Chapter 23: “Everything Will Pass”

Chapter 23: "Everything Will Pass"

The moment Wen Yu saw the porridge, he instinctively wanted to throw up—it tasted exactly like that.

He slapped a hand over his mouth.

His stomach lurched.

His body shrank back on its own, the hospital bed creaking softly under him.

"What's wrong?" Gu Junhan reached out to steady him, but Wen Yu instinctively pulled away.

Wen Yu gasped, cold sweat soaking his whole body. "N-nothing... it's just... I'm a little off."

Gu Junhan gently touched Wen Yu's sweaty forehead, then ran his fingers through his hair, settling at the nape of his neck and kneading it lightly.

"Sweetheart, you pregnant or something?"

Wen Yu's head shot up, stunned and baffled, his voice a little rushed. "I'm a guy—how could I get pregnant?"

Gu Junhan's fingers traced the skin behind Wen Yu's ear, his gaze dropping to the boy's toes peeking out from his pant leg—pale and skinny.

"So you think the porridge tastes bad?"

The man's face turned grim.

Wen Yu instinctively brushed it off. "No... I just don't have an appetite. Thanks."

The man set the spoon back in the bowl, the clink of ceramic on ceramic as cold as the air in a morgue's basement.

Gu Junhan looked up, smiling. "No need to thank me."

Once Gu Junhan was gone, Wen Yu was alone in the room.

But no sooner had he left than Lou Xuemeng showed up.

"Wen Yu!"

Wen Yu snapped out of it and turned to look.

Lou Xuemeng stumbled in, threw herself at the bedside, grabbed Wen Yu's hands, and burst into tears.

"I thought you were missing! When I went to look for you, I couldn't find you anywhere—I got a little lost, and then a teacher found me, but you were just gone."

Wen Yu looked at his close friend, and tears fell before he could stop them.

Lou Xuemeng saw his baggy hospital gown and her heart ached. She wrapped her arms around the still-dazed Wen Yu.

"I can't believe that scumbag was behind it all! You never went there—that bastard lied to me, and that's why you went missing!"

Wen Yu tensed up for a moment, then slowly relaxed.

"Xuemeng, am I just that easy to bully?"

Wen Yu asked out of nowhere, and Lou Xuemeng was caught off guard.

That's not even the half of it.

Anyone could push you around, including that brown-haired ex-roommate.

Lou Xuemeng calmed down. "Wen Yu, don't be scared. If it weren't for that guy, you wouldn't have gone missing. I already reported him to the school—he got expelled."

In reality, someone had fed the brown-haired man to the sharks, and the school just claimed he was expelled.

Lou Xuemeng kept comforting him. "Everything will pass."

Wen Yu didn't say anything, just stared blankly at her.

Lou Xuemeng was bubbly, and the two of them were close at school. Wen Yu trusted her completely.

That night, on a bench at school.

Wen Yu naively told her that while he was missing, he'd been locked in a cage, blindfolded, and forced to put up with that pervert.

Lou Xuemeng's eyes darkened, but she kept a smile on her face, her tone faking surprise. "How could that happen?"

Wen Yu looked down, his nose reddening. "I... I don't know what I did to bring this on."

Lou Xuemeng's voice suddenly rose, like she was defending Wen Yu. "People like that should face the law! Unlawful detention, intentional harm—that's a crime!"

Wen Yu didn't really hate that pervert—he was scared, scared it would happen again.

The boy's fingers clenched his sleeve, pulling until the cotton thread wrapped around them finally snapped. A thought suddenly hit him. "I actually have a fiancé."

"If they found out I was with someone else while I'm engaged..."

"You have a fiancé?" Lou Xuemeng asked, a little surprised.

Oh my god! The poor thing has a fiancé—does my cousin like taken people?

Wen Yu nodded.

Lou Xuemeng didn't ask any more.

She handed him a tissue, and watching him look so pitiful, she suddenly felt a pang of guilt.

For the sake of a castle, she'd driven Wen Yu to this—she was guilty.

They sat on the bench, a few unshed tears still glistening on Wen Yu's face, catching the streetlight and making him look heartbreakingly fragile.

"Wen Yu." Lou Xuemeng said his name.

"You didn't attract that guy."

"He targeted you."

Wen Yu's lashes trembled, and he pulled his hands back. "Then... he won't come after me again, right?"

Lou Xuemeng looked at Wen Yu, so skittish like a scared bird, and her heart felt like an invisible hand was squeezing it.

She wanted nothing more than to promise him right then that the demon would never come back, but she knew she couldn't lie like that.

"Don't you read tarot cards, Xuemeng? Can you do a reading for me?" Wen Yu looked up, his eyes clear and trusting.

Lou Xuemeng sure wasn't about to admit she didn't actually know how—it was just a trick she used to fool Wen Yu.

She wasn't a real fortune-teller.

"Well..." Lou Xuemeng avoided Wen Yu's too-trusting gaze. "I lost my cards. It might... might take a couple weeks before I get new ones."

"Lost?" The light in Wen Yu's eyes dimmed instantly. "Even the cards are gone... Does that mean he's still going to come?"

Wen Yu remembered clearly what that creep had said—"Honey, I'll keep catching you, over and over again."

"No, that's not it!" Lou Xuemeng panicked and grabbed his hand. "Wen Yu, listen to me, that's all superstition, it's not real! The only thing that can truly help you is the law, the police!"

Wen Yu flinched like he'd heard something terrifying, yanking his hand away and shaking hard. "If I report it, will everyone find out that I was... taken by someone..."

Lou Xuemeng wasn't so sure herself. In truth, reporting it wouldn't help Wen Yu—even international police were helpless against that man.

She patted the back of his hand and forced a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Wen Yu. As long as I'm here, no one can hurt you."

Wen Yu nodded numbly.

Even though the last thing on the deserted island had shown Lou Xuemeng wasn't all that reliable, Wen Yu still believed that friends wouldn't betray him.