MFW 22

Chapter 22

The next morning dawned clear and bright, the rain having passed, sunlight streaming brilliantly through the window. Fu Siting had come down with a fever. The family doctor came by and said it wasn’t serious, prescribing some fever reducers. Li Fei applied cooling patches to him and sat by the bedside until the furrowed brow of the man sleeping there gradually smoothed out.

Only then did Li Fei open his laptop and handle some work at the nearby desk. But after replying to just two emails, his fingers paused again. He sat there alone, sorting through his thoughts. Last night, Fu Siting had seemingly accepted all the “truths” Li Fei had laid out, he should have been at ease by now. Yet he still fell ill.

The doctor said it was likely caused by excessive psychological stress. Li Fei couldn’t help but sigh. It seemed, as always… no matter how logical or safe the explanation, it couldn’t withstand his lover’s talent for overthinking.

But knowing his past, who could bear to blame him? Li Fei’s gaze was hazy and tender as it rested on Fu Siting’s slightly flushed sleeping face.

Despite enduring such torment in his youth, during their three years together, this man had maintained an optimistic, mature, and steady demeanor for the most part. Only when plagued by occasional nightmares or when drunk out of his mind did he dare to occasionally reveal a hint of vulnerability.

“…”

What a stubborn fool, this idiot. Lost in thought, Li Fei suddenly froze as the figure in bed furrowed his brow. Breathing grew ragged and erratic, his chest heaving. Li Fei hurriedly took his hand to soothe him. Though not scorching hot, the hand felt unnaturally stiff, his body twitched intermittently as if battling some fierce torment within the dream.

“Fu Xiaoting, Fu Xiaoting?”

Li Fei frowned, shaking him gently. Fortunately, the person in his arms could still be roused. Fu Siting slowly opened his eyes, his cheeks flushed crimson, his gaze veiled in a haze. Li Fei replaced the sweat-soaked fever patch on his forehead, carefully wiping his brow with a towel.

“What’s wrong? Another nightmare?” Fu Siting seemed to emerge from a long daze before giving a nod, then shaking his head. He looked drained, his gaze unfocused.

“What did you dream about this time?”

Li Fei’s heart ached as he coaxed softly,

“Another parallel world?”

“…No.”

“No,” Fu Siting murmured, “I… I dreamt about what happened when I was thirteen.”

“What happened to you when you were thirteen?”

“Thirteen… in the movie theater… I saw you for the first time on the big screen.”

Li Fei: “…”

For a moment, he couldn’t understand why dreaming of him would be such a tormented nightmare for Fu Siting. Then it dawned on him, the gasping and his flushed cheeks might not necessarily signify the “painful distortion” he’d assumed. Could it actually be…

“…”

But when he looked back at Fu Siting, all he saw was the other man staring back with feverish eyes. Whatever had just happened was now impossible to verify. He wasn’t so cruel as to lift a sick man’s blanket to investigate? Yet he seemed to have heard something else just now. When Fu Siting mentioned how old he was when he first saw him… thirteen?

Huh. That didn’t quite match up with what someone had always claimed. Li Fei couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

“So Xiaoting knew about me that early? Then, could you tell me which film it was?”

“…Rebirth.”

It turned out that Fu Siting with a fever resembled Fu Siting when drunk. Honest, answering every question without hesitation.

Rebirth was a distant memory for Li Fei now. He recalled being billed as a “famous child star” in the promotional materials back then. He pressed on relentlessly: “So, do you remember what role I played in that movie?”

“Gu Xun. The young master of Shengchang Trading Company. After his parents were killed by warlords…He used a proxy to kill the warlord and avenged his family.”

He remembered it so clearly. Li Fei silently confirmed his suspicion: “Just as I thought.”

Just as he thought. He’d had his eye on him from the very beginning. He knew it. “You, really…” He was both annoyed and amused. “So how could someone like you later have the nerve to tell me you ‘never knew’ who I was, that you ‘never watch dramas or movies’?”

