The afternoon sun finally pierced through the heavy morning mist of the western suburbs, pouring down without a single shred of reservation.
The backyard of the Huo family estate was immense. Walking along a winding path paved with cobblestones into the deep recesses, the rigid and solemn English lawn gradually faded away, replaced by an orchard of oranges blooming with immense fervor in the late autumn. This orchard had quite a history; it was something Hunter Huo had recklessly planted twenty years ago, throwing a tantrum when he was ten. Now, the dark green leaves gleamed with an oily luster under the sunlight, and the heavy, golden fruits hung in clusters from the branches. Looking from afar, they truly resembled warm little lanterns lit amidst the trees.
The moment they stepped into this area, the faint scent of fir trees that originally drifted through the air was instantly conquered by a highly rich, sweet aura of pure, natural oranges.
"Professor, walk a bit slower. Watch out for the moss beneath your feet."
Completely abandoning his rigid and proper posture from the dining table, the exact moment they left the elders' sight, Hunter immediately shed that disguise of an elite Alpha. Converging beside Silas Shen in a sticky, affectionate manner, he lifted his arm and naturally hovered it right above Silas's shoulder on that side. He did not truly bring it down to cause physical pressure, yet it was just enough to block away those protruding, dew-covered tree branches.
Silas wore that matching dark blue tie today, which appeared exceptionally fitting at the collar of his overcoat. Turning his eyes marginally, he looked at the youth beside him who was a fraction brighter than the sunlight itself, and the lines of his face—which had been wound somewhat tightly at the dining table—unconsciously softened.
"You planted this orchard?" Silas paused his steps, treading upon the somewhat soft soil as he tilted his head to look at a massive fruit overhead.
"Of course. I lost a bet to my brother when I was ten, so I dug mud here on my own for three full days until blisters wore into my palms."
Hunter arched an eyebrow, an un-concealable pride woven into his tone. While speaking, he exceptionally fluidly extended his long arm, his long fingers gently twisting at a branch to pluck a single orange of the finest quality, which had been warmed thoroughly by the sun.
The youth's nails were long and clean. Exerting a fraction of pressure, the golden rind split open in response, and in that split second, a burst of slightly tart yet intensely sweet fruit juice aroma erupted between the two.
"When I was little, my mom always said I was heartless, crashing and charging around the courtyard all day long, looking exactly like a thoroughly ripe orange that had smashed against the ground."
With a few quick movements, Hunter peeled the white pith from the fruit segments completely clean, then broke off the plumpest individual segment, handing it to Silas's lips with extreme familiarity. He lowered his head slightly, his deep eye sockets brimming with fragmented pieces of light. "Later, when I grew up and tasted it myself, I realized that although an orange has a hasty temper and charges around blindly, it's incredibly sweet on the inside. Professor, won't you try some?"
His fingertips inevitably brushed across the warm contours of Silas's lips, sparking an exceptionally faint, electric current.
Silas's feathers of eyelashes trembled lightly, yet he did not avoid it. Parting his lips slightly, he accepted the hand's offering and caught that segment of fruit within his mouth.
The plump juice exploded instantly between his teeth—slightly cool, yet intensely sweet. That sweetness traveled all the way down his throat, until it seemed even the wind blowing through the orchard carried the temperature of the sun.
"Very sweet," Silas evaluated softly, his cool voice appearing somewhat low and raspy under the saturation of the fruit aroma.
Watching his bobbing Adam's apple, Hunter's gaze darkened, his own Adam's apple sliding up and down in tandem. He stuffed the remaining large half of the orange into his own mouth, then turned his head away, his gaze stretching somewhat long as it pierced through the luxuriant branches, landing upon the towering, desolately cold main building of the Huo family estate in the distance.
The mottled light and shadow of the orchard fell upon his short blonde hair, and the youth's voice suddenly turned very low and very soft:
"Professor, do you know... my dad passed away very early on. Later, my mom remarried and went abroad, leaving only me and my brother in the old estate. My brother took over the company when he was eighteen, running himself ragged all day long. I started skipping classes, playing basketball, racing cars with people—being as reckless as I could possibly manage. Back then, I felt this place called the Huo family, from the grand gates to the main hall, simply wasn't a home at all. It was just a cold, icy shell used to maintain decency."
