QT: Against My Will

261 5.4.0 – His Intellectual & Her Genius – The Sleepless Elite’s Wife

° After obtaining her PhD, Xue Bi was appointed to France; she would have to leave in a month, together with Zu Kai.

° “Do you want a hug before I leave?” After asking so, Xue Bi felt the silent storm occurring between the two brothers.

° Blinking his eyes in confusion, Lu Kai nodded his head before Zu Kai could voice out a word of objection. When she engulfed him in a nervous hug, his body melted into hers. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and waist, pulling her closer. Despite the piercing pain in his chest and the heaviness in his stomach, it fluttered at the feeling of her body pressed against his. He drowned in her warmth and the smell of her freshly bathed skin as he listened to her quiet sobbing, “You don’t have to feel guilty. Good luck with your research.”

° “And you...*sniff*... don’t have to...*sniff* behave like an adult. Though I like this side of you.”

° Lu Kai chuckled, “Be happy.”

° “What a nonsense...*Sniff*...I’m always happy.” She tried to pull away, but he didn’t want to let go. “Lu Kai, this is strange. You’re not covered in my puke. Lu Kai...*sniff*...Hurry, and grow up faster...*Sniff*...I don’t want to be turned into a pedophile.”

° “Xue Bi, I’m six feet tall...” Somebody, please, hold his hands, Lu Kai had a strong urge to spank someone’s bottom. What kind of confession was that? He buried his head in the crook of her neck, biting his lips, “Do you want me to move to France?”

° “Are there good doctors?” she asked.

° Lu Kai looked up at his brother.

.....

° “There are,” Zu Kai answered, taking out his phone, he gave them some alone time, “I’ll get things ready.”

° “See?” Lu Kai patted her back, “Xue Bi. How much more tears do you want to bestow on me? My whole shirt is drenched.”

° “I’ll buy you a new one,” she sniffed for the last time, “It’s late. I’ll come to see you tomorrow... Lu Kai...could you let go of me?”

° “No... I like this shirt the most. You have to wash it for me.”

° “Alright.”

° “With your hands.”

° “Alright.”

° Taking a big deep breath, Lu Kai let go of her and took off his shirt. He watched how she placed it inside her backpack carefully.

° Before walking out with her dogs, Xue Bi waved at him with a forced broad smile.

° When he was finally alone, Lu Kai curled himself up on the bed. His walls, the walls that held him up, made him strong just... collapsed. A nightmare came true. Eyes dripping with tears, he pressed his hands against his chest. His nails sinking into his flesh; he started a bad habit of his that would continue to last through the upcoming lifetimes.

° Scratching at his body, Lu Kai wondered how it was possible for something to inflict so much pain. Ripping through his muscles, bones, and guts, their memories changed from being some of the best in the world to something incredibly sad and painful.

° Why did she have to reciprocate his feelings when there was no future between them anymore? His body would last a month at most before he would end up in a coma. Then what? She would have to take care of a cripple. He hit the pillow and tried to scream, but his voice melted with the sound of the silent place. His nails scraped another bloody trail along his chest as if it was some violent solution to overcome his fear.

° She had a bright future before her; he didn’t want to drag her down.

° Opening the drawer beside his bed, he took out a bottle with sleeping pills.

° Not long after, his world turned into a fog. The last smile of hers slammed against him before he lost the perception of his surroundings.

° Everything darkened into nothingness as he slowly passed away.

. · · — · ???· — · ·

° One year after Lu Kai’s death...

° Xue Bi kept to her words: Be happy.

° Both Zu Kai and Xue Bi were emotionally strong; they were able to move on and function normally.

° Since then, Xue Bi would have a harder time getting attached to something. Because whenever she did, it would always pass away.

° “Our parents are still worried about our well being.”

° “I know... I’m worried about their wellbeing too...” Turning to look at the half-naked man, Xue Bi could see a trace of his hip bone; the towel had slipped a little down when he had moved earlier. Jumping on the bed, she stared at Zu Kai’s crotch. “I can’t.”

