At 11:40 a.m., Gu Zhan arrived at the hospital.

He had deliberately told Gu Ru that he would arrive at noon sharp, but came twenty minutes early because he wanted to see exactly who this so-called “caregiver” really was.

When Fu Yan had picked him up from the airport in the middle of the night, Gu Zhan had accidentally noticed several shopping bags piled messily in the back seat. He had found it strange at the time. After all, he had known Fu Yan for years and had even lived with him for a while. Fu Yan was normally an extremely tidy person; unless he had been in a hurry, he would never have tossed things carelessly into the back seat of his car.

And the things in those bags—a thermos, a blanket, and a blue outfit that looked like medical staff's clothing—if Fu Yan hadn't just come from the hospital, why would he have those things in his car?

Most importantly, the thermos was exactly the same as the one Gu Zhan had seen on the bedside table in his mother's hospital room that morning. It was all too easy to put the pieces together.

And then there was that flannel blanket. Last week, when Gu Ru had still been in the ICU, Gu Zhan had accidentally fallen asleep while keeping watch outside her room. Some kind-hearted stranger, worried that he would catch a cold, had covered him with a blanket. The one in Fu Yan's car looked exactly the same.

With so many coincidences, if Gu Zhan still hadn't noticed something was wrong, he would have been insulting his own intelligence.

Almost certain now, Gu Zhan walked into the hospital room—and sure enough, he saw Gu Ru talking to a man carrying a food container.

That person wasn't a “caregiver.”

It was Fu Yan.

For a moment, both people in the room froze.

Gu Zhan's hand tightened around the doorknob as he glared at Fu Yan.

After hesitating for half a minute, Fu Yan set down the food container in his hands and stammered, “Gu Zhan, I…”

“Come outside with me!” Gu Zhan's voice wasn't loud, but he practically gritted the words through his teeth.

“A-Zhan, don't get angry yet. Xiao Fu didn't mean to deceive you. You two should talk it out properly.” Seeing the situation, Gu Ru hurried to intervene.

Fu Yan gave Gu Ru a reassuring smile. “It's okay, Auntie. I'll go talk to him.”

One after the other, the two men walked through the corridor and into the tea room at the end.

Fu Yan came in last and, after thinking about it, locked the door.

Gu Zhan glared at him. “You came to Suzhou last week, didn't you? That whole story about going to Shanghai for work was just an excuse?”

“Yes.”

“When I was keeping watch outside the ICU, you were there?”

“Yes.”

“After I went back to Beijing, you were the one taking care of my mother this whole time?”

“Yes.”

Suppressing the feeling of being deceived, Gu Zhan asked, “Why didn't my mother kick you out?”

Fu Yan looked embarrassed. “At first, I pretended to be the caregiver you'd hired. I wore a mask and didn't talk much, so Auntie didn't recognize me. By the time she figured it out two days later, we'd already gotten along pretty well, so she didn't give me much trouble.”

Gu Zhan stood by the window with his hands on his hips for a moment, apparently trying to suppress something. Then he turned around and glared at him.

“Fu Yan, is it fun messing with me? A few hours ago, you just admitted that you'd given up on me. I thought the two of us had finally reached the end. So what does this mean? Did you think I'd be pleasantly surprised and moved when I found out? Did you think silently sacrificing yourself like this made you noble?”

The more he spoke, the more agitated he became, until he was practically shouting.

Gu Zhan knew that, from an outsider's perspective, his reaction might seem somewhat “ungrateful.” The young master of the Fu family had lowered himself to take care of him and his mother, asking for nothing in return. What exactly was Gu Zhan making such a fuss about?

Aside from Gu Zhan, Fu Yan probably had never done anything like this for anyone.

But Gu Zhan simply didn't want to be with someone who had hurt him again. He didn't want to risk experiencing that kind of devastating heartbreak a second time. It had hurt so badly, as if something had been ripped out of his body, and even now he hadn't fully recovered.

He wanted to protect himself. What was wrong with that?

He was thirty-two. All he wanted was a stable relationship and a peaceful life. What was wrong with that?

But Fu Yan simply refused to let him have it. He kept clinging on, going back and forth, repeatedly messing with his state of mind.

Only Gu Zhan knew how difficult it was to repeatedly convince himself to reject someone he loved.

Seeing the pain on Gu Zhan's face, Fu Yan was at a loss as well.

“Gu Zhan, I never wanted you to be moved, and I don't think I'm being noble. I did all of this willingly. I simply wanted to care about you, to take care of you, and to stay by your side when you needed help.”

He cautiously stepped closer, slowly placing both hands on Gu Zhan's shoulders.

“But I was also afraid that my instinctive concern for you would cause you trouble or become a burden to you, so I chose to keep quiet. You really don't need to struggle with this the way you are now. I love you. Being able to do things for you makes me happy. It has nothing to do with whether you're willing to return my feelings.”

Gu Zhan met those dark, shining eyes and felt all his emotions collide inside him. He couldn't make sense of whether he should be happy or sad, touched or angry.

He could only give a helpless, bitter laugh.

“Fu Yan, do you really have to humble yourself like this for someone else? Do you really have to bend over backward and sacrifice your dignity? Do you have no self-respect? Look at yourself. Do you even look like yourself anymore?”

“I stopped looking like myself a long time ago.”

