When a Well-Raised Son Grows Up - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Curling up to Abella, Carlisle pressed her cheek in an embrace. Instead of responding, Abella embraced him warmly and gave him a pat on the back.

“I wonder who called my baby a carnivore…….”

“Huh?”

“Sweetie, if you don’t like raspberries, you don’t have to eat them.”

Carlisle raised an innocent gaze upon her.

“You’re not a carnivore, even if you only eat meat, so if you’re forced to eat them, you don’t have to…….”

“I’m not forcing you to eat! I want to eat what my mom eats! I want to eat with my mom’s raspberries!”

“Carlisle…….”

“That’s why I’m eating raspberries, too.”

What was wrong with this tiny kid, Abella wondered. Abella would sometimes get resentful when Carlisle said something along these lines.

She lifted him and feigned a grin, but there was nothing else she could say to him that he wouldn’t understand, so she made her way to the restroom.

“When you’re done eating, do you want to take a bath with mommy?”

“Yes, a bath with mommy, huh!”

* * *

When they were done bathing, Abella gave Carlisle a gentle prodding with his hind legs and used a towel to dry his fur. His leg problem didn’t bother her, but she did want him to get better because it would give him a lot of pain in the future.

Carlisle’s brows narrowed as he felt Abella’s hand brush across his rear leg. Where Abella wasn’t at ease, he could always sense it—almost ghostly.

Carlisle could not understand why she felt the need to prod his leg so urgently.

Carlisle gave Abella a gentle pat for a minute, then looked up at her.

“Mommy.”

“Yes, sweetheart. Have you been sick?”

Carlisle nodded slightly of his head.

“My leg doesn’t feel good.”

“Huh?”

“My leg… is going to keep hurting, even if Mommy takes care of it.”

Abella paused to admire Carlisle’s command of a word she was unfamiliar with.

“My legs always hurt.”

His expression was dismal.

“They say my legs have been crippled since I was born.”

His ears drooped; they were usually pointing skyward.

“So it’s not me….”

Abella’s shocked eyes grew wide.

It was Carlisle, who in all their years together hadn’t spoken about the past. Not that he didn’t recall, but if he sensed that the talk was going to grow awkward, he would openly sidestep the topic at hand.

Like the previous time he was with me, or the reason he was lying on the mountain with that kind of wound. Carlisle openly avoided answering any of the many questions Abella had of her own, so she kept them to herself.

The fact that Carlisle began with the old story was a little unexpected. It surprised her a little bit.

“Well, yeah……?”

Flustered, Abella stuttered and looked at his left leg. But his hand didn’t stop fidgeting.

“Mommy…….”

“Yes, honey.”

“Mommy, will you abandon me when I limp?”

Again. Again.

If there’s one thing I’ve noticed with Carlisle over the years, it’s that he’s uniquely afraid of being abandoned. No matter how much I tried to reassure him that Abella wouldn’t abandon him and that we would be together forever, he would always cringe when it came up.

“Honey, I told you so.”

“…….”

“You’re the only family I have, Carlisle.”

“……Really?”

“Yes, so how could I leave you, you’re so beautiful and loving.”

It’s true. Abella thinks everything about Carlisle is cute. Even his blood-red eyes look pretty to her.

His sharp fangs that show when his mouth is closed, his ears and tail that perk up when he’s surprised or excited – all of it makes her want to hug him and purr a lot.

And it doesn’t stop there. When he turns into a wolf, his black fur is adorable as he walks around the room with his claws clicking.

His howls at night and his fits of anger, in her eyes, are also endlessly cute, making her feel like banging her head against the wall. She doesn’t want to send Carlisle back to the mountains like she initially planned when she brought him here.

She loves how he nuzzles against her, his short limbs flailing around, and she can’t imagine not having him in the house anymore.

Abella looked at Carlisle with affection in her eyes and gently stroked his hair. His drooping ears showed no sign of lifting. Despite the loving touch, Carlisle’s expression remained shadowed.

