— a burden or a curse to us. Yanluo and I chose to stand by your side willingly. We wanted to be part of your lives, and we don’t regret it.”

— finger over Yichen’s chest.

“This exists for a reason. Feeling deeply doesn’t make you weak or wrong, it just makes you alive. Don’t blame yourself for loving those who are important to you.”

Gives his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“As for this talk of curses… don’t ever think your family is —

He watches him in silence for a moment, then exhales before speaking.

“Listen to me, Yichen…” the tone of voice is gentle, “Your father’s rules don’t erase the fact that you have a heart. You’re allowed to care. You’re allowed to worry, to hurt, and to love.”

He reaches out and lightly taps a —

— kindest thing I could do for you...”

“…Everything,” his gaze stays fixed on the floor. “Every memory you had that involved me. Our meetings, our conversations… every feeling your heart held for me. I took all of it away from you.”

A small pause before he continues.

“Before I left for the timeless space, I believed that was the —

“The reason you’re like this… is because I erased your memories.” He forces the words out at last, unable to look at Michael in the eyes.

Realization finally dawns, sharp and heavy.

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵…

His chest tightens with guilt. This was his doing. He’s the one who caused Michael pain.

He glances at the fallen carving, muttering, “I’m sorry, Jialei… It’s because of me you’re like this…”

— he reaches out to pour for them both.

“Don’t worry about Xie Bi’an. Once he’s calmed down, he’ll come around. Trust me.”

When they arrive at the pavilion, he gestures for Yichen to sit first before taking the seat opposite him.

“Try to cheer up, Yichen.” With a wave of his hand, a bottle of wine and two cups appear on the table, and —

He lowers himself to sit beside Michael, resting his hand on his back.

“…Has it ever happened to you before?”

He gently takes him by the wrist. “Come with me,” he says, leading him into the back garden and toward the pavilion by the riverside.

“Yichen, even I find Lucifer difficult to handle. So don’t blame yourself for what you did.”

He rests a hand on Yichen’s shoulder, giving a reassuring squeeze.

“As for Xie Bi’an… he may be dramatic, but his pride runs deeper than any of that. He would never tell to Yanluo if someone hurt him.“

—

— but I only made things difficult for you and your family.”

He can’t help but let out a quiet sigh.

He feels genuinely sorry for Yichen. If he had known things would turn out like this, he would never have erased himself from Michael’s memories.

“Yichen… I’m sorry for what I did to your Xiao-Di. I thought erasing myself from his life would be better… —

Yu Huang had no idea the little wooden figure was what caused this.

“Jialei…” he finally rests his hand on Michael’s shoulder, gently pushing him down. “Sit down. Breathe. Tell me exactly what you’re feeling…”

He won’t let anything happen to him.

Looks at him with a frown.

“Yichen, is everything alright with you?“

He immediately rises to his feet, worry flashing across his face as he steps closer to Michael.

“Jialei, what’s wrong?” His hand hovers near his shoulder, hesitant to touch.

He glances at Michael, then holds up the wooden figure to show him.

“It’s you.” A warm smile spreads across his face.