Lop-Eared Guard

A full pot of green vicks plant sat on the window in the intensive care unit.

Cloaked in a white blanket, Yan Yi hugged his knees and sat by the window as he looked at this plant. It was usually scentless, but when it’s thick and soft succulent leaves were gently touched, and if one leaned in close to sniff it, a fresh scent would be emitted like a mimosa. 

Yan Yi pulled out a small succulent leaf and put it in his mouth to eat. It tasted pleasantly sweet, like jelly. 

He had stayed in the ward for a week, and this pot of vicks plant was about to be nibbled bald by him. 

An anesthetic injection would be given to him everyday, which allowed his glands to gradually become dormant in preparation for the replacement surgery next month. 

The entire floor of the intensive care unit was very quiet, and no one would disturb the patients unnecessarily. Footsteps could be heard a few meters away from the door. Yan Yi raised his ears to listen, but dropped back down with a little disappointment. 

He hadn’t seen Lu Shangjin in a week. 

Lu Shangjin had a busy schedule in his company. It was difficult to spare time to visit Yan Yi.

Yan Yi could only wait quietly. 

When he was bored, he would scroll through Weibo. In his following list, there were several automatically-followed celebrities, many of whom he had met face to face but was not familiar with. 

After he thought for a while, he searched up Yuan Mi’s name. 

With a couple million fans, regardless if a Weibo post was useful or not, it would have a few hundred thousand reposts.

A very hot chicken. 

Seeing that his latest news was about his discharge, Yan Yi went forward to the video of the press interview he had done before. In the video, Yuan Mi was three parts weak and seven parts strong. After watching, mother fans would shed their tears and ache for him, alpha fans would be in anguish and agony, and omega fans would be filled with jealousy. 

Swiping again, it was Yuan Mi’s appearance on a variety show. Several beautiful celebrities joked and chatted with the host. Yuan Mi said a few words once in a while, humorous and polite. 

Yan Yi looked at him, and looked back at himself. He was like the only fish raised in a fish tank, separated from the world outside by a layer of glass. He had no friends and no social circle. There was only Lu Shangjin in his world. 

What’s it like to be liked and sought after? 

He thought he could still remember, but no matter how much he recalled he couldn’t remember more. It had been ten years; except for some fragments that were engraved in his bones and imprinted on his heart, most details were like the coarse gravel on pebbles, washed away by the sea, and gradually turning round until they disappeared, as if they never existed. 

Only Yan Yi knew they once existed, worn away by time. 

Yan Yi lifted his hand and looked at the ring on his right ring finger. Moving gently away, the slight blurred edges of the tiny tattoo ‘everlasting love’ could still be seen. 

“Soon…in less than a month.” Soon, there would be someone willing to love him. With a 97% compatibility fit, how gentle would Lu Shangjin become? 

At that time, would he be able to act coquettish once in a while and allow himself to be spoon fed? 

He could sleep in his arms everyday. When he wakes up, the first thing he would see is not the cold ceiling, but his alpha’s peaceful sleeping side profile. 

In the future, he wouldn’t have to endure his unbearable heat alone. His alpha would wrap him with soothing pheromones, no longer letting him wait until late at night alone, where he would be sleeping at the corner of the sofa hugging a small blanket, and a hearty dinner left waiting on the table with the news of “not coming back home tonight”. 

Yan Yi closed his eyes in exhaustion. The daily injection of anesthetic drugs caused him to become more powerless than he wished to be, his glands gradually becoming dormant, and his body function weakened, which made him very very tired. The time that he couldn’t see Lu Shangjin had also become more unbearable, as though he had been running on a treadmill for several hours, but couldn’t find a bottle of water anywhere. 

At four o’clock in the afternoon, the nurse pushed the door open on time to give Yan Yi an anesthetic injection. 

The solution was pushed slowly into his glands. Yan Yi’s entire body curled up as he endured the ice-cold feeling engulfing his body and the suffocating nausea in his chest. He lied by the bed to retch, but couldn’t vomit out anything, so he nestled back weakly into the blankets. 

The nurse watched him with sympathy, gently patting his back, “This must be hard on you. The side effects of this type of anesthetic are like that… if your alpha were by your side, you wouldn’t be so uncomfortable, where did he go?” 

Yan Yi closed his eyes, “He’s very busy. I’m fine, you should go take care of the other patients.” 

The nurse came to the hospital on an internship not too long ago, but she hadn’t seen an omega who would be preparing to go through such a dangerous operation without an alpha to accompany him before. She could only say a few words of comfort before closing the door of the ward and leaving. 

Yan Yi curled up in the blanket until eight o’clock at night. The discomfort that enveloped his body did not fade. He went to the bathroom to throw up twice, and his whole body looked like he had been fished out of water with sweat soaking the light blue hospital gown. 

He fumbled under the pillow for his phone, dialing the number that he could dial with his eyes closed, and waited for the person to answer. 

It wasn’t until the cold and detached ‘beep beep’ sound repeated for over ten times that the person answered. Several people could be heard talking about a project in the background. Lu Shangjin said impatiently, “I’m outside. What’s the matter?” 

Yan Yi shivered and remained silent, not knowing what to say. 

