Chapter Text
Chapter 1: You’re my sunshine, my only sunshine
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The pediatric consultation room was warm with soft yellow lighting, a gentle hum of machinery filling the silence. Zhuo Yichen stood by the small patient chart stand, discussing treatment adjustments with Zhao Yuanzhuo, the visiting cardiologist from the adult wing.
“His echo today still shows mild pericardial effusion, but his vitals are stable. I think we can monitor for now, no immediate intervention unless there’s worsening,” Yichen explained, tapping the chart with a slim finger, his expression calm yet deeply focused.
Zhao Yuanzhuo nodded, eyes intent on Yichen’s lips more than the chart. “Mm. That’s reasonable. I’ll follow up with another cardiac panel tomorrow. Dr. Zhuo… you’re always thorough.”
Before Yichen could reply, the door to the consultation room creaked open, and then shuffled the smallest interruption either doctor could imagine.
Ji Ling stood there—tiny, sleepy, bundled in an oversized orange fox pajama set with a little tail swishing behind him. A matching fox headband perched on his tousled hair, ears flopping comically. He clutched a plush fox nearly as big as his torso. Big eyes, still drowsy from sleep, searched the room until they landed on Yichen.
“Mama…” Ji Ling called softly, voice small and thick with sleep, padding over on bare feet.
Zhao Yuanzhuo’s brows shot up. He opened his mouth but nothing came out.
“Ji Ling!” Wen Xiao, flustered and breathless, skidded to the doorway.
“You little rascal—how did you slip past Nurse Pei? I told you to stay in your room!”
But Ji Ling ignored Wen Xiao completely. He went straight to Yichen, lifting his arms in clear demand.
Yichen’s stern professional demeanor instantly melted. With a gentle smile, he leaned down and scooped Ji Ling up into his arms. The little fox clung to him eagerly, pressing his plushie between them and burying his nose into Yichen’s neck.
“Mama smells good…” Ji Ling murmured, snuggling closer, breathing in Yichen’s faint scent of roses and the sterile sweetness of hand sanitizer.
Zhao Yuanzhuo stood there, utterly stunned. He cleared his throat. Twice. Finally managed, “You… you have a child? Dr. Zhuo, I—ah—I didn’t know you were married?”
Wen Xiao, who had finally caught her breath, tried to smother her giggle behind her clipboard. She failed spectacularly, shoulders shaking. She knew very well how Zhao Yuanzhuo had been trying to find excuses to come to pediatrics more often lately—always conveniently when Yichen was on shift.
Yichen lifted an elegant brow, his dark eyes glinting with mischief. “I gave birth to him.”
Zhao Yuanzhuo visibly paled. “You—? I mean—married? But I’ve never seen you wear a ring. Are you perhaps… a single parent?”
Wen Xiao nearly choked.
Before Yichen could clarify, Ji Ling tugged on the front of his white coat, eyelids heavy.
“Mama… I’m sleepy… I want My Sunshine” The tiny whine pulled at something deep in Yichen’s chest. He adjusted Ji Ling in his arms, cradling him closer, and pressed a light kiss to his hair.
“Alright, baobei, let’s get you back to bed.”
Yichen started to hum softly while singing Ji Ling's favourite bedtime lullaby.
“The other night dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamed I held you in my arms”
“But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken, So I hung my head and I cried.”
As Yichen walked out, Ji Ling nestled even tighter, a small content sigh escaping him, eyes closing as Yichen soft voices lulled him.
“You’re my sunshine, my only sunshine… You make me happy when the skies are grey…”
“You never know dear, how much I love you.. Please don't take my sunshine away..”
Left behind, Zhao Yuanzhuo could only watch, feeling his heart plummet to depths even his medical training couldn’t measure.
Wen Xiao leaned closer, voice bubbled with barely contained laughter. “Dr. Zhao, don’t look so heartbroken. Ji Ling only calls him ‘Mama’ because he insists Yichen smells like his Mama. He’s not—well, biologically—Dr. Zhuo child.”
