Arc 8: Chapter 22 tw: attempted su*cide, and wtf is going on in Jin Ran's head
Jin Ran finally left the conference room after a two hour meeting. He impatiently opened his phone, and the screen showed the perspective from the surveillance.
What he saw almost made his heart stop from fear. Lin Yuan wasn’t lounging on the sofa or standing by the window.
Lin Yuan lay unmoving with the white bedsheets dyed a grotesque red.
No no nononono, how could this happen? Why did Lin Yuan-
Jin Ran immediately wanted to dial Lin Yuan’s number. His fingers trembled unconsciously against his will as he opened his contacts list. Only after looking through the entire list did he realize that Lin Yuan’s name wasn’t there.
There was nothing.
He stood up in panic so suddenly that his phone flew out of his hand and crashed against the ground. The cracked glass was like a dense spiderweb, and its black screen reflected Jin Ran’s broken and bloodshot eyes.
As he rode the elevator, he rewound the surveillance recording. He saw how Lin Yuan broke the glass and walked back to the bed. He saw how Lin Yuan looked at the camera, looking straight at Jin Ran in this moment, lightly smiling: “Jin Ran, I won’t leave you. Can you hold me and take me out?”
Jin Ran watched how the glass cut into the young man’s fair skin, and felt as if his own heart was being sliced open.
After some time, the body prevented blood loss by itself, but then Lin Yuan lifted the glass shard again and made a second cut.
Jin Ran stepped on the gas pedal and the luxury car roared to life, speeding past ordinary streets and people bustling about in a vibrant and prosperous world. t/n what is he doingggg, call the ambuluance dude
But the car was like a cage that separated Jin Ran from the human world. Inside he was broken and rotten.
The moment Jin Ran arrived at home, he unlocked the door and ran towards the bedroom, even forgetting to close the door behind him.
At this moment the house felt too big and empty. The distance to the bedroom was the distance between life and death, which now felt impossible to traverse.
Jin Ran pushed open the door in a frenzy, creating a loud thud where the door banged against the wall.
521 jumped in fright and screamed: “AHHH! There’s a ghost! There’s a-”
When it saw Jin Ran it calmed down immediately, saying in a deadpan voice: “Senior’s husband.”
Jin Ran fell to his knees by the bed. Seeing Lin Yuan’s pallid and bloodless face, Jin Ran’s handsome face showed some rare panic: “Sui Sui… Lin Yuan…”
He wanted to put pressure on Lin Yuan’s wound to stop the bleeding, but was also afraid that Lin Yuan would feel more pain.
Because of the blood loss, Lin Yuan’s body temperature was already dropping and his consciousness was blurry. He had already told 521 to call him when Jin Ran returned, but he barely had the strength to react.
Seeing this, 521 worriedly began to shout, but it still had no effect. Finally, 521 desperately closed his eyes and roared with all its strength: “There are actually ghosts! 1, 2, 3, 4, twenty, thirty, sixty ghosts are watching you! Sixty ghosts!!”
Lin Yuan tensed and then trembled a few times. His consciousness gradually cleared but he didn’t dare open his eyes.
521 knew this trick would work. It said soothingly: “Senior, just kidding, there are no ghosts. I was trying to wake you up. Your husband is back.”
Lin Yuan was stunned by 521’s audacity. He cleverly opened one eye and made sure he didn’t see anything supernatural, then finally opened both. His voice was thin and weak: “Jin Ran, you’re back….”
Jin Ran let out a muffled cry as if Lin Yuan’s voice opened up all of his fears and despair.
Although Lin Yuan’s sight was a little unclear, he could still see the pain in Jin Ran’s eyes. He lifted his right hand and cupped Jin Ran’s teary cheek, asking softly: “Did you call the ambulance? I’m alive, Jin Ran, can you see it clearly? Now I’m hurt, and I need to go to the hospital.”
“Jin Ran, open your eyes and look at me clearly.”
But Jin Ran closed his eyes shut. He didn’t dare look at his lover who was broken and hurt. His body racked with tremors, and his voice squeezed out in rapid wheezes: “Sui Sui, I really don’t know…”
“I can’t tell, I really can’t tell…”
“I don’t believe it…”
“It took me so long to believe that you died, how can I believe that you’re alive…”
“Lin Yuan, I’m too afraid to believe it…”
Lin Yuan pulled Jin Ran closer, with just a little force, the broken man moved like a puppet. He hugged Jin Ran, enveloping his everything, accepting all of his scars and wounds.
“It’s okay if you don’t believe me now. I’ll use five or ten years to make you believe me again.”
“Listen to me, Jin Ran. Let’s go. Let’s go to the hospital.”
Step out bravely towards tomorrow.