"You're saying Qixian escaped?!" Jin Rou roared the moment the notification flashed across his screen. The sudden outburst echoed through the room, sharp and frustrated.
"Qixian?" his father appeared out of nowhere , "escaped from what?" his father questioned, looking up with a furrowed brow.
"Oh, Father... I meant... that—that is to say..." Jin Rou stammered, his pulse racing as he scrambled for a lie. "The gala is next week, and there are only six days left including today. I had simply ordered someone to escort Qixian home so we could prepare together..." He offered the reasoning nervously, his words tripping over one another.
His father maintained a heavy silence, eyeing him with deep suspicion for several long seconds. "Do not force him. If he has no desire to attend, then so be it," his father stated flatly.
"Wouldn't it be better for him to go? If he doesn't, our Zhou reputation that you've built so far would crumble, isn't it, dad?" Jin Rou told his father.
"That's right..." his father started to ponder, "Still, do not pick a fight with him, I know you two aren't really on good terms, and if the fight between you two worsen, it would be a disaster for our family image," he advised, his tone carrying a hint of a warning.
"Yes, Father. I understand. I'll make sure it won't happen," Jin Rou replied, forcing a tight, fake smile onto his face.
"He is still your brother," his father added, his voice turning firm and unyielding. "Do not let your frustrations turn into a conflict, I'm telling you this, for your own good."
"Of course, Father. I'll certainly try," Jin Rou murmured, lowering his gaze to hide the flicker of resentment in his eyes.
"Good. Since the gala is indeed drawing near, do not let yourself be preoccupied by him. We have a mountain of work to finish," his father said, turning toward the door.
'You are right, dad, I have a mountain of work to do' Jin Rou thought as if he has a perfect plan crossing in his mind right now.
"We are the ones in charge of the event this year, so ensure everything is absolutely perfect." With that final command, his father took his leave, leaving Jin Rou alone with his thoughts.
_________________
Sihan was about to go to Qixian's room when a sudden knock arrived at his door. "Huh? Who could be knocking at this hour?" Sihan muttered to himself, his heart sinking slightly as he cautiously opened the door. He swung it open only to freeze. "Huh? Haoran? Yichen? What on earth are you two doing here so early in the morning?"
"Well, you sent a literal army of guards to the clinic. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on," Haoran said, already stepping past Sihan into the foyer.
"And once I saw the sheer number of men you had deployed, I decided to send a few more of my own just in case," Yichen added, following closely behind. He scanned the hallway with a judging eye. "I figured the clinic might be a dangerous place to stay for the time being, so I brought Haoran here to your house. What is happening, anyway? Why the sudden heavy security around his clinic?"
'Ah, damn it... of all the times for them to show up, they chose to come here today!' Sihan thought letting out a sigh of distress, a cold sweat breaking out on his neck. He forced his voice to remain steady. "Ah, well, after the incident last time, I just figured I couldn't be too careful. I thought they might come after Haoran since they won't be able to find Qixian, since Qixian's workplace is very secretive, they won't find him since they only knew where the clinic is, so yeah, That's all."
"Makes sense," Yichen agreed, "you're really smart, though Haoran's smarter."
"Are you complimenting me or are you mocking me?" Sihan glared.
"What do you think?" Yichen laughed.
"Tsk" Sihan rolled his eyes, "you two, go ahead to the living room," Sihan redirected, starting to walk in the opposite direction. "I'll go prepare some coffee."
"Ah, wait, Sihan—you're going the wrong way. The kitchen is over there, right? Did you change the place? Or is that you had just lost your mind?" Yichen pointed out, his brow arching in confusion.
'This bastard! Why do you have to be so observant?! I need to warn Qixian! Tsk, now I understand how Qixian felt.' Sihan complained internally. Aloud, he simply cleared his throat. "I... I forgot to do something upstairs first."
"Well, I can go grab whatever it is for you," Yichen offered, already making a move toward the stairs. "You should start on the coffee, since you're the only one who actually makes it right."
"Wait!" Sihan lunged forward, grabbing Yichen's arm to pull him back. "I can do it myself, Yichen. Really."
Yichen stopped, squinting at him. "Why? Are you hiding a secret in this house?"
