EOD Chapter43

After Lu Zhao replied, Zhou Zefeng stopped messaging. A sudden, unprompted wave of panic washed over Lu Zhao.

A patient happened to come in for a consultation. After finishing up with them, Lu Zhao unlocked his phone, but there was still no reply from Zhou Zefeng.

What’s wrong? Is he still looking at other things? But there shouldn’t be anything else worth seeing in there. Could he have been frightened? Did he think the hand injury was too horrific?

Before he knew it, Lu Zhao was biting his fingernails again while trying to steady his nerves, yet unable to suppress his mounting anxiety.

He checked his phone repeatedly, but aside from messages in the doctors’ group chat, Zhou Zefeng hadn’t replied to him at all.

Giving the key to Zhou Zefeng had already been a massive step forward for Lu Zhao. His pride kept him from reaching out to ask any more questions, and he finally managed to endure until clock-out time. Stepping out of the hospital entrance, he looked up and spotted Zhou Zefeng standing by the door.

Zhou Zefeng was cradling a basketball in the crook of his arm, his hair still damp, looking as though he had just finished working out.

Zhou Zefeng approached him naturally just like that rainy day when he had come to borrow an umbrella and hitch a ride. Taking Lu Zhao’s suit jacket, he said, “I’m taking you somewhere.”

Baffled, Lu Zhao let himself be dragged to his own car, though Zhou Zefeng was the one who took the driver’s seat.

Zhou Zefeng’s state of mind was deeply bizarre. He didn’t initiate a single word the entire way, driving with an overabundance of seriousness, utterly locked onto the road conditions ahead. Yet, judging by his smooth driving style, this wasn’t the nervousness of a rookie driver.

Lu Zhao was a man of few words by nature; usually, it was Zhou Zefeng who got the conversation flowing. Right now, if they didn’t say something, the atmosphere felt entirely too oppressive; and while Lu Zhao knew exactly where that oppression was coming from, he didn’t know why it had started.

“Did you just finish class?” Lu Zhao broke the awkward silence.

As if suddenly snapping out of a trance, Zhou Zefeng paused for a beat before replying, “En.”

The silence then returned. Lu Zhao tried a few more remarks, but Zhou Zefeng seemed completely out of it, clearly preoccupied with something on his mind. Seeing him like this, Lu Zhao asked directly, “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.” Zhou Zefeng answered rapidly, it was an eager denial. As if worried it wasn’t convincing enough, his lips pulled back into a stiff smile. “I’m actually pretty happy.”

Lu Zhao glared at him. “Nothing? Were you frightened by the things you saw this afternoon?”

Zhou Zefeng shook his head and said nothing more.

Feeling like his punch had landed on cotton, frustration flared up inside Lu Zhao. He simply turned his head to look out the window, refusing to look at Zhou Zefeng anymore.

After a while, Zhou Zefeng suddenly asked, “Lu Zhao, why do you like me?”

Lu Zhao found the question entirely baffling. “Why do I like you? Because you’re big and good in bed.”

“Can you give me a serious answer?”

“Alright. At first, I liked your body and your face, but since you said you were straight, I didn’t intend to lay a finger on you. Still, you were special to me,” Lu Zhao recalled, tracing back through the bits and pieces of their time together since they met. “Then, as we spent more time together, I liked you more and more. I felt like you were a bit like a younger brother…” Lu Zhao wanted to say more, but Zhou Zefeng suddenly cut him off.

“Then do you like it when I call you Gege?”

“Why are you asking this all of a sudden?” Lu Zhao thought to himself that Zhou Zefeng was finally back to normal. “I definitely like it better than wifey.”

“Gege,” Zhou Zefeng called out softly as they reached their destination and parked the car.

Lu Zhao smacked his hand away helplessly. “Are you ever going to cut it out? Where are we?”

With a complex look in his eyes, Zhou Zefeng got out of the car and pulled Lu Zhao along with him. Lu Zhao looked around and realized they were in a public cemetery.

