Somewhat at a loss, he raised a hand and touched the corner of his eye. At some point, he had started crying.
Gu Nian'an raised his hand and rubbed his eyes, trying to wipe away the tears.
He tried hard to wipe them away, but somehow, they kept flowing faster, beyond his control, as though he could never wipe them all away.
Fu Xiuyuan abruptly pulled away the hand Gu Nian'an kept rubbing his eyes with, gathered him into his arms, and held him tightly. His voice carried a hint of comfort as he said, "Sweetheart, cry if you want to. I'm right here."
Gu Nian'an felt his throat close up, and the corners of his mouth began trembling uncontrollably.
At first, he sobbed quietly, then grew louder and louder. His arms tightened around the man's lower back, and tears spilled unstoppably from his eyes until he finally broke into loud sobs.
Watching the young man sob ceaselessly in his arms, Fu Xiuyuan's eyes filled with tenderness and worry, and he kept trying to soothe him.
But Gu Nian'an only kept calling the man's name, over and over, his voice inexplicably full of bitterness and anguish.
"Sweetheart, I'm here. I'm here. Nian'an, be good. Don't be afraid."
Fu Xiuyuan lowered his eyes slightly, stroking the young man's back and answering his cries again and again.
Yet hearing Fu Xiuyuan's replies only made Gu Nian'an cry harder. As though pleading, he said between broken sobs, "Fu... Fu Xiuyuan, don't l-leave me... Don't... me..."
Before the man could respond, Gu Nian'an suddenly began coughing. The next second, blood spilled continuously from the corners of his mouth with each cough, dripping onto the white bedsheet like red plum blossoms against snow.
Like beads of blood slipping off a broken string, they fell between