CHAPTER 80: CHAPTER 80

~Anning~

Hours had dragged by in that stupid hospital room they stuck me in for "observation." Observation of what, exactly? Me not dying from giving blood? Please. I was fine, scrolling on my phone, ignoring the fifty missed calls from Hana and the random hate texts starting to trickle in from who-knows-where. Probably someone overheard the drama and decided to play hero online. Whatever. I wasn’t leaving until I knew Lee Know was either dead or discharged preferably the second, but hey, a girl can dream.

Then the door banged open so hard it bounced off the wall, and Fan Xiao stormed in like he owned the place. His face was red, eyes wild, hair messed up like he’d been pulling at it. He looked unhinged, which was new for him. Mr. Perfect Control Freak finally cracking? Cute.

"Where the fuck is she?" he yelled at the empty air before spotting me on the bed. "You. What did you do?"

I blinked up at him, slow, like I had all the time in the world. "Hi to you too, babe. Miss me already? That was fast."

"Don’t fucking ’babe’ me." He slammed the door shut behind him, hard enough the nurse outside probably jumped. "Lee Know’s having some kind of reaction. Flashes, smells, emotions...he says it’s you. Your rage, your obsession, all that shit pouring into his head. What the hell did you put in your blood, Anning? Suppressants? Poison? Did you plan this?"

I sat up straighter, laughing before I could stop myself. It came out sharp, mean. "Oh my god, you’re serious. You think I spiked my own vein with magic ABO juice just to mind-fuck your precious omega? That’s gold. Pure gold."

"It’s not funny!" he shouted, stepping closer, fists clenched at his sides. "The doctors said it’s some rare bond echo thing. Your markers are triggering an imprint in him. He’s smelling you, feeling you.....like you’re marking him from the inside. You did this on purpose, didn’t you? You couldn’t have me, so you’re poisoning him instead."

For a second, just one tiny sick second, something twisted hot and triumphant in my chest. My blood in him. My emotions leaking through. My scent...suppressed for years...finally crawling into his skin where Fan Xiao couldn’t scrub it out. He was carrying me now, whether he wanted to or not. Part of me wanted to lean in and whisper, yeah, I did it, deal with it.

But I didn’t say that. Instead I rolled my eyes huge. "Wow, paranoid much? Newsflash, genius...I didn’t ask for this either. I gave blood to save your little family, remember? You’re the one who begged."

"I didn’t beg," he snarled, but his voice cracked on it, and yeah, he totally had.

"Pretty sure you did. Grabbed my arm, whispered all desperate, ’anything you want, Anning, anything.’ Ring a bell?"

He flinched like I’d slapped him, then paced the tiny room, two steps one way, two back. "This isn’t about that. This is about him hurting because of you. Again."

"Hurting how, exactly?" I asked, sarcasm dripping. "Is he dying? Or just annoyed that he has to feel what it’s like to be obsessed with you for once? Poor baby."

"Shut up," he snapped, stopping right in front of me, towering like that was supposed to scare me. "Just shut up. He’s in pain, Anning. Real pain. And he keeps saying your name in his sleep."

That hit weird. Not triumphant anymore. Just... weird. "My name? Like, cursing it or...."

"No. Like he’s confused. Like he thinks you’re me sometimes." Fan Xiao’s voice dropped, shaky now. "He’s scared. He thinks he’s losing his mind."

I opened my mouth for another snarky comeback, something about how Lee Know probably always thought he was losing his mind around Fan Xiao, but then the door flew open again ... .no knock, nothing....and a nurse rushed in, out of breath.

"Mr. Fan? You need to come now. Your partner is having another spike....bad one. Collapsed in the hallway trying to get water."

Fan Xiao went pale, like actually gray-pale, and bolted past her without a word to me. The nurse shot me this dirty look...like I’d caused it on purpose before running after him.

I sat there frozen for a second, then jumped up, IV stand clattering, and followed. Because fuck sitting around waiting.

By the time I got to Lee Know’s room, it was chaos. Fan Xiao was on his knees by the bed, holding Lee Know up, who was curled in on himself, sweating, shaking, whimpering like actual pain. Doctors swarmed, checking monitors, barking orders. The heart rate thing was beeping too fast, erratic.

"Get it out," Lee Know gasped, clutching at Fan Xiao’s shirt. "Make it stop....her anger....it’s everywhere...."

Fan Xiao’s head snapped toward me in the doorway, eyes pure terror. "See? This is you. Fix it!"

"How the hell am I supposed to fix it?" I yelled back, shoving into the room past a nurse who tried to block me. "I’m not a doctor!"

One of the doctors, older guy, glasses grabbed my arm, not rough but urgent. "You’re the donor? We need you to stay close tonight. If it worsens, we might need another draw, or just your presence could stabilize the echo. It’s rare, but proximity sometimes helps regulate it."

"Proximity?" Fan Xiao exploded. "You’re putting her in the same room as him?"

"No," the doctor said quickly. "Two doors down. But she can’t leave the floor. We need monitoring on both."

Lee Know whimpered again, quieter this time, face buried in Fan Xiao’s neck. "Xiao... hurts..."

"I’m here," Fan Xiao whispered, voice breaking, rocking him like a kid. "I’m right here, baby. Not going anywhere."

And that? That burned. Burned bad. Because he’d never called me baby. Never held me like that. Never looked that wrecked over me.

I backed out of the room slow, sarcasm gone, just this hollow ache. "Yeah. I’ll stay. Whatever, as long as he doesn’t cling to me."