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Chapter 27

Thank you MCJohnston and Granny for your coffees! <3

TLC: Lilies

Editing: Mashiro

What was once placed in front of him was two different puzzles.

Either was far from being complete, but he wanted to know their full pictures. In the process of assembling them, he had found that some places felt similar, but he didn’t think deeply about it.

Until now.

Until now, when he finally discovered that they were simply different parts of the same picture.

That picture immediately became complete, vivid to the point of being somewhat scary. The man from the picture came out, and walked to his side, entering his world.

But the rain was pouring down in that world, chilling them to their bones.

The two of them walked under their own umbrellas with no contact between them.

The fifteen-minutes walk felt unusually long, as neither of them initiated any conversation.

This silence made the wet asphalt before them seem never-ending. It stretched and winded, between streets and alleys, as if they could walk on it forever and never see the end.

On this rainy weekend, besides stalls selling breakfasts, most of the shops were closed. The alleys that were bustling on weekdays now felt cold and desolated. Occasionally, a car or two would ride over a puddle with a splash. Besides that, the only audible sound was the pitter-pattering of rain droplets hitting their umbrellas.

Qi Jing walked in the front, leading the way, while Shen Yan followed behind him, keeping silence.

Every time Qi Jing couldn’t help but slow down to look behind and check if that man was still following him. The distance between them would shorten, and they would walk side by side, but whenever that happened, Shen Yan would again slow down accordingly, allowing them to stagger back to their original distance.

The clinic had just opened a while ago, and there was no one in the waiting room, except a person who looked like a janitor. He sleepily came out to throw out the garbage bags.

Qi Jing was currently asking the janitor if the doctor was in, but Shen Yan’s eyes were focused on the garbage bags that have just been thrown out. Those were just the ordinary small plastic bags in different colours; under the translucent plastic he could vaguely see animal fur and blood stains mixed with the medical gloves.

Furrowing his brows slightly, he followed Qi Jing and the janitor to the front of the doctor’s office.

The one to receive them was the same doctor who diagnosed Little Return Date yesterday. It seemed like he didn’t get enough sleep, his hair was messy, even two of the buttons on his lab coat were misbuttoned.

When Qi Jing inquired about the condition of Little Return Date, he laughed and said: “It contracted feline distemper, so it needs to be on drip for at least one week. It’s still too early to say anything.” At that time, Shen Yan who was standing by the side asked suddenly: “Would you mind if we went and took a look at it?”

The other party agreed readily, “Of course, of course. But the cat needs to continue being hospitalised.”

While guiding them to the tiny cat ward, the doctor kept trying to sell imported drugs to Qi Jing, explaining how they were more effective. After opening the door, their senses were assaulted with the strong odour of animal faeces. Qi Jing frowned slightly, instinctively covering his mouth and nose while Shen Yan seemed to be used to it already as he went inside.

There were ten cages of various sizes placed in the roughly nine square metre ward, and Little Return Date was placed in one of them. It was still covered with Qi Jing’s blanket, it was languid and its eyes were shut. There was indeed a drop bottle hanging beside it, connected to its small paw with a thin infusion tube.

Seeing this, Shen Yan’s expression became grim as he said in a low deep voice: “Are you sure this kitten has panleukopenia?”

The doctor nodded: “Of course, tests and the amount of leukocytes can prove it”

Shen Yan looked him in the eyes, his gaze stern, making the doctor feel a little scared. Without saying a word, he came over to the cage to observe the appearance of Little Return Date, then he said: ”This kitten seems to be at most two months old. It still should have retained the antibodies from its mother, so the probability of it developing panleukopenia is very small. Even if it really contracted it, you not only didn’t isolate it, but you also put it in the same room as the other cats, causing a danger of cross infection—it’s a violation of the biggest taboo of dealing with panleukopenia.”

This clinic didn’t even have a separate rubbish can for biomedical waste, and there were bloodstains everywhere. It was obvious that disinfection and sanitation work were substandard, and the risk of infection was very high.

With him stating the matter so clearly, the doctor finally realised that he was a fellow vet, and his expression changed drastically.

Qi Jing was bewildered, he stared at the doctor and asked coldly: “So you were lying to me?”

“You’re mistaken, this cat really caught a panleukopenia!” The doctor figured that Qi Jing was the owner of the cat, so he came over to him in big strides, yelling with emotion: “Mister, would you rather believe the medical tests, or a baseless statement? Who will be held responsible in case this kitten gets discharged and dies?”

In a moment of desperation, he actually used Little Return Date’s life as a bargaining chip.

At that moment, Shen Yan turned the drip bottle over, and frowned seeing the words on it: “Even glucose and saline water are expired. If you leave the kitten here, I’m afraid that it won’t make it out of this clinic.”

The situation was already clear. When Qi Jing heard these words, his heart sank, and he could only feel a deep remorse caused by his mistake.

If he had found a better place to treat Little Return Date at that time, it wouldn’t have gone through all this pain. If only he had put aside the conflicts in his heart and went to see Shen Yan then...