Silas did not interrupt him, merely standing quietly by his side, allowing that rich orange aroma to envelop him completely.
"Until just now... seeing Grandfather smile at the dining table, hearing him tell me to take extra care of you, I suddenly realized that this shell actually possesses warmth inside after all."
Hunter turned his body around. Standing with his back to the orange orchard filled with golden fruit, the warm late-autumn sun outlined his silhouette to appear incredibly tall and scorching. Extending both hands, inch by inch, he grasped Silas's slightly cool hands with absolute certainty.
This time, it was not done sneakily beneath the cover of a tablecloth, but right here within this territory that belonged to him, openly and honorably.
"You were the one who helped me pry open this cold, icy shell, Silas Shen."
Hunter locked his eyes onto him, the burning hot temperature of his palms smoothing against Silas's skin with an almost obstinate persistence. "Before I met you at the Life Sciences building, I thought the strength of a top-tier Alpha meant the absolute suppression of pheromones, meant being omnipotent, meant standing high above all else. You let me know that true strength is completely independent of those instincts dictated by genetics. True strength is being able to face the things you feared most and wanted to escape most in the past, all for the sake of a single person."
The youth's fingertips bore a few slightly coarse calluses, lightly rubbing against Silas's delicate skin on the back of his hand with immense texture, drawing out a heart-racing romantic tension.
"So, Silas Shen, look at me."
Hunter took a deep breath, his voice carrying a fraction of a youth's desperate determination, yet remaining as steady as a man capable of supporting the heavens and earth. "Whether it's the threshold of the Huo family or any obstacles our research project encounters in the future, as long as you stand by my side, I will never be afraid again."
The orange aroma filling the entire orchard seemed to reach its peak in this very moment.
Silas looked at him in total tranquility. Within those phoenix eyes behind his lenses, the youth's slightly red eye-rims from emotion were reflected, along with that matching dark blue tie swaying gently in the breeze—signifying his status as "exclusive family."
He did not pull his hands back, allowing that scorching temperature to warm his fingertips thoroughly.
After a long while, Silas let out a long, slow breath, the corners of his lips curving into an exceptionally shallow yet exceptionally beautiful arc, his cool voice carrying a shred of vivid teasing:
"Since you're no longer afraid of anything... then in the future, don't stand in the rain at the laboratory anymore."
Hunter was entirely stunned.
Never in his wildest dreams did he expect Silas to suddenly unearth an old score from months ago—back when he had intentionally stood in the rain beneath the Life Sciences building just to play pitiful. Catching that flash of cunning and playfulness within Silas's eyes, after a brief period of dullness, an exceptionally low, hearty laughter suddenly erupted from Hunter's throat.
"Alright."
The youth took a step forward, completely crushing the already minuscule distance between the two. Lowering his head, his lips were practically pressed right against Silas's pale earlobe, the exhaled heat smoking that patch of skin to instantly surface a layer of light pink. "No more standing in the rain in the future. In the future... I'll only stand in the rain inside Professor Shen's heart."
"...Glib-tongued."
Slightly unable to bear that excessively scorching breath of an Alpha by his ear, Silas tilted his head a fraction, wanting to avoid it.
"Professor, don't move." Hunter converged closer without relenting, as if he had discovered some uncharted continent. His eyes were strikingly bright, his voice overflowing with a wicked grin that was about to drown them both. "Look quickly, your ear is red."
Silas's frame stiffened for a brief moment, before he turned around as if nothing had happened, the hem of his overcoat slicing a cold arc through the air, though his voice betrayed a trace of fluster that he himself had not detected:
"...That's just the reflection from the oranges on the trees."
"Nonsense, the oranges are on the left, but your right ear is clearly much redder!"
"Hunter Huo, next week's experimental records will be increased by three sets."
"Don't, Professor! How can family give extra homework to family—"
The youth's crisp laughter and the older man's slightly embarrassed, low reprimand intertwined together, drifting all the way into the deeper recesses of the orange orchard along with the warm, gentle late-autumn breeze.