End of Salvation

024: A Painful Rejection

As soon as the car disappeared from view, Pei Haoyi stares listlessly in the direction they departed in. He wishes that time rewind or stayed at this moment. He knows what will happen next and no matter how many times he has to go through it... He wishes that he doesn't have to. He doesn't want to feel the pain. He doesn't want to feel sick. He doesn't want to feel his father's touch, nor be given any of his 'familial' affections...

A much larger hand than his strokes his back slowly, breaking his train of thoughts. It was a very intimate gesture, often groping his skin intentionally at times. A whisper in a hoarse voice brushes past his ear, brimming with passion, "Let's go inside and rest shall we?"

Pei Haoyi closes his eyes and takes in a shaky breath as he resigns himself to his pitiful fate. It doesn't matter what his thoughts are... It never did... His father will do whatever he wants to him and there was nothing that could be done about that. Biting his bottom lip, he consoles himself. He only has to pretend that he doesn't feel anything and endure it.

Tomorrow... Tomorrow would be a new day... His only asylum.

He will have the morning to rest, the morning to play with Yi'er, the morning to hide, the morning to forget his pain; the morning to be a child as he had always dreamed of. He could momentarily forget it all. All his worries, all of his misery; everything the confines him. That is all that is enabling him to get through the torture, and how he survives each and every day. If not for that... Perhaps he would have given up the will to live already.

When Xiu Shinyi interacted with him initially, he was like warm ray light at the end of the dark tunnel. He was very pessimistic about his situation already and had reached the end of the rope. It was uncertain whether or not he would even survive the next day. Even without knowing, Xiu Shinyi had unintentionally saved him. Pei Haoyi was a child lost at sea, at the verge of drowning when a small driftwood came along and became his only salvation in the vast empty world.

It was unfortunate that the next time Pei Haoyi meets with his friend, he will not get to experience some of those small graces that he was looking forward to the following morning. But in return, a much larger present will be gifted.

---

Along the way home, Xiu Shinyi's mind wanders around. Not only did he consider the past and present, he considered their and his far off future. He knows the dangers that lurk around, but just knowing will not change anything. He's constantly thinking of ways to achieve his goal as changes happen. He knows that his initial actions have already caused a butterfly effect, where many things were no longer the same and so, he can only try and be as prepared as he can be. The timeline he once knew is no longer heading in a linear line but spiraling out of control, and so, it frustrates Xiu Shinyi that he can't be certain of something.

His train of thought circulates and lands upon the thoughts about the far off future and how portentous it is. A cynical arc curves on the smooth line of his lips, and the darkness within his sapphire eyes darken considerably.

No matter how bleak it may seem, he must prevail. In his mind, there were no other options for him but this.

In amidst his self contemplation, he becomes aware of something and a look of astonishment appears in the light of his eyes. Xiu Shinyi did not expect it and was caught off guard by the small 'surprise'. A humorless flicker flashes across his blue eyes at the early arrival. The profound darkness hidden deep inside seeps out like water, almost seemingly squirming around in his sapphire eyes. It was like an insane beast, looking for something, anything within the vast blueness. Amazingly, there was no anger but a sense of endless emptiness, wanting to be filled.

He did not intend to stop it nor try and contain it for there was but one person by him, and he knows that they aren't capable enough to sense the subtle change. Even if they could feel something, it was veiled behind a thick fog of artificial emotions. At best, the driver will consider him to be melancholic or even depressed. There was no killing intent nor any malice trying to be concealed, just a strange dampness that was void of life and insipid.