"Huh?" Sihan blinked, his expression momentarily blank. "I'm not."
"Come on, Sihan. We've been friends like forever, we don't keep secrets from each other," Yichen said, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly.
"I told you, I'm not hiding anything," Sihan retorted, crossing his own arms to mimic Yichen's stubborn stance.
"What are you two bickering about now?" Haoran asked, having already made himself at home on the living room couch.
"Hey, Haoran, look at how stubborn Yichen is being. Do you think it's because he was born on May fifth?" Sihan called out.
"Maybe," Haoran shrugged, though his dry tone suggested he completely agreed with the assessment.
"Ugh, just because I'm the third wheel now, you two always feel the need to gang up on me," Yichen grumbled, rolling his eyes dramatically. "Fine then, go do it yourself. I'll just rest here. But come fown fast and make me a coffee," He plopped down on the large sofa opposite Haoran, finally yielding.
"Am I a friend or a maid?" Sihan complained, though he let out a long, silent breath of relief and bolted upstairs toward the room where Qixian was hiding. But just as he reached the final step, his heart nearly stopped. Qixian was already out in the hallway, limping toward the stairs.
"Sihan? Why are you back upstairs? I thought you were leaving, so I was just about to head down... to steal some food, you know..." Qixian said, pausing as he saw Sihan's panicked face.
"How can you be so incredibly careless?!" Sihan hissed, his eyebrows shooting up. "Walking around with an injury like that?"
"Sihan! Do you need help up there? We're coming up!" Yichen's voice boomed from the bottom of the stairs, followed by the heavy thud of approaching footsteps.
Qixian's eyes went wide with terror. He clamped a hand over his own mouth, his gaze screaming 'What the fuck? Why are they here?!'
"Get back inside!" Sihan whispered-yelled. He reached out to support Qixian, but despite his injuries, the younger man moved like lightning.
Qixian scrambled back into the guest room and immediately locked the door just as the others reached the second floor.
'How can he run like that with those wounds?' Sihan wondered, his mouth agape in disbelief.
"Sihan! There you are!" Yichen called out as he and Haoran crested the stairs.
Sihan spun around to face them, trying to look casual. "Oh, sorry. I got a bit carried away with... things... wait... Not even a minute has passed!"
"For me, it took you so long? You weren't answering us, so we thought we'd come help," Yichen said, stepping onto the second-floor landing.
"Oh yeah? I was just about to head back down," Sihan said, though he nervously scratched the back of his neck.
Suddenly, Yichen paused, his nose twitching. "Wait... I smell something—something nice... and it's really familiar... Sihan, did you start a flower garden inside your house?"
Sihan's heart hammered against his ribs. "Well, I... I have a lot of flowers inside this room," he gestured vaguely at the door.
"Isn't that one of the guest rooms?" Yichen asked, stepping closer with curiosity.
"Ah, wait!" Sihan tried to block him, but Yichen had already reached out and gripped the handle.
"Why won't it open?" Yichen muttered, jiggling the knob.
Sihan exhaled, his lungs finally burning for air. "Obviously, because it's locked," he said, regaining his composure.
"Can you open it? I really want to see what kind of flowers you have in there!" Haoran asked excitedly, joining them at the door.
"No. Absolutely not. I'm only showing it to you once the arrangement is finished," Sihan said firmly. He grabbed Haoran's arm gently and began steering him back toward the stairs. "Now let's go downstairs. I'm going to make us all some breakfast."
'That scent really is familiar,' Yichen thought to himself, casting one last look at the door as he followed them. 'I honestly wanted to find out what flower is that, so I can get some for my own room.'
Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, Qixian was slumped against the wood, using every ounce of his strength to suppress his leaking pheromones. 'Damn it, that was too fucking close!' he thought, eventually collapsing onto the bed.
"Wait... are they seriously staying here all day?" Qixian realized, "How am I supposed to eat? Am I just trapped in here for the next twelve hours? With them in the house, I can't even step out to stretch!" He complained to the empty room. 'Can I even stretch? My injuries hurt like hell I wanna cry so bad... no... if I cry, it only proves that they won, that they got what they desperately want to see from me...' he thought, 'Ugh! Why am I so random???' he added as he groaned.