A Family-Style Lover

[Coming soon: A Guide to Pretending to Sleep. See my profile for the blurb.]

When Shen Chao'an was five, a high fever left him delirious. He grabbed Min Xing by the hem and called him Mom.

Min Xing felt sorry for him and, in a rare act of kindness, called the family doctor. Little did he know that this would bring him a tiny debt collector.

Shen Chao'an recognized no one else. He clung to Min Xing's clothes, teary-eyed, calling him Mom. Min Xing's heart softened, and for the next fifteen years he was both father and mother to him.

Blood ties are an unbreakable red thread, but they have no blood relation.

Shen Chao'an is corrected again and again: Min Xing is not his mom, not his dad, not his big brother, just Mr. Min.

Someone cruelly whispers in his ear, "You're just Min Xing's kept lover. When he's tired of playing with you, he'll throw you away."

Shen Chao'an gets Min Xing to give those people a good beating, but their words leave him with a lasting knot in his heart.

Lovers get thrown away. He can't be a lover.

He clings to Min Xing even more, like a cat defending its territory, driving away every intruder. Min Xing is his mom alone. He can't have other children or another family.

But in this game of role-playing, where both sides are pursuing each other, one of them no longer wants to play Mom.

Min Xing asks, "Xiao An, can I be your boyfriend?"

Shen Chao'an bites his lip and shakes his head, saying no, tears falling as he meets Min Xing's darkening gaze.

Mom can only be Mom. Mom can't be a boyfriend.

*Black-sesame-rice-ball bottom: gentle and well-behaved, but already corrupted x refined scoundrel top who plays Mom

*Reader's guide

1. The bottom has a severe cognitive disorder; the top does not.

2. Pure love and a taboo relationship. They're both head over heels, a family of two with four roles.

3. They don't share a household registration, are not related by blood, and this isn't pseudo-incest. The bottom's illness is simply the reason for his confused perception.

4. I love tasty food, and I promise this will be sweet.

Theme: Take psychological problems seriously and care for mental health