Three years ago, Lin Shen was the shadow Gu Yanzhi kept hidden away.
A black card, a contract, and the words “Come whenever I call.” He was trapped in this unequal relationship, giving all his love only to be treated as an accessory that could be discarded at any moment. Gu Yanzhi’s heart belonged to the woman he had cherished since youth. She was plagued by illness and had become his most tender weakness. Lin Shen, meanwhile, was merely company when he was lonely and comfort when he was down, someone who had always come second.
From following him with a heart full of joy to carefully trying to please him, Lin Shen gradually lost all his edges in that vast, cold villa, turning himself into a mindless puppet who revolved around Gu Yanzhi.
Yet he still sank deeper into this hopeless love, clinging to the rare tenderness in Gu Yanzhi’s eyes when he taught him to play piano, and the brief warmth of his embrace late at night, only to be hurt again and again by his coldness. For the sake of one complaint that his true love felt unwell, Gu Yanzhi could leave Lin Shen alone on a freezing street. There was not a trace of pity in his eyes, only the callousness of someone who thought it perfectly reasonable.
He thought that if he endured long enough, he could eventually warm that icy heart. But Gu Yanzhi repeatedly pushed him toward despair to fulfill his true love’s wishes, until a sudden fire swallowed all of Lin Shen’s hopes and obsessions. Only then did Lin Shen finally wake up: he had never been a source of comfort. In Gu Yanzhi’s heart, he was a sacrifice who could be offered up at any moment for the sake of the one he loved.
