Too Late, No Exceptions

Microfiction: laugh every day, and stay ten years younger.

[Blurb]

When Lu Chenyuan brought Su Nian home for the first time, all the servants assumed he was just another one of the young master's many playthings.

After all, everyone knew Lu Chenyuan's heart belonged to his beloved, the one he cherished like a moonlit treasure. Anyone else was just a way to while away the loneliness.

Su Nian had once believed he was the exception, too.

He cooked for Lu Chenyuan, traded every point awarded by the System for limited-edition items Lu casually mentioned, and waited through countless late nights for him to return from someone else's embrace. He even embroidered his own name onto a jacket that smelled of another person's perfume.

But when Lu Chenyuan stayed away all night for a phone call from his beloved while Su Nian was burning with fever, and when the cuff links Su Nian had saved points for over three months to buy were casually tossed to a waiter, the light in Su Nian's eyes finally went out.

He began a silent countdown. He obeyed Lu Chenyuan as if following a program, but his compliance no longer held even a trace of love.

Lu Chenyuan panicked.

He deliberately came home late, deliberately returned with signs of an affair, and even made a show of accompanying his beloved when they came back to the country, all just to make Su Nian frown, if only once.

But Su Nian always smiled and said, "Get some rest," as calmly as if he were looking at a stranger.

Then, on the final night, his beloved asked for help in an "accident." Lu Chenyuan stormed out in a fit of pique. As he left, he saw Su Nian standing in the entrance, softly saying, "Be careful on the way."

His voice was so gentle, as if he were saying goodbye forever.

Lu Chenyuan thought this was the start of a jealous outburst. He hurried back after taking care of the "problem," only to find an empty villa and a letter written in delicate handwriting:

"Mr. Lu, my three years are up. I bid you farewell."

Later, Lu Chenyuan smashed everything connected to his beloved and called in every favor he had, turning the whole city upside down.

Only then did he finally understand:

Once someone has accumulated enough disappointment, they really will stop waiting.

(Early on, the uke pursues the seme and makes him suffer; later, the seme regrets everything and suffers in turn.)

Theme: The three-year term is up. No extensions.