In the bedroom, a deadly, insistent phone ring shattered the night. Li You woke up with a jolt, feeling the room spin violently around him.
Dizzy, thirsty, and weak in the limbs, he was plagued by a relentless ringing in his ears. His body felt impossibly heavy, as if he were burdened by a thousand pounds of iron.
Li You forced himself to swallow hard. “Hello?”
There was a long silence on the other end, so long that it almost seemed like a practical joke played by a bored caller.
“Please… save him. I’m begging you, save him…”
A shattered, desperate plea for help filtered through the receiver. Li You froze. As if on cue, the heavens turned sour, a sudden burst of wild wind blew in, and a flash of lightning split the night sky in two, its stark white light momentarily illuminating the darkness. Peals of thunder rumbled continuously alongside a pouring rain, muffling the sounds from the call.
“Please let us go… I beg you, let us go… You are the only one who can save him…”
me came the sound of soft sobbing. The words were incoherent and jumbled. Utterly bewildered, Li You asked in a hoarse voice, “Who are you?”
“I am… Bai Yu…”
BOOM,
Another loud crash echoed, and the call was abruptly cut off. Li You’s scalp tingle with fear. Without time to think, he switched on the light and scrambled out of bed barefoot.
It was three in the morning, and Lin Xun was nowhere to be seen.
Thinking back to that frantic cry for help, Li You felt his heart pounding violently against his ribs. Trembling, he pulled out his phone to dial back. Standing prominently at the top of his call history was a familiar contact name: A-Ning.
Li You’s hand shook so violently that he dropped the phone. It hit the floor with a loud thud, its screen shattering into a web of cracks.
Dragging his nearly numb legs toward the door, he threw all his weight against it, but it wouldn’t budge. No matter how hard he knocked or shouted, no one answered. He was completely alone; the door had been locked from the outside by Lin Xun.
Panicked, he searched every corner of the room, looking for a key or a sharp tool, anything to pick the lock. But the room seemed to have been stripped bare intentionally; there was nothing useful to be found.
At this hour, with the rain pouring outside, where had Lin Xun gone?
Outside, the rain beat against the windows like whips, the sheer force of it making Li You’s heart leap in terror. It felt as though the storm was pouring straight through the glass, drenching him completely, a bone-chilling, suffocating coldness that left him entirely numb.
Weak and unable to stand, the fragile beta was trapped inside by a single door, completely helpless and cut off from the world. Because of that phone call, he feared his husband had met with tragedy and turned to him as a last resort, yet he could do nothing. It had been true during the car accident four years ago, and it was true now.
The rain outside intensified, hammering at the glass with rhythmic violence.
Creak,
The door was slowly pushed open. The living room lights were off, so he could only make out a shadowy outline. A heavy smell of rain mixed with the metallic scent of blood invaded his nostrils. The person appeared soaked to the bone, with water dripping steadily from his cuffs, pooling into a distinct puddle on the floor.
Li You collapsed onto the floor with a thunk. Supporting himself with his hands behind his back, he scrambled backward in terror. For every step Lin Xun took forward, Li You retreated a step. It wasn’t until the Alpha fully stepped into the bedroom that Li You saw the drops falling from his cuffs were red. Diluted by the rain, the blood on his sleeves bloomed like eerie spider lilies.
Lin Xun stood tall, looking down coldly at the beta on the floor. Li You couldn’t stop shaking, a chill running straight up his spine.
White spots flickered across Li You’s vision. Through his dazed sight, he saw Lin Xun crouch down until they were at eye level. A ice-cold hand reached out and gripped his ankle. Lin Xun asked softly, “It’s so late… where were you planning to go, Sister-in-law?”
Li You shook his head frantically, every cell in his body screaming in panic. Lin Xun’s hand was freezing, clinging to his ankle like a slimy snake. Fearing the consequences, Li You didn’t dare struggle, allowing the Alpha to hold him fast.
