Unexpected Turn

"Brother, why are you avoiding me..."

Pei Jiaqian's voice was hoarse, thick with a tearful nasal tone.

Even though he had tried to comfort himself on the way here, seeing Ye Qingpu like this still made his nose sting with heartache.

When he saw that Ye Qingpu had clearly noticed him yet still resolutely chosen to leave, Pei Jiaqian felt wronged.

"Brother clearly knew I was walking toward you... Brother knew I was looking at you, but when Brother looked at me, it wasn't because you liked me. Was it because you knew I liked you...?"

What Pei Jiaqian said was somewhat incoherent.

Ye Qingpu silently clenched the hand resting on his knee, speaking in an neither warm nor cold tone.

"Young Master Pei, aren't you going to be late for your wedding?"

"I already said I won't marry my arranged match... Brother just won't believe me..."

Hearing the grievance in his voice, Ye Qingpu let out a heavy sigh.

The affection Pei Jiaqian spoke of felt utterly inexplicable to him. He always acted as though he loved him deeply, yet whenever Ye Qingpu secretly longed for even a little comfort, he was nowhere to be found.

He was like someone who could shake off his hands and walk away at any time. Ye Qingpu had been confused by Pei Jiaqian ever since this man had inexplicably begun caring about him.

Although Ye Qingpu had never liked anyone before, he felt that it at least would not be like Pei Jiaqian's—absurd and inexplicable.

"Go get married, Young Master Pei."

Ye Qingpu simply sat there quietly, letting nearly all of Pei Jiaqian's upper-body weight rest on his shoulder.

Pei Jiaqian's body trembled. He took a breath, wiped his damp eyes, pulled up his mask, and said with a firm gaze,

"Let's go home."

Then he pushed Ye Qingpu into the SUV.

Ye Qingpu said nothing more, merely gazing silently out the window.

He let Pei Jiaqian carefully hold his hand, neither resisting nor returning the intimacy.

Sitting in the front, Huo Sili cast a sidelong glance. He had never understood Pei Jiaqian's claim that love was something that accumulated slowly over time. In his understanding, any unpleasantness with a partner could be solved by having sex once.

No one spoke along the way, and Huo Sili willingly acted as their driver.

When Pei Jiaqian pushed Ye Qingpu out of the car, he thanked him.

Huo Sili calmly waved a hand.

"Mr. Ye, I hope you recover soon... Kangfu? Sorry, I... The pronunciation is not very standard."

"Thank you for your concern, Mr. Huo. I'll gladly accept your kind words."

Ye Qingpu nodded slightly.

"OK~ Goodbye, you two."

Huo Sili waved and drove away.

Pei Jiaqian silently pushed Ye Qingpu into the elevator, and the two remained silent throughout.

Only after opening the door to their home did Pei Jiaqian laboriously lift Ye Qingpu onto the sofa. Half-kneeling before him, he looked up from beneath the brim of his cap. His eyes were bloodshot, yet wet and pitiful.

Ye Qingpu looked away.

Playing pitiful was useless.

"Brother, talk to me..."

Pei Jiaqian held Ye Qingpu's somewhat cold hand.

"Young Master Pei should hurry back to attend the wedding. After all, you're the groom. If the media catches me, this old pervert will end up trending again."

Ye Qingpu admitted that there was an element of spite in it. He was not sure what was wrong with him—he did not want to see Pei Jiaqian, yet he also wanted to touch him at every moment.

Perhaps it was the effect of an enigma's pheromones? Ye Qingpu had looked it up. Those marked by an enigma would instinctively develop dependence on their marker. Likewise, an enigma would also develop uncontrollable feelings toward the person they had marked.

Right... it was all just the pheromones at work. That was what Ye Qingpu told himself.

"Is Brother blaming me for not being by your side lately?"

"...I hate myself too."

"It feels like every time Brother needs me, I irresponsibly disappear..."

"Brother, please don't be disappointed in me, okay..."

Pei Jiaqian squeezed the hand he held, his tone pleading.

"Young Master Pei... you've crossed the line. We're nothing to each other. You don't think sleeping with me a few times makes you that important to me, do you?" Ye Qingpu curled his lips into a mocking smile, though he hid the helplessness in his eyes well.

Pei Jiaqian's gaze darkened.

"But Brother's body can't leave me."

There was a hint of obsession in his eyes.

"Brother needs my pheromones. Brother says I'm not important, but every time, your eyes go hazy in front of me. Brother cries and begs me to stop, but your hands hold on to me and refuse to let go... Brother's body loves me."

"Enough!"

Ye Qingpu clenched his teeth, his face flushing red.

"You... you're fucking twisting logic!"

"Just treat it as nonsense, then. But doesn't Brother miss me when you can't see me? Don't you stare blankly at some place like I do? Even when your body hurts terribly, don't you grit your teeth and repeat my name over and over whenever you think of me? When electric currents pierce through your brain again and again, don't you bite through your tongue and rely on the pain to stay awake, trying not to forget me?"

"Brother, I do... I never stopped liking you..."

Pei Jiaqian's eyes were red, and amid the helplessness in his gaze was a trace of relief.

"What... are you talking about...?"

Ye Qingpu frowned and looked at him searchingly.

