withered lover

Du Zhinian sat in the driver's seat and started the engine, but did not drive out of the parking lot immediately.

He turned off the music, turned his head and asked Shen Guiwan who was sitting in the co-pilot: "Why do you suddenly want to come to the beach?"

Shen Guiwan didn't look at Du Zhinian, but turned to look at the completely gloomy sky outside the car window.

"I want to watch the sunset." With his back facing Du Zhinian, his voice was somewhat desolate.

Du Zhinian stared at Shen Guiwan, looked at his slightly trembling eyelashes, and sighed: "The weather is not very good today, I will take you to see it when the weather clears."

Shen Guiwan's hand resting on the armrest moved, and his fingertips stroked the raised part of the leather stitching.

He didn't answer, but maintained his original posture and looked out the window at the sky where there was no light.

Du Zhinian pursed his lips helplessly, lightly stepped on the accelerator, and slowly drove the car out of the empty parking lot.

The car drove back along the way it came, and the dark clouds followed all the way, spreading from the seaside to the urban area.

The dark clouds gathered moisture, and it looked like it was going to rain heavily at any moment.

Du Zhinian glanced at the weather outside the window, and said casually, "It might be raining, and the temperature will drop again tomorrow."

Shen Guiwan listened, blinking his empty eyes slowly, "Well, it's a bit cold."

The heater was turned on in the car, and Shen Guiwan's ears and nose that had been blown red had returned to their original color, but his hands were still hidden in his sleeves, so Du Zhinian couldn't see clearly.

While waiting for the red light, Du Zhinian shook Shen Guiwan's hand. His palm was very hot, but his fingers were still cold.

"Go back and take a shower first, don't catch a cold." Du Zhinian let go of his hand, and raised the temperature of the air conditioner by one degree.

Shen Guiwan lowered his head, rubbed the fingers touched by Du Zhinian, and pulled his sleeves slightly.

He completely hid his hands in his sleeves and said in a low voice: "Got it."

The raindrops fell after the two returned to the apartment. A fine rain curtain enveloped the city, and the neon lights turned into hazy circles of light.

The cold rain hit the glass window, forming a thin layer of water mist on the glass, and the slightest chill penetrated from the glass surface.

Shen Guiwan obediently went to the bathroom to take a shower, Du Zhinian ordered takeaway, and threw the trousers wet by seawater into the washing machine.

He shook off Shen Guiwan's coat, and a very aggressive sea breath rushed towards his face.

That salty smell covered the scent of shea butter and orange, completely obliterating the smell that Du Zhinian left on Shen Guiwan last night.

Du Zhinian didn't like the figure of Shen Guiwan standing in the waves, and he didn't like the breath of the sea, it felt like being swallowed by the sea.

With a sullen face, he sprayed Shen Guiwan's usual clothes fragrance on Shen Guiwan's coat, hung it on the balcony to let the air dry, turned around and met Shen Guiwan who was standing in the living room wiping his hair.

Shen Guiwan was wearing last night's pajamas, the neckline was open, his pale skin was flushed by the hot water, his body exuded the fragrance of shower gel.

The tips of his hair were still dripping, and the water dripped on his collarbone, slipped down the dimple of his neck, and disappeared into the shadows.

Du Zhinian walked up to Shen Guiwan, pinched his chin, leaned forward and took a bite on the soft lips.

"Wait for me in the bedroom." He ordered hoarsely.

Shen Guiwan frowned in pain, he touched his lips, his fingertips were stained with blood.

Du Zhinian left a new mark on Shen Guiwan's lips, turned around and went into the bathroom again.

Shen Guiwan heard him closing the door and stood there looking at the closed bathroom door.

He watched for a long time, and after the sound of water in the bathroom, he stuck out a small section of his tongue and licked off the blood on his fingers.

On the way back, Shen Guiwan vaguely felt that Du Zhinian was in a bad mood, but he couldn't guess the reason for Du Zhinian's anger.

Shen Guiwan licked the wound on his lips, and tasted a faint sweet smell.

He tore off the towel from his head, walked into the bedroom, sat quietly on the bed and waited for Du Zhinian.

The continuous sound of rain seeped in through the cracks in the windows, intertwined with the suppressed murmur in the bedroom.

Du Zhinian was very silent tonight, he didn't talk in Shen Guiwan's ear, but hugged him from behind.

Shen Guiwan knelt on the bed, Du Zhinian grasped his hands behind his back, lifted his body slightly, his back and calves were tense.

This position was very uncomfortable, but Shen Guiwan did not resist.

He was hugged by Du Zhinian from behind into his arms.

The familiar fruit fragrance once again surrounded Shen Guiwan, he leaned on Du Zhinian's shoulder, and gently closed his eyes.

The takeaway was delivered two hours later, but the delivery man couldn't get through the phone, so he knocked on the door for a while before waiting for someone inside to open the door.

