Escape the Infinite Chambers

Chapter 204 - Extra (III)

Editor: Humu

It was two o’clock in the morning.

Feng YuLan was sitting on the public bench on the sidewalk by the side of the road in a thin overcoat. Beside him, there was a street lamp that had been flickering due to some problems. The dim yellow light sometimes lit up, occasionally illuminating his pale face, and occasionally swallowing him in the deep darkness.

Feng YuLan did not wear shoes. When he went out, he was too emotional and too crazy. He only wanted to leave quickly. So, he walked out of the house barefoot, wearing thin pajamas, and only had time to wrap himself up in a windbreaker that was not enough to keep out the cold. Although the night was not very cold, Ah Lan still felt a chill spreading rapidly in his body.

Feeling the chill, Feng YuLan couldn’t help but rub his hands, but that couldn’t bring him more warmth. He rubbed his face again. The cold wind seemed to calm his restless brain a lot. Ah Lan began to recall certain memories in his past that served to warm him.

Feng YuLan had a lover. A mature man.

He took out his cellphone from his pocket and unlocked the screen. On the screen was a photo of Ah Lan and the man. In the photo, they were standing close together. And in the photo, they could be intimately standing that close together forever.

Long ago, Ah Lan got to know this man. It was when he was a little boy, when he was probably in elementary school. He remembered that when he was a child, he seemed to have an easy to bully appearance. Other boys in the class always wanted to get in trouble with him. Once out of school, he had a fight with the boys, but he was outnumbered and badly beaten up by the group……

It was at this time that the man appeared and threateningly and forcefully drove the boys away. From then on, the man carved a deep impression in Ah Lan’s very young mind.

Ah Lan thought that it was at that time that he began to like him. He liked this arrogant man who was carrying a bit of a temper. And when he smiled, was a very gentle man.

Because of this love, Feng YuLan abandoned a lot of things and disappointed many people. His parents and his friends did not understand why he wanted to be with such a man.

Would there be a future when a man and another man be together?

But Ah Lan was still so stubborn, and still so persistent. So, he was kicked out of his family as soon as he graduated from high school. From then on, he was helpless and had nothing. The man took him into his house and gave him incomparable warmth in his life. Ah Lan once thought that they were so in love, so much in love that they would never be separated.

But it seemed that all kinds of love could not resist the sharpening of time.

They have lived together for seven or eight years. In the beginning, they mutually felt good about each other. But as time went on, passion faded, and in the end, it was a dull and boring routine. This boringness began to make them feel sick of it. Ah Lan was aware of the occurrence of a crisis when he felt that, so he tried to reconstruct some passionate moments. He tried to be better to that person, but he did not know why but they always start to quarrel because of some inexplicable little things.

In fact, both of them were not very good-tempered. In the past, they were deeply emotional and indulged their partners. Once there was some friction in their relationship, everything would be over after receiving a smile. However, in recent years, as long as they argued, it would immediately upgrade to a fight. However, Ah Lan was always weak in fighting, so no matter how he fought, he would never win.

So, he would always be grabbed by that man and the man would always hit him twice in his stomach. Then the other party threw him into the house, raised his foot and left the house.

Once he went out, he wouldn’t be back for at least three to four days.

In fact, it was fine for him if he was beaten. The man was very gentle and never hit him with much force. It hurts just for a moment. It felt much better than the pain in his heart.

Ah Lan was just worried that he would not come back.

Even if Ah Lan made a meal for two, washed all the clothes and cleaned the house, the man did not come back. He did not return for a very, very, long time.

So, Ah Lan was used to sitting alone. When he was sitting alone, his hands and feet were always cold.

He recalled more and more memories of his past. He would turn on his cellphone and look at the photos stored on his cellphone. He would always start looking from the first photo. It was a photo of Ah Lan and the man when he was a child. Under the pretext of going for a spring outing in school, Ah Lan went out to the seaside to play with this person, and this photo was taken by his cellphone at the seaside. Later, even though he changed several cell phones, the photos were still kept until today.

The second photo was captured when Ah Lan was secretly photographing the other party. The man was sleeping on the leisure chair. Ah Lan broke off the small yellow flowers on the road and put them on his head and took this stupid and cute photo of him sleeping.

Ah Lan’s eyes turned red when he saw this photo. He stroked the screen of his cellphone with his fingers as if he was touching the person on the screen.

The third was Ah Lan’s close shot of the other party’s smiling face. Whenever this man smiled, he gave off a very gentle vibe, and after a long time, Ah Lan found that it was only in front of him that the man would smile like this.

The fourth was a photo of the man sitting on the sofa with Ah Lan in his arms. They were very close to each other and their clothes were not neat. Ah Lan remembered that after taking this photo, the man pressed him on the sofa to do it once more.

