You Huo listened to the ticking sound of the clock for a few more minutes before deciding that he had waited enough.

Qin Jiu and his team were supposed to come back to the base after their three-month training program today. You Huo was very busy with trainees, so after greeting Qin Jiu and giving him a brief 'welcome-back hug', he didn't get the chance to talk to him again during the whole day.

They haven't met for a long time, and Qin Jiu would definitely come over to his place not so long after they get off work so they could spend the rest of the night together. But now, it's already been two hours since they got off and his boyfriend was still nowhere to be seen. He actually messaged him an hour ago and still hasn't gotten an answer. This alone showed something was terribly wrong.

Making up his mind, he put on some more suitable clothes and went out to the other man's place to check up on him.

He did not knock or ring the bell; He just entered the password and went in, and darkness was what welcomed him. Just as he was about to turn on the lights, he remembered something and retracted his hand.

The next second, Qin Jiu came out of the bathroom, water dripping from his deathly pale face and hands shaking as he tried to hold onto something to prevent himself from falling to the ground.

"So this was the reason you didn't come to annoy me earlier."

"Yes, I missed you too, My dear." Qin Jiu mumbled under his breath with an extremely hoarse and raspy voice.

His knuckles had turned white from the amount of pressure he was applying to his hands just to keep himself standing on his legs. With every step he took, the world spun more and more aggressively around his eyes.

You Huo caught him just in time, stopping him from falling to the ground. He then helped him slowly sit down, as standing would just make him even more dizzy.

"I don't think you were like this when you left."

Qin Jiu tilted his head a little bit upward in order to look at his beloved. After failing to focus his blurred vision on him several times, he just leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes again before swallowing with much difficulty.

You Huo sat down in front of the other man and pulled him into an embrace. Qin Jiu hid his face in the crook of his lover's neck.

"It's the migraines again?"

"Hmmm."

A muffled voice was heard after one or two minutes of silence.

"It's been a long time since the last time it were this severe. What had triggered it this badly?"

"It's okay… just a lot of things happened in the last three months. You don't need to worry."

"Of course. You threw up at least two times, are dizzy, can't even take a step without the support of the wall, and are taking a minute to say each word. That's exactly what's called 'okay'. What is even there to worry about?!"

Qin Jiu couldn't be considered weak and fragile by any means, and he also preferred to keep to himself. Whatever that had happened during this training period must have greatly affected him for him to end up like this and not even having the energy to hide it.

You Huo pressed a kiss to the top of his head and started rubbing his back to help him relax.

"Are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital?"

"Hm. It'll be better if I can sleep."

"Let's go lay down on the bed then. I'll massage it for you."

"You don't hav–"

"You even dare to say that when you're like this? Just shut it and do what I've said."

﹏ ﹏ ﹏

That night, Qin Jiu fell asleep while he had his head resting on You Huo's lap, finally getting a well deserved rest after a month of continuous terrible headaches.

You Huo only stopped his movements when the other man fell into deep sleep, before cautiously lying down beside him, afraid of waking him up.

"I missed you too, I was worried, and good night."