The Villain Saves The Male Lead

A cold fist closed around Ren's heart at the thought that Fang would be unable to recognise him.

Ren rushed forward and hugged the man he loved so much. "Don't be like this, my little darling," he begged. "Come back to me, please!"

Fang's purple eyes flickered and his hand came up to touch Ren's face. Ren fixed his golden eyed on Fang's face and let Fang's fingers wander all over his face.

It felt as if Fang was trying to make sure that Ren was real.

"Fang…?" Ren asked anxiously.

Fang stared at Ren for some time, not removing his hand from Ren's face. "You are real, aren't you?" he whispered, his soft voice trembling with fear and uncertainty. "You really exist, don't you? You are my Ren?"

Tears pooled in Ren's eyes and slid down his cheeks. "I am, my little darling," he replied.

He cupped Fang's dazed face in his hands. "Look at me, Fang," he said. "Can you see that I am real?"

The haze finally lifted a bit from Fang's purple eyes. He nodded.

Ren heaved a sigh of relief and stroked Fang's cheeks. "When did you wake up?" he asked softly.

"A few minutes ago," Fang replied in a whisper. "It – it hurt, Ren…"

Ren's heart ached and he pulled Fang closer to himself, pressing a kiss upon his fair brow.

Fang let out a deep breath and buried his face on Ren's shoulder. He curled up like a little kitten, trying to burrow into Ren's warmth as if seeking refuge in his arms.

Ren tightened his arms around Fang, pulling him in as close as possible, his protectiveness radiating from him.

"I promise I'll not let anyone hurt you again," Ren promised.

Fang smiled slightly, his face still buried in Ren's shoulder. "I'm not afraid of getting hurt," he murmured. "What I'm afraid of is that all this - you, the babies, our life together... it's all a dream...a fantasy created by my desperate mind...while the real me is still stuck in the hands of some pervert..."

"No!" Ren cried sharply, pulling away a little. He cradled Fang's lovely face with both his hands, as if handling the most precious and delicate treasure. "Don't think that, Fang. You are here with me and our babies – this is our reality, this is our life. This is real, and it's not a dream," he said in a firm but gentle voice. "I'll let you pinch me to check if you want to verify!" he added.

Fang chuckled. "Shouldn't you be telling me to pinch myself?" he asked quietly.

Ren pressed a kiss to Fang's brow again. "How can I bear to ask you to pinch yourself?" he countered. "Don't you know how precious you are to me?"

"Am I?" Fang murmured. "Am I really that precious?"

"Of course," Ren said immediately, without the slightest hint of hesitation in his voice. "You are the most precious in my eyes."

"Then – then – would you kiss me?" Fang asked in a whisper. "To make me believe that this is real?"

As soon as the words were out of Fang's mouth, Ren kissed Fang fiercely and Fang responded with equal fervour.

"Does that feel real enough to you?" Ren whispered when they finally broke apart for air.

Fang chuckled softly. "It does," he said. "But I'm afraid to sleep, Ren. I'm afraid everything will disappear when I wake up..."

"Nothing will happen," Ren said firmly. "I'm here and I'm not going to let you go no matter who wants to take you away."

"But you... what if you leave me too?" Fang whispered. "You got sick and you even wrote a will without telling me..."

Ren sighed. "That was just a precaution, my little darling," he said. He took Fang's hand and placed it on his chest. "Look, I've already started fortifying my organs with my magic. Isn't my heartbeat stronger and steadier now?"

Fang felt Ren's stable heartbeat. "You can... really counter this dark magic?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes," Ren replied firmly. "But I can't do it alone. I need your help to defeat it, and I need your help to live. Will you help me, my little darling?"

"Anything you need, Ren. Anything at all," Fang said.

Ren smiled and kissed Fang's brow. "Thank you, my little darling," he said.

"I'm your big darling now," Fang reminded Ren.

Ren caressed Fang's face with gentle fingers. "Yes, my big darling," he said sweetly.

"What do you need me to do? Have you dealt closely with dark magic before?" Fang asked anxiously.

Ren nodded. "Sylvia and I were quite good at it in our previous world. I'll fortify my body with your help and squeeze out the dark magic little by little, and in two weeks, you can take me for a check up again and you'll see that my condition is stable – and much better than before," he said to Fang.

Fang buried his head on Ren's shoulder. "Thank heavens," he murmured. "I don't think that I can live without you, Ren. I know that I am bratty and selfish and I make a lot of mistakes especially when it comes to you – but I need you so much that I can't even breathe when I think that I might lose you. Ren, my love, could you promise me that you will stay with me, always? That you wouldn't leave me alone and go away somewhere where I can't follow?"

Fang's voice broke as he spoke, and tears dripped down his fair cheeks like pearl drops.

Ren didn't know what to say, to be honest. It wasn't as if he wanted his life to end – in fact, he was as desperate to spend his life with Fang as the other man was. But, just in case, if something happened to Ren, he wanted Fang to live well…

Anyway, that wasn't going to happen now, since they had identified the root cause of the problem.

"I promise to stand by you for the rest of my life," Ren said to Fang.

Fang shook his head. "No," he said in a quiet voice. "That's not what I want. I don't want you to promise me that you will stand by me for the rest of your life. What I want is for you to promise me that you will stand by me for the rest of *my* life, Ren."

Ren sighed.

Fang's purple eyes filled with tears once again. "Don't go where I can't follow you, Ren," he whispered. "You have to be with me, by my side, with our children…"

Ren moved closer to Fang and wiped away his tears with careful, gentle movements of his fingers. "My big darling, I will try my best to do that," he promised. "I have told you before, haven't I? I want to grow old with you until we are both cranky old men getting on our children's nerves and pampering our grandchildren." He caressed Fang's face with gentle fingers. "Don't cry, all right? You know that your tears make my heart ache," he murmured.

Fang's eyes widened in shock. "Does your chest hurt again?" he asked anxiously, his own tears forgotten. The heart attack suffered by Ren and his recent collapse had frightened Fang so much that the very mention of Ren's heart aching made him tremble in fear.

Ren blinked. He hadn't expected his own recent collapse to have traumatised Fang to this extent.

"It does hurt a bit," Ren said, his eyes glowing like a pool of molten gold. "But I will feel much better right away if I can see a beautiful smile from my gorgeous big darling, and I will be fully charged if my big darling gives me a kiss!" he announced with a smile.

Fang blinked, dazed for a moment, and then he grabbed Ren's face and kissed him thoroughly, only letting him go when the two of them were out of breath.

"Are you feeling better now?" Fang asked Ren, his voice full of concern, and his purple eyes shining brightly.

"Of course," Ren said, his cheeks flushed a delicate shade of pink.

Fang heaved a sigh of relief, and then, to his astonishment, he realised that he was feeling much better himself as well.

Fang glanced at Ren and narrowed his eyes. "Did you use healing magic on me just now?" he demanded.

Ren smiled and shook his head. He had used healing magic on Fang much earlier, but he hadn't done so just now, although he had been considering it.

"Then why am I suddenly feeling so much better?" Fang asked.

Ren chuckled. "Well, a kiss of true love is said to be the best cure of all, and it can undo even the worst of curses," he said, caressing Fang's lovely face again. "What, you don't believe me?"

Fang stared at Ren for a long moment, and then nodded and buried his face in Ren's shoulder again.

Ren rubbed his back for a long time.. They eventually fell asleep holding each other.