Imperfect Desires

On the other side of the wall, Dylan was now sitting beside Darren with concern reflecting through his eyes. He had long been staring at his best friend's face as if trying to find something from his expressions but couldn't do so.

"Does it hurt?" 

This was the nth time Dylan had asked the same question as his eyes lingered on the bandage around Darren's head that made his heart tighten. 

Darren was exasperated after answering the same question repeatedly and yet, he still opted to patiently say, "No, it's fine now! Stop worrying about me."

Even though Darren was trying to comfort him, the other idiot was not getting any comfort at all. Even worse, every time Darren told him to now worry, Dylan's eyes would lose the luster. As if someone was pushing him further into the darkness. He couldn't help it, he just couldn't look at his best friend like this. It was really painful!

"I'm actually more worried about you," said Darren. "Instead of me, you need proper care right now! Have you looked at yourself? I feel like I'm seeing a homeless man! If you continue on this path, even Cali will not recognize you once she comes back."

"I can even recognize myself anymore," retorted Dylan making Darren's worry increase.

He had been noticing the obvious changes in Dylan from the moment he stepped inside. It was hard not to notice. And these changes were actually making Darren feel uncomfortable. He could see how his best friend was suffering all alone and how it was affecting him. But his biggest worry was that, what if this incident took his best friend's innocence? 

From the time they had been friends, Darren had always tried his best to keep Dylan away from trouble. He'd always make sure that Dylan won't get tainted by the darkness around them. Because one of the reasons, he chose to befriend Dylan was his innocence and how he wished to protect it.

He didn't wish to see him losing that innocence now under all the pressure that he was going through.

He touched Dylan's head as he asked, "How are your parents?"

Dylan lowered his head as he sighed out, "This is gonna make me sound like a bad son but they are reaping what they sowed."

"Didi!"

Hearing Darren's reproaching voice, he looked at him, "Don't you blame them?"

"No," replied Darren firmly. "I've always respected them. And they have always treated me like a son. There is no way, I'd blame them for anything. What should I blame them for? For being parents? For loving their own children? For trying to protect their children?"

Dylan groaned in exasperation, "But if it weren't for how they always overlooked Sister Meihui's behavior. This would have never happened!"

"Didi, even if a child is a murderer, the parents would still love that child. That's just how parents are! Not everyone can be cruel like my birth mother who would leave her own child without a look back." Darren took a deep breath, "Maybe both of them were wrong in the way they handled things but they can't be blamed for what happened."

"Do you think your wife thinks the same way?" he asked curiously.

Darren gave him a smile, "I know my Sweets better than you. She only looks at the person who hurt her, as for the rest, she'd never care about them. Haven't you still realized that she is a single-tracked mind person. If you're in her direct sight, you're on her radar of attack. If you took another, she'll forget all about you."

Dylan snorted, "Is that why she attacked me today because I was on her radar of attack?" He exhaled a breath, "She just directly pushed me inside just because I was in her direct sight!"

Darren chuckled at that and shook his head, "No. She could have done that way sooner than today. As for why she chose to do it today, I know it."

"Why?" asked Dylan as he set his eyes on Darren's face.

Darren played the same recording for Dylan that he had played for Nora in the day as he said, "Earlier when Nora heard this and shed tears of joy, I was upset. I was upset because my wife had her best friend to share the most beautiful moment of our lives but my brother, my best friend was nowhere to be found."

Dylan felt like something got stuck in his throat as he heard the sound of a heartbeat along with Darren's words. He couldn't comprehend the meaning at all but it still made his heart throb.

"Can you hear your nephew's first heartbeat?"

Hearing Darren's words, Dylan's eyes widened as he really forgot whether he was supposed to breathe in or breathe out. The thing that had stuck in his throat came rolling down in the form of tears as he stared up at Darren.

"That..." He couldn't form a single sentence. He couldn't find the right words to string together.

Darren smiled at his reaction as he said, "This is the reason why she chose today to push you inside. Not because she wanted you to meet me. But because she wanted me to meet you instead. She wanted me to share this happiness with you like I've been wanting to do."

  Needless to say, Darren really understood his wife's thought better than she understood it herself. Did she really think he didn't know what she was up to? He just merely pretended to not know. 

In fact, from the moment Nora had left their room, he could tell Xiu was cooking up a new plan in her brain. His expressions couldn't be hidden from her. And she was also good at reading his thoughts. How could he not tell that she had already seen the yearning in his eyes? 

And since she had seen it, she would do anything to make him happy. Just like he always tried to make her happy.