Captured By The Cold Detective (BL)

If it had been the usual He Juan, he would have laughed and teased Su Xieren for being too formal and reserved. They had literally known each other for seven years so what’s with the polite question? But with the way he was right now, he was so numb that he could not even bring himself to lift the corner of his lips.

"Mn," was all he could utter in the end.

Su Xieren did not switch on the light, much to his relief or else he was going to find out how horrible He Juan’s complexion was right now. The light from the hallway was already enough to illuminate his way as he gently pushed the trolley to where He Juan was. "Da-ge, eat a little."

An appetizing scent wafted from the assortment of food on the trolley. He Juan cast a sideways glance and saw a bowl of lean meat porridge that was still emitting milky steam. Not only that, there were also a few side dishes He Juan liked to eat – seaweed potato wedges, stir-fry bok choy and pickled radish. Even VIP patients would not get such luxurious food. Stunned, He Juan immediately realized that Su Xieren must have gone out of his way to buy the food from a restaurant outside. As much as he appreciated the warm and thoughtful gesture, he just could not stomach a thing. Just the mere notion of putting food into his mouth was enough to make his stomach churn.

But he did not have the heart to refuse Su Xieren. Hence he merely shook his head and said, "Later."

"It will get cold later."

"Not hungry." He lowered his eyelids and gazed at Mu Yuze’s fingers outside the blanket. For some inexplicable reason, perhaps because Mu Yuze was unwell, those beautiful fingers looked pale and bloodless, and his wrist looked so thin that He Juan could trace the green and blue veins under his skin. Such a heartbreaking sight to see.

He Juan subconsciously reached out, intending to tuck Mu Yuze’s hand into the blanket as well, but halfway through he suddenly froze and took back his hand. Less because of guilt, but more because he feared that his touch would cause Mu Yuze to shatter. He could only clench his fists and placed it on his lap, his head hanging low.

All of these movements were taken in by Su Xieren’s eyes. The Beta let out a quiet sigh. He knew He Juan too well, knew what kind of dilemma was brewing in his heart and hence, he would not utter words such as ’it’s not your fault’ or ’you didn’t know such a thing would happen either’ because it would be completely pointless. Words of comfort were futile on such an occasion.

"Eat," he said again, stern this time. "You’re a recovering patient too, Da-ge. What would Mu Yuze think if he woke up and saw you like this? You need more energy if you want to watch over him." Su Xieren saw that his words were getting through, and he added one more sentence as the icing on the cake. "You know, he kept telling me to update him of your condition. He’s been the happiest to know that you’re recovering well, Da-ge. Do you want him to be sad again if you collapse?"

"...No," He Juan whispered in a low, hoarse voice. It was undeniable that Su Xieren’s words had poked him right on the sore spot. "No, I don’t want to make him sad..."

A faint smile crossed Su Xieren’s face. He tore the cling wrap off the bowl of porridge and handed it over to He Juan. "Try to get a few mouthfuls in. It’s okay even if you only finish half. As long as you eat, your body will get better."

He Juan gave another quiet hum, picked up the spoon and brought a little porridge to his mouth. Everytime he had the urge to retch, he would look at Mu Yuze and repeat Su Xieren’s words in his mind again and again, ’I have to eat, I can’t make him sad anymore...’

The porridge was warm and soft, very easy to swallow. The mild flavor permeated his tongue and chased away the lingering bitterness. It stood to reason that He Juan should have been tempted, after all he had not eaten real food since he entered the hospital. The last meal he had was... the day of his and Mu Yuze’s first date, when they had a leisure dinner in the treehouse under the beautiful sunset. Everything had been so dreamy and magical back then. And He Juan had been so, so happy, wishing nothing more than to have this kind of blissful life with Mu Yuze.

Alas...

Since then, everything had gone downhill. Wu Yuan’s arrest, the car crash with Jia Molei, being drugged, temporarily losing his memory and now, there was this accident with Mu Yuze...

He Juan felt like he was not given any chance to breathe. Clearly, their first date was only three days ago, so why did He Juan feel like a whole lifetime had passed?

Now, he did not even know where he should start to ask about Wu Yuan. What Jia Molei said was right. With his current condition, talking about protecting another person would only become a joke. How was he supposed to take care of Wu Yuan when he could not even take care of himself? Truly... he was such a useless wimp. He could only pray that Wu Yuan was fine, and that Jia Molei had found a capable lawyer for him...

Just like that, he forced himself to stomach more than half of the bowl before stopping. He did not touch the side dishes, but fortunately Su Xieren said nothing about it.

"How is it? Do you feel better?"

He Juan nodded and offered him a faint smile. Su Xieren was right. The warm porridge settled on his stomach and heated up his frozen limbs. At least, He Juan no longer felt like a gray, wrung-out piece of dirty rag. "Thank you, Xieren," he whispered.

"My pleasure," he said as he began to take care of the leftovers. "Now that we’re finally talking, da-ge, do you want to check whose phone is it that keeps buzzing?" 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

He Juan blinked and it took him a while to register what Su Xieren was talking about. He had been so attuned to the monotone beeps of Mu Yuze’s heartbeat that he ignored the quiet buzz in the air. He followed the direction of the sound and discovered that it came from Mu Yuze’s discarded bomber jacket which he had draped on the sofa.

It was... Mu Yuze’s phone? Did something important happen? In his workplace, perhaps?

He stood up, grimacing at the cracks of his joint, and hastily walked over to where the phone was. And sure enough, the caller shown on the screen was ’Kang Guanyu – Violent Crime Division’. Before the call could be disconnected, He Juan picked it up and glanced at Mu Yuze who was still unconscious on the bed. "Hello?"