Dr. Shen came out of his room the next morning, stretching. He stopped when he saw Yichen sitting on the floor by Zhiyuan's door.
"Yichen?" Dr. Shen asked, walking closer. "What are you doing here? Did you sit here all night?"
Yichen looked up. His eyes were red and tired, but he was awake. "I couldn't leave him," he said, his voice rough.
Dr. Shen frowned. "What happened? Why are you sitting outside like this?"
Yichen looked down at the floor. His shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry, Dr. Shen," he whispered. "I told him. Last night. I told him about... about the miscarriage."
Dr. Shen froze. "You told him? Everything?"
Yichen just nodded, still looking down. "I couldn't lie to him anymore. He was so scared. He thought he was dying. I had to tell him the truth."
Dr. Shen was quiet for a moment. "Is he... is he okay?" he finally asked, his voice filled with worry.
Yichen shook his head slowly. "I don't know. He was so shocked. He didn't say much. He just asked to be alone. He locked the door. I haven't heard anything since."
"We should check on him," Dr. Shen said, turning towards the door.
"But he said not to disturb him," Yichen said quickly, standing up. "He wanted time alone."
Dr. Shen hesitated, his hand hovering near the door. "I know. But he's had the night. We need to make sure he's alright. The shock... it's not good for his recovery."
Yichen looked at the door, fear and worry clear on his face. After a moment, he gave a small, helpless nod.
"Alright," Yichen said softly. "You're right."
Dr. Shen gave him a reassuring look. He took a deep breath and raised his hand to knock.
But before his knuckles touched the wood, the door clicked and swung open from the inside.
Zhiyuan stood there. He was pale, and his eyes were shadowed, but he looked calm. Too calm. He looked past Yichen, his gaze landing on Dr. Shen.
"Dr. Shen," Zhiyuan said, his voice surprisingly steady. "We need to talk."
He stepped back, holding the door open. It was a clear invitation for the doctor, but his eyes didn't move to Yichen.
Yichen's heart sank. He took a small step forward. "Zhiyuan, I..."
Zhiyuan finally looked at him. His expression was unreadable. "Not now, Yichen. Please. Just... give me some more time with the doctor."
It wasn't angry. It wasn't cruel. It was just... final. A boundary drawn with quiet, firm words.
Yichen felt the words like a physical blow, but he nodded. "Okay," he whispered, taking a step back. "I'll be right here."
Zhiyuan gave a slight, almost imperceptible nod. Then he looked back at Dr. Shen. "Please, come in."
Dr. Shen glanced at Yichen with a look of sympathy before walking into the bedroom. Zhiyuan followed him in and closed the door gently, leaving Yichen alone in the hallway once more.
The soft click of the latch felt louder than a scream.
Dr. Shen walked into the room. Zhiyuan closed the door and pointed to the edge of the bed.
"Please, sit," Zhiyuan said.
They both sat down on the side of the bed. The morning light came through the window. For a moment, it was quiet.
"Tell me," Zhiyuan began, his voice quiet. "Tell me about my father. About his body. About... my body. Tell me everything."
Dr. Shen nodded slowly. "Alright," he said. "Your father, Wenhao, was a very special person. From the outside, he was a strong man. A leader. But inside, he had the ability to carry a child. Doctors call it being intersex. It is very, very rare."
"And I am like him?" Zhiyuan asked, looking at his own hands.
"Yes," Dr. Shen said gently. "You inherited that from him. It is why you could get pregnant. It is why you bled. Your body was... healing. From the loss."
Zhiyuan took a deep, shaky breath. He wrapped his arms around himself. "All these years... I never knew. I never felt any different."
"Most people like you and your father don't know," Dr. Shen explained. "Not until... something happens. Until life forces you to know. Your father found out the same way."
Zhiyuan was quiet for a long time, thinking. Then he looked up, his eyes sharp. "My father had me. So, someone got him pregnant."
Dr. Shen's posture stiffened just a little. "Yes," he said carefully.
"Who?" Zhiyuan asked. His voice was calm, but his eyes were intense. "Who was my other father? Who got him pregnant?"
Dr. Shen looked away. He cleared his throat. "I... I do not know about that, Zhiyuan."
