Su Yiran heard Ting-ge’s low, hoarse voice, that panting warmth caressing his sensitive earlobe. The electric sensation made him tremble, his mind turning into mush, vaguely unable to hear what Ting-ge was saying.

Gu Yuanting looked at Ranran’s misty, watery eyes, crystal tears hanging on his long eyelashes, his gaze innocent as if unaware of the world.

Gu Yuanting’s rationality seemed to be collapsing. Heartbreak, intense heat, jealousy, pain, love, distortion—a mix of complex and unbearable emotions surged in his heart, transforming into more intense, more ferocious actions.

…

…

Ranran fell asleep.

Gu Yuanting touched Ranran’s small face, still streaked with tears, and leaned down to kiss his slightly swollen lips, touching them softly. I love you, he thought.

Gu Yuanting held Ranran tightly, pressing him close with almost no gap, lying quietly for a while.

Sometimes he was lost in thought, sometimes he just quietly looked at Ranran, not knowing what he was thinking himself.

After a long while, he started to move again. He gently lifted a corner of the blanket and got out of bed, first going to the bathroom to run the water, then returning to pick up Ranran and carrying him into the bathroom.

Going straight to sleep like that wasn’t good for his body, and Ranran didn’t like feeling sticky.

Gu Yuanting carefully bathed Ranran. Towards the end, Su Yiran vaguely felt it in his sleep and groggily opened his eyes in the bathtub.

Gu Yuanting gently used the showerhead to rinse the foam off Ranran, and seeing that he had woken him up, quickly coaxed him: “It’s okay, go back to sleep, Ranran.”

Su Yiran, drowsy and confused, vaguely heard Ting-ge’s words. He groggily closed his eyes again, feeling very comfortable being rinsed by the warm water, and quickly fell back into sleep.

Gu Yuanting finished bathing Su Yiran, then carried him out of the bathtub and placed him on a small soft daybed nearby. He dried him with a large towel, put on his pajamas, and then carried him back to the bedroom bed, tucking him snugly under the covers.

Gu Yuanting quickly showered himself, changed into his pajamas, then returned to sit by the bed. He watched Ranran for a while, then leaned down to kiss him.

He took the old ring from the bedside table, then found the original owner’s old ring, and carrying both along with the old ring box, he walked out of the bedroom, went downstairs to the first floor, and turned into a dark corner of the utility room. He paused by the trash can in the corner.

Knowing the origin of these rings, that Ranran and the original owner had designed and made them together, he found it even harder to tolerate these old rings. These rings not only contained the original owner’s feelings for Ranran, but also… Ranran’s feelings for the original owner.

The two rings in his hand felt as if they had sharp thorns. Gu Yuanting’s hand was aching from the rings, and his heart was aching too.

…Gu Yuanting felt that throwing them in the corner of the utility room wasn’t far enough.

He left the main door, passed the garden gate, ignored the small wooden garbage can in the garden, and directly exited the villa’s courtyard gate. He originally wanted to go straight to the beach and throw the rings far into the sea, but going to the beach and back would take over twenty minutes, and he felt it was too long. He wanted to dispose of the rings quickly and return to sleep with Ranran.

Gu Yuanting turned his head and, in the dim light of the streetlamp, saw an old, small trash can tucked against the wall in a remote corner of the fence near the courtyard gate. It must have been too inconspicuous, and since the island was uninhabited for most of the year, the old trash can had not been cleared away.

Broken rings should go with a broken trash can.

Gu Yuanting thought darkly, as if treating these two rings this way could destroy… everything between Ranran and the original owner.

He quickly walked to the fence corner, as if the rings were burning his hand, and swiftly threw both rings along with the ring box into the old, dilapidated trash can. The trash can wasn’t empty; he didn’t know what kind of trash was inside. The rings and ring box landed in the can with a muffled “thump.”

With that muffled thump, Gu Yuanting’s heart settled slightly. He breathed a slight sigh of relief, but then, inexplicably, his heart tightened again, turning somewhat empty. His temples throbbed faintly.

Ranran must never find out. Gu Yuanting roughly knew why he was vaguely nervous. He turned and walked back, rubbing his temples. The slight pain quickly disappeared.

Back in the room, by Ranran’s side, he didn’t immediately get into bed. He first let the chill he picked up outside dissipate, allowing himself to warm up, before getting into bed and pulling Ranran into his arms.

Su Yiran, in a deep sleep, subconsciously felt the familiar embrace and instinctively snuggled into Ting-ge’s arms, finding a comfortable position. His small face rubbed against Ting-ge’s chest.

Ranran’s unconscious movements made Gu Yuanting’s heart both soft and painful. He held Ranran, leaned down and kissed him, unable to fall asleep for a long time.

---

Su Yiran woke up the next day already at half past nine in the morning.

He found that Ting-ge, as usual, had woken up before him and was holding him, lost in thought. Seeing him awake, Ting-ge leaned down and gently kissed him: “Morning.”

Su Yiran also gently kissed Ting-ge and smiled at him: “Morning.”

But then, Su Yiran noticed that Ting-ge had a faint bluish tint under his eyes, and looking closely, his face seemed a little more tired than the previous few days.

Didn’t he sleep well last night?

