705: Don't Cry...

Don't Cry...

0Zeke had not even had the time to truly heave a sigh of relief yet when an immense pain struck his head, rendering him dizzy and disoriented. He was not given a space to breathe, much less to fight back. 

He sensed a wave of foreign force stabbing into his mind, again and again, tearing into his sensitive nerves like a vicious wolf. Compared to this suffocating anguish that coursed through his body and soul, his suffering these past few days in the kitten's body seemed to be merely a tickle.

Alarm bells rang loudly in his head. Just what the hell was going on?! Fuck, don't tell him… another bug?!

He struggled against the confines and tried to break through to the surface, yet the pressure closed in on him like an impenetrable fortress and he was helpless – utterly helpless against this sudden attack. He had not even recovered yet from the previous torment and this little chink in his armor became a huge advantage for the foreign force to break him apart from within.

Zeke had no idea how long he was boiled in this magma of agony. He only registered that… his consciousness was gradually being torn to shreds. He was quickly losing control of himself as countless precious memories floated out of his head. Flustered, Zeke desperately tried to grab onto them – he really tried! Yet in the end, he could only watch as they slipped away from him like a sandcastle blown away by a wave of fierce tsunami. In the end, he could hold onto nothing. Amidst the boundless expanse of nothingness, he sank deeper and deeper into the abyss…

After the excruciating torture ended, he practically became a blank white canvas. He forgot who he was, where he was, what he had been doing. And most severely, he even forgot that he had a promise to fulfill with a certain someone…

When he finally managed to scramble together the remnants of consciousness that were scattered like an incomplete puzzle, he woke up in an unknown world with a new set of memory and identity in his mind. An orphan, a child unwanted by others, a scarred villain – Ren Zexi.

His story started in that funeral hall, when a tall gorgeous man with pale complexion, blonde hair and silvery moonlit eyes crouched down in front of him and offered him a hand, telling him with a voice that resonates deep within his core, "Don't be afraid." 

From thereon, he finally learned the man's name – the name that would be engraved into the deepest recess of his soul.

Lu Yizhou.

***

Back to the present…

On that peaceful snowy night, Zeke talked until his voice turned hoarse. Perhaps it was because he had been holding back too much when he was in the kitten's body, now he could not stop rambling and complaining to Lu Yizhou about the tormenting misery he had gone through. 

As he was recounting the events of that year, he started to recall each and every piece of memory of their time together in that wooden cabin where they were almost isolated from the whole world. As Zeke pondered more about it, a strange sense of awe emerged from the depth of his heart. 

Who could have guessed that everything would gradually come together to form a circle? If he had not entered the kitten's body, then he would not have been able to meet Lu Yizhou. If the subsequent accident had not happened, then he would not have become Ren Zexi and bumped into Lu Yizhou again in the simulator. Everything sounded too much like destiny…

Goddamnit Zeke, that sounds so cheesy and lame! 

He felt his cheeks burning hot and then he abruptly realized how silent Lu Yizhou was. He had never interrupted when Zeke was talking nor did he show any reaction whatsoever. Hesitant, Zeke slowly peered up at the man through his lashes and saw a rarely seen stunned expression on his face.

"Pfft… hahaha!" He could not hold himself back and burst out into a fit of hearty laughter. After all, this kind of Lu Yizhou was just too adorable. When he thought back to the ice block Lu Yizhou three years ago who seemed to suffer from face paralysis, this scene became all the more precious. He reached out to hook his arms around Lu Yizhou's neck, then gave the tip of his nose a teasing lick. His lips were curled into a mischievous smirk and he deliberately lowered his voice to make it sound ambiguous. "What's the matter? So shocked that it has been me who knows your black history all along?"

Lu Yizhou did not even blink, still unable to regain his senses. 

Indeed, he was shocked. No, even 'shock' was an utter understatement to describe the surging turbulence in his chest. He could have never guessed that… unbeknownst to him, someone had been staying by his side and witnessed him at his worst, and instead of leaving, he still decided to stick around until the end of his lifespan. 

If Lu Yizhou could be completely honest, the days after the royal assassination passed by in a blur. He was really at the lowest state at that time where the slightest stimuli could shake his will to live. Aimless, lost… he muddled along the days as if he was already half-dead. However, it was the kitten who had slapped him back to his senses, who had offered him warmth and comfort when nobody did, who had taught him how to have fun once in a while. It was thanks to the kitten that Lu Yizhou could barely get back on his feet, simply because he could not allow it to go hungry. Lu Yizhou clung onto that conviction and only then could he force himself to wake up every morning.

When he recalled the peaceful days they had spent together as well as the harrowing day of the kitten's death, the rims of Lu Yizhou's eyes abruptly reddened.

"Y–You…" Zeke became flustered in an instant as he used his sleeves to wipe the tears that seeped out of Lu Yizhou's sorrowful eyes. "Why are you crying? Sshh, it's okay. Everything will be fine. Don't cry…" at this point, his voice suddenly cracked and his eyes blurred as well. He sniffled and chuckled at the same time. "How come you still haven't changed since then? Even when you're crying, you never make a sound…"

Lu Yizhou choked back the quiet sob on his throat and gathered the world's most precious person into his arms. His shoulders were trembling badly, and it took him a while to force out, "I love you… I love you. I love you so much, Zeke…" he whispered again and again, murmuring the confession of love and kissing his lover on the crown of his head. 

He could not bring himself to stop. The emotions inside him were too full, too powerful and wild, that he was going to explode if he did not express it clearly – both in action and words. This was clearly not the first time he had uttered these three words to his lover, yet after learning everything they had gone through, the thousand days they had spent together only to be separated and reunited again, moved him so much that he could only clumsily use the most basic words to convey the overwhelming affection and adoration in his chest.

"I love you so much…"

pqdm.com