Last Love chapter 114

“I know.”

When Wen Ke uttered these two words, it seemed as if all the strength in his body had been drained away.

He sat slumped on the ground, head lowered. He couldn’t even imagine what kind of emotions Han Jiangque would have upon hearing these words.

“You…”

Han Jiangque hadn’t recovered from his shock. He said one word, then stopped and walked to Wen Ke, squatting down urgently, asking, “Xiao Ke, what are you talking about? It’s impossible. Zhuo Yuan couldn’t have told you about this, right?”

Actually, at this point, it was more of a futile struggle than an inquiry.

“He didn’t tell me.”

Wen Ke shook his head in pain. “I overheard him talking to his father. So, until now, Zhuo Yuan thinks I’m unaware.”

“What do you know?”

Wen Ke dared not look at Han Jiangque’s expression. He kept his head down, staring tightly at the spot of light on the floor cast by the lamp. “After I was caught cheating back then, several teachers who knew me kept asking me who I was passing notes to. Zhuo Yuan’s father was afraid I would reveal the truth to them because Zhuo Yuan was applying to foreign universities with his pre-exam grades, and his records absolutely couldn’t have this stain. Right after the cheating incident broke out, their family used connections, bribed the director and the principal. So, the school didn’t even have a second conversation with me; I was directly expelled.”

“When I first came to B City with Zhuo Yuan ten years ago, we lived together in Zhuo Yuan’s family villa. One night, they talked about this, and I… accidentally overheard.”

Wen Ke’s speech was slow. Though he spoke about his own experience, his tone was distant, as if trying to keep away from that matter to avoid feeling shameful.

“And then? Didn’t you do anything?”

Han Jiangque stared at him blankly, asking with difficulty.

Wen Ke’s fingers began to tremble.

“Didn’t you do anything?”

This sentence was like a whip, fiercely lashing against him.

He knew that Han Jiangque was desperate to hear even a bit of resistance, hatred, and hostility.

But he couldn’t provide the answer Han Jiangque wanted.

He buried his face between his knees. “I just pretended I didn’t hear anything and then went back to my room. Han Jiangque, I… I didn’t do anything.”

Each word he spoke out seemed to carry a stale and rotten smell, making him want to vomit.

“Why?”

Han Jiangque’s voice was soft when he spoke, but his throat was unexpectedly hoarse.

But after asking that question, he finally couldn’t restrain himself from grabbing Wen Ke’s shoulders, shouting in a hoarse voice, “You clearly knew what their family did, and you still chose to live with him for ten years? That’s a whole ten years! Wen Ke, what were you thinking?”

His strength was so great that Wen Ke in front of him had to lift his head to look at him.

“Because I…”

His eyes turned red, tears pooling in his eyes.

Like a child who knew he was wrong, he didn’t dare to cry in front of Han Jiangque. He could only endure it tightly. “Han Xiaoque, I was so scared back then.”

Those emotions that were unsightly, dragged out, exposed in front of the person he loved the most.

And because it was the person he loved the most, everything became a thousand times more tormenting.

“After being expelled from school, my mother’s cancer cells spread rapidly, and she died despite rescue efforts. Suddenly, I felt like I was the only one left in this world. It didn’t make sense to do anything anymore, and I would never have the life I wanted. I was afraid to leave Zhuo Yuan; even if that family was terrible, it was better than being alone. When I overheard that, instead of hatred, I actually felt more fear than anything. So I pretended that I never heard the truth… pretended for ten years. Over time, sometimes even I myself seemed to forget about this.”

Looking at the Omega in front of him, with a delicate neck, fair and moist skin, and fluffy eyelashes.

This was the person he loved the most, the Omega who carried his kids, recounting such a painful past. How much he wanted to cherish and comfort him, but his heart seemed to have become numb.

He didn’t cherish Wen Ke anymore.

Thinking of this, Han Jiangque felt a pain so intense that he couldn’t breathe.

“Wen Ke, why didn’t you tell me before? If I hadn’t found out about this today, were you planning to hide it from me forever?”

“No, I wanted to tell you. Han Jiangque, I just couldn’t say it.”

Wen Ke shook his head forcefully. “Do you remember the event for last love? The time capsule, in fact, was inspired by this. I originally thought I would record all these unspeakable words. When I sent them to you through the app a year later, by then, I would be a father. I thought I would be able to face these pasts.”

“So now, you suddenly revealed it because you didn’t want me to hate Zhuo Yuan so much?”

Han Jiangque asked in a low voice.

“I’m sorry.”

Wen Ke gritted his teeth, saying word by word, “Han Xiaoque, every time you mentioned your hatred for Zhuo Yuan before, I kept avoiding it because I knew that, in fact, I ruined my own life. If there’s anyone I should hate the most, it should be myself. If I couldn’t say this secret, I would never be able to hate Zhuo Yuan righteously. I was afraid that after you knew the truth, you would…”

Wen Ke stopped speaking the rest of the words. He was afraid that Han Jiangque would hate him more than he hated Zhuo Yuan.

Like undergoing an invisible trial, he finally brought out those despicable and cowardly traits from the bottom of his bones, bloody and raw.

“Wen Ke…”

Han Jiangque’s anger seemed to gradually subside, but in his calm tone, there was hidden despair.

