The Desperate Widow

Yu Fuli struggled for a moment, but couldn't break free, so he stopped wasting his energy. With his back to Yun Bai, he turned his head slightly, his voice slightly panting from the exertion, yet as cold as ice: "Let go."

"But if I let you go, you'll run away and leave me." Yunbai's voice sounded quite aggrieved, but she leaned even closer, almost resting her chin on the top of his loose hair, her masculine scent enveloping him. "You look very good in this outfit, teacher."

The person behind her was so close that Yu Fuli shifted uncomfortably, which aggravated the injury on her wrist.

"hiss--!"

Upon hearing Yu Fuli's cry of pain, Yun Bai subconsciously released her grip. "I'm sorry, teacher, I used too much force."

Yu Fuli immediately withdrew her hand, quickly took a big step forward to completely create distance, and then turned to face Yun Bai.

He was slightly out of breath, his long hair was disheveled, and his military jacket had opened even wider during the struggle, exposing his collarbone and a small patch of chest skin to the air, rising and falling with his breath.

But this did not diminish his imposing presence in the slightest. His eyes shone brightly in the dim light, showing no sign of panic or cowardice.

"Now," Yu Fuli raised his hand, slowly gathering his disheveled long hair back, a gesture that made the red marks on his wrist, left by the forceful restraint earlier, even more noticeable, "can you explain what you're up to, Yunbai? Or would you rather I contact your family or the school directly?"

He emphasized "classmate" and "school" slightly, reminding them of the apparent differences in their status and the context.

Yu Fuli thought that his warning would at least make Yun Bai restrain himself a little.

However, Yun Bai seemed not to have heard those words at all. His gaze was fixed on Yu Fuli's raised wrist, where the skin was fair, but now there was a bright red mark clearly marked on it, left by his strong grip, and even the shape of the finger bones was faintly visible.

Yu Fuli felt a chill run down her spine under that strangely focused gaze, and instinctively took a half-step back, thinking that this madman was about to use force again.

Ke Yunbai's movements were even faster.

Suddenly, he raised his left hand and grabbed his left wrist with his right hand. His face was expressionless, and his eyes did not even leave the red marks on Yu Fuli's wrist. Then, without hesitation, he twisted it inward sharply!

"Snap!"

A sharp, teeth-grinding sound of bones dislocating suddenly rang out in the quiet fitting room!

Yu Fuli was completely stunned, his pupils shrinking sharply.

He watched helplessly as Yunbai's left hand drooped down in a completely unnatural posture, contrary to physiological structure.

Without even blinking, this person dislocated his left wrist!

The excruciating pain was unimaginable, but Ke Yunbai didn't even flinch, and her face under the mask didn't even twitch.

He simply bent down slightly and held his twisted left hand up in front of Yu Fuli, the posture even carrying a hint of presenting a treasure.

Then, he raised his eyes, which were not hidden by the mask and still brimming with intense emotions, and stared unblinkingly at Yu Fuli. His voice was low and soft, even trembling with a pitiful tone:

"I'm sorry, teacher..."

I accidentally hurt you.

He paused, tilted his head like a large dog awaiting praise, his tone both innocent and cruel:

"Now, I've punished myself. Don't be angry, okay?"

Yu Fuli looked at the strangely drooping wrist, then met Yun Bai's ingratiating eyes, and a chill mixed with a strong sense of absurdity suddenly shot up her spine.

madman!

He cursed inwardly, a chill running down his spine.

This is not the kind of thinking and behavior that a normal person would have.

An apology? An atonement? In such a self-destructive and extremely painful way?

Seeing that Yu Fuli not only did not soften her expression, but instead looked at her with a complex gaze of shock, vigilance and disbelief, Yun Bai's ingratiating smile suddenly froze (Yu Fuli, wearing a mask, did not see it at all), and her eyes revealed a very real, almost childlike panic and helplessness.

Like a child suddenly realizing the enormity of his mistake and fearing abandonment, his voice trembled with genuine anxiety: "Teacher, I was wrong. I really know I was wrong."

He took a half-step forward, then hesitated to get too close, his gaze fixed on Yu Fuli with an almost desperate plea, "Please don't look at me like that, don't be angry, please don't leave me again, okay?"

His gaze darted around frantically, finally settling on his still-intact right hand.

As if grasping at a lifeline, he suddenly raised his right hand in front of Yu Fuli, wrist upward, fingers spread, revealing his vulnerable palm and wrist veins, his posture completely open, even with a kind of sacrificial piety.

"If the teacher is still not satisfied," he said urgently, "you can have this hand too. Or, you can punish me however you want. Lock me up, beat me, scold me, anything... just don't ignore me again, don't disappear again..."

Yu Fuli: "…………"

He looked at the tall man before him, who exuded an aura of brokenness, at the left arm hanging at an odd angle, and at the right hand offered up as if waiting to be broken at any moment.

The chill in my heart intensified.

Although Yunbai had acted unruly and said things that were hard to understand, he was still within the range of an understandable paranoid person, and his mental state was at least on the surface stable.

But where is the person in front of me now, with even a trace of the aloof and noble demeanor I had when we first met, as if nothing else matters?

At this moment, he was more like a madman whose support and thoughts had been suddenly taken away, and he was surrounded by an almost tangible loneliness and despair.

His tall and imposing figure remained unchanged, but his inner self seemed to have been completely hollowed out, leaving only a fragile shell that could shatter at any moment. The emotions surging in his eyes were intensely distorted, yet terrifyingly empty, as if all the light had been sucked away, leaving only boundless darkness and a fragility that could collapse at any moment.

He stood there, yet he gave the impression that he would shatter completely at the loss of his last remaining support, and would never be able to live again.

The contrast is too stark, too extreme.

It had only been a month since they last met.

What earth-shattering events occurred during those thirty days and nights that could have destroyed a person so completely?

But this has nothing to do with Yu Fuli.

He is not a savior, nor does he want to cause trouble.

He turned around expressionlessly, no longer looking at the figure shrouded in despair behind him, and walked straight toward the fitting room door with steady steps, without the slightest hesitation or lingering.

Behind her, Yunbai knelt on the cold floor, watching helplessly as that tall, resolute figure disappeared behind the door, without even a moment's hesitation. Her last shred of self-deception shattered like a bubble.

Again.

Once again, the teacher left him without any mercy.

A suppressed sob came from beneath the mask. With trembling hands, he ripped off the exquisite silver mask from his face and slammed it to the ground.

The metal struck the ground with a piercing sound, and the mask bounced and rolled into a corner.

His bangs fell messily, obscuring his red-rimmed eyes. The image of the helpless, frail boy deep in his memory, who could only watch the most important person disappear, overlapped with the adult body kneeling on the cold floor, equally powerless to hold on.

He was too young then and had no strength, so he could only watch helplessly.

But now that he has the power, he still... cannot hold on to it.

Because the teacher won't like it.

Because he knew that his current appearance, those surging, dirty, and crazy thoughts, would only make the teacher more disgusted and more eager to leave.

He curled up, tightly hugging his twisted, throbbing left hand and his intact but cold and trembling right hand to his chest, as if holding onto the last remaining warmth belonging to Yu Fuli, burying his face deep in his arms.