Returning - Chapter 40
Chapter 40: Heart's Malady
Fei Heng wanted to discuss investment matters with Xue Zi'ang. Once he dropped the playfully irreverent attitude, he actually looked the part when talking business.
Xue Zi'ang engaged him seriously as well, but investment matters were mostly handled by his mother, and his own understanding was limited. So over the course of a meal, whatever could be said had been said.
Zhao Yu ate quietly throughout. Shang Lu, who could have joined the conversation, had little involvement in their topic. He simply summoned the waiter to settle the bill once everyone had set down their chopsticks.
The four took the elevator down together. Shang Lu and Fei Heng had walked here, and Xue Zi'ang's car was in the open-air parking lot, so they were all only going to the ground floor.
Exiting through the main entrance, they found a large crowd gathered outside, with several police cars parked along the street. Clearly, something had happened.
Shang Lu and Xue Zi'ang were not the type to meddle in others' affairs. With a casual glance, they detoured and headed the other way. But Fei Heng, curious, listened to a few snippets of conversation among passersby and sighed, "Another jumper. Why do kids these days get so worked up over nothing?"
Almost the instant his words fell, Zhao Yu's gaze, passing through the crowd that had just been dispersed nearby, landed on the pool of blood mixed with some unrecognizable liquid, cordoned off by police tape.
Perhaps due to the sloping ground, the blood had run quite far, spreading in a vast patch across the pavement. Even though it had congealed, it was still piercingly, glaringly red.
Zhao Yu's steps faltered. Her right hand, resting on her crossbody bag, suddenly clenched the strap edge tightly.
Xue Zi'ang had his arm around her waist as they stepped out and immediately noticed her halt. "What's wrong?"
Zhao Yu offered him a faint smile. "I need to use the restroom. You go ahead to the car and wait for me."
Without waiting for Xue Zi'ang to nod, she turned and walked back inside, re-entering the office building through the main doors.
Xue Zi'ang, sensing nothing amiss, said his goodbyes to Shang Lu and Fei Heng before heading toward the parking lot.
His eyes swept over the crimson bloodstains on the ground. Shang Lu glanced in the direction Zhao Yu had gone, then saw Xue Zi'ang already walking away with his back to him. He hesitated for a moment, then also turned back into the building.
The ground floor of the office building was leased out for commercial use, the restroom located just around the corner. Shang Lu strode straight in and stopped at the entrance to the women's restroom. As expected, he saw Zhao Yu standing alone in front of the sink.
She was bent over, hands gripping the edge of the counter tightly. Even from the doorway, he could clearly see her trembling, could even hear the sound of her breathing, deep and labored.
Shang Lu strode inside and reached for her hands, trying to pry her fingertips loose from their death grip on the stone surface, but no matter how much force he used, he couldn't succeed.
And the back of her hands were icy cold.
"Zhao Yu." Shang Lu changed tactics, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her trembling frame against his chest. "Zhao Yu, it's okay, it's okay now. That's someone else's blood. Don't be afraid."
Zhao Yu continued to tremble violently, her teeth even chattering. Only after Shang Lu repeated "don't be afraid" several more times did her body suddenly go limp, collapsing heavily against him.
Her entire weight slammed into him. Shang Lu nearly lost his footing, stumbling back a small step before he could hold her steady, clasping both her icy hands within his palms.
She wasn't crying, but her face was utterly drained of color, her body still shaking uncontrollably. No amount of soothing seemed to help.
Shang Lu could only pull out his phone and dial a number. "Bring me a pack of cigarettes. First-floor women's restroom."
Fei Heng arrived shortly. He had been grumbling, asking if Shang Lu had lost his mind, but the moment he saw Zhao Yu's state, he was startled, too. "Wha—what happened to her?"
Shang Lu extended a hand toward him. "Cigarettes. Lighter."
Fei Heng didn't dare to joke around and obediently handed the items over. Shang Lu drew out a cigarette, offered it to Zhao Yu's lips, then raised the lighter to give her a light.
