RALP Chapter 53.2

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Despite the tense atmosphere between Qin Ge and Ryan, but since Du You spoke up, they back off and slowly sit back down.

Du You is ready to continue his performance in mediation now, but before he can say the next sentence, they apologise.

“Sorry, gege,” Qin Ge, his head lowered, “I was too hasty.”

What happened last night must have made him even more sensitive to people hanging about Du You.

Ryan, wagging his tale with eyes still on Du You, “I’m sorry.”

So Du You had to swallow his words.

He put his hand to his forehead, “… it’s fine.”

He was all ready to put the dialogue he learned in the new TV drama he followed to good use.

——If you’re going to fight, then have a dance-off in the training room.

What a pity he couldn’t use it.

System [Are you for real?!]

The dinner ends without further incidents.

The auntie does not live here herself, so after washing the dishes and preparing ingredients in advance for breakfast tomorrow, she excuses herself.

While Du You woke up late today, he’ll still have to be at work tomorrow. He plans to sleep according to his usual schedule so as not to affect his sleep cycle.

Since the window in the guest room is still broken and they can only call for workers tomorrow, Ryan would have to spend the night sleeping on the couch.

Ryan seems despondent hearing that, “but the living room is so cold.”

“You can turn on the central heating.”

Of course Ryan isn’t afraid of the cold. In fact, during the time he was running about outside, he’s even had to sleep on trees without clothing. He just said that to preface what he’s about to say next.

“I want to sleep in your room! You can hug me and it will be warm.”

“I’m not cold.”

Ryan starts to act childish seeing him not budging on this, “I don’t want to, I want to sleep with my lover!”

Du You has already had enough of correcting his way of calling him that he’s given up.

“Sleep here.”

Ryan concedes a bit, “in the floor of your room?”

“Sleep here.”

Ryan’s shoulders slump and his tail flicks a bit. It seems like he’s accepted his fate.

Then Du You looks towards Qin Ge and You Haoyu.

For some reason, they seem to be avoiding looking at each other. They’ve been strangely quiet since dinner was finished.

Or rather, You Haoyu started since before dinner started.

Perhaps he had a bad day?

Du You thought about it and suggests, “do you want to play a video game?”

Both of their faces visibly pale after hearing that, perhaps reminded of the tragedy of Christmas Eve.

You Haoyu seems like he has something he wants to say.

But, in the end, he just sighs and looks away, “I won’t be able to go to work for a few more days, so I’ll be practising alone.”

Then, he takes the script on the coffee table, and then, “excuse me,” then he walks back into the guest room.

So Du You looks over to Qin Ge.

He smiles, “if you want to, I can play with you,” his smile does look forced, however.

Du You asks, “do you not like it?”

“I do,” he denies the claim, “I like everything that gege likes.”

Du You goes “…” then turns around.

Qin Ge thought he was going to turn the TV on, but instead he is walking towards the door.

Du You puts his coat on, and then gets his shoes, saying, “let’s stroll.”

Qin Ge seems a bit surprised.

“We need to talk,” Du You says as he turns the doorknob.

Before he even opens the door completely, Ryan comes along, “I’m going too!”

Du You turns the doorknob back, “you can’t.”

“Why?”

Du You speaks his mind as he looks right at the handsome face, “you’re troublesome to deal with.”

Ryan ‘the Troublemaker’ looks dumbstruck.

If words were blades, then his heart would surely have been sliced into ten thousand pieces now.

He doesn’t care what others say about him, sure, but when even the lover he he found said he was ‘troublesome,’ he becomes dejected, shambling back to the living room.

Qin Ge didn’t expect his gege to invite him to a walk. He is still in disbelief as they walk out the door.

The neighbourhood has lots of greenery planted in an orderly fashion.

Despite the scenery, it’s usually deserted as any resident would usually only pass by in their cars.

It’s as if there’s only the two of them in the whole world walking under the moonlight.

Crescent moon, starlit skies, the occasional chirp making the birds themselves known without directly making an appearance.

Qin Ge follows about a step behind Du You, his eyes glued onto him.

Du You pauses and turns his head to ask, “why do you keep walking behind me?”

Qin Ge’s eyes seem to glow from reflecting the stars, “so that I can see you at all times.”

Du You turns around fully after a brief silence.

He says, “I’ve recently recalled some things from when we were young, but I cannot remember at all how I lost my memories.”

Since Du You became conscious he was aware of how different he was. He spent his time among monsters, which attacked humans, but would obey his every order.

Therefore, he thought he was a monster since birth, and never once suspected his identity of being a ‘monster.’

That is, until Qin Ge’s appearance which seems to have awakened his memories.

Qin Ge’s expression turns complicated when he hears Du You talking about the past, “gege just needs to remember me. That’s it.”

Plus, he doesn’t want to remind Du You of the incident that robbed him of his memories. It’s too painful. It’s just going to make him suffer.

Du You does not reply.

To be honest, whether he remembered the past was unimportant to him.

He has died once already. Even if he had bonds in the former life, that’s all in the past.

So, he does not want Qin Ge to be trapped in the past.

Stop clinging to him, stop trying to cater to his every whim, stop getting pointlessly angry over all these things.

Du You has problems empathising so he is always straightforward, which is why he told all these to Qin Ge as is.

The system panics trying to stop him [Wait, host——!]

Qin Ge is practically a time bomb. He might be obedient now… No, he isn’t even that obedient now.

But no matter how it is, if he hears them as is, the situation is definitely going to take a turn for the worse.

Too bad it is merely a system without a physical form. It cannot cover up its host’s mouth.

Of course, it’s questionable whether it could even if it did have a physical form.

Qin Ge seems to grow gloomier the more he hears. Even the stars are gone in his eye’s reflections.

The system gives up and covers its eyes as Du You finishes speaking.

It doesn’t dare look.

Qin Ge did not interject nor did he respond. His head is lowered, and several locks of chestnut-coloured hair have dropped down as well.

Du You extends his hand, “we can have a new relationship. Let the past stay in the past.”

His hand hovers in mid-air.

Qin Ge looks at his gege’s well-defined fingers.

A long while later, he speaks up, “you told me before, that didi must listen to his gege. I will listen to you, so why do you say this?”

Du You seems slightly surprised, “… I’m sorry.”

That was just the most convenient thing to do back then. He had a car accident which he got off unfazed, but which terribly agitated Qin Ge emotionally. He was worried he would do something with irrevocable consequences, so he said that to calm him down.

No further explanation, but just an apology.

Qin Ge slowly raises his hand, taking that palm in his.

Du You lowers his head. He can feel the cold hard leather.

At first, it was merely holding, but then, his strength increases, to the point where bones would have cracked. There is the sound of leather tearing from the glove.

Du You does not so much as blink.

What he said might have been hurtful, but he doesn’t want Qin Ge to be wasting any more time on him.

It’s not even a question of whether he could remember everything in the first place. Even if he could, he was an experiment sample. He only took care of another sample following the researchers’ orders.

In the end, Qin Ge stops applying his force.

There is already visible marks on Du You’s skin, but Qin Ge does not let go, and instead, holds that hand up with prayer hands, asking, “I’m sorry. Did it hurt?”

“No.”

Because he is not human, he wouldn’t feel a thing even if his arm was cut off.

Du You can feel, though, that the person’s body is trembling. Then, his finger was moved until its tip touched the space between Qin Ge’s brows.

Qin Ge is holding onto Du You’s hand as if it’s his only salvation.

“Don’t say something like that. Don’t hate me.”

“Gege.”

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TL’s notes: Remember Shen Chen? Neither do I, hehe. Though I guess there isn’t too much one can do being confined to a hospital bed.