CH 72

Upon receiving a notification that the lights were on at his family’s property, Gu Zhongyi hurriedly rushed back to the residential area.

When he opened the apartment door, it was pitch-black inside, as quiet as if no one had ever been there. Fortunately, a faint hint of bitter citrus pheromone guided him in the right direction.

Gu Zhongyi turned on the light and found Lin Yuxing sitting in a corner of the bedroom, hugging his knees and burying his head.

He finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“Yuxing.”

Lin Yuxing didn’t react, as if he had fallen asleep in that position.

Gu Zhongyi walked slowly towards him and touched Lin Yuxing’s ice-cold arm.

Lin Yuxing’s damp shirt clung to his body, leaving Gu Zhongyi no time to think about anything else. He roughly picked up Lin Yuxing and almost forcibly woke him up from his trance-like state.

In a daze, Lin Yuxing gasped and his heavy eyelids struggled to open.

Gu Zhongyi placed the back of his hand against Lin Yuxing’s forehead, and as expected, he had a fever.

Without scolding him or inquiring about what happened, Gu Zhongyi swiftly removed Lin Yuxing’s clothes, wrapped him in a small blanket from the bedside, and used it like a towel to wipe away the moisture from his body.

“Mmm.”

Trembling, Lin Yuxing curled up instinctively.

Without hesitation, Gu Zhongyi tucked him into bed and then went to get a hairdryer and dried his semi-wet hair.

Lin Yuxing’s voice was hoarse when he weakly said, “Senior.”

“You have a fever. I’ll get some medicine for you.”

Lin Yuxing sluggishly responded to Gu Zhongyi’s words, feeling numb all over. His head was heavy, as if a huge stone was falling down. He whispered, “Every time, I cause you trouble. I’m sorry…”

Gu Zhongyi rubbed his ear and said softly, “You’re no trouble for me.”

Lin Yuxing’s nose felt congested as he spoke softly, “I feel really uncomfortable.”

“I’ll be right back.”

After Gu Zhongyi left the room, Lin Yuxing hugged the blanket, feeling guilty.

Gu Zhongyi boiled a kettle and also took out a bottle of mineral water from the storage room. While waiting for the water to heat up, he made phone calls to Lin Yuheng and Su Li. “He’s with me, don’t worry.”

Lin Yuheng was still worried as he asked, “What happened to him?”

Gu Zhongyi saw that the water was ready and couldn’t spare more time to explain. “I’m not sure yet. He got caught in the rain and has a fever. We’ll talk later.”

Gu Zhongyi hung up the phone and took a fever-reducing pill from the medicine box in the living room.

The black box on the coffee table quickly caught his attention, making him curious about what it contained.

Gu Zhongyi opened it, and there, before his eyes, were photos of twins. His heart skipped a beat, and as he flipped through the diary.

Frowning, Gu Zhongyi flipped through several pages of the diary and understood who had visited Lin Yuxing earlier in the day. Other than Qu Ling, no one else would have all those pictures and notebooks in the box.

He had never thought that Qu Ling would find Lin Yuxing. That was an unexpected development.

Thinking about Lin Yuxing’s current state, Gu Zhongyi closed the box with great displeasure.

In the partially open bedroom door, several violent coughs could be heard.

Gu Zhongyi knew that that was not to ask Lin Yuxing about such sensitive information.

He returned to the kitchen, poured some hot water into a cup, added some mineral water, and made sure the temperature was right before taking them into the bedroom.

On the bed, Lin Yuxing propped himself up, slowly moved closer, and leaned against the headboard, coughing to the point of feeling nauseous. He covered his mouth, not knowing how long he had been crying, and his eyes were so red and swollen that it hurt to look at.

Gu Zhongyi sat by the bed and carefully fed Lin Yuxing the medicine.

Lin Yuxing was thirsty and drank the entire cup of water in one gulp. His hoarse throat felt a little better. He was weak all over and Gu Zhongyi pulled him towards him, tightly embracing him.

He leaned against Gu Zhongyi, whispering, “I don’t feel too good.”

“Fever causes that,” Gu Zhongyi gently massaged Lin Yuxing’s neck. “You’ll feel better once the medicine takes effect.”

Gu Zhongyi’s comforting pheromones were soothing, the best for an Omega in such a situation.

In that environment built by the comforting pheromones, Lin Yuxing’s tense nerves gradually relaxed, and he was no longer as shaky as before.

He turned around, his cheek pressed against Gu Zhongyi’s chest, smelling the sweet scent emitting from Gu Zhongyi, and said softly, “Senior, I still feel really uncomfortable.”

“Where does it hurt?”

He gritted his teeth and weakly said, “Everywhere, it hurts all over.”

The night was deep, and outside the half-drawn window curtains, the rain continued to pour.

Gu Zhongyi’s palm rubbed Lin Yuxing’s back, soothing away the pain caused by the fever.

In the comforting environment created by the comforting pheromones, Lin Yuxing’s  hands weakly clutched Gu Zhongyi’s clothes, and tears kept flowing, wetting Gu Zhongyi’s shirt.

Lin Yuxing’s crying was soundless, like a raindrop hidden in the clouds.

Thus, Gu Zhongyi repeatedly and patiently comforted him.

He leaned against Gu Zhongyi, and the warm dampness spread through Gu Zhongyi’s chest.