With difficulty, Zhao Yu lifted her hand, pinched the cigarette, and guided it to her mouth. Aided by Shang Lu, she lit it, taking trembling drags until she had smoked over half of it before she could slightly control the frequency of her body's tremors.
Meeting Fei Heng's curious stare, Shang Lu said coldly, "Get out."
Fei Heng pursed his lips but obediently stepped outside, even posting himself at the door to keep watch for the two inside.
Only after finishing the remaining half cigarette, propped in Shang Lu's embrace, was Zhao Yu able to barely steady herself on her feet. She slowly pulled away from him, dropped the butt into the trash can, and said in a low voice, "Thank you."
Her voice was hoarse, as if wrung from her throat with immense effort.
Shang Lu said nothing, merely offering another cigarette, but she shook her head.
Smoking too much—Xue Zi'ang would notice.
Shang Lu remained silent, just gazing steadily at her.
During the meal, she had been careful to protect her lipstick, needing absolutely no touch-up. But the force with which she'd been smoking just now had smeared not only the color but had even stained the skin around her lips with traces of red.
He raised his hand, the pad of his finger gently touching down and tracing slowly along the line of her lower lip, wiping away the excess lipstick bit by bit.
Zhao Yu watched him in equal silence, letting his fingertip gently graze across her skin.
"Zhao Yu, who is your enemy? Tell me. Let me take revenge for you."
Zhao Yu looked at him and smiled.
He asked again, "Three years ago, who did that to you?"
She continued to smile, her voice raspy. "You can't help me."
His thumb still rested against the edge of her lip, but the other four fingers had already clenched uncontrollably into a fist.
She was right. He couldn't help her. Not three years ago, and not now.
He still needed to save himself—how could he speak of taking revenge for her?
In the silence that hung between them, Fei Heng suddenly burst in from outside. "Xue Zi'ang is coming. Should you hide?"
Zhao Yu didn't panic, but her gaze flicked meaningfully behind her.
Shang Lu understood what she meant. He turned and walked toward an empty stall, dragging the unprepared Fei Heng inside with him.
The moment the stall door closed, it appeared once again as if Zhao Yu were alone inside the restroom.
When Xue Zi'ang stopped at the doorway, he didn't look inside, only called out in a low voice, "Zhao Yu, are you in there?"
A trip to the restroom taking this long, and her phone going unanswered—he had no choice but to come find her himself.
After straightening her hair and attire in the mirror, Zhao Yu forced a smile and walked slowly toward the door. "Coming."
Her voice still wasn't quite right, and Xue Zi'ang immediately noticed her pallid complexion and the slight tremble in her legs as she walked. This state was likely not just simple menstrual discomfort.
He rushed forward in long strides to embrace her. "What exactly is wrong?"
Zhao Yu managed a smile. "It's nothing, I just... I'm a bit hemophobic. I accidentally glimpsed that scene outside earlier."
Hearing this explanation, Fei Heng looked at Shang Lu with sudden understanding. People with hemophobia did indeed exhibit all sorts of symptoms; Zhao Yu's behavior just now could be explained that way.
But Shang Lu knew. She wasn't hemophobic. What she feared was specifically the sight of too much blood spread before her, that kind of scene.
Once, back in the States, he had been hospitalized, and Zhao Yu had come to visit him. She had accidentally encountered a gruesome, blood-soaked emergency rescue scene. Her reaction then had been exactly the same as today, shrinking into his arms and needing five whole cigarettes to recover.
"If you're hemophobic, then why did you self-harm before? Cut so many gashes into your own hand—if you don't know pain, shouldn't you at least fear the blood?"
Still immersed in his memories, Shang Lu was caught off guard by Xue Zi'ang's words. She self-harmed?
They had been together for three years, and he had never discovered it.
Or had she deliberately hidden it from him, ensuring he never found out?
Comments
Post a Comment