My Two Dads

he two of them much earlier on.
But Old Yang never knew and never met Han Shi Yu.

Han Shi Yu carried a fruit platter out and placed it in front of Yang Mo.
The husky came over and tried to steal one, but Han Shi Yu gently pushed its head away.

He sat down opposite of Yang Mo.
His fingers were crossed, his thumbs fumbling over each other.
After a while of silence, he finally called out, “Mo.”

Yang Mo: “Mhm.”

Han Shi Yu said, “This year’s New Year’s, I’ll go home with you.”

Yang Mo’s fingers froze on top of the keyboard.
He looked up at Han Shi Yu.

When they got home, Old Yang opened the door for them.

He said, “Welcome back.”

Old Yang looked over Yang Mo’s shoulder expectantly, yet he only saw an unfamiliar face.

He and Han Shi Yu stared at each other.

Old Yang continued to look at him with a frown, then turn towards Yang Mo.
“Didn’t you say you were bringing home a dog?”

Yang Mo: “……”

Yang Mo turned back, looked at Han Shi Yu but there was no sign of the husky.
He asked, “Where’s the dog.”

“Still lying in the car.
I’ll buy a sausage later to tempt it out of there.” Han Shi Yu coughed lightly to ease the awkwardness before flashing a smile, “Hello, uncle.”

“Oh, hello.
Come in first and sit down.” Old Yang walked in, cleaned up the clutter on the sofa before turning towards Yang Mo, “Who’s that young man?”

Yang Mo said, “A colleague.”

Old Yang measured Han Shi Yu with his gaze.

This young man looked decent and in the eyes of the elders, he could be considered as talented.
He smiled at Han Shi Yu, intended to go boil a pot of hot water to make tea next.
While he worked on it, he said to Yang Mo, “Look at you.
Bringing back a colleague on New Year’s.
Don’t they have to celebrate their New Year’s too?”

He turned his head and asked Han Shi Yu in a concerned tone, “Won’t your family miss you if you don’t go home?”

Han Shi Yu smiled, “I’m really close to Yang Mo.
His relatives are my relatives too, so it’s the same either ways.”

Old Yang chuckled a few times.

Yang Mo secretly glanced at Han Shi Yu.
Han Shi Yu went outside to get the husky so the house fell back into silence with only the pair of father and son left.

Old Yang muttered, “It’s rare to see you with such a close friend.”

Yang Mo: “Mhmm…”

“I’ve actually been meaning to ask you.”

Yang Han: “Yeah?”

There were all kinds of fitness equipment in the community square.
Lu Yue Ming leaned on the bar.

His eyelashes were really long.
If snow fell from the sky, it would probably land on them.
He looked at the sparkler in Yang Han’s hands before he tore his gaze away and looked around blankly.

Then he continued, “How did Uncle Yang and Uncle Han managed to come out.”

Yang Han tilted her head to look at him, “Xiao Lu, you really can’t stop yourself from mentioning my dad every three sentences.”

Lu Yue Ming laughed a little with his head hung low.

Yang Han handed him a sparkler.
He took it as Yang Han lit it up for him.

The lights slowly pulsed in his hand.

Yang Han was squatting down as she looked over at Han Shi Yu not far away.
He was sitting on the marble edge of the flower bed, talking on the phone while throwing the ball at the border collie.

Yang Han thought to herself, maybe there were still things he had to settle in the company.
After all, Ji Xun mainly focused on audio-visual entertainment, so during the holidays, especially the Spring Festival, the traffic would be really high.

Earlier on, in order to coax the children, Han Shi Yu went to a nearby mall and bought a basket of toy balls, which had now become a plaything for Er Dan.
And so, Er Dan would offer the ball to him as Han Shi Yu throw it out even without looking after he took it.

Yang Han thought about it for a while before saying, “I was curious once and asked my grandpa how my dad came out to him.” She continued, “I feel like confessing to your family about this, isn’t an easy matter at all.”

Lu Yue Ming, “Yeah.”

Yang Han was still staring at Han Shi Yu, who was busy a distance away.
“My grandpa said, it was Han Shi Yu who spoke up first.”

She said, “It’s actually quite funny now that we’re talking about it.
Grandpa said, one year which was also during Chinese New Year, my dad brought Old Han back home.
He didn’t mind it at first, thinking Old Han was only a normal friend of my dad.
He said…”

Yang Han mimicked Old Yang’s tone— “This young man, knows how to accompany this old man to play chess and make tea, as well as saying nice things to me.
He has a good insight in everything he does, much better than that rebellious son, Yang Mo who locks himself in his room the second he gets home.
I was quite fond of him then, so I told him, ‘It would be great if you were my son’.”

Seeing how hard Yang Han worked on restoring an old man’s voice, Lu Yue Ming laughed out loud.

Yang Han laughed as well before she continued, “Grandpa was only joking around, but he didn’t know that at that time, my dad and Old Han had been together for many years already.”

“That Chinese New Year, grandpa had intended to introduce my dad on blind dates as they visited others.”

Footnotes

二蛋 = A nickname that means ‘idiot’ but used in an endearing way.