Love Sleeps On

Jiang Anlin was adopted at the age of five. The first time he met Li Mu, the boy pinched his cheek. "Call me big brother."

He obediently called him, "Big brother."

An elder brother is like a father. He raised me, and he liked to keep me by his side wherever he went. Everyone said I was his little shadow.

On Jiang Anlin's fifteenth birthday, a sudden, agonizing pain struck his heart and he fell to the floor.

Li Mu rushed over, panic and worry filling his eyes, his palm slick with cold sweat.

"Linlin!"

It turned out he had heart disease. That day, Li Mu stayed by his side and cried all night.

"Big brother, it doesn't hurt... I can take my medicine. I'll get better, I promise..."

In the days that followed, Jiang Anlin had injections, took medicine, and underwent treatment every day, but never complained of pain. He wanted to stay with his brother a little longer. He spent his eighteenth birthday in the hospital too. Tears filled his brother's eyes. Lately, he had been crying a lot.

After that, his breathing grew increasingly difficult, and his heart function deteriorated to the end stage. The doctor said he did not have much time left.

That final day, snow drifted past the window. Li Mu's tears fell into his palm. His voice trembling, he intertwined their fingers. "Linlin, I love you. I mean the kind of love you have for your beloved."

Jiang Anlin was happy, but also terrified. Pain pierced to his bones, and the fear of death had never been so clear. He wanted so badly to live.

"...Big brother, you're so good to me."

"I..."

Beep

The heart monitor became a straight line, and silence descended on the hospital room.

The confession left unspoken became a love that slept forever.

A bittersweet micro-short story. One-on-one. [Only the blurb is in first person]

While I'm at it, here's a preview of my next long novel, "My Possessive Daddy Is My Husband."

Lu Shiying is mature and steady, refined and aloof. He is Jiangcheng's most powerful young heir, with assets worth hundreds of billions and sole heir to Shiying Group. He took over the company at sixteen and became its highest authority.

Jiang Ci has had a blood-clotting disorder since childhood, leaving him frail. When he was five, his parents died in a plane crash, and he was left in the care of his elderly grandfather. He was always getting sick.

Jiang's father and Lu's father had once been brothers in arms, and Jiang's father had even saved Lu's father's life. So Lu's father instructed his son to bring the Jiang family's child home and raise him.

Lu Shiying first met him when he was sixteen, while the little boy was only five.

"Daddy." The five-year-old hugged his leg. No wonder he was called Jiang Ci. He was as soft as a glutinous rice ball.

Lu Shiying crouched down and gently stroked the wispy hair on his head. The last time he had seen the little one, he was only two. Now that he had lost his family, he was truly pitiful. "Call me big brother."

Jiang Ci rubbed his little head against Lu Shiying's leg. "Daddy."

-

Lu Shiying never expected that one small cut would send his little brother to the hospital. The child had to be hospitalized, take medicine, and get injections, crying so hard his face was soaked with tears. From then on, Lu Shiying began keeping a close eye on the little one.

The eldest young master of the Lu family started learning to cook because he didn't want Jiang Ci eating food from outside.

The young master, who had never lifted a finger at home, personally bathed the little one, dressed him, and took him to school. He trusted no one else to do it.

When the weather turned cold, Jiang Ci was wearing thin clothes at school. Lu Shiying suddenly showed up, and the principal personally came out to greet him. But the young master Lu had only come to put a heavy padded coat and scarf on his little brother.

Because of Jiang Ci's blood-clotting disorder, he often fell ill and had to take medicine. He needed special care.

So Lu Shiying arranged for two bodyguards to follow the little one to and from class, reporting to Mr. Lu every moment of the day.

Jiang Ci came home and stood beside the man. "Big brother, I want to learn taekwondo."

Lu Shiying looked at the little tyke, afraid he'd get hurt, and said, "Learn it on the bed."

Jiang Ci: "??"

A week later, a ten-meter-wide custom bed had been installed on the third floor of the villa. Jiang Ci stared at it with wide eyes.

Lu Shiying held power over the whole world. Many prominent families wanted to ally themselves with him through marriage, but no one knew how deeply and carefully he planned. He publicly claimed he would never marry.

Until the day Jiang Ci turned eighteen, when Lu Shiying announced to the world that this was his wife.

On their wedding night, Jiang Ci sat obediently beside him and asked, "Big brother, are we going to sleep now?"

Lu Shiying held his chin and looked him straight in the eyes. "You called me the wrong thing."

Jiang Ci shivered and shrank back before calling, "Daddy..."

Powerful, gentle Daddy top x frail, sickly, obedient beauty bottom. (The top is eleven years older.)

Theme: We have to keep living well.