Tears slipped silently down. Like shattered starlight upon her pale cheek. “I don’t know… I truly don’t know… that you would choose to punish me with death… why so cruel…” Her voice was rough as she laughed hollowly.

“So… Luo Xi… this is my punishment… right?… I hurt you because of Xiao Cheng… so heaven must take Xiao Cheng away… to punish me…” Tears choked her throat; she squeezed her eyes shut, her dark lashes glistening wetly with the moisture, a strange flush blooming on her pale face. She began to cough violently, her chest heaving, yet the tears kept streaming down relentlessly. “Then, are you punishing me?!” Ou Chen cried out mournfully, the surging pain and bitterness in his core making him forget she was raving in a high fever.

He grasped her shoulders tightly, forcing her eyes open, his voice wrenching as if from the final struggle of a dying beast. “Is it because I used marriage to threaten you! Because I refused to donate a kidney to Xiao Cheng directly!

Is that why all this happened! Luo Xi’s suicide, Xiao Cheng’s refusal of the surgery, it’s all because of my selfishness! Are you punishing me for that?!” The sound of his voice, so close to her ear, gradually stiffened her body, like a needle piercing through a great fire and white mist, creating a fissure between nightmare and reality.

She stared at him blankly. Under the weight of his heartbroken cries, her chaotic, dispersed gaze slowly gained a sliver of focus. She gazed at him vacantly, her body cycling between heat and cold, a roaring echo in her mind, as if trapped in an inescapable dream.

She couldn't clearly make out his words, but the devastating pain in his eyes scorched her. “Selfish…” Tears slowly slid past her dark lashes. She gazed at him blankly, her cracked lips moving slightly, murmuring so softly, “Is there… anyone more selfish than me… for Xiao Cheng’s sake… willing to sacrifice everyone else… knowing it would hurt Luo Xi… knowing such a marriage… would only bring you agony… knowing that even with the surgery… Xiao Cheng might still leave… yet still wanting to take your kidney…” “I don’t care…” Ou Chen pressed his lips together, locking his gaze onto the tears tracing paths down her face.

At this moment, were her tears flowing for him? Even feverish as she was, did a tiny corner of her heart still hold a place for him? If so… that would be a happiness worth savoring for a lifetime… “You did nothing wrong… the fault has always been mine… Xia Mo, it was my desperate desire to possess you… my grip was too tight… that’s why I caused you so much pain…” In the hospital room.

The deep shadows of the night enveloped the two figures by the sickbed. He gently wiped the tears from her face. Then, he softly drew her into his embrace.

He didn't hold her tightly as he usually did; instead, his hold was so gentle that a slight struggle would grant her immediate freedom. But she lacked the strength. Weak in the fever, she leaned against his shoulder, her body alternating between scalding heat and icy chill, as if a pervasive mist filled her, or searing flames consumed her.

Her body was fragile and powerless, only the words Xiao Cheng had once spoken to her flashing repeatedly in her mind— ……………… “So, Brother Luo Xi can just go die? Brother Luo Xi already committed suicide because of that wedding! He’s lying in a hospital bed fighting for his life!… Aren’t you afraid he’ll actually die?!” … “And Brother Ou Chen… for me… he has to have one of his kidneys removed… for me… do you really have to sacrifice so many people…” Summer of Bubbles III