"Daddy… will you stay… just for a while…?" he whispered hoarsely.
Shen Xiao paused. Slowly, he pulled the small armchair closer to the bed and sank into it heavily, his broad shoulders tense beneath his crisp white shirt.
The pale moonlight spilled across the pastel walls, casting faint shadows of stuffed animals and toy cars onto the cream carpet. The only sound was the quiet ticking of the dinosaur-shaped clock above the study desk.
Shen Xiao sat stiffly in the small armchair beside Shen Xuan's race-car bed, his elbows resting on his spread knees, fingers steepled under his chin. His obsidian eyes were dark, reflecting nothing but the moonlit window.
For a long time, he sat in silence, watching his son's small chest rise and fall with each shaky breath as sleep slowly loosened his tense grip on the stuffed bear.
Finally, he spoke, his deep voice low and toneless, breaking the suffocating quiet.
"Xuan'er."
