Symbiosis - Chapter 5

But this was still three years ago.

It had been barely two days since I’d given Xie Zhao the poison. I shouldn’t have destroyed his health completely yet. How could he suddenly be hurting this badly?

People said the stomach was an organ of emotion.

Was seeing me making him so angry it hurt?

The thought came to me, and once again I wanted to turn and run.

Perhaps if I disappeared from his sight immediately, he would feel a little better.

But the moment I stood up, he caught the hem of my shirt.

He had almost no strength. He only held the fabric loosely in his hand.

Then he typed on his phone and turned the screen toward me:

[Where are you going?]

Before I could answer, he took it back and added:

[You’re not allowed to leave.]

His face had lost every trace of color. Those few words seemed to use up all his strength. After typing that I couldn’t leave, he put down the phone and closed his eyes again, his brow drawing tighter.

My heart twisted at the sight. I reached out to wipe his forehead again.

I couldn’t possibly abandon him like this.

Even if he was keeping me here so he could take his revenge, I would accept it.

“I’m not leaving. I’m getting you some stomach medicine. There’s some here.” I touched his fingers and spoke more gently. “Let go for a moment, all right?”

He didn’t look at me, only shook his head. He wasn’t letting go.

I had to take advantage of his weakness and peel his hand away myself.

Then, relying on hazy memories, I searched through the home I had lived in three years ago. Luckily, I soon found medicine in a drawer.

I got another glass, poured some hot water, and brought both to him.

But after a glance up at me, he immediately turned his face away, closed his eyes, and pressed his thin lips into a straight line.

He wasn’t going to take it.

“What’s wrong?” I stroked the back of his hand reassuringly, watching his face. “Is the water too hot?”

I took the glass back and tasted it. It was a little hot, so I set it on the bedside table.

“We’ll let it cool.” I touched his eyelid lightly. “Lie down for a while.”

He looked even worse than before. Perhaps the pain was too much for him to have any strength left to resist. He was almost excessively obedient.

He lay down as I asked, closed his eyes gently, and sank into the soft bedding.

I smoothed his slightly disheveled hair and tucked the covers carefully around him.

Just as I finished and started to draw my hand back, he suddenly caught my wrist.

I froze and looked down. “What is it?”

I couldn’t help a small flicker of panic, afraid that in another second he would produce a knife from somewhere and plunge it into me.

But the fear quickly faded.

He didn’t pull out a knife. He didn’t answer me either.

He simply tightened his grip in silence, turned onto his side toward me, and rested his cheek gently in my palm before closing his eyes.

He looked so sweet asleep. Warmth beneath the covers finally brought a little color to his pale cheeks. Pain creased his brow faintly, and his lashes lay soft and still.

There was nothing threatening about him.

He didn’t look frightening. He didn’t make me want to get away.

I couldn’t resist reaching out to stroke his face very, very lightly.

In the next instant, a thought rose from deep inside me, impossible to suppress.

If only he could stay beside me forever, this quiet and obedient.

Unable to walk, unable to speak, unable to leave me. An exquisite puppet, kept at my side forever.