Chapter 49: 41

Chapter 41

The Dumb Little Sea Otter

Translated by boilpoil
Edited by boilpoil

 

At ten that night, Bai Yao is wiping his head with a towel after shower, and with his eyes closed, he bumps into something soft.

Mu Mu’er was kneeling right outside the bathroom, and he almost falls over sitting down.

Mu Mu’er, though immediately grabs Bai Yao’s hand and drags him to the living room regardless of whatever pain he might be feeling, “Yaoyao, come.”

Bai Yao is already sitting on the sofa before he could even put some clothes on.

“Can I at least wear something…” Then he stops.

Mu Mu’er climbs onto the sofa as soon as Bai Yao has sat down. Then, like a cat, he finds a comfortable place and puts his head there, then shuts his eyes for good, and not before letting go a ‘good night.’

It appears he’s unwilling to sleep on the bed. Half of his body is spread across Bai Yao’s legs. He’s going to sleep like this tonight.

Bai Yao sighs lightly, while caressing Mu Mu’er’s head gently.

Earlier in the afternoon, Mu Mu’er cried for quite a while. It wasn’t loud, but it was heartbreaking. His shoulders shook, apologising after every hiccough like he’s worried he would be scolded.

Bai Yao kept reassuring him, until Mu Mu’er calmed down slowly over time.

“I would never leave Mu’er. Mu’er is such a good boy, I can never leave him,” though it wasn’t too effective, it eventually paid off. The boy was a little animal without a home and family nearby. He was bullied and starved, and he has come to rely on Bai Yao – yet he almost ‘abandoned’ him.

He should not have played a joke in that manner. Why did he have to pretend to have disappeared?

There are appropriate and inappropriate jokes. Mu Mu’er may be a little silly boy, but that only means there are more lines that he cannot cross. This is something Bai Yao learned today.

He must not lie to him or bully him, if he does not want the boy to become sad and despondent.

In the end, Bai Yao pinched Mu Mu’er’s face gently, and cooed, “there are very few good little sea otters in the world. Mu’er is the best, very best one of them. If Yaoyao lost Mu’er, Yaoyao would never be able to find him again.”

The boy carefully looked up at him, and asked with his face still distorted, “Mu’er is the best sea otter?”

The whole evening passed with Mu Mu’er’s mood slowly improving.

At dinner, Mu Mu’er kept looking at Bai Yao; not even the meal could take his eyes away. He followed when Bai Yao was washing the dishes, watching him clean up.

Even when it now comes time to sleep, Mu Mu’er is still too worried to sleep in the room. The living room is brighter, and close to the stairs. He can hear if Bai Yao is going downstairs.

And if he sleeps on Bai Yao, then Bai Yao cannot go elsewhere anymore. After making that conclusion, Mu Mu’er closes his eyes, satisfied, and holds one hand of Bai Yao’s tightly. His breathing slows soon enough.

“Asleep already?” Bai Yao pokes him on the nose, “you don’t want the bed?”

Mu Mu’er mumbles something barely intelligible. He doesn’t even open his eyes as Bai Yao pokes his hair, his ears or nose again.

Bai Yao sits there for a while, until his legs become a little numb, and Mu Mu’er doesn’t seem quite comfortable either, then he starts moving his arms under Mu Mu’er to carry him indoors to sleep.

Mu Mu’er seems disturbed by the movement, though. He isn’t awake, but he keeps prying Bai Yao’s hands off, mumbling, and pulling Bai Yao’s hand more tightly.

“No, touching… Mu’er angry…”

The boy is getting feisty, huh.

Still, this only makes Bai Yao regret what happened in the afternoon even more. He should not have teased him at all.

Before Bai Yao can decide if he should actually sleep like this on the sofa tonight, his phone starts ringing. It’s a voice call from Qi Ya, so Bai Yao ignores it.

The ringing ends. Then begins anew.

And a third time.

Mu Mu’er whimpers a little, and rolls over on Bai Yao’s legs.

Bai Yao finally picks up the phone after making a ‘tch,’ “what? I’m busy.”