Because of Lin Yuxing’s breathing, Gu Zhongyi’s chest remained warm.

Gu Zhongyi’s eyes deepened with endless heartache as he tightly held the person in his arms. Both of them lay down, and Lin Yuxing clung completely to Gu Zhongyi in a dependent manner.

After a long silence, Lin Yuxing found some relief.

He finally opened his mouth and confided in Gu Zhongyi.

“Today, I saw my brother’s foster father.”

“He said… my brother is dead.”

Just two simple sentences.

Hoarse, heart-wrenching, enough to bring tears to one’s eyes.

Lin Yuxing bit his lip repeatedly, unable to say more, his emotions like a volcano about to erupt, suppressed in his heart, like a fishbone had stuck in his throat, making it hard to breathe.

“He said my brother is dead…”

The comforting pheromones seemed to have lost their effect.

Lin Yuxing’s shoulders began to shake violently, trembling all over, as if experiencing a delayed breakdown.

But, in fact, he had already collapsed countless times, in his heart, in his consciousness.

“I don’t have a brother anymore,” he said sadly and repeatedly, “I really don’t have a brother anymore.”

The moon, which should have been hanging in the night sky, was nowhere to be seen that night.

Lin Yuxing’s breathing became rapid. Because of the fever, his cheeks were unusually flushed, and it seemed that the fever medicine was not working. If it weren’t for Gu Zhongyi’s comforting pheromones and his patient restraint, Lin Yuxing might have bitten his lower lip until it bled.

In order to stop Lin Yuxing’s abnormal behavior, Gu Zhongyi inserted his own thumb into Lin Yuxing’s mouth, forcibly preventing his unconscious actions.

Lin Yuxing hesitated to bite Gu Zhongyi but couldn’t stop himself. He painfully gripped Gu Zhongyi’s finger and accidentally left a few rows of tooth marks.

“Um…”

Gu Zhongyi endured the pain and comforted him, saying, “Yuxing, let it out, cry.”

“…”

“Don’t hold it in,” Gu Zhongyi’s voice was gentle and low, he kept saying, “crying will make you feel better.”

Lin Yuxing raised his head, tears blurred his vision. He blinked hard, and his tears were brushed away by his eyelashes.

Meanwhile outside, the raindrops fell from the clouds.

Lin Yuxing’s vision cleared for a few seconds, and after seeing Gu Zhongyi’s full face of concern and worry, he suddenly quieted down and remained motionless.

Until Gu Zhongyi gently touched his cheek after pulling out his thumb, Lin Yuxing sobbed and started crying heartbreakingly.

He cried loudly, like a child whose candy had been taken away from him.

It felt like he returned to the welfare home, to a time he cried in front of Lin Yuheng because he was helpless and weak. Crying was the only way for him to vent his frustration.

He couldn’t do anything; he couldn’t do anything at all.

“He came to find me… He saved me two years ago; he didn’t abandon me…”

Lin Yuxing incoherently blamed himself, “But why, why didn’t he tell me? Why did he leave me again… Is it because I always, always cause trouble for him…”

Gu Zhongyi held him, exerting strength in his arms.

“I felt a sharp pain in my heart that day, really painful, I felt like I couldn’t breathe, like I was thrown into the water…”

The book had mentioned that a small number of twins have a telepathic connection in life and death situations.

And now, Lin Yuxing finally knew that he didn’t fall seriously ill that day because he saw a car accident. That illness was the message of Lin Yuheng’s death. Now, in Lin Yuxing’s eyes, it seemed more like a distress signal sent by his brother.

He had no idea.

Suddenly, Lin Yuxing was filled with a sense of helplessness, and guilt flooded his body like a tide. He came up with a terrifying assumption and muttered, “Did… did he die in my place?”

The same day, the same car.

Did Lin Yuheng replace him?

Thinking of this, Lin Yuxing covered his chest in despair and pounded it hard. He couldn’t think anymore; his heart was about to explode, and he was so sad that he was going crazy.

Gu Zhongyi grabbed his hand, “Don’t do this!”

At that moment, Lin Yuxing seemed to see a lifeline as a drowning person and desperately held onto Gu Zhongyi’s hand, begging him with a helpless wish.

” Help me, please senior?”

“Yuxing.”

“Can you help me find my brother?”

He was so helpless that he started talking nonsense, and his body’s heat completely confused his rationality. He cried and said, “I miss him so much; you don’t know how much I miss him…”

Lin Yuxing almost lost his voice.

Gu Zhongyi hesitated to speak but eventually gently patted Lin Yuxing’s back, accompanying him in venting his bitterness.

The citrus pheromones in the bedroom were bitter.

He still sobbed in despair, “I want my brother… help me find him, please help me…”

His voice grew fainter.

He seemed to have cried himself out but still persisted.

Gu Zhongyi said in a deep voice, “I’ll help you find him.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I won’t lie to you; I will definitely help you find him,” Gu Zhongyi assured him, “definitely.”

Finally, all the exhaustion and repression of the whole day turned into endless fatigue, pressing down on Lin Yuxing. He curled up, falling into a deep sleep.

Gu Zhongyi kissed his forehead, wiped away the tears from the corner of his eyes with his fingertips, and gently tucked him in.

Looking at Lin Yuxing, whose nose had turned red from crying, Gu Zhongyi’s mood became heavy and unbearable.