Fu Yan spoke in a muffled voice.

“Ever since I met you, I slowly became a complete person. Without you, I'd still be naturally privileged, blindly arrogant, and forever unable to realize that I was nothing more than a beautiful empty shell. You say changing for you is pathetic, but I don't see it that way, Gu Zhan. You made me a better person.”

Gu Zhan broke free of his arms.

“I don't have that much power, and I'm not as good as you think I am. We were together before, but what was the result? Do you really think we're compatible?”

“I'm an extremely strong-willed person. I absolutely refuse to fall down in the same place twice. And you're not someone who gives up easily, either. Right now, you're willing to compromise on everything just to win me over. But what about the future? Are you willing to compromise for me for the rest of your life?

“Even if you are, I could never accept it with a clear conscience. That's exactly why we're destined not to work out.”

Knock, knock—

Someone knocked on the door from outside. A clear female voice called, “Who's in there? This is a hospital, so please don't make so much noise. If there's something you need to discuss, please take it outside.”

The two men fell silent.

They stared at each other for a long time.

Finally, Gu Zhan looked away and said coldly, “Leave. I can take care of my mother myself.”

Fu Yan's lips moved, unwilling to give up, as though he wanted to say something more.

In the end, he could only silently leave.

Gu Zhan returned to the hospital room with his head lowered.

Seeing the exhaustion in her son's eyes, Gu Ru looked out at the beautiful sunlight streaming through the window and said thoughtfully, “A-Zhan, why don't you take Mom downstairs for a walk?”

Gu Zhan looked up at her, draped a thick coat over her shoulders, and nodded.

“Okay.”

In the small hospital garden, the grass was green and the breeze was gentle.

Gu Zhan held his mother's arm as they slowly walked along the pebble path.

They walked for a long time before Gu Ru finally sighed.

“A-Zhan, you still love Fu Yan, don't you?”

“Mom, I…”

Gu Zhan instinctively tried to deny it, but his mother waved him off.

“Tell Mom the truth. I can tell.”

Gu Zhan looked into his mother's eyes. After making sure she wouldn't react strangely to his admission, he nodded.

“Yes.”

Gu Ru let out a long breath.

“Last month, our school finally finished building a new library. Now my students can not only find all kinds of books at school, they also have a spacious, bright study room. Whenever I see them immersed in their books, reading things they love, it makes me so happy.

“Do you remember? When you were little, you didn't have that kind of opportunity to read. You had to walk all the way to the city library. I remember once you were reading some kind of science book and got so absorbed in it that they had already closed the library. The woman in charge had to chase you out, and you still didn't want to leave. You hugged the book and looked at her so pitifully…”

“Haha.”

Gu Zhan laughed too as he remembered those days.

Gu Ru's tone became serious again.

“And the sports equipment we donated before, the school cafeteria they renovated more than half a year ago, the chef they specifically brought in from Shanghai…”

A look of surprise flashed through Gu Zhan's eyes.

“All of those… were done by Fu Yan?”

“Yes.” Gu Ru nodded. “I only found out by accident when I was at the principal's office some time ago. Fu Yan did all of those things anonymously. Only a few people inside the school knew who the donor was.

“And this time, too. Xiao Fu came to the hospital to take care of me.”

“Mom, what do you think of Fu Yan now…?”

For a moment, Gu Zhan was genuinely stunned.

His last impression of his mother and Fu Yan was still from a year ago—Gu Ru furiously throwing a gift box at Fu Yan outside their home, screaming at him to leave.

“My opinion of him has changed a lot,” Gu Ru said. “Of course, I'm not telling you this to speak on his behalf, nor am I saying that because he helped us, we owe him anything. I just think Xiao Fu really cares about you. You should face his feelings honestly.”

Gu Zhan lowered his head and fell silent.

Gu Ru took his hand, squeezed it gently, and patted it.

“Mom knows that you've never felt very secure since you were little. After having painful relationship after painful relationship with Fu Yan and Tan Rui, you're even more afraid to entrust your feelings to anyone.

“You want to find someone who can stay by your side forever, someone who will never leave you.”

“But A-Zhan, you need to understand something. If someone is willing to stay by your side forever, never abandon you no matter what happens, it won't be because you're compatible. It won't be because of any external conditions.”

“To have that kind of powerful, unshakable determination, the only reason can be that he truly loves you.”

Gu Zhan turned his head and looked into his mother's eyes.

The corners of those eyes, aged by time, were slightly red.

If anyone else had said these things to him, he might have thought they were being sentimental or simply talking idealistically.

But hearing them from Gu Ru struck straight into the deepest part of his heart.

For years, he hadn't understood why Gu Ru had stubbornly refused to leave their old, cramped apartment.

Even before Gu Ru became his mother, she hadn't been that old. She had a stable job. Though she was a widow, she was still young enough and attractive enough to have had the opportunity to begin another good marriage.

But she hadn't.

Instead, she had resolutely adopted a child from an orphanage.

She guarded a home and a single photograph, and lived out an entire lifetime that way.

And now, at long last, Gu Zhan understood.

Gu Ru had spent her whole life loving one person.

What about Fu Yan?

Was Fu Yan really as serious this time as Gu Ru believed?

Could he trust Fu Yan one more time?

Could he give the person he loved another chance—and give himself another chance, too?