Amidst the arguments and excuses from the doctor and nurses, Qi Jing chose to discharge the kitten from that clinic without a second thought.

The doctor insisted that their diagnosis was right, but was unable to produce neither the blood examination result nor the test results from the day before, saying that he had already disposed of them right after the examination was concluded. In the end, Qi Jing couldn’t even get the most basic data. He’d just treat the money he paid as a payment for a hard lesson learnt.

After taking out the IV needle, Little Return Date looked even worse than before getting admitted. The secretion in the corners of its eyes has already become a sticky mess, making it unable to open its eyes, and its limbs were hanging without any strength. At his repeated requests, the nurse gave them two disposable diapers and a disinfectant wipe reluctantly.

Shen Yan sat quietly at one side, using a wipe to clean Little Return Date’s eyes and the filth around the puncture from the needle. Then, he wrapped it with two layers of diapers, so that it would temporarily keep it warm.

After all the things that happened in one night, that little blanket was dirty with who knows how many animals’ fur and feces, and who knew if it contained any bacteria from other cats. Seeing Shen Yan shaking his head slightly, Qi Jing threw the blanket away without any hesitation, planning to buy a clean and comfortable one for the little guy.

But these small acts done to atone for his mistake couldn’t alleviate his self-blame.

Qi Jing held the little guy in a daze. He nested the small and thin body in the crook of his arm, and lowered his head to press his cheek against its forehead. The kitten seemed to feel his touch, a pair of cat ears trembled a little, and the fine fur tickled his face.

“I’m sorry...” He turned his face, and murmured with his lips almost touching the little guy’s ears.

It was as if Little Return Date heard the pain contained in his voice. Its ears stood upright, and the little head moved up a little. It opened its eyes slightly, uttering a couple of feeble meows.

“Let me take care of it.” Shen Yan’s murmur could be heard from a close distance.

Qi Jing nodded lightly with his head down, but he couldn’t bear to let it go. He hugged it for a long time before handing it over to Shen Yan.

They were ready to leave the clinic. Qi Jing was injured, and his movements were restricted, so it would be hard for him to go out on a rainy day with a cat in his arms. He understood that Shen Yan was being considerate of him, and his anxious heart had gradually calmed down when he heard those words.

Once again, Shen Yan opened an umbrella for him first before opening his own, and they went out together.

Outside the clinic, the rain had subsided for a bit, but the sky was still overcast. The cars on the road had already turned on the headlights, illuminating the wet road.

“We can’t use a subway or any public transport with a cat. Let’s just hail a cab.” Shen Yan didn’t openly state where they were going, but Qi Jing was very clear about it.

It’s not that he never thought of the possibility of returning to that hospital one day, he just didn’t expect it to be so soon, nor did he expect that it would be the doctor himself who would pick him up.

They hailed a cab and headed towards the north part of the city.

Qi Jing walked towards the car door. Just as he was about to put down the umbrella to pull on the door handle, Shen Yan suddenly leaned over without making a sound, and reached to open the car door for him.

Qi Jing was startled. He tightened his grip on the umbrella slightly before saying, “... Thank you.”

Now, that man’s hand was less than a few centimeters away from his. When he subconsciously loosened his grip, Shen Yan subtly took the umbrella from him, holding it for him. The rain fell continuously, but not a single droplet fell upon him. “You go in first, I’ll take the umbrella.”

“Thank you.” He repeated this phrase mechanically. He didn’t know what else he could say, or how he would say it.

Only after he sat in a car did Shen Yan close the umbrella and went to the other side of the taxi to get in the backseat with him.

The road from there to the north of the city would usually take twenty to thirty minutes. With such bad weather and a slippery road, the taxi driver didn’t dare to drive too fast. If they run into a traffic jam on their way, it would probably take even longer.

Maybe because it felt comfortable being held along the way, Little Return Date moved a little, and crawled out groggily. It first opened its eyes to size up the stranger before it.

Shen Yan saw it waking up. He didn’t do anything else besides placing his thumb on the base of its ears, gently putting the four fingers on the top of its head, stroking the fur there patiently.

Little Return Date was rather wary in the beginning, when he put his hand on it, it struggled for a while. It was probably still terrified by the experiences from yesterday. But after a long while of stroking, its slightly standing fur softened down, and it found a comfortable angle to place its tail. It raised its head to rub against his hand a couple of times, then lied down and continued to doze off.

It looked like the little guy had already gotten used to Shen Yan.

“How is the kitten’s situation?” With the two of them sitting next to each other, this was the first time for Qi Jing to take initiative to talk. At that moment, his state of mind was much calmer than in the morning, and his voice no longer trembled. It was just that when he talked to Shen Yan, it was a little husky.

“It still has a fever, but its current state is very stable. For anything else, I’d have to see the examination results.” Shen Yan’s response was also somewhat husky. Qi Jing could hear that.

And exactly because he could hear that, that bitterness in his heart spread gradually, like a drop of ink that landed on a sheet of xuan paper.

Even though, up until the moment when the umbrella was lifted to reveal the person under it, they were greeting each other like a pair of good friends.

