17 Father and son

Beep "Sir that will be a total of R550 "

"Mhm "came a short reply before a card was handed over to the cashier.

"Here you are, hope you come again" the cashier said handing back the card. She watched the man lift up the groceries before walking out of the shop without looking back. "Mmg miss."" Oh right sorry" she said. Looking at handsome men will get me fired sooner or later. Their always so enchanting. "Good morning mam" she said smiling at the next customer in line

..

Ling Xiao walked towards  his car ignoring all the looks he was receiving from the other shoppers. After a few years of getting the same looks he was already used to it. Plus with the fact that he was well built since he was in the military for 5 years now he could already beat most of the males in the entertainment industry.

Getting in the front seat , Ling Xiao looked back at the groceries and gifts he had bought. Honestly he wasn't exactly sure what to buy for his visit to his family. That's right instead of trying to create some sort of chance meeting and then long process of getting to know each other, Ling Xiao had decided to just go straight to her house and introduce himself. As for the rest , it would come later. Not that he was against courting her from scratch but the time just wasn't enough. There was only about five months left before the outbreak and he did not have enough time for all that at this moment because he wasn't done preparing. If he had enough time he would but unluckily for him he was only able to come back six months before the outbreak.

Looking at the groceries that contained almost all of Emilia's and Qin Lu's favorite foods and the gifts he had prepared he couldn't help but feel that he was missing something. His plan was to talk to both mother and son and then they could have dinner or something of the sort later on but now he wasn't sure if that was a good idea.

"Aggg!" he groaned combing his hair with his fingers. Nevermind let's just go with this. Starting the engine Ling Xiao began driving to their house. While driving the house Ling Xiao began rehearsing what he was going to say once he reached. The last thing he wanted was to get kicked out.

When he was about to arrive he noticed a toy store so he stopped the car, got off and ran towards the store. Ten minutes later the man walked out with a brown bear. He did not know what to get little Qin but he did know from his past life that the boy loved bears so he bought the most bear looking soft teddy he could find in the store.

Placing the bear in the back seat he began driving again. In about two minutes he had arrived outside the house where his investigation had showed was Emilia's house. Taking a deep breath, Ling Xiao took the groceries and the bear in one hand before he got off the car and walked with steady steps to the front door. Lifting his one hand up to knock, his hand was met with air when the door suddenly swung open.

Before he could even get back to his senses a soft milky voice rang out shocking him out of his stupper

"Dad?!"

......

'What the hell did I just say. How am I going to explain this now. But what the hell is Dad doing here.' Qin Lu thought to himself.

A minute ago Qin Lu had heard the sound of a car parking outside, thinking that his mom was back with his grandma and grandpa, the young boy had excitedly ran to open the door but what came into view was not his mom nor a pair of elderly but a young powerful man. His dad.

If this were before Qin Lu would not have made such a simple mistake of calling out to him the moment they met. His original plan was for them to slowly familiarize with each other first before they went back to the way it was . But it seems that after all these years of staying with his dad calling out to him had become second nature and he couldn't stop himself from subconsciously doing so.

Qin Lu was feeling a little conflicted as this moment. He was feeling very happy at seeing his father again but he was also a little worried at explaining himself out of this situation. After all he had never met his father before in this current timeline and his mom had never shown him a picture of him or talked about him so how was he going to explain how he knew. He couldn't exactly say that he could feel their relation through a strange bloodline power like how dragons could ,could he?

He knew that the chances of his dad not hearing that too was also very low. His father was a highly trained soldier after all and such a great noise could not be missed.

Qin Lu was so absoberd in his thoughts he did not realize that his emotions were displayed on his face. One can't blame him, he was still young so he hadn't mastered keeping an ice face like his father 24/7 now right.

Ling Xiao looked at the little contorted face of his son and he couldn't help but find it cute. How come I didn't realize that this beat was this cute before. Probably had something to do with his little ice face he kept most of the time . Luckily I met him before that expression of his had matured. Maybe he can work on making the kid give up that ice face in this life. Having a lively little bun was much more enjoyable.

"Ahm" Ling Xiao coughed trying to catch his attention. "Aren't you going to invite me in" the man asked in a slight teasing tone.

"ah!, I can't! How can I let a stranger into the house !" Qin Lu tried to save himself with that statement.

"What, are you going to try and act like you don't know me after just recognizing me."

"Ehh" Qin Lu could not find a rebuttal for that so he could only open the door and let the older man in. Ling Xiao walked into the house and looked around. Just by the layout of the house with all the pictures and decoration style ling Xiao could tell that it was a house that someone had spent genuine time decorating. It wasn't just a house but you could feel the warm of a home just by looking around.

Placing the groceries on the counter Ling Xiao turned around to look at his son who seemed to be lost in thoughts again." Do you want to sit down and talk." He asked the other . He had learnt in his past life that the boy did not like being treated like a child but liked acting like an adult so he decided not to talk to him like one. Who knew if he might offend the little ancestor and in turn offend his wife through the kid if he went crying to her. He hadn't even gotten to make her his wife again ahh wouldn't it be sad if his chances were destroyed just like that.

"Oh Ok"  Qin Lu replied before he sat down opposite his father. Looking at his dad little Qin couldn't help but marvel at how majestic his dad was. It seemed that his dad still had the aura of a king even during this time .

"How do you know me?" came Ling Xiao's voice not long after they had sat down." I I my mom told me about you." Qin Lu said trying to figure out how to explain this without having to tell his dad that he was reborn.

"She did?!" Ling Xiao exclaimed in shock. He did not think Emilia remembered him after all they had only met once and they were both drunk that day. "Yes she did!" Qin Lu immediately agreed. Since he had fun himself a whole he had no choice but to jump in hoping that he could find a way to get himself out.

