"Rocky!"
"Uncle—"
Classic case of the voice arriving before the person!
The whirlwind charging toward him consisted of none other than his dear sister-in-law—Susan, and her twin darlings, Payne Smith and Paige Smith.
Did they miss him that much? He'd only been back in the States handling business for two or three months!
It wasn't hard to guess why Payne and Paige were so thrilled about his return—it was definitely because he'd brought them gifts. But Susan? Her cheerful demeanor felt a bit off… Was she planning to set him up on another blind date again?
At that thought, Rocky instinctively took a step back.
In the blink of an eye, Susan and the twins had already rushed up to him.
"What's wrong?" Susan scrutinized him carefully for a moment. "You don't seem too happy to see me?"
"No, no, no, of course not!" he hurriedly denied.
He was starting to feel that returning here was a mistake—like walking straight into a trap. Ever since Kent had willingly settled into marriage, he was the only unmarried one left in this mansion—well, not counting those kids who hadn't reached marriageable age, of course.
And Susan had always made it her mission to see every family member settled. Now her target was clearer than ever.
He had nowhere left to hide.
"Uncle, presents!"
The two little rascals pounced on him from both sides.
Rocky crouched down and swept them into a warm hug.
"Alright, alright, I've got gifts for both of you." He freed one hand and pulled two exquisitely wrapped presents from his bag, handing one to each.
"Thank you, Uncle!" they chimed in unison.
Ahem! Susan cleared her throat. "Rocky, you're not getting any younger. It's about time you got married."
He knew she'd bring this up again. "Susan, I don't have a partner. Who would I even marry?"
That was the truth. Besides, there was nothing wrong with living alone! He didn't plan on changing anything—he preferred to let things take their natural course.
"Finding a partner isn't the issue. What matters is whether you have the heart for it," she said, staring straight at him with a serious expression.
"What heart?" he asked casually.
"The heart to settle down, honestly! You're thirty-three already. If you don't hurry up and find a girlfriend to commit to, are you really planning to stay single forever?" She paused. "Men find it harder to meet someone after thirty-five." She wasn't wrong—though that didn't apply to successful, wealthy men, and Rocky was certainly one of them.
A handsome, wealthy, and witty man like him was many women's dream catch. It was just a shame he'd never shown any interest. Tsk! It's not like he's a monk. Wait, could it be that he already had someone in mind but just hadn't spoken up?
"Fate is decided by heaven. You can't force these things," Rocky said, feigning helplessness as he spread his hands.
She looked at him suspiciously. "Have you already foreseen who your other half is?"
"No." As the prophet of the werewolf clan, he had the ability to foresee events, but he couldn't foresee his own future.
Susan still seemed doubtful. "Really?"
"Really. I can only foresee things about others, not myself." Otherwise, wouldn't his life be incredibly boring?
She studied him again, her emerald green eyes complex and inscrutable.
Susan's gaze was a bit strange—no, very strange. Rocky decided to just ask: "Is something wrong?"
"You…" She hesitated for a moment before continuing, "You don't have some… unusual tendencies, do you?"
Unusual tendencies? Rocky raised an eyebrow. "Susan, what are you trying to say?"
"Are you gay?" she asked bluntly, without beating around the bush.
Gay? Rocky's eyes widened. "Me?" Then he burst into laughter.
Susan's imagination was truly something! It was a pity she hadn't become a novelist. Gay? How did she even come up with that?
Susan waited calmly, her green eyes filled with serious assessment.
He stopped laughing and was about to answer when Kent, who had just sauntered in, beat him to it.
"Oh no! You've found us out. Rocky's beloved is me," he said with a roguish grin, slinging an arm around Rocky's shoulders. "We're truly in love."
Pushing away that smiling, handsome face, Rocky said irritably, "Who's your beloved? Don't be disgusting." He already had enough problems without Kent stirring the pot.
Hearing this, Kent turned to Susan and said, "See? He doesn't even love a rare beauty like me. How could he possibly love other men? He's into women."
"That's not convincing at all," Susan commented. Kent's shamelessness was truly beyond cure!
Rocky's eyebrows drew together suspiciously. Had he heard correctly? Was Kent actually defending him?
Something was off—really off. There was no way Kent would be this kind-hearted. His specialty was kicking people when they were down!
"Susan, back when Rocky was in grad school, he dated a girl. But she couldn't accept his true identity, so they broke up eventually. So Rocky definitely isn't gay," Kent said, bringing up an old story from years ago as proof.
Susan turned to Rocky for confirmation. "Is that true?"
He nodded.
How long ago had that been? If Kent hadn't brought it up now, he would have almost forgotten about it entirely…
"Kelly, do you… believe there exists a creature that is both human and wolf?" Rocky asked tentatively, testing the waters.
"Both human and wolf… What do you mean?" Kelly looked confused, stopping what she was doing to turn toward him.
"It's a second kind of person besides humans—one that can appear in both human and wolf forms. Do you believe that?" He tried to act casual, but inside he was uneasy.
Kelly studied him for a moment, then laughed. "How could there be such strange beings? You must've read too many supernatural books to have such weird ideas."
"You don't believe me?" His heart sank.
They'd been dating for nearly a year, and it had given him a sense of wanting to settle down. That was why he wanted to tell her this major secret about his identity. For them to have a future, she had to be able to accept his true self. But after hearing what she'd just said, he wasn't confident at all.
"Should I believe it?" she asked rhetorically. "Rocky, we're both educated people. We shouldn't believe in such baseless, absurd things."
Baseless and absurd? The emerald green in Rocky's eyes deepened, filled with helplessness.
She definitely wouldn't expect that the man standing before her was a living—werewolf.
His heart ached faintly. "Werewolves have highly developed animal instincts and a pair of emerald green eyes."
"Rocky…" Highly developed instincts and… a pair of emerald green eyes! Kelly froze.
Was it a coincidence? He possessed both of those traits. Could it be that he was…? No, he must be joking. How could there be such half-human, half-beast monsters in the world? And how could he be one of those terrifying creatures? She refused to believe it. She refused.
He could see the silent plea in her eyes, begging him to deny everything he'd just said. But he couldn't—because it was the ironclad truth, unchangeable. "Yes, I am a werewolf." As the words left his mouth, he saw the shock and fear rising in her eyes, slowly eating away at the nearly year-long relationship they'd built.
It was as if he could also see the future they'd constructed together crumbling into dust.
Kelly recoiled fearfully, stepping back several paces and nearly knocking over a chair. Her body trembled violently. "You're one of those… those monsters?" she gasped.
Monsters!
Rocky felt as if he'd been struck a heavy blow, his face turning pale.
Even with nearly a year of emotional foundation, could she still not accept his true identity?
"Are you afraid of me?" he asked softly, a faint trace of sorrow leaking into his tone.
"Don't come near me!" Her voice was nearly a scream.
Her response was like a sharp knife stabbing deep into his heart, making it hard for him to breathe. "Kelly, we've been together for almost a year. Doesn't that help you understand the kind of person I am? Even if I'm a werewolf, I'm still the same me."
Kelly took step after step back. "No, it's different now…" She was too terrified to express herself clearly, unable to keep her voice from shaking.
Rocky continued to gaze at her with deep affection. "The fact that we loved each other proves that I would never do anything to hurt you." He was still trying to persuade her, unwilling to give up easily.