Captured By The Cold Detective (BL)

"The words are all jumbled up?" He Juan asked in surprise.

Mu Yuze gave a jerky nod, eyes lowered in shame. "They kept jumping around and just as I thought I could figure it out... they suddenly did not make sense anymore..." the more he said it, the smaller his voice became.

He had known early on that he was not normal when other kids his age had no problems pronouncing their words loud and clear, yet he still struggled to articulate his speech properly. That’s why he grew up silent and taciturn, preferring to observe the people around him instead so that he could at least pretend to be ’normal’. Until the end, when he was finally able to move his tongue smoothly, he still did not like to talk, fearing that others could sense something was off about him.

For no matter how hard he tried to learn, he could never catch up with ’normal people’.

He could still muddle his way through elementary school because the textbooks were filled with pictures and large fonts, but once he reached junior school... he knew that his guise would be exposed sooner or later.

And see, the day he dreaded for finally came.

He thought that he had come to terms with it eons ago, could accept that his brain was indeed wired differently compared to others, that he was a dumb kid who could not even read at his age, but... not like this.

Not in front of He Juan – anyone but him.

He did not want He Juan to know how stupid and abnormal he was. He did not want He Juan to realize how it had been a huge mistake to take him in, to offer him warmth and happiness, to spoil him. He wanted... he still wanted to be the best for—

"Xiao Ze..." A pair of gentle hands cupped his face, gently wiping away the tears that had flowed out again without him realizing. He raised his head and through his blurry vision, he saw He Juan looking at him with such a tender look on his face, so tender that he couldn’t help but burst out into a flood of tears. "Xiao Ze, it’s okay. We will solve this together, okay? You are not alone. I promise, we will get through this together," the man whispered soothing words to him as he was once again brought into the warmest and safest embrace in the whole world.

Mu Yuze buried his face into He Juan’s shoulder and let his tears fall freely. All the shame, anxiety, trepidation, and insecurity was washed away under the man’s gentle voice – just like magic. "Sssh, it’s okay. Silly boy, you must have been so afraid, hmm? It’s okay, Gege’s with you..."

He Juan rubbed his hand across Mu Yuze’s trembling back, listening as the boy’s muffled cries lacerated through the most tender part of his heart, drawing out bloody flesh and blood with each sob and hiccup. As he gently rocked them back and forth, he started to hum the first song that crossed his mind – the song which he had sung to Mu Yuze the first week he arrived here. All the while, his brain had never stopped working. It seemed like he had heard of Mu Yuze’s symptoms somewhere before... as for what it was, he could not remember it on top of his head. He needed more research to make sure.

Later. He would do it later, after he managed to calm Mu Yuze down.

It was not until the sun outside the window began to slant into the horizon that Mu Yuze’s cries subsided into occasional sniffles. He Juan cradled the boy’s head in one hand as he used his sleeve to clean the messy streaks of tears.

"Your eyes..." he clicked his tongue and gently grazed the reddened eyelids with his knuckles. Mu Yuze’s wet lashes fluttered against his touch and the moisture caused the color to turn even darker, a stark contrast to his pale cheeks.

"Little bunny," he chuckled when the word popped up in his mind. His tone became playful as he teased the boy, "Little bunny, look at how red your eyes are. Try to cry again tomorrow and Gege will start feeding you carrots to see if you’ll really turn into a bunny. Have you seen them before, Xiao Ze? They’re white, fluffy and timid. Just like you."

Mu Yuze let out a snort, but he kept himself still as He Juan continued to fuss on him. His gaze tentatively shifted to He Juan’s wet sleeves, then the two damp spots on He Juan’s chest and shoulder. "Your shirt..." he mumbled in a nasally voice, ears turning red. "I ruined your shirt..."

"Hmm, what are you– oh," He Juan exclaimed softly once he realized what Mu Yuze was staring at. He scoffed and lightly flicked the boy on the forehead. "Now you’re worrying about my shirt?"

How could this boy be so silly? Chuckling, He Juan patted Mu Yuze’s head one last time before rising to his feet, not noticing the subtle loss that flashed through Mu Yuze’s eyes which he concealed as soon as He Juan turned to him. "Stay here. I will fetch an ice pack for you. Try to compress your eyes for at least fifteen minutes lest you wake up with walnut eyes tomorrow."

He Juan quickly went to the kitchen to grab a few cubes of ice and wrap them in a thin cloth, then he instructed Mu Yuze to lay down on the couch and gently placed it across the boy’s reddened eyelids. "How is it? It doesn’t feel too cold, right?"

"No."

"Fifteen minutes, okay? Don’t try to cheat! Gege will watch over you!"

"...Mn."

He Juan took his seat on the carpeted floor and smiled when he saw that Mu Yuze was obediently laying still. He grabbed his phone and sent Jia Molei a message, describing the symptoms Mu Yuze had just told him earlier. With the doctor’s guidance, he could finally pinpoint the crux of the problem.

— It was dyslexia.

Mu Yuze was not dumb, nor was he a failure or abnormal freak. He was just dyslexic and it was not a disease, but a condition that he was born with. In other words, it was not his fault at all. This was something he could not control to begin with. Upon knowing that, He Juan could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

However...

[Don’t you dare ask me to give him an examination, XIU. I am not a fucking ophthalmologist, for God’s sake! Just bring him to the hospital!]

Of course, the right course of action after this was to bring Mu Yuze to an eye specialist for an examination. Not to mention, He Juan also had a lot of questions he would like to ask the doctor, such as the possibility of treatment and how he could help Mu Yuze improve his reading ability. He would have taken Mu Yuze there in a heartbeat had it been any other time. But now... when it was the sensitive period near the prime minister election... he feared that his enemies were already crouching in the dark, waiting for the right moment to pounce on him at the slightest carelessness.

He Juan’s face turned grim. He could not allow Mu Yuze to be implicated with him — ever.