Mistaken Love And Hate

13. Building Bridges

The road to reconciliation was anything but smooth. Wei Wuxian agreed to let Lan Wangji be part of the pregnancy, but their interactions were fraught with tension. Trust, once broken, was not easily mended. Every word, every glance, carried an undercurrent of something unspoken, something fragile. The walls between them had not simply been built—they had been reinforced by years of silence, misunderstandings, and betrayal. Even now, as Wangji hovered near, offering assistance, Wei Wuxian remained distant, his guarded demeanor like an invisible barrier between them.

Wei Wuxian found himself caught between resentment and something softer, a hesitant curiosity he could barely admit even to himself. There were moments when Wangji would do something small—reach out to steady him when his balance faltered, or ask if he was feeling alright—that seemed to stir something in him. But just as quickly, the past would rise to the surface, and the warmth of the gesture would turn cold.

One evening, as the sun dipped low and painted the sky in hues of red and orange, Wei Wuxian stood by the window in the Jiang mansion, his fingers resting against the cool glass. His thoughts were a jumble, and the quiet weight of his growing belly made everything feel heavier. He could hear Wangji's voice from the other room, asking Jiang Yanli about his health, the edge of worry in his tone. The sound of it scraped at him, stirring up old emotions, but for the first time in a while, Wei Wuxian didn't immediately shut it down.

Wangji had been nothing if not persistent. He showed up every day, even when Wei Wuxian barely acknowledged him. He asked about the baby, he insisted on helping with errands, and when Wei Wuxian flinched at the touch of his hand, he would pull back without a word, though his eyes—those intense, pleading eyes—never seemed to leave him. There was something almost pitiful in the way Wangji refused to give up, even as the gap between them only seemed to widen.

Tonight, however, something felt different. Wei Wuxian felt it in the air as he stood by the window, a subtle shift, as though the tension was growing too thick to ignore. And yet, he couldn't summon the courage to turn around, to face the man whose presence made him feel both suffocated and strangely... anchored.

"Are you going to keep hiding from me?" Wangji's voice broke through the quiet, low and calm, but there was a trace of frustration behind it, something that stirred an unfamiliar knot in Wei Wuxian's chest.

He stiffened but didn't turn. "I'm not hiding. Just thinking."

The silence that followed was thick, heavy with the weight of what had been said and unsaid. Then, finally, Wei Wuxian let out a quiet sigh and turned to face him. The dim light caught on the sharpness of Wangji's features, his eyes dark with emotion, but there was something else there now—something softer.

"I don't know how to do this," Wei Wuxian confessed, his voice a breathless whisper. He gestured weakly toward his belly. "I don't know how to let you in when everything about us feels like a mistake."

Wangji's jaw tightened, but he didn't look away. "I don't want to fix everything right away. I just want to be here, for you... for the child. I can't undo the past, Wei Wuxian, but I want to help you through this, no matter what."

There it was—the raw honesty in his voice, the vulnerability that Wei Wuxian hadn't expected, and yet, it was the very thing that had kept him from rejecting Wangji entirely. The sincerity felt like a heavy weight in his chest, and he found himself fighting the urge to let go, to just say everything he had kept inside for so long.

But just as quickly as it came, the wave of emotion ebbed. Wei Wuxian looked down at his hands, his fingers trembling. "I'm not sure I'm ready to trust you again."

Wangji's face softened, but he said nothing. He simply took a step closer, a tentative reach toward him.

Wei Wuxian's heart skipped, and he stepped back instinctively, shaking his head. "No, don't. I can't... I can't do this right now."