"Never hide things from hard-core thinkers. They get more aggravated, more provoked by confusion than the most painful truths."
Tough beta cop, Wang Yibo, wakes up one morning with a hangover and some very vague memories of the previous night. One o...
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YIBO POV
The day finally came for the big barbecue/wedding and I couldn't believe how nervous I was. It wasn't so much seeing all my coworkers again after so many months. It wasn't even that they were all going to see me as a full-blown omega for the first time. It was that everything seemed so real all of a sudden. I guess I'd been living in this little world of me and Zhan and Fan Xing for the last couple weeks, and now that people were going to come over and see our little family together, it was just a little overwhelming.
This new life as a father in a husband, it was amazing. It was more than anything I could have ever dreamed possible when I was a single cop going to strip clubs and picking up random dudes. I can't believe I thought I was happy. I really believed that anything other than that life would be boring, or would make me a lesser man.
But I was so wrong. I was wrong about it being boring and I was wrong about childbirth and fatherhood being hard. I guess it's the unknown that really is the scary part. And change. But really, it isn't even the actual change that's the scariest. It's that moment right before you've changed. Before you realize what you're really capable of. Before you remember that you've done so many things like this before in your life. Things that were scary and seemed impossible. Things that you believed were all wrong, but somehow turned out fine. Or more than fine. And that's when you know that what's in front of you is just one more adventure. It's all a matter of how you look at it.
I never did give myself enough credit for being able to handle just about anything. But when I thought about how far I'd come in such a short time, I was really proud of myself. And now ... now I knew that anything was possible. Especially with Zhan at my side.
I walked out to the backyard with a tray of little smokies wrapped in bacon and set them down on the table of food and drinks Zhan had set up. I really wanted to set the tray right on my lap, but I figured I should share. Zhan had done such an amazing job. There was a long table packed with salads, appetizers, chips, and dips. There was a huge pile of all kinds of meats ready to be barbecued. And there were drinks for days. I grabbed a soda and made my way toward the crowd that was gathered near the grill.
It was a huge backyard filled with grass and trees and gorgeous landscaped areas, and right now it was packed full. Members of both our families who had been able to fly in were mingling with the cops from the precinct. My brother was in the middle of a group of big, burly men who were all gushing over teeny baby A-Xing, who they were gently passing around. Zhan was right there too, laughing, and chatting, and keeping an eagle eye on his son. He really was good at being a protector, and it warmed my heart to know that he would always be there for us.
"So, Zhan tells me you're interested in coming back to work," I heard from behind me.
I turned around to see the captain walking up with a beer in his hand and a smile on his face.