"You don't know?" Zhiyuan's voice was flat. "You were his doctor. His friend. You helped deliver me. But you don't know who the other parent was?"
Dr. Shen shifted uncomfortably. "It was a private matter. Your father did not share that with me."
"That's a lie," Zhiyuan said softly, but firmly. He wasn't shouting. He was just stating a fact. "You know. I can see it on your face. You know who it is."
Dr. Shen hesitated. He wrung his hands together. "Zhiyuan, please. Some secrets are not mine to tell. This is one of them."
"Are you protecting someone?" Zhiyuan pressed. "Or are you protecting me?"
"Both," Dr. Shen admitted, his shoulders slumping. "Knowing might only bring you more pain. More danger. Your father wanted to protect you from that."
"From my own father?" Zhiyuan asked. The question hung in the air.
Dr. Shen looked pained. He opened his mouth, then closed it. He could not bring himself to say the name. Not yet.
"Please," Zhiyuan said, his calm starting to crack. A hint of desperation seeped into his voice. "I have just learned that my body is not what I thought. I have just learned I lost a child I didn't know I could have. My whole world is broken. Don't leave me in the dark about this too. Who is he?"
Dr. Shen looked at the young man in front of him so like Wenhao, so lost and so brave. He wanted to tell him. But fear, and a promise made long ago, kept his lips sealed.
"I am sorry, Zhiyuan," Dr. Shen whispered, his voice full of regret. "I cannot say. It is not my place. You will have to ask... someone else."
"Who?" Zhiyuan demanded, standing up now. "Who else is there to ask? Aunt Meilin? Yichen? That man, Zhenlong, who stares at me like a ghost?"
At the name, Dr. Shen's eyes flickered with a strange pain. But he said nothing.
Zhiyuan saw the look. His mind, sharp and desperate, began to connect the pieces. The furious, powerful man. The overprotectiveness. The way Zhenlong looked at him with a mix of anger and... something else.
A terrible, dawning horror started to fill Zhiyuan's eyes.
"No," he breathed, getting up "No, it can't be."
Dr. Shen stood up quickly, reaching out a hand. "Zhiyuan, calm down. You need to rest—"
"Tell me I'm wrong!" Zhiyuan's voice rose, his composure shattering. "Tell me Han Zhenlong is not my father! TELL ME!"
From outside the door, Yichen heard the shout. He jumped to his feet, his hand flying to the doorknob, panic seizing his heart.
The door flew open. Yichen rushed inside, his heart pounding.
The scene before him made his blood run cold. Zhiyuan was standing in the middle of the room, shaking. His face was white as paper, his eyes wide with a kind of terrified understanding. Dr. Shen was in front of him, hands out, trying to calm him.
"Zhiyuan, please, you need to breathe," Dr. Shen was saying, his voice gentle but urgent.
"What's happening?" Yichen asked, rushing to Zhiyuan's side. "Bao bei, what's wrong?"
Zhiyuan didn't seem to hear him. He was staring straight through Dr. Shen, his mind somewhere far away and horrible.
"He's my father," Zhiyuan whispered, the words barely audible. "Han Zhenlong. He's my... my biological father."
He turned his wild, lost eyes to Yichen. "That man... who looks at me like that... he's the one who got my father pregnant. He's the reason I exist."
Yichen froze. He looked quickly at Dr. Shen, who gave a tiny, helpless, confirming nod. The secret was fully out now.
"Zhiyuan," Yichen said softly, reaching for his hand.
Zhiyuan pulled away as if burned. "Did you know?" he asked Yichen, his voice trembling. "Did you know he was my father?"
Yichen's silence was all the answer he needed.
"Everyone knew," Zhiyuan said, a hysterical laugh bubbling up. It sounded like it hurt. "Everyone knew but me! My body, my father, my own history... you all decided what I should know!"
"Zhiyuan, listen to me," Dr. Shen tried again, stepping closer. "It was to protect you. Han Zhenlong's world is dangerous. Knowing connected you to that danger. Your father Wenhao wanted you to have a normal life."
"A normal life?" Zhiyuan shouted, the anger finally exploding. "I was poisoned for ten years! I've been attacked and beaten! I just had a miscarriage! There is nothing normal about my life!"
