A Round Trip to Love 2: Separate Routes

Chapter Nineteen

I woke up alone in bed, the pillow damp with a visible dark patch.

The wind blows in through the window of the higher floor, it is not that cold, but it chills ones body to the core.

I nestled myself up a little, the slight movement amplified the burning sensation as it spread from my bottom up over my entire body, the searing pain rendered me motionless and shivering for a while before it slowly eased up.

I doubt there are any parts of my body that had gone unscathed, even lying against such a soft mattress, I was consumed by a pain that knew no end or limit, pulsating from every ounce of my body.

I recalled last night, how even when blood was oozing down unstoppably, it did nothing to deter him, nor did he let up one bit.

That thoughtfulness that came with him putting on the brakes for me fearing that I might catch a cold is really just a memory from twenty years ago. The pain I suffered last night was like an icy wind choking the breath from my lungs, halting any sound from escaping my open mouth, and as I grimaced and shook from it, he never took any pity on me, and he never once felt sorry for me.

It is really quite funny if you think about it, I am already so old, so much more the worse for wear, is he not the least bit worried that a life might be taken?

I suppose, however, that even if I had died last night, he would not even raise an eyebrow.

Why would he care. The man I am now means nothing to him, nothing at all.

"Are you awake?" Lu Feng stood in the doorway, his gaze cold, "Then go down, you have a visitor today."

I coughed and sat up, clumsily getting dressed.

"Can you move faster, your guest is impatient."

I did not say a word. Not only because I don't know what to say, but also there are nothing left between us worth saying.

I did not expect the guest to be Zhuo Lan.

I stood in front of her, at a loss for words. The only emotion going through me is an intense relief from knowing that the clothes I am wearing could sufficiently hide all the evidences of the degradation I have been through, and she could only see a face that is slightly on the paler side. I drifted over to a random place to sit myself down, disguising my shaking legs.

"Yi Chen, are you feeling unwell?" She looked at me all worried, "Your lips are so green ......"

"No ..... Why are you here to look for me? ..... Is anything wrong?"

"I am here to bring you back with me."

Her decisive and uncompromising tone caused Lu Feng, who was sitting far off at the side, to laugh in a mocking manner: "Take him away? That's funny. Who is he to you?"

"He's my husband." Zhuo Lan is displaying a rare surge of bravery.

"Oh?" Lu Feng raised an eyebrow, the smile affixed on his face betrayed a gloom as darkness itself, "Husband? He is no longer your husband for a long time now, is he? Even ..... if there were no divorce, can he really be called a husband?" His gaze swept over my miserable face: "I'm afraid ..... when it comes to the basic duty of a real husband, he is not even good at it."

Zhuo Lan's gentle face turned a rosy red, always one to avoid confrontations, much less altercations, she could only spit out a word, "Despicable."

Lu Feng laughed: "Also, I invited him to be an honored guest here, and what are you here for? Could it be that you heard something from someone so you are here to get him?"