Heaven's Sea 天涯海国 (BxB)

Episode 44

"Ah Xu, you're so good to me..." Wen Ke Xing said as he planted tender kisses all over ZiShu's face, shoulder, chest...

"Stop playing. We have to get medical assistance for you." ZiShu pushed him off and got dressed.

"I'm fine now. See, the alcohol and candies worked great. Whenever I feel tired, I can just consume those." Lao Wen said mischievously knowing very well the consequences of such diet.

"Don't you dare do that again! From now on, I'm guarding these!" ZiShu grabbed the bag of candies and the flask of wine from Lao Wen.

"Ah Xu, you should at least taste them, they're really yummy... and very addictive. I didn't know my Ah Xu is so good at making this kind of ... drug... " Wen KeXing said in a seductive tone.

"Childish. Make yourself decent now." ZiShu commanded as he collected Wen KeXing's clothes and handed them to him.

"Ah Xu, we should do it again... Don't you want to be on the receiving end? I promise to make you feel really good, Ah Xu..." Lao Wen tempted ZiShu, who shrugged him off and pinched him on the cheek like he's a little kid. "Get dressed now! And walk on your own, my back is killing me. I'm an old man." He ordered.

Wen KeXing pouted.

"Where are we anyway?" Wen KeXing asked.

"On top of the mountain of course."

"No, I mean this place. I don't recognize it. Why do the trees look so strange?"

"I told you already, we're in 天崖海国, don't you remember?"

"..." Lao Wen hesitated for a moment but dismissed the thought. He could swear ZiShu never mentioned 天崖海国 existed. Maybe he just had a brain fart.

"So where are we going now?"

"Let's go that way, let's see if we can find people over there." ZiShu pointed South, and Lao Wen followed his lead. They kept walking but did not find anybody. Since it was dark, Lao Wen tripped over a log, and fell. So they decided to sit down and rest for a while.

"Ah Xu, can you pass the wine flask?" Lao Wen asked.

"No wine for you." ZiShu snapped.

"Why? You always let me drink your wine!"

"I told you! This is not regular wine. You cannot drink it without my permission."

Lao Wen vaguely recalls ZiShu taking the wine flask from him but he couldn't remember the exact reason why. Another brain fart.

"Let's go." ZiShu got up and waited for Lao Wen, who seemed to struggle to get up. So he gave him a hand, and pulled Lao Wen up. As he was being pulled up, Lao Wen let out a shrieking gasp of pain.

"What is it?" ZiShu asked.

"I think I twisted my left ankle when I fell, it hurts a lot."

ZiShu shifted his robe, carefully took off his left boot, to look at the ankle and feel it. He expected it to be a little swollen, but he was shocked to discover that the ankle bone was broken. "Why didn't you say that your ankle is broken? And how the hell do you break an ankle just tripping over a tree log?" ZiShu asked with a concerned look.

"Maybe it was a bad fall. I don't know." Lao Wen was puzzled himself.

ZiShu tended to the injury, trying to be as gentle as possible, yet Lao Wen was crying in pain the whole time. Such a baby. A cute baby, but nevertheless a baby. He used to be able to withstand pain a lot better in the past, perhaps he was just trying to get attention from his Ah Xu. So after patching up the broken ankle, ZiShu went to kiss Lao Wen on the forehead, to make his crying baby feel better. But when his lips touch the forehead, he realized it was very warm. So Wen Kexing had a fever. So strange, broken bone and flu both at the same time. As though ZiShu didn't have enough to worry about already. If they were in a normal country, he would go hunt for medical herbs to help reduce his fever, but they were in Heaven's Sea, a place that they were both unfamiliar with. Not sure what he could do at this moment, he just held Lao Wen dearly in his arms, and they both fell asleep in the embrace.

Lao Wen had a dream. In it, he saw himself and ZiShu practicing martial arts together. Then he saw himself gradually vanishing like smoke, leaving nothing behind but his white fan. He woke up agitated, only to find himself in the arms of his zezi. Looking at his face, tender and peaceful, beautiful and caring, a face he fell in love with the very first time he set eyes on it, even though at the time, the face was covered up under an ugly disguise. He loved him even when he was ugly. He couldn't remember when and how he finally convinced Ah Xu to show his true face. But when he finally saw it, he fell in love all over again... as though it was possible to fall in love twice with the same person.

Now contemplating this handsome face, it looks a little unfamiliar. He thought Ah Xu's eye brows looked different, he couldn't pin point how different, but just different. Perhaps they look thicker, or thinner, or something, not sure what though.

He didn't want to face the harsh truth, but he knew it was becoming inevitable. Ever since he awoke from the coma, he felt weak, cold, sleepy, tired. But now, he was starting to forget things, and his bones were becoming weaker and more fragile. His body was getting ill more easily. He was not afraid of dying, but he was afraid of losing Ah Xu if he died. He was afraid of the pain he would bring to his Ah Xu if he died. Most of all, he was terrified of forgetting his Ah Xu before dying. He would rather die a man suffering the pain of love, then die a man who forgot his one and only zezi.

"Ah Xu, Ah Xu, Ah Xu." He said in his heart, reminding himself to never erase this name from his heart, his mind, his soul.

Ah Xu was sleeping so soundly, it was safe, so Lao Wen let a tear run down each eye.

They touched his lips, and he licked them off.

They were bitter.

Too bitter.

多情自古空余恨