Love turned to hate in an instant

"Why did you save me! Why did you betray me like that after making me give you my heart! Wasn't I good enough to you! Why did you want to leave me!"

"Make it up to me? With what! What do you have that could possibly make it up to me! Do you think I care about those things you did? I don't care! All I care about is why you treated me like this!"

"Why was I the last to know you liked me! Why did you betray me! Why did you hide from me! Why did you promise to stay with me, only to leave me!"

Twisted feelings and fury became searing sulfuric acid, spreading through his body, corroding and burning flesh and blood. His pent-up hurt and rage burst forth like a flash flood.

Seeing the man like this, Wen Yanyu felt a pain in his chest and hurriedly explained, "I didn't want this. I don't like you that way. I wasn't trying to be with you. I've always thought of you as my best friend. I just didn't..."

His emotions had spiraled completely out of control. Fu Hanchuan no longer listened to his explanations. His nearly shattered emotions kept battering his nerves, the pain almost suffocating him.

"If you want money, I'll give you money. If you want fame, I'll give you that too. I can give you anything you want. Why did you have to let me find out!"

"Why did you say it! Why couldn't you hide it from me! Why did you let me know you liked me! Why did you make me hate you!"

"Why couldn't we stay like this for the rest of our lives! I would give you anything you wanted. Why couldn't we stay like this forever! Why did you tell me! Why did you do this to me!"

Hatred and indescribable emotions tangled wildly in his eyes.

"I didn't know anything. I didn't even know why you did that. I hadn't figured anything out before you were taken to the hospital for emergency treatment, hanging by a thread."

"When I heard the news at the negotiating table, I nearly went insane. For the first time, I humbled myself and begged other people. I begged everyone I knew, one after another, to hurry and save you."

"There were torrential rains in Country Y then, and my flight kept getting delayed. Delayed over and over. I kept calling them from the airport lounge. I begged everyone I knew, one after another, right there."

"I told them to transfer you to another hospital. I said I didn't care what it took, they had to save you."

"I brought every resource I could mobilize into your operating room and snatched your life back from death. For the first time, I regretted not having medical resources ready. For the first time, I regretted letting you go."

The lingering fear gathered in his eyes. His hands shook uncontrollably, and his relentless shouting had left his voice terribly hoarse. He was close to choking on his words.

"But that was also the moment I realized you wanted to leave me all alone."

Wen Yanyu froze for a moment, bewildered. "I'm sorry..."

He had thought he had survived only because the plot hadn't finished. He hadn't known the other man had saved him.

Fu Hanchuan lowered his head, his eyes red. Tears spilled one after another, and he all but forced the words through his clenched teeth.

"Wen Yanyu... I really hated you that moment. I hated you so much I even wanted to kill you myself. I hated you enough to want to fall into hell with you."

His tears kept falling, landing beside the face of the man beneath him. Bitter tears mingled and slid down, until it was impossible to tell whose they were.

Bitterness filled Wen Yanyu's mouth. He could only choke out, "I'm sorry. I didn't know this would hurt you. I wasn't... I'm afraid of living like this. I can't take it anymore..."

Afraid I'll hurt you.

Afraid of an abyss that will never end.

Afraid of living like a rabbit in a cage.

Without my parents or family, without a shred of freedom, unable to control my own body, living days when I might even hurt you-it hurts too much.

"I can't take it anymore..."

Can't take it.

Fu Hanchuan froze. An unfamiliar emotion surged through his nerves, and dizziness struck. The scene before him began to twist and warp.

His consciousness fell into darkness, entangled by those repressed "demons."

Acting on muscle instinct alone, Fu Hanchuan reached out and seized the throat of the "thing" beneath him, breaking down into uncontrollable, anguished roars:

"Can't take it! What right do you have to say you can't take it! I haven't done anything! I haven't done anything! As long as you stayed obediently by my side, no one could bully you! I suppressed all those media reports!"

"When did I ever let anyone lay a hand on you! Yes, I'm crazy! Yes, I deserve to die! But when have I, Fu Hanchuan, ever bullied you! When have I ever let you suffer the slightest injustice! Why did you do this! I'm still alive, and you already want to leave! You want to leave me all alone! Wen Yanyu! What right do you have! What right do you have to treat me like this!"

"Yes, I thought about getting revenge on you. Yes, I wanted to leave you. But every time I fell asleep, all those old nightmares became your face."

"I wanted to free myself from you, but I couldn't! I couldn't! They say I'm insane! I know! I went insane long ago! I went insane the night I crawled out of the old mansion!"

"I should have died long ago! I should have died after I took my revenge! I should have been free! But you dragged me back into this hell with your own hands! You made me normal, then drove me insane all over again!"

