° After earning her PhD, Xue Bi received a position in France. She and Zu Kai were set to leave in a month.
° "Do you want a hug before I leave?" After asking so, Xue Bi felt the silent storm occurring between the two brothers.
° Blinking his eyes in confusion, Lu Kai nodded his head before Zu Kai could voice out a word of objection. As Xue Bi wrapped him in a tentative hug, he felt his defenses soften. He encircled his arms around her shoulders and waist, drawing her in closer.
° Despite the piercing pain in his chest and the heaviness in his stomach, it fluttered at the feeling of her body pressed against his. He drowned in her warmth and the smell of her freshly bathed skin as he listened to her quiet sobbing, "You don't have to feel guilty. Good luck with your research."
° "And you...sniff... don't have to...sniff... behave like an adult. Although, I do like this side of you," she said.
° Lu Kai chuckled in response. "Be happy," he said softly.
° "What nonsense...Sniff...I'm always happy," she said, trying to pull away, but he wouldn't let go. "Lu Kai, this is strange. You're not covered in my puke. Lu Kai...sniff...Hurry, and grow up faster...Sniff...I don't want to be turned into a pēdophile."
° "Xue Bi, I'm six feet tall..." Lu Kai couldn't help but wonder what kind of bizarre love confession she was giving him. With a suppressed grin, he tucked his face into the crook of her neck, "Do you want me to move to France?"
° "Are there any good doctors?" she asked.
° Lu Kai looked up at his brother.
° "There are," Zu Kai confirmed, pulling out his phone as if on cue. "I'll go get things sorted out," he added, giving the two some much-needed privacy as he stepped away.
° "See?" Lu Kai said, patting her back gently, "Xue Bi. How many more tears do you want to bestow on me? My whole shirt is drenched."
° "I'll buy you a new one—a shirt that's specifically designed to absorb tears," she said, sniffing for what she hoped was the last time. "It's getting late. I'll come see you tomorrow. Lu Kai... as much as I enjoy this hug, I can't be responsible for your shirt turning into a drool sponge too."
° Hearing her humorous attempt to morph her sniffles into snores, Lu Kai chuckled, "No... I like this shirt the most. You have to wash it for me."
° "Alright," she agreed.
° "With your hands," he added.
° "Alright," she repeated.
° Taking a deep breath, Lu Kai finally let go of her and removed his shirt. He watched how she placed it inside her backpack carefully.
° Before leaving with her dogs, Xue Bi gave him a wave, her smile wide but visibly strained.
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° When he was finally alone, Lu Kai curled up on his bed. His walls, the walls that held him up, and made him strong just... collapsed. Tears flowed freely as he pressed his hands hard against his chest, nails digging into his own flesh. He started a bad habit that would follow him in the upcoming lifetimes.
° Clawing at his skin, Lu Kai wondered how it was possible for something to inflict so much pain. Ripping through his muscles, bones, and guts, their memories changed from being some of the best in the world to something incredibly sad and painful.
° Why did she have to reciprocate his feelings when there was no future between them anymore? His body would last a month at most before he would end up in a coma. Then what? She would have to take care of a cripple.
° He pounded his fist into the pillow and tried to scream, but his voice melted with the sound of the silent place. His nails left another set of bloody trails on his chest, a violent attempt to counter his escalating fear.
° She had a bright future before her; he couldn't bear the thought of pulling her down with him.
° Slowly, he opened the drawer beside his bed and took out a bottle of sleeping pills.
° Within moments of taking them, his world started to blur, growing foggy and indistinct.
° The last smile of hers slammed against him before he lost the perception of his surroundings.
° Everything darkened into nothingness as he slowly passed away.
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° One year after Lu Kai's death...
° Xue Bi had taken his last words to heart: "Be happy."
° Both Zu Kai and Xue Bi were resilient individuals, and despite their past sorrow, they were functional and emotionally strong.
° "Our parents still worry about us, you know," said Zu Kai as he exited the hotel bathroom.
° "I know... I'm worried about their wellbeing too..." Xue Bi glanced over at the half-naked Zu Kai, noting how his towel had slipped slightly when he'd moved, revealing the trace of a hip bone.
