By the benches outside the department clinic, Cheng Yanzhou had just confirmed with the family doctor that Shen Qi’s fever had completely subsided when he saw Shi Nian walking out of the examination room.
He casually put away his phone.
Soft pink strands of hair fell against Shi Nian’s cheek. Shi Nian raised a hand to tuck them back, looking relaxed.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Cheng Yanzhou walked up to him, a hint of mild reproach in his tone.
Shi Nian curled his lips. “I figured I should wait until everything was stable before saying anything.”
“It seems you and your mixed-blood Alpha are getting along well. Didn’t you just get married a little over a year ago?”
Mentioning his husband, Shi Nian smiled smugly and playfully punched Cheng Yanzhou on the shoulder. The force was light, carrying a hint of coquettish complaint. “You have no room to talk. If you hadn’t nagged me every day, saying it was confidential medicine and required me to deliver it to you personally, well, my husband was furious. His research lab is too busy for him to come with me, and now he is nagging me all day to hurry back.”
Cheng Yanzhou rarely showed a trace of guilt. “Didn’t I find you the best doctor as an apology?”
He pointed toward the clinic. “Professor Wu is a top expert in the field. By the way, how are the test results?”
“Great. The doctor said everything is normal.” Shi Nian’s eyes shimmered with a smile, but his expression suddenly shifted as he looked teasingly at Cheng Yanzhou. “Tell me, did you find this doctor in advance for your spouse?”
Cheng Yanzhou raised an eyebrow without denying it.
Shi Nian slipped the report into his bag, leaned in close, and lowered his voice. “Seriously, since you prepared those booster drugs for your spouse, aren’t you afraid he might secondary-sex-differentiate into an Alpha? Who is going to give you children then?”
Cheng Yanzhou’s Adam’s apple bobbed. His tone was resolute, a trace of imperceptible tenderness flashing in his depths as a faint scent of gin pheromones drifted out.
“Then we won’t have any.”
“Whoa.” Shi Nian exaggerated his tone. “Is Young Master Cheng planning to have an AA relationship?”
The Alpha answered seriously, “The differentiation result doesn’t matter. As long as he has a gland, everything will get better. When that time comes, I will definitely make it up to him tenfold.”
Noticing the tenderness in Cheng Yanzhou’s eyes, Shi Nian clicked his tongue twice and was about to say something when he noticed Cheng Yanzhou suddenly raise his eyes, his gaze scanning the corridor corner sharply as if he had sensed something.
However, that area was empty, save for the shadow of the elevator doors slowly closing.
“What is it?” Shi Nian followed his gaze.
“Nothing.” Cheng Yanzhou withdrew his gaze, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the edge of his phone as a faint irritation welled up inside him. “I must have seen wrong.”
“Hey, to make it up to me, treat me to that hot pot restaurant near our high school tonight. I have been craving it for years.”
“Fine.”
The elevator doors closed completely, and only then did Shen Qi dare lean against the cold car wall to catch his breath, letting out the tension he had been holding in.
Naturally, he couldn’t hear what those two had been chatting about, but they had looked happy and full of smiles, so they must have been discussing sweet topics.
Shen Qi clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug deep into his palms, yet the physical pain could not override the roaring turmoil in his heart.
He wanted to laugh, laughing at himself for naively planning to distance himself, and laughing at himself for actually thinking Cheng Yanzhou cared about him.
Turns out, he had been a superfluous person from the very beginning.
So the absurd dreams he had experienced before, were they actually happening between Cheng Yanzhou and Shi Nian?
They had reached this point.
The facts were right there, beyond a doubt.
They looked like an enviable couple, probably discussing their future, perhaps even planning the possibility of a family of three, and maybe even mentioning him mockingly before bursting into laughter.
That scene was so harmonious it made him look like a clown who had crashed the stage.
The elevator reached the first floor, and a soft chime startled Shen Qi back to his senses.
Taking a step out, he realized his legs felt weak. He could only stumble out of the elevator in a disheveled state and hurry out the hospital entrance.
The night wind whipped across his face, stinging.
He walked mechanically, the medical report in his hand crumpled out of shape.
That scene from just moments ago refused to leave his mind:
Cheng Yanzhou’s focused profile as he looked down at the report, Shi Nian’s intimate gesture of punching his shoulder, and the glaring sign of the clinic.
The night wind kept blowing, yet it could not disperse the rising heat in the corners of his eyes.
Damn it, he had thought he wouldn’t cry.
He tilted his head back, forcing the moisture to recede.
He hadn’t shed a tear when watching them laugh and chat together, and he certainly couldn’t do it now.
Yet his heart felt as though it had been ripped open, cold wind howling inside, hurting so much he could barely breathe.
He pulled out his phone, tapping into that familiar chat interface. The last message [The doctor will arrive in ten minutes] still lay there in isolation.
When he burned with a high fever and lost his wits, all he got was a dispatched doctor to look after him, whereas the white moonlight glowed with radiance while being personally accompanied to the hospital for a check-up.
How ironic. He and Cheng Yanzhou were still nominal spouses.
Turns out, letting go isn’t achieved through planning, but through an instant of utter despair.
Shen Qi made up his mind:
Cheng Yanzhou, from this moment on, I will no longer love you.
He walked along the street, standing before the bus stop facing the bone-chilling night wind. He couldn’t even describe what he felt inside anymore; it was as if the pain had gone numb, stripping away all sensation.
His phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket, and a message from Cheng Yanzhou popped up: [Working overtime tonight, don’t wait up].
Shen Qi stared at those words and laughed bitterly.
Clearly, he had just been accompanying Shi Nian, yet now he was using overtime as an excuse. Look how easy it was for him to lie; he was undoubtedly still enjoying sweet moments with Shi Nian right now.
After staring for a long while, he slowly typed out a reply: [Okay].
This time he was also completely detached, typing a single word without even bothering to add punctuation, just like Cheng Yanzhou used to treat him.
Returning home, Shen Qi walked straight to the wine cabinet.
He rarely drank alcohol, aside from that time he bought drinks to drown his sorrows at the bar the day before yesterday.
But now, he desperately needed alcohol to numb his nerves.
A goblet filled with amber liquid shimmered with fragmented light under the lamp.
The first sip brought a burning, spicy sensation down his throat.
The second sip ignited a fire in his stomach.
The third sip brought a heavy warmth.
The wine glass was suddenly snatched away.
The housekeeper stood nearby, her face full of worry. “Young master, you just recovered from your illness.”
“Get out.”
Shen Qi’s voice was very soft, yet it carried an unyielding chill.
The housekeeper had no choice; she could only worry in silence and quietly close the door.
Shen Qi poured another gulp down.
Strange, three drinks had knocked him out completely at the bar that day, so why was he still this sober with half a bottle of liquor in his stomach now?
He was sober enough to feel regret flood his heart, sober enough to recall every little detail of the past three years.
Memories drifted and gathered again, and amidst his gradually chaotic mind, Shen Qi suddenly recalled the night of their anniversary.
After he asked for a divorce, Cheng Yanzhou’s words through the door panel: “As long as you are alive, don’t even think about leaving this house.”
Then what if I really die?
The corners of Shen Qi’s lips curled up, and a single tear suddenly smashed into the cup.
That was what he thought.