CH 53

hapter 53: His Devotion

Mother Xiao asked her son: “Should we finance this orphanage?”

Xiao Tian replied, “Why not?” As he stared back at the closed door, he thought to himself that offering charity funds was his way of reminding that girl how ridiculous her final choice was.

Lin Xin’s intuition tells her that Xiao Tian would no longer return after leaving. Just as she expected, the door remained closed.

She lay in bed as she looked up at Lin Xinyu with a smile: “Come here, I have something to tell you.”

Lin Xinyu drew his ears near the girl’s lips and listened closely.

“The Dean never laid his hands on me.” Earlier, when she saw Lin Xinyu pick up the scissors to kill the Dean, she felt deeply anxious. Fortunately, Xiao Tian stopped him in time.

Lin Xinyu widened his eyes in disbelief. After a long time, he finally asked, “You, how did you do that?”

Lin Xin was so happy that she wanted to roll around in bed. She resisted her excitement and wrapped herself in sheets, then sat up and replied, “I won’t tell you.” Lin Xinyu was still a child so telling him would be a bad influence.

Although Lin Xin didn’t answer his question, the boy was still curious. He asked, “So, d-did you…” he was afraid to ask, in case she confirmed his guess.

Lin Xin lifted the quilt to reveal the kiss mark on her neck and said, “Are you asking about this?”

Lin Xinyu dared not look. He nodded slowly.

“It’s like this,” Lin Xin pinched her own arm and twisted it, causing a red mark to appear on her skin. It had the same shape as a hickey.

Lin Xinyu’s jaw dropped and he asked in wonder, “Were all your marks made like this?”

Lin Xin nodded and reached out to pat his head. She comforted him gently, “It isn’t that painful, everything is fine. It doesn’t hurt much.”

Lin Xinyu shook his head. He also pinched his own arm and twisted it, but the pain caused his teeth to tremble. In the end he could only give up without leaving a red mark. And yet this girl had more than a dozen of them on her body. How much pain did she endure?

She had many chances to leave, but in every opportunity, she chose to stay for his sake. Compared to what she had sacrificed for him, what he had to offer her was negligible.

He wanted to embrace her and tell her that he would no longer be so cowardly in the future. ‘I will become strong, and I will protect you.’

With these thoughts, he hugged Lin Xin without warning and rested within her arms. Her white, exposed skin revealed red imprints, like peach blossoms on her chest. The boy kissed each one gently, as if he was kissing the lotus at Buddha’s feet with deep devotion.

One, two, three…he kissed every one of them until finally, he rested his face on her chest and cried.

The boy’s tears dripped down Lin Xin’s chest, washing away her doubts of him. She patted his back as if holding her child, and whispered in comfort, “It’s okay, don’t cry.”

Lin Xinyu’s crying gradually grew quiet and he slowly fell asleep. Lin Xin laid him down and slept with him.

Moonlight trickled in like water into the dim room, like a lover’s hand that caressed another’s lack of love.

Lin Xin’s thoughts wandered into another world, the one she came from. She recalled when she slept in her bed while holding a teddy bear. Her mother and father kissed her on the forehead and said, “Good night, baby.”

When the door closed, she suddenly found herself in this strange room without a teddy bear in hand. Instead, she saw the beautiful child in front of her sleeping soundly.

She kissed Lin Xinyu gently on his forehead and said in heart, ‘Good night.’

Good night, Mom and Dad. I hope you are both happy in Heaven. I am doing fine here with my new family. Although life is still very difficult, it’s much better compared to those dark days when you both left my side. I prefer my life now as it is.