Xueya's head rocked subtly in her palm for a while, then it slipped, shocking her awake.
Her eyes popped in surprise before falling on me, then they went back to their default emotionless calm.
She stared at me, not blinking.
I knew better. Behind that cold exterior, she was worried, and what better time to mess with your best friend that when she was worried?
Clearing my throat, I pulled a knowing smirk.
"You saw my dick." It was simple, it was blunt, it was perfect.
It took her a second to process.
"You come home from work ninety percent dead, and the that's the first thing you say after waking up?"
"Come on, you saw it! I'm packing right?" I barked out a laughter but she met me with a straight look.
"What happened Wutao?!" The smile fell from my face, and Mr. Lu entered.
"Wutao! Son! How are you feeling? Any headache." He touched the back of his hand to my forehead. "Your fever is down, thats great."
"Lu Baba, I'm fine. No need to worry." I reassured calmly. His eyes moved to my chest, where the dark red spots were still very visible.
I subtly tugged up the blue cloth and he shook his head.
"I shouldn't have agreed to this whole thing in the first place. The outside world is too dangerous to your kind. A-Gen omega disguise or not." The look on his face told me he was beating himself up.
"No Ba! I have this under control" I insisted.
"Under control? You call coming home half dead 'under control' ?!" He paused to calm himself down. "You're quitting your job."
My heart dropped. "No!"
"Wutao!" He shouted, and I jumped in surprise. This was his first time ever shouting at me. I saw his hands clench into fists and the veins in his temple pop.
I took in a deep breath, bringing my voice to a low volume as I explained. "Lu Ba, We can't quit now. We can't. We're making progress"
"Progress? No progress is more important than your life, Wutao. What will be the use of all this if you end up dead in the end?" His voice shook and I understood his fear
"But I'm fine Ba!" I lifted my hands, too quickly and a pain shot through me. I stiffened, but clenched my teeth to hold in a wince as I said my next words. "I came back alive—"
"Barely!" Xueya's voice cut me off, and I sent her a frown.
She was still seated on the wooden chair, quietly watching the exchange.
I huffed.
"Sure, I was half dead when I came." I started, earning a frown from both father and daughter. "But we seem to be skipping over something very important"
"And that is?"
I swung my legs over the bed, careful not to trigger the pain again.
I wrapped the blue cloth protectively around my lower half, slowly straightening my back.
"I freaking went into heat! A Z-Gen Omega!" I turned to both of them. "Lu Ba, Xueya , yoh can't tell me thats not some crazy progress. It means we're not chasing after some pipe dream" I chuckled. "This is real." My expression suddenly turned sour.
"Xueya" I took her hand. "We can finally be human, be worth something."
The two of them shifted on their feet. I knew they felt it too, the shift in our course.
"What about the marks on your body?" Xueya asked, and I immediately averted my gaze. She just had to mention the elephant in the room.
I sat back down on the bed, putting a distance between myself and the two before I told the embarrassing story. From the intensity of Mr. Lu's stare, I had to answer carefully.
"I had an encounter with a… Z-Gen Alpha."
Mr. Lu's eyes widened exponentially, and Xueya stiffened.
"He was in his rut," I whispered.
All hell broke loose.
Mr. Lu fell against a table, visibly shaken.
"He took advantage of you?!" Xueya began.
"No, it—"
"Where did this happen?" Mr. Lu cut in. "Was he a client at your workplace?"
"No, he—"
"His necklace was outside his workplace, Baba," Xueya reminded, "I don't think it was a client."
Mr. Lu turned back to me. "Do you remember his face? Anything at all that we can track him with?"
"Just—"
"But that wont help Ba," Xueya interrupted. And the room went silent as realization sank. "We can't report him without putting Wutao at risk."
I took a shaky breath as I decided to grasp the opportunity to tell them.
"It was consensual."
Both heads snapped toward me.
"What?" Their eyes widened. My stomach twisted under their scrutiny.
"I said it was consensual," I whispered, sinking back onto the bed with a sigh.
The silence stretched, saturated with tension, as they searched for their next words.
"Consensual," Xueya started slowly, "as in… you enjoyed it?"
"As far as the meaning of the word consensual goes," I replied with a shrug.
"But how?" she pressed. "Our kind doesn't feel… pleasure. Or anything sexual."