He wanted Lu Shangjin to come back and accompany him. 

But he also knew that nothing good would come out of it if he said these words.  

As Lu Shangjin waited, he became more impatient, “Say something.” 

Yan Yi said weakly, “It’s nothing, I just miss you. Don’t overwork yourself.” 

Lu Shangjin spoke a few words to others and explained some things before turning back to listen to Yan Yi, “Is there anything else?” 

Yan Yi thought for a while. Just as he was about to say no, Lu Shangjin hung up. 

He held his phone up to his ear silently and remained in a daze in that position for a long time. 

Looking through his contacts, he found that he had saved Yuan Mi’s number as he had stayed with him in the hospital a few days ago. 

Yan Yi dialed the number with boredom. It rang for a while, but no one picked up. 

It’s normal for the Best Actor to attend to hundreds of other important matters everyday and didn’t have time to answer the phone. 

He scrolled through his contacts again. Besides clients, there were a few big bosses. No one was able to talk to him now. 

He became more and more muddleheaded. The phone screen suddenly lit up with an unknown number flashing on the incoming call page. 

Unaware, he pressed answer. 

A man who didn’t seem gentle asked, “What are you up to?” 

Wrong number? 

The voice sounded a little familiar. 

Yan Yi wasn’t in the mood to think too much. He buried his head in the blanket. Perhaps he was too eager for someone to talk to him, so he whispered, “I’m sleeping.” 

The man on the other line laughed coquettishly, “You’re still talking when you’re sleeping?” 

How could he still nag after calling the wrong number? Yan Yi said reluctantly, “Not feeling well.” 

“Not feeling well? Why?” He asked, as though he really was a little worried. 

Yan Yi was too tired to talk, so he hung up.

When he was feeling groggy, the screen lit up again with the same string of numbers. 

Actually, he wasn’t worried that someone might pinpoint his exact location to seek revenge, but so far, no one could pose a threat to him. Yan Yi paused for a while before answering. 

It was still that man who spoke with a frivolous and arrogant tone, the assertive aura of an alpha carried along the cable oppressively, “Hello, where are you?” This phone number was coincidentally obtained after spending a lot of money, so he wasn’t about to give up the harassment easily. 

At the same time, the pager in the next ward happened to ring, which was acutely caught by the alpha, “Are you in the hospital? Which hospital?”  

Yan Yi took a deep breath and replied lazily, “I can’t explain this to you, because I’m just a little bunny.” 

What am I talking about? 

Yan Yi turned over and put his arm over his eyes. 

The alpha on the other end laughed for a long time, “I know.”

A psycho alpha, Yan Yi thought. 

A sense of nausea clogged his throat again. Yan Yi hurried to the bathroom to throw up. When he returned, his breaths were faint like wisps of air, and his mind was in a haze. 

The call surprisingly hadn’t been cut off. 

The alpha was obviously suspicious, “Are you seriously ill?” 

Yan Yi vaguely replied, “I feel so awful… Come back and stay with me… I miss you so much… Just for one day… Just one night will do… Can you stay on the phone? Listening to your voice will help… “

    “……”

The other party became quiet. 

Yan Yi asked, “Are you still there…”

“Yes.” He answered, his voice unlike the previous banter tone, but more dignified. 

“If… this surgery fails… will I die?” Yan Yi asked softly. 

The other party was silent for a moment, “…no, don’t be afraid.” 

    ……

Yan Yi laughed a little, “If it fails, just let me disappear. Living is extremely tiring, extremely tiring.”  

“You… you lie down first.” The alpha was a little impatient and seemed to be thinking of ways, such as how to release some soothing pheromones through the telephone line. Fruitless, he could only try, “I’ll touch you.” 

Yan Yi arched his body and endured the intermittent dull pain in his bone marrow.  

His imagination was guided to materialize. It seemed there really was a pair of hands gently caressing his back. Yan Yi breathed softly, his voice as small as a mosquito’s, “It hurts so much.” 

    ——

At noon the next day, Yan Yi was woken up by the soft squeaking sound of the door pushing open. He raised his gaze to see Lu Shangjin coming in with a nurse who was carrying some medicine.

“How is he?” Lu Shangjin asked about Yan Yi’s recent physical condition. 

Yan Yi had a lingering fear of the drug’s side effects that tormented him for more than ten hours the day before. Wrapped in the bedding, he rubbed the corner of the bed, “I’ll go off the medication today, let me get used to it again.” 

Lu Shangjin frowned, “You can’t be negligent about this operation. Endure it.”

Yan Yi closed his eyes, “Okay.” 

As an injection needle pushed into his glands, Yan Yi’s face turned white. 

Lu Shangjin sat beside the bed, holding onto Yan Yi’s cheek in pity, and fed him a strawberry. 

Yan Yi swallowed with difficulty. 

Lu Shangji looked at him strangely, “You used to like eating this. Are you throwing a tantrum?” He was busy when he picked up Yan Yi’s call yesterday, and he came today as he was free. 

But Yan Yi was ungrateful. 

Yes, I like it very much. 

However, when he wanted to eat strawberries, Lu Shangjin gave him an apple. 

He didn’t want strawberries now. He only wanted to be held. 

Lu Shangjin fed him a strawberry.