Chapter 51 - A Fragile Heart Reclaimed
Although Li Zhenting had not shown any outward signs of depression recently, and Liu Yan had reported no unusual disturbances at night, Li Zi remained unsettled. There was a nagging intuition in her gut that refused to be silenced. In her experience, when someone like Li Zhenting acted perfectly normal under such crushing circumstances, it was often a sign that the "normalcy" was merely a brittle mask held together by sheer force of will.
She had originally planned to return home over the weekend to check on him, but fate—and Li Zhenting’s deteriorating mental state—intervened early. Before her scheduled departure, a frantic message from Liu Yan popped up on her WeChat.
"What do I do, Sister Li Zi? Brother Li locked himself in his room yesterday after coming back from outside and hasn't come out since!!"
"The food I left at the door hasn't been touched. He won't answer when I talk to him."
"What should I do, Sister Li Zi?!"
Li Zi was sitting in an evening lecture, but the professor’s voice instantly became a distant drone. Her heart hammered against her ribs as she typed a rapid response: "What happened? Did something trigger this?"
"I don't know! We went to the shop together yesterday, but he slipped away at some point. When he got home last night, he was like this. At first, I thought he was just tired and sleeping, but it’s been a whole day now."
"Wait for me," Li Zi replied, her fingers trembling slightly. "I’m calling him now."
She slipped out the back door of the lecture hall, the cool air of the stairwell doing little to calm her nerves. She dialed his number.
*Ring... ring... ring...*
No answer. The silence on the other end felt heavy, ominous.
She immediately switched to a voice call with Liu Yan. "Xiao Liu, go to his door and put me on speakerphone."
"Ting-ge, it’s Li Zi," she said, her voice steady despite her internal panic. "Why aren't you answering? Can you open the door for me?"
On the other end, she heard the muffled sound of Liu Yan knocking. "Brother Li, Sister Li Zi wants to talk to you. Please, just open the door!"
There was no response. Only the hollow sound of the hallway.
Li Zi took a deep breath, softening her tone. "Are you listening? Just give us one word. Let us know you’re okay. Otherwise... I’m going to have Liu Yan break the door down."
A long silence followed, thick with tension. Finally, a faint, rustling sound drifted through the phone, followed by a voice so hoarse it was barely recognizable. "Don't... don't come in."
Liu Yan let out a visible sigh of relief that Li Zi could hear through the line. At least he was alive. At least he was conscious.
But Li Zi knew this wasn't enough. She couldn't let him wither away in the dark. "Xiao Liu, I’m leaving now. I’ll be back as fast as the train can carry me. Keep trying to talk to him. Call me if anything changes."
"Got it, Sister Li Zi. Please hurry. He only listens to you."
Li Zi hurried back into the classroom, grabbed her books, and offered a silent, apologetic glance at the professor’s back before bolting. If there were academic consequences, she would face them later. Right now, nothing in the world mattered more than the man currently drowning in his own silence.
The high-speed rail journey took just over an hour, but to Li Zi, every minute felt like an eternity. When she finally reached Xi'an Street, she didn't even stop at her own home. She ran straight upstairs and burst into Li Zhenting’s apartment.
Liu Yan was slumped against the bedroom door, looking haggard and guilt-ridden. "Sister Li Zi, you're here!" he exclaimed, scrambling to his feet like a man seeing a savior.
"Has he said anything else?" Li Zi asked, dropping her books on the sofa.
"Nothing... he’s ignoring me again." Liu Yan hung his head, his voice thick with frustration. "It's my fault. I should have watched him more closely at the shop."
"You did your best, Xiao Liu. Leave the rest to me," Li Zi comforted him. Then, a thought struck her. "Did you try the spare keys?"
"Keys? I didn't know there were any."
Li Zi didn't hesitate. She walked to the television cabinet, pulled open the top drawer, and retrieved a jangling ring of keys. "These are the spares for the whole house."
She selected the one for the bedroom and slid it into the lock. With a soft *click*, the bolt retracted. It wasn't even double-locked.
Liu Yan’s eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to cheer, but Li Zi quickly pressed a finger to her lips. She stepped into the room, the air inside stagnant and heavy with the faint, bitter scent of distressed pheromones. It was pitch black.
She closed the door behind her, shutting Liu Yan out.
"Ting-ge?" she whispered.
A shadow near the bed shifted almost imperceptibly. Her eyes began to adjust to the gloom. He was sitting on the floor in the corner, a silhouette of profound loneliness.
"Ting-ge, where are you? It’s too dark, I can’t find you." She took a few tentative steps, intentionally stumbling over a stray rug. "Ah—!"
"Careful!" The voice from the corner was sharp with instinctive concern.
Li Zi felt a flicker of success. She leaned into her feigned vulnerability. "Ting-ge, I can't see anything. Can you come help me? I don't want to fall."
