Chapter 60 Incurable

Chapter 60: Terminally Ill

Outside, the rain poured heavily, with thunder and lightning ripping across the sky, their pale light splitting the sky open.

Li Wangyue was soaked through, his lips stinging like fire.

Ting Zhenxi had bitten his lip, licking the blood off, savoring it.

Li Wangyue pushed him away, wiping the spit off his lips with the back of his hand, trembling all over.

Ting Zhenxi was also cold; even huddled together, they couldn't get warm.

Li Wangyue went at him like a madman, grabbed a vase off the cabinet to smash over his head, but Ting Zhenxi caught his wrist and slammed it against the wall.

The vase hit the floor with a crack and shattered.

The light flicked on, and Ting Zhenxi braced his hand against the wall, watching him, all relaxed.

"You look pathetic right now," he said with a smile. "Pretty."

Li Wangyue's clothes were soaked and disheveled, his hair damp, his cheeks flushed, and his lips swollen from the bite.

Ting Zhenxi stared at his face, his pupils slightly dilating, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

Li Wangyue's eyes were bloodshot. He didn't know if it was from extreme rage or from the rain that had dripped into them, leaving them dry and sore, his nose full of the sharp, metallic smell of blood.

"You know breaking into someone's house is illegal," he sneered coldly.

"I didn't break in," Ting Zhenxi said innocently. "I walked right in. Breaking in isn't my thing. I'd rather wait for you at home."

"Disgusting."

What a load of sanctimonious crap, making him sound all domestic. Someone who didn't know him might think he was sweet and harmless.

But Li Wangyue knew better now.

He knew him inside and out.

This guy was no good—no heart, no feelings, no weaknesses.

Li Wangyue had only loved one version of him. Underneath that icy surface wasn't a fire, but something colder, darker.

Ting Zhenxi's malice and madness ran deeper than he'd ever imagined.

"Did you beat up Qiao Yuan?" Li Wangyue asked.

"Calling him so sweetly, what's your deal?" Ting Zhenxi countered slowly.

Ignoring Li Wangyue's cold tone, he walked over to get himself a glass of water. Li Wangyue saw the red footprints on the floor and suddenly realized the soles of his shoes weren't red—it was blood.

"Where did you go? Where'd all this blood come from?" Li Wangyue asked, shocked.

"Underground fight club," Ting Zhenxi said lightly. "You think it's hard to make a bloodbath?"

He poured himself a glass of ice water, then answered Li Wangyue's question: "Yes, I beat him."

"What the hell are you doing!" Li Wangyue's voice cracked with tears, barely coherent. "I've given up everything, I've run as far as I can, isn't that enough? Do you want to push me until I die before you're happy..."

Ting Zhenxi watched him quietly, sipping that ice water like it was fine wine.

He set down the glass and rolled up his sleeve. "He hit me too. Why don't you feel sorry for me?"

Bruises and cuts snaked up his arm. Ting Zhenxi pointed to his cheek and lips. "He got me here too. Don't you want to yell at him for being a psycho?"

"It was a clean fight. He was outmatched, so he landed in the hospital. Why are you sticking up for him?"

Ting Zhenxi's voice grew colder, his gaze icy. "That's how no-rules fighting works. If he hadn't ended up in the hospital today, it would've been me. Do you want that?"

Li Wangyue wouldn't look at him. "You always play the victim card, acting like you're innocent, always shifting the blame."

"Because you're my brother. Older brothers are supposed to give in to younger ones."

Li Wangyue looked up, despair in his eyes. "Not anymore. My mom's filing for divorce. Soon, we won't even be related."

Ting Zhenxi laughed out loud, as if hearing a great joke. "Don't be so naive, Li Wangyue. Relationship? How many times have we been together? There's nowhere on your body I haven't seen or touched. Does that brotherly bond really matter?"

Ting Zhenxi stepped closer, and Li Wangyue backed up until his back hit the cabinet.

"Do you think that once your mom divorces, you can get away?" Ting Zhenxi reached out and flicked the security chain. "What does what's between us have to do with your mom? Or do you want her to know too?"

"Then tell her!" Li Wangyue shouted, punching him with reddened eyes. "Tell everyone! Let them know how you locked me up, how you raped me! Let them all know, let me die—then you'll be satisfied, won't you!"

Another lightning bolt struck outside, illuminating Li Wangyue's pale face.

His tears finally fell, large drops rolling down uncontrollably.

Ting Zhenxi raised a hand to wipe them away.

"Get away!" Li Wangyue's voice cracked.

He was shaking all over, his eyes bloodshot, clutching his chest as he crouched down, as if someone were choking him, suffocating him to death.

"What do you want from me..." he stared at him, his voice squeezing out word by word from his chest. "Do you know what I hate most about you... You know I love you, you know... You just watched me fall deeper and deeper, laughing inside at how stupid I am, how cheap, how even when you were so cold to me, I couldn't stop clinging to you!"

"You had countless chances to stop me—hit me, curse me, drive me away! But you did nothing, you just... let me think I could keep loving you! You watched me struggle, watched me suffer, and you were probably so proud of yourself!" Li Wangyue sobbed until he gagged, tearing at his collar and screaming in collapse. "I hate you so much... You make me feel like everything is my fault, like I'm the crazy one who ended up like this!"

