The moment Qixian's bloody fingers successfully unlatched the heavy steel restraints, he didn't pause to catch his breath. Despite the agonizing fire spreading through his back and chest from Jin Rou's whipping, and despite his injuries from the deliberate car accident earlier, he moved with the desperate, jagged speed of a hunted animal, slipping out of the interrogation room and into the shadows of the estate's corridor.
"Haoran must be worried sick... what on earth am I going to tell him?" Qixian muttered to himself, his breath hitching. He heard the rhythmic thud of heavy boots approaching and immediately melted into a dark corner. The estate was crawling with guards, based on the position of the moon and the sudden drop in temperature, he estimated it was roughly eleven o'clock at night.
As a lone guard rounded the corner, Qixian lunged. With his experience as a surgeon, he struck the man's neck, knocking him out cold, before he could even draw a breath to scream. "I need to get out of here. Now," he whispered, his vision swimming as he began a cautious, limping run toward the perimeter.
He was halfway to the outer fence when a tall, familiar silhouette emerged from the gloom. Qixian froze, his heart hammering. "Lu Sihan? What the absolute fuck—" he hissed under his breath.
"Shit!" Hearing more footsteps closing in from behind, Qixian had no choice. He lunged forward, grabbed Sihan by his expensive jacket, and dragged him into a pitch-black alcove, clamping a bloody hand over the taller man's mouth.
Sihan struggled for a split second, ready to throw a punch, but when his eyes adjusted to the dim light and saw Qixian's battered, pale face, he went still. Qixian slowly pulled his hand away.
"Qixian?" Sihan whispered-yelled, his eyes wide with horror as he took in the blood-soaked shirt.
"What the fuck are you doing here? Have you lost your mind, coming alone to a place like this at this hour?" Qixian hissed, his voice trembling with a mix of adrenaline and exhaustion. "You must be thinking of registering yourself at a mental hospital,"
"I was looking for you, obviously!" Sihan whispered back, his protective Alpha instincts flaring. "You didn't come home, Haoran is really filled with worry, and Yichen... Yichen is losing his mind. His family called him back for some emergency, and even though he's powerful, he can't openly defy the Gu elders yet. He's back at the mansion practically vibrating with rage because he couldn't come find you himself, he was actually about to burn down a mountain and an ocean, if he could."
"He's not my boyfriend," Qixian corrected, and shooting Sihan a sharp, albeit weak, glare, but still maintaining a whisper.
Their argument was cut short by the sound of voices. Two guards were walking past their hiding spot, laughing casually.
"The eldest master is really losing it over the younger one, isn't he?" one man chuckled. "Who would've thought the little doctor had the balls to tell the high society that Jin Rou is an illegitimate orphan?"
"Probably just jealous because he's a failure compared to his brother," the other man mocked.
'What a load of crap, Jin Rou's the failure here, such fools talking without knowing,' Qixian thought as he listened.
"The youngest is a disgrace to the Zhou name. He hid like a rat in a tiny clinic with a weak Omega. Maybe he's the illegitimate one."
Qixian's knuckles turned white as he clenched his fists, the "Spider Lily" scent beginning to leak from his pores in a poisonous cloud.
"Did you have fun talking about me?" Qixian stepped out of the shadows, his voice cold enough to freeze the blood in their veins.
The men jumped, their eyes bulging. "Zhou Qixian?! How the hell did you get out?"
"Your security is as pathetic as your master," Qixian smirked, though his legs felt like lead.
"Zhou Qixian? Did I... did I hear that right?" Sihan asked himself, standing frozen in the darkness.
"You didn't," Qixian admitted flatly, unleashing a wave of pheromones that sent the two guards crashing to their knees, gasping for air. He didn't wait for Sihan to process the news. He grabbed Sihan's arm and pulled him toward the gate. "Move. Now."
"You're... you're a Zhou?!" Sihan asked, his voice a frantic mix of a yell and a whisper as they sprinted toward the perimeter.
"Let's get out of this hellhole first," Qixian panted, his chest heaving. "Did you bring your car?"
"Yeah, but I parked it a few blocks away to avoid the patrols. Follow me!" Sihan took the lead, his long strides keeping pace with Qixian's staggering run.
The moment they cleared the Zhou estate's territory and reached the safety of the car, the adrenaline finally began to ebb. Qixian's knees buckled, and he would have hit the pavement if Sihan hadn't caught him in a firm grip.
"You're bleeding through your clothes, Qixian. We need a hospital," Sihan said, his voice laced with panic.
"I know... but I'm fine," Qixian wheezed, struggling to find his balance. He grabbed Sihan's lapel, his eyes burning with a desperate intensity. "Don't tell them. Please... I'm begging you, you have to promise me."
"That you're a Zhou? Qixian, they deserve to know why you're being hunted!"
"They'll hate me, Sihan! They'll see the name Zhou and think I'm just like Jin Rou! Besides Yichen probably knows that the one who wrecked the clinic was the Zhous, right?" Qixian's voice cracked. "Even if it isn't, If they knew my family was the one who did this to me, they'd try to retaliate. They'd go to the estate, and they would be killed."
"Why are they doing this to you anyway?" Sihan asked, looking at the whip marks visible through the shredded fabric.
"I told you. I spread a rumor. And I am doing him a favor by destroying his life," Qixian stated, a hollow bitterness in his voice.
"But why? Why take such a risk?"
"Because it's the truth! My family is being deceived by a...a piece of shit, that's right! A fucking piece of shit!" Qixian's eyes filled with fire but it was also filled with tears that he refused to let fall. "And I... I involved Haoran. I didn't mean to. But he's my brother... my twin brother. I must've been crazy to think I could get close to him just for my own gain."
"He's your... what?" Sihan's jaw dropped.
"He's my twin," Qixian confessed, his head drooping. "I found the records in the ZH General Hospital archives before they were scrubbed."
"That makes sense now, no wonder you are so protective towards him, you two even have a lot resemblance, but why didn't you—"
"Because I'm the outcast, the failure, the person they thought they're fixing but not, intead they showed me torture... but Haoran is pure. If the Zhous find out he exists, they might not love him, Sihan. The imposters inside the Zhou estate will use him. Or they'll break him just like me, Haoran isn't use to this kind of hell, unlike me."
"Qixian..." Sihan whispered, his heart breaking for the man in his arms. "You need an ally, at least..."
"Don't tell them," Qixian begged, his grip weakening as his vision began to tunnel into black. "Whatever I do, even if I lie to their faces, stay silent."
"I..." Sihan began but Qixian cut him off again.
"Don't let Yichen see me like this. If he knows, he'll start a war he can't win. Please... as a friend and also, as their friend."
Sihan hesitated but as he looked at the blood on his hands and the raw desperation in Qixian's eyes. "Fine. For their sake and yours, I won't tell them. But Qixian, if this goes too far, I'm stepping in."
"Thank you... And please find a reason for me while I rest, maybe tell them I need to stay at work, and don't take me to ZH General..." Qixian whispered, his body finally going limp as he fell into the world of unconsciousness.