Zhou Zefeng’s grip on Lu Zhao’s hand was incredibly tight, leaving a ring of red marks around Lu Zhao’s wrist. Just as Lu Zhao was about to cry out from the pain, Zhou Zefeng finally stopped walking. They came to a halt in front of a clean, simple tombstone. Lu Zhao studied the photograph on the monument for a moment and then realized that the woman with the gentle eyes bore a striking resemblance to Zhou Zefeng around the eyes.

A vague guess formed in Lu Zhao’s mind, which was confirmed a second later when Zhou Zefeng called out, “Mom.”

“Mom, this is Lu Zhao. My… boyfriend,” Zhou Zefeng said, looking at Lu Zhao as he spoke, as if asking for his permission. Seeing that Lu Zhao didn’t object, he continued, “The one I told you about before.”

Lu Zhao bowed respectfully. “Hello, Auntie. I’m Lu Zhao.”

The two of them stood for a while in the howling, cold early-winter wind. Zhou Zefeng remained silent for a long time. Sensing that his emotional state was off, Lu Zhao didn’t say anything either.

Suddenly, Zhou Zefeng caught Lu Zhao’s hand, holding it firmly on his own as he asked, “Are you cold?”

Lu Zhao said he was fine, but Zhou Zefeng unfailingly tucked Lu Zhao’s hand into his own jacket pocket, holding it there. A pair of warm, calloused large hands gently kneaded Lu Zhao’s hand as if performing some kind of magic trick.

Only then did Lu Zhao thoroughly set his mind at ease. Zhou Zefeng knew. And yet, he had never once looked at Lu Zhao with that pitying gaze; the very last thing Lu Zhao ever wanted to see. Even if the way he went about it was somewhat baffling—

“Lu Zhao, didn’t I tell you before that I was homophobic? It was actually because my dad entered a sham marriage. He’s gay, and he cheated during the marriage. My mom most likely fell ill and passed away from the sheer anger of it,” Zhou Zefeng spoke up without warning, looking as though he had gathered every ounce of his courage to utter these words. “In truth, I wanted to bring you to see my mom a long time ago, even though I didn’t know if she would be angry.”

Lu Zhao fell silent for a brief moment. Just as he was about to say something, Zhou Zefeng continued, “You are the very first person I have truly loved. I am serious about you. And I can swear here in front of my mom that I will protect myself well for your sake; whether I’m swimming or playing ball, I won’t put my life on the line.” Zhou Zefeng said all of this in a single breath, leaving Lu Zhao listening in a bit of a daze. Immediately after, Zhou Zefeng turned around to lock his eyes onto Lu Zhao, his gaze so intense it looked as if he wanted to devour him whole. “So, can you swear right now in front of my mom that you will never hurt yourself for anyone ever again?”

Lu Zhao’s heart trembled violently as he keenly sensed something was off. “Do you know something?”

Zhou Zefeng snapped his head away fiercely. “I don’t know anything. Make the vow right now, or I won’t go easy on you.”

“Fine. I promise I will never hurt myself for anyone ever again.” After uttering these words with a guilty conscience, Lu Zhao asked, “What else did you see at my place?”

Zhou Zefeng didn’t answer his question. Whipped by the cold wind, his eyes were bright red and aching terribly. “I didn’t bring all this up today for any other reason than to tell you this: no matter what brought us together, I will absolutely never let you go.”

Lu Zhao’s mind was full of question marks, feeling as though Zhou Zefeng was talking in riddles. But before he could press further, Zhou Zefeng pulled him along to head back.

The evening steps were drenched in the golden hue of a sunset splattering over the mountain peaks. Lu Zhao asked impatiently, “What on earth is wrong with you? Make it clear to me.”

Yet, throughout the entire ride back, Zhou Zefeng didn’t utter another syllable, transforming into an utterly stubborn, impenetrable wall. He drove the car onto a different elevated highway. Realizing this wasn’t the way to his own place, Lu Zhao said crossly, “Where are we going?”

Zhou Zefeng still remained silent, only answering once he parked the car in a parking lot, “My place.”