"You. Then you don't resent me?" Ling Xiao asked carefully. "Ha resent you ? For what?"Qin Lu asked quizzically. The little boy was genuinely confused.

"Because I haven't been in your life all this while. Shouldn't you be angry with me or something?" Now Ling Xiao was the one confused. In his past life it took him write a while to win this little kid over ahh. He had come here prepared for the boy to respond to him the same way he did in his past life who knew that the boy did not reach as planned. Was this a result of his rebirth. Did God decide to make things easier for him this time around.

Ehh right I totally forgot about that. Qin Lu scratched his head exasperated. In his last life Qin Lu did actually resent his old man for a while but he was a kid after all and he had caved after a little while. The man was his father after all and not being around was also not his fault. And once they met he was always good to him so he quickly got over his grudge. He also enjoyed the feeling of fatherly love. He didn't want to lose the chance to get more fatherly love all because of stupid stubbornness. Heck he had lived with the man for a few years that he had already forgotten what the normal routine for this type of situation was.

"Ehh no I'm not angry. Mommy did say that you were a man with great morals and that if you had known about me you would definitely had been present. She also said that she had run away without telling you she was pregnant so your absence can be forgiven." Qin Lu was a twelve year old ahh even if his body was that of a six year old his soul was still that of a twelve year old. He was not going to act like those demented kids and cry and act like the world has fallen apart. He was an adult ahh how could he act like those snort nosed brats

A smile formed on Ling Xiao face. This boys little adult like attitude was really cute.  "Either way that does not excuse me from absent. So how about it is it ok for me to make up for those years I was absent starting now. I promise you that I will try my best to be the best father I can . I know that it will not be possible to get it right all the time but I will work on it. So what do you say, can we start afresh ."

Ling Xiao asked the little man seriously, he even had his hand streched out for a handshake . Looking at his old man who was treating this so seriously Qin Lu couldn't help but feel warm. Instead of reaching out his hand for a handshake he threw himself into his father's arms. He was only six so he still had the right to act shameless. No one can say anything about a kid being emotional and wanting his father's hug. Once in his dad's arms Qin Lu could feel the same warm from his dad as in his previous life. His father's hug was different from his mom's as told of strength security and stability. It was so different but still so nice.

Ling Xiao had begun to feel a little regretfully and akward when he saw that Qin Lu had not reached out for his hand. He began to feel like he had rushed it. He thought that things were really going to be hard to fix things but who knew that just before he retracted his hand the little thing would go in for a hug instead. Not that he was complaining, this brat was so soft to hug it was nice. He also smelled of milk which was strangley comforting.

After a little hugging session the two finally separated. Qin Lu finally realised what he had just done and he couldn't help but feel shy and embarrassed at his unrestrained actions. 'How could he act so immature and childish. Ahh this was going to be the greatest shame of his life. '

Looking at the little guys exasperated  expression on that small blushing face Ling Xiao couldn't help but laugh that face of his was really just too cute. He knew that for a kid this little one had a lot of pride. He usually acted like an adult and would be furious if he was treated otherwise. The brat should probably be beating himself up for acting like a kid earlier.

Feeling the boys glare Ling Xiao tried too restrain his laughing and reduced it to just a small smile. "I brought gifts see if you like it ." Ling Xiao said trying to diffuse the little guys tension by redirecting his attention to other things . After saying that he reached out for the stuffed bear shaped teddy and showed it to Qin Lu .

While looking at the bear Qin Lu's eyes couldn't help but shine but he forcefully restrained himself. He wasn't a kid so he would not get enticed by toys. "I don't play with toys they are for kids"  he chewed those words out as he said it in a low voice. "But since you bought it I can't let your good intentions down. Mommy says that it is rude to turn down gifts so I will accept this for your sake." He continued trying his level best to justify his actions of accepting this bear. It wasn't because he was childish or liked it, it was only because his mommy said it's rude to decline gifts thats all

Looking at the boys self righteous expression Ling Xiao couldn't help himself. He could only smile at the boys antics.

"Where is your mom by the way?" Ling Xiao asked finally asking about Emilia's whereabouts. From what he knew she shouldn't need to go to work today so her absence was bothering him. At first he thought that she had probably gone to the supermarket but he had been here for half an hour and he still saw no sign of her. It definitely did not take so long to buy groceries.

"She went to her Grandpa, Grandma and uncle from the airport." Qin Lu explained finally remembering his mother . "Ohh" Ling Xiao hummed. Seems like his rebirth changed quite a few things . He remembered that Emilia had not meet  her family in his past life. It had to do with her guilt. But that's ok, not solving things with her parents was always one of Emilia's greatest regrets in their past life so her getting it done now was actually really good.

Even though things were changing and going off track he just hopped that nothing else changed. Especially the arrival time of the apocalypse. Thinking that the timeline might have changed and that the apocalypse might come early Ling Xiao felt a rare sense of urgency to get things done sooner just in case. He just prayed that that would not happen.

For the next two hours the two father and son spent time getting along , getting to know each other as well as playing a few games together. A few minutes into the new game they were playing Qin Lu had to go upstairs to the bathroom. While he was there Ling Xiao heard the sound of a car parking in front of the house. Ling Xiao guessed that that was probably Emilia's car returning with his future in laws. His guess was confirmed when he heard the sound of keys and the door being unlocked .

"Little Qin I'm back!" came the voice of his beloved wife who he had not gotten to see in almost four years. Right after the call Qin Lu came running down and Emilia and his future in-laws came into view as well.

"Mommy!" Qin Lu called out.

Ling Xiao couldn't help himself but to also call out to them when he saw that he had not been noticed yet.

"Oh Emilia, your back. Father in-law , mother in-law and brother in-law too.!"