Chapter 360 - Runaway baby

Chapter 360: Chapter 360 - Runaway baby

Yunfeng had only just started drifting back to sleep when the bedroom door slammed open hard enough to strike the wall.

He jerked awake.

Qiu Yue stood in the doorway, panting heavily. His glasses had slipped halfway down his nose, his hair was a mess, and the frantic look on his face instantly sent a bolt of fear through Yunfeng’s chest.

All traces of sleep vanished.

"What is it? What happened?" Yunfeng threw the duvet aside. "Is he okay? Is the baby okay?"

He rushed to get out of bed, forgetting that the bedsheet had tangled itself around his legs while he slept. His foot caught in it, and before he could recover, he pitched forward and landed face-first on the floor with a heavy thud.

The sound finally woke Muchen.

He groggily lifted his head from the pillow, hair sticking out in several directions as he tried to understand why his husband was on the floor and Qiu Yue was standing at their door looking like someone had died.

"What happened?"

Qiu Yue swallowed.

"The baby is missing."

Muchen’s sleepiness disappeared instantly.

Yunfeng lifted his head from the floor.

"What?"

"Your son is gone. He disappeared from the observation room."

"What?!"

Their voices came out together.

Muchen shot upright so quickly that his head spun. He grabbed the edge of the mattress for balance before scrambling off the bed and helping Yunfeng untangle himself from the sheet.

"What do you mean he’s gone?" Muchen demanded. "Where could he possibly go?"

"I don’t know!" For once, Qiu Yue looked genuinely panicked. "I stepped away briefly to check the samples I took earlier. When I came back, the observation room was empty. The door was still closed."

Yunfeng stared at him.

The doctor started sweating.

"I checked the room. I checked the corridor. Yuki helped me search the nearby rooms. I couldn’t find him, so I thought maybe he came looking for you."

"You thought?" Yunfeng’s eyes narrowed dangerously. "You lost our three-month-old baby?"

Qiu Yue adjusted his glasses with a visibly trembling finger. "Technically, your three-month-old baby appears capable of independent flight."

"You think?!"

"Yunfeng." Muchen grabbed his arm. His own face had gone pale. "Later. Find him first."

That immediately snapped Yunfeng out of it.

They rushed from the bedroom.

The observation room was empty when they reached it. The small bed Qiu Yue had prepared hadn’t been disturbed, and there was no sign that anything had broken or forced its way inside. The door had apparently remained closed the entire time.

Yunfeng’s anxiety worsened.

If their son could move through closed doors somehow, there was no telling where he could have gone.

They searched the research area first.

Muchen checked beneath tables and behind equipment while Yunfeng opened cupboards large enough to fit the floating sphere. Qiu Yue searched the adjoining rooms again, increasingly baffled by how something that floated around inside a transparent ball had managed to disappear so completely.

Nothing.

They moved through the rest of the hospital, then hurried back toward the mansion.

By then, Muchen’s fear was becoming difficult to hide.

"He’s so small, Yunfeng."

"I know."

"What if he went outside?"

"He didn’t."

"You don’t know that."

Yunfeng didn’t, but he refused to let himself imagine it.

They had only just gotten their son. Only hours ago Yunfeng had thought the baby might die before he ever got to hold him. Now every terrible possibility crowded into his mind at once. What if the membrane had ruptured somewhere? What if the baby had floated outside and gotten hurt? What if his strange ability had carried him somewhere they couldn’t reach?

Yunfeng forced those thoughts down.

They would find him.

Inside the mansion, the three of them split up. They checked the living room, kitchen, storage areas and every room along the first floor before moving upstairs. Jinju and Shinju joined the search after learning what happened, while Hana ran outside to check the garden and the area surrounding the house.

Still nothing.

By the time Yunfeng returned to their bedroom, his heart was pounding painfully.

Muchen followed close behind him. His face was tense, and his earlier exhaustion had disappeared beneath pure panic.

"Check here again."

They did.

Yunfeng dropped to his knees and looked beneath the bed. Muchen searched the wardrobe while Qiu Yue checked behind the curtains and around the adjoining bathroom.

