A week. Seven days. In total, only 168 hours, 10,080 minutes, 604,800 seconds. For Huo Youqing, those 604,800 seconds without seeing Dai Yixin were a stroke of luck. Yet, he feared that Dai Yixin might be hiding somewhere, plotting something.
They had been entangled for nine whole years, especially after their reunion at Gong Lang’s birthday party in the country. Not a single day had passed without Dai Yixin haunting his life.
Dai Yixin’s occasional disappearances were like a lurking snake, ready to pounce one day and sink its fangs into his neck.
So Huo Youqing replied nonchalantly, “Who knows.”
His cousin, clearly uneasy, paced the living room and then checked the guest room, finding that Dai Yixin hadn’t even packed his clothes. With a frustrated sigh, he said, “Maybe it’s time to move.”
“Where to, where he can’t find us?”
His cousin was at a loss for words, but deep down, he wanted to ask Huo Youqing what he truly felt, like why he allowed Dai Yixin to stay in the first place.
However, their previous conversation hadn’t yielded any results. His cousin had grown up and kept his thoughts to himself, so even if he asked, Huo Youqing wouldn’t necessarily tell him the truth.
He couldn’t help but wonder if the fact that they had lived peacefully under the same roof for so long meant that, perhaps, Huo Youqing did care about Dai Yixin after all.
If Huo Youqing knew what his cousin was thinking, it would likely lead to their first argument since their uncle and aunt had passed away.
Huo Youqing didn’t take Dai Yixin’s disappearance at age 27 seriously, because the situation at age 18 now seemed far more troublesome to him.
Christian hadn’t succeeded. In the 18-year-old timeline, Dai Yixin was clearly hostile toward Christian, though the rejection probably wasn’t just toward Christian, but toward everyone. Huo Youqing didn’t plan on using anyone else to test the waters.
As he was lost in thought, a face suddenly appeared close to his, causing Huo Youqing to frown in displeasure. He glared at Dai Yuan, whose scar had now faded into a red mole at the corner of his eye, like a natural mark.
“What are you daydreaming about? Thinking about my brother?” In the 18-year-old timeline, Dai Yuan had been hanging around the hotel again for the past few days. Although he wasn’t there 24/7 like before, he still spent quite a bit of time there.
Seeing Huo Youqing remain silent, Dai Yuan continued, “My brother’s arm is all healed now. You don’t have to worry.”
These words were met with a cold glance. Dai Yuan’s eyes flickered, and he realized that his probing question had failed to yield satisfactory results.
He glanced at Huo Youqing, then just as he was about to grab Huo Youqing’s arm, the latter stood up first. “Can you get hold of Dai Yixin’s medical records?” Huo Youqing asked.
Dai Yuan raised his eyes to meet Huo Youqing’s. “No.”
His quick answer made Huo Youqing turn to look at him.
Faced with Huo Youqing’s scrutiny, Dai Yuan spread his hands in resignation. “I really can’t. All my brother’s records are in my father’s safe, and it’s secured with both iris and numerical password locks.”
“Why lock them in a safe?” Huo Youqing asked.
Dai Yuan replied, “Probably because he’s afraid of people finding out his son is a madman.”
He then wondered if Huo Youqing would ask about his own medical records, but, disappointingly, Huo Youqing had no interest in him at all. After confirming that he couldn’t get the records, he withdrew his gaze from Dai Yuan’s face.
Unable to get the medical records, staying in M country seemed pointless, but Huo Youqing was not willing to return to his home country just like that. He knew he shouldn’t rush, but he really wanted to settle things with Dai Yixin once and for all.
After thinking it over, he decided to meet Dai Yixin.
This was something Dai Yuan could arrange.
The meeting place was a pitch-black room. Dai Yixin’s confinement hadn’t ended yet. According to Dai Yuan, they were waiting for their father to return, but his return date was uncertain as he was in another country.
Unlike what Huo Youqing had seen on the surveillance footage, this time, Dai Yixin wasn’t lying on the ground. He was curled up in a corner. Such a tall, large person shrank into a ball, making him seem so small.
Huo Youqing stopped at the door, not going in immediately. Dai Yuan, standing nearby with a tablet, neither urged him nor spoke.
After some time, Huo Youqing finally told Dai Yuan to open the door.
Before opening the door, Dai Yuan shot Huo Youqing a deep glance. “Honestly, I don’t think you should go in. My brother isn’t someone who gives up easily.”
Huo Youqing picked up on the hidden meaning, “Do you have a solution?”
“I do. You could be with me, and naturally, my brother would leave you alone.” Dai Yuan tapped his slender fingers on the back of the tablet. “We could go to Y country. People can get married there at sixteen.”
Dai Yuan finished speaking, smiling as he looked at Huo Youqing, only to realize that the latter wasn’t even looking at him. His gaze was fixed on the door.
That suggestion was completely ignored. Huo Youqing repeated, “Open the door.”
Only Huo Youqing entered the room, refusing Dai Yuan’s company. Wearing night vision goggles, he slowly approached the corner. As he got closer, Dai Yixin finally reacted.