“But…”

“No ‘but.’”

“But my leg is crippled, and I’m no use to you. I’m just a waste of meat and…”

“Legs,” Abella interrupted, her eyes widening in surprise at the harsh words.

“Baby!”

A brief silence was followed by a loud spit, and Carlisle bent down, cringing in shock.

“I didn’t mean anything bad by that.”

Carlisle’s ears flattened, and he looked at Abella with pitying eyes.

“I’m not saying anything mean like that, I’m not saying you’re leg lame; someone said that to you. Okay?”

“But…”

Abella responded sharply, her eyes narrowing, “There’s no ‘but.’ Or are you trying to upset me on purpose? She then wrapped her arms around Carlisle’s somber frame and gave him a strong pat on the back.

“Who would say such a cruel thing to a baby that is so adorable?”

Abella rubbed her milk-swollen cheeks and gave her a sour laugh.

“I think mommy has been saying ‘pretty, pretty, pretty’ every day, just nice things to hear. But when a baby says that, it makes mommy sad.”

She sounded really sad, and Carlisle fidgeted with his hands.

“So… then Mommy is going to live with me for the rest of my life?” he asked, looking up at her with innocent eyes.

For a moment, Abella couldn’t hold back her laughter and let out a pooh-pooh.

“Forever. Like most men, Carlisle was sure to settle down with another woman when he grew up.”

He’d tell me now, but in a few years, he’d have a woman to marry, and he’d be out of my arms. Abella felt a pang of sadness at the thought. Still, she smiled faintly and answered Carlisle.

“If that’s what you want, of course.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Only after Carlisle’s tiny hand had been stamped did she give him a reassuring wag of her tail.

“I promised.”

Carlisle wrapped his arms around Abella’s waist and purred in pleasure.

“Hehe… I love your scent.”

“Huh? My scent?”

“Yes! Mom always smells so good.”

Carlisle buried his face in her body and sniffed as if that were true.

“As a wolf, you have an excellent sense of smell, right?

Carlisle gave a faint purr of pleasure, his ears flicking from side to side, and he was adorable. Abella cocked her head slightly in amazement and then realized how much he was adorable and stroked his head gently.

“I’m sure you won’t hate me, do you?”

“Of course not.”

“Purely, pure……” What if?

“What might happen?”

How about if…? pretty hypothetically.

Carlisle paused for thought. When Abella tilted her head as if to ask what was going on, he paused and continued.

“If… I were a very, very bad wolf, would you still hate me?”

“A very bad wolf?” Abella repeated, and Carlisle glanced up at her, his eyes watering.

“I just… just realized I might have killed someone….” Abella burst out laughing at the last part.

“Phew…”

Who could he have killed, a child so small? At best, the rabbits and pheasants that roamed the mountains. Abella found the idea of Carlisle discussing death with his flailing limbs both hilarious and adorable, so she stroked his furry cheek affectionately.

“Aww, cute.” The pointed fangs that protruded would certainly look intimidating in adulthood, but not to Carlisle, at least not now.

“Ooh, don’t laugh… I-I don’t even know who I just ate!” Carlisle said again, looking at her as she listened. But still, Abella could only giggle.

“Why, do you think you want to eat your mom?”

Carlisle started to shake his head wildly and jumped when she asked in a playful tone.

“Oh, no! No!!! I, I’m not a…… I mean, I’m not that…… that…… uh, I never bite my mom!”

Embarrassed, he comically reshapes his mouth to hide his protruding fangs. He puffed out his cheeks slightly in embarrassment as Abella giggled at his foolishness.

“Seriously, though… I’m still going to live with my mom…”

His bloodshot eyes flicked to Abella. It was as if he was gauging her reaction, and she thought to herself, “Let’s see you say something like that when you grow up.” Whether or not he knew what she was thinking, Carlisle smiled wryly.

“You have to live with me for the rest of your life, okay?”