670: Come Back To Me

Come Back To Me

Lu Yizhou barged into the research institute, carrying with him the burst of chill and snowflakes from outside. He couldn't care less about the water dripping down from his body or the people gawking at him as he rushed into the elevator toward the floor Zeke in.0

As soon as the elevator door slid open, he saw Dr. Xiao, Dr. Feng and a few medical personnel standing in the hallway, arguing about something which was supposed to be Zeke's condition. Alas, none of it was registered in his mind because of how loud his ears were buzzing right now. Lu Yizhou walked forward briskly, and not giving anyone the chance to speak, he asked with a stricken tone, "What do you mean by he is unresponsive?"

"Lu Yizhou…" Dr. Xiao was startled and gasped at his disheveled appearance. "You—"

Dr. Feng furrowed his brows and opened his mouth to say something, but Lu Yizhou cut him off, his gaze was oppressive and rimmed red on the edges, whether it was due to the difficult trekking here or something else. There was a glint of manic in his usually serene silver eyes, as if he was a ticking time bomb which would explode just by the slightest touch.

He asked again in emphasis, his voice low and frighteningly flat. "What do you mean by he is unresponsive."

The atmosphere instantly became pindrop silent as Dr. Xiao and Dr. Feng clicked their jaws shut. The other medical personnel were too afraid by the low pressure Lu Yizhou exuded that they could only shrink their neck and did not dare to make a peep. 

In the end, it was Dr. Feng who answered with a sigh. "Exactly what we mean by that. He has regained consciousness, but strangely he is not responding to anything around him. Not even the stimuli we gave."

Lu Yizhou's jaws ticked. A monstrous ball of heaviness was stuck in his chest, blocking his airway and suffocating him bit by bit. His frame shook slightly, yet he could no longer ascertain whether it was due to the chill or fear. It took him one long moment to loosen his jaw, enough to whisper, "Did something go wrong…?"

They had been full of hope, waiting for the day Zeke would wake up once again. Every day, Dr. Xiao would not fail to tell him joyfully how Zeke's condition had improved by leaps and bounds because of him. So why… why did everything turn out like this?

"We are still trying to pinpoint the reason why—"

Lu Yizhou no longer listened to anyone. He forced his stiff limbs to move toward Zeke's medical room, ignoring the alarmed and exasperated calls behind him. Lu Yizhou had become completely familiar with this place after a regular visit for the past few months. Even with his mind fuzzy and distorted, he still swiftly changed out of his drenched clothes, walked to the sterilization hall, and underwent a string of regular security checks before entering Zeke's medical room.

There was a virtual silhouette of a little girl bending beside Zeke's cabin, and she straightened up as soon as she sensed Lu Yizhou's presence. "Daddy…" Bianca called out softly with a hint of tears in her eyes.

Hearing his daughter's vulnerable voice, Lu Yizhou snapped out of his daze and rigidly patted her on the head. "It's okay…" he had no idea whether he said it to comfort Bianca or himself. 

After that, he finally shifted his gaze toward the person whom his heart had been calling out for. 

Zeke was still lying inside the cabin just like each day Lu Yizhou saw him, his posture unchanged. The only difference was… his golden eyes were now wide open as they stared up at the ceiling, blank and unfocused. 

Seeing that, Lu Yizhou's heart thudded in his chest and he let out a rough exhale as if air had been punched out of his aching lungs. Step by step, he moved his feet forward until he was standing beside the cabin, gazing down at his lover with dazed eyes.

Even with such a big person standing in his line of sight, Zeke did not react at the slightest as if he could not see Lu Yizhou at all. Gingerly, Lu Yizhou reached out to hold his lover's slender hand, uncertain whose hand was colder than the other. 

"Sweetheart…" he called out softly, just like everyday when he came here to see his lover. Reaching out, he brushed Zeke's hair lovingly and traced the corner of the man's eyes with his fingertips. "Sweetheart… is that you? Have you come back to me?"

He seemed to have seen Zeke's lashes flutter ever so slightly, or it could also be a figment of his imagination. After all, how was he supposed to see anything clearly when his eyes were so wet like this? 

Slowly, he let his head droop to the crook of Zeke's neck and took a deep inhale of the scent that was so dear to him. Hidden from anyone's sight, he let his tears fall freely on his lover's pale skin, and his voice shook when he whispered in a voice so low that only both of them could hear. "Come back to me… please?"

Lu Yizhou had been holding Zeke's hand all this while and hence, he could feel it vividly when the fingers in his grip twitched. 

He whipped his head up and stared closely at Zeke's face, heart thumping in both nervousness and excitement. "...Sweetheart?"

However, before he could see clearly if it was only a physical reflex or it was Zeke who was truly responding to him, the light on the ceiling went off with a snap! Everything plunged into darkness, even Zeke's medical cabin was turned off automatically. 

Outside, there was a faint cry, "Is it a power failure?!"

"Impossible!" Dr. Feng roared angrily. "Our research institute has been equipped with anti-flood and anti-fire protection. Moreover, the power is generated from the mineral crystals so how can there be a blackout?!"

Amidst the darkness, Lu Yizhou's eyes glinted in a sharp light as he looked around warily. His eyes still had not quite adjusted to the darkness yet, but he already pulled Zeke up, carefully tugging off the detectors on his body and bringing the man into his arms. Somehow he had a bad feeling about this.

"Daddy!" Bianca's figure was fuzzy, just like an old television channel that kept appearing and disappearing. She pointed at the window and cried out in alarm, "Outside! There are a lot of people I have never seen before outside and they're carrying weapons! Our building has been surrounded!"

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