Past

YiJun had already decided to give Xian whatever the younger boy would ask of him. It was just that YiJun had not expected Xian to ask for something so difficult for YiJun to give. But since he had promised, he keeps his word. He gets off the bed and locks the door from the inside before pledging. "I promise that I will never act recklessly and cause you to worry about me. I will be more responsible."

Xian smiles brightly at that, and YiJun walks over to the bed once more and removes his top garments. Sitting on bed, he shrugs, "As you can see, I am fine. I just received minor cuts and bruises. It's not even hurting anymore." He lets Xian look, before picking up his garments and covering himself up once again.

Xian holds his wrist, "Wait. Not yet." He says, observing YiJun's body. The latter's face flushes, heat rises to his cheeks, and the tips of his ears turn red.

Xian's hands start leaving featherlight touches on each cut; on each bruise, "I should have come to you earlier. It's my fault." Xian tries to meet YiJun's eyes, but he doesn't look at the younger boy at all.

"Jun, what have I done to make you distance yourself from me?"

"Nothing. You have done nothing. It's me. It's my problem."

Xian leans in closer to inspect the wounds. His eyes fill with tears once more, "Does it hurt a lot?"

"No, not at all."

Xian touches YiJun's arms, "Your body has changed."

YiJun's heart starts racing as Xian tenderly starts touching YiJun all over his body.

"Xian... " YiJun whispers breathlessly, when he feels Xian's soft lips on his shoulder. Xian looks up, and their eyes finally meet. Xian cups YiJun's face, "Mother says that you will find your way back to me?"

"Mn?"

"I asked her why you had started hating me."

"Xian, I never said that I hate you."

"But you act like it."

YiJun can't deny that. He knows that he had been rude and inconsiderate to Xian over the past two years. "I am sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you."

"That is what mom told me too. She thinks that you are confused and want to know yourself. And to do that, you are distancing yourself from everyone. But Jun, I am not everyone."

YiJun's resolve finally breaks, and he suddenly pulls Xian towards himself and hugs him. "No, you are not everyone. You are special. Xian, there are things I want; they are not right. Please understand, Xian."

Xian nods into the nape of YiJun's neck, "I understand," and breaks the embrace. He once again cups Jun's face and looks lovingly at the Prince; he starts stroking YiJun's eyebrows and cheeks. When the older boy doesn't stop him, he finally smiles and leans in to place a playful, wet kiss on YiJun's cheek, "Mine. My Jun."

Present

*Jiang Residence*

The three Youngsters get ready to leave for school: Yanli catches a ride with her friend, and Cheng takes the bus.

Since the passing of his adopted parents, Xian had taken it upon himself to help Yanli with household chores. His school started later than the other two, so when hears a knock on the door, he is at home all alone.

He opens the door to find two well-built men he has never seen before; they seem dazed, "May I help you?" he asks.

"Are you Wei Xian?" One of them asks expressionlessly.

Alarm bells go off inside Xian's mind, and he tries to close the door. But before he can do so, the men push the door and enter.

Xian grabs the knife from the kitchen counter, "Who are you? What do you want?" He asks, but the men don't answer; instead, they advance towards Xian.

"If you try anything, I will use the knife." Xian threatens, but the men don't get dissuaded; they move quickly. One of them grabs Xian's wrists and twists it, making Xian wince in pain, "Ahhhhh! Leave me!" While the other takes out a handcuff with an intent to cuff Xian's wrist. But before he can do that, he screams and falls to the floor.

The second man looks at his accomplice hit the floor, but ignores him and continues to restrain Xian, as the young man continues to yell for help.

In the meanwhile, the second man tries to stand up and comes face to face with a white dog that had let itself in when the other two had forcefully entered. The dog attacks him once again, and another scream escapes him.

It makes the man holding Xian turn back. His grip on Xian loosens, and Xian grabs the opportunity to free himself and tries to run outside. When the first attacker tries to follow Xian, the dog attacks the uninjured man and bites his wrist; the man screams.

Xian, who is almost outside the gate, suddenly stops dead in his tracks as a stabbing pain shoots through his heart. He turns to look at the things unfolding inside the house.

Xian watches as the dog takes on the two men single-handedly, and he screams, "Nooooooooooo!" before running back inside, when one of the attackers picks up the knife on the floor and strikes the dog who had saved his life.

Xian throws himself towards the man who is trying to attack the dog, to try and save it, but he doesn't succeed, for the knife injures the dog. The man turns and uses the knife on Xian. He dogges the attack, but not before getting cut once again on his neck. The young man winces in pain, and the dog becomes more aggressive. It attacks the intruder and bites his wrist; the attacker screams, holding his wrist.

The two intruders, who are now bleeding and withering in pain, look at each other.

They look around, surprised. Then, helping each other up, the men scurry out of the house.

'What the hell just happened?' Xian thinks before his eyes fall on the injured dog. He closes the door and locks it. The pain in his chest intensifies as he walks towards the dog and murmurs, "Please be alright."

Xian rushes to one of the kitchen cabinets and returns with a first aid kit.

"Please don't bite me, okay. You are bleeding. I will help you stop the blood loss. Don't worry. I have experience in this field. I was placed first in first-aid training at my school." Xian blabbers.

Meanwhile, the dog lies on the floor, panting.

"What am I doing? It can't understand me!" Xian reminds himself, before slowly approaching the wounded dog and taking its hind leg in his hands and cleaning it. The dog occasionally whines as Xian dresses the wound. But its eyes never leave Xian's face.

When he has finished dressing the wound, Xian looks at the dog; his chest continues to feel odd.

Thus, he starts blabbering again, "You are lucky. Things could have been much worse."

The dog tries to stand up and limps.

"No. You shouldn't be doing that yet." Xian says, before picking up the dog in his arms and carrying it upstairs to his room. He continues to blabber. "You are quite heavy... Ummm, you know what is strange?... I am scared of dogs. But somehow, you don't scare me. I wonder why that is? Aaa, maybe it's because you saved me. By the way, thank you."

When they reach his room, Xian gently puts the dog on his bed and sits next to it. Suddenly something occurs to him, and he brings his face close to the animal, "Are you the same one I saw outside Mianmian's house?"

The dog whines unappreciatively and licks Xian's neck.

"Ahhhhh!" Xian moans, running his fingers through the soft fur on the dog's head. Xian remembers finally that the attackers had managed to injure him as well.

'I should disinfect it too.' Xian thinks, trying to leave the bed: the dog whines again.

"Hey, I will be back. I am just going to- " Xian trails off when he touches his neck. He looks at himself in the mirror, "I was sure he got me. Did I imagine it?" He wonders, looking at his neck, which doesn't have any signs of injury.

'It's like last night.' Xian remembers and turns to look at the dog. Xian smiles when the dog whines again. "Why are you being so needy, hm?" Xian asks, before joining the whining animal on the bed. He stares at the animal's beautiful eyes, "Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?" He asks the animal as if it were human, and the dog licks Xian's face making Xian giggle.

Xian lies down on the bed next to it. He feels drained; his wrist hurts. He massages his wrist and states, "I don't think I will go to school today."

He puts his hands gently on the dog and pulls himself closer to it. Surprisingly, as soon as he does that, the uncomfortable feeling in his chest disappears. He looks at the window at the brightly shining sun, "I should be scared right now, I should be panicking, but somehow, I feel so calm with you by my side."

Xian looks into the dog's eyes, "You know, dawn is my favorite time of the day; it calms me down just like you are doing right now. Ummm...how about I call you Dawn?"

{Note:- Word Count 1580

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