CNS | Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Birthday

Shen Run’s fourteenth birthday was struck by a torrential rain.

June in Alicia belonged to the dry season, so it rarely rained. When the first drop fell, a bad premonition settled over Shen Run’s heart.

He had already gone two months without seeing his dad.

Shen Run and his dad did not live together. His dad did not mistreat him, and the 80-square-meter apartment was more than enough for a child in middle school.

His dad had never visited very often to begin with. Ever since the woman named Zhou Zhimin accidentally died, and his dad failed the company’s promotion evaluation, he had never come again.

So when he saw the cake on the table, Shen Run’s heart started pounding violently, and the emotion called joy was written all over his face without the slightest restraint.

What his dad said next poured a bucket of cold water over him.

-This is my last time coming to see you.

The man said.

-I am no longer your dad.

Even now, Shen Run could no longer remember what expression, what tone, his dad had used when he said those words.

Maybe it was relief.

-Why? Was I not good enough?

He cried as he questioned his dad.

-No, that’s not it.

The man in the black formal shirt shook his head.

-I looked at your report card, you are an excellent child.

Then why?

Shen Run’s classmates were also the children of company employees, and several of them had cried to him about how their parents flew into a rage because they were dissatisfied with their grades. He had even heard that the children’s school performance was tied to the employees’ performance evaluations too.

He was afraid that if his grades were bad, his dad would hate him, so he studied desperately. Luckily, he was naturally smart, and that was not difficult for him.

But why was he still hated?

Shen Run asked his dad with red-rimmed eyes.

-If you hate me, then why did you and she have me in the first place?

The man only shrugged.

-That was a company requirement, I had to complete it. Now that I have resigned, I don’t need it anymore.

He said it so lightly, as if Shen Run were a doll no longer needed, something that could be discarded at will.

Shen Run stood silently before the table, staring at that ridiculous birthday cake, a thing that symbolized the fourteenth year since he had come into this world.

As a shackle that bound the man’s life.

-Shen Run, life belongs to oneself. You are like that, and so am I.

-Everyone will have family who are closer and more important than their original relatives, even far more important than those relatives held together only by a little blood relation, won’t they?

The man stood up from the sofa and put on his coat.

-I am leaving. We will not meet again after this. Take care.

He opened the door and left, leaving behind a blurred back, the last memory his dad left in Shen Run’s mind.

At that moment, the emotions suppressed inside Shen Run erupted like a flood. He cried out, begging his dad not to abandon him. His dad was his only connection to this world.

-Dad! I beg you! Don’t leave me……

But tears and screams were useless. That person left with utter determination, and quickly disappeared from Shen Run’s sight.

The memories that followed were chaotic. It seemed he had smashed that birthday cake, which had been meant to mock him, to the floor, and what shattered was not only the cake. Fragments of all sizes were scattered all over the ground.

He took out the little thing hidden deep in the bookshelf. That was the only gift his dad had given him over all these years, a sleeve blade worn on the wrist.

In the two years since receiving the gift, he had quietly honed the blade of the short sword. At first it had come from the instinct of a pubescent boy seeking excitement, but now it felt as if fate had completed a closed loop.

Then so be it.

He thought. Anyway, I already have no ties left in this world.

His only relative had personally severed the bond between them.

At this moment, Shen Run was like a kite with its string cut, with nowhere to rely on, slowly drifting up into the void of the sky.

He locked himself in the bathroom, and with the sleeve blade he had received from his father, the one he had personally sharpened, he gently cut his wrist open.

As consciousness faded, he heard knocking on the door, the sound of the lock being opened, hurried footsteps.

A small figure opened the glass door and stumbled into his shattered life.

-……bro……ther……

That childish voice was like waves striking the reef, vivid and powerful. With those repeated calls, Shen Run returned to the human world.

From then on, for fourteen years, the destinies of the two were tightly bound together.

Scene 10

“Uh……”

So uncomfortable.

Shen Run struggled to open his eyes. He seemed to have gone through a messy night.

First he had dreamed of a moist, scorching, erotic dream, then he had dreamed of his fourteenth birthday, that terrible day.

No, actually it had not been that terrible. That day had also been a lucky day, the starting point where his fate crossed with Shen Ze’s.

Wait. Shen Ze.

Shen Run lowered his head and looked at the silver-white mechanical arm wrapped around his waist, and his heart thumped.

What was going on?!

His groggy mind instantly cleared, and he tried his best to break free of those strong, powerful arms, barely turning his head back to look.

“Xiaoze?”

Shen Run’s voice was a little hoarse. “Why are you here?”

I remember locking the door yesterday, didn’t I?

“Mm……”

Shen Ze was holding him from behind. After being woken, he sleepily rubbed his head against Shen Run’s back. “Ge… so sleepy……”

Just as Shen Run was about to question why he had run into his bed, Shen Ze muttered softly.

“Last night it rained so hard, with thunder and lightning. I was so scared.”

Did you really think that kind of line suited your height?

Shen Run sighed helplessly. “How old are you already? And you’re still scared of thunder.”

Shen Ze lay against his lower back and gave a few low chuckles. “I am scared. If I didn’t have ge with me, I’d be scared to death.”

