As consciousness gradually returned, I struggled to open my eyes. The dimly lit room was devoid of any light, and the heavy curtains made the air feel thin, almost suffocating.

I groped for the doorknob and noticed lights outside. There was a faint aroma coming from the kitchen.

"You're awake, Zhizhi."

"You've been asleep for a day. You must be hungry."

The man, wearing the pig apron I bought for him, came out with a smile and pinched my cheek affectionately.

I ignored him and only regarded his gaze with caution and disgust.

Xie Rui seemed hurt by my sharp gaze. His aura became even more intense, his eyes burning with a fiery obsession. He pushed me back half a step, and I stumbled, hitting the edge of a chair and falling onto it.

The man immediately panicked and rushed over to help me up.

I stared blankly into his eyes, filled with a mix of affection and pain, and inexplicably remembered a past event.

It was when he allowed Shen Jiaojiao to kidnap me and injure my eye.

Xie Rui had arranged for the best medical team to treat me at home, but he personally took care of the daily dressing changes.

I felt a chilling emptiness in my heart, growing more annoyed and unwilling to speak with him whenever I looked at him.

Although Xie Rui was the mastermind behind it all, he lowered himself and treated my emotions and injuries with an almost repentant attitude.

I tortured myself into an emaciated state, and he, with teary eyes, begged me to eat. I couldn't listen to him, and later I saw him consulting with doctors, occasionally feeling his own arm to figure out how to give injections while softly coaxing me and administering nutritional fluids.

I once hysterically asked Xie Rui why, if he allowed Shen Jiaojiao to harm me, he was now pretending to care about me.

The answer I received was his silence and gradually moistening eyes.

Xie Rui had put a small amount of sleeping pills in my food. One time, I ate in front of him and immediately turned around, expressionless, and vomited everything out.

That night, the man curled up at the foot of the bed, seemingly soaked in tears. He wanted to say something, but the words remained lodged in his throat. He kept apologizing over and over again.

I turned to the side, and Xie Rui's crying stopped immediately. All I could hear was the air, distorted by his sorrow.

I silently kept my eyes open, my heart filled with sorrow:

"Why are you crying?"

"Shouldn't it be me who's crying?"

How ridiculous.

...

It was evident that Xie Rui had imprisoned me.

Although I took a step back and said, "If you let me go, I'll pretend this never happened," Xie Rui remained silent for a while and then spoke with a bitter voice.

"Zhizhi, I can't afford to take that risk."

So, I started to remain silent, refusing to speak. I watched him lose all his sharpness and grovel, begging me for even the slightest response, like looking into a mirror.

Repeating the mistakes of a past life.

During this time, Xie Rui had been in a good mood until I accidentally answered one of his phone calls.

That's when I found out that Shen Jiaojiao had already returned to China.