Actual Fairytale (end)

“Real love?” Jun Yu frowned, “What’s that?”

“It’s freedom, mutual respect, and not forcing or restricting anyone.” Lu Shijin deliberately raised his voice to let Jun Li hear, “To not have to force each other to be together is love. Real love needs trust and understanding,  or else forcing each other to be close will only make you further apart, understand?”*

[ED: Better.]

Jun Yu seemed to have realized something and looked at Jun Li again. He was sitting there with his head down, so his expression couldn’t be seen, but Lu Shijin knew that his words would’ve resonated with him.

But there wasn’t any more time for the brothers to think because they were at the surface.

They could finally see the sunlight they had missed.

This made Lu Shijin and Shen Shao feel like they had been reborn.

Jun Yu and Jun Li didn’t follow them after taking them to shore.

Lu Shijin first brought Shen Shao back to his house. When Shen Shao’s mother saw her son come back after half a year of being declared missing, and with a large belly at that, she was almost scared and crazed.

Lu Shijin could tell that Shen Shao was a bit out of it, so he told Shen Shao to rest first, then told his mother a simplified version of what had happened over the past year. From her expression, it was clear that she thought Lu Shijin was talking about a fantasy.

But Shen Shao was pregnant, so no matter how unbelievable it was, she had to accept this at least.

To prevent this from getting exposed to the public, Shen Shao went to his hospital to wait for his delivery date.

Lu Shijin would often visit him. Shen Shao’s behavior seemed completely normal, but he would never bring up Jun Li, as though he didn’t even exist.

The more he avoided it, the more it showed that he hadn’t gotten over it.

His mother told Lu Shijin that he had a large fish tank in his room, and there were many fish with pretty tails. Shen Shao would often space out for half a day when he stared at them.

Who was Shen Shao thinking about when he looked at them?

Himself, who was like a pet fish in the merpeople palace, or Jun Li, whose tail was even more beautiful than that of the fish?

Only Shen Shao knew.

Jun Li seemed to have evaporated from the human world. He never appeared on land again. Even when Jun Yu came to find Lu Shijin, he would rarely bring up Jun Li.

Time passed by and it was soon time for Shen Shao to give birth.

Only Lu Shijin and Shen Shao’s mother were there.

When Shen Shao was getting wheeled into the operating room, he kept his gaze fixed on the corridor outside until the doors closed and no one was there. Only then did he close his eyes.

Shen Shao gave birth to a healthy merperson. The baby couldn’t immediately change to human form, so while the torso was that of a plump little baby, the bottom was a small, tender, translucent, pink tail. It was like jelly, very cute.

Jun Li didn’t appear throughout this entire time.

Lu Shijin could tell that Shen Shao was waiting for him, but he wasn’t willing to say it out loud.

The next time Jun Yu came to find Lu Shijin, he couldn’t resist asking him about what happened to Jun Li.

Lu Shijin felt that it was very unfair for Shen Shao. “What happened? Shen Shao even gave birth, can’t Jun Li come see him even once?”

“Wasn’t Shen Shao the one who escaped and wasn’t willing to be with Jun Li? Now that he’s done that and brought the person back, not bothering him anymore, why are you still unhappy?”

“That’s two different things. Shen Shao still thinks about Jun Li. how could Shen Shao not forgive him if Jun Li admits that he was wrong at the time? Your brother is really cruel, Shen Shao gave birth to his child, but he didn’t do anything, so cold blooded!”

“You humans think too much.” Jun Yu chuckled, “You only think of escaping when you’re together, but once you don’t see us, it’s like you miss us, so what are we supposed to do?”

Lu Shijin snorted, “If you think that your brother’s actions are right, then don’t come see me again. You guys live together, maybe you’ll be even more ruthless to me.”

“That would never happen.” Jun Yu hugged Lu Shijin and sniffed his neck like a large dog. “I don’t care what they do, I’ll never leave you. If you still hold a grudge against me for kidnapping you, then you can tie me up right now and not allow me to go anywhere, would that make you happy?”

Lu Shijin laughed from his words. Jun Yu rolled them over on the sofa. After a bit of fooling around, Jun Yu suddenly spoke.

“You don’t need to be worried. Jun Li isn’t ruthless or cold blooded. Not seeing Shen Shao is a way of punishing himself. Do you believe me if I say that he’s been protecting them from the dark for a long time?”

Could it be?

Lu Shijin didn’t quite believe it, but as long as they didn’t get together, he would be able to stay with Jun Yu for longer.

So he wasn’t anxious for the answer at all.

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