Chapter 29: Constantine – Feeding Medicine by Kiss

“How can you still blame me? Don’t you know what you did in the spirit world yourself?”

There were many people in the living room, and Jiang Shulan assumed that even if Constantine was angry, he wouldn’t dare do anything in front of everyone.

“What did I do?”

However, he had greatly overestimated Constantine’s sense of shame.

“I only kissed you, didn’t I?” Constantine straightened from where he had been leaning back in his chair and tilted toward him. His lingering gaze swept from Jiang Shulan’s forehead to his neck, chest, and waist.

With an almost wistful sigh, Constantine brushed his thumb across his own lips.

“To be honest, little priest, kissing you felt amazing.”

He closed his eyes as if recalling the memory, as though the boy were still sitting on his lap, trembling.

“Y-you…”

Jiang Shulan was so enraged by Constantine’s shamelessness that his whole body shook.

“I… I…”

The anger triggered his heart condition.

Clutching his chest in pain, he watched Constantine approach. Shaking his head desperately, he whispered, “No… no…”

Everything had already been resolved. He was ready to leave this world.

The pain in his heart gradually faded as his body numbed itself.

When Constantine tried to bring the medicine to his lips, Jiang Shulan stubbornly kept his mouth shut.

Renai and Iris hovered nearby in panic.

“Why won’t you take your medicine? Hurry, Shu!”

“Dalton is safe now. Didn’t you promise to attend his parent-teacher meeting someday?”

“Shu!”

With the patient refusing to cooperate, Constantine let out a frustrated laugh.

He hoisted Jiang Shulan up so that his back rested against the wall.

Now that the pain had dulled, Jiang Shulan gathered enough strength to think about slapping him or shouting, but the moment he opened his mouth, Constantine seized the opportunity to make him take the bitter medicine.

Jiang Shulan hated its taste and tried to push it away, but Constantine insisted until he swallowed it.

The bitterness spread across his tongue.

His pale fingers clenched tightly around Constantine’s shirt.

By the time it was over, he was exhausted and leaned weakly against the man’s shoulder.

“This medicine really is awful,” Constantine murmured. “I’ll take you to the hospital and see if they can prescribe something better.”

He lifted Jiang Shulan into his arms to keep him steady.

Renai looked on with an expression that seemed to say, I understand.

‘No, you really don’t,’ Jiang Shulan thought miserably.

He could only console himself that at least he wouldn’t disappear in front of Renai and the others.

****

On the way, Jiang Shulan silently asked the system,

[System, you didn’t report the cause of my death in the first world, right?]

[No.]

[If I really die because of my heart condition someday… can you keep that secret too?]

[…Yes.]

****

Constantine booked tickets for both of them to Los Angeles, where renowned specialists could examine Jiang Shulan’s heart.

After they landed, Constantine escorted him to a hotel, never letting his feet touch the ground because he was afraid Jiang Shulan would run away.

When he finally set him down on the large hotel bed, Jiang Shulan felt utterly resigned.

He sniffed quietly, lowered his head, and sat motionless.

His long lashes cast shadows over his cheeks, and his tightly pressed lips made him look pitiful.

The sight amused Constantine.

“The only reason I forced the medicine earlier was to make sure you took it,” he said after hanging his black coat on the rack. “I’m not going to do anything to you. At least not now.”

Jiang Shulan still refused to answer.

Had he really frightened him that badly?

Constantine took a cigarette from the pack and held it between his lips without lighting it.

The repeated clicks of the lighter echoed through the silent room.

Finally, he sighed.

“Fine. I give up.”

He strode over and knelt before Jiang Shulan.

He knew he had always been considered attractive and charismatic. Over the years, countless people had claimed relationships with him, and rumors spread freely regardless of the truth.

But he had never expected to meet someone like Jiang Shulan afterward.

He studied the silent boy and eventually conceded.

“All right,” Constantine said. “I promise I won’t touch you again without your permission.”

“I never agreed in the first place,” Jiang Shulan replied at last.

“My mistake,” Constantine admitted, raising his hands in surrender. “It won’t happen again.”

Jiang Shulan rolled his eyes.

“As if I’d believe that.”

Constantine chuckled.

“Not even demons would believe me.”

“And you think that’s something to be proud of?”

“Of course.”

At least it had gotten Jiang Shulan talking to him again.

****

As time passed, Constantine gradually turned down many of the exorcism requests sent his way.

Even so, one problem remained.

Jiang Shulan disliked the smell of smoke and was meticulous about cleanliness. Whenever he noticed cigarette smoke lingering on Constantine, he would chase him away.

The next day, Constantine stood by the sink washing clothes.

An unlit cigarette rested between his lips; he simply held it there out of habit.

He hadn’t smoked for three full days.

“Tomorrow,” he said, “I’m taking you to the hospital for a checkup.”

Sitting on the sofa eating chilled watermelon, Jiang Shulan immediately shook his head.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to.”

Constantine frowned.

“You have to go. It’s for your own health.”

“I said I’m not going!”

He set down the watermelon and puffed out his cheeks.

“If you keep acting like this, then don’t expect me to let you kiss me.”

Constantine raised an eyebrow.

“When have I even gotten the chance?”

In nearly a year of living together, he had barely dared steal a kiss on Jiang Shulan’s sleeping cheek.

“That’s not the point!”

“Anyway, we’re going.”

Once again, Jiang Shulan’s protest failed.

Determined not to compromise when it came to his health, Constantine carried him to the hospital himself.

When the examination results finally arrived, Jiang Shulan’s condition was stable.

Instead, it was Constantine who received devastating news.

He had terminal lung cancer.

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