Chapter 89: Downpour
He woke up with a start in the middle of the night, his heart pounding. He couldn’t react for a long time. He took out the phone from under his pillow, which had a half-shattered screen because he had thrown it in a fit of anger when he couldn’t get through. The terrifying cracks were all over the screen, and a single number three was exposed. It was three o’clock in the morning.
He didn’t know when he had started to become restless and irritable. The heart that was still falling in the darkness could not touch the ground. This torment was endless.
He slammed his pillow a few times and then ruffled his messy hair. The sand and grit seeped out from his hair. His throat was burning as if a fire had started. His palm fumbled on the table, looking for water. He accidentally knocked over a bottle of sleeping pills, and the white pills scattered all over the floor.
Out of anger, he grabbed the dry and empty glass and smashed it on the ground. After a crisp sound, the glass instantly shattered and broke, as if it had sent out some kind of signal, forcing him to get up from the bed and run to the bathroom, stepping on those sleeping pills.
He turned the faucet to the maximum, and the strong stream of water rushed to his face. He greedily drank the cold water, regardless of his body, like an irrational beast. He only stopped when the thirst in his throat was slightly relieved.
He suddenly calmed down. He knew that he was not normal like this, but this was not a good sign. It seemed that he was getting sicker. The cold night wind was hitting the glass window with a thud, and the cold air was seeping in through the cracks. Besides that, the whole house was too quiet.
He couldn’t hear Old San’s snoring, the sound of the waterproof cloth rustling in the wind, or the sound of the cement bag accidentally falling to the ground… there was nothing. His eyes were open without any focus, and he was in a state of uncontrollable emptiness.
His life of so many years had been ruined. Memories or people, they were gone just like that. What else could he deceive himself with?
He turned and stumbled into the bathroom. He stared at himself in the mirror in a daze. His once-thin cheeks had become plump, and his arms and chest had also bulged with muscles. But he was still so strange to himself in the mirror. That was not him at all.
It turned out that it was all fake. From beginning to end, it was just a ridiculous self-deception. He had never gotten better. The numbness of being buried in a busy life was only temporary. It couldn’t save him for a lifetime.
The decline of his mental state had made him suffer from insomnia again. He was lying on the long-lost bed in the rental house, and the endless loneliness was like a thick night, wrapping and filling him, like a persistent curse that he couldn’t get rid of.
He didn’t know when he had started to be afraid of this house, which he had once considered his home. It seemed that all the changes were just to numb himself. But from beginning to end, he was the only one.
He had been afraid of something. He was afraid of losing himself, afraid of being so lonely forever, afraid that Gu Chuan’s promise to restore his identity would be broken, and that he would live like this until he died. He would go crazy because of it… he definitely would.
Su Yu felt tired and lonely. Both of these made him want to die immediately. But every time the thought of death came to his mind, that concern would appear and hold on to his thought of death, pulling him up. He was living in such a lonely and desperate life with no end in sight. He really couldn’t take it anymore.
He was being pulled by this vague and unclear concern, and he was living against his will. He was in so much pain, and he desperately needed something to save him.
This house was really too small, so narrow. The air was also getting thin. He suddenly felt his breathing was blocked. He had to go out, he had to go out, to find something that could save him, or to let him die clearly.
Su Yu rushed out of the door barefoot. The corridor was filled with a cold wind that was filled with water vapor. It lifted his thin clothes and blew into his empty heart. His whole body was bone-chillingly cold.
It was pouring with rain outside. The raindrops were mixed with the wind and were hitting his face like bullets. He stood at the window and looked down. The vast curtain of rain was covering the sky, and the water vapor was hazy and blurry. The world was dark and gloomy, and his pupils were dazed and unable to focus.
A flash of lightning suddenly slid across the sky, dispelling the deep darkness. A bright light suddenly rushed into his gray and desperate eyes. His heart suddenly clenched, and his fingers were tightly clasped in the cracks of the window sill.
A loud thunderclap suddenly exploded in his mind. At that moment, the world was spinning, and the sun and the moon were of the same color. His whole person was stunned on the spot as if he had been struck by lightning. The smoke was scattered, and his heart was a bloody mess.