But Zhao Yuanzhuo groaned softly, running a hand through his hair. “My heart almost dropped to the floor.”
And Wen Xiao, eyes sparkling with mischief, just patted his shoulder sympathetically, giggling all the way down the hall.
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The apartment was quiet when Zhao Yuanzhuo returned, the gentle hum of the air purifier the only sound greeting him. He set down his keys and loosened his tie, eyes immediately searching for the one person who could soothe the strange ache in his chest.
In the study, light from the desk lamp pooled around Li Lun’s figure. The man sat straight-backed before his computer, elegant hands gliding over the keyboard as he reviewed research papers, glasses perched low on his nose. His long hair, loosely tied, spilled over one shoulder, catching the golden light.
Zhao Yuanzhuo’s heart softened at the sight. Without a word, he crossed the room and wrapped his arms around Li Lun from behind, pressing his face into the curve of Li Lun’s neck.
Li Lun stilled, a faint amused sigh slipping past his lips. “You went to pester your crush again?”
Zhao Yuanzhuo let out a grumble, nuzzling closer. “This time it was work,” he mumbled, plopping dramatically onto the couch behind Li Lun’s chair.
Li Lun paused, eyes narrowing slightly as he studied Zhao Yuanzhuo’s face—catching the faint furrow in his brows, the brooding downturn of his mouth. With a small huff, he reached out, gripped Zhao Yuanzhuo’s wrist, and tugged until the taller man awkwardly landed across his lap.
“Tell me,” Li Lun murmured, sliding a hand into Zhao Yuanzhuo’s hair, pulling him close for a slow, deliberate kiss. When he finally pulled back, he kept their foreheads touching, eyes sharp but gentle.
“What’s made you so moody today? Did he ignore you?”
Zhao Yuanzhuo let out a beleaguered sigh.
“A cute little child called him Mama. And do you know what he did? He looked me dead in the eye and said—‘I gave birth to him.’ With the straightest face.”
Li Lun blinked. “…Then?”
“I was fooled, Lun-zi. Completely. I thought he was married all this time. My heart nearly stopped.”
Li Lun’s lips twitched, an eyebrow arching high.
“You really haven’t given up on that pretty paediatrician of yours.”
“You should meet him once,” Zhao Yuanzhuo insisted, eyes bright with a mix of stubbornness and hopeless admiration.
“You’ll understand. He’s gentle but sharp, the way he talks to children—he just… fits. I can’t explain it.”
Li Lun leaned back slightly, studying his lover with exasperated fondness.
“This month I have to fly to Dahuang to present my research in a conference,” he reminded, though his voice had lost all edge, now low and indulgent.
Zhao Yuanzhuo’s shoulders slumped.
“You always leave me alone. When will you at least come to my hospital? I’ve been telling my staff for months that you exist.”
Li Lun’s hand smoothed through Zhao Yuanzhuo’s hair, brushing it back from his face. “I will,” he said simply.
“Really?” Zhao Yuanzhuo perked up, hope glinting in his eyes.
Li Lun’s lips curved into a small, secret smile.
“I’ll report for duty next week.”
Zhao Yuanzhuo gave a shout of glee, immediately surging up to crush Li Lun in an ecstatic embrace. His kiss was eager, a little clumsy, full of boyish delight as he practically knocked Li Lun against the back of the chair.
“You’re the best! I’ll—” He paused just long enough to breathe, then dove back in, peppering kisses over Li Lun’s lips, jaw, even the corner of his glasses.
“Don’t blame me if half the hospital starts worshiping you, you’ll be the most handsome doctor in the building.”
Li Lun chuckled low, finally gripping Zhao Yuanzhuo’s collar and pulling him in for one last, grounding kiss—soft but lingering, a promise that despite all the teasing, his heart had long been spoken for.
