"…"
And just like that, the floodgates had fully opened, and tragically so. All that Tao Hua had been wanting to avoid, it all flooded back to him, almost drowning him in waters of reality.
Now it was real, and real came with consequences he'd never imagined.
Staring at the ground, Tao Hua shuffled his fingers across the frigid surface, wincing as the realization of pain slowly returned to him.
Shan Si… he thought. Translated, Shan Si meant Mountain Temple.
Side-glancing away, nearly rolling his eyes, Tao Hua wasn't sure if he could agree that the name suited someone as imposing as Lord No-Name. The mountain part, sure—with his height and all—but temple?
Tao Hua was convinced his names were better fitting.
However…the name did sound familiar, but for the life of him, he couldn't quite understand why it felt so familiar. It wasn't in the conventional understanding that the word commonly described a landmark.
Rather, it conjured a response of nostalgia Tao Hua couldn't quite put his finger on.
Shifting his head to the side, so much so that the strands of hair completely covered his vision, Tao Hua slumped. It took him a moment longer before he slowly moved his head in a way that indicated a nod.
Maybe.
It wasn't easy to tell how sluggish the man was.
More time passed in that air of silence.
Though it might have only been a few minutes, to Tao Hua, it felt like minutes made of years. And even through the light, prolonged sigh that escaped his already chapped lips, he still refused to cry.
Soon, a few taps of a shoe sounded, and when Tao Hua weakly glanced up, he saw what looked like a man clenching his jaw.
Shan Si's—formally known as Lord No-Name, and now THRICE removed from the asshat family—hands were gripping his upper arms, folding the black and gold fabric around the whitened tips.
Soon, his lashes fell, and his forehead wrinkled. Shan Si looked like a man almost mourning something than he did anything else.
But what was there to lament? Tao Hua was the victim and Shan Si held all the cards; he wasn't the one powerless between the two.
Despite Tao Hua's terrible state, he froze, almost breaking a sweat. He quickly motioned, slapping his hand to the wood once more to try to push himself off the ground. However, he flinched, falling to a point where his head nearly rammed into the ground.
It hurt a lot more now that he was aware. He looked down at his hands, watching as the skin split open, and rivers of blood trailing through the dried of mess. Each time he moved a limb, it would tremble and send a shock of pain through his body.
But each time he tried to move it, the pain increased, as if burning him through. That was mostly due to all the dirt lodged in each gash.
But Tao Hua just stared at it, eyes glazed, yet still refusing to cry. In a pitiful attempt, he tried once more, but to his surprise, he was gripped by the arm, with a heavy weight falling on the shoulder opposite.
Completely shocked, Tao Hua's head darted forward, and what he found made him sit there in utter silence—more shocking than being shocked itself.
Shan Si had knelt, pushing Tao Hua up and onto his knees at the shove of his shoulder. And carefully, he lifted Tao Hua's arm up, trailing his hand down to his wrist.
This made Tao Hua jerk in response, but even if he tried, there was no escaping that hold.
His bottom lip quivered alongside all of him, and his mind wandered to the many things this man could do to him in his current state. Was he mad? Did Tao Hua do something wrong?
Was he taking too long?
A dark cloud loomed over him. He thought, Of that's it—
But it wasn't.
Shan Si had turned Tao Hua's palm, facing up, and with the pinch of his brows, he sneered, "I told you to get up and you decided to cut yourself instead. Deathwish or something?"
The question was asked without the intention of receiving an answer. Seemed this was a common tactic of Shan Si's. His eyes moved up and met Tao Hua's.
Unable to decipher his intentions, Tao Hua nearly melted against the intimidation of the way Shan Si's eyes squinted at him. But that soon changed when he said, "Hold it still and keep it upright."
Letting his hand go, Shan Si reached into his sleeve, rummaging through it. As he did this, Tao Hua tried to keep his hand upright—though the exhaustion was beginning to tighten his already weak muscles.
He kept ruminating through his thoughts, each one causing that hand to lower the more he fell into the anxiety of what was to come next.
He fucked up—fucking up always had consequences.
And as soon as Shan Si brought whatever item he was searching for out of his sleeve, Tao Hua nearly choked in fear. However, that too would end in a surprise.
Shan Si, focused, held up a small container and slowly twisted off its top. It looked expensive, and carefully wrapped with how gentle this man was in flipping over each fold of a cloth.
"Hand," said Shan Si as he dipped two fingers into whatever the substance was.
Tao Hua was hesitant, trying to study Shan Si and the mysterious substance.
Placing the container on the ground, Shan Si met Tao Hua's eyes once more. After a few minutes, and no hand, he repeated more harshly, "Hand."
but after one more command, he jumped forward and gave Shan Si his hand,
I-Is that a…medicine? Tao Hua thought, staring down at it. He watched as Shan Si lifted his fingers, hovering them over Tao Hua's hands.
"W-What…are you—"
But he just let out a loud groan, his eyes nearly reeling back at the stinging pain of whatever the fuck that stuff was. Shan Si spread it across each gash, careful with his movements.
"Can't have you bleeding out on me," he said, his eyes focused on Tao Hua's hand, almost naturally. "It's not a peaceful journey back home."
The way he looked, it was akin to the man he'd met earlier that day. Calm and unbothered—focused on what he needed to do.
Tao Hua winced a few times, biting his lip, and each time he did, Shan Si would stiffen and pause. As soon as Tao Hua's hand relaxed, his fingers would continue this episode of rinse and repeat, rubbing in whatever the fuck it melted entirely on Tao Hua's skin.
Though his hand was burning, the substance felt bitterly cold.
And every bit of it was awful as it was confusing, nearly sending Tao Hua to the point of fear.
When Shan Si removed his hand and dug it back into his sleeve, Tao Hua's heart nearly leaped out of his chest, watching as he pulled out a bundle of fabric, all messily jumbled up.
With a swish! Shan Si straightened it out and that's when Tao Hua's walls slowly fell.
Is it a gauze…?
With another flinch, his eyes fell on the way Shan Si meticulously wrapped it around his hand. The silken fabric, once clean, started to soak with blood, and each time it did, Shan Si wrapped more.
It…it was a gauze. Tao Hua couldn't believe it.
He finished it off with a tight knot, and to this, Tao Hua pressed his lips together, his brows quivering.
Was this intruder tending to his wounds?
He glanced back up at Shan Si, who ripped the rest of the gauze with his teeth and pocketed the rest. Once done, he got to his feet and stared down at Tao Hua.
"I'm restarting the timer. Get up."
Chapter end.