[BL] Oops! I Seduced My Sister's Fiance (And Now I'm Pregnant)

*Runze’s POV*

”...Who told you?” I ask.

Bael answers without the slightest hesitation, his face entirely serious. ”...The internet.”

A beat passes. I try to imagine Bael—the serious, unyielding corporate executive—sitting at his desk typing *’how to go on a date’* into a search engine.

”You looked up how to go on a date?” I ask, my voice a mix of disbelief and sudden warmth.

”I looked up what constitutes one,” he clarifies, reaching across the table to pour warm water into my glass. ”There is a difference. The consensus was a quiet setting, a shared meal, and no distractions.”

I press my lips together very hard, trying to swallow down the laugh that wants to bubble up. My chest feels incredibly tight, but in a way that makes it hard to breathe for a wonderful reason.

”Eat,” he says quietly, lifting the lids from the dishes. ”It’ll get cold.”

The spread is gentle. Congee with red dates, steamed egg, soft tofu in broth, and lightly blanched greens. It is the exact kind of soft, nourishing food the doctor recommended for my recovery. He didn’t just look up dates, he had carefully curated the menu to match my health.

We eat mostly in silence, but it isn’t the heavy, restrictive silence from before the accident. The string music playing from a small hidden speaker drifts around us, and the lanterns sway slightly when a gentle breeze comes over the wall.

Bael doesn’t check his phone once. He doesn’t look toward the house or seem eager to finish. He is just entirely here, focused completely on the small space between us. Every time my glass gets empty, he fills it before I can even ask.

At some point, I look up from my bowl and catch him watching me. His gray eyes are dark, holding an intensity that makes my heart skip a beat. It is the same look I used to avoid because I was afraid of what it meant, but now, it just feels warm.

”Stop,” I say softly.

”Stop what?”

”You know what. Stop staring.”

The very corner of his mouth moves, a tiny hint of a smile appearing. ”Eat your soup, Runze.”

My ears go hot again, and I look down, focusing entirely on my food.

Suddenly, the baby shifts against my ribs—a slow, distinct movement. I instinctively drop my hand to press my palm against my side. Bael’s gaze drops to my hand instantly, his entire body shifting forward in his chair.

”I’m fine,” I tell him quickly, before he can panic. ”It’s just moving around.”

He nods, his expression relaxing, but he doesn’t look away from my hand. He looks at my fingers resting against my stomach for a long moment, a soft, vulnerable look breaking through his usual cold features, before he meets my eyes again.

***

When we finish, Mrs. Wen appears quietly to clear the table, giving me a knowing, pleased smile before disappearing back into the house.

I lean back against the cushion, looking at Bael across the small table. The amber light from the lanterns casts soft shadows across his sharp features, making him look incredibly handsome.

”You haven’t gone back to the office,” I say, breaking the quiet. ”Bael, it’s been days. The company needs you.”

”The company can wait.”

”Barely, I imagine, if you aren’t there.”

”Shen Rui can handle it.”

I look at him skeptically. ”Shen Rui is going to die from overworking.”

”That’s why I doubled his salary.” Bael picks up his tea, taking a slow sip. ”He can die peacefully.”

A laugh escapes me all at once—sudden, bright, and completely genuine. The sudden movement pulls slightly at my healing ribs, causing me to wince and press my hand there, but the smile doesn’t leave my face.

Bael immediately stands up from his chair, his face dropping all signs of amusement. In two quick strides, he is around the table, kneeling slightly beside my seat.

”Does it hurt?” he asks, his hand instantly coming to rest over mine against my ribs, his touch firm and warm.

”No, no,” I say quickly, my laughter fading into something much deeper as I look down at him. ”It just pulled a little. I’m okay. Truly.”

He doesn’t move away. His hand stays over mine, pressing gently, his gray eyes searching my face to make sure I’m telling the truth. Being this close to him, with the lanterns glowing above us and the cool evening air brushing against our skin, makes everything else disappear.

I look at his mouth, then back up to his eyes. The sheer amount of care in his face is overwhelming.

Before I can think about it, before my usual fears can stop me, I lean down slightly. I don’t just kiss his cheek. I cup the side of his neck with my free hand and press my lips firmly against his for a short kiss.

Bael goes completely rigid beneath my touch. His breathing catches, his entire body freezing as if the shock of the contact has paralyzed him.

A faint, unmistakable color rises along his cheekbones... actual visible color, climbing the bridge of his nose. His jaw is tightly set, but his gray eyes stay locked entirely on mine, wide with a quiet, stunned wonder.

He is completely aware of what his face is doing, yet he is too caught up in the happy shock of the moment to look away.

I stare at him, the realization settling over me with a quiet gravity.

I have never seen him like this before.

In all the months I have spent trying to read the unreadable lines of his face, through every cold barrier and protective wall he ever built around himself, I have never seen him like this. He is completely exposed, softened entirely by a simple touch.

Bael is blushing.

”Bael,” I say softly, leaning in just a fraction more to see him properly. ”Are you—”

I don’t even get the question out.

The small space between us vanishes. His hand moves swiftly from my ribs to the side of my face, his long fingers framing my jaw, and he pulls me up into a kiss that completely swallows my words.

It is breathtakingly intense, a sudden, desperate surge of warmth that takes the air right out of my lungs.

He kisses me with an unhurried, thorough hunger, his mouth deep and demanding against mine. It is a thick, heavy heat that floods my entire system, leaving my mind entirely blank, his thumb pressing gently against my jawline to hold me steady against the tide of it.

It isn’t a polite or careful brush of lips. It is heavy with the terrifying weight of everything we almost lost, full of the dark, lingering shadow of the crash and the overwhelming relief of having each other back.

Every bit of tension he’s been holding onto since I woke up is there, poured directly into the contact.

When he finally draws back a fraction, his hands stay braced on my jaw.

We just look at each other, our breathing shallow and uneven in the space between us. The color hasn’t entirely left his cheekbones, and his gray eyes are dark, swimming with a raw devotion that grounds me more than any words ever could.

He stands up fully, cutting off any chance for me to speak, and gathers me out of my chair with that extreme, careful tenderness he has used since the hospital.

One hand slides carefully between my shoulder blades while the other settles beneath my knees, lifting me effortlessly into him...

I turn my face directly into his shoulder, burying my nose against his neck. My arms loop tightly around his waist, and I let my entire weight sink into him, letting go of the last remnants of guarded strength I had left.

His arms tighten around me, locking me flush against his chest in a deeply warm, solid embrace. We stay like that for a long time, the only sound the quiet, steady rustle of the garden around us. He feels like a shield, vast and unyielding, keeping everything else out.

”I love you, Runze,” he says softly against my hair.

The words vibrate against my collarbone. It isn’t like the version from yesterday... that one that carried the heavy ache of past regrets and apologies. This one is quieter. Simpler. Hearing him say it all over again, so naturally into the quiet of the evening, makes the reality of it finally settle deep into the center of my chest.

*This is real.*

He said it, he keeps showing it, and it is real.

My fingers curl into the fabric of his sweater, holding on tighter as his heart beats a steady, powerful rhythm against my ear.

The lanterns sway softly above us, the sweet scent of the garden surrounds us both, and wrapped in his warmth, I finally know exactly where I belong.