Rainstorm in the Greenhouse

[A kitten crouches on a shelf, thinking that if it stays there, someone will take it home along with the flowers beside it.]

With thugs hunting down her father for his debts, and her father abandoning her to save his own skin, Tan Xiening had no one to turn to. She hid among the flower stands, clutching a pair of scissors for three days and nights.

On the fourth night, as rain fell, a glass wind chime rang. Someone pushed open the flower shop, its sign still marked Closed.

The man snatched the scissors Tan Xiening had thrust at him and covered her mouth, hushing her with a quiet "Shh."

A moment later, the menace outside faded away. Tan Xiening heard the man chuckle softly. "How are you supposed to get away when your hands are shaking like that? Want me to teach you?"

Tan Xiening looked up at him, bewildered. "...Are you hiding from bad people too?"

His face was lost in the darkness. All Tan Xiening could make out was his black trench coat. She didn’t see the enigmatic smile slowly curl at the corner of his mouth.

At first, Tan Xiening thought Shen Xuanzhao was her savior. Then she realized he was the Grim Reaper she ought to be hiding from.

But after years spent fleeing alongside him, the rhythm of her heartbeat had become impossible to calm.

Because Shen Xuanzhao could give her strict, fatherly love at home and a brother’s doting affection out in the world.

And later, in bed, he could give her the passionate kind of love that set her on fire.

Theme: A child raised by the Wolf King will never be a mere kitten.