Darkness intertwined with coldness were hugging Han Dishan tightly.He and Gisa were locked up in separate cells, separated by a long wall. In his head, he saw Gisa standing in the corner banging her head on the wall. He quickly shook his head.
And then , in front of him,he saw his younger self. He was standing in the middle of the crowd. Young or adult, female or male; they all mercilessly threw stones at him spouting out countless curses.
" MONSTER!!",
" KILL HIM!.",
" Ungrateful rascal...", And many others.
Han Dishan just stood there motionlessly, his small hands tightly clenched. He was squinting at the floor,trying to swallow back warm tears threatening to escape from his eyes.
In the end those tears escaped.
" Crocodile tears!!! How dare you cry??!!"
" Possessed rascal."
The anger in those voices was too hard to endure. He felt empty. Hopeless. And most of all, powerless.
Among the crowd, a little girl quickly pushed through the crowd towards him. She stood in front of him.
" Please stop!!" She cried out aloud. The crowd of the people suddenly stopped their actions and glanced at each other. The little girl was harshly pulled out of the center by a woman who harshly scolded her. The girl cried.Han Dishan gave a blank look at the girl with a wry smile on his lips. His eyes that were blinded by his own tears, slowly curved giving a mocking smile . It wasn't directed to anyone else. It was directed to himself.
A large stone suddenly crashed on his head. He fell down. Instead of standing up, he lay flat there , blankly gazing at nothing.
His mind suddenly got back to him, when he felt himself being stared at. He slowly raised his head only to notice that the guard have been patiently standing at the door for hours, waiting for him to get out. He slowly got up and walked outside. There, he glanced at the cell Gisa had been put in. One guard seeing the worry in his eyes quickly announced,
" She was released a while ago."
Han Dishan gave a nod followed by a" hmm."
The guard quickly added," Our young lady said your punishment is postponed." Han Dishan calmly thought,
' Postponed?! Why not removed?' But he instead smiled.
" Thanks."
The very moment he reached his room, he rushed to his wooden box. He searched and searched but didn't get what he wanted.
In the morning when he had rearranged his things, he didn't care enough to know what was missing. But now that he needed it and couldn't get it; he couldn't help but feel defeated.
" HUA JIREN!! Son of ... Fuck...damn it!!" he punched the floor angrily only for his knuckles to be hurt in the process. He carelessly caressed them as he blowed on them.
He got out of his room and raised his head towards the sky. The sky was still dark.
' Such a long night....'
Determined, he went to Hua Jiren's room.
He had expected Hua Jiren to be asleep, but the man sat on his bed holding his head like a crazy man. He seemed to be enduring some unbearable pain. Han Dishan stared blankly at him for a while. For the first time he felt sorry for this side of Hua Jiren.
' That won't make me help you anyways...'
Han Dishan only checked the wooden shelf for his drawing. And when he saw it,a warm smile appeared on his face.
'Here you're.'
He subconsciously glanced at Hua Jiren.
He was about to ask him if he had any medicine but decided that was a lame question. How can an almost dying person have no medecines?
He searched the wooden shelf once again but got nothing. He mockingly glanced at Hua Jiren.
'Turns out God wants you dead then.....I even tried to help...' he shook his head at him and decided to leave. He suddenly spotted a small wooden box lying just beside the wall. He picked it up and found the number of pills there.
" God wants you alive." He muttered to himself and walked towards the bed. He sat right next to Hua Jiren. He calmly put his arm around his shoulder and pushed Hua Jiren's hands off his head with his free hand, making sure his head rested on that arm he had put around his shoulder.
His eyes suddenly widened at how light his limbs were_and his extremely weak appearance .His ashen face was soaked in sweat,his eyebrows tightly furrowed above his closed eyes, lips cracked.
Han Dishan inspected this face closely and saw tears flowing down Hua Jiren's cheeks. His lips curled upward. But then, he admired this guy's pain tolerance. Only painful muffled groans and moans escaped from his lips. He hadn't shouted nor wailed. It was also clear that not many knew of his disease.
Han Dishan put the pill to his lips. Hua Jiren slowly turned his head away. Han Dishan frowned.
" How old are you to be afraid of pills??"
No answer. Hua Jiren weakly raised his arm and hid his eyes.
" Ugh..."
Han Dishan adjusted his position. Hua Jiren's lips slowly parted as a moan escaped from his mouth. Han Dishan quickly pushed the pill inside and swiftly covered Hua Jiren's lips with his hand and his nose, making him unable to spill the pill. He gave a satisfied smile. He then carefully leaned down and pulled the water gourd beside the bed with great difficulty. He put the gourd on Hua Jiren's lips. He drank a mouthful of water before pushing the gourd away.
' Look at me babysitting you!! Aren't I kind??'
In the end, Han Dishan helped Hua Jiren lie down and walked out when he was sure, Hua Jiren was asleep.
Han Dishan's mood wasn't that good nor that bad to kill a person. By the way, wasn't Hua Jiren going to die anyway? Wasn't the pain he was enduring, ten folds greater than the pain Han Dishan would ever be able to give him? Why should he dirty his hands then?
He glanced back before walking finally walking to his own room.