many years. The one that had been supposed to enter their lives in another nine and a half months when the battle occurred.

Suddenly, Jinde's eyes widened. He bent down to hug the child tightly, his own golden eyes filling with tears. The word the child had called out started to make sense when the memories he had suppressed all came rushing back.

Before he knew it, the darkness around him shattered and when he opened his eyes, what he saw was the wall of the room he and his husband had occupied in the dragon king's palace.

Jinde did not think about anything. He didn't bother about Leng Jin Yu behind him either. He pulled out of his arms, clambered out of bed, and rushed out of the room and into the courtyard, falling to his knees next to the shell. Seeing the spiritual energy that had almost run out, the tears spilled over and he hugged the beautiful shell he had chosen with his husband, crying not any less than the child he had seen in his dream.