The Lop-Eared Rabbit's Wish - Chapter 3

Sheshejia knelt on the bed wearing one of my shirts.

We sat down for a long talk, and what he told me left me shaken.

“You’re saying that what happened to you made it impossible to maintain your human form, so by the time the pet-shop owner found you, you were trapped as a lop-eared rabbit?”

Sheshejia nodded. “Even when I can turn human, I can’t let people see me too easily.”

That made sense. If the owner had known he was beastkin, he never would have let me take Sheshejia away so readily. To a merchant, rare beastkin meant profit.

Sheshejia offered no details, but I had the uneasy sense that the part he left out was something terrible.

After all, only severe injuries could leave beastkin unable to shift freely between their human and animal forms.

“Sheshejia, was the place where you used to live dangerous?”

His face went white, and his breathing quickened.

Lop-eared rabbits were gentle, sensitive, and easily frightened. I shouldn’t have pried into his past so casually.

“I’m sorry. You don’t have to tell me.” I pressed his hand, helping him calm down. “You’re safe here.”

His lashes were the same white as his hair, like new snow that would never touch the ground, glittering beneath the light. Wet with tears, they clung together and trembled.

The snow melted in the bitter little river flowing from his eyes.

Still weeping soundlessly, Sheshejia leaned toward me.

His memories were crushing him, and no outsider could fight them in his place.

My heart ached. I offered him my shoulder and tentatively circled an arm around his back, patting him. “Go ahead and cry. It’s all right.”

Broken sobs sounded beside my ear.

I was so absorbed in comforting Sheshejia that I failed to notice the corner of his mouth curling upward.

A new problem soon arose.

I lived in a studio apartment. What was the sensible sleeping arrangement for two people?

I considered the question while looking at Sheshejia. He’d cried so long that his eyes were nearly swollen into walnuts.

Fine. At least he would be more comfortable in the bed.

I picked up my pillow. “Get some rest. I’ll sleep on the sofa.”

The moment I turned, he caught the hem of my shirt.

Sheshejia looked wounded. “Didn’t A-Qian sleep with me last night?”

His ears sagged dispiritedly, making him look even more dejected.

“Now that I know you’re a male beastkin, of course we can’t keep sharing a bed.”

Confusion misted his round pink eyes. “Why not? Don’t you like me anymore?”

I stared at him, speechless. We clearly weren’t having the same conversation.

Sheshejia continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “It must be true. Before, you kissed me and touched me. You buried your face in the fur on my belly…”

“Stop talking!” Red-faced, I covered his mouth. Images of me manically cuddling and sniffing the rabbit flashed past like a slideshow, each one another cut in a death by embarrassment. “I’m never doing that again.”

His grip on my hand tightened abruptly.

“Does A-Qian find me that disgusting?”

The sudden pressure in the room raised a cold sweat along my back.

“How could you think that? I only refuse to share a bed with you in human form because we’re a man and a woman.”

The air, compressed by the tension, seemed to loosen. I could breathe freely again.

With a soft boom, Sheshejia turned back into a little rabbit.

Perhaps he truly had cried himself dry. His rabbit form looked positively shriveled.

He struggled free of my shirt, poked his head out, and bit my sleeve. “Can we sleep together now?”

I could easily have pulled away, yet my arm had never felt so heavy.

Sheshejia looked miserable. The refusal lodged in my throat and would not come out.

Oh, fine. He’d changed back into a rabbit. I could indulge him this once.

At midnight, the blankets rustled.

“Sheshejia, stop fussing.” Still half asleep, I groped around and pulled the restless rabbit into my arms. “Be good and go to sleep.”

The tiny bundle that once fit in my palms slowly expanded until he was the size of a grown man.

But I was so tired I assumed it was a dream.

Dimly, I felt a pair of furry ears settle over my eyes.

Sheshejia’s longing was utterly undisguised. “What can I do… to make A-Qian like me a little more?”