Nothing.

Yunfeng stood again, dragging a hand through his hair.

"He came here earlier."

Muchen looked at him.

"He found us while we were sleeping," Yunfeng continued. "Maybe he tried to come back."

Qiu Yue frowned. "We checked the bedroom."

Muchen’s gaze shifted toward the bathroom.

The door was slightly open.

He hadn’t noticed it before.

Muchen crossed the room and pushed it wider.

Then he stopped.

His shoulders sagged so suddenly that Yunfeng’s stomach dropped.

"What?"

Muchen didn’t answer.

Yunfeng hurried over.

Then he saw him.

Their son was floating happily above the bathtub.

The transparent sphere bobbed gently through the air, drifting from one end of the tub to the other as though the little boy had personally decided this was the perfect place to spend his afternoon. Inside, he was awake and completely comfortable, tiny legs kicking through the liquid.

For several seconds, all three adults simply stared.

The relief that hit Yunfeng was so intense that his knees nearly weakened.

Muchen pressed a hand over his mouth.

"Oh my god."

The baby noticed them.

His bright blue eyes immediately settled on Muchen.

The sphere changed direction.

It floated out of the bathtub, crossed the bathroom and gently bumped against Muchen’s chest.

Muchen caught it with both hands.

"You little..."

His voice broke.

All the fear he’d been holding back rushed out at once. He pulled the sphere against himself, careful not to squeeze it, and lowered his forehead against the warm membrane.

"Where did you go?"

The baby blinked up at him.

"You scared me to death."

As if entirely unconcerned with the chaos he’d caused, the little boy rubbed his head against the inside of the membrane where Muchen was holding him.

Then he yawned.

His tiny eyes slowly closed.

Within seconds, he was asleep.

Muchen stared down at him in disbelief.

Yunfeng stepped closer and wrapped an arm around both of them.

Only then did he allow himself to breathe properly.

Qiu Yue leaned against the bathroom doorway and removed his glasses to wipe the sweat from his face.

"I guessed right. He came looking for you."

Yunfeng turned his head slowly.

The look he gave him made Qiu Yue put his glasses straight back on.

"I’m going to pretend that glare isn’t directed at the person currently responsible for figuring out how your impossible child survives."

"You lost him."

"And I found his behavioral pattern. He seeks out his parents."

"You lost him."

Qiu Yue wisely abandoned the argument.

"He can stay with you from now on. I’ll do examinations here when necessary. Just keep him close and come get me immediately if the membrane changes."

With that, the exhausted doctor left.

Muchen remained in the bathroom for another moment, looking down at the sleeping baby.

The fear hadn’t completely disappeared. It probably wouldn’t for a long time.

Their son was impossibly small, medically confusing and apparently capable of wandering off whenever he pleased. Muchen had spent months believing the safest place for him was inside his body. Now that protection was gone, and he couldn’t stop worrying about every little thing that might happen to him.

Yunfeng seemed to understand.

He gently rubbed Muchen’s back.

"He’s okay."

Muchen nodded.

Then he looked at Yunfeng.

"He’s just like you."

Yunfeng raised a brow.

"A troublemaker." Muchen carefully carried the sleeping sphere back toward the bed. "He’s been outside for less than a day and already ran away from his doctor."

Yunfeng grinned, the last of his panic finally easing.

"Well, at least he gets his looks from you. With a face that cute, he’ll get away with everything."

Muchen rolled his eyes, but the corner of his mouth lifted.

"You literally just said he looks exactly like you."

"I’ve changed my mind."

"Shameless."

Yunfeng leaned down and kissed him.

This kiss was nothing like the heated one from earlier. It was soft, lingering with the relief neither of them could quite put into words.

When they separated, Muchen carefully settled back into bed with the sphere beside him. Yunfeng climbed in from the other side, making sure their son remained safely between them.

The little boy didn’t wake.

One tiny hand rested beside his face as his white hair floated gently around his head.

Muchen watched him for a long time before his eyes finally began to close.

Yunfeng reached across the sphere and took Muchen’s hand.