Su Bai paid the cab driver in silence, his movements calm and deliberate as he stepped out onto the hospital grounds. The crisp winter air greeted him, carrying with it the faint but unmistakable scent of disinfectant and something metallic. The hospital loomed ahead, stark and sterile, a pce that held no fond memories for him.

  Walking past the hospital wn, he noticed a few patients scattered near flower beds, basking in the weak sunlight. Most were elderly, their weathered faces tilted toward the sky, soaking in what warmth they could. Among them, a small, thin boy caught his attention. He stood apart from the others, his head bowed, shoulders slumped in a posture that seemed too heavy for someone so young. His hands hung limply by his sides, and his downcast eyes carried a quiet gloom.

  Su Bai’s gaze lingered for only a moment before he turned away, uninterested. He didn’t notice the way the boy’s gaze flicked toward him as he walked past, a faint glimmer of confusion in his dull eyes.

  Inside, Su Bai bypassed the crowded waiting area, heading straight to the sonography department. The smell of disinfectant grew stronger, invasive and suffocating. His hand instinctively moved to cover his nose with a soft handkerchief. He despised this pce, not just for the scent but for the memories it held.

  This hospital had seen him at his lowest. He could still remember lying alone in a cold, sterile room, his body weak and his spirit broken after the miscarriage. No one had come for him. Not a single retive had stepped through those doors to offer him comfort. They had all been too busy tending to the protagonist shou, the center of their universe. Su Bai? He had been nothing more than an afterthought, a tool discarded when it no longer served its purpose.

  The bitterness threatened to consume him, but Su Bai quickly pinched his wrist, grounding himself. The sharp sting brought him back to the present, his breathing slowly steadying. He refused to let those memories control him anymore.

  A nurse called his name, breaking his thoughts. Su Bai stood and followed her into the sonography room.

  He y down on the examination table, the cold gel applied to his abdomen making him flinch slightly. The technician moved the ultrasound probe across his stomach, her expression neutral as she focused on the screen. Su Bai turned his head to the side, unwilling to look.

  “You’re right,” the technician said after a moment, her voice soft. “You’re pregnant.”

  Su Bai’s heart skipped a beat. He had known it, but hearing the confirmation still felt surreal. His fingers gripped the edge of the examination table as a mix of emotions washed over him—relief, fear, and a faint, fragile flicker of hope.

  The technician continued to take measurements, pointing out the tiny flickering heartbeat on the monitor. Su Bai forced himself to look this time, his chest tightening as he stared at the tiny life forming inside him.

  After the test was over, the nurse handed him the report. “The results will take some time to finalize. You can pick them up in a few hours,” she said.

  Su Bai nodded and left the room, his steps unsteady.

  He wandered to the hospital wn, hoping the fresh air would help him clear his mind. Just as he took a deep breath, he heard a faint whisper.

  “Help…”

  His head snapped up, his eyes scanning the area. For a moment, he saw nothing, and he wondered if he had imagined it. But then the voice came again, soft but desperate.

  “Help…”

  This time, Su Bai didn’t hesitate. He followed the sound to the artificial woods behind the hospital. As he stepped deeper into the secluded area, his eyes caught sight of a small figure lying on the ground.

  It was a boy, his clothes soaked in blood, his face swollen and bruised beyond recognition. The boy groaned weakly, clutching something tightly to his chest. Su Bai knelt beside him, his heart pounding as he realized it was a kitten, its tiny body limp, its fur matted with blood.

  Su Bai’s breath caught in his throat. Without wasting another second, he carefully lifted the boy into his arms, mindful of his injuries. The kitten remained in the boy’s grasp, its faint breathing a small comfort.

  He hurried back to the hospital, stopping the first nurse he saw. “This boy needs help!” he said, his voice sharp with urgency.

  The nurse’s eyes widened as she took in the boy’s condition. She quickly called for a doctor, her voice calm but firm. “Tell me what happened,” she said, gncing at Su Bai as they moved toward the emergency room.

  “I-I found him in the woods,” Su Bai stammered, his words halting. “He was lying there, clutching the kitten. It looks like… someone might have hurt him. Maybe it’s a case of abuse.”

  The nurse nodded, her face grim as she took in the boy’s injuries. “You did the right thing bringing him here,” she said before disappearing into the treatment room with the boy.

  Su Bai sank into a nearby seat, his hands trembling. He couldn’t shake the image of the boy’s beaten body, the bruises stark against his pale skin. His chest felt tight, a dull ache settling deep inside him. He didn’t know why, but he felt an inexplicable connection to the boy, a strange sense of familiarity that he couldn’t pce.

  A doctor emerged after some time, his expression serious but not armed. “The boy has suffered multiple bruises and cuts, but thankfully, none of his injuries are life-threatening,” he said. “His face will take some time to heal, though. Whoever hurt him used excessive force.”

  The doctor’s tone turned sharp as he added, “Where were you? How could you let this happen to your child?”

  Su Bai opened his mouth to respond, but a nurse interrupted before he could speak. “Yisheng, this man isn’t the boy’s father,” she said, her tone tinged with sadness. “The child was abandoned by his retives. His parents died in a truck accident, and his uncles left him here. No one wants him.”

  The nurse sighed and turned to leave, muttering something about contacting the authorities.

  Su Bai sat frozen, his mind racing. The boy had no one. No family, no home, nothing.

  He clenched his fists, his heart aching as he thought of the boy’s small, bruised body and the way he had clung so tightly to the kitten, even in pain.

  “Yisheng,” Su Bai said suddenly, his voice trembling but resolute. “Wait.”

  The doctor turned back, raising an eyebrow.

  “I… I want to adopt him,” Su Bai said, his voice faltering slightly but his determination clear.

  This boy didn’t have to be alone.

  __________________

  On the other side of the ocean, in a foreign nd cloaked in the darkness of night, a tall man with broad shoulders suddenly jolted awake. His chest heaved, his breathing ragged, as if he had been pulled from the depths of a suffocating nightmare. His crimson eyes, burning with anguish, stared unseeing into the void of his dimly lit room. Tears welled up, sliding down his sculpted face in silent streams, unchecked and unrelenting.

  His hands gripped the bedsheets tightly, trembling, his knuckles turning white. A guttural cry tore from his throat, raw and primal, reverberating through the empty space around him. It was the sound of a soul being ripped apart, of pain too deep for words to contain.

  Baibai—a broken whisper that fell from his trembling lips, den with grief and longing. He repeated it again and again, as though saying it could summon back the warmth, the life, the presence he lost.

  His body folded in on itself, his broad shoulders shaking under the weight of despair. The walls of his room seemed to close in, trapping him in a suffocating cocoon of regret and sorrow. Memories cwed at his mind, each one sharper and more unbearable than the st, tearing open wounds that had never truly healed.