Savage Wolf, Lotus Heart [Never Let You Go, Again: Book 4]

48: Mint Melody in Iron Maiden

Up, down, up, down.

Back and forth, left and right.

Hither and thither with a frown so bitter.

"Jin Rulan... stop pacing."

"Auntie Qiang, what's wrong with him?"

"Give him time, Jin Rulan, he needs to heal properly."

"But..." Jin Ling bit his lips and plopped down on Lan Sizhui's bedside. "Jiujiu and Lan Shushu were up in mere hours... why's he taking so much time? It's been a day now."

"Your uncles were a different scenario, young man. Those two are core-bound, and because Huan-ge held on a long time before falling unconscious so their states were relatively stronger. Sizhui had no support-"

BANG!

"Jin Rulan!"

"S- sorry..." Jin Ling flinched and hugged his throbbing hand close to his chest. "Owowowow..."

"Rulan, don't punch random walls. There's a pillow right next to you."

"Mn," Jin Ling nodded grabbed the pillow, buried his face in the plushness and screamed into the cotton.

When he slowly placed it aside, Lan Qiang, with Jin Mingxia on her lap, smiled softly. "Well? Feel better?"

"Quite a bit."

"Now tell me what's wrong?"

"No support. He had no support. I... had no way to help him when he needed it most..."

Lan Qiang smiled bright and wide. "So you do still love him."

"I... never said I didn't..."

"Well, distancing yourself, not sharing your troubles with him... you kept doing your best to make it clear you were nothing but friends," she shrugged.

Jin Ling pursed his lips. "Must have hurt him..."

"Well you can't expect him to be happy calling you A-Ling on one day and Sect Leader Jin the next."

Jin Ling nodded. "I... shouldn't have done it... I'm so sorry..." he clasped Lan Yuan's hand in his own and sat there, shoulders shivering, frame juddering.

"Ngh ga!"

"Hush, XiaXia," Lan Qiang kept her finger on the baby's lips.

"Dada!"

"XiaXia, let Dada be for some time."

Mingxia pouted and began crying incessantly. "Dada, Dada, Dada, Dada, Dada, Dada, Dada-"

Not surprisingly, the whining woke the other sect leader up.

Fingers quivered in Jin Ling's grasp, gently squirming, twitching. A sign of life.

Jin Ling's head shot to the right. "Si- A-Yuan?"

Lan Sizhui squinted his eyes and opened them slowly to gaze up at a visage with intense worry written all over it. "Hm? A-Ling?"

"My A-Yuan!" Arms hurled themselves around Sizhui's taut back and pulled him in close, burying him in warmth. His chin forced onto a bony shoulder, Lan Sizhui gaped at the room, eyes round as saucers. The first thing he noticed was the room itself.

Healing Hall? Great. So I'm alive. Battle's over? Where's the Qiong Qi now?

Where's Jiang Shushu?

Father? Daddy?

And wait...

A-Ling... did he... did he really just say that?