Ting Zhenxi said nothing, just watched him.

He crouched down, kneeling on one knee beside him, lifting his face. "I don't want to treat you like this, but I'm in too much pain, so I need you to hurt with me."

"Madman..." Li Wangyue's eyes were red enough to bleed.

"I'm a madman, but why did you provoke one?" Ting Zhenxi grabbed his wrist and lifted him up. "Brother, if you had just walked away that day on the overpass, none of this would have happened."

Li Wangyue laughed through his tears.

How absurd.

He too had woken up countless times from nightmares, regretting everything from the past. If, ten years ago, he had passed that overpass and just kept walking, without seeing Ting Huayi being interviewed, without seeing Ting Zhenxi standing nearby.

If he hadn't secretly taken that photo.

If he hadn't loved him silently and selflessly for ten years.

None of this would have happened.

If that day he had accepted his classmate's suggestion to go to the Bund, maybe they would have eaten barbecue, strolled through the night market, ridden the Ferris wheel, and watched fireworks. Then he'd go home, take a hot shower, play games, and fall asleep with beautiful memories of the day.

In his dreams, there would only be brilliant fireworks, no one he couldn't forget.

If only it could be like that, how wonderful, how wonderful.

But it wasn't.

Fate's just a bastard who gets off on messing with people.

Ting Zhenxi had countless chances to have him, and it wouldn't have cost him a thing.

His loyalty, his devotion, his body, his heart—if Ting Zhenxi wanted them, he'd hand it all over on a silver platter, because from the start, he was ready to give him everything.

But Ting Zhenxi didn't want it.

He chose to torture him instead.

Ting Zhenxi patiently wiped his tears, let him rest his head on his lap, and smoothed his hair and collar like he was brushing a doll's hair.

Li Wangyue stared blankly, letting him do whatever he wanted. Tears would flow, get wiped away fast, then spill again.

"Big brother's so cute, so full of water," Ting Zhenxi teased, wiping his tears with tender affection. "I beat Zhang Qiaoyuan and won a ton of money. Want me to take you out?"

Li Wangyue said nothing.

Ting Zhenxi muttered to himself: "I buy you a house, you won't live in it. I take you out, you're not happy. You're so hard to please."

Li Wangyue's lips twitched, his eyes unfocused. "Let me go."

"Hmm?" Ting Zhenxi leaned down and whispered in his ear, "Didn't catch that."

"Let me go," Li Wangyue repeated dully.

Ting Zhenxi smiled faintly, rubbing his nose against Li Wangyue's. "Alright."

He stood up, unhooked the security chain, and even kindly opened the front door for him.

The hallway was dead silent, pitch black, with nothing visible, stretching out endlessly like a black hole sucking people in.

Li Wangyue stared into the darkness for a long time before asking, "What's this supposed to mean?"

"Didn't you want me to let you go?" Ting Zhenxi made a graceful gesture of invitation. "Go ahead."

Li Wangyue was stunned, his face still streaked with tears. "You'd be that nice?"

Ting Zhenxi held up both hands, took a step back, and kept his face calm. "I won't stop you."

Li Wangyue seemed to snap out of it, his breath catching, then he turned and ran out.

"But I'll keep looking for you," came the voice from behind, unhurried.

He stopped in his tracks.

Ting Zhenxi didn't follow, just said flatly, "Of course you can leave. I won't stop you, but you can't stop me from finding you."

Li Wangyue turned around, trembling.

Ting Zhenxi gave a gentle smile. "Brother, I'll find you again. You just won't ever know when, where, or who's around you."

His voice echoed in the empty hallway, his eyes fixed on Li Wangyue, smiling but with no light in them, like a vengeful ghost coming to collect.

"Just when you think you're about to live a peaceful life, I'll show up again. And all you can do is pray that when I find you, I'm in as good a mood as I am right now."

Rain poured down, thunder and lightning flashed.

The dark hallway was like a gaping maw ready to swallow him whole.

Li Wangyue stood at the edge of light and dark. The cold wind rushed in, plastering his wet clothes to his body, chilling him to the bone.

He couldn't move a muscle.

Ting Zhenxi, as always, sensed what was in his heart even before he did.

"You can't leave, because you don't want to," Ting Zhenxi said, approaching him and whispering in his ear. "Li Wangyue, I'm not behind you, I'm not at your place, I'm not in the crowd."

"You still don't get it, do you? I'm in here."

His fingertip touched his chest.

The touch was light, but Li Wangyue felt like he'd been slapped, frozen in place.

His limbs were ice-cold, his spine chilled to the bone.

Because what Ting Zhenxi said was right.

He would live in fear forever. In the fear of never knowing when Ting Zhenxi would appear.

He would see this person again in every quiet dream in the middle of the night.

He would search for his shadow around every corner, behind every door, in every black car.

He would see Ting Zhenxi's face in everyone he met.

Walking out wouldn't bring him freedom—only a larger, more terrifying cage.

That's what Ting Zhenxi wanted to see.

"Your body, your heart—they've already remembered me," he pulled him into his arms, kissed his ear, whispering like a spell. "Stay. At least tonight, you'll get a good night's sleep."