最佳契合 (Perfect Match) – 十九瑶
Chapter 58
Three in the morning, on the fifteenth floor of Luotan Central Hospital’s inpatient ward.
Even though it was June, the air was bitterly cold that night. The howling, rushing wind flew between the buildings, blasting into people’s faces and numbing their skin and fingertips.
Wearing an orange pheromone isolation suit, Zheng Feiluan anxiously walked on the balcony. Every so often, he would turn his head and throw a quick glance toward the glass door, as if waiting for someone to come out to bring him some news.
Good, bad, or whatever it is.
The night shift nurses sat hunched over the nurse’s desk, their concentration focused. From time to time, the call bell would ring. They were going in and out so fast that they forgot about the alpha, who was still waiting in the isolation area.
The head nurse lowered her head and reviewed the medical history and patient records clasped in her hand. Then she lifted her eyelids and read nonchalantly, “He An, 23 years old, unmarried.”
The word “unmarried” is emphasized more than the others.
Zheng Feiluan corrected her right away, saying “Fiancé.”
“With your high pheromone level, not even a fiancé…” There was a strong smell in the air, and the head nurse looked at him with threatening eyes and said, “If I let you in, the heart rate monitor might beep, and the whole ward won’t be at peace. Now, come on. Have you seen the isolation area over there? Go and stay put.”
After speaking, she pointed with her finger and called a nurse to take Zheng Feiluan to change into isolation clothes.
The young nurse rummaged through a cabinet full of blue, green, and green isolation gowns for quite some time. At last, she pulled an orange one from the bottom of the box. On the back, the Roman numeral IX was written. It also came with a breathable adhesive patch that was applied to the back of the neck to trap alpha pheromones.
Now that he was completely prepared, Zheng Feiluan could spend some time in the family isolation area.
And it had been three hours since he last saw He An.
When He An was first taken to the ambulance, Dai Xiao wouldn’t let him ride with them, so he had to call a cab for himself. After his exhausting arrival at the hospital, He An was already inside the consultation room.
For the time being, he had to do what he could only do: pay.
If Zheng Feiluan wasn’t so far away, he would’ve even considered taking a flight to Yuanjiang to pick up an IT expert by using the fastest-acting shots and drugs with the fewest side effects.
After doing their tasks and making their way back to the emergency area, Cheng Xiu and Dai Xiao were gone. Noticing that He An had been transferred to the inpatient ward just moments before, he spoke with the nurse about the situation and wasted no time hurrying to get there. So, even though the icy wind blew on the isolation area balcony for an entire hour, he didn’t see He An.
All the chaos in his mind made it impossible for him to make sense of anything.
He had an unsettling feeling that everyone saw him as a threat and prevented him from approaching He An, as if something horrible were about to happen if he did, yet he did nothing to change their minds.
Nothing was done forcefully or intentionally; he simply… couldn’t resist kissing He An.
Even if he was asked hundreds of times, he still couldn’t explain why He An became this way.
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Click.
Someone had pushed open the glass door.
Zheng Feiluan stopped walking around and looked. It was Dai Xiao, dressed in a light blue isolation gown, looking as worn out as if he hadn’t slept through the night.
“How is he?” At last, Zheng Feiluan managed to ask the most nerve-wracking question.
“Not so bad.” Dai Xiao answered, “He just woke up, but now he’s sleeping again and is on an IV drip. The doctor said the problem wasn’t too serious; his body was just fatigued and needed to rest for a few days.”
“Where’s Linglan? Is she still crying?”
The little girl was scared to tears, and Zheng Feiluan was emotional just thinking about it.
“She stopped crying, but she’s still scared,” Dai Xiao said, “When He An woke up, he gave her a long hug, and Cheng Xiu brought her a tiger plush. She seems to be okay now.”
After learning that both the father and daughter were okay, Zheng Feiluan felt a weight lifted off his shoulders.
To shake off his frustration, he frantically strode back and forth on the balcony several times before asking, “When can I visit? What about tomorrow?”
Dai Xiao didn’t answer.
He remained silent for three or four seconds as he stared at Zheng Feiluan before finally speaking up, “He An didn’t tell you anything, did he?”
“Tell me…what?
Zheng Feiluan’s hands instinctively clenched into fists as he braced himself to hear devastating news.
Dai Xiao put his hands in his pockets, leaned against the wall, and said in a soft voice, “Even though you had an attack tonight, in the end, you didn’t do anything to him. Did you ever think about why he passed out when he was perfectly fine?”
“I’ve been thinking about it, but I… really don’t know.”
Dai Xiao pointed to the back of his neck, “Side effects. The surgery you forced him to have has serious side effects.”
“He told me all about it.”
Dai Xiao shrugged his shoulders, “Clearly not all of it.”
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The wind that had been shaking the buildings suddenly changed direction, and there was silence on the balcony. Thick clouds moved in the distance, and at night, a flashing navigation light went across the sky before disappearing into the darkness, like a beam of light being sucked up by the waves.
Dai Xiao was standing far away. One side of his face reflected light from the glass door, while the other side blended into the darkness. His shadow was broad and long, cast by the wall behind him.
“In February of last year, He An arrived in Luotan Town, and I took him in. He was very weak back then. He couldn’t squat, climb stairs, or do any other strenuous task. In extreme instances, he would even throw up after swallowing food—do you have any idea why?”
Zheng Feiluan shook his head and said, “Sorry, I… don’t know.”
“Because of pheromone imbalance.” Dai Xiao explained, “I took him to see a doctor. The doctor said that the human body is strictly a single-pheromone environment, and that He An’s blood contains two types of pheromones, one with a high concentration and one with a low concentration. Although it’s low, it’s still there. His symptoms, such as feeling dizzy, throwing up, and being scared of light and sound, are all caused by a pheromone imbalance. As to where those two pheromones came from…”
Casting a cold eye over Zheng Feiluan, he said, “You should know better than anyone else.”
