Xiao Zhiyuan stood side by side with Xie Rong for half an hour without even speaking. While Xie Rong was focused on juggling her ball with her feet while spinning herself, Xiao Zhiyuan was focused on following her movements.
Xie Rong didn’t give back the pack of cigarettes to Xiao Zhiyuan and he was not very happy about it. But he still couldn’t shift his eyes away from that hoodie guy before him.
"Do you have something to say, kiddo?" Xie Rong asked feeling his gaze on herself for a long time. The reason she asked the question was simple; she never liked it when people stared at her like that. And oddly enough, people loved to stare at her.
Xiao Zhiyuan cleared his throat and pursed his lips in a conundrum. He had forgotten his cell phone at the hotel and didn’t even know the way back. He pondered for a moment before speaking up, "Can you tell me the way to Imperial Grand Hotel from here?"
Xie Rong caught the ball in her hand and pushed her hood and cap back revealing her head full of chocolate brown hair complimenting her green eyes perfectly. With mixed breed features and golden brown skin tone, the person before Xiao Zhiyuan was an epitome of perfection.
From a young age, Xiao Zhiyuan admired his own brother, Xiao Zhiren’s beauty. He always believed that no-one could look more handsome than his brother. And that made him always look up to his brother as his god not just his hero.
But today, the tall guy before him who had the same height as himself, had the perfect features one could possibly only wish for.
"Why do you want to go to a hotel at this time?" Xie Rong questioned nonchalantly.
"Because I’m living there." Xiao Zhiyuan answered matter-of-factly.
"Then you don’t know how to get to your temporary home?" Xie Rong asked giving Xiao Zhiyuan a weird look.
Xiao Zhiyuan felt insulted but he still answered, "I’ve only come to China in the past month. I don’t know a lot of things about here. I get confused with directions." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"I only came to China today. Aren’t I at a bigger disadvantage then you?" Xie Rong retorted.
"D*mn! Bro will kill me if I’m late." Xiao Zhiyuan muttered under his breath but Xie Rong’s sensitive ears picked up his words.
"Someone’s waiting for you at home?" Xie Rong didn’t even figure out herself why she asked that question but it was already asked and she couldn’t take it back.
Xiao Zhiyuan gave her a weird look and said, "Doesn’t everyone have someone waiting for them at home?"
Xie Rong looked towards the starry sky and answered, "Just because every demon has a scar doesn’t mean every home’s door is ajar. Some houses are just bizarre."
Xiao Zhiyuan didn’t understand Xie Rong’s meaning as he kept staring at her face thinking, ’What a weird guy he is. But he’s treacherously handsome like that Usui Takumi from the comic book I read.’
Xie Rong sighed audibly and turned her face towards Xiao Zhiyuan. "You can follow me, I’m going the same way." She took a pause and with a mischievous look added, "And I have a good sense of directions, unlike a certain someone."
Xiao Zhiyuan glared at her in disbelief and crossed his arms in front of his chest saying, "Humph! I don’t need your help. I’ll find my way myself."
Xie Rong smiled at his childish attitude and didn’t push him. "Suit yourself, kiddo!" With that said, she turned to leave.
"I’m not a kid!" Xiao Zhiyuan yelled at her leaving figure but she didn’t turn around, only raised her hand and waved at him.
Xiao Zhiyuan humphed and looked around. If he said that he was not sacred then he would be lying since he wasn’t familiar with many things in this unfamiliar country. He bit his nails and looked at the back of Xie Rong’s figure. He was prideful, he couldn’t just go and say that he will follow him. Therefore, he decided to follow the black figure inconspicuously while keeping a fair distance.
Ahead of him, Xie Rong had already sensed Xiao Zhiyuan’s presence behind her because of two reasons. First, her keen ninja senses and second, Xiao Zhiyuan’s lack of subtlety.
Xie Rong kept playing with her football while walking. From one foot to another the ball was moving as if she was a professional player playing in a football match with a ball in her feet running to make a goal.
As her complete focus was on football, she didn’t realize that there were stairs ahead of her. And her football ended up rolling down and crashed on someone because she heard a, "What the hell?"
She craned her neck and certainly, there was a tall man standing at the end of the stairs. "Great, now my cellphone is broke." She immediately ran down the stairs when she heard a complaint about a cellphone.
She looked at the broken screen of the cellphone and scratched behind her ear thinking, ’Whose face did I see in the morning that I’m only breaking stuff? First, that expensive Ming dynasty Porcelain set and now this!’
"I’m really sorry! I didn’t realize there were stairs and also, I didn’t expect anyone to be here at this time." Xie Rong apologized sincerely. She might be ruthless but she always apologized when she felt like it was really her fault.
Xiao Zhiren was looking for Xiao Zhiyuan for an hour in the nearby places. He was about to call Qin Qu when a football crashed on his hands and his cell phone dropped with a thud shattering its screen. At Xie Rong’s pleasantly deep voice, he looked up at the hoodie
"That was your football?" Xie Rong heard the same familiar mellow voice making her lift her head up. Seeing the person before herself, she realized that he was the same person whose porcelain set she broke earlier in the evening. She might haven’t seen his face clearly before but she couldn’t his noble and charming presence.
In her thoughts, she didn’t notice the look in Xiao Zhiren’s eyes who was standing before her. There was disbelief, confusion, and some indescribable feelings. He was stunned to see the face before him that made a certain person pop up in his mind.
"It was my football and my mistake as well. So, I’m really very sorry! I’ll buy you a new one." Xie Rong continued to talk and her deep voice broke Xiao Zhiren’s daze. He stared at her for a moment longer before shaking his head.
"Ah... It’s okay! You said it was a mistake. So, it’s alright!" He replied making Xie Rong frown.
"Are you a saint or something? Why are you being so understanding?" From Xie Rong’s experience, she had only seen people act nice when they get benefitted in return. No-one can be selfless. At least she wasn’t.
Her best friend once called her selfless but he didn’t know that she was doing everything just to have a friend by her side. Even that relationship was not selfless.
Xiao Zhiren was surprised by her question but he calmly replied, "I’m no saint and I don’t want to be one. And I’m in a hurry right now."
"Hmm... So, if you aren’t a saint, are you wearing a mask of one?" Xie Rong asked curiously.