Lima syndrome

"So what you mean is that if I like your painting, I don't have to give you the key?"

"You are changing the concept!"

"Even if I don't like it, I can ask someone to paint it off. As long as I lock the door of my room, you can never come in again."

Bai Jitai's sneer seemed to be mocking his arrogance.

However, Bai Zhiyan's main purpose was not this. He was just worried that Bai Jitai's attention would be focused on this wall. He suspected that he had discovered the secret of the empty wall, so he used the matter of his room key to change the subject.

"Tsk, you talk like who would like to come into your room, do you think I am you?"

Ever since Bai Jitai locked him up at home, he discovered Bai Zhiyan's true character. Before, whenever he saw him, he would either be full of disgust or sneer at him and go against him, and he had to use force on him every time to make him obey.

Now he is getting bolder and bolder, and rarely says those dirty words that make him want to kill people. Instead, he always does things and says things like he is doing now, which seems like he is throwing a tantrum.

It was only at this time that Bai Jitai felt that he was really a boy who had just turned twenty years old.

At the same time, Bai Jitai would also wonder, is it that Bai Zhiyan has become obedient or that his bottom line has become lower? When did it start? He actually tolerated Bai Zhiyan's repeated disobedience and resistance to him.

He wanted to see Bai Zhiyan's lively expression, but he also liked the redness in his eyes when he was enduring.

"From now on, you can come into my room as you please, and we'll be even."

"Even?"

Bai Zhiyan felt that what he said was too nonsensical. "How can we be even? I don't want to enter your room."

"But aren't you here now?"

He clearly heard Bai Jitai sneering at him. He was now covered in watercolor paint and leaning against the wall of his room. What he said was indeed unconvincing.

"I...I'm leaving now."

He was a little embarrassed, and bent down to pick up all the tools on the ground. He didn't dare to look at him again, and acted sneakily like a thief.

"Bai Zhiyan." Bai Jitai called out to Bai Zhiyan who had already picked up everything.

But Bai Zhiyan ignored him and turned to leave.

"Why do you want to draw the lotus flowers?"

Bai Jitai's voice has a unique hoarseness, and every time he lowers the volume, it gives people the illusion that he is talking in their ears.

"I didn't draw this flower. Sunwoo drew it."

The implication is that he doesn't know why Li Shanyu drew this.

"Then do you know what this flower means?"

Bai Zhiyan always felt that his question was definitely not a good thing, and his mouth reacted faster than his brain, "I don't know, and I don't want to know."

Bai Jitai didn't say anything else, but just raised his hand and pointed at the butterfly with a damaged piece of the painting.

"Then this is what you drew. Why did you draw this butterfly?"

"It's just a random picture I saw on my phone. It doesn't mean anything."

Bai Zhiyan didn't understand the point of his question. He had never thought about the meaning of the painting. He had only painted it to make him upset.

Bai Jitai probably didn't think too much about it, and he stepped in front of him with his long legs. He had to lower his head every time he looked at Bai Zhiyan, but this time, the first thing he saw was the end of his eye where he accidentally rubbed paint when he was tidying up.

He raised his hand and Bai Zhiyan immediately stepped back.

But he didn't stop. Bai Zhiyan couldn't stop him with things in his hands. Finally, he watched his slender fingers gently tap the corner of his eye. He frowned and trembled his eye, and his eyelashes trembled just like the fluttering wings of a butterfly.

"what are you doing?"

"It's dirty." Bai Jitai showed him the deep red paint on his hands.

Bai Zhiyan turned his head unnaturally.

"The twin lotuses symbolize the everlasting love between lovers, the everlasting friendship, and the deep affection between brothers and sisters. What do you think Lee Sun-woo meant by painting this?"

"what?"

"Are you looking forward to our brotherly love?"

Bai Zhiyan suddenly turned his head and looked at him, "What are you talking about? Shanyu is just a child, what would he know? Stop making such boring guesses."

"For now, I will just treat Lee Sun-woo as a 'simple and innocent' child."

What he said was weird. What did he mean by pretend? Compared to him and others, Li Shanyu was simply normal.

"What about you? What does your butterfly painting mean?"

At this point, Bai Zhiyan finally couldn't stand it anymore, "Bai Jitai, are you done yet? I've already said that I just drew it casually, and it doesn't have any meaning. I didn't make any innuendos or sarcasm at you, why do you have to keep asking questions?"

