LABICBTTS_ARCHIVE_CHAPTER 2: SO PISSED OFF!!

LIKE A BOAT IT CIRCLES BACK TO THE START 

Chapter Two

So Pissed Off

Over the next week, Zhao Fanzhou kept showing up. Quiet, low-profile, always a few steps behind Zhou Xiao—playing the invisible man to perfection.

Sunday noon, Zhou Xiao dragged herself downstairs for her brunch. She was the type who could sleep like it was a superpower. Her body came with an on/off switch—when it was time, she just shut down.

Zhao Fanzhou used to joke that she was like Doraemon, with a tail switch—flip it off and boom, sleep mode.

Damn. Why was she thinking about him again? Speaking of which, where was that clingy ghost today? Yesterday a cold front had hit—the weather was brutal—and he was still standing outside wearing nothing but a thin sweater...

Back in the dorm, her phone was ringing. Unknown number. She hesitated. A lunatic had once traumatized her back in freshman year—kept calling and crying, “Meiling, please forgive me!” No matter how she explained, he wouldn’t stop. “I know your voice, stop lying. I’ve changed.”

Like, what? If you really loved someone, how would you not recognize their voice? At first, Zhou Xiao felt sorry for him. Then she snapped and started cursing him out in Chaoshan dialect. Eventually, she just saved the number in her phone as “Don’t Pick Up.”

One time, she came out of the shower and saw 20 missed calls. Twenty! All from “Don’t Pick Up,” with dozens of unread texts filled with who-knows-what.

Once, when she was hanging out with Zhao Fanzhou, the phone rang again—“Don’t Pick Up” flashing nonstop on the screen.

She laughed awkwardly and hung up.

Zhao Fanzhou gave her a weird look. “You cheating on me or what?”

“I wish I was. Just haven’t mastered the wall-jumping skill yet.”

“I’ll break your legs if you do.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me.”

Tch—so fierce.

The ringtone stopped. Zhou Xiao shrugged. Saved her the trouble of deciding whether or not to answer.

Then came a text:

"I’m sick. Fever. Bring me medicine. –Zhao Fanzhou."

Ha. Seriously, the nerve of some people. Good. You should catch a cold. Serves you right for trying to look cool.

Ignore him. Ignore him. Ignore. Him.

An hour passed.

Zhou Xiao was still staring at the ceiling from bed when she finally sat up. Grabbed her phone. Typed:

"Where are you?"

Half an hour later, she was standing in front of a fancy apartment complex, medicine in hand.

Rich people are so extra, she thought.

Up the elevator, out the elevator. Standing at his door, she suddenly felt annoyed again.

Why the hell am I even here? His life or death has nothing to do with me!

Right. She should go. She was just about to hit the elevator button when the door opened.

Zhao Fanzhou leaned against the doorway. His face was pale. “Come in,” he said, voice hoarse.

She handed him the medicine. He didn’t take it. “Come in… please?”

Wait, did she hear that right? He actually sounded… careful?

She stepped around him into the apartment and placed the medicine on the table.

She could feel his eyes following her every step.

“Take your meds,” she said. The first words she’d spoken to him since their reunion.

“Okay,” he replied—way too cheerfully, like swallowing pills was a treat. Hmph. Weirdo.

After taking the medicine, he just sat there staring at her.

She’d never seen that look on him before—so dopey. Must’ve overdosed on cold meds and lost brain function.

“What’re you looking at? Never seen a beauty before? Go sleep.”

“No.”

Wow—he talks back now?

“If you don’t sleep, I’m leaving.”

“If I sleep, you’ll still leave.”

Huh, so even business majors understand logic loops now.

“If you sleep, I won’t leave.”

He looked at her for a long moment.

“When I wake up, will you let me explain?”

Classic. The ol’ “strike while the iron’s hot” trick. Business students really were born negotiators.

“…Fine.”

She opened the door to his bedroom softly. The meds had knocked him out.

Zhou Xiao stood by the bed and watched him in silence.

He’d lost weight. His face was paler than usual. Long lashes. That ever-so-slight smirk tugging at the corners of his lips…

Tch. Tch. This guy really was good-looking. Back in the day, she had been completely obsessed with his face.

In the library, he’d sit there reading, so focused. His eyes weren’t big or small—just right—and so clear. Straight nose. Sexy lips. Zhou Xiao used to stare at him until she practically drooled.

“Hey, how did your mom even make someone like you? You came out so perfectly formed.”

“However she did it, it wasn’t the same method your mom used,” he shot back.

Wow, she thought. An insult with no cursing. Impressive.

“You’ve got a sharp tongue.”

“And you’ve been trying to kill me with it for years. Still here though.”

“Was that… a dirty joke?”

“…Can you just be quiet for two seconds?”

“Not my fault you’re so damn good-looking.”

“….”

“You better take care of that face. If it gets ruined, I’m dumping you.”

“….”

Back by the bed, two voices warred in Zhou Xiao’s head.

Voice A:

Are you really going to let him explain? You know how good he is with words.

Voice B:

But if you never talk, you’ll just stay stuck like this forever.

A:

And if you talk, are you ready to forgive him?

B:

Not necessarily.

A:

Come on, you’ve already forgiven him. Remember at the airport? You were crying, begging him not to go, and he just walked away without looking back.

B:

Maybe… he had his reasons.

A:

What is this, a soap opera? What next—he had cancer and had to go abroad for treatment?

B:

Maybe he did.

A:

Okay then. What about Jia Yichun, the girl who boarded the plane with him?

Bullseye. Right through the heart.

Zhou Xiao stared at his sleeping face.

Suddenly, rage flared up inside her.

She leaned down and pinched his face hard.

“WAKE. THE HELL. UP!”

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