° “Neither.” Zu Kai stepped out of the hotel bathroom and sat next to her with a soft smile. His body was healthy, this, he knew; it went through many checkups. Despite having an erection, he didn’t feel like acting upon it. It was because he didn’t feel any sexual nor romantic attraction towards anyone, which would often cause him to be depicted as a cold and emotionless person.

° Romantic relationships with people made him feel uncomfortable. They were stressful, aggravating, and exhausting. It didn’t mean that he couldn’t experience love. He could, in a way, otherwise disconnected from normative societal expectations.

° Zu Kai would like to have a committed relationship where both partners would pursue things they like while keeping their distance, something between best friends and lovers, which was very hard to obtain as most would often leave and build their own families-having someone who could understand it and feel the same way as him was beyond amazing.

° With Xue Bi, Zu Kai didn’t need to worry that she would throw a fit of anger if he didn’t shower her with intimacy and affection. He wouldn’t mind making a few compromises, but he preferred otherwise. He didn’t need to act out of his way to prove his love. Just like Xue Bi, he rarely felt jealous or possessive.

° The lack of feelings caused many to assume that he was a psychopath. But thinking how he sometimes felt sorry for his and Xue Bi’s parents for giving birth to kids like them, and grief for his dead brother, his psychologist crossed the idea away, thankfully.

° “Dear chairman of Universal Fusion, when is the party going to end? This employee misses her lab already.” Xue Bi, on the other hand, found it comforting to know that they would never cross over each other’s boundaries. She always remembered Lu Kai, a man that could affect her to such a degree that she wouldn’t mind giving it a try.

° “Then you ask our parents when they are going to leave,” Zu Kai put on a pair of sweatpants.

° “I better not.” She backed out immediately. “They raised such good kids; they deserve at least this.” Picking up a menu from a nightstand, Xue Bi leaned against the headboard and started to read, “Aren’t you hungry? Let’s order some food.”

° Learning over, Zu Kai went through the meals, “Charente Mouclade, Bouillabaisse, Ratatouille...”

° “Who is going to finish it all?” Xue Bi stopped him.

° “You and me.” Zu Kai stretched his muscular body and started to do push-ups on the floor to burn the excess calories that he was about to consume, “Don’t couples get hungry after a long workout in the bed?”

° “I think most would drop dead tired,” Xue Bi began to do crunches while calling the hotel service with her haggard and short of breath voice, “Do you...uhm... think they’ll have...ugh... sweet potatoes?”

° “I made them prepare some beforehand,” dropping on the floor, Zu Kai laughed at her silly voice.

° “...Ah Hello...” Sending him a grateful grin, Xue Bi sat up and ordered their meals. This time, her voice wasn’t as exaggerated.

° When the female staff arrived with the food, her face flushed crimson red when an attractive man with slightly wet hair opened the door for her. Being bribed by their parents, she immediately retold what she saw to Xue Bi’s and Zu Kai’s parents, adding s few made up, spicy assumptions. Her unbelievable story persuaded their parents to ‘believe’ her words. Like hell, they knew their babies. They just took a step back, and didn’t force Xue Bi and Zu Kai into anything more, or it would end in a disaster.

° After another year...

° Picking up her bag, Bing Shi left her laboratory that was a short walk away from her resting room. The UF research center was based far away from the city, near a sea. Here, she worked with other scientists to design and assemble fusion reactors. A few more years and unlimited energy would become a reality.

° In a good mood, she waved at Zu Kai. Today, they had planned to celebrate a successful experiment. Unfortunately, this celebration would also be their last one.

° Some influential people didn’t like the idea of the UF project for whatever reason, be it fear of their empires falling or their competitors getting ahead, they decided to slow the process, which resulted in a catastrophic ending.

° There was a total ass of a man, mainly responsible for safety regulations. He discredited an occurring issue. To stop such a procedure would mean the test he had to do that night couldn’t be run; then, he would have to answer to his own superiors.

° That day, a leak of gas from a pipeline caused an explosion of a big part of a facility. Among the fatalities were Xue Bi and Zu Kai, who, at that time, were closest to the outburst.