See him one last time?
That was the phrase little Han Qing heard when the nurse led him over. He almost fell onto his knees at once, but the nurse managed to grab hold of him just in time.
However, little Han Qing’s mind was preoccupied with the words the doctor had said to his mother right then. The family of the injured may go inside to see him one last time. See him one last time, see him one last time…
Obviously, the nurse had heard the doctor saying that as well. She looked at the little kid next to her subconsciously before crouching down slightly. Then, she said, “Little boy, you…”
She wanted to tell him not to get too sad about it, but how could she say such a thing when he had just lost his father? How could he not be overcome with grief?
For a while, the nurse was at a loss for words. She had witnessed such a scene many times in the hospital; every time she saw something like this, she thought she might grow apathetic one day. However, her heart still ached immensely every time she saw loved ones being parted forever.
The deceased left without knowing anything, whereas the ones who survived were left behind to suffer from grief alone.
Little Han Qing stood in place for a while before he finally walked toward his mother.
Madam Han seemed taken aback, looking as though she did not believe it to be the truth. She fell into a daze for quite some time until she heard a voice next to her, “Mommy.”
It was only then did Madam Han come back to her senses. Maintaining her initial expression, she looked down to see her son standing in front of her. Immediately, tears gushed out of her eyes as she said, “Qing, Qing.”
She noticed that her voice was choked with emotion as soon as she spoke; she couldn’t hold back her tears either. However, she quickly realized that she couldn’t behave like that as a mother, so she simply turned around and wiped her tears away. She managed a forced smile when she turned back to Han Qing, but it appeared much uglier than the look on her face while she was crying.
Little Han Qing couldn’t describe how bad he felt deep down inside when he saw his mother looking like that.
“Why are you here?” Madam Han crouched down and caressed Han Qing’s face with a smile. “Daddy is inside. I’ll take you along so that we can have a little chat with him, okay?”
Han Qing bit his lower lip without saying a word.
“Be good, Qing. Daddy must want to hear you speak at a time like this, so don’t cry later.”
Finally, Madam Han led her son into the room to see her husband one last time.
For Han Qing, he would never forget that fateful day in his entire life. Ever since he was a young boy, what happened that day had always been his inner demon; Han Qing was unable to get rid of it at all.
He couldn’t stand the sight of fires or candles, and the thought of his birthday was especially unbearable to him. He no longer wanted to remember the date he was born and what he had done that day.
The scene of his father being killed in that big fire often appeared in his dreams from time to time before he woke up with his undershirt drenched in cold sweat. This particular incident from his past constantly reappeared in his dreams, gnawing at his brain even when he was awake until it deprived him of the brightness in his life.
“Yan…” Han Qing muttered Yan’s name as his mind was in turmoil. The blazing flames before his eyes gradually transformed into Yan’s appearance before transforming again into his father, who had been crushed to the floor by a house beam while trying to save his son.
No! No way! I can’t let what happened in the past happen again!
Han Qing gradually regained his senses. He was unable to save his father back then and spent his life in regret because of that. Right now, he couldn’t bear to make the same mistake he had made in the past.
Han Qing knew that he would never absolve himself from guilt if something happened to Yan because of him. Most importantly, he must not let anything happen to her.
Han Qing banished the distracting thoughts from his mind and quickly went inside to look for Yan.
Yan was hiding in a corner of her hotel room. The taps in the restroom were all running, but the water that flowed out of them wasn’t enough to put out the raging fire.
The thick smoke choked her to the point that her eyes watered, and she had difficulty breathing. In the end, she could only huddle in the restroom.
Fortunately, she wasn’t suffering from a lot of injuries; she could only pray in her heart that someone would come and rescue her out of the fire.
The first person who came into her mind was Han Qing, but he would certainly get hurt if he entered such a big fire.
Yan shook her head the instant she thought about that. He’d better not come in, she thought to herself. It’s enough for one person to suffer such pain.
She crouched down slowly. Although Yan had tried to save herself at first, she gradually became exhausted as time went on.
As she was pondering, she heard someone calling her name all of a sudden.
“Yan! Where are you? If you can hear me, please give me an answer!”
At first, Yan thought that she was hallucinating. Otherwise, why could she hear Han Qing’s voice at this very moment?
As the thought occurred to her, she touched her face and smiled in self-deprecation; she must have missed Han Qing immensely to be hearing things just then.
“Yan!”
The voice spoke again, and it sounded much louder and nearer. Astounded, Yan looked up sharply toward the voice’s direction. It was only then she noticed the person’s tall figure as he plunged through the fire before running toward her.
Splash!
The man stepped into a pool of water, causing droplets of water to splash onto her cheeks. Yet, Yan merely squatted there in a daze.
W-What’s going on? Why is Han Qing here?
Han Qing couldn’t care less about anything else when he discovered Yan squatting there. He immediately ran over to pull her up before checking to see if she was wounded.
Yan’s eyes were fixed on Han Qing as her lips parted weakly. “W-Why are you here?”
Upon hearing her voice, Han Qing was finally certain that he found her; he immediately took her into his arms.
Yan smelled the familiar scent that belonged to him when he pulled her into his arms. However, she also discovered that the corners of his shirt and the bottom of his trouser legs had been burned. She tried to touch them, but Han Qing—who seemed to have noticed what she was about to do—pulled her away and held her hands instead.
“Let me get you out of here.”
“Why are you here?” asked Yan as she stared at him.
Han Qing’s hand paused at her question before he looked back at her.
Yan had a look of sadness and anger in her eyes as the fire blazed around her. “Speak! Why are you here despite such a big fire? Aren’t you afraid of dying?”
The cracking sound of something burning could be heard in the air. Suddenly, Han Qing pulled Yan toward him before bowing his head to stare at her. “You’re in danger, so why should I not be here? From today onward, I’m your husband.”
Yan held her breath upon hearing his words.
Han Qing continued, “So, what do you think? Why am I here? Shouldn’t I be here to check if you’re in danger?”
Yan bit her lower lip. “Aren’t you afraid that something would happen to you? Now that the fire is so strong, who knows what might happen to you if you enter the fire? Why are you so foolish?”
“Heh.” Han Qing chuckled lightly before holding her in his arms. “Nothing bad will happen. As long as I’m here, I will keep you safe and sound. Don’t worry, I’ll bring you out in no time.”
After he finished speaking, Han Qing looked around his surroundings before he added, “Wait here for a minute.”
With that, he let go of Yan and ran out of the room before she realized what was going on, causing her expression to change drastically. “Where are you going? Han Qing!”
However, she was met with zero answers. As her heart slowly sank, she thought to herself, Why is he still running out when the fire is so strong?
