After My Divorce, My Ex-Husband's Father Confessed to Me

[Written on November 20, 2024, and screen-recorded for the archive]

Blurb:

Xi Yu and her husband, He Xiangnan, were joined in a family-arranged marriage. They stepped straight from university into the tomb of marriage.

Before the wedding, Xi Yu already knew that He Xiangnan had loved his first love since high school. He had kept himself pure for that person, but in the end, he couldn't withstand the pressure of the family arrangement and married Xi Yu.

After the wedding, he wouldn't even touch Xi Yu, let alone come home.

At the first He family banquet after the wedding, the head of the family, He Siyue, returned from a business trip abroad.

And throughout the entire He family estate, only one person hadn't come home.

Looking at the empty seat beside him, Xi Yu had no choice but to leave the table and call He Xiangnan.

The phone rang twice before someone answered. Music and cheers blared in the background. Xi Yu hadn't even had a chance to speak when He Xiangnan hung up on him.

As Xi Yu stared at the disconnected call in silence, a large hand came up behind him and rested on his shoulder.

Xi Yu turned around.

The man wore an expensive custom suit he hadn't had time to change out of. Handsome and distinguished, he looked at Xi Yu with interest. "You must be Xi Yu?"

Xi Yu nodded. "...And you are?"

The man smiled and took his hand. "I'm He Siyue."

"He Xiangnan's... father."

-

He Xiangnan rarely came home. Xi Yu couldn't go back to his own home, and couldn't be bothered to return to the marital apartment, which didn't even have any furniture yet, so he simply stayed at the family estate.

He saw his husband less than once a week, but he saw his father-in-law every day.

Xi Yu was picky about food, so He Siyue took over cooking all three meals. Xi Yu wanted to learn golf, so He Siyue personally taught him how to swing. Xi Yu often had low blood sugar, so He Siyue made sure to keep a piece of candy in his pocket for him. Xi Yu often lay awake at night, plagued by restless dreams, so He Siyue brought him a cup of warm milk every evening and told him stories until he fell asleep...

In a daze, Xi Yu began to feel as if He Siyue was the one he had married.

-

One day, He Xiangnan, who had hardly ever been home, showed up at Xi Yu's door with his reunited first love.

"A-Yu is back. Let's get divorced."

Looking at the young man beside He Xiangnan, Xi Yu agreed without hesitation.

They got their divorce papers that very day. Just as Xi Yu was packing to leave, his former father-in-law blocked his way.

The man's gaze burned like fire as he slowly took Xi Yu's hand.

"Xi Yu, stay. Become another head of the He family."

Xi Yu was dumbfounded.

-

He Xiangnan had always had a first love he couldn't have, until they finally reunited after he was married.

Overjoyed, he immediately divorced the arranged-marriage partner he had no real feelings for.

But before long, he discovered that the supposed first love by his side was a complete fake. His real first love was the ex-husband he had already divorced.

He Xiangnan went mad. He rushed back to the family estate, roaring as he demanded to know why He Siyue had hired someone to impersonate his first love and deceive him.

But through a crack in the door, he saw his usually celibate adoptive father pinning his ex-husband to the sofa, kissing him with an infatuated expression.

-

Reader's guide:

* A calculating older man x a beautiful man who seems cold but has a busy inner life

* An old flame catches fire with a bang

* As is customary, one-on-one in body and heart. Older top dotes on younger bottom. The ex-husband is not the top's biological son

* Extremely cheesy, extremely cheesy, extremely cheesy, extremely melodramatic, extremely melodramatic, extremely melodramatic, but the author loves this stuff

Theme: Haven't thought of one