But what Bai Zhiyan didn't know was that the species of butterfly he painted was the small broad-striped butterfly, which symbolizes love. It is the love-brained butterfly and also has one of the shortest lifespans.

The moment Bai Jitai saw the painting, he felt that he was cursing his own short life.

"This is a small broad-banded butterfly." Bai Jitai didn't care that he was losing his temper, but instead gave him some scientific knowledge, "An entomologist once observed that a female small broad-banded butterfly can attract more than 60 male butterflies in three days."

His tone was so serious that Bai Zhiyan thought he was attending some kind of knowledge cram school, but he was not interested in it at all.

"I advise you not to think too much about it. I don't have any strange thoughts when I paint."

"Strange idea?" Bai Jitai repeated his words. The same words sounded different when he spoke them.

"No matter how far apart they are, the male butterfly will find the female butterfly. Do you know how the male butterfly finds the female butterfly?" Without waiting for Bai Zhiyan to answer, he slowly approached his face with a frivolous tone.

"It's the smell."

As he spoke, he sniffed the scent of Bai Zhiyan's hair, which was a light lemon scent.

Bai Zhiyan was so shocked by his sudden action that he got goose bumps all over his body.

"Damn pervert!"

Bai Zhiyan twisted his body to avoid him, knocked him away with his shoulder, and ran away. He went back to the room to make sure that Bai Jitai didn't catch up, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.

However, Bai Jitai's words continued to linger in his mind.

"The twin lotuses symbolize the eternal union of lovers... The male small broad-striped butterfly will always find the female no matter how far apart they are..." Bai Zhiyan murmured to himself, with a strange emotion rising in his heart.

He suspected that Bai Jitai might have come back after taking medicine outside. Otherwise, how to explain that he was not angry but also talked a bunch of inexplicable nonsense to him?

He shook his head, trying to get rid of these messy thoughts.

Looking at Bai Zhiyan's fleeing figure, Bai Jitai chuckled, and the dimples on his cheeks were enough to prove that its owner was in a good mood at the moment.

He was already extremely angry when he didn't see the two people on the first floor and saw the door of the room was open. But when he went upstairs, the anger he had when he first returned home disappeared instantly when he saw Bai Zhiyan kneeling on the ground.

It seemed that since Christmas Eve, he would go home every day, and the first thing he did when he opened the door every day was to see where Bai Zhiyan was and what he was doing.

When his mother was still alive, the happiest thing for him every day was to see his mother smiling and saying welcome home when he came home from school.

He hasn't felt this kind of warmth from his family for a long time.

But now he finds that he often sees his mother's shadow in Bai Zhiyan, whether it's the kelp soup he made on his birthday, or hearing him say "I love you" when he comes home drunk.

Even when he saw him coaxing Li Shanyu in a soft voice, he could feel the kind of affinity in him that was easy to make people addicted.

So this is the real him? Is this why he attracted Cha Kyung-chan and Seo Si-won?

Bai Jitai felt inexplicably upset. He knew that Ming Zhiyan was now under his control, but he always felt that he was like that butterfly, beautiful and attractive but with a half-dead and decadent feeling, which would disappear after a summer.

Butterfly?

His hand gently stroked the lifelike butterfly on the wall. If he hadn't been so scared that his hands were shaking, the painting would have looked more perfect.

A psychologist who once treated him told him that some people associate flowers and butterflies with sex.

At that time he did not understand the meaning of the doctor's words, but now he suddenly understood.

When he saw the butterfly wings, he thought of Bai Zhiyan's fluttering eyelashes, the arched spine when his thin body was trapped, and his legs slightly open when he was handcuffed in the basement.

It seems that Bai Zhiyan was right.

“What a surprise.”

Che Jingcan hasn't seen Bai Zhiyan for more than a week. He has been awake very little these days, and the first thing he does every time he opens his eyes is to see if Bai Zhiyan is there.

He had several fits of violence, and each time the doctors ended by giving him a sedative. Within ten days, his weight loss was noticeable.

Later, his father came once and mentioned his mother who had been sad for him. Che Jingcan finally became quiet, but when he was awake, he still did not forget to send a message to Bai Zhiyan.

But he has restrained himself now. He did not bombard him with criticism, nor did he keep asking him questions. He knew that Bai Zhiyan hated him for being like that.

