“If they took my phone, it would be easy to track me; my phone has GPS. Just communicate with my secretary; he’ll help you track down these fugitives. Hmm… these guys might be fugitives from a major case. If you solve this, you’re sure to get a promotion.” After recounting the ordeal, Lai Hui was already by his side. He continued, “Go ahead and get busy! And—thank you for carrying her back last night!” As he finished speaking, Lai Hui entered, greeted Xiao Zhang with a smile, then spread her hands towards Zhou Yuxian, “Couldn’t buy the newspaper!” Zhou Yuxian just smiled. After Xiao Zhang left, he extended his left hand towards Lai Hui. “Come here!” His voice was very soft and gentle. Lai Hui obediently approached, placed her hand in his palm, and was drawn into his embrace, encircled tightly by his arms. She let him hold her and mumbled, “Today is my birthday.” “Happy birthday!” he whispered. “What’s so happy about it? I spent my last few birthdays in the hospital, and this year is no different!” she complained, but her tone was consoling. “I’m sorry!” “Hmm?” She wanted to look up at him but was held down by his large hand, motionless, only feeling his chest rise and fall rapidly. She pricked up her ears, listening to his quickened breaths and irregular heartbeat. “Yuxian!” she called out. “Stay still, don’t move!” he commanded, tightening his embrace. After smoothing her hair and calming his own excitement, he said, “I’ll give you a happy birthday again!”
Lai Hui fell silent; this was their last birthday during their contract. He probably said it just to comfort her for saving him, she thought, yet she didn’t want to think that way. The hospital room was quiet, with a few sprigs of wintersweet diagonally inserted in a porcelain vase on the windowsill, their pale yellow flowers holding their heavy thoughts, exuding a faint, cold fragrance. They each had their own thoughts, unable to unravel them. They couldn’t understand why both their breaths were becoming increasingly chaotic, or where these inexplicable emotions began or should end. They couldn’t figure it out, so they just clung to each other, after surviving the ordeal, before the harsh winter arrived.
“Lai Hui!” “Hmm?” “What would you have done if you couldn’t find me yesterday, or if you found me and something had happened to me?” Would she return to City A to find Xie Jiayi, the only person she could rely on? “I didn’t think about it.” At that moment, she was only focused on finding him, with no room for other thoughts. “Would you have gone down the cliff to save anyone else?” “I didn’t think about it!” The feelings from last night were already forgotten, too complex for her to believe she would dare to venture down the cliff alone to find him. What made her so brave, she forgot. Zhou Yuxian didn’t ask further, taking her hand, examining the deep and shallow scars on her hand’s back, some merely scratched, others crusted over with blood. He kissed those scars, saying, “I’m glad it was you who found me!” His lips were soft, his warm breath moving across her hand’s back, making her heart beat faster, her face flushing. She suddenly had a foreboding feeling, as if those unexplained emotions had already begun, and worse, she hoped they wouldn’t end so soon. Until his lips moved to her neck, then her cheek, finally landing on her lips. Her heart seemed to explode with bright, scorching fire; she clung to his neck, pressing against his body, responding more and more tightly. The gloom outside dissipated, letting in white light that cast onto the bed, making the white sheets look as if they were coated with mercury, dazzling. She kept her eyes closed, feeling the warmth, her eyelashes trembling slightly, her head tilting back. He lingered at her neck, then her collarbone, his low moans bone-deep. For the first time, both felt a deep inner pleasure.
