Pheromone Deficiency Syndrome chapter 47

Reconciliation

Xie Huaizhou and Xie Ke left before dawn.

By the time Gu Jinyi woke up the next day, the flower shop across the street was as calm as every other morning.

The storefront was filled with beautifully colored flowers. Behind the half-opened window, there was no one to be seen. The cute-faced beta shop owner was outside trimming leaves while soothing music played inside.

Everything seemed like just another ordinary day.

No one knew the stories that had unfolded in this flower shop during the quiet nights, unknown to anyone.

But when Gu Jinyi descended the stairs, almost instinctively, he glanced at the flower shop window several times.

But behind the half-opened window, apart from the green vines creeping out, there was nothing else.

He withdrew his gaze and descended the stairs, making himself a cup of coffee.

In the morning sunlight, the red marks at the corners of his eyes were particularly noticeable, even though he had already washed up, his eyelids were slightly swollen.

Amidst the fragrant aroma of coffee, he sat on a high stool, looking a bit dazed.

He had dreamed of Xie Huaizhou last night.

After arriving on Roselle Star, this was the first time he had dreamed so vividly of Xie Huaizhou.

But it wasn’t a good dream; instead, it was dark and deep.

He dreamed of the five months when Xie Huaizhou was imprisoned by his father.

Although he wasn’t present at the scene, in yesterday’s dream, he saw a room with white walls on all four sides. The room was empty, with only a cold operating table.

Xie Huaizhou was bound to the operating table with a belly band, his eyes empty like glass beads, devoid of any emotion.

He was injected with a drug that caused muscle weakness, and there were unhealed surgical wounds on his body, bloodstained, like a beast with its fangs removed, only able to be slaughtered.

And he could only watch helplessly through a thick glass, unable to do anything, as he watched Xie Huaizhou being pushed out of the room and disappearing before his eyes.

The room became even emptier, with nothing but an operating table.

The dazzling whiteness all around, his despairing cries echoing in this vast area, heard only by himself.

At that moment, he couldn’t tell whether it was a dream or reality. It wasn’t until he woke up that he realized he was still lying in his bedroom, with plenty of time left as the room remained dimly lit, with the lingering scent of osmanthus incense.

He reached up to touch his face and found it and the pillow were both wet.

An hour had passed since that dream, and now he sat at a small round table drinking coffee, but his heartbeat still hadn’t calmed down.

Perhaps because the dream was too vivid, his first reaction upon waking up was to try contacting Xie Huaizhou.

But as he picked up the Ipad, he received a message from Xie Huaizhou.

A very brief line, saying “Good morning” to him.

He couldn’t help but pause for a moment.

Of course, he knew that Xie Huaizhou was safe now.

Xie Yuncheng had long been sent to a mental hospital by Xie Huaizhou, and there was no one else who could threaten Xie Huaizhou.

But he couldn’t help but remember uncontrollably that Xie Huaizhou was not a completely healthy person in the true sense.

Xie Huaizhou also suffered from pheromone deficiency syndrome.

His reunion with Xie Huaizhou was built on this accidental illness.

The bargaining chip he had with Xie Huaizhou was his pheromone extract, which had a soothing effect.

But now he was no longer with Xie Huaizhou.

Even if he had left behind some extract, it could only suppress and alleviate, not cure.

When he was in the Xie family, the doctor had indirectly told him that to completely cure Xie Huaizhou’s deficiency syndrome, he had better make a permanent bond with Xie Huaizhou.

But between him and Xie Huaizhou, from start to finish, there was only one hasty temporary bond.

He subconsciously touched the back of his neck, where the skin was smooth as jade, with no traces left.

In recent days on Roselle Star, he had deliberately avoided thinking about Xie Huaizhou.

But yesterday’s nightmare forced him to recall that his leaving might worsen Xie Huaizhou’s condition.

Gu Jinyi slowly drank his coffee at the round table, his shadow frozen on the wall, like a forlorn bird in the early morning sun.

He wondered, who was truly tormented by Xie Huaizhou’s illness?

Involuntarily, his mind recalled the dream he just had.

He knew the dream was false, and now that Xie Huaizhou held all the power, he didn’t need his pity.

But he also vividly remembered, in the dream just now, the moment he watched Xie Huaizhou being pushed away, he was willing to give up everything to ensure Xie Huaizhou’s safety.

He finished the now-cold coffee, washed the cup, tidied up the kitchen, and went out to pick up Chu Xiaonian, who had stayed out overnight.

He looked no different from usual.

As usual, he accompanied Chu Xiaonian to the amusement park and had dinner with Qu Xi a few times.

But a week later, without telling anyone, he went to Bai Chuan again and saw the Golden Waterfall alone.

Because it was the dry season, there were hardly any people at the Golden Waterfall, and there were few tourists on the train, scattered in groups of two or three. Gu Jinyi sat alone in the compartment, gazing at the silent snow outside the window.

The Golden Waterfall during the dry season wasn’t particularly beautiful, just desolate and steep cliffs, as if in another world.

Gu Jinyi leaned his forehead against the glass window, recalling the last time when Xie Huaizhou sat opposite him.

He asked Xie Huaizhou if he liked him?

He had never been one to delude himself. If it weren’t for the obvious affection Xie Huaizhou had shown, he wouldn’t have asked such a question.

And Xie Huaizhou casually refuted him.

“I don’t just like you, I love you.”

Gu Jinyi remembered this sentence, his lips curling slightly.

When he was abandoned in the sanatorium, waiting hopelessly for Fu Chen, he had thought countless times whether Fu Chen had ever loved him.

When he lay on the operating table, he was still thinking about this question.

And when he married Chu Miyun, he had already found the answer for himself.

He thought, Fu Chen probably never loved him.

His love was just a deception, so he was so easily abandoned.

This long wait of his, in essence, could only be considered self-delusion.

But who could have imagined that years later, he would sit in front of the Golden Waterfall with Xie Huaizhou, in a train carriage where only the two of them were present.

He would receive this sentence again, “I love you.”

The question that had plagued him for six years finally had an answer.

Xie Huaizhou’s pheromone deficiency syndrome was the answer.

Pheromone deficiency syndrome affects almost all alphas who lose their partners. Because they cannot accept the fact of losing their partner from the bottom of their hearts, they develop this illness.

Back in the sanatorium, although Xie Huaizhou’s pheromones were masked, they remained stable.

However, six years later, when they met again, Xie Huaizhou developed “pheromone deficiency syndrome,” and neither medicine nor treatment worked. Only his pheromones could save him.

So he knew, Xie Huaizhou wasn’t lying.

For these six years, Xie Huaizhou really loved him.

Perhaps this wasn’t the gentle and beautiful love he had imagined, but it was all Xie Huaizhou could offer.

Gu Jinyi gently closed his eyes.

He didn’t know if his past self on the operating table would have felt a bit relieved if he had known this answer.

But at this moment, he reached a reconciliation with himself.

He admitted defeat.

Not to Xie Huaizhou, but to himself.

He didn’t want Xie Huaizhou to wait hopelessly like him.

Xie Huaizhou had once been very cruel to him, giving him the most desperate memories.

But he was always weak and couldn’t bear to let Xie Huaizhou suffer like him.