Runaway Guide Extra 6 — So-Called Love

Aiden wasn’t sure about what love was like. He’d always felt that finding a suitable alpha after he grew up, marrying and having kids was the normal thing to do. He had never fantasized about having an intense, life-or-death romance. Just finding the right person, getting a certificate and getting married and then passing their days together was fine.

When he decided to be with Carlo, besides understanding him well enough because the two of them were childhood friends, the more important reason was that Carlo treated him very well. It wasn’t easy to meet someone who would treat him wholeheartedly, so he agreed to Carlo’s proposal.

After the wedding, their life together had always been very peaceful.

Carlo took care of him in every possible way, and Aiden was also very gentle and considerate. Every time Carlo came home, he always had dinner ready in advance. When Carlo wanted to hold him, he would never resist, but would open his body and actively cooperate. His dad Randy had completely passed this point down.

Carlo felt he was very happy.

But the strange thing was, while he felt happy, his heart felt a bit empty as well. He always felt like their marriage had come too easy, giving him a feeling of unreality, as if he was having a dream.

What’s more, Aiden had never said anything like “I love you” — that was the key point!

—Does he love me or not?

When Carlo had nothing to do, he got tangled up in this question.

For fear that Aiden would leave him, he thought of every possible way to treat him well.

He worried that Aiden would hurt his hands cooking, so he proactively bought a few culinary robots to help him. He worried that he wouldn’t feel comfortable sleeping, so he switched the mattress for a smart body-sensing one. He worried that he would miss home, so he asked Randy for some flowers and planted them in the yard…

This kind of meticulous care really felt like he was cradling him in his hands for fear he’d drop, and holding him in his mouth for fear he’d melt.

Every time he saw Carlo carrying him carefully on his back, Aiden would feel warm at heart. This alpha wasn’t too good with words, but his clumsy care and affection made Aiden very moved.

Being together with Carlo was perhaps his best decision.

***

Time flew by. Two months after the wedding, Aiden suddenly sent Carlo a message with only one simple line of words: “I’m pregnant.”

At the time, Carlo was on the Cobra Corps mothership, discussing a problem with his uncle General Drew. When he saw this message, he almost slipped and fell down. Drew asked him, puzzled, “What’s wrong?”

Carlo was so excited his voice trembled. “Ai-Aiden’s gotten preganant!”

Drew’s expression said, “So that’s what it was.” He reached out and patted his nephew’s shoulder, saying, “Then you’d better go home quick. You’ll be a father in the future, so you should do things in a more mature way. Take care of Aiden properly.”

“Yes, Uncle!” Carlo gave him a salute, and immediately turned and ran like mad for home.

When he came home, he found Aiden in the yard, watering the flowers. Carlo immediately threw himself before him, reached out and hugged Aiden. He was so excited he seemed like a little kid. “I’m going to be a father, aren’t I?! That’s great, that’s great!”

Aiden looked at him helplessly.

—He was suddenly a little worried. What would he do if their child turned out to have a personality like Carlo?

From that day on, Carlo’s care for Aiden grew painstaking to an abnormal degree. He worried that Aiden’s health wasn’t good and that he’d suffer during his pregnancy, so he found a bunch of tonics and fed Aiden them every day, until he grew fat.

Aiden looked at his chubby self in the mirror and couldn’t help but say, “I can’t eat them anymore.”

Carlo hugged him happily from behind. “It’s fine, I like you even if you’re fat. What’s more, the baby needs nutrition right now. You have to eat more and take care of your health.”

Faced with Carlo’s concerned expression, Aiden could only nod helplessly.

***

Four months into the pregnancy, the military sent Carlo to the Ursa starfield to supervise a military exercise, and he had no choice but to leave the capital planet.

This was the first time Carlo had left Aiden’s side after getting married.

Aiden had thought he’d be fine at home alone, but that night he lost sleep. Before, Carlo would spoon him to sleep every night. It was very warm in his arms. Now that he wasn’t home, Aiden couldn’t fall asleep by himself.