He eagerly leaned out to look, but he only caught a glimpse of a dark and traceless darkness. He was not willing to give up. His clear and moist eyes were so wide that they were about to burst. But he still got nothing.
How could it be… how could she be here…
His heart was still in doubt, but his body was out of control and was rushing downstairs. He was standing in front of the elevator door and was frantically hitting the elevator button. He was staring at the numbers as they slowly descended. He couldn’t wait… he didn’t dare to stop for a moment. It was as if he would go crazy without any warning because of his loneliness in the next second.
Su Yu rushed down the stairs barefoot. He ignored the pain in his knees and took several steps at a time. He soon rushed out of the building, and he was getting closer to the surging and vast curtain of rain in front of him.
Without a single bit of hesitation, he rushed into it. The rain was getting heavier and heavier. His clothes were heavy and were hanging on his body, and he was dragging them. He was running at a familiar intersection, and he was looking around in a daze.
The grass and leaves were flying, and the yellow and dim clods of mud were lifted. The concrete under his feet was a mess. His palm was on the sand and stones, and it was scraped and bleeding. It was mixed with the mud and turned into a mottled black. The tree trunks on the side of the road were swaying and dancing wildly in the strong wind, as if they were celebrating this impending… fateful encounter.
He had lost his direction in the darkness. Suddenly, there was another flash of lightning, which illuminated the surroundings for him. But there was no one.
A burst of thunder suddenly woke him up again. His body, which had been holding on, suddenly lost its strength. He fell to the ground in a pathetic state. He spread his hands and feet and lay weakly on the rough and dirty concrete. The reality gave him a coldness that was like a harsh winter. Everything was just his illusion to numb himself.
He closed his eyes, and the darkness came as he wished. He thought it would be fine to just die like this… the so-called concern was probably just his excuse to numb himself.
He couldn’t tell the passage of time. He just felt his body getting colder and colder, and his life was slowly leaving his body. But suddenly, the rain… stopped.
The rain stopped.
He was surprised. He opened his heavy eyelids in a daze and met the girl under the umbrella’s gaze. A few flashes of lightning that had dispelled the darkness descended, as if it had returned to the beginning of the world… and the thick chaos had been cleared. He finally saw the girl’s face clearly.
The girl gradually leaned down, and the hand that was holding the dark black umbrella handle was loosened. The umbrella disappeared into the distant darkness with the roaring and noisy wind. It was as if only the two of them were left in the world. She curled her thin, red lips and smiled at him gently.
This smile was clear and beautiful, as if it were a clear sky that had blown away all the wind and sand.
The concern that was hidden in his heart was on the scorching sun and turned into a pink liquid that filled his empty heart. He remembered the girl’s late reply on the phone.
I love you…
The strength in his body came suddenly, and it supported Su Yu to get up from the ground. He slowly opened his arms and wanted to hug her.
The girl did not resist and also opened her arms to welcome him. She gently hugged him and held his head in her arms, stroking it again and again.
Su Yu also increased the strength in his hands and held the girl tightly. In the darkness, he did not know where he was. But besides holding her in his arms, there was no other way out.
The girl had a faint gardenia fragrance. It was a fresh and beautiful scent of life. It was what he had been dreaming of for countless days and nights. It was the concern that he was unwilling to die for…
“Qian Ge, I miss you so much.”
His voice was scattered in the sound of the rain. It was a little grainy, and it was low and hoarse, as if he were thirsty for water. It was also very gentle… as if he were afraid of disturbing this illusion.
“Yeah, everything will be fine…”
Xia Qiange held the boy in her arms, and her chin was on the other party’s forehead, and she was gently caressing him. She let him get close to her frantically beating heart. The excitement that was rising in her nerves was like a pouring rain, and it was so turbulent that it had soaked her to the skin.
She was living in this boring and lonely world, and every minute and every second was a painful torment. But only now was it different…
She looked down at the boy in her arms, and their eyes met. Her heart was itching.
He was the light she had been chasing in the long night, the scorching sun that had lit up her broken world.
The sharp and long wolf teeth were faintly shining in the darkness. They had bitten the prey’s fragile throat, and they were licking the fresh and sweet blood that only belonged to her.
I’ve caught you, my prey.