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Li Lun was striding through the hospital’s administrative wing, a dark long coat draped elegantly over his shoulders, when his phone buzzed urgently in his pocket. He answered without breaking a step.
“Hello?”
“Is this Mr. Li Lun, legal guardian of Li Jie?”
Li Lun’s footsteps slowed, heart giving a sharp, instinctive jolt.
“Yes. I am.”
“Sir, your son was just brought into our emergency department. We need your consent to proceed with treatment.”
His breath caught painfully in his chest.
“Which hospital? I’ll come immediately.”
“This is Tiandu General Hospital Emergency Department.”
For a moment, Li Lun simply stood there, pulse roaring in his ears. This was the very hospital he had reported to for duty. Without missing another beat, he cut the call and rang the admin office, informing them of an urgent family emergency that would delay his reporting time. They understood at once.
When Li Lun finally reached the emergency floor, he approached the main counter, voice calm but edged with tightly leashed worry.
“Excuse me. I’m Li Jie’s legal guardian. He was brought here today.”
The nurse quickly scanned her monitor, then looked up with a sympathetic nod.
“He’s in the yellow trauma bay. Go straight down this corridor—it’ll be on your left.”
Li Lun murmured a tight thank you, then strode swiftly down the hall. The distinct sterile tang of antiseptics and the low murmur of medical staff filled the air. When he reached the yellow trauma bay, he paused at the entrance.
His eyes landed immediately on the small figure lying on the bed. Li Jie. His little one. Relief flooded through him at seeing his peaceful sleeping face, but it was followed by a stab of concern at the IV drip and the brace wrapped around his small arm.
Beside the bed was a young man. His head rested gently against the mattress, hands cradling Li Jie’s smaller one, as though guarding it even in unconscious vigil.
Li Lun stepped closer, studying his son first. No signs of distress, color fair, breathing steady. Good.
Then his eyes drifted to the stranger. Perhaps the teacher who had called him? But when he cleared his throat lightly to announce his presence, the young man lifted his head—revealing a face so startlingly soft and lovely that Li Lun felt his mind blank for a fraction of a second.
Round, doe-like eyes rimmed in worry, a delicate button nose, flushed cheeks, and perfectly shaped cupid lips that were so pink they seemed almost painted.
How… How could a man look like this?
“Sir?” the stranger called gently, stepping around the bed to face him more fully, hand waving tentatively in front of Li Lun’s distracted gaze.
“Are you Xiao Jie’s father?”
Li Lun managed a nod, still half-stunned, not even correcting the misunderstanding.
“Oh—thank heavens. I was so worried,” the man breathed out, shoulders slumping with relief.
“I’m the one who brought him in. He almost got hit by a car. Luckily I was nearby. But when he fell… It looks like he broke his arm. They needed parental consent to do the X-ray, so we’ve been waiting.”
Then he bit his lip, hands twisting together, clearly distressed.
“It’s my fault, really. I shouldn’t pull him too hard, he fell—”
The words tumbled out in anxious waves, guilt coloring every syllable. But Li Lun wasn’t listening to the explanation anymore. He’d noticed faint scrapes and bruises on the stranger’s hands, the torn edge of his cuff, small dots of dried blood on delicate knuckles.
Without thinking, Li Lun reached out, a large warm hand encasing those slender, trembling fingers.
“You’re injured.”
The stranger blinked up at him, startled into silence, eyes wide with confusion—so close now that Li Lun could see a tiny freckle just under his right eye.
“…Huh?”
Li Lun gently turned his hand over, thumb brushing across a shallow cut, almost entranced by how fragile it seemed in his own rough palm.
“You… protected him, didn’t you?” he said, voice low, rougher than he meant. “These are from that.”
For a moment, they simply stood there. The stranger’s breath caught, lips parting slightly. And Li Lun realized, with a surprising jolt to his chest, that this delicate young man had placed himself between danger and Li Jie without a thought for his own safety.
Li Lun’s grip tightened just slightly—a silent, unexpected gratitude threading into his stern composure.
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