He was breathing too fast, his chest heaving. Spots danced in front of his eyes.
"Bao bei, you need to sit down," Yichen said, his own panic rising. He could see Zhiyuan getting dizzy. "Please, before you fall."
"I don't care!" Zhiyuan cried, but his legs were wobbling. The emotional storm was too much for his weakened body. "I don't care anymore! I'm just a puppet! A puppet for others to kill, a puppet for my secret father to watch, a puppet for all of you to keep secrets from!"
His vision swam. The room tilted.
"Zhiyuan!" both Yichen and Dr. Shen yelled at once.
Yichen lunged forward and caught him just as his knees gave way. He carefully lowered them both to the floor, cradling Zhiyuan in his arms.
"Let me go," Zhiyuan mumbled, but he had no strength left to fight. He was trembling violently, tears of fury and despair streaming down his face.
"I can't," Yichen whispered, holding him tight, rocking him gently. "I will never let you go. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry we kept this from you."
Dr. Shen knelt beside them, checking Zhiyuan's pulse. "The shock is too much," he said, worried. "He's overwhelmed."
"I hate you," Zhiyuan sobbed into Yichen's shirt, his words muffled and broken. "I hate all of you for lying to me."
Yichen closed his eyes, holding him closer, accepting the words. "I know," he whispered, his own tears falling into Zhiyuan's hair. "It's okay to hate me right now. Just don't leave me. Please, just breathe. I've got you."
He held the shattered pieces of the man he loved, knowing the cracks might never fully heal, praying that his love could be the glue to hold him together again.
Yichen carefully picked Zhiyuan up from the floor. He was so light, still shaking. Yichen carried him to the bed and laid him down gently. He brushed the damp hair from Zhiyuan's forehead, his fingers tracing his cheek.
"Just rest, bao bei," Yichen whispered, his voice thick with emotion. "Don't think anymore right now. Just close your eyes."
Zhiyuan didn't close his eyes. He stared up at Yichen, the tears slowing but the look in his eyes was cold. Hollow. It scared Yichen more than the shouting did.
"So,you were sent by him? " Zhiyuan said, his voice quiet and flat. "It was all part of the mission, then."
Yichen froze, his hand stilling on Zhiyuan's cheek. "What... what do you mean?"
"Your job," Zhiyuan continued, each word falling like a stone. "Your mission from Han Zhenlong. Protect his son. Watch over the asset. That was your duty. That's why you came."
He took a slow breath, the ache in his chest worse than any physical pain. "Your care. Your kindness. When I was sick from the pills. When I was scared. Was that part of the mission too? To make the asset trust you? To make him... love you?"
"No," Yichen breathed out, the word a desperate plea. "No, Zhiyuan, no. Please don't think that."
"Was it?" Zhiyuan insisted, his gaze piercing. "Tell me the truth. Was getting close to me part of your orders?"
"Never!" Yichen said, his voice rising. He grabbed Zhiyuan's hand, holding it tightly. "Listen to me! My orders were to protect you. To keep you safe from physical harm. That was all."
He leaned closer, making Zhiyuan look at him. "The feelings... the love... that was never part of any plan. That was mine. It happened because of you. Because you are brave, and kind, and stubborn, and beautiful. Because when you looked at me, I didn't see a mission anymore. I just saw the man I wanted to spend my life with."
He was crying now, tears falling freely. "My mission was to protect Liang Zhiyuan, the CEO. But I fell in love with Zhiyuan. Just you. The man who is stronger than he knows."
Zhiyuan searched his face, looking for the lie. But all he saw was raw, painful honesty.
"When I found out about the baby," Yichen whispered, his voice breaking. "That was the happiest and most terrified moment of my life. Not because of any mission. But because it was ours. A piece of you and me. A family I never dreamed I could have. Losing it... it broke me. Not as a bodyguard. But as a man who loved his partner and his child."
He brought Zhiyuan's hand to his lips and kissed his knuckles softly. "My love for you is the only real, true thing in my life. It is the one thing that has never been a lie. Please, you have to believe me."
