Chapter 52: Locked Down
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—His… last chance…
The wind on the rooftop swirled with rain, and bean-sized raindrops pelted down freezing cold against his body, accompanied by a heavy voice. “Ruan Zhimian, do you hate me that much?”
No, he just wanted to survive, he just wanted to complete the task…
He had hurt Shi He…
The Alpha’s dark eyes were eerie and chilling, his handsome face unusually pale.
He reached out, tightly gripping Ruan Zhimian’s arm, his voice low and raspy. “I only wanted you to like me, just a little bit…”
Shi He lowered his eyelids, his fingers tightening around Ruan Zhimian’s chin. His pitch-black gaze fell heavily, as if asking and answering himself, “Why can’t you like me?”
Now, just to leave him, he had run out to the rooftop all by himself.
He was clearly a delicate, high-maintenance young master who usually had to check the ingredients of everything he ate for fear of sudden allergies, yet he had rushed out here wearing nothing but a thin coat.
The thin white nightdress, soaked with rainwater, clung to his snowy-white, slender ankles. His beautiful small face was transitionally pale, and his eyes were even redder. How many times had he cried just now? Whom had he sought help from this time to leave him?
Han He’an, Ruan Xubai, or someone else he didn’t even know?
Even in this state, he was still so beautiful and pitiful, whispering to him with a trembling voice, “Shi He, I’m sorry…”
The Alpha didn’t want Ruan Zhimian’s answer at all. He loosened his grip and said indifferently, “It doesn’t matter. None of this matters.”
Every single one of his actions pointed to only one conclusion: Ruan Zhimian didn’t like him. Dating him online was just a scam, and everything he had just said to him was a lie too.
“Ruan Zhimian, it’s enough that I love you.”
He was never meant to receive love anyway, whether it was familial or romantic.
They were absolutely right.
He had long since ceased to have any family, and he had never felt familial warmth.
As for those relatives, he had thoroughly cleaned them up. Some were ruined, some were disabled, some had vanished from this world; the worst off were dead, and the best off could barely sustain basic living.
The sounds of wind and rain echoed in his ears as Ruan Zhimian was suddenly pressed against the wall and kissed by the Alpha. His dangling hand was pinned behind his back, completely unmovable. His breath was entirely plundered, and a metallic taste of blood began to spread.
His lips were torn.
“It hurts.”
The Alpha turned a deaf ear, his lips stained with blood, his tone crisp, terrifying, and utterly devoid of warmth. “Ruan Zhimian, when I saw you vanish, it hurt me even more.”
The eaves were too small to shelter them from the driving rain, and Ruan Zhimian was almost completely shrouded within Shi He’s embrace.
However, the little rabbit slippers on his feet were also soaked through with rainwater. The right rabbit ear drooped, revealing a tracker glowing with a faint red light beneath the white base fabric.
A tear slid down from the corner of his eye. Ruan Zhimian thought to himself that he really couldn’t do these things right.
Shi He would hate the rain even more now, and he would begin to hate him too.
At 12:30 AM, Ruan Zhimian was carried back into the apartment by Shi He. The clothes soaked by the rain were tossed onto the wooden floor, and the bedroom door was shut tightly.
The little black snake hissed as it bumped against the door, only to be directly recalled by Shi He.
He turned on the hot water pipe, picked up a clean bathrobe to wrap the boy up, and didn’t carry him over until the hot water filled the tub. He didn’t say a single word to Ruan Zhimian.
Shi He turned around, preparing to go outside to get some clothes.
Ruan Zhimian reached out to pull his finger again. “I’m sorry.”
The Alpha’s dark eyes drooped. Raising a cold, white finger, he tapped his ear, pried Ruan Zhimian’s hand away, and went outside to get the clothes.
Shi He… wasn’t wearing his hearing aid…
He didn’t want to hear him speak anymore…
Ruan Zhimian lowered his head, sliding down into the bathtub.
Submerging himself entirely in the water, his eyes were filled with sadness and self-blame. He had never been loved by anyone before, nor did he know what love actually felt like.
In the past, he only wanted to survive.
Later, he simply waited for death.
Suddenly, an arm reached over, practically grabbing Ruan Zhimian by the waist to haul him out of the water. Pulling him onto his lap, he held him with crushing force, his voice chillingly eerie. “Ruan Zhimian, do you want to die?”
“I don’t…”
His beautiful, pale face rested against Shi He’s chest. Without a word, he wrapped both hands around Shi He, repeatedly saying, “I’m sorry.”
“You are very good. It’s me who’s bad.”
Answering him were Shi He’s actions.
He was wrapped in a bath towel and carried into the bedroom.
Late into the night, the Alpha walked out of the bedroom wearing a bathrobe. He picked up the hearing aid tossed in the living room, put it back on, and went back inside to feed him half a glass of warm water.
Only a wall lamp was lit in the bedroom, and the concentration of amber pheromones was exceptionally high. Ruan Zhimian’s curled eyelashes were strung with teardrops. Having been bathed and carried back out, he was changed into a new nightdress. His small face was buried in the floral dress of his little rabbit plushie, his consciousness groggy and fading.
From beneath the edge of the slightly upturned quilt, a snowy-white ankle peeked out—firmly locked within a padded shackle. A long chain extended all the way to the doorway.
At 5:00 AM, Ruan Zhimian opened his tired eyes. For some reason, he heard a crisp metallic clinking sound and felt a heavy weight.
He lowered his head and saw the extra things around both his ankles…
“These are… shackles.”
…
Shi He…
Had locked him down…
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