When he spoke, the hot breath swept across Shen Run’s lower back, and Shen Run could not help but shiver. Some not-so-good memories surfaced in his mind.

Thinking of the dream’s overly real soft sensation, the wet desire buried deep in his head opened its eyes.

The muffled, sultry sounds of sucking seemed to linger by his ear, and he suddenly felt a swelling beneath his collarbone.

Bang!

With a burst of strength, Shen Run broke free of Shen Ze’s embrace, got out of bed, and jogged out of the bedroom. He did not control his strength when closing the door, and it made a rather loud sound.

Like a gust of wind, he rushed into the bathroom, stripped off his pajamas, pulled the shower switch over to the cold-water side, and turned it on. A soft curtain of water fell, slightly easing Shen Run’s restless heart.

“Shen Run, you’re really crazy……”

How could you have such filthy thoughts when your sweet and kind younger brother was hugging you?

A person can’t, at the very least they shouldn’t……

He sighed and reached out his hand in the cold water.

It had really been many years since he had done this, so many that Jiede often mocked him for looking like a monk who had spent years in ascetic practice at a monastery.

Back then, Shen Run had asked how she could tell, and she had given him a meaningful sidelong glance. “There is a reason you still look like an eighteen-year-old male college student……”

Sigh.

Shen Run pressed his forehead against the cool tiles, his feelings complicated.

Scene 11

He lingered in the bathroom for a very long time.

When he came out, Shen Ze was already standing there with his arms crossed, leaning against the partition by the entryway as he looked at him.

“Ge, what were you rushing off to do just now?”

Shen Run’s heart, which had finally calmed down, thumped wildly again. He glared at Shen Ze. “I was rushing to use the toilet, is that not okay?”

Shen Ze let out a soft snort of laughter. “It is.”

Shen Run rolled his eyes at him in annoyance, and just as he was about to leave, he heard Shen Ze speak casually.

“Ge, happy birthday.”

Shen Run’s heart jolted, and many memories awoke. After thinking it over, June 12 really was his birthday.

No wonder he had dreamed of those things.

It seemed that in last night’s dream, there had also been someone who wished him a happy birthday. Shen Run could not remember it. With dreams, not remembering was normal.

He walked into the living room, took a Marlboro from the cigarette pack on the coffee table, and lit it.

“It’s been so many years since I last celebrated a birthday. If you hadn’t said it, I would have forgotten.”

He thought about it. On a special day, it should be celebrated. “Then, do you want to go out and eat something good?”

Shen Ze shook his head. “Does ge not like celebrating birthdays?”

“I don’t dislike celebrating birthdays, but today is not only my birthday, it’s also the anniversary of the day you and I started our new life together.”

Shen Run stepped forward and ruffled the little curls on top of Shen Ze’s head, then remembered an important question. “Xiaoze, weren’t you here on a business trip? What are your working hours?”

Shen Ze looked confused. “Ge, today is the weekend.”

He raised his hand and pointed at the clock. “And besides, it’s already four in the afternoon.”

?

Shen Run coughed a few times in shock and looked in the direction Shen Ze pointed. Damn it, it really was four in the afternoon.

That damned Changqing Bio, had they put ether into the sleeping agent?

He pushed all the blame for oversleeping onto that sleeping agent. Then he remembered the fact that he was about to be late.

Today was Heimdall’s weekly meeting day, and as the organization’s leader, Shen Run had to be there in person.

He hurried back into the bedroom, pulled a black shirt out from the corner of the wardrobe and threw it on, quietly opened the storage room door, and took the car key he had forgotten about.

Shen Run usually went to Eden on foot, after all, the apartment was only one street away from there. But Heimdall’s headquarters was much farther from the apartment, and driving there took about forty minutes.

“I need to handle some work-related matters. I’ll be back soon, so wait for me at home.”

Using one hand, Shen Run buttoned his shirt from bottom to top, but he accidentally buttoned it in the wrong order, and he clicked his tongue impatiently.

“You always get the order of the buttons wrong.” Shen Ze had seen everything. “Ge, you really haven’t changed at all.”

He walked over with his long legs and patiently used his slender mechanical fingers to button Shen Run’s shirt for him.

Looking at the beautiful youth leaning close in front of him, Shen Run’s mood inexplicably brightened.

Shen Ze was right. This scene had no idea how many times it had played out in the Alicia home. Whenever he made a mistake because he was in a hurry, Shen Ze would always solve his troubles like this, unhurriedly.

“There is a restaurant on the west coast that makes really delicious desserts. Let me think, caramel cream pudding. You should like that, right?”

Almost on impulse, Shen Run raised his right hand and lightly pressed it against one side of Shen Ze’s face, rubbing it up and down twice. “Be good and wait for ge to come home. I’ll take you there to eat.”

Shen Ze rubbed his face against the palm of his hand twice and nodded obediently.

Before leaving, Shen Run specially told him, “If you’re bored, then go to Eden. Jiede only looks fierce, she really likes you.”

Then he put on his suit jacket, took the elevator down to the garage, and drove toward the edge of the city.