The first time they clashed, Luo Yueshuang grabbed him by the collar, eyes red. “What the hell gives you the right to hurt for me?”
Xuan Xinhe chuckled softly, letting him hold on as he leaned close to his ear.
“Because when you hurt, I hurt even more.”
The second time, Luo Yueshuang was cornered by him in the cell.
Xuan Xinhe raised a hand and brushed his thumb over the corner of Luo Yueshuang’s mouth. There was nothing there, but Luo Yueshuang knew he had bitten his lip in the office just moments before.
“Warden,” Xuan Xinhe said, looking at him, “every time you hurt yourself, I want to rush over and hold your hand.”
“None of your damn business.”
“It is my business,” Xuan Xinhe said. “Because you are me. Ever since that night of the moon eclipsing the sun, you’ve been me, and I’ve been you.”
The third time, Luo Yueshuang finally resigned as warden.
He stood before Xuan Xinhe, bewilderment in his eyes now that the rules had fallen apart. “So… what are we now?”
Xuan Xinhe didn’t answer.
He simply took Luo Yueshuang’s hand and pressed it against his chest.
His heart was beating fast.
“It’s you,” he said. “From the moment you first pushed open that door, I’ve been waiting.”
Later, someone asked Xuan Xinhe what he saw in Luo Yueshuang.
He thought for a moment, then smiled with a tenderness that was as shameless as it was genuine.
“A warden who treats rules like a faith. Cold all over, wary-eyed, yet still daring to break every rule for me. That reckless, foolish courage…”
He paused, looking toward the figure in a blue shirt in the distance.
“It’s intoxicating.”
Luo Yueshuang turned and met his gaze.
He said nothing. He simply walked over and, as everyone watched in astonishment, grabbed Xuan Xinhe by the collar.
