Shael rested his head on Ronan's shoulder, both of them sunk into the cushions on the bed. He held Ronan's hand against his chest, his eyes wandering up to the ceiling.
"Still can't process things?" Ronan asked as he turned to face him.
"Mmm," that's all he said.
"When I first transmigrated into this world, I was so shocked to hear that males could become pregnant," Ronan had a warm smile, "now that you are pregnant with my baby, it's fascinating."
"What about you?" Shael looked into his eyes, "not Ronan from this world, but you. What do you think about kids?"
"Back in my world, I thought I would never be able to give my family the love they deserve, so I was sure that I would never have a family," Ronan's eyes got moist, "my mother passed away when I was little. It was hard for me to overcome the sadness and come out to talk to others. Before I knew it, it was too late. That's why I was thinking about a contract marriage so that no one would try to seduce me."
"Wait," Shael chuckled, "are you saying you were popular and others tried to seduce you?"
"I was the CEO of a fashion company. Some of them coveted money, and some of them coveted connections."
"You are not fun. I thought you would say I am quite handsome."
Ronan leaned his head above Shael's face, "I am handsome, or else why would you fall for me?"
"I fell for you because you cared about me." Ronan's intense gaze into his eyes gave him butterflies.
"There were a lot of red flags about me. You wouldn't care if I was ugly."
"Alright," Shael rolled his eyes playfully, "I admit I fell for your handsome face."
Ronan placed a kiss on his forehead before plopping back into the cushion.
"Now that I heard you are pregnant, at first it was fear that I had been hurting you. But regardless of guilt, I started imagining you holding the baby in your arms, and it made me impatient. Am I being weird?"
"No," Shael buried his head into Ronan's chest, "I can't wait either. Maybe that's just how it feels."
A long pause of silence went by.
"Are you still thinking about danger?" Shael felt anxiety in Ronan's pheromones.
"I can't stop thinking about it."
Shael placed his body above Ronan, placing his head above Ronan's chest, "you said it yourself. I was supposed to be more abused. You being here is good enough. Let's just not think about it much."
~~~~~
Corvin's hands rested above his thighs in his pants pockets, his eyes fixed on Sorrell's room door upstairs from the living room.
It's late already, he wouldn't come outside. Corvin felt a tug in his chest. I wish he'd come out to get water. I really want to see him.
Then Sorrell's words played in his head, "don't you have your own opinion?"
Maybe I should go and check on him. But what if he gets angry about it? He jolted his head, his eyes drifting to the marble floor.
He felt uneasy, like something was off in the air. His chest tightened at the unfamiliar tremble faintly beneath his feet, like the earth had lost its balance.
A strange pull made his stomach twist, as if gravity itself had shifted.
He quickly ran upstairs and saw Sorrell sitting, leaned against the bed, his head resting on his knees. Sorrell noticed his dreaded expression and looked up at him approaching.
"What's wrong?"
Corvin held him in his arms and ran toward the balcony. He ran to jump down, and Sorrell squinted his eyes shut, clinging to Corvin as he jumped and landed on the ground stably.
"Why? What's happening?" Sorrell asked Corvin, who was still holding him while looking around.
"Something is going on. Artheon's ground doesn't feel right. It's like something huge is approaching Artheon."
"Boom!!!" With a loud, deafening bang, the ground started to shatter, and Sorrell quickly covered his ears in extreme pain as he screamed.
Corvin placed him on the ground as he kneeled in front of him. Sorrell quickly wrapped his arms around Corvin, his body trembling in fear as the ground split with huge cracks. Corvin spread his arms, making a circle, and created an energy barrier for protection.
The more the ground crumbled and shattered, the house collapsed into cemented debris.
Corvin couldn't care less as he strengthened the circle, while Sorrell clutched his shirt above his belly before hugging Corvin with a stronger grip, tears streaming down his face. Then everything went blinding white.
~~~~
Shael was lying beside Ronan, his hands wrapped around Ronan's waist as he couldn't fall asleep. Suddenly, the ground started trembling, and both of them ran out holding hands. Outside, they saw the ground splitting.
Ronan sat down, pulling Shael beside him, "I think the author is trying to destroy the novel world."
Shael's breath quickened as he looked around, more and more cracks appearing in the ground, splitting it. He looked at Ronan, "I trust you." Ronan's eyes widened, "Ronan, I trust you with all my heart."
[85]
"No," Ronan took both of Shael's hands into his, "I don't want to leave. What are you doing?" he almost screamed.
[90]
"I don't want that," Ronan's voice cracked as he took Shael into his arms, "please, Shael, I don't want that."
"I love you," Shael said as tears flowed down from his eyes, dripping onto Ronan's shoulder. Shael closed his eyes.
[100]
He felt his arms empty and opened his eyes. Ronan was nowhere to be found. He wrapped both of his arms around his tummy through sobs, and everything turned white with blinding light.
Ronan could hear the beeping sound, distant traffic noise could be heard. He felt a grip on his hand.
Shael! He blinked open his eyes, and a white ceiling came into his sight. His vision was still somewhat blurry.
"Shael!" he mumbled, almost inaudibly. He turned his head to one side and saw a woman sitting beside him, one of her hands holding his. He noticed the tubes connected to him. His eyes grew cloudy with tears as he realized it was his stepmother sitting beside him.
"No, Shael!" he mumbled through muffled sobs, "no, that can't be," he shook his head side to side.
His mother finally realized that he was awake.
"Ronan, Ronan, are you awake?" she reached out to press the buzzer beside the bed and turned back to him, "oh my god, oh my god!"
Ronan's sobs grew louder, "Shael! Shael!" He was calling the same name over and over again.
"What's wrong, Ronan? Are you in pain?" She was overwhelmed.
The doctors entered the room and started a checkup on him. Ronan soon started wailing, unable to get a hold of himself. The stabbing pain in his chest plunged in deeper. Everything looked normal, then why was he crying? The doctors couldn't understand that.
Hours later, Ronan was lying on the bed, his eyes devoid of any emotion, his face showing no trace of expression. He rather looked exhausted as he lay silently, looking at the ceiling, not blinking much.
You betrayed me. We could have died together. Why would you let go of me? Tears dripped down onto the bed from his eyes.
"Your father is on a business trip out of the country, and your brother was busy with an important meeting. They will be here soon." His mother was bothered by his condition. She got up and walked to the nurses outside the room, "are you sure he is doing well? He seems to be in a daze."
"It is common for patients who wake up after a long time being in a coma. We will have to see further what the problem is. He seems emotionally unstable," the nurse explained.