The rabbit is mine

Ji Chi's choked voice was low and hoarse, wrapped in a cottony softness. "Sup...pressant..."

"Suppressant..."

"I..." Ji Chi trembled, his whole body shaking slightly.

"It hurts..."

"Dr. Gu... the... Suppressant you gave me... isn't working..."

The other end fell silent for two seconds, then the rich voice took on unmistakable concern.

"Ji Chi."

"Can you hear me clearly right now?"

At the CE Laboratory, Huo Jin gripped his phone, his expression grim. Waves churned in his dark eyes, roiling through his heart as well.

Ji Chi had called the wrong number.

Of all people, he had called Huo Jin, and even mistaken him for his doctor.

Huo Jin did not deny being the doctor.

He couldn't.

The moment he did, Ji Chi would hang up.

Ji Chi was in heat.

He was avoiding him.

The last time Huo Jin had left Ji Chi alone and walked away, he had regretted it almost as soon as he turned his back.

He had anticipated everything, including every one of Ji Chi's reactions, yet he still hadn't been able to contain his anguish.

Ji Chi did not respond for a long while.

"Ji Chi," Huo Jin called again, gently.

"Mmh..." A soft moan came through the phone. His faint panting, heavy and utterly despondent, almost made Huo Jin feel hot breath against his ear.

"I..." He could hear Ji Chi struggling to make his words clearer.

"I can hear you..."

Huo Jin let out a small breath of relief at the answer.

Clearly, Ji Chi was already somewhat delirious.

At least hearing his voice hadn't made him suspect he had called the wrong number.

Huo Jin carefully considered what a doctor would say to a patient.

He kept his emotions in check.

Anything that could ease Ji Chi's suffering, however slightly, would be enough.

"How many doses of Suppressant have you injected?" Huo Jin asked.

The voice on the other end was soft and heavy, almost unbearably delicate. "Three..."

Three...

Only one dose of Suppressant could be injected per day, yet Ji Chi had used three!

Huo Jin's fingers curled. Pain spread through his chest, leaving him numb for a moment as it rose and subsided.

Suddenly, he wondered whether he really had been wrong.

He shouldn't have pushed him like this.

For more than twenty years, Ji Chi had been someone far beyond everyone's reach. There was nothing wrong with any of his resistance or revulsion.

Huo Jin had shattered the life he once knew.

"It isn't working... Dr. Gu..." Ji Chi's pained voice reached his ear again.

"It isn't working..." Ji Chi's voice was so low that it tangled Huo Jin's thoughts and made his ears ring.

"It hurts so much..."

Ji Chi's words silently drove needles into Huo Jin's heart, drawing thread through it.

Huo Jin drew a deep, heavy breath. "Where's your rabbit?"

Ji Chi fiddled with something, and a faint stroking sound came through. "Rabbit..."

Somehow, Ji Chi's thoughts had become a jumble. He couldn't tell reality from illusion, and he even felt as though Huo Jin's voice was coming from inside his head. When asked about the rabbit, he picked it up and hugged it tightly, as if afraid someone would take it away.

"The rabbit... is mine."

"Mine..."

Listening to him, Huo Jin coaxed him gently. "It's your rabbit. No one is going to take your rabbit."

Huo Jin desperately wanted to go to Ji Chi right that instant, but he didn't dare.

When everything pressed down on him until he could barely breathe, Huo Jin had entertained many thoughts.

But he still did not regret marking Ji Chi.

He wanted Ji Chi to remember him, to belong to him. Of course he knew Ji Chi would hate him because of that mark.

Once the mark disappeared, perhaps they would become two lines that never intersected, drawing infinitely close before each curved into its own circle, never crossing.

Whatever he did was wrong.

After weighing the consequences, Huo Jin considered himself selfish and greedy.

He had given himself a chance.

Everything he did that hurt Ji Chi during this time would come back to him twofold.

Neither of them would have an easy time, and there might never be any response. Perhaps that would be the final outcome.

But at least Ji Chi had to remember Huo Jin.

He had to remember the only person who had ever marked him, for all eternity.

At first, Ji Chi had said they had both provoked each other.

This was the consequence.

He had to bear it.

And Huo Jin would bear it alongside him.

Huo Jin heard Ji Chi give a soft hum. He could almost picture what Ji Chi looked like at that moment.

Huo Jin's heart wavered for an instant, but he had no way back, and neither did Ji Chi.

"Chi Chi..." Huo Jin called softly.

"Mm..."

Ji Chi noticed nothing amiss. He panted into the phone, so softly that it sounded as though he were moaning in bed, leaving the listener's mouth dry.

Hot.

Huo Jin coaxed him. "You're holding your little rabbit right now, aren't you?"

Ji Chi hummed softly. "When you talk..."

Huo Jin's heart jolted. He thought Ji Chi had realized he wasn't the Dr. Gu he kept addressing.

Guiltily, he lowered his voice. "What is it?"

The other end went quiet for several seconds. Thinking Ji Chi had hung up, Huo Jin couldn't help panicking.

Just as he was about to check whether the call had ended, he heard Ji Chi's voice in his ear again, even wetter and stickier with yearning.

"Dr. Gu, I want to have sex with Huo Jin..."