“…Yes.”
Zheng Feiluan’s throat felt sore, and his palms clenched in pain.
Dai Xiao went on, “I didn’t know the entire story at the time, so I asked He An what was happening. He was completely honest with me and told me your whole story. Of course, in his story, you were already dead—just as you asked, he didn’t tell anyone your name and never thought about marriage, so you can rest easy.”
“The artificial glands produce type-3 pheromones continuously, and native glands take a few more years to shrink. A lot of drugs were prescribed by the doctor to stop the release of pheromones, but Linglan was still breastfeeding at the time. He couldn’t take them, so he just endured it every day, puking when he couldn’t take it any longer, and lost four or five pounds in a month. Luckily, my pheromones are a suitable match for type-3 omegas, so he could at least sleep comfortably when I was around. So, in simple terms, He An and I did ‘live together.'”
“Later on, Linglan was weaned from breastfeeding, so he could finally take his medicine. He swallowed seven or eight pills each time while drinking a glass of water, and the symptoms eventually went away after doing this for a few months. His health has improved, and he can now live a normal life. But he didn’t think… you’d come back.”
“Can you remember what happened after you walked into Olive Inn that day?” Dai Xiao asked.
While Zheng Feiluan thought about it, he frowned. Then, all of a sudden, his face changed.
He remembered.
That day, after over a year, he reunited with He An and once again smelled the scent of the lily of the valley. But he was unsatisfied with its lightness and blandness, so he released an explosive alpha pheromone to entice it out.
He then passed out right before his eyes.
It turns out…because of that.
Dai Xiao saw the change in his face, lowered his head, and said with a smile, “Yes, you woke up his glands again the very first day you got here.”
Zheng Feiluan clung to the balcony railing for support as he stumbled slightly.
Dai Xiao said further, “I know you’re a perfect match. This would have been great in the past, but now a perfect match can only lead to more problems. You think you’ve been wooing him for the past six months, but honestly, you’re more like killing him, slowly poisoning him, and making his body worse over time. He An is a kind person who doesn’t want to give you any guilt. He hid the fact that his condition was getting worse, but I couldn’t help him keep hiding anymore.”
Dai Xiao stood up straight and walked forward with a gloomy expression.
“Zheng Feiluan, I have no problems with you personally. You’re a competent resident who is easier to get along with than I expected. Please, just for He An’s sake, stay away from us. He has suffered enough because of you. Could you allow him to rest for a year or two until his glands shrink and fall off, and then finally let go of your past?”
Dai Xiao then opened the glass door to the balcony and walked out without looking back.
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The door swung open and shut as the wind blew through.
Zheng Feiluan finally slid down, leaning against the wall, after a long time of silence. He raised his head, covered his face with his hands, aggressively wiped his stinging eyes, and then stared up at the ceiling, chuckling to himself.
So, clearly, there was no chance of reconciliation from the start.
None at all.
He had only thought about He An throughout the last six months, apart from sleeping and eating. It would be worthwhile, he thought, even if he only scored a slight favor. He even thought about the tone of his voice over and over because he was worried he might have been a little impatient. As if there wasn’t enough burden already.
He thought the most significant challenge was dealing with the unpleasant memories of the past. They made He An feel vulnerable and scared to accept how he felt anymore. But if he puts in the time and effort, he can get back his feeling of security and replace the unpleasant memories with positive ones.
Just as he started seeing the first light in the sky after six months of camping, someone told him: This path actually leads to the cliff.
There is no way to get back to shore.
You’re worse than a stranger now.
Strangers can still start pursuing He An from scratch, but you can’t. He will always be in pain as long as you stay with him一you’re not a 7% match at all, but a negative one.
Even if you win over He An, what’s the point?
A skin-to-skin embrace, a long, deep kiss, cuddling up, and biting each other’s ears for a little while… these typical forms of intimacy between lovers will trigger He An to respond abnormally.
You weren’t meant to last long.
Three years ago, He An provided him with perfectly suitable pheromones, but he uncaringly declined. By the time he felt terrible about what he did, the pheromones had already taken He An somewhere he could never reach him again.
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Zheng Feiluan spent the entire night seated on the balcony.
The sky became white as morning broke, and a tiny bit of powder stained the border of the clouds. Eventually, the sunlight hid the airplane lights in the distance, making them fully invisible.
At six o’clock, he took off his isolation gown and gave it back to the nurse. He then went downstairs on the elevator.
There weren’t many people outside of the inpatient ward, and the street was covered in leaves from the morning breeze. On the side of the road, a cab was waiting, and the driver was tired and bored. As soon as he saw someone come out, he put his head out and asked, “Where to, brother?”
“Luotan town.”
Zheng Feiluan came up to him.
The driver waved his hand, and his excited expression changed to one of annoyance, “Luotan Town… that’s too close. I can’t even get fifty. I came here early in the morning to take a big order. I’m not getting out of here, so please take a different cab.”
“…And then drive to the airport.”
Zheng Feiluan added.
Airport?
That could be dozens of kilometers from the suburbs of the city, and a trip back to Luotan Town could earn you a few hundred. The driver, who had only just begun his day’s work, received an enormous order; he was thrilled, so he rushed to put out his cigarette and started the cab.
Zheng Feiluan reached out and gripped the car door handle.
Before he pulled away, he turned around to take a long, solemn look at the inpatient building. It was hard to tell how he was feeling because his eyes were so dark. He hesitated for a second, then turned around to open the car door, bent down, and stepped inside.
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Translated and edited by janemoyu (04/01/24)
