The pain had drained him, and Eric didn't even have the strength to walk. Michael helped him up and took him to his office. On the way there, he had been quiet, but he could feel more and more clearly about his tumbling emotions, which almost made him scared. What am I getting myself into? He thought.

Eric's face was almost as pale as the bedsheet. When Michael handed a cup of hot water to him, he's still in a daze as his eyes lost their focus. "Water?"

Eric didn't take it. After a while, he mumbled, "it's cold here..."

Michael was flustered for a second. He usually didn't rest in his office, so there was no blanket here. He looked around and carried Eric's thick camel down-coat to him.

Eric grabbed the coat and wrapped it around his body tightly. Next to the fluffy fur hood, his pale, haggard face had a fragile and sickly beauty.

"Your situation is not good. You should really consider staying in the hospital." Sitting beside Eric, Michael fell into silence for a while and then said, "...you can't hide your sickness for too long... You'd better tell your lover and your family. Don't bear everything on your own."

After resting for a while, redness started to come back on Eric's face. He's born with a soft look but rarely showed his emotions. Shaking his head, he said, "I don't want to stay in the hospital. I'll just take whatever time God gives to me."

True love would make a person live for his lover instead of dying with him. However, Eric already gave up on living. He only wished that he could die earlier, so this exhausting love would end earlier.

The doctor suddenly realized Eric's life was not as simple as he thought. He wanted to ask but didn't know where to start. Then the office fell into silence again.

Eric knew he bothered the doctor too much today, so he politely said goodbye to Michael after feeling a bit better.

"I'll call you next time when the treatment is arranged." Michael knew he couldn't make Eric stay, but he's not good at making excuses either.

Eric's body became stiff, remember the pain today, but he still agreed to it after a few seconds.

An awkward look showed up on the doctor's face. Under Eric's puzzled gaze, he opened his mouth after hesitating for a while, "...your body is too weak right now. It would be better to stop having sex...."

Eric was even calmer than the doctor. He nodded at Michael quietly, feeling warm inside.

Watching him leaving, the doctor somehow felt a bit choke with an unexplainable emotion.

After getting back home, Eric had been lying on the bed for the whole afternoon without eating anything. He vomited five times in total, and for the last time, it was green bile that he threw up.

He felt the bed was too empty, so he let the four kittens join his nap. Those little furballs found comfortable spots next to his chest and neck and lay down. Somehow, the warmth from their bodies and the soft meowing sound filled the empty hole in his heart a little bit.

It was late when John came back, and Eric smelled alcohol from him. Eric almost thought he wouldn't go home today. However, he seemed to care about Eric a bit more than before recently.

Maybe it was last night that aroused his interest again. When he wrapped his arms around Eric intimately, he didn't even complain about the cats.

Between the two of them, John was always the horny one. He could exhaust Eric every time, even when they were younger, and now it was even worse. They just had sex last night, but John seemed to want him again.

However, spoiling John was already Eric's habit. What Michael said to him was put in the back of his mind. He forced himself to act as naturally as possible and held back all the uncomfortable feelings, letting John trust him again and again fiercely.

Eric bit his lips to hide his painful gasping. Instead of begging him to stop, he put his arms around John's neck and said softly, "John... Come inside of me... Hold me tight..."

Encouraged by his alluring voice, John sped up, and their bodies wobbled together with the screeching bed. But he didn't kiss Eric once during the entire time. In the end, he came in Eric and whispered a name by his ear, "...K..."

Eric's heart was shattered.

The name John called was not his.