The past few days, the two had also “studied” intensely, yet Ting-ge always woke up full of energy in the mornings, showing no signs of exhaustion. And judging by yesterday’s “performance,” Ting-ge’s body was very strong…

Su Yiran remembered the last time he saw Ting-ge like this was before the baby was born, when Ting-ge was too worried and anxious, suffering from insomnia, possibly not sleeping all night.

Su Yiran worriedly ran his thumb along the area under Gu Yuanting’s eyelashes: “What’s wrong? Didn’t you sleep well last night?”

Gu Yuanting reached out and took Ranran’s hand, kissing his fingers: “No, I slept very well.”

Su Yiran didn’t believe Ting-ge’s words at all. He even suspected Ting-ge had insomnia again. His expression gradually became serious: “Did you not sleep all night again?”

Gu Yuanting stiffened, unsure how Ranran could tell. He naturally shook his head: “No, I slept quite well, really.”

Su Yiran: “…”

Why did Ting-ge have insomnia again? Su Yiran remembered yesterday, when Ting-ge suddenly became very depressed, and his subsequent behavior seemed to be suppressing some pain. When they were intimate, he also seemed very fierce and eager.

What’s wrong with Ting-ge? Su Yiran didn’t know the reason. He touched Ting-ge’s face, leaned in and kissed him, looking directly into Gu Yuanting’s eyes, and asked directly: “Yesterday, when we switched to the new wedding rings, what happened to you? Why did you suddenly become so down?”

He gently stroked Ting-ge’s hair: “If something is bothering you, tell me, okay?”

Gu Yuanting felt Ranran’s gentle concern, his heart warm, but he knew this concern was not originally for him. Ranran was worried about the original owner, and his care was also for the original owner.

His heart ached numbly again.

This knife, with its sugar coating, pierced his already wide-open heart. He craved the sweetness of the sugar, endured the pain of the blade, unable to resist, unwilling to resist.

Gu Yuanting closed his eyes, silent for a long time. He knew he had lost control for a moment yesterday, his emotions exposed, which was why Ranran had noticed.

But he couldn’t answer, nor could he come up with a convincing lie.

Ultimately, Gu Yuanting could only say, “…I don’t know either.” He was afraid Ranran would continue to worry, so he added sincerely, “But I’m fine now. Yesterday was just a momentary, inexplicable emotion, which is normal. Don’t worry.”

Su Yiran hadn’t expected Ting-ge to say that. It was true that people sometimes became inexplicably sad, which was normal, but was Ting-ge’s case yesterday like that too?

Su Yiran didn’t press Gu Yuanting further. He thought for a moment: “That’s good. But you didn’t rest well last night. Don’t get up now, sleep a bit more. I’ll go cook first, and I’ll call you when the food is ready.”

Saying that, he sat up, preparing to get out of bed. Seeing Ting-ge disobediently trying to get up with him, he quickly pressed on Ting-ge’s shoulders, pushing him back down, kissing him like coaxing a child, and patiently said: “Ting-ge, be a good boy, sleep a bit more, okay?”

Under Ranran’s gentle gaze, Gu Yuanting unconsciously nodded obediently: “Okay.”

Su Yiran felt relieved. As he got up, he inadvertently noticed that the old wedding ring, which had been on the bedside table yesterday, was gone. He instinctively looked at Ting-ge.

Gu Yuanting noticed Ranran’s gaze towards the bedside table, and seeing Ranran look at him, he quickly said, “Your wedding ring, I put it away. I’m keeping it safe for you.”

Su Yiran nodded casually, then reached out and gently stroked Ting-ge’s head: “Go to sleep now.”

Gu Yuanting obediently closed his eyes. Su Yiran, seeing that he was about to sleep, got up and went downstairs to cook.

Gu Yuanting initially thought he wouldn’t be able to sleep, but for some reason, perhaps Ranran’s instructions held some magic, he fell asleep shortly after closing his eyes.

Downstairs, in the kitchen, as Su Yiran chopped vegetables, he couldn’t help but worry again about Ting-ge’s insomnia last night and his sudden, unusually low mood.

A momentary inexplicable emotion? He suddenly remembered that Ting-ge had suffered from postpartum depression. Although the difficult postpartum period had passed, and the doctor had said Ting-ge had recovered after re-examination, and judging from his behavior these past few days, Ting-ge seemed happy and joyful, with no signs of depression.

But depression is, after all, a psychological illness, and its recurrence is very unpredictable. Most patients can experience significant emotional fluctuations due to a small trigger. Su Yiran suspected that Ting-ge’s depression might not have fully recovered, and this time it was due to the influence of depressive emotions.

Su Yiran wasn’t a professional and didn’t have professional knowledge in this area. Making such a guess based solely on one unusually low emotional state yesterday was very unreliable. It was also possible that he was overthinking things, which Su Yiran hoped was the case.

For now, he decided to pay more attention to Ting-ge and observe him further.

Su Yiran made up his mind. After setting the rice to steam and preparing all the ingredients for stir-frying, he didn’t start cooking the dishes immediately. Instead, he went to the cake room first.

In the villa on this island, a cake room was specially prepared for him. Although he hadn’t used it these past few days, the cake room was still stocked with ingredients, waiting for him to use whenever he wanted.

In the cake room, he made a mango cake and then hid it in the refrigerator.

Today was Ting-ge’s birthday. Su Yiran temporarily pushed other thoughts aside. He wanted to celebrate Ting-ge’s birthday properly and make it a happy and joyful day for him.