He suddenly lifted his head. The room was truly dark, without a trace of light. Huo Youqing thought that if he had been trapped in this room, he would have broken down in less than three days. How long had Dai Yixin been here?
The longest record he saw exceeded a month.
Dai Yixin seemed to recognize him. Before Huo Youqing even realized it, Dai Yixin lunged toward him like a beast. But just before embracing him, Dai Yixin stopped in his tracks. Huo Youqing could hear his slightly heavy breathing.
His hand was lightly touched, and Dai Yixin lowered his head before him.
“Don’t come here,” Dai Yixin said.
Huo Youqing hadn’t expected those to be his first words and was momentarily at a loss for how to respond. After a pause, he coldly squeezed out, “How did you know it was me?”
“I—” Dai Yixin’s voice, hoarse as if he hadn’t recovered from illness, abruptly stopped. “I can smell you.”
Smell?
A dog’s sense of smell?
Besides, in M country, he had used the hotel’s body wash. What could he possibly smell?
Huo Youqing thought Dai Yixin would ask about Christian or the surveillance, or at least why he was there. But Dai Yixin didn’t ask anything. He just kept staring at him, even though, in this dark room, it was likely hard to even make out his silhouette.
Since Dai Yixin wasn’t asking, Huo Youqing decided to confess. He told Dai Yixin that it was he who had asked Dai Yuan to bring Christian, hoping Dai Yixin would be with him.
Dai Yixin listened silently. It wasn’t until Huo Youqing asked for his thoughts that he finally said, “I don’t want to.”
By now, Huo Youqing no longer cared if Dai Yixin was with Christian. After what happened last time, Christian’s feelings for Dai Yixin were likely just fear.
Thinking for a moment, he said, “At first, I thought I could accept you being by my side, but I later realized I couldn’t. You acted without thinking, attacking Gong Lang and Qiu Wenfei. If you stay with me, would I even have any classmates or friends left?
Also, your family isn’t normal. Dai Yixin, you know you’re sick, and you haven’t recovered. Last time, you almost killed Christian. I’m just an ordinary person. Staying with someone like you might be tolerable for a short time, but in the long run, it feels like drowning.
Dai Yixin, let me go. If you really love me, you should respect me.”
Under the night vision goggles, Dai Yixin appeared dazed. He stood still, not even blinking, as if he couldn’t comprehend what Huo Youqing was saying. For a moment, Huo Youqing felt he was being too harsh, especially since Dai Yixin was currently being punished.
But then again, what did Dai Yixin’s tragedy have to do with him? He wasn’t the one abusing Dai Yixin, nor had he forced him to love him.
If cruel words could make Dai Yixin give up, Huo Youqing didn’t mind saying more.
After waiting a long time for a response and getting none, Huo Youqing closed his eyes briefly, his voice soft. “Do you know? The first time I saw you at my uncle’s house, I had a long dream. In that dream, you kept forcing me to stay by your side. Even after my uncle and aunt died, you refused to let me go.
One by one, my classmates and friends were driven away by you. You were so ruthless. My classmates and friends all liked you, so much so that they forced me to kneel and apologize because of you.
You believed that if everyone hated me, I’d have no one but you. Even a convenience store clerk—if I talked to them for a few more minutes, you couldn’t tolerate it, and you’d make sure they disappeared.
For years, every time I opened or closed my eyes, there was only you in front of me. Eventually, I got sick, but you didn’t care. You didn’t care about my feelings, my thoughts, or my life. All you cared about was keeping me by your side to satisfy your desires.
In that dream, you destroyed me. Because of that dream, I once wanted to change you, but what happened with Gong Lang and Qiu Wenfei made me realize you can’t change. Dai Yixin, I don’t want to become sick like you.”
Dai Yixin’s lips moved, but he still didn’t speak. Huo Youqing didn’t know how long he waited, but when he realized his words couldn’t move Dai Yixin, he no longer wanted to stay in the room.
Angrily, he turned to leave, but after a few steps, he thought he heard Dai Yixin calling his name.
No, it wasn’t just an illusion—he really heard it.
But so what?
Huo Youqing didn’t stop, his voice cold as he said, “If you’re going to tell me it was just a dream or say something like you still want to be with me, then don’t bother.”
“Youyou, I would never not care about you.”
That was the last thing the 18-year-old Dai Yixin from that space-time said to Huo Youqing before he left. When he stepped out of the room, Dai Yuan was waiting by the door. Clearly, he had been monitoring the situation inside. As soon as Huo Youqing came out, Dai Yuan asked, “In your dream, what did I do?”
For the first time that day, Huo Youqing looked him in the eyes, but the words he said were, “You committed suicide.”
Dai Yuan raised an eyebrow and smiled faintly. “How cool.”
Psychopath.
—
At that moment, Huo Youqing still didn’t know that another psychopath in another timeline was no less crazy than the suicidal Dai Yuan.
In the timeline where he was 27 years old, about a month after Dai Yixin’s disappearance, his cousin called and asked if he had been following the financial news.
Huo Youqing replied that he hadn’t, but as he opened his laptop, the top headline was about a personnel change at a listed corporation. After spending so many years with Dai Yixin, he naturally recognized it as his company.
Now, the group’s leadership had changed.
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