° Jumping on the bed, she stared at Zu Kai's crōtch. "I just can't."
° "Me neither," Zu Kai sat next to her with a soft smile. Despite having an erēction, he didn't feel like acting upon it. Though physically healthy, he felt neither sexual nor romantic inclinations, a trait that often led people to misjudge him as cold or detached.
° Romantic relationships with people made him feel uncomfortable. They were stressful, aggravating, and exhausting. It didn't mean that he couldn't experience love. He could, in a way, otherwise disconnected from normative societal expectations.
° Zu Kai would like to have a committed relationship where both partners would pursue things they like while keeping their distance, something between best friends and lovers, which was very hard to obtain as most would often leave and build their own families.
° With Xue Bi, Zu Kai didn't need to worry that she would throw a fit of anger if he didn't shower her with intimacy and affection. He wouldn't mind making a few compromises, but he preferred otherwise. He didn't need to act out of his way to prove his love. Just like Xue Bi, he rarely felt jealous or possessive.
° The lack of feelings caused many to assume that he was a psychopath. But thinking how he sometimes felt sorry for his and Xue Bi's parents for giving birth to kids like them, and grief for his dead brother, his psychologist crossed the idea away, thankfully.
° "Dear chairman of Universal Fusion, when is the party going to end? This employee misses her lab already," Xue Bi said. She found it comforting to know that they would never cross over each other's boundaries. It was a safety she had first begun to feel with Lu Kai—a man who had reached a place in her heart few could even come close to.
° "Then maybe you should ask our parents when they plan on leaving," Zu Kai suggested as he put on a pair of sweatpants.
° "I'd rather not," Xue Bi quickly retreated, "They raised such good kids; they deserve at least this."
° She grabbed a room service menu from the nightstand and propped herself against the headboard. "You hungry? Should we order something?"
° Zu Kai leaned over to skim the menu. "How about Charente Mouclade, Bouillabaisse, and Ratatouille?"
° "Are we planning to feed an army?" Xue Bi interjected.
° "Just the two of us," Zu Kai said, stretching out his arms and dropping to the floor for a set of push-ups, to burn the excess calories that he was about to consume, "Don't couples get hungry, you know, after the bedroom exercise?"
° "I think most would drop dead tired," Xue Bi began to do crunches while calling the hotel service with her haggard and short-of-breath voice, "Do you...uhm... think they'll have...ugh... sweet potatoes?"
°"I had them prep some in advance," Zu Kai said, collapsing onto the floor in laughter at her silly voice.
° "...Ah Hello...?" Flashing him a happy grin, Xue Bi sat up and ordered their meals. This time, her voice wasn't as exaggerated.
° When the female staff member arrived with the food, she was visibly flustered when an attractive man with damp hair answered the door. She immediately went to share her observations with Xue Bi's and Zu Kai's parents, spicing everything up with some made-up details.
° Her unbelievable story persuaded their parents to 'believe' her words. Like hell! They knew their babies too well. They just wisely chose to step back, fully aware that pushing them too hard could lead to a potential disaster.
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° After another year...
° Picking up her bag, Bing Shi left her laboratory which was a short walk away from her resting room. The UF research center was based far away from the city, near the sea. Here, she worked with other scientists to design and assemble fusion reactors. In a few more years, unlimited energy would become a reality.
° In a good mood, she waved at Zu Kai. Today, they had planned to celebrate a successful experiment. Unfortunately, this celebration would also be their last one.
° Some influential people didn't like the idea of the UF project for whatever reason, be it fear of their empires falling or their competitors getting ahead. They decided to slow the process, which resulted in a catastrophic ending.
° There was a total ass of a man, mainly responsible for safety regulations. He discredited an occurring issue. To stop such a procedure would mean the test he had to do that night couldn't be run; then, he would have to answer to his own superiors.
° That day, a leak of gas from a pipeline caused an explosion of a big part of a facility. Among the fatalities were Xue Bi and Zu Kai, who, at that time, were closest to the outburst.