Lin Xun pulled him forward gently, sliding most of Li You’s body toward himself. Bending his head down, he pressed a kiss onto the beta’s ankle, a gesture of solemn, holy, and restrained affection, like a knight offering devotion to his sovereign. But in the next second, he grabbed Li You’s pajama collar with a sudden burst of force, hauling him up until they were almost nose to nose.
“Look at you, disobedient again,” Lin Xun said with regret. “And I gave you a chance.”
The condemnatory tone made every hair on Li You’s body stand on end. Unknowingly, he bit down on his tongue until it bled, the sharp sting forcing him back to alertness.
“You weren’t here, so I wanted to go look for you,” Li You stammered, burying his head into Lin Xun’s chest, his voice trembling and muffled. “I had a nightmare… when I woke up, I was all alone. The door was locked, and I couldn’t get out, nor could I find you…”
“Where on earth did you go…?”
The beta’s voice was laced with terror and grievance. Lin Xun’s posture stiffened as he held him, his chest growing damp from Li You’s tears.
Li You reached out to take his hand and caught sight of a slice beneath his sleeve, right near the wrist, it looked like a knife wound.
“Does it hurt?” Li You closed his eyes, as though seeing through this wound to foretell Lin Zhaoning’s grim fate. He pressed a gentle kiss against the injured wrist, then looked up to meet Lin Xun’s eyes directly. “Does it hurt?” he asked again.
“How could it not hurt…”
Lin Xun dropped to half-kneeling, wrapping his arms tightly around Li You to hold him close. Placing a hand behind the beta’s head, he asked slowly in a raspy voice, “Li You, are you feeling sorry for me?”
“Yes,” Li You kept his eyes closed from start to finish, swallowing hard as if offering a warning, or perhaps speaking to himself: “Don’t get hurt anymore…”
Lin Xun carried Li You back to the bed, his movements remarkably gentle and slow. Tucking him in, he patted the blanket and said calmly, “Go back to sleep. I won’t leave.”
Lin Xun’s voice seemed to possess a strange magic. As Li You listened to him speak, an overwhelming waves of exhaustion returned. He tried to resist sleep, but his body wouldn’t obey, and most of his consciousness drifted back into the dark.
With the tiny sliver of awareness he had left, he turned over, clutched a fold of Lin Xun’s shirt, and managed a faint, difficult plea: “Don’t…”
What was supposed to follow “Don’t,” no one knew except Li You himself.
Lin Xun sat by the bedside, completely motionless. A rare, complex expression crossed his face as he slowly pulled his clothes out of Li You’s grasp, gently placing the exposed arm back under the covers.
So this is what it feels like to have Li You care for me… In those twelve years, how many times did that heart of yours ache for Lin Zhaoning?
Lin Xun leaned his head softly against Li You’s chest, listening to the vibrant, warm thumping of his heart, and slowly closed his eyes.
When you finally realize that the man you idolized as a god and showered with all your love is actually a complete monster and a hypocrite, will you still blindly cling to your love for him as you used to? And could you… give a tiny fraction of that rare devotion of yours to me?
Just when will this heart truly beat for me, even once?
Li You, I have no way to turn back anymore.
Lin Xun clenched his fists tightly, the strain causing fresh blood to seep from the wound on his wrist. He stood up, his foot bumping against a hard object on the floor, the phone with its screen cracked like a spiderweb. Li You’s phone.
Lin Xun bent down to pick it up. Though the phone could still turn on, the shattered screen made the touch controls unresponsive. After struggling to unlock it, the device automatically opened to the call interface.
The Alpha stared at the screen for a long time before slowly, inch by inch, turning his head to lock his gaze onto Li You’s face.
The warm and tender scene from a moment ago was instantly torn to shreds, laying bare the ugly truth hidden in the dark. Li You could make him ecstatic with just a few soft words. Even though he had fallen for such clumsy tricks countless times before, he actually believed it every single time.
How utterly stupid.
A liar.
Li You was a complete liar through and through.
Saying he wanted to look for him was a lie. Saying he felt sorry for him was a lie, too. It was all fake.
This damned beta was acting once again, playing with him and mocking him over and over.