[At Li Hao's home- Morning]
The morning air was crisp but held an oppressive weight around Li Hao's elegant home.
Gang Zi stood vigil at the entrance, a sleek, expensive suitcase in hand, his face a mask of concern.
Li Hao, despite the perfect tailoring of his dark suit, looked utterly undone. His eyes, rimmed a raw, furious red, were a testament to the emotional storm that had raged in Yu Han's bedroom just hours ago – a heartfelt confession, a desperate farewell, a fear that it might be their last.
His heart throbbed with a painful cadence of guilt, love, and the agony of separation.
Each beat was a reminder of Yu Han, of his past, and the abusive shadow of his father he was desperate to outrun.
But he had to be strong, immaculately composed for the world, even if his soul was tearing itself apart. This was it. A new life. A clean slate, miles away.
The sleek black car, waiting patiently at the curb, seemed to beckon him towards oblivion or salvation, he wasn't sure which.
He took a fortifying breath, straightening his shoulders, and began to pace towards it. Just as his hand reached for the door handle, a figure emerged from the shadows cast by the house, blocking his path.
It was Shi Wang.
A slow, mocking smile spread across Shi Wang's lips as his gaze, sharp and predatory, raked over Li Hao. Li Hao felt a familiar coil of revulsion tighten in his gut, but he was too drained, too broken to engage. He simply sighed, a sound heavy with exhaustion.
"What are you doing here?" Li Hao's voice was flat, devoid of energy.
Shi Wang chuckled, a low, grating sound.
"Tsk tsk… Li Hao. I just wanted to see you off. After this, I couldn't possibly see you anymore. I'm feeling quite sad, actually. After me, who will make your blood boil?"
He leaned in, a hand reaching out to playfully adjust Li Hao's perfectly tied knot, then another brushing an imaginary stray hair from his temple.
Li Hao flinched as if burned, recoiling violently from Shi Wang's touch.
"Don't you dare touch me, Shi Wang," he spat, his voice a low, simmering growl, the first spark of his buried fury igniting.
"Keep your filthy hands and your putrid intentions far away from me. And more importantly, stay away from them. I know your game, you manipulative bastard. They are not your toys, not your entertainment. They're not some thing for you to break just because you're bored."
Shi Wang laughed, a cold, unfeeling sound. "Hahaha! Oh, look who's talking about playing. The pot calling the kettle black, isn't it, Li Hao?"
That was the last straw. With a surge of renewed hatred, Li Hao's hand shot out, grabbing Shi Wang's collar, twisting the fabric tightly. Their faces were inches apart, Li Hao's red-rimmed eyes blazing with a dangerous intensity.
"Listen to me, you piece of trash," Li Hao seethed, his voice barely a whisper, yet vibrating with lethal intent.
"If I find out that you've so much as looked at Yu Han the wrong way, if you ever try to sow discord or cause him any pain after I'm gone, I swear to everything sacred, I will come back. And I will make your life a living hell that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. Don't you ever think of meeting them, of contacting them. This is my final warning. Cross it, and you'll regret the day you were born."
Shi Wang's smile faltered for a fraction of a second, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes, before it returned, mocking. "Calm down, my bro. I've played enough."
Just then, Gang Zi, sensing the escalating tension, rushed forward. "Mr. Li, you're running late for your flight. Please, get in the car."
Li Hao released Shi Wang's collar with a violent shove, pushing him back several steps. He didn't spare another glance for the man he loathed, wrenching open the car door and sliding inside.
Shi Wang merely strolled over to the car window, a casual smirk back on his face. "Happy journey, bro. I'll miss you."
Li Hao ignored him, rattling the window up with a sharp whir. The driver, taking his cue, pulled away from the curb.
The black car surged forward, leaving Shi Wang standing alone on the quiet street, his figure shrinking in the rearview mirror until it vanished entirely.
A moment later, Shi Wang's secretary, Liu, approached. "Mr. Shi, aren't you going to the airport?"
Shi Wang turned, a cool, indifferent expression settling on his face. "There's no need. Get my car ready. We're going to the office."
____________________
[Yu Han's room]
The digital clock on Yu Han's bedside table glowed with an indifferent 10:44.
Yet, time felt utterly meaningless, a slow, viscous treacle that coated every thought, every sensation.
He was still submerged deep within the cocoon of his blanket, not out of comfort, but out of a profound lack of energy, a complete depletion that left him an empty vessel. His body felt heavy, anchored to the mattress, while his mind, paradoxically, was a whirlwind, caught in the relentless replay of last night.
Li Hao. The name was a phantom limb, throbbing with a pain that was both exquisite and unbearable.
Li Hao's face as he spoke, etched with an unfamiliar vulnerability, a raw kind of honesty Yu Han had never seen before. Li Hao's words, each one a sharp shard of glass, cutting deep, twisting in his gut.
Last night… God, last night.
He remembered the cool night air on his skin, the dim streetlights casting long, distorted shadows. He remembered Li Hao's hand, so briefly brushing his own, sending a jolt through him that he'd tried to ignore. And then, the words. The words.
