“Come on, be a good boy and come out.” The man’s voice was deep, hoarse, and tinged with a morbid edge. “It’s so dark and stuffy in there, I really don’t want you to suffer.”
Hearing this, Li Yu inside the closet curled his hands and feet up even tighter, wrapping his arms around himself with his head lowered and tucked deeply into his arms.
He trembled all over and bit his lips hard to keep from making the slightest sound.
His heart was broken and filled with despair.
“Why, after all this time, are you still unwilling to let me go!”
Hot tears burst from his eyes, streaming down his cheeks and soaking a large patch of the fabric on his arms.
The man stared fixedly at the closet in front of him. His gloomy eyes reflected a morbid obsession under the light, yet he still received no response from the person inside.
Then, he continued to coax him nonchalantly.
“As long as you come out like a good boy right now and sincerely apologize to me, maybe I can let bygones be bygones about you running away.”
The man twitched the corners of his mouth into a bloody smile.
“If you make me drag you out myself in the end, that will be a completely different matter.”
Hearing this, Li Yu had no time to think twice.
Desperate to beg the man to spare him, he immediately pulled open the closet door and stepped out tremblingly.
Seeing this, the man curved the corners of his mouth and let out a cold, sharp huff. “I thought you were going to stay in there forever.”
With red eyes, Li Yu pleaded, “I was wrong. Please don’t be angry, okay? Let me go.”
The man locked his gaze onto Li Yu. Under that stare, Li Yu felt as though his blood was running backward.
The man was like a fierce beast, calm and collected, waiting for the right moment to tear his prey apart and devour it.
In the man’s eyes, Li Yu was perhaps nothing more than a completely defenseless rabbit, good for filling his stomach and good for amusement.
The man grabbed Li Yu’s wrist and demanded, “Let you go? I always warn you to stay by my side! Do not run away!”
The man’s eyes were bloodshot, and the chilling cold leaked through his repeated words.
The force on his wrist increased by a few notches, and the intense pain forcefully squeezed tears out of Li Yu’s eyes, gathering in his tear ducts.
With a sudden shove, the man threw Li Yu onto the bed.
Li Yu shook his head violently in terror. “No, don’t!” Disregarding the pain in his hands, he pushed hard against the man who was about to press down on top of him.
How could the man let him go so easily?
He tightly wrapped his arms around Li Yu to pin him down.
Even though they were of a similar age, in the face of the man’s absolute muscular strength, no matter how much Li Yu twisted and struggled, it was all to no avail.
With no other options left and without a second thought, Li Yu threw his head back and fiercely slammed it against the man’s head. Catching him off guard, he bit down hard on the man’s arm, forcing the man to release his grip.
Li Yu hurried to the door, grabbed the doorknob, and tried to pull it open, but no matter how hard he twisted it, it wouldn’t budge.
“Could it be that he locked it when he came in?” Li Yu’s tragic thought surfaced.
He watched as the man walked toward him at a leisurely pace. With every step the man took closer to him, Li Yu’s heart grew colder and more chilled.
It felt like walking down a dark alleyway in the night, where a pair of hands grabbed onto him tightly, as if dragging him down into the abyss.
Li Yu frantically scrambled backward, retreating. Seeing Li Yu avoid him as if he were a flood or a ferocious beast, the cold, stern expression on the man’s face inevitably grew a bit uglier.
Yet, he forced down the anger raging in his heart and negotiated with Li Yu, “As long as you obediently stay by my side for the rest of your life and never leave me, I’ll let you go this time.”
Hearing this, Li Yu’s tears burst forth like a raging torrent.
He roared in agony, “Why? I won’t! You know it’s impossible for me to stay by your side for the rest of my life! I already have someone I love! Stop forcing me!”
The man pinched both of Li Yu’s cheeks, his cold eyes flashing with aggressive madness.
He breathed a chilling breath right onto Li Yu’s tense face. “Oh? Is it that man?”
Knowing who the man was talking about, Li Yu met the man’s icy gaze and nodded mechanically.
Instantly unable to contain the rage in his heart, the man twitched the corners of his mouth in a despicable sneer and cursed, “Ha! Is he even worthy?”
Like a madman, Li Yu swung his hand and dealt the man a heavy slap. “How dare you say that about him! I won’t allow it!” Li Yu shouted.
Hearing this, a heavier trace of malice spiked in the man’s bloodshot eyes, and a surge of anger rushed straight to his head.
Li Yan viciously shoved Li Yu back down onto the bed.
Li Yu clutched the collar of his messy clothes, looking at him in terror as his chest heaved violently and his heart pounded wildly up and down.
“Ugh.” He looked at Li Yan with red-rimmed eyes.
“You won’t allow me to talk about him? It sounds like he’s quite the precious treasure in your heart!” Li Yan scoffed with disdain.
He followed the desires craving deep within his heart, doing things that went completely against Li Yu’s will.
“If only everything could start over,” Li Yu thought with downcast, dimmed eyes. “I would definitely stay far, far away from you, Li Yan.”
The person he loved had been forced to break up with him through Li Yan’s despicable methods, so how could he not hate him?
They were never from the same world to begin with; it was only by a twist of fate that they ended up living together for over a dozen years.
If given the right to choose once more, he would never step foot through the Li family’s door, nor would he ever meet him again.