When he woke up the next morning, he went to the kitchen to make breakfast as usual, and found that he’d actually made two people’s portions.

The power of habit was really terrible...

Aiden smiled helplessly and put one portion into the refrigerator.

In the days that followed, Aiden missed Carlo every day.

When Carlo was at home it didn’t feel like anything special, but once he left, Aiden felt like his heart was empty. Without that guy chattering at his ear all day long, the house was a lot quieter, but it was colder at the same time.

Half a month passed like this. Carlo never sent him any messages, and he didn’t reply to the messages Aiden sent him. Worried, Aiden could only find his father Craig for help.

Craig told him that Carlo was attending a closed-off military exercise, testing out the new weapons the empire had developed. In order to maintain secrecy, the military had cut off all the officers’ communication equipment. Aiden finally relaxed.

Craig was afraid that his son would let his imagination run wild at home all alone, so he simply brought him back to live with Randy.

When he returned to his dad’s side, Aiden didn’t feel too comfortable at heart. This was the place where he had grown up, but why did he not feel used to living here?

***

At the end of the month, Carlo finally returned.

When he heard his father say that the Cobra Corps was returning, Aiden packed his luggage and returned home in advance to wait for him, and even made Carlo a tableful of sumptuous dishes.

During this month of closed-off training, Carlo had missed Aiden a lot as well. As soon as he returned to the capital planet, he immediately ran for home.

When he got home, he saw the dining room table was packed with sumptuous dishes. Aiden was busy in the kitchen. Carlo hugged him from behind in excitement, and said in a low voice, “I missed you to death.”

Aiden’s heart was slightly moved. He stood there quietly, letting Carlo hold him. The familiar warmth coming from Carlo’s body made Aiden suddenly feel at peace from the bottom of his heart.

When Carlo was at home, Aiden always felt like this guy was a chatterbox, but when he wasn’t at his side, Aiden finally realized how important he was to him.

The two men held each other tightly for a while, then Aiden said softly, “You must be hungry, right? I made your favorite dishes. I heard Father say that when you were performing military exercises in the wild, the food wasn’t too good, and it was all factory-made compressed food.”

Carlo was moved, but at the same time he couldn’t help nagging, “You’re already pregnant, don’t do the cooking yourself. Take care of your health.”

The familiar sound of his nagging made Aiden unable to resist a smile. He reached out and lightly stroked Carlo’s hair. “It’s no problem.”

After a month without cutting his hair, Carlo’s hair was a little prickly to the touch, and there were clear traces of stubble on his chin as well. Aiden said, “Let’s eat first, and then after a while we can go cut your hair.”

“Sure!” With a face full of happiness, Carlo took Aiden up in a princess carry.

Aiden said in surprise, “Put me down quick…”

Carlo said, “I won’t, I like hugging you and the child. You seem like you’ve gotten heavier, has the little fellow gotten bigger again?”

Aiden laughed and said, “Maybe, after a month, the baby should’ve grown a bit.”

Carlo brought Aiden to the dining room and carefully put him down on his chair, considerately placing a pillow behind his back.

The two men ate a sumptuous dinner facing each other, and afterwards, they took a walk outside, hand in hand, to help their digestion.

He looked at the courtyard that Aiden had organized until it was clean and tidy. It was midsummer, and many flowers were in full bloom, filling the air with their fragrance. Carlo couldn’t help but sigh and say, “It’s still home that’s best, after all.”

His simple sentence made Aiden feel the same.

This was the home that belonged to them. After getting used to living here, Aiden felt that this was the best and the coziest place. Most importantly, here was the alpha that doted on him and treasured him… Just by walking in the yard hand in hand with him after a meal, Aiden felt very happy and content.

Carlo held Aiden’s hand tight, and they circled the large yard.

The night sky was full of stars, and a breeze blew by every now and then. Carlo worried that Aiden would catch a cold, so he took off his coat and draped it across Aiden’s shoulders. He asked softly, “Are you cold?”

Aiden said, “I’m not cold.”

Carlo walked another few steps hand in hand with him, then scratched his head and asked softly, a little hesitant, “We haven’t seen each other in a month, did...you miss me?”