“Zhuo Yuan officially marked you only six years ago.”

Han Jiangque lowered his head, somewhat abruptly saying, “So, ten years ago, when you made that decision, he hadn’t marked you yet.”

“Wen Ke, it was always your own weakness that ruined everything. It wasn’t really about marking, was it?”

The tall Alpha’s long eyelashes gently hung down, staring at the floor so attentively, even giving a faint smile. “You’re lying to me again, and also lying to yourself.”

“Ten years ago, the Xiao Ke I knew, could he really be so weak and cunning? Sometimes I even feel… it was you who killed the Xiao Ke I fell in love with.”

Wen Ke sat weakly on the ground, his face twisted with pain.

He couldn’t speak.

A tremendous fear surged up when Han Jiangque said, “The Xiao Ke I fell in love with.”

But that Xiao Ke was not him.

“A snap.”

A drop of water quietly appeared on the floor.

Han Jiangque said very softly, “Wen Ke, have you ever thought that if you had left Zhuo Yuan at that time, or if you had been brave at any time in these ten years, maybe I wouldn’t have to wait alone for so long? Couldn’t we both have been a bit happier?”

Wen Ke suddenly raised his head.

He saw the tall Alpha squatting in front of him like a lost child. Tears slowly and silently flowed from those narrow, pitch-black eyes.

This was the first time Han Jiangque cried in front of him.

Wen Ke’s eyes instantly turned red. He knelt on the floor with a thump, trying to reach out and wipe Han Jiangque’s tears. “Han Xiaoque, I’m sorry, I’m sorry… Don’t cry, please…”

Han Jiangque shook his head, and indeed, he didn’t cry anymore. He calmly pushed away Wen Ke’s hand and then stood up.

Wen Ke widened his eyes in horror, supporting his belly, his legs trembling, closely following Han Jiangque.

Han Jiangque didn’t say anything more.

That night, he held Wen Ke to sleep as usual, his hands encircling his swollen belly.

Wen Ke’s sleep was shallow. In the first half of the night, he almost opened his eyes every ten minutes, anxiously confirming Han Jiangque’s presence.

But Han Jiangque still left.

In the early dawn before the sky brightened, Wen Ke as soon as he woke up, used his fingers to touch the empty bed sheet beside him.

Han Jiangque had left.

He wasn’t surprised; he didn’t open his eyes. Instead, he gently pulled the blanket up to his head.

Memories surged like a tide, and he felt like a bubble in the dark sea, swaying drowsily.

That was him at the age of nineteen, leaning against the slightly opened study door, the muffled sound of conversation coming from inside.

“Xiao Yuan, the cheating incident was already suppressed back then. Although you are engaged to Wen Ke, now that things have settled down, why not give him some money and leave him? Just cancel the engagement. It’s not good to be too ruthless, but mainly, he’s an E-rank Omega. He’s somewhat embarrassing, and there might be issues with fertility in the future. Xiao Yuan, you have to be more practical. Our family owes him. Giving him some money to make up is not a bad idea. Besides, you haven’t officially marked him, so why insist on being bound by marriage for a lifetime?”

“Dad, isn’t that… not right?”

“It’s not that we’re heartless, but mainly, he’s an E-rank Omega, it does not look good for our family. Xiao Yuan, you have to be realistic.”

In the dark study, a nauseating secret was hidden.

However, at that moment, it wasn’t really a feeling of “hatred.”

He just suddenly—

Died.

This world suddenly didn’t have any kind or beautiful elements, everything turned ugly.

Therefore, it was no longer worth living well.

That night, lightning and thunder filled the sky, and the rain outside sounded loud.

The corridor of the large villa was deep and long. Wen Ke walked on the wooden floor barefoot for a long, long time before returning to the bedroom.

His room had very few furnishings: white walls, gray curtains, like a desolate graveyard.

He clumsily climbed back into bed, then forcefully pushed open the window, letting the small raindrops plop onto his body.

Suddenly, a gust of cold wind blew, and a stack of white paper flowers from the funeral ceremony flew out of his room. However, they were soaked through by the heavy rain in an instant.

“Mom… are you really leaving?”

I want to go with you.

That night, Wen Ke dreamed of giraffes for the first time.

He turned into a giraffe, running freely in the wilderness, with white paper flowers and golden wheat ears dancing in the wind.

At the end of his field of vision, a little boy with pitch-black eyes stood there, reaching out his arms toward him from a distance.

He ran over, and the road was very, very long, but the dreamy him wasn’t tired at all. Running like this, he seemed quite happy.

From then on, this dream accompanied him for ten years of dull and monotonous life.

In the daytime, his shell would diligently play the role of Omega in the Zhuo family. He was enslaved, suppressed, and bitten on the neck.

But he actually didn’t live there.

He kept all the things he loved in his dreams.

And at night, he would go find them.

…

Wen Ke’s face was full of tears, and suddenly, he sat up from the bed.

Han Jiangque was right. It was the weakness deep within him that had, far more than Zhuo Yuan’s mark itself, destroyed him in advance.

Similarly, for ten years, through over three thousand nights, the mark never truly suppressed his love.

In his chaotic subconscious, in his dreams, he had always, always loved Han Jiangque.

The mark was not the most powerful thing in this world.

Human nature was.

The mark had never defeated human nature.