Chapter 58 Silent Guardian
Su Yan almost fled from the living room and returned to his room. He locked the door, slid down to the ground with his back against the door, his heart still beating wildly.
Huo Shen's final pale, exhausted appearance, as if drained of all his strength, and the bottomless pain and self-loathing in his eyes, were deeply imprinted in Su Yan's mind and could not be erased. This shocked Su Yan more than any of his previous outbursts or threats, and made him feel... uneasy.
He had witnessed Huo Shen's coldness, paranoia, and desire for control, but he had never imagined that beneath that iron-hard shell lay a tormented, wounded heart. Were those drugs meant to suppress this pain?
The fear remains, but a more complex emotion is quietly growing - an urge to understand the other person, mixed with pity, curiosity, and even a hint of absurdity.
He stayed in the room for a long time, until the night fell, and there was still no movement outside. Huo Shen did not call him, nor did he make any noise as usual. An ominous premonition spread in Su Yan's heart.
He hesitated for a long time before finally gently opening the door. The living room was dark, lit only by the moonlight streaming through the French windows. Huo Shen remained in his previous position, leaning against the armrest of the sofa, motionless, as if asleep. However, his posture looked extremely uncomfortable, even a little... fragile.
Su Yan walked lightly and approached cautiously.
In the dim moonlight, he could see Huo Shen's furrowed brow, his pale face, and the cold sweat still lingering on his forehead. His breathing seemed heavier than usual. Was it a side effect of the medication? Or was it exhaustion from the intense emotional fluctuations?
Su Yan stood there, his mind torn between his own conscience and his own desires. He should have retreated back to his room and pretended he hadn't seen anything. This was a dangerous vortex; he should have stayed away.
But... seeing Huo Shen's defenseless and even helpless appearance at the moment, his feet seemed to be nailed down and he couldn't move.
For some unknown reason, he turned and went to the bathroom and wrung out a warm towel.
He walked back to the sofa and very gently wiped the cold sweat from Huo Shen's forehead with a towel. His fingers trembled slightly with nervousness, afraid of waking him up.
Huo Shen seemed to feel this subtle touch in his sleep, and his brows moved almost imperceptibly, but he did not wake up. Instead, he seemed to have found a trace of comfort, and his tightly furrowed brows relaxed a little.
Su Yan's heart skipped a beat. He squatted down, watching Huo Shen quietly in the moonlight for a moment. Huo Shen, stripped of all his defenses and disguises, still had handsome, aggressive features, but the sharpness had been softened, revealing a strange tranquility.
At this moment, he is no longer the business emperor who controls life and death, nor is he the paranoid who is imprisoned by his obsession. He is just a lonely man tortured by the past and illness.
Su Yan stretched out his hand, and just before his fingertips touched Huo Shen's cheek, he suddenly stopped. What was he doing? He was actually... pitying Huo Shen?
This realization made him feel panic and absurd. He quickly withdrew his hand as if he had been burned.
He gently placed the towel on the coffee table, poured a cup of warm water, and placed it within Huo Shen's reach. After doing all this, he did not leave immediately.
He retreated to a single sofa not far away and sat down, curled up, like a silent guardian beast, quietly accompanying her in the darkness.
He didn't know what he was doing, or why he was doing it. Perhaps it was simply because they were the only two living creatures in this huge, cold cage. Perhaps it was simply because the genuine pain Huo Shen had just revealed had touched a similarly lonely and uneasy corner of his heart.
As the night deepened, the moonlight moved slowly. Su Yan couldn't resist the sleepiness that came over him, so he leaned on the sofa and fell asleep in a daze.
He was awakened by the dim light of the early morning and a slight touch on his body.
He opened his eyes abruptly, realizing that a soft, thin blanket had been draped over him. Huo Shen was nowhere to be seen. The living room was empty, as if everything that had happened last night had been a bizarre dream. Only the still-warm blanket offered evidence of a silent transformation.
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