The way he looked at Kand-Lei with infinite tenderness and joy, as if he held a precious universe in his hands and he was ready to cherish and protect it at all costs.
Such an expression she had not seen on her son's face. Never in her life. It had been so many years since she had seen him without his façade of confidence and roughness.
And I was about to try and ruin it all.
Suddenly aware of the effect her words would have she shut her mouth with an audible click. Remi looked at her for a moment, sensing the change in her demeanour, a certain softening of the commanding image she had been projecting ever since stepping into the room.
"The mate bond is deeper than just a mark, it's not something you can see and explain logically. It's a feeling. It's the sparkle in your eyes when your destiny walks through the door." Ling Yue wiped a tear from the corner of her eyes. "That's a quote from one of Remi's novels." She glanced at her son and his mate with overly bright eyes, tears balancing as if they were about to spill over.
"You... you actually read it?" A small voice asked from beside her. "But.. I thought you hated fiction.."
"I'm not the biggest lover of fiction, but I am the biggest lover of you. You gave it to me so of course I read it. I have some notes on the kidnapping subplo-"
She was cut off by a sudden tackle hug, the small beta woman kissing every inch of her face.
Kand-Lei clapped his hands over his eyes. "Your- uhm... Your parents are very affectionate." He had never even seen a kiss on the cheek between his parents.
Darcy chuckled. "Yeah, they are." He laced his fingers with Kand-Lei's. "I hope we can be like that when we grow old. Minus the arranging marriages."
Kand-Lei smiled, then he shuffled, he finally snapped when he smelt a faint oak scent.
"Well it was lovely meeting you, bye!" He practically dragged Darcy out of the room and the mansion.
The two watched him run, Remi propped her head on her hand, elbow pressing into the couch near Ling Yue's head.
"I think we might have scared him off." Then she turned back to her wife. "You changed your tune all of a sudden."
"Xiao-Mei... did you see the look in our son's eyes? How could I do anything to come between their love like that?"
Remi brushed a strand of hair away from Ling Yue's eyes. "That's why I love you so much. You're stubborn as hell but you concede when you need to." She was able to keep up the serious atmosphere for all of ten seconds before she asked, "So what did you think of Zein's confession? Wasn't so romantic how she did it on the bridge where they first met?"
Ling Yue smiled warmly, dropping the cold expression completely. "Very romantic. It reminded me of that trip to Marins we took. Thousands of bridges to mistake for others, and when I finally found you-"
"You literally clung to me like a barnacle, you kept muttering something about a gps tracker for weeks afterwards." Remi's face gained a cheeky smirk. "I thought I was never going to have a moment alone again until you went back to work."
"Oh you, you can't deny that you loved every second of it."
They kept bickering and reminiscing, their brand of flirting, well into the day.
...
Kand-Lei stood next to the out of breath Darcy, giving him a slightly pitiful look. "You really need to work on your stamina."
Darcy glared up at the omega that hadn't even broken a sweat, despite running several blocks. "You... need to work on... your.... comforting skills." He managed between gasps.
"Mm. Sorry beau, your mate isn't very good at comforting."
Darcy smirked. "I never thought I'd hear a pet-name from you, di."
Kand-Lei smiled slightly. "You're older than me?"
"You said you got married at eighteen, divorced after five years," He held up three fingers, "You're twenty three, right Lei-di?"
Kand-Lei raised an eyebrow. "You remembered well. And you know basic math."
Darcy pursed his lips. "You know the Zhong Kui terms of address right?"
Kand-Lei nodded.
The hurt expression on Darcy's face screamed 'why won't you call me gege then?!'
Kand-Lei leaned against the wall. "Bai Qin... Qin-ge."
Darcy pouted. "You're being difficult."
"I am, Qin-ge."
Darcy smiled, "Alright, I prefer beau."
"I like the way Qin-ge sounds." He moved closer, pulling Darcy into a standing position. "We'll come to a compromise eventually."
After a moment of mutual staring, Kand-Lei broke the silence once more. "So how old are you then? I'm not dating a grandpa am I?"
Darcy snorted, "Kelpie, you didn't know? Why else would I have white hair? I'm pushing ninety."
Kand-Lei laughed, "I should have known."
They smiled as they both leant on the wall, watching the clouds drift aimlessly past, following some hidden currents of the universe.
"Twenty-five."
"Mn?"
"That's how old I am Lei-di."
Kand-Lei blinked slowly. "Three years is barely a difference, we could have met in school."
They started walking again, slowly making their way back into the city.
"I wonder if we watched any of the same shows as kids..."
"How many of the shows you watched went international?"
"... fair point, I forgot about the geographical element. Must be because you're so fluent with the language."
Kand-Lei chuckled. "You're kidding right?"
"Not at all! I wouldn't have known you weren't native unless you told me!" Darcy stared at him earnestly.
"..."
"Seriously."
Kand-Lei rubbed the back of his neck, those earnest words were a balm on the wounds of his past. His heart felt a little lighter as that simple compliment acknowledged all the late hours spent reading aloud to no one in a language not his own. It was comforting to know that he had worked hard enough that someone had noticed.
...
As they passed into the inner city, gradually houses were replaced by apartment buildings and small boutiques were overtaken by trendy cafes that would disappear with half a year.
Kand-Lei's eyes followed the stream of foot traffic, watching how an abnormal amout of people seemed to be crowding near cafes and electronics stores.
The two moved towards a quieter seeming coffee shop.
As they sat near the back of the store they had a full view of the person who ran into the store completely out of breath.
"Tv..." he sucked in a deep breath and then solicited the barista again, "Turn the tv on... news, any... quick!"
The barista, seemingly familiar with the customer switched on the retro styled tv, tuning it to the national news station.
Darcy and Kand-Lei both glanced over as well, wondering what was happening.
"What's-" the barista started, carefully sliding a glass of water towards the customer.
"Shhh! We're witnessing history here."
Kand-Lei and Darcy made the tacit decision to move closer, they were the only other people in the store, it being after the lunch rush.
They all watched as a slightly flustered anchor received a fresh printout from an intern.
She opened her mouth to speak as she briefly scanned the topic.
She choked on her own words, a hand coming up to cover her mouth as she kept reading and re-reading. Not uttering a word to the camera.
Someone offscreen sent her some kind of signal as she seemed to snap back to the present.
"Citizens and visitors of Zhong Kui, and, I think, the entire world soon enough. We have some news to share with you today. Never before in history has such a thing been recorded,"
She paused dramatically, the customer leaned in, so did the barista, Darcy was on the edge of his seat and despite his reservations Kand-Lei also turned his full attention towards the tv.
"We have just received some information about the first ever omega fated pairing. That is to say, two omegas have awoken a fated bond with each other."
The barista almost dropped the cup she was holding, the customer choked on his water.
Darcy and Kand-Lei looked at each other, wild panic in opalescent eyes and a quiet storm in midnight ocean ones.