Chapter 39 – A Heart That Still Knows
Xiao Xi woke to a pervasive stillness, the sound of the medical monitors soft and rhythmic.
A gentle warmth enveloped her hand.
Her eyes fluttered open.
Gu Yanzhou was still there, asleep beside the bed, his head resting awkwardly on their intertwined fingers.
He looked exhausted, vulnerable, and completely devoted.
Her breath caught, a painful, tiny sound in her chest.
He'd stayed.
Despite the hacker, despite his mother, despite the truth she'd confessed.
She gently tried to pull her hand away, not wanting to disturb him—
but even in his deep, exhausted sleep, he tightened his grip instinctively, pulling her hand closer to his face.
"…Don't go," he murmured, the two words raw and whispered, torn from someplace deep and wounded.
Xiao Xi's heart trembled violently, a surge of love and despair threatening to overwhelm her.
"…Don't leave me again," he finished, a plea whispered to the sheets.
She swallowed hard, blinking away hot, silent tears.
Even unconscious, even believing she had rejected him, he wanted her close.
He needed her.
She gently freed her hand anyway—a necessary self-preservation measure—because if she didn't, she'd allow herself to fall apart again, and the hacker was still out there.
That small movement woke him.
His gaze snapped up, his eyes instantly focused, the cold CEO mask softening immediately when he saw her awake.
"Xiao Xi…" he breathed, his relief palpable.
She looked away, fighting the intense emotion.
"You should go, Gu Yanzhou.
You don't have to stay."
"I want to stay."
"You shouldn't. It's too dangerous."
"Why?"
Her throat closed.
Because the system is broken.
Because your cousin wants me gone. Because loving you might kill me.
She forced out the safest, most painful excuse: "Your mother doesn't want you near me. You know that."
His expression darkened, not with anger toward her, but with an intense, sudden focus on the external enemy.
"She doesn't get to choose who I care about.
She doesn't get to choose who I save."
Her heart stuttered, the unexpected, definitive declaration almost too much to bear.
But before she could speak, the hospital lights flickered once, violently.
Her system, dormant since the attack, glowed faintly in her mind.
[Unauthorized signal detected. Source: Proximate.]
Xiao Xi stiffened, fear overriding every other emotion.
Gu Yanzhou moved immediately, sensing the change in her body language.
"What's wrong, Xiao Xi? What did you see?"
She whispered, terrified, "…They're coming back.
They know I'm awake."