In the silent garden, the man tenderly held the youth in his arms.
The evening breeze brushed over the roses filling the garden, stirring up their fragrance.
The man quietly gazed at the youth in his arms, who looked as though he had fallen asleep, his eyes filled with tenderness and a barely perceptible trace of pain.
"Sweetheart, don't be afraid. I'll always be here with you."
Fu Xiuyuan held him tightly, kissing his cold brow and eyes over and over.
He tried to warm him again with his own body heat.
His movements were so gentle and affectionate, yet the bitterness and despair radiating from him were suffocating.
He understood that his beloved had already left him.
But for some reason, nearly half a month had passed, and the youth's body remained as intact as ever.
So he continued to keep his beloved by his side.
Every day, he washed and dressed his beloved, who seemed to be sleeping.
He handed all company affairs over to Ji Baiwei, though she was reluctant.
But when the man said, "An'an will be scared on his own," Ji Baiwei understood that no amount of persuasion would help.
Renata quietly approached just then, resting by its owner's feet and gazing at his peaceful sleeping face.
As it always had, it rolled over and meowed incessantly at the youth, trying to wake its "soundly sleeping" owner.
Looking at the kitten curled up by his feet, Fu Xiuyuan instinctively stroked its head.
But the warmth beneath his hand made him freeze.
Under the kitten's puzzled gaze.
Tears fell from his eyes, drop by drop, onto the cold ground.
As though he could no longer control himself, he held the youth's cold body and sobbed without stopping.
He could no longer deceive himself.
His beloved had