Pei Jiaqian took off his cap and mask.

Only then did Ye Qingpu realize that in just a few days, the young man who had once seemed spirited was now sickly all over. A fine stitched scar ran from his jawline down to his neck, pale and horrifying against his bloodless skin.

In front of Ye Qingpu, Pei Jiaqian took off his clothes, then his pants, until only a pair of CK boxer briefs remained on his well-proportioned body.

Ye Qingpu's eyes widened, disbelief filling his gaze before it slowly gave way to aching tenderness.

There was barely a patch of uninjured skin on Pei Jiaqian's body. His once healthy body was covered in bruises of various sizes. There were clear electrical burn scars along his ribs, the skin there charred black. His legs bore blackened marks of all sizes as well, and his right calf—

—had a stitched scar across the cruciate ligament that crawled like a centipede.

"My father... also trusts Pavlov's dog experiment very much."

Pei Jiaqian gave a helpless smile, turned around, and lifted the hair from the back of his neck, exposing the dense needle marks over his gland. The sight was horrifying.

Ye Qingpu's hands trembled uncontrollably. He felt his facial muscles twitching beyond his control, his throat seeming to be caught shut so that not a sound could escape. From where he sat, Pei Jiaqian's stance looked slightly crooked, perhaps because of the injuries on his legs.

"What... exactly happened to you...?"

Looking at wounds that were tantamount to abuse, Ye Qingpu finally found his trembling voice. Every frame of the scene before him was shocking.

"After that video trended, my father locked me up. He believed Jian Wen and subjected me to so-called electroshock therapy. He used electric currents to stimulate my brain, forcing my memories into disorder to make me forget Brother..."

Pei Jiaqian lowered his hand and bowed his head, somewhat afraid to turn back and look at Ye Qingpu.

He felt deeply guilty and ashamed of himself. When the electric current had continuously stimulated his brain, there had truly been moments when he could not remember who Ye Qingpu was.

When he had been soaked in an ice pool and forced to look at Ye Qingpu's photo, his heart rate fluctuating too much until powerful currents pierced through his body, there had truly been an instant when he could not remember who the person in the photo was.

He had nearly forgotten Ye Qingpu... while Ye Qingpu was bearing the pressure of public opinion alone, while Ye Qingpu was hurt, while Ye Qingpu needed him most.

Suddenly, a pair of warm hands wrapped around his waist. Pei Jiaqian stiffened. Feeling the warmth behind him, his nose stung, and he raised a hand to cover his eyes, unwilling to let Ye Qingpu see his weak side.

Whenever it came to loving Ye Qingpu, he always made a complete mess of everything... This was not what he had wanted Ye Qingpu to see. He only wanted Ye Qingpu to see love; he only wanted to nourish his beloved with love.

At some point, Ye Qingpu had risen and limped behind Pei Jiaqian. He wrapped his arms around the young man's lean waist, pressing his forehead against his bruised back.

"I'm sorry..."

Ye Qingpu lowered his eyes, not knowing what he should say at this moment.

The highest form of loving someone was heartache. Even if it was caused by pheromones, Ye Qingpu still held the trembling, crying man tightly and placed a gentle kiss on his gland, which was covered in needle marks.

It was filled with tenderness.

Pei Jiaqian gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, roughly rubbed his eyes, then turned to meet Ye Qingpu's gaze.

"Brother's leg is hurt. Go sit down."

Because he had just cried, his nasal tone was heavy. He half-held Ye Qingpu and led him to the sofa.

Ye Qingpu felt somewhat troubled—clearly, the scars on Pei Jiaqian's legs were much more frightening.

Pei Jiaqian put his weight on his left leg and crouched in front of Ye Qingpu, his eyes flushed red from crying.

His tone was serious and self-reproachful as he choked out,

"If Brother wants to remove the mark this time, I'll think of a way with Brother too..."

Ye Qingpu froze slightly at those words.

"They injected many drugs into my gland. I was diagnosed with pheromone loss..."

A bitter smile hung on Pei Jiaqian's face.

"I can't release pheromones to soothe Brother anymore... If Brother wants to remove the mark, I'll find the method that does the least harm to Brother's body... It'll just take some time. During that time, I'll use my own blood to develop medicine. If Brother doesn't mind the pheromones in my blood..."

Ye Qingpu sighed softly.

Only a little brat like Pei Jiaqian would go this far for him.

He reached out and tenderly stroked Pei Jiaqian's face, saying with certainty,

"I won't remove the mark. You said it before—this mark means you belong to me."

Pei Jiaqian was Ye Qingpu's person. Even his biological father could not torture Ye Qingpu's person into such a state.

Over the next few days, Pei Jiaqian was listless due to pheromone loss and spent most of his time sleeping.

Ye Qingpu continued to wear suits and ties as usual. After making sure Pei Jiaqian was asleep, he went to work in his wheelchair.

But when the media blocked him downstairs from the company and pressed him about whether Pei Jiaqian had fled his wedding because of him, Ye Qingpu faced the cameras. His tone was calm, but his gaze was nakedly provocative.

"Yeah, that's right, it was because of me. So what?"

"Arranged marriages are shameful. Little Pei bravely resisted, and he and I are having a pure romance. I like them young and tender. So what?"