Milky Treasures on a Healing Love

Will You Raise A Child With Me?

The next morning, the bell above the cafe door chimed softly, but Luciel barely heard it. He was tucked away in the employee breakroom, hiding behind a towering stack of pastry boxes. His face was burning a violent shade of crimson as he stared intently at his phone screen.?

Best overnight nursing pads for heavy flow, he typed into the search bar, his thumb trembling. Discreet. Breathable. Won’t show through thin cotton.

“Oh god,” Luciel whispered to himself, shielding the screen as if someone might peek over his shoulder in the empty room. “Do I get the disposable ones or the washable bamboo ones? What has my life become?”

Just as he was about to add a box of ultra-absorbent pads to his online shopping cart, the breakroom door burst open.

“Luciel!”

Luciel jumped, nearly dropping his phone into a sink full of soaking espresso filters. He whirled around, quickly locking his screen and shoving it into his apron pocket. “Adrian? What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be back from your business trip until—”

The words died in his throat.

Adrian looked like a man who had been hit by a freight train.

His normally immaculate brown hair was a wild, disheveled mess, his sharp jawline was covered in dark stubble, and his deep green eyes were bloodshot and wide with sheer panic.

He was still wearing his rumpled tech company suit, but tucked clumsily against his broad, muscular chest was a tiny, sleeping bundle wrapped in a pastel blue blanket.

Two-month-old Kai. The baby shifted, his tiny blonde tufts of hair catching the harsh fluorescent lights of the breakroom.

“Adrian?” Luciel’s voice softened, his own medical anxiety temporarily pushed aside by the sheer desperation radiating from the older man. “What’s wrong? Why do you look like you haven’t slept in a week? Where’s Lucy?”

Adrian let out a breathless, hollow laugh. He walked over to the breakroom table, his large hands trembling as he gently laid a folded piece of paper down next to the coffee syrups.

“She’s gone, Luciel,” Adrian said, his voice cracking. He looked down at the sleeping baby in his arms, his chest heaving. “She’s just... gone.”

“What do you mean ‘gone’?” Luciel frowned, stepping forward. “Did she go to the store? Is she at her mother’s?”

“No. She left us. She left him,” Adrian choked out, nodding toward Kai. He pushed the note toward Luciel with a shaking finger. “Read it.”

Luciel unfolded the paper. It was his twin sister’s handwriting—loopy, careless, and devastatingly brief.

Adrian,

I can’t do this anymore. I’m not ready to be a mother, and I refuse to spend the rest of my youth trapped in a house raising a child.

I deserve a free life, a fun life. I’m leaving with someone who actually understands that.

Don’t look for me. The divorce papers are on the kitchen counter. Take care of Kai.

- Lucy

Luciel stared at the note, his blue eyes widening in absolute disbelief. “She... she ran away? With another man? She left her two-month-old baby?”

“She said she couldn’t bear it,” Adrian whispered, running a hand through his messy hair, his voice thick with a mixture of intense grief and boiling anger.

“She wasn’t ready to accept herself as a mother. She wanted freedom. So she just took a suitcase and vanished into thin air. I came home from work and found Kai crying in his crib alone, with this note on the table.”

“That selfish... how could she do that?” Anger flared in Luciel’s chest. He knew his twin sister could be flighty, but this was a completely different level of cruelty.

Adrian took a step closer to Luciel. His green eyes searched Luciel’s face, staring intently at the blonde hair, the big blue eyes, and the soft freckles—features Luciel shared almost perfectly with his twin. For a second, Adrian looked completely lost, as if he were looking at a ghost.

“Luciel... I don’t know what to do,” Adrian pleaded, his voice dropping to a desperate whisper. “My job at the tech firm... the CEO relies on me for everything. I can’t just quit, but I can’t leave Kai alone either. I’m drowning here.”

“Adrian, I’m so sorry, but what can I do?” Luciel asked gently. “I’m just her brother.”

“Move in with me. Help me raise him,” Adrian blurted out, grabbing Luciel’s shoulder. His grip was firm, a silent plea for stability. “Just as a friend. Just until I can figure out how to navigate this mess.”

Luciel froze. “Move in? Adrian, I have my own life, my own—”

“Please, Luciel. Look at him,” Adrian interrupted, gesturing to the baby.

“You look exactly like Lucy. You have her eyes, her hair... if you’re around, maybe Kai won’t feel so lonely. Maybe he won’t feel like his mother just completely abandoned him the moment he was born. It will give him some kind of stability. Some familiarity.”

Move in? With Adrian?

Luciel’s mind instantly screamed in protest.

His internal alarm bells started ringing at maximum volume.

No, no, absolutely not. I can’t do that!

My body is literally leaking milk right now!

I have to wear nursing pads and take hormone suppressants!

How am I supposed to hide a secret lactation crisis while living in the same house as a grieving, muscular, stressed-out single father? !

He opened his mouth to say no. The excuse was right on the tip of his tongue. He needed to focus on his own medical anomaly before his life spun entirely out of control.

But then, Kai stirred.

The two-month-old baby fluttered his eyes open, revealing a pair of bright, innocent green eyes that looked exactly like Adrian’s. The baby let out a tiny, soft whimper, his little fist reaching out into the empty air, completely unaware that his mother had abandoned him to the world.

Luciel’s heart utterly melted. A wave of profound, overwhelming affection washed over him.

This was his nephew. His own flesh and blood.

How could he leave this innocent little soul stranded just because his sister was a coward?

How could he look Adrian in the eye and say ‘no’ when the man was completely broken?

Luciel let out a long, defeated sigh, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You’re a mess, Adrian,” Luciel said softly, a reluctant but tender smile breaking through his panic.

Adrian looked up, hope flickering in his green eyes. “Is that a...?”

“Yes. I’ll do it,” Luciel said, crossing his arms. “I’ll move in and help you with Kai. But don’t expect me to be a perfect housewife, okay?”

“Thank you. God, Luciel, thank you,” Adrian breathed, a massive wave of relief washing over his face. He extended a hand to squeeze Luciel’s arm in gratitude.

As Adrian’s hand brushed against him, Luciel felt a sudden, sharp tingle shoot directly through his chest. He stiffened, a familiar warmth blooming under his apron. Oh no, he thought in a sudden panic, not right now!

He stepped back quickly, laughing nervously to cover it up. “Right! Well, let me finish my shift, and I’ll pack my bags. We’re going to need a lot of formula... and, uh, maybe a few other supplies.”

Luciel clutched his apron tightly against his chest, praying Adrian wouldn’t notice the sudden, damp warmth beginning to spread through his shirt. This forced domestic arrangement hadn’t even started yet, and Luciel was already in deep, milky trouble.