Fu Hanchuan pinned Wen Yanyu's struggling wrist down while clamping his other hand around his throat. The hatred and pain churning in his eyes threatened to drown them both completely.

"Wen Yanyu! You hated me so much at first! Why did you save me back then! Why did you treat me like this! What did I do wrong for you to treat me like this!"

"Why did you abandon me! What did I do wrong! Why did you want to abandon me! Why did you abandon me!"

Like a trapped beast tortured to the brink of madness, his roars grew quieter and quieter, until only sobs of desperation on the verge of collapse remained.

Wen Yanyu's face flushed red. His legs kept lifting from the lack of oxygen, only to be pressed firmly down, leaving him unable to move.

"Mm..." Taking advantage of the moment the grip loosened, Wen Yanyu opened his mouth to gasp for air. Tears from suffocation covered his face, and he looked as though he would faint at any moment.

A fist grazed his cheek and slammed hard behind him. The hand around his throat loosened, and the smell of blood spread beneath his nose.

Barely swallowing the blood that had risen into his throat from the backlash, Wen Yanyu's eyes flushed red, tears sliding from their corners onto the bedding.

He reached out and took the man's hand braced beside him, prying apart the fingers clenched so tightly they were almost deformed. The flesh within was already mangled, and blood pooled between their palms.

"It's all... my fault. I didn't know about this. However you want to get revenge, I can... I'll accept it all. Don't... don't hurt yourself."

Wen Yanyu's eyes were blurred with tears. Having his throat squeezed for so long had already affected his vocal cords, leaving his voice halting, hoarse, and broken.

Wen Yanyu was the story's cannon fodder, and Fu Hanchuan was its protagonist. That was what fate had decreed.

Sooner or later, they would meet different endings.

As someone handed a tragic ending, he should not have cared about the other man. He should only have treated him as the male lead.

He should have stayed away from him.

Or ignored him with his usual indifference, waiting for his final death.

But now.

Looking at Fu Hanchuan breaking down in tears...

The searing pain in his chest told him otherwise.

The person before him was different from the people in those worlds.

He couldn't bear to let him go.

He had once thought about staying with him like this, too. But the day the plot took complete control of him, he had understood that he couldn't. There was no future between them.

He would destroy him.

Wen Yanyu drew another difficult breath. Bitter tears spilled from his eyes as he relaxed his body in a posture like a sacrifice, awaiting an unknown judgment.

The blackness in his eyes was finally subdued by blue, and his consciousness finally cleared. Fu Hanchuan froze for a moment, his gaze falling into the eyes before him.

Fu Hanchuan stared into those eyes, his expression blank for a long while, not even realizing what he had just done.

It hurts.

Why?

Bone-deep anguish and suppressed feelings spread wildly through his heart. Fear and madness churned ceaselessly in his eyes, fighting each other for control of his body.

Silence hung in the air for a long time.

After going without oxygen for too long, his consciousness was hazy.

Wen Yanyu's eyes fell half shut. He no longer had the strength to keep speaking and seemed about to faint at any second.

His lips were suddenly caught between teeth. Warmth slipped between his own teeth, fierce and rough. The clumsy, inexperienced biting was almost an outlet for frustration, sending stinging pain and tingling through his entire body.

Wen Yanyu's eyelashes fluttered wildly. An icy palm covered his eyes, plunging him into darkness.

The searing touch made his entire heart tremble. Wen Yanyu instinctively reached out to push him away.

"Mmph... mm..."

His body was pressed down even harder. His bitten lips hurt and tingled, and the suffocation and pain surged into his brain. Tears spilled endlessly from his eyes.

For an instant, he even thought he might die here.

Die in this kiss.

The taste of blood spread between their lips and teeth.

Blood and hatred mingled, forming a turbulent sea of abyssal depths, with love and resentment surging beneath its currents.

Fear and pain seeped into every inch of bone, melding into every thread of the soul.

They bound the two of them tightly together, an unbreakable curse, and a bloodstained red thread that would entwine them forever, keep them suffering forever, and never let them part.

Finally realizing what he had done, Fu Hanchuan abruptly released his hand, rolled off Wen Yanyu, and stumbled backward to the door.

Wen Yanyu collapsed limply onto the bed, gasping for breath over and over. His eyelashes were soaked with tears, his bitten lips covered in blood. The marks around his neck were so red they had turned purple, a horrifying sight.

Fu Hanchuan stood frozen for several seconds, then touched his own lips in disbelief. Fear flashed through his eyes.

What am I doing?

The piercing night wind swept in, dispersing the intimacy that filled the room.