[I'll pick you up in half a month. We'll talk about us once I'm done with this busy stretch. You aren't allowed to leave the province and run around during these two weeks. Answer my calls. Wait until I get back, and I'll take you for a checkup.]
[Okay.]
[I'm sorry. I lost control of my emotions that day. It won't happen again.]
[It's okay.]
Sunlight from the window cast dappled light and shadow across his face, while water ran continuously in the bathroom.
Wen Yanyu sat in the extra-wide bathtub. The fingerprints on his neck were no longer red, with only a few faint dark marks still visible.
He wasn't surprised that Fu Hanchuan had nearly strangled him to death. After all, aside from that dead uncle, he probably counted as the person Fu Hanchuan hated most.
He was the one who had betrayed their friendship and dragged the other man into a storm of public opinion. He was the one who had triggered his PTSD, and he was also the cannon fodder who would deal him a devastating blow through public opinion at the end of the story.
With some inexplicable guilt, or the mentality of a sacrificial lamb burdened with sin, he had long since prepared himself to be killed by the other man, or to end his own life.
It was just...
Wen Yanyu went blank for a moment. His fingertips lightly touched the scabbed wound on his mouth. It hurt and itched.
Why?
The color of his irises shifted several times before finally settling into an eerie gray-black, steeped in an increasingly heavy air of death.
Wen Yanyu drew a deep breath, stopped dwelling on those things, and submerged his head.
Over three days, they had made some outrageous agreements: reporting his whereabouts, getting a checkup, turning down some engagements. He couldn't leave the province. Knowing he was in the wrong, he had agreed to every one.
Neither of them mentioned what had happened that day again.
The bathwater was warm and comfortable. Wen Yanyu slowly opened his eyes underwater, his hair, faded to gray, spreading through the water like dreamlike gauze.
Indescribable emotions intertwined in his eyes.
Countless invisible threads had tangled the two of them together that day, impossible to unravel, impossible to cut, impossible to pull apart...
Strands of aching bitterness wound around his chest, filling every breath.
He thought that if he hadn't saved the other man in the first place, if he hadn't saved Fu Hanchuan, then the other man wouldn't be suffering so much because of him.
But even if time turned back and he could do it all again, he would still make the same choice.
Perhaps Fu Hanchuan no longer remembered.
But he would never forget.
That day, what Fu Hanchuan had said in his arms was:
Save me.
The scissors kept snipping, gray-white strands falling to the floor, before he finally tidied his messy bangs.
The long hair that had nearly reached his waist was cut away entirely. His slightly wavy hair now fell just past his ears, with two somewhat longer locks of bangs beside them. Looking at himself in the mirror, Wen Yanyu gently shook his head and touched those two locks.
A thought rose unbidden in his mind.
I look like the frosty-white lop-eared rabbit we had at home when I was little...
The scissors were itching to move again, but his instincts told him that any more cutting might leave him unable to show his face. Wen Yanyu closed his eyes briefly and casually set the scissors down.
It should look a little better after I dye it.
Two hours later...
Wen Yanyu looked at the black "lop-eared rabbit" in the mirror, slowly crouched down, and expertly curled himself into a withdrawn little ball.
Sure enough...
I can't trust myself too much...
Wen Yanyu shook his head. What's done is done. Let's eat first.
After chowing down on ten dumplings, Wen Yanyu picked up his phone just as a message popped up.
[Baby, would you like to come visit Auntie? Everyone in my family is home these next few days. Auntie wants to introduce you to the older boy in the family and make you babies something delicious while I'm at it. (Expectant kitty eyes.jpg)]
Wen Yanyu froze slightly, his fingertips lingering over the screen for a long time.
[Is it inconvenient for you, baby? (.•́︿•̀.)]
Wen Yanyu came back to himself and immediately replied: [No, it's just that I'm in Xinghai City right now, and I can't leave the province. Where do you live, Aunt Jiang? (Dazed bunny.jpg)]
Another message popped up from the other side.
[Xinghai? The older boy in our family works at a hospital here, so Auntie lives here too. If it's convenient, would tomorrow work? Baby, do you need Auntie to have him drive over and pick you up? (Holding Bunny's little paw.jpg)]
Wen Yanyu hesitated, then quickly replied: [No need. Transportation around here is very convenient. Just send me the address, and I can come to you. (Happy grubby bunny hugging a carrot.jpg)]
[Okay! Then how about coming over tomorrow at noon, baby? Auntie will go buy you delicious things tomorrow morning. (っ˘з૮˃̵֊˂̵ა(Kissing Bunny Baby's little face.jpg)]
Wen Yanyu lowered his eyes and replied: [Okay. (Happy Bunny munching watermelon.jpg)]
Looking at the adorable chibi bunny munching watermelon on the screen, Jiang Wanrou's eyes filled with a deep smile. (˵¯͒〰¯͒˵)
She sent more than a dozen [Smothering Bunny in kisses][Hugging Bunny][Nuzzling Bunny] stickers in a row.
(っ˘з૮˃̵֊˂̵ა(っ˘з૮˃̵֊˂̵ა(っ˘з૮˃̵֊˂̵ა(っ˘з૮˃̵֊˂̵ა
Only then did she look up and call, "Xiao Huai! Call your dad! Tell him he's not allowed to go fishing on his day off tomorrow! He needs to come straight home for lunch! We're having a guest!"
"Got it," the man inside answered quietly.
At noon the next day, the sky was overcast, and the streets were covered in rainwater from the night before.
After handing his phone to the security guard at the entrance, he finally got into the residential complex and followed the address to the apartment building.
Autumn was approaching, and the weather was a little chilly after the rain. Wen Yanyu tugged at his collar, rubbed his hands together, and gently knocked on the door.
Within seconds, footsteps sounded inside, and the door was pulled open.
The man who opened it wore loose coffee-colored loungewear and small, thin gold-rimmed glasses. His features were handsome and gentle, while the eyes behind the lenses held a hint of distance.
He had a distinctly scholarly air and looked refined and mild, like a dependable upperclassman from one's school days.
"Jiang..." Meeting the man's eyes, the words he was about to say caught in his throat.
It's the doctor from that day...
"I'm looking for Aunt Jiang Wanrou." A trace of panic appeared on Wen Yanyu's face. Holding his gift bag, he instinctively took a small step back. "Is this the right place...?"
Before you continue