Chapter 408: Chapter 408 From today, you and Xiaoman will live here!_1
Chang Danran also noticed it, staring at the wedding photo on the living room wall, trance-like. Her already disordered heart was further riled up by the sight of this apartment, identical to when she left five years ago. Her heart ached and felt sick with pain; had she not entered here a second time, she would have almost forgotten how desperately she had once tried to walk into the halls of matrimony with him, dreaming of growing old together.
Xia Ye Zhao also glanced at the wedding photo on the wall. His gaze abruptly turned cold. If she hadn’t insisted on breaking up, they’d be a warm family of three by now. How could he have allowed another man’s name to appear on her marriage certificate?
“From now on, you and Xiaoman will live here!” Xia Ye Zhao’s restrained gaze stayed fixed on her. “I will arrange a new school for Xiaoman and a new hospital for you. As for you, expedite your divorce with Bo Jingyu!”
“On what grounds can you demand that I divorce, and that Xiaoman and I live here? Xia Ye Zhao, we broke up five years ago! There’s no way I’ll give Xiaoman to you. Can you stop being so obstinate?!”
“No!” Xia Ye Zhao dropped those two words, then pushed open the door to the large balcony.
He stood by the railing, alone, pulled out a cigarette, and silently smoked on the balcony.
Chang Danran stood inside the room, staring at his silhouette through the window. She watched for quite some time, her heart filled with a bitter blend of ache and sorrow. With Xiaoman in tow, she went to take a bath. The bathroom still had her towel and skincare products.
Five years had passed. The skincare products had long expired. Fortunately, there was men’s shampoo and shower gel in the bathroom, seemingly recently purchased. Was it because he came to stay here often?
Chang Danran filled the bathtub with water, then brought over a small stool. She sat beside the tub, washing Xiaoman.
Splashing about in the tub, Xiaoman asked her, “Mommy, is the bad man really my daddy?”
“…Yes.” To deny it now would be pointless.
Xiaoman was the spitting image of Xia Ye Zhao as a child. They didn’t even need a paternity test. The moment Xia Ye Zhao laid eyes on Xiaoman, he had asserted that Xiaoman was his son. How could she deny it?
“Then why doesn’t the bad man want me and Mommy?” Xiaoman was furious.
Chang Danran, not wanting to plant any nasty ideas in her son’s mind, struggled to explain, “It was me who didn’t want him, not the other way around.”
“Does Mommy dislike him?” Xiaoman put his hands on his hips, “I dislike him too. He isn’t gentle like Daddy Bo!”
“No… Mommy and him didn’t split because we disliked each other.”
Xiaoman didn’t understand, “Daddy Bo said, does Mommy want to be with the bad man again?”
Chang Danran remained silent, patting his head, “Why does a child have so many questions? Bathe quietly, no more talking.”
Xiaoman, clearly not wanting to shut up, lay in the bathtub and couldn’t help but fantasize about the bad man coming in and taking a bath with him.
A buddy from kindergarten once said that he always bathed with his mom and dad. His dad lounged in the bathtub while he sat on his dad’s belly and played with the water. His mom sat next to them and washed him. Xiaoman was both envious and jealous every time he heard this.
Although Xiaoman disliked the bad man, he couldn’t help but picture the bad man also lying in the bathtub, himself sitting on top of the bad man, and Mommy sitting on a stool outside the bathtub, lathering him up…
At this moment, the bathroom door was suddenly pushed open. Xia Ye Zhao walked in and began to undress. Chang Danran’s heart clenched, “What are you doing? If you want to take a bath, wait until after I am done washing Xiaoman.”
But Xia Ye Zhao remained silent and impassive. After removing his clothes, he stepped right into the bathtub, placing Xiaoman on top of him. With a nonchalant comment, he said, “I’ve never bathed with my son before. Why are you so worried about a little father-son bonding time?”
[Wow, Xiaoman’s superpower has been mentioned twice. Can you guess what it is yet?]