And a fifth, a sixth……most of them were taken by Ah Lan secretly using his cellphone. He loved this person so much that all the photos stored on his cellphone were him. He could not bear to delete any one of them. His memory card was changed several times, and all of them were filled with this person.

Since he loved the man so much and since he was so affectionate towards the man, then why have they reached this point?

Ah Lan did not understand. The coldness had started to freeze his thoughts. Today, he quarrelled and fought with the man again. He still could not beat the man. After being beaten by the man, Ah Lan suddenly felt it was a little laughable. He remembered that this man would always leave after beating him, so this time, he decided to leave first.

He left the house in a hurry, and he did not take anything with him. He did not think about where to go or whether to go back. He just walked aimlessly in the streets and sat on this bench.

On the road, cars occasionally drove by at night. The lights of the street were so dim that it could not illuminate the dark night.

After sitting in a daze for a while, Ah Lan did not know why but he suddenly felt a headache.

The headache seemed to be an unexpected guest. At first, it was only a slight headache, but in the next second, it intensified so much that Ah Lan lost consciousness for a short time. He seemed to have a long dream while he lost consciousness shortly. In that dream, many scenes flew by rapidly, many people were talking, and many things were happening.

Then, Ah Lan woke up in a cold sweat, and he realized that he had a nightmare.

It was simply that he could not remember all the things that happened in the nightmare.

The night was still so long, and he was still sitting on the cold bench in front of the bleak road next to the flashing streetlights. The blowing wind was slightly whistling in his ears, and the cold made his limbs stiff, and even his tears felt cold.

Ah Lan suddenly found himself crying.

How terrible.

He embarrassedly wiped his eyes with his sleeve, but unfortunately, no matter how he wiped them, more and more of his tears would sprout out, so he gave up at last. He bowed his head, and his face was full of tears. Tears kept falling so much that the front of his chest was wet with it.

Why had it turned out this way?

Why must it turn out this way?

Where exactly went wrong? Which exact step went wrong?

Why treat me this way?

He cried and choked in a low voice. He released his pain in the deserted night. And that was why he did not hear the rapid footsteps nearby. When he realized that there was a person standing beside him, he felt his head raising up to look at the person standing beside him.

Duan Li gasped slightly and lowered his head to look at Feng YuLan. Ah Lan cried so much that his eyes were red and swollen. His thin body trembled in the cold wind. His fragile appearance made Duan Li’s heart slightly hurt. His heart felt unremittingly painful, and it throbbed with pain.

So, he went over and he picked up the person and sent him into his embrace.

Ah Lan did not stop crying. The tears made Duan Li’s shoulder wet. Duan Li found out for the first time that this stubborn man had so many tears. It was as if he wanted to squander all the tears in his life at this one time.

“Don’t cry. Don’t cry.” Duan Li touched Ah Lan’s head and hugged him tightly.

“It’s all my fault. It’s my fault. Don’t cry……Ah Lan.”

There are several types of love that were sweet. But the moments of tears were always more than the moments of laughter.

Some love was bitter, but it was more difficult for them to separate than reconcile.

Later, Ah Lan still broke up with Duan Li. He moved out of Duan Li’s house. Because his work had been relatively smooth in recent years, he had saved a sum of money and bought a small house in a good neighbourhood. He planned to spend his little days carefree and unrestrained.

However, Ah Lan felt that his small room was still a little too big occasionally. And he felt it was so empty since he was alone. However, compared with the time when he was always crying, he suddenly felt that he was much more relaxed now.

He began to work hard, went out to play with his friends, and lived a regular and healthy life.

But sometimes, Ah Lan would see Duan Li appear below his apartment when he raised his head to look out of the apartment’s window.

Ah Lan would look at him from the window of his house and draw the curtain.

But in fact, he did not leave the area near the window but sat by the window in a daze.

Sometimes, it was better to separate for a period of time. Because when they reconcile, their feelings would warm up, and the people involved would cherish it more for fear of losing again.

But if the time they separated was too long, both parties would forget each other and this relationship.

People could never go against the terrors of time.

Ah Lan thought for a while, took out his cellphone in his pocket and dialled the number in his contacts.

The phone was connected immediately. There were a slight breathing sound and sounds of blowing wind from the phone. Ah Lan was silent for a moment and said softly, “It’s too cold outside. Would you like to come upstairs?”

The person on the other side of the phone did not have time to reply. Ah Lan only heard the rapid footsteps and the sound of someone going up the stairs. Soon, the sounds were close at hand.

T/N: And…this ends the extra for the CP, DL x FYL. I could deeply understand how hurt Ah Lan must have felt, yet I can’t really blame Duan Li. Because sometimes, both parties are usually at fault in a relationship. That’s how some relationships end if they did not reconcile. For some reason, I was reminded of a certain scene in Sekaiichi Hatsukoi. Not sure if any one of you watched it.