"It just happened. One minute I was trying to catch a cab. The next, a car comes crashing into the fire hydrant beside me, and then, boom. Clothes are coming off..." I paused to sigh.
"I blacked out at some point so I don't remember most of it, only that I woke up in a stranger's room.
I couldn't tell you how I got there. Only a few memory snippets and very suggestive physical signs" I gestured to the marks on my body.
Then I turned to Xueya with a devious smirk. "But if you want more details, I can coin something for you." I hopped my brows suggestively.
Xueya scrunched her nose at my bluntness.
"First of all, you need to learn some shame," she muttered. "That aside, I'm really confused about all of this."
"So am I," I said, turning to Mr. Lu with a hopeful look. "That's why we can't stop now. This Z-Gen Alpha might be the answer we've been looking for."
Xueya exchanged a glance with her father.
"What do you think, Baba?"
Mr. Lu looked at his daughter, then looked at me. Without an answer to Xueya's question, he walked to the door. "Dinner is ready. Let's eat."
We sat around the small table, dishes already laid out.
Dinner was simple; rice, stir-fried vegetables—all kind of vegetables, except the green ones—, and a plate of eggs cooked with tomatoes.
The bowls were small, the portions careful.
No one said a word while we ate, chopsticks clicking softly against porcelain.
Mr. Lu reached across the table and placed the last piece of egg into my bowl.
"Eat," he said.
I nodded stifly, not wanting to trigger another outburst. I shoved the whole piece into my munching quickly.
Then we were back to silence. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.
After a bit, Xueya cleared her throat, causing me to release a relieved breath from someone finally breaking the awkward silence.
"Wutao, I put your necklace back in its box."
"Mmm" I murmured. "Thank you."
Then she nodded. I kicked her legs under the table when she didn't speak again.
When she frowned at me I signalled her with my eyes to bring up the conversation from earlier.
We silently bantered about it for a few seconds, until finally, she sighed.
She straightened her shoulders. Cleared her throat.
"Uhh Baba…"
Mr. Lu grunted in response.
I clenched my teeth around my chopsticks as I watched her form her words.
"About Wutao's … situation."
Mr. Lu suddenly set his chopsticks on the table.
"Uhh—" She threw me a look.
"Wutao" Mr. Lu spoke, cutting Xueya off.
I immediately sat up right, chopsticks falling from my mouth.
"This will be a very dangerous target. Are you sure You're up for it?" I nodded vigorously.
"You can't make any mistake. One slip might cost you dearly. Z-Gen Alphas are not like the regular ones we've been targeting. They're not easily fooled."
"I know Lu Ba, I can do it" I reassured, my stomach churning with hope.
"Okay then." He agreed! He finally agreed!
I jumped off my seat in jubilation, accidentally knocking down my bowl of rice.
My joy immediately disappeared and I pouted at my lost dinner. Slowly, I sank back in my seat.
Everyone at the table ignored me as I sat staring at my spilled dinner longingly.
"So," Mr. Lu began, "if we're doing this, we have to do it right. We start afresh. Discard all old research data, all previous trial results, every method of experiment. Everything."
Oh, so we're not going to talk about my wasted food? Fine.
He turned to look at me. "Your part will be the most difficult, Wutao. Getting the genetic sample—"
I snorted. "I just recently had some very potent genetic samples up my—" My voice faltered as I caught Mr. Lu's sharp, disapproving look.
I cleared my throat immediately. "I'm sorry, Baba." I bowed, keeping my expression neutral.
Xueya rolled her eyes.
"As I was saying," he continued, his gaze piercing, "you'll need to find a way to get close to this Z-Gen Alpha. But first, we need to know exactly who he is. Do you remember what he looks like?" I nodded, I got a good glimpse of him last night, and this morning too. "Good. We can start from there."
We all nodded, letting everything sink in.
"Do you know what it means if this goes well?" Xueya's looked between her father and me.
"Mhmm." Mr Lu answered "It's going to change everything we've known to be true."
The room fell silent. Nobody moved after Mr Lu's words.
For the first time in a long time, hope tugged at my heart.
Looking at Xueya, I saw a familiar glint in her eyes. The same one I saw the first day we met.
Then Mr Lu broke the silence with the most delightful words ever. "Wutao, there's more rice in the rice cooker. Finish eating quickly and get some rest before we go drop you off."
My eyes lit up. Without wasting a second, I picked up my bowl, rushing to the kitchen.