Zhiyuan looked away, staring at the wall. The coldness in his eyes was melting, replaced by a deep, weary sadness. He was too tired to fight, too hurt to trust fully, but the absolute conviction in Yichen's voice was breaking through the walls of his anger.
He didn't pull his hand away.
"Get out," he said quietly, but the edge was gone. "Please, Yichen. Just for a little while. I... I need to be alone. With my thoughts."
Yichen's heart clenched, but he nodded. He slowly stood up. "I will be right outside the door. I will always be right outside your door, Zhiyuan. For as long as you need."
He walked to the door. Before he left, he turned back. "I love you," he said once more. "That was never a mission. It is my truth."
Then he stepped out, closing the door softly behind him, leaving Zhiyuan alone in the quiet room with the echo of his words and the shattered pieces of his world.
Zhiyuan fell into a deep, heavy sleep. Then, the world around him changed.
He wasn't in the bedroom anymore. He was in a garden. The sun was warm. The air smelled like grass and flowers.
He knew this place. It was the big garden at his childhood home. And there, under the old willow tree, was his favorite spot.
Someone was sitting there, waiting.
Zhiyuan's breath caught in his chest. It was his father. Liang Wenhao. He looked just as Zhiyuan remembered him from when he was a little boy. Kind eyes. A gentle smile.
"Dad?" Zhiyuan whispered, his feet moving forward on their own.
Wenhao looked up and his smile grew wider. "Zhiyuan. My boy. Come here."
Zhiyuan ran. He ran and fell to his knees in front of his father, wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug. He buried his face in his father's shoulder. He smelled like old books and sandalwood, just like he remembered.
"Dad," Zhiyuan sobbed, all the pain of the last weeks pouring out. "I missed you so much."
"I know, son," Wenhao said softly, patting his back. "I have been watching over you. You have been through so much."
Zhiyuan pulled back, still on his knees, looking up at his father's face. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, his voice full of hurt. "Why didn't you tell me about... about us? About our bodies?"
Wenhao's smile became sad. He cupped Zhiyuan's face. "How could I, my love? You were so small. The world is not a kind place for people who are different. I wanted to protect you. I wanted you to have a normal childhood for as long as possible."
"But I wasn't normal," Zhiyuan cried. "I was being poisoned! I was in danger! If I had known—"
"If you had known, it would not have stopped the poison," Wenhao said firmly but gently. "It would only have made you afraid of yourself. I did not want you to grow up in fear. Of your own body. Of your own story."
He brushed a tear from Zhiyuan's cheek. "I am sorry the truth came to you in such a painful way. I never wanted that for you."
Zhiyuan took a shaky breath. "The baby... Dad, I lost a baby. And I didn't even know."
A look of deep understanding and sorrow filled Wenhao's eyes. "I know, my son. I am so sorry for your loss. It is a unique pain. A silent grief. But you are strong. Your body will heal. And your heart... it will learn to carry the love, even through the loss."
"Are you angry at me?" Zhiyuan asked, his voice small.
"Angry? Never," Wenhao said, pulling him into another hug. "You have done nothing wrong. You have been so brave. You survived. You are living, which is what I always wanted for you."
He held Zhiyuan for a moment before speaking again. "And what about Yichen?"
Zhiyuan stiffened. "He lied to me. They all lied."
"Did he lie about loving you?" Wenhao asked.
"...No," Zhiyuan admitted quietly. "I think that part is true."
"Then hold onto that," his father advised. "In a world full of lies, real love is the most powerful truth. He protects you with his life. That is not a small thing."
Wenhao looked over Zhiyuan's shoulder, as if seeing something far away. "My time with you is short, my son. But remember this: You are not a lie. You are my greatest truth. Your life, your body, your ability to love... these are not curses. They are part of you. They make you, you. The strong, resilient man I am so proud of."
He began to fade, his image growing softer. "Do not let the secrets of the past poison your future. Live, Zhiyuan. Live for both of us."
"Don't go!" Zhiyuan begged, trying to hold onto him, but his father was like smoke.
"I am always with you," Wenhao's voice echoed, gentle as a breeze. "Be happy, my son. That is all I ever wanted."
And then, he was gone. Zhiyuan was left alone under the willow tree, the sun still warm on his skin, his father's words wrapped around his heart like a blanket.