Don’t Ignite It chapter 39

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Xia Yu first visited the exhibition hall where he was setting up, but when he came out, he canceled his afternoon meeting and evening social engagements. He then drove to Lu Zhao’s private hospital.

He didn’t think much on the way there. During the years he had been with Lu Zhao, Lu Zhao had always seemed physically healthy, and Xia Yu had rarely seen him look weak. So, Xia Yu always felt like Lu Zhao would never break down.

Upon arriving at the hospital, the receptionist guided Xia Yu to the upper floor.

Lu Zhao’s ward was on the top floor, very quiet, with no one to disturb him.

However, Xia Yu’s timing was unfortunate; Lu Zhao had just fallen asleep.

Lu Yuan spoke in a hushed tone, explaining that Lu Zhao hadn’t been sleeping well for the past few nights and that even getting a little sleep now was a good sign.

Xia Yu nodded imperceptibly and focused his gaze on Lu Zhao lying in the bed.

Lu Zhao wasn’t wearing a hospital gown; he had on his dark-colored pajamas. But the bedsheet was white, and the room was all white. He lay there with his eyes tightly closed, like a robot with its power cut off.

Cold, excessively handsome, with a hint of an unusual fragility.

Xia Yu furrowed his brow.

Lu Yuan noticed his expression and asked in a hushed voice, “What’s wrong?”

Xia Yu didn’t reply, just shook his head.

It was strange; he seemed unable to accept the fact that Lu Zhao could be a “patient.”

Perhaps afraid that Xia Yu would leave, Lu Yuan hesitated for a moment and asked in a strained voice, “Should I wake my brother up?”

Xia Yu shook his head.

“No,” he said, “I’ll wait here until he wakes up.”

Sick Lu Zhao did indeed look somewhat cuter and fragile than usual, so he deserved some special treatment.

He followed Lu Yuan to the adjacent rest area to wait. Inside, there were snacks, a fruit platter, and coffee, but they didn’t have much to talk about, so they sat in silence for quite a while, staring at each other.

In the end, Xia Yu broke the silence, “How did Lu Zhao get this seriously ill?”

With a fever and stomach bleeding, even if Lu Zhao was a workaholic, someone should have noticed.

Lu Yuan wore an expression of helplessness. “How can anyone control him? He’s been working hard for years, and even when he gets sick, he doesn’t care. He’s always relied on sheer determination. He was even worse when he was abroad. The fever wasn’t initially a big deal, but a few days ago, for some reason, he stayed up all night when he had a fever and weak immunity. He even went out on the balcony and caught the cold wind, and the next day, it got worse. The fever has subsided now, but the stomach bleeding hasn’t improved. The doctor says his stomach bleeding might be due to emotional instability and stress, which is why it’s so severe.”

Xia Yu could sense something from Lu Yuan’s words. He asked, “When did he worsen?”

Lu Yuan replied, “It was this Monday. I don’t know what happened. He didn’t sleep the whole night, probably because he was stressed about something at the company.”

No, it wasn’t about the company.

Xia Yu lowered his gaze, fearing it was because of the phone call between him and Lu Zhao, which had made Lu Zhao more concerned about Xu Zhan than Xia Yu had expected.

He picked up a grape with his fork and bit into it. The juice was sweet with a hint of sourness, making him grimace.

Silence fell between them once more.

Lu Yuan glanced at his watch; it had only been about fifteen minutes.

He and Xia Yu rarely spent time alone together, but Xia Yu was easy to get along with, and even doing nothing, he was pleasant to be around. Despite being stunningly attractive to the point of being intimidating, he had an innocent look that gave him an air of politeness.

Lu Yuan reflected on how, in the past, he hadn’t wanted to speak harshly to Xia Yu either, he only did so as he thought Xia Yu was a nuisance for his brother .

But he hadn’t expected that, after all those tumultuous years, Xia Yu and his brother would end up involved again.

In an extramarital affair, no less.

And his brother was willing.

Lu Yuan sighed, no longer wanting to offer any criticisms. He told Xia Yu, “Actually, my brother once had a serious illness when he was abroad. It wasn’t mild. At that time, his mother had just passed away, and he had broken up with you. The blow was quite severe.”

Xia Yu raised an eyebrow. “What illness?”

Lu Yuan hesitated for a moment, as there were some things he couldn’t say. So, he spoke vaguely, “It’s hard to describe, but he couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, and his stomach wasn’t well. He lost more than twenty pounds in a short period, and it scared me.”

He paused and glanced at Xia Yu. “Actually, at that time, he missed you a lot. But you were already married, and he had no right to appear in your life. He always asked me how you were doing, and what could I say… I could only say you were doing well with Xu Zhan.”

As he said this, he couldn’t help but wonder.

He had always thought that Xia Yu and Xu Zhan were a perfect match, and after they got married, they seemed inseparable and deeply in love.

But now, it seemed that this model couple wasn’t as harmonious as they appeared to be on the surface.

Lu Yuan’s fingers tapped restlessly on his knee for a few moments before he continued, “It’s not that I’m defending my brother, but he’s been working hard for the family and the company since he was a child. His parents, as you know, had an open marriage, so how could my brother ever have normal expectations for love and marriage? Before he met you, he never even thought he would fall in love… let alone be with someone like you… not to mention that even I didn’t think it was possible.”

But he was wrong, and he was wrong in a big way.

If it weren’t for what he had witnessed with his own eyes, Lu Yuan wouldn’t have believed that Lu Zhao could lose control to this extent because of one person.

And that person was now sitting in front of him, eating fruit so nonchalantly.

Xia Yu understood the implication in Lu Yuan’s words, but he didn’t want to respond. He continued to eat his grapes, and they tasted slightly sour to him.

Lu Yuan was at a loss as well.

Once upon a time, his brother had treated Xia Yu like garbage, but now his brother had fallen out of Xia Yu’s favor to the point of being insignificant.

But Lu Yuan thought of Lu Zhao’s injured hand and his pained, suppressed expression. Even though he felt guilty toward Xia Yu, he couldn’t help but say, “I know my brother has done a lot of wrong things, and I have no right to act like a saint and ask you to be magnanimous. But these past few years of your marriage, my brother has had it really tough. Occasionally, you could cut him some slack and not be too harsh on him.”

Don’t be too harsh on him.

Those few words seemed to finally strike a chord with Xia Yu.

He smiled and said, “You’re painting your brother as so pitiful, but he knew I was married from the beginning. Being his secret lover was his own choice. If he didn’t want to, he could have broken up with me at any time.”

Lu Yuan’s face stiffened.

He thought that Xia Yu was much more ruthless than before.

Xia Yu twirled the fork in his hand and then skewered a strawberry. The bright red juice flowed out, and he grimaced.

He calmly added, “Furthermore, haven’t I given Lu Zhao a chance? After we broke up, I wanted to reconcile with him countless times. I flew abroad so many times, and the last time, when I was in poor health and fainted, I ended up in the hospital. But your brother didn’t even come to see me; he just told me to take care of myself. If I’m being harsh on him now, then what does that make him? Unforgivable?”

Xia Yu chuckled.

He looked up at Lu Yuan; his eyes, which were warm amber in the sunlight, now seemed frosty.

Lu Yuan fell completely silent.

For the next fifteen minutes or so, he no longer attempted to plead for anything on Lu Zhao’s behalf.

But he thought to himself, no, my brother did come to see you.

He knew about the incident when Xia Yu was sent to the hospital. It was none other than his brother who had taken Xia Yu to the hospital. 

It was the first time he had seen his brother look regretful, waking him up across time zones and asking, “Did I treat Xia Yu too harshly?”