Abandonment

The warehouse doors slammed shut with a deafening clang—like a coffin lid crafted especially for me, sealing me off completely from the last trace of light.

Darkness surged in like a tide, swallowing me whole.

The footsteps faded into the distance. Junxi was dragged away without even a word of goodbye.

Li Chengyuan never once looked back.

He just left.

He really… left me behind.

I sat numbly on the cold ground, hands still bound, body trembling from fear and exhaustion, but none of it compared to the pain that split my soul in two.

At first, I thought it was just a negotiation.

Later, I believed he was hesitating.

And then... I even let myself believe he might actually love me.

But in the end, there wasn't even a moment of doubt.

He chose Li Junxi without hesitation, without pause.

He turned away and left me behind. Just like that.

I don't even remember how I sat down, or how I managed to stay still in the freezing dark with clenching teeth.

My mind felt hollow, yet the image of him pushing the briefcase played over and over. That back was no longer a father's, but an executioner's.

"You were never not good enough, you were just doomed from the moment you were born."

Cheng Hao's words echoed in my head like nails being hammered into the bone, over and over again.

I started remembering how I used to chase after him as a child, the rare gentle smiles, the occasional frowns of scolding.

I remembered every birthday gift, how he taught me to ride a bike, how he helped with my math homework, how he sat beside me when I cried...

But were those never born of love?

Were they just... "obligation"?

Just "compensation"?

Just... guilt for my mother?

Did he ever love me at all?

Tears surged uncontrollably, no matter how hard I tried to hold them back.

It was the pain of total collapse as if the world had cracked beneath my feet, and no one reached out to save me.

I tried so hard. And still, it wasn't enough.

I did everything to be a son worth loving and only to learn I was never truly "his" in his heart.

I don't know how long I cried.

I only remember when the sobbing finally stopped... I laughed.

The laugh sounded like shattering glass, which was sharp, bloody, and so unfamiliar it frightened even me.

I finally understood...

That being abandoned doesn't mean dying, it means living while being erased from existence.

But I'm still alive.

I'll survive this and I'll crawl if I have to, but I will drag myself out of this hell.

I no longer hope for him to turn back, nor wish for another miracle rescue.

At this moment, my heart truly died.

But for the first time... my eyes saw the world clearly.