Even though, up to yesterday night, they were still chatting, talking to each other so naturally.

Even though... He was once able to laugh freely in front of him.

He didn’t want them to be like now, having no words to say to one another.

“It’s called Return Date.” When he spoke once again, he could sense that the other party had glanced in his direction. That glance stayed on him for as short as his pause lasted.

“The little guy’s name.” Qi Jing added. He did his best to sound just the same as when they chatted before—calm, gentle. “When I picked it up, I didn’t think too hard and just used the last two words from my ID.”

“Return Date.” Shen Yan repeated in a low voice. It sounded just as if he was calling Qi Jing.

It made Qi Jing feel a little awkward which prompted him to give a friendly reminder. “You can... add ‘Little’ in front of it.”

When he said that, the person sitting by his side seemingly laughed faintly.

It was a very light laugh, but Qi Jing felt as if the air once again started to flow naturally in the car.

“Do you want to stroke Little Return Date for a while, to make it feel at ease?” Shen Yan asked him.

Qi Jing responded with an “Mhm”. He thought that Shen Yan would hand over the little fellow for him to hold, but the man didn’t move at all, he just removed his hand from the kitten’s head to give Qi Jing some space. They were sitting very close, and Qi Jing sat on his left side, so just by reaching out slightly, he would indeed be able to touch Little Return Date.

I’ll just stroke it for a bit. Qi Jing thought.

He reached out his hand, across the space between the two of them, and finally touched Little Return Date’s head. The feeling of fine, soft and smooth fur on his hand felt very comfortable.

Little Return Date had probably smelled its owner, so it turned its body over and lifted its head, so that it could lick his hand. Amused by its behaviour, it elicited a smile from Qi Jing. He was about to knead its ear and massage the top of its head, but who would have expected the little fella to stretch out its paws and hold his fingers, refusing to let go.

Qi Jing had been caught off guard, and wanted to slowly take away his hand.

But at that moment, Little Return Date started meowing miserably. It made both his heart and his fingers soften, and he could only leave his hand like this.

The only problem was, the kitten was lying on Shen Yan’s chest.

With Qi Jing’s hand placed like this, the back of his hand inevitably touched it lightly

Originally he wanted to move away slightly, but unexpectedly, Little Return Date put its entire body weight on it, so his fingers were stuck and he could no longer move them. He slightly adjusted his sitting posture to make it more natural, but it wasn’t very effective and part of the weight of his arm was still on that person’s chest

“I’m sorry, this...”

“It doesn’t matter.”

This unexpected touch was glossed over with just six words.

It’s all your fault. Qi Jing smiled bitterly and pinched Little Return Date’s paw. Little Return Date was still oblivious of its faults. Feeling its owner pinching it, it tightened its grip instead.

Under these circumstances, Qi Jing tried to stroke it lightly.

The movement of his fingers were restricted, so the highest place he could touch was little fella’s neck, hence he lightly scratched its chin with two fingers. The kitten especially loved to be touched there, so it raised its head very obediently.

It was just that with every move he made, the back of his hand would brush Shen Yan’s clothes.

As Shen Yan had given him his jacket, that man was only wearing a long-sleeved shirt and Qi Jing could easily feel his body heat being transmitted through the thin layer of fabric.

So he slowed down his movements.

He didn’t cease them; just slowed down.

Qi Jing thought that he had found a rather poor pretext to satisfy his selfish motives.

He had already gotten used to Geese Fly North’s voice and Shen Yan himself appeared at the same time. The boundary between his impression of the two began to blur, and he could not discern who was who anymore.

He felt closer to him in this tiny car than, when they were under that roof.

Perhaps it’s not the physical distance that had shortened, but his thoughts of wanting to get closer to Shen Yan which had become clearer.

Although he didn’t know what the consequences would be, he had a lot of excuses to use. For example the chill of the rain, or the warmth of the other party, or the short time together in the car for half an hour.

Or perhaps his cold that he was still recovering from.

Qi Jing felt a little dizzy, so he used it as another pretext.

After all, it’s normal to have symptoms of fever, isn’t it?

He leaned back on his seat. He felt the dizziness overcome his consciousness and couldn’t help but close his eyes, unable to think anymore.

The warmth he felt on the back of his hand was like an anaesthetic, numbness spread from that place throughout his body. It seemed like even his throat hadn’t been spared, because of that, he kinda lost control over his breathing and his breaths began to hasten.

In order to clear his mind a little, he opened his eyes once again.

He had just glanced at the rear-view mirror when he caught the sight of the man beside him. That man was probably also looking at him, because their eyes met in the mirror.

Qi Jing nearly jumped at that. He subconsciously let go of the kitten and pulled away from Shen Yan abruptly, but before he could even gather his thoughts, Shen Yan lifted his arm and quickly grasped his hand in midair

A/N: I really wish I could be that taxi driver...

T/N: Lucilla: And I don’t, my obnoxious gawking would scare these two into forgetting about their gay panic. And we don’t want that, do we? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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