"I like you, Yu Han."
The memory replayed with an agonizing clarity, echoing in the cavern of his mind. A choked sob escaped him, muffled by the blanket.
"No. Nononono."
He squeezed his eyes shut tighter, as if he could, through sheer will, banish the memory, rewind the tape, unhear those devastating words. They were not just words; they were an earthquake, shifting the ground beneath his feet, making him question everything he thought he knew.
"What does it even mean? 'I like you'? Is it like... a friend? No, his eyes… his eyes weren't friendly." A fresh wave of heat burned behind his eyelids."He looked… broken when he said it. Like he was confessing a crime, or a deeply guarded secret. Why did it have to be like this? Why now?"
Yu Han felt a profound sense of injustice, a cruel twist of fate. Just when he was starting to feel… something… something undefined and unsettling towards Li Hao, something he hadn't dared to name, Li Hao had hurled this emotional bomb. And the worst part was, Li Hao was leaving. Leaving today. For good.
"He's going. He's just… going. And he drops this on me, on the eve of his departure? Is this a cruel joke? Is he just trying to make his exit more dramatic? No, that's not Li Hao. He was… genuine. Terrifyingly genuine."
His own feelings were a tangled mess, a Gordian knot he couldn't even begin to unravel. How was he supposed to respond to such a confession when his world was already spinning, when the man who uttered it was about to vanish from his life forever?
The hurt wasn't just for Li Hao's words, but for the profound confusion they ignited within himself. He didn't know how to feel. He didn't know what he felt. All he knew was this crushing weight, this hollow ache.
A sharp rap on his door, followed by a familiar voice, sliced through his melancholic reverie, pulling him abruptly back to the present.
"Yu Han? Are you awake? It's late, come outside and have your breakfast. I'm going to the store soon." It was Yang Zi.
Panic flared. He couldn't let him see him like this. He couldn't let anyone see the wreckage he felt inside.
Quick as a flash, he scrubbed the back of his hand across his eyes, wiping away the fresh tears that had escaped. He cleared his throat, trying to force a semblance of normalcy into his voice, pushing the raw emotion down, down, down until it was a tight, painful knot in his chest.
"Yes, I'm coming," he croaked, the words sounding rougher than he intended.
He heard Yang Zi's footsteps retreat, and then the faint click of the front door. He used the brief reprieve to gather himself, slowly uncurling from the blanket. His limbs felt heavy, disconnected. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, the cold floor a shock against his bare feet.
He shuffled towards the bathroom, his reflection in the mirror a stark testament to the night he'd endured.
His eyes were puffy, swollen, and crimson-rimmed, a roadmap of unshed tears and silent anguish. He splashed cold water on his face, hoping to diminish the tell-tale signs, but it was a futile effort. The pain was etched deeper than the surface.
As he sat down at the small kitchen table, a barely touched bowl of congee cooling before him, his mind refused to let go. Li Hao. Always Li Hao.
He's going. He's really going. The thought was a relentless hammer blow to his heart.
He's going for forever. Just like that. And I'll never get a chance to meet him again. Never get a chance to… to even understand what he meant. What I felt. What any of this was.
A small, warm tear, unbidden and traitorous, escaped the corner of his eye, tracing a path down his cheek. He didn't bother to wipe it away. What was the point? There were so many more where that came from.
His gaze drifted, unfocused, across the table until it landed on a glossy magazine, left open from yesterday.
Its cover page, a striking, professional shot, featured Li Hao. His photo. Li Hao, the successful CEO, looking confident, powerful, utterly unattainable.
Yu Han's fingers, almost on their own accord, reached out, lightly tracing the sharp lines of Li Hao's jaw, the curve of his lips, the intensity in his eyes. It was a phantom touch, yearning for a reality that was slipping away.
This is it, then. His mind, seeking self-preservation, began to rationalize, to build walls where only gaping chasms had existed moments before. This is actually good for Li Hao.
He's a CEO, he has this massive, brilliant future ahead of him. Our worlds… they aren't the same. Mine is small, quiet, unremarkable. His is vast, glittering, full of responsibilities and expectations I can't even fathom.
The cool logic was a balm, a thin, fragile shield against the raging fire in his heart.
We were never meant to meet, not really. Not like this. Our fate was never meant to entwine beyond this transient moment. And that's okay.
He repeated the mantra, trying to force himself to believe it. "It's a good decision for him to leave. For both of us."
The thought of 'forgetting' Li Hao felt like trying to forget his own name, to sever a part of his very being. But he had to. He had to.
This is the time to forget him. To forget everything.
He closed his eyes again, pressing his fingers harder against the glossy image, as if trying to absorb the strength from the photo, or perhaps just to feel something other than this ache.
"I will never think about Li Hao again. We are different. Our paths diverge here. I will forget him."
The promise felt hollow, a desperate plea to himself, a lie he hoped desperately to turn into truth.
But even as he made it, deep down, a quiet, stubborn part of him knew it was a losing battle.
"How do you forget someone who just, for a moment, made you feel like you could finally see the true meaning of your own heart?"