"Sorry, daddy," Huaisang says, biting his lip and looking apologetic about Hannibal's worry about his choice of 'playmates'. "I'll be careful, I promise. And I will call my protectors. I don't trust those two at all, especially not now."

Flushing at the reassurance, Huaisang hid his face shyly against Hannibal's shoulder, peeking up at him. "I ... I thought... they... they said they loved me, even asked me for the three of us to be married. But I didn't want to be exclusive, especially not here where we're so often forced to... participate in things. I'd agreed to try it for them, but when I asked to be released from that, they dumped me. A week later, they married each other. And that made me feel that they'd never really loved me. If what they had was love, then perhaps I wasn't capable of loving or being loved. I doubted myself, doubted whether I knew anything about love."