You know what? He was quite the actor, sticking to that lie for three whole years. Some people don’t want to be fans, they just want to be boyfriends. They’ll stop at nothing, making up any nonsense to get their way. Li Fei was speechless, yet Fu Siting fell silent. His fingers suddenly grew cold, and he nervously brushed against Li Fei’s fingertips. “What if… what if it was true?”

“What if the me you know is the one who’s never… seen you on TV?”

Li Fei: “…”

Damn it. The kid wasn’t having nightmares, but his offhand words sent him right back into one.

Li Fei was exasperated: “Fu Xiaoting, you’re still feverish, so your mind isn’t clear. We discussed this thoroughly last night, carefully untangling a long, complex chain of logic. Have you forgotten?”

“Let me refresh your memory, there are no parallel universes!”

“None. They don’t exist! You will get into college. You will succeed. Because you’re diligent, talented, and gifted. Don’t underestimate yourself!”

“As for the so-called ‘discrepancies,’ the cancer timeline doesn’t match because you deliberately kept it hidden. Saying you never watched my movies or dramas is just you being stubborn as an adult. And regarding your ‘non-existent high school classmate’ Qu Zhifan? I specifically called her last night.”

Qu Zhifan was currently in France, swamped with work, and six hours ahead of the US. When he called at dawn, it was early morning there, luckily she’s an early riser.

“She explained over the phone: you met when you were sixteen and she was nineteen, sharing a hospital room with her mother during your treatment. She was already in college then, so strictly speaking she was just your senior, not a classmate. She graduated the year you entered high school, so you wouldn’t have known each other at that stage.”

“But you will encounter her in the future.”

“…”

“Even setting aside all that for a moment—”

“There’s one more direct piece of evidence.”

Li Fei’s gaze darkened slightly. His fingers suddenly pulled back the thin blanket covering Fu Siting, slipping beneath his pajamas. His fingertips traced the warm skin, finding an old scar on Fu Siting’s upper abdomen.

“The scar from your first surgery when you were ill, it’s still here.”

Li Fei’s touch found a slightly firm, raised scar.The scar from over a decade ago had long lost its gruesome appearance. The once-rough, hardened knot had vanished without a trace, leaving only skin slightly firmer than the surrounding flesh, like a thin, resilient membrane offering a small, rough resistance. Startled by the sudden touch, Fu Siting flinched, his breathing quickening slightly.

He had seen his reflection in the mirror while showering before, but he’d been too busy admiring his abs to notice when this faint scar had appeared on his body.

Now, as it was touched, the skin there was clearly far more sensitive than elsewhere. The fingertip’s contact sent a wave of indescribable itchiness through him, like tiny insects gently nibbling at the skin, a very strange sensation…

“So where doesn’t it match?” Li Fei said. “Everything else fits perfectly.”

“You did have surgery, and you survived it. When you were just sixteen, still so young, before we met, before I could be there for you. But my Xiaoting was so strong. In a world that still treated you unfairly, you persevered, gritting your teeth, alone, and you made it through.”

“That’s remarkable.”

“It’s incredibly remarkable.”

“…”

Fu Siting’s body jerked. Li Fei simply wrapped his arms around his waist. The sensation of hair brushing against the scar sent tingling waves of itchiness through him, making Fu Siting tremble even harder. Li Fei didn’t just brush against the scar, he gently kissed it.

The soft touch sent electric currents radiating through his body along the scar’s path, causing Fu Siting’s muscles to tense. Just as his gaze darkened and his throat grew parched with desire, his waist was suddenly twisted, jolting him back to alertness. He let out a muffled groan of protest, only to hear Li Fei’s low, cold chuckle.

“Speaking of which, some people really don’t grow up properly, do you remember what you told me when I asked about this scar?”

“You said it was from an appendectomy.”

“I wanted to roll my eyes then. Whose appendix is in that position?”

“…”

***

Author’s Note: His appendix is above his stomach. It’s genuinely hilarious.