CH 168

Shen You didn’t like the harried state he was in. With cold sweat dripping down his neck, he felt as if he was drowning in water where each strand of his hair was covered and clumped together. Perhaps it was also his perception gone haywire, but he kept thinking that there were numerous eyes examining and investigating him.

He closed his eyes and buried his head in his knees, wanting to leave but unable to stand up from the sharp pain pulsing through his stomach.

Pain is the only thing that can slow down time. Just a few minutes and yet it could feel like an entire lifetime. Suffering as if the passing moment of death was elongated.

Shen You thought, he shouldn’t have come out today.

This summer was a very humid and hot season, but just like how Shen You would never be accustomed to the constant pain, humans would never be able to grow accustomed to this burning hot sun that comes to this city every year like clockwork. They were powerless to change it so they could only endure.

A long shadow flew across the crowds. The speed of the person that the shadow belonged to was very fast and in his hands not a drop of the hot water he held was dropped. At the end of their stop, the person paused their footsteps roughly and because his body tilted forward out of habit, the plastic bag full of medicine clanged together, creating the sound of plastic tubs lightly knocking against each other.

“Take some. Is it this kind?”

Gu Lai’s perfectly combed hair was all messed up, showing off how fast he had been running where at the moment it was all falling down on the sides. Still, his breathing was stable and his voice calm. When Shen You heard his voice, his tightly wound up body suddenly relaxed. Lifting up his head from his knees, he suddenly felt a feeling that was hard to explain sit heavily on him.

Gu Lai knelt down before him and twisted off the medicine cap. Quickly speed-reading the instructions he grabbed two pills out. Placing them into Shen You’s hands, he then passed the disposable cup of hot water over to him as well.

He was so meticulous, always knowing what other people needed.

Shen You gripped the pills in his hand tightly and then chugged it down with the cup of hot water. Seeing his Adam’s apple move slightly, Gu Lai asked with serious eyes, 

“Do you feel a bit better now?”

Fuck, how could medicine be that fast acting, they aren’t miracle pills.

With an emotionless face and his right hand still tightly grasping onto his stomach, he gave a nasally ‘hmm’ and made an irritated face.

Gu Lai suddenly felt relieved, visibly relaxing. He nodded his head as he said, 

“Then sit down for a while. I’ll go bring the car over.”

And then he rose up, heading to the crosswalk. It was just turning green, and behind him was an entire display of bright monitors in the city night lights. He was soon swallowed up by the nonstop cars driving past, following the ever changing billboards.

Shen You stared at his disappearing back. A faint layer of light shone down on the tip of his nose, highlighting his beautiful and handsome face clear, but it was still hard to hide away that sharpness and aggressiveness. After a while, he calmly turned his gaze away.

Gu Lai slowed the car to a stop by the roadside. He helped Shen You get into the passenger seat before getting into the car himself. Inside the dimly lit car, a gaze passed by Shen You’s body like a dragonfly dipping into water.

Shen You misconstrued the meaning of the gaze and roughly and angrily fastened up his seatbelt.

Gu Lai felt that Shen You seemed to be a bit angry, but he did not understand why he would be. So, he only kept his silence, trying his best to minimise his presence, leaving no words to be exchanged the entire ride back.

Shen You turned his head to lean against the window. Probably due to the medicine he took, his eyebrows were slowly loosening from their furrow, but it did not hide the fatigue his body was feeling. With the stable way the car was being driven, he fell into a light nap.