"Doctor, when can I be discharged from the hospital?"

Ever since Bai Zhiyan left, he no longer had the need to hurt himself to keep him. Now he could only go find him if he got better quickly and was discharged from the hospital.

"It will probably take another half a month."

"Why did it take so long?"

Che Jingcan propped himself up and leaned against the bed, still looking unhappy and sullen as usual, his temper having been worn away by the injury.

The doctor helplessly complained, "Patient, you insisted on being discharged from the hospital every day regardless of your condition. Don't you know how many times your wound has split and been sutured? Half a month is already fast."

"No, I don't have that much time to waste in the hospital." Che Jingcan frowned and interrupted him.

"I must be discharged from the hospital as soon as possible."

"Che Jingcan, what's the urgent matter that requires you to go out?"

A deep and deep voice sounded, and the doctor tactfully left the ward, while Che Jingcan pursed his lips and refused to answer.

"Your mother has been angry with me these days because she is worried about you. Can you please stop making her worry?"

Cha Jae-ho put down the thermos box in his hand and said, "This is made by your mother. Have a good rest after eating it and don't think about those useless things."

When Che Jingcan heard that the food was made by his mother, he turned around to get it.

In fact, Yoon Mi-sun is a good cook, but she rarely cooks. When she was young, Cha Jae-ho once praised her cooking skills and said that he hoped she could cook for him every day in the future.

So after they got married, Yoon Mi-sun never cooked again. She didn't want to satisfy any of Cha Jae-ho's demands.

But she would break her own rules out of concern for her son.

As excited as Cha Jae-ho was when he saw Yoon Mi-sun cooking, he was just as angry when he found out that she was cooking for Cha Kyung-chan.

It is impossible that he has no feelings for his son, but the birth of Che Jingcan was his way of retaining Yin Meishan, who committed suicide in exchange for freedom. He loves the fruit of his and his wife's birth, but he is jealous that he can get Yin Meishan's love.

How ridiculous it is that a father would be jealous of his own son.

When Che Jingcan opened the thermos box and saw that it was filled with his favorite dishes, he couldn't help but feel a lump in his throat.

"I want to see my mother."

"With your current appearance?"

Che Jae-ho sneered, looking upset at the incubator in his hand, "You should first sort out your own mess before thinking about seeing your mother."

"Do not."

Che Jingcan's tone was more determined than ever before. He looked straight at Che Jaeho and said, "I must see my mother. She is the only one who can help me now."

After he knew that his mother had met Bai Zhiyan, he felt that God was helping him. If he couldn't keep Bai Zhiyan, he would have to ask his mother for help.

This was also the first time that Che Jingcan spoke to Che Jaeho in this tone. Although he was usually very lenient with Che Jingcan, he did not dare to be rude to himself.

"Che Jingcan, you are not a child anymore. Do you think you should ask your mother to help you solve problems when you encounter them as a child?"

It doesn't matter even if he knows that he is being willful now. Since Bai Zhiyan left, when he eats, he will remember that he used to play with him and feed him. When he sleeps, he will remember the warmth of his soft body when he hugs him. Even when he changes clothes, he will think of how he lent him his clothes when he was at Bai Zhiyan's house.

He felt that he was sick, but he was clearly in the hospital, so why was he still feeling pain?

"Dad, you don't understand. I'm at my wits' end now. If mom can't help me, I..."

Che Jingcan couldn't continue speaking. He didn't want to say in person the result that he could not accept the most.

"Just let mom listen to my request. I promise this is the last time and I will never make mom sad again."

Che Jae-ho looked at Che Kyung-chan and felt helpless. He knew that Che Kyung-chan had been stubborn since he was a child and it was difficult to change his decision.

"You... have always caused Mi-seon trouble since childhood." Che Jae-ho looked up and out the window. The wind and snow outside were still not stopping, and his sigh dissipated in the air.

In fact, it was not just him who wanted to see his mother. Yoon Mi-sun had been so worried about not being able to see him these days that she had lost her appetite. He was glad that Che Kyung-chan's wife would not leave him, but sometimes he felt annoyed because giving birth to him had diverted all of Yoon Mi-sun's attention.

But in the end, he agreed to Che Jingcan's request.

"I will bring her here, but if you dare to make Meishan sad, I will never forgive you."