Du Zhinian leaned behind the door in disheveled clothes, and smiled apologetically at the delivery man, "I was busy just now, thanks for your hard work."

The delivery man was a young boy. Seeing Du Zhinian's appearance, he quickly realized that he had interrupted his good business.

"Sorry to bother you!" He quickly ran towards the elevator after he finished speaking.

Du Zhinian looked at the back of the boy running away in a hurry, chuckled lightly, and slowly closed the door.

The takeaway came too late, Du Zhinian had just eaten Shen Guiwan, put the takeaway in the refrigerator and went back to the bedroom.

There was a small bag bulging on the big bed in the bedroom, it was Shen Guiwan who was wrapped in a quilt and curled up into a ball.

He seemed to be in a deep sleep, and his breathing was even and long, but he didn't make a loud noise.

Du Zhinian lightly lay down beside Shen Guiwan, facing the ceiling for a while, then couldn't help turning over again.

His gaze landed on Shen Guiwan's back, scanning the mottled hickey marks and tooth marks, skipping over the healed scars, tracing the outline of the skeleton bit by bit.

Shen Guiwan was lying beside him, within reach, Du Zhinian could trace his body with his eyes, and he could also reach out and stroke his back.

But even lying on the same bed, Du Zhinian felt that Shen Guiwan was far away from him.

Shen Guiwan is like a bubble in the sea, it seems that he will leave at any time, and will completely disappear from his own world.

Du Zhinian sighed silently, and stretched out his hand to embrace Shen Guiwan into his arms.

He buried his head in Shen Guiwan's hair, pressed his chest tightly against Shen Guiwan's back, and called softly: "Shen Guiwan."

"En." The person who was supposed to be sound asleep responded, and the body leaning against Du Zhinian's arms moved slightly.

Shen Guiwan woke up when Du Zhinian lay down, and couldn't fall back to sleep afterwards.

Du Zhinian rubbed Shen Guiwan's face, and said, "I can't sleep."

Shen Guiwan remained silent for a few seconds, then asked him, "Do you want to do it again?"

"Don't do it." Du Zhinian groped under the quilt for a while, and grabbed Shen Guiwan's hand, "Chat with me for a while."

Shen Guiwan didn't speak, Du Zhinian pinched his fingers and asked himself: "Where did you go to university before?"

"The capital." Shen Guiwan spit out two words.

"Really." Du Zhinian asked back, but in a declarative tone.

He thought that according to Shen Lu's attitude towards Shen Guiwan, it would be impossible for him to study in university, even in the capital thousands of miles away.

But Du Zhinian knew that Shen Guiwan would not lie.

He touched the protruding joint bones on the back of Shen Guiwan's hands, and asked, "What do you learn?"

"...German." Shen Guiwan wanted to withdraw his hand, but Du Zhinian's grip was tighter.

"Excellent." Du Zhiqing praised in a loud voice.

His fingers passed through Shen Guiwan's fingers, he held that beautiful hand and played with it, "Don't you want to go to work?"

"I don't have an ID card." Shen Guiwan paused, "Shen Lu won't let me."

His voice was mixed with sighs, and Du Zhinian could tell that it was a helpless compromise.

Shen Guiwan closed his eyes, and the back against Du Zhinian's chest trembled imperceptibly.

Du Zhinian felt that he was shivering, thinking that it was cold due to cooling down, so he silently tightened his arms.

"If given the opportunity, where would you like to work?" Du Zhinian continued to ask.

This time Shen Guiwan was silent for a long time, so long that Du Zhinian thought he was asleep, and then he suddenly heard him say: "I don't know."

Shen Guiwan's voice was very soft, but it was as if it was choked in his throat.

Du Zhinian stood up, looked at Shen Guiwan, and asked word by word: "I don't know, or have I never thought about it?"

"I have no chance, don't ask anymore, Du Zhinian..." Shen Guiwan trembled, curled up into a ball under Du Zhinian's gaze.

He once had a good opportunity, but suffered a sudden blow at the most vigorous age in his life.

Recalling the scene at that time, Shen Guiwan's heart and eyes began to ache again.

That was the beginning of his pain and the end of another 25 years of pain.

The pale cloth covered her body, and the flames engulfed her body, and burned Shen Guiwan's hope and future.

Shen Guiwan tried his best to shrink his figure, Du Zhinian wanted to reach out to touch him, but withdrew his hand when his fingertips were about to touch his shoulder.

"Time to sleep. Good night."

Du Zhinian turned off the light, and lay down with his back to Shen Guiwan.

He heard the rustling of cloth rubbing against him from behind, but he didn't hear Shen Guiwan's voice.

There was no sound of sobbing or breathing, and it was as if a person was suddenly missing in the silent room.

At that moment, Du Zhinian suddenly couldn't feel Shen Guiwan's existence.

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