Aiden nodded. “Yeah.”

Carlo froze, thinking that he hadn’t heard right, and turned and said in surprise, “R-really?”

Aiden smiled and said, “Yeah, I really missed you.”

Carlo: “...”

This sentence was too powerful, it was even more exciting than “I love you!”

Carlo was almost moved to tears. For so long, he’d been pursuing Aiden, investing his feelings under his own wishful thinking, and Aiden had only silently accepted it… He had thought Aiden didn’t love him at all, and was only putting up with spending their days together!

He hadn’t thought that Aiden would miss him as well!

Carlo looked at Aiden in excitement, and asked hoarsely, “Then...then do you love me?”

Aiden hesitated for a moment, then said, “Maybe?”

Carlo’s expression darkened. “What do you mean, ‘maybe?!’”

Aiden saw his unwilling face and couldn’t help but smile and rub Carlo's head. He said seriously, “I don’t know how to describe the feelings I have for you. It may be that this is also a type of love… You make me feel steadfast and at ease, and I really want to be with you forever. We can have lots of children, bring them up well and spend our lives peacefully. Isn’t that good?”

Carlo froze for a long moment, then finally realized what he meant, and immediately hugged him tight.

His hands were trembling from excitement.

Aiden hadn’t directly said that he loved him, but if this desire to stay with someone for a lifetime wasn’t love, what was it?

Wasn’t staying with someone in a calm and ordinary way, and spending a lifetime together, also a kind of steady and long-lived love?

Before, Carlo had always clung to Aiden’s feelings for him, feeling that the ones Aiden gave him weren’t enough, and he didn’t love him enough…

But now, when he thought it over thoroughly, weren’t the tolerance and care Aiden gave him the hardest things to find?

Every time he came home, there was always a tableful of his favorite dishes waiting for him. Every time he was tired, Aiden would stay quietly by his side without disturbing him. Every time his hair grew long, his clothes got dirty, or he forgot to shave...Aiden was always the first one to notice these details.

—Who said he didn’t care about him?

It was just that the ways he cared for him were too gentle and delicate, and weren’t as ostentatious as his.

When he thought of this, Carlo couldn’t help but tighten his embrace a little. Hugging Aiden, he was so moved he didn’t know what to do.

Aiden’s expression suddenly changed. It seemed he was hurt, and he frowned slightly.

Carlo immediately let him go in a panic, asking him worriedly, “What’s wrong? You’re okay, right? Where do you feel uncomfortable? Do you want to go to the hospital? Damn, I used too much strength earlier, I…”

Before he could finish speaking, Aiden softly covered his lips.

Carlo interrupted his nonsense with a gentle kiss, then smiled and said, “The baby kicked me just now, that’s all. Look at how worried you are, so stupid.”

“...Hah.” Scolded, Carlo was still very happy. He crouched down and put his ear against Aiden’s stomach. Hearing the movements inside, he was as excited as a big kid. “He kicked me! He’s kicking me! Haha, is my son saying hello to me?”

Aiden gently stroked Carlo’s prickly hair, and endless tenderness welled up in his heart.

He couldn’t understand what love was even now, but he was certain he was willing to stay with this foolish Carlo, and he would never leave him all his life.

***

2 hours and 27 minutes for 2,265 words, or 6.5 minutes for every 100 words. A decrease in rate by 0.6 minutes, and possibly a record. A good note to finish on.

I began translating in February of 2019, and it's been a year and four months since then. I spent probably around 300 hours translating this book. A lot has happened in that time—I found out I was gay, (lol), came out, started writing my own memoir, Finer Sorrows, and my Chinese proficiency improved a lot. I went from spending eight hours translating one chapter to spending three hours. I filled maybe ten of these pages with words I didn't know.


    
I got to the gold level on Duolingo. I definitely recommend translating to anyone who wants to learn Chinese. It's good motivation.

I'm picking up The Marshals Want to Get Divorced after this, so stick around if you're interested!

Thanks everybody, for a great year, and for all the support. ✌️

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