Furious, Lu Zhao commanded, “Drive back to my place this instant.”

He had no idea what wire had crossed in Zhou Zefeng’s brain. It was bad enough that his attitude was so cold and forceful, but now he was even taking the car to his own apartment without permission. Looking at Zhou Zefeng, who had opened the car door and was waiting for him to get out, Lu Zhao angrily stormed out, intending to bypass the front of the car to get into the driver’s seat. To his surprise, Zhou Zefeng audaciously scooped him up entirely, ignored his struggles, and took the elevator up to his apartment.

The moment he stepped into Zhou Zefeng’s apartment, Lu Zhao realized he had been thoroughly deceived. In his imagination, the place Zhou Zefeng had described was supposed to be a small, dilapidated, bare-concrete unit. Instead, it was a fully renovated, spacious, bright, and spotlessly clean apartment.

“Have you gone stark raving mad, Zhou Zefeng? Are you sick in your head?” Tossed onto the bed by Zhou Zefeng, Lu Zhao leaped up in a flash and grabbed Zhou Zefeng by the throat.

“I really am losing my mind.” Zhou Zefeng pressed close to Lu Zhao with his hands slipping under his shirt to grope him wildly. He kissed him frantically while muttering disjointed words, none of which Lu Zhao could hear clearly.

This was the most oppressive encounter they had shared since they met. Lu Zhao was practically forced into it, enduring the entire ordeal without uttering a single sound, while Zhou Zefeng seemed to be holding in a breath of pent-up rage, trying every position and trick to toy with Lu Zhao just to get a reaction out of him.

Zhou Zefeng remained pinned on top of Lu Zhao, who was gasping for breath. Just as Lu Zhao was about to say something sharp to needle this man who had gone inexplicably crazy, he felt a warm, wet sensation against his neck. Looking down in surprise, he saw Zhou Zefeng downcast, tears streaming down his face.

Lu Zhao was just about to snap, I haven’t even cried yet, what the hell are you crying for? He had been filled with anxious unease when exposing his scars to Zhou Zefeng, and this was the freaking reaction he got?

Zhou Zefeng’s tears fell like pearls, pattering continuously. He found Lu Zhao’s hand, held it tightly, and brought it to his lips, pressing heavy, repeated kisses against it. “It’s okay,” he mumbled, his voice thick with a crying tremor.

“What on earth is wrong with you?” Lu Zhao summoned nearly every ounce of patience he possessed in this lifetime.

With his face buried in Lu Zhao’s shoulder, Zhou Zefeng just shook his head, smearing tears across Lu Zhao’s neck as he rubbed against him.

“Are you going to freaking tell me or not? Have you been cursed? Or are you possessed by a ghost?” Lu Zhao grabbed Zhou Zefeng by the hair at the back of his head, interrogating him fiercely.

In the end, Zhou Zefeng still wouldn’t say a word, seemingly dead set on being stubborn with Lu Zhao. The next day, he even locked Lu Zhao inside the apartment, refusing to let him out while he went to class. Before leaving, he told Lu Zhao to stay put and not go anywhere; luckily, Lu Zhao didn’t have to be at the clinic that day.

Lu Zhao mulled it over back and forth. Finally, he opened the home security camera feed on his phone, initially intending to check on Xuebing’s situation at home. But as he watched, a sudden flash of insight hit him, and he rolled the footage back to yesterday.

Everything had been completely normal after he left. Zhou Zefeng had wandered aimlessly around the apartment before eventually disappearing into the study, out of the camera’s line of sight.

Lu Zhao sped up the playback to eight times speed. About half an hour later, the digital lock on the front door chimed its fingerprint-unlock melody.

Zhou Zefeng must have thought Lu Zhao had returned, because he came rushing out of the study, only to freeze in his tracks when he saw who had actually walked in.

A wave of foreboding washed over Lu Zhao. He suddenly remembered that his home’s lock system didn’t just have his own fingerprints registered.

Sure enough, a second later, Yi Yang’s figure stepped into the camera’s view, carrying a bag of oranges in his hand.

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