Why Is This Omega Stalking Me…?

Chapter 71

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What was love?

Was it the soft flutter people described—the gentle rush of butterflies in one’s stomach whenever that particular person drew near? Or was it something deeper, something quieter and far more consuming—the instinct to protect them, to care for them, to give and give without ever asking for anything in return?

Was love the urge to do everything in your power just to see them smile?

Shen Yu sat in silence, his gaze fixed on the television screen where a brightly colored cartoon played. The exaggerated laughter and cheerful voices filled the room, but none of it reached him. His thoughts lingered elsewhere, heavy and unrelenting, as though caught in a loop he couldn’t escape.

Slowly, he turned his head.

Beside him, Lin Yushen sat on the couch, holding a cup of hot chocolate with both hands. The warmth of it rose in soft curls of steam, brushing faintly against his face. He wasn’t drinking it. Instead, he was watching Shen Yu—quietly, carefully—as if waiting for something. Waiting for a shift in his expression, in his mood... in his pheromones.

Or perhaps—

Was love the thing responsible for turning a person into an exception?

Someone who didn’t follow the rules you had set for yourself.

Someone who made you question everything you thought you understood.

Lin Yushen tilted his head slightly, his soft features relaxing into a gentle smile when he noticed Shen Yu’s gaze lingering on him.

"Maybe you’ll find it strange," Shen Yu began, his voice calm but distant, "but I don’t know what love is. I don’t know how to distinguish it from everything else I already feel."

He turned his attention back to the television, though his eyes no longer followed the movements on the screen.

At his words, Lin Yushen’s expression shifted, surprise flickering briefly across his face.

"Ge..." he started softly, but the words never came.

Shen Yu spoke again before he could continue.

"So the answer you gave me earlier..." he murmured, his tone thoughtful, almost detached. "Maybe it was already there for you. Maybe it’s easy for you to recognize something like that. But for me... it isn’t."

Silence settled over the room.

The cartoon continued playing, its cheerful noise contrasting sharply with the stillness between them. Nearby, little Lin Yuze had curled up against Lin Yushen’s folded legs, fast asleep. His small chest rose and fell steadily, his lips parted slightly in the quiet innocence of rest.

Lin Yushen’s expression softened as he looked down at the child. Carefully, he adjusted his position and lifted the toddler into his arms, cradling him with practiced ease. Once he made sure the child was comfortable, he glanced back at Shen Yu.

"Then what about Lian?" he asked gently. "The last time I checked... you really loved her. Even someone like me, who wasn’t close to you back then, could see how much you cared about her."

Shen Yu let out a quiet chuckle, leaning his head back against the couch.

"Is that so?" he replied, almost absently.

Lin Yushen frowned slightly, nodding. Shen Yu didn’t need to look at him to know.

"If that was love," Shen Yu continued slowly, "then why did I let Kim Taehyun take her away? If I loved her so much... why did I just stand there and watch? Why didn’t I fight for her?"

His voice lowered, losing its earlier calm.

"Is that love, Yushen?" he asked quietly. "To watch someone you hold dear be taken away from you without doing anything?"

Lin Yushen didn’t answer immediately.

He lowered his gaze, his thoughts turning inward.

Yes... it was.

Just because Shen Yu hadn’t been the kind of man who would fight recklessly, like a knight chasing after something that didn’t belong to him, didn’t mean his feelings had been any less real. If anything, it meant the opposite.

It meant his love had been selfless.

The kind that chose someone else’s happiness over his own.

The kind that endured in silence.

"How did you feel... back then?" Lin Yushen asked after a moment, his voice quieter now. "When you stood there and watched Taehyun and Lian exchange vows... when they kissed right in front of you... or when she came to you and told you she was pregnant?"

Shen Yu froze.

His fingers tightened subtly around the cup in his hand, the warmth no longer registering. His dark eyes deepened, shadows gathering within them as memories long buried resurfaced.

Seeing this, Lin Yushen gently laid Lin Yuze down on the couch, making sure he was comfortable before shifting closer to Shen Yu.

"It hurt, didn’t it?" he continued softly. "It hurt so much that you couldn’t even cry. You wanted to scream, to pull her back, to take her away from him..."

His voice grew firmer, more certain.

"That’s love, ge."

Shen Yu didn’t move.

"Just because you didn’t fight... just because you weren’t selfish... doesn’t mean you didn’t love her," Lin Yushen said. "It means you loved her so much that you chose to let her go. You chose her happiness over your own."

The words lingered in the air, echoing softly.

Shen Yu stared down at his hands, unmoving, but Lin Yushen’s voice continued to echo in his mind long after he fell silent.

Yes... it had hurt.

He remembered the nights he had spent staring at the ceiling, unable to understand what he was feeling. Back then, he hadn’t called it love.

To him, it had only been pain.

Pain when he overheard He Lian and Taehyun confessing to each other.

Pain when they marked each other.

Pain when they got married.

Pain when they had their first child.

He had watched it all unfold from the sidelines, saying nothing, doing nothing—only enduring.

And yet, over time, that pain had faded.

Like a wound that had once been deep and unbearable, it had eventually healed. The scar remained, but it no longer bled. Eight long years had passed, and the ache had become nothing more than a distant memory.

His gaze drifted back to the television.

On the screen, a strawberry and a mushroom held hands under a bright, painted rainbow, hopping happily beneath a clear sky.

Lin Yushen’s voice broke through his thoughts once more.

"Ge... imagine something."

Shen Yu didn’t respond.

"Imagine someone taking Jiang Li away from you," Lin Yushen continued quietly. "Imagine standing there and watching as he slips through your hands like sand... just like before."

Shen Yu exhaled slowly, lifting a hand to cover his eyes.

"Stop using your psychology degree on me," he muttered. "I’m tired."

Lin Yushen sighed softly, falling silent.

But even without answering, the question had already taken root.

It echoed in Shen Yu’s mind, persistent and unavoidable.

The image formed on its own.

Jiang Li.

Those honey-brown eyes—soft, uncertain, always searching.

Now imagine them looking at someone else.

Smiling for someone else.

Crying because of someone else.

Being held by someone else.

Kissed by someone else.

There was no anger.

Only pain.

A familiar, suffocating pain that tightened around his chest, just like it had years ago when he watched He Lian walk down the aisle, when he saw Taehyun’s mark on her gland, when he finally understood that she would never be his.

He let out a breathless laugh, the sound hollow.

For a moment, he felt like he had been dragged back in time—back to when he was twenty-three, reliving every year up to twenty-nine as if none of it had ever passed.

The thought of Jiang Li being with someone else—

Of him carrying another Alpha’s child—

Of him belonging to someone who wasn’t him—

The realization struck suddenly.

Shen Yu’s eyes widened.

He straightened abruptly, his hand dragging through his hair as he tried to steady his thoughts. His breathing had grown uneven, his heart beating far faster than it should have.

He suddenly realized...

Somewhere along the way...

Jiang Li’s smile had become the answer.

...

The truth settled in, undeniable and overwhelming.

He liked him.

That stubborn, soft, annoyingly persistent omega.

He...

He liked Jiang Li.

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A/ N : Seventy Chapters later... he finally realizes he’s in love with his bunny. ＼(^o^)／