She knew his protective instincts were his greatest weakness—or perhaps his greatest strength. Even in the depths of his own despair, he couldn't bear to see her hurt.
Slowly, painfully, the shadow rose. He moved stiffly, his joints likely locked from hours of sitting motionless. He stumbled, nearly falling back, but managed to steady himself against the wardrobe. As he reached out to find her hand in the dark, Li Zi lunged forward, wrapping her arms around him in a fierce, crushing embrace.
"Li Zi?" he breathed, his voice trembling.
He felt fragile in her arms. His spirit seemed frayed, as if he were hovering between reality and a waking nightmare. He hadn't slept, hadn't eaten, and hadn't drank a drop of water in over twenty-four hours. His mind was a chaotic void, a place where he had hoped to become a hollow shell, impervious to the pain of the world.
But her touch was a tether, pulling his soul back from the abyss.
"Is it really you?" he whispered. "Or am I hallucinating?" After all, why would someone like her want a man whose own parents saw him as a mistake?
Li Zi tightened her grip, her brow furrowing as she felt how much weight he had lost in such a short time. "Ting-ge, do you have any idea how worried we were? I told you to call me, no matter what. Why did you shut yourself away like this?"
"I... I didn't mean to," he stammered, his voice breaking. "I just... I needed it to be quiet."
Li Zi reached for the light switch, but he caught her hand, his grip desperate. "Don't. Don't turn it on. Don't leave."
"I'm not leaving, Ting-ge. I just wanted to see you," she said softly, letting him hold her arm.
"Promise? You won't leave again?"
The word *again* pierced Li Zi’s heart. She realized then the unintended cruelty of her departure. She had left him after only three days of mourning, choosing her studies over his grief. To her, it was a necessary responsibility; to him, it was another abandonment in a life defined by them.
"I'm here," she promised, her voice thick with emotion. She guided him toward the bed, and he followed her like a lost child. "Lie down."
She tucked him in, and before he could reach out for her again, she climbed in beside him. He immediately pressed himself against her, burying his face in the crook of her neck, seeking the comfort of her scent.
"Now," she whispered, stroking his hair. "Tell me what happened yesterday."
A long silence stretched between them. Then, finally: "My parents... they aren't dead."
Li Zi gasped. "What?"
"I found a letter my grandmother left behind. She kept the truth from me to protect me, but... they're alive. Both of them."
"How? Why didn't they—"
"They were both Omegas," he interrupted, his voice hollow. "They fell in love, had me, and then... they regretted it. I was the 'mistake' that proved their unconventional union was a failure. I was a burden, so they tossed me to my grandmother like unwanted trash."
His breath hitched against her collarbone. "They both have new families now. New children. I’m just a ghost from a past they want to forget. A hurdle in the way of their 'perfect' lives."
The sheer bitterness in his voice was devastating. He was baring his deepest scars, convinced that once she saw how "worthless" his origin was, she would eventually leave too.
"Stop it," Li Zi commanded, her voice firm. "What 'burden'? You were the light of your grandmother’s life. You are the brother Liu Yan and the others would die for. And you are..." She paused, tilting his chin up. "You are the partner I chose with everything I am."
"That was their failure, Ting-ge. Not yours. Don't you dare take their sins upon yourself."
At her words, the dam finally broke. Li Zhenting’s body began to shake with violent, racking sobs. The sound was visceral—a raw, keening cry of a boy who had waited twenty years to mourn the parents who didn't want him.
Li Zi held him through the storm, wiping his tears with her thumb. "Our Ting-ge is so good. They were the ones who were blind. We don't need them, okay?"
"Baby, breathe. You're going to hyperventilate. Shhh..."
"Where did my strong, reliable Li-ge go? If anyone dares to bully you, we'll pay them back tenfold tomorrow. Just cry it out, slowly. It hurts my heart to see you like this."
"Wifey... please, let's not cry anymore, okay?" she teased gently, using the affectionate term to pull him back to the present.
Slowly, the tremors subsided. He remained curled against her chest, occasionally letting out a small, lingering hiccup. Seeing him calm, Li Zi whispered, "Are you finished? Then let's get some food and water in you. For me?"
He nodded against her shoulder.
Li Zi finally turned on the light. The sudden brightness revealed the toll the last few days had taken. His cheeks were sunken, and the muscles he worked so hard to maintain seemed to have withered, leaving his frame bony and sharp. She felt a wave of self-reproach.
She took the warm food Liu Yan had prepared from the door and brought it to the bedside. Li Zhenting’s eyes never left her, tracking her every move as if she might vanish if he blinked.
She sat beside him, watching him take slow sips of water, her mind made up.
"Baby," she said, her voice resolute. "Come back to Zhennan City with me."
***