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Having been in a foul mood with himself since the afternoon, his tone is rather harsh.

The speaker pauses for a moment, “is something wrong?”

Bai Yao pinches the skin between his eyebrows, and sighs, “I’m a bit under the weather today. Sorry about that.”

“Oh? That’s certainly news,” Qi Ya’s voice crackles a little. He’s probably somewhere with weak signal, “so who pissed you off?”

Before Bai Yao could answer, Mu Mu’er rolls back around once more.

“My, Yaoyao.”

The voice is quite muffled, coming from his head on Bai Yao’s waist. He sounds like a kitty half-asleep. One of his arms wraps about Bai Yao’s arm.

The phone remains quiet for quite a while, until Qi Ya finally squeezes some words through, “… what was that?”

Bai Yao thinks about how to explain, when Qi Ya goes ‘ah.’

He definitely thinks he’s got it, although the conclusion sends him gasping, and he asks, “I caught you at a bad time, didn’t I?”

Bai Yao tilts his head to secure the phone between it and his shoulder, so that he can cover up both of Mu Mu’er’s ears, before saying, “bullshit.”

“But wait, who could it be? Who were you even able to catcall in that quaint little town?”

Qi Ya is pretty loud, and Bai Yao is also worried Mu Mu’er’d be startled awake, so he grows impatient, “I’m gonna hang up if that’s all you have to say.”

“Eh no-no-no wait! I do have something.”
“Uh, you know…” Qi Ya stutters for a while, “my expedition’s coming to an end soon. I’ll be free next week, so I talked to my superiors, and they gave me two weeks off.”

Qi Ya then goes quiet, waiting for Bai Yao’s answer.

Mu Mu’er’s mouth has loosened now, revealing part of his front white teeth, making him look like a bunny. Bai Yao watches with a smile, and then helps gently close the mouth again from the jaw. He then wipes the small part of drool coming off the corner of his mouth.

After that, he finally realises the phone has gone quiet. He asks, “well, so?”

Qi Ya continues, happy with the acknowledgement, “so, I’m going to go hang out at yours. Relax, and visit. I miss you, and you miss me, no?”

Put it another way, he’s here to have fun; in another less flattering way, here to enjoy good food. Bai Yao was good at cooking in college already, known throughout the dorms as ‘that handsome cook from Dorm #13.’

When he cooks at the public student kitchen, dozens get drawn in to watch and see if they can mooch any.

Well, maybe half of those are girls drawn to his appearance.

After graduation, he further studied at a cooking academy in another city. His cooking reached a professional level, and he could already work as a chef in any classier seafood joints if he wanted. Yet, in the end, Bai Yao settled for the generally quiet and quite rural Qiaohai.

Qi Ya remembers the food, though, and wants to eat no one else’s cooking but his. He even declared once that if Bai Yao were to cook for him every day, he’d be happy to be married to him.

Bai Yao’s legs are completely numb now, but he is still delicately moving each strand of hair back that is hanging off to the front of Mu Mu’er’s forehead, so that Mu Mu’er can sleep more comfortably.

Some time after observing the serene expression the boy has asleep, Bai Yao finally remembers someone still waiting to be answered on the phone, so he goes, “oh, then don’t come. I don’t miss you.”

Qi Ya only manages a “oh please~” before Bai Yao hangs up.

Bai Yao throws the phone aside, and leans back against the sofa, exhaling.

The boy’s face is now squeezing against his thighs. His mouth is open again; drool’s probably going to form sooner or later.

Bai Yao looks at him, and chuckles. He touches Mu Mu’er’s hair again, then he starts to poke Mu Mu’er on the nose again like the naughty kid in him.

His hand then gradually shifts down, until his finger brushes past his lips. Subconsciously or not, though, the feeling still sends Bai Yao’s finger reeling, like waking up from a nightmare.

Bai Yao gulps.

He’s just a silly little sea otter. He can touch, can’t he?

So he decides to touch Mu Mu’er on the lips a few more times, until the boy grumbles a bit, and starts to stick his tongue out.

No way.

Seriously.

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