Their lips part, and it’s nowhere astonishing to realize that they were both tearing up. They communicated without words, smiling as if there was not a care in the world, staring into the other’s eyes. No one was there to see when Zi Tao buries his head into the side of Wu Fan’s neck, hands gripping onto his shirt and sobbing because he’s real.

They were real.

They were Huang Zi Yu, and Li Jia Heng.

He smiles bitterly at the thought of their royal bittersweet love, never to be known to the public. A pair of arms wraps around him tightly, pushing him further into the warm embrace. What a familiar, familiar, scent Wu Fan carries. For some reason, Zi Tao tugs down the patch of cloth covering Wu Fan’s collars, and he seeks for the tiny mole situated in the nook of his collarbones, sighing when he spots it, returning to their previous position with Wu Fan holding him in his arms.

“For years,” Zi Tao breathes out, “I have been trying to figure out this whole Huang Zi Yu story, and the whole thing behind the jades. For hours, I spent my nights sleepless, wishing for you to have never appeared, so that I would never have been dragged into the trouble I am in now. During school, all I could focus on was how you were doing in China, and whether Lu Han has been picking trouble with you. But now I finally realize, that all my worries were redundant.”

A deep chuckle erupts from Wu Fan, burying his nose deeper into the younger boy’s perfectly conditioned hair, a light vanilla scent overtaking his senses and he wishes to never have to pull away. And Wu Fan finds that he’s been wishing for a whole lot of things in his whole life. He’d wished for his father to have never left his mother, and for his mother to never re-marry to his stepfather. He’d wished to never leave Guangzhou, to never have gotten that stupid piece of jade and to never have dreamt of Huang Zi Yu.

“When I was fifteen, I wished to meet a girl who was willing to date me. But I guess, instead of it happening to me, I got lucky and met a fifteen-year-old boy who just so happens to be the love of my past life. I’m glad to have known our destiny as soon as we met, but as fortunate as my bad luck gets, we only have two weeks to spend with each other. I don’t know which to be more upset of -- having wasted three days, or that he’s with another guy that isn’t me.” Wu Fan exhales shakily, on the verge of tearing up once again. As they pull away, he sees Zi Tao’s beautiful lips quivering, threatening to cry. “Now that I’m seventeen going on eighteen, all I wish to be able to hold you in my arms forever.”

A broken sob escapes from Zi Tao, his knees buckling as he Wu Fan holds onto him, supporting him despite knowing that the deeper he falls, the worse separation shall be for them.

‘Wu Fan’ was the last thing Zi Tao says before they kiss again.

And again.

And again.

In that moment, all Zi Tao could think of was how warm, and safe he felt in the embrace of this man. They kiss like their lives depends on it, the boy with jet black hair throwing his arms around Wu Fan’s neck, standing on his toes to reach the other better.

They part to breathe, and they take in air in greedy gulps, staring right into the other pair of eyes.

It’s electrifying the second time they kiss, teeth clashing and it didn’t take long before Zi Tao was nibbling on Wu Fan’s lower lip, both of them letting out coy, little smiles.

“Whoever taught you to kiss this way,“ Wu Fan whispers, out of breath and breathing in just as hard as Zi Tao as their foreheads were gently pressed against each other. “Is a ing saint.”

“Well, thank you. It’s all about instincts as we learn in Wushu.” Zi Tao meekly says, a vast contrast in attitude present in comparison to mere seconds ago.

“You learned how to kiss in martial art classes?”

“Well, there is an abbot.” Zi Tao shrugs.

“Gross.” Wu Fan scrunches his face in mock disgust before leaning in to place a gentle peck on Zi Tao’s lips again.

It’s within a split-second before Zi Tao realizes that Kris had been roughly shoved against the window, a loud groan was let out from him before someone started kicking Wu Fan on his back. He panicked for a moment, and had decided to help before a hand reached out to pull him aside.





“So you did push me aside yesterday for this bastard.” 





Zi Tao struggles in Lu Han’s hold, crying as he watched how the other senior in soccer started to throw punches on Wu Fan’s head. But the latter wasn’t shouting anymore -- he was neither groaning, nor was he writhing.

I-Is he…

“Wu Fan!” he wails, trying to pry the soccer captain off of him, but the other was just too strong. Years of his Wushu practice going to waste as he watches the guy he’s been fated with beaten into unconsciousness.

Wu Fan was hardly bleeding -- but Zi Tao was sure that Lu Han’s friend had hit him in places mostly covered by clothes. “You were going to kill him!”

“You are ing right I will!” Lu Han shouts, teeth gritting in anger as he slams Zi Tao into the wall behind them. “I will, Tao.”

Zi Tao holds back his tears as Lu Han tightens his grip on his wrist, whispering words which were as equally dirty as how they were the night before. He dives under Zi Tao’s jaw, and on his skin till the younger boy let out a pained gasp.

“Now, everyone knows who you belong to.” Lu Han says innocently, smiling as he ran a finger along Zi Tao’s cheeks. “Lunch is almost up, so you should grab something quick too. We’re up against Nan Bei High School later, how about a good luck kiss?” he leans in for the crying boy’s lips, only to meet rejection as Zi Tao turned his head to the other side.

“You’re getting feisty...” he murmurs, placing a rough kiss on the side of Zi Tao’s lips. “I like that.”

Lu Han and his friend leave minutes before the bell rings, but not without the soccer captain landing a final kick on Wu Fan’s lower back. A low groan emits from the other, the only sign for Zi Tao to know that he’s still alive, and is in desperate need of medical attention. There was no way Wu Fan would be able to pretend as though he hadn’t just received a round of kicks from soccer players, and for him to attend class just as usual.

Zi Tao cradles his upper body, just wishing to hold onto him for another few seconds before he does the last thing on his mind.

“Wu Fan,” he mutters, despair obvious in his tone.

“It’s all my fault, had I not asked you to meet me today, none of this would happen!” He pulls the other deeper into his embrace, only letting go of him in a panic when Wu Fan groans in pain. “Please, please, forgive me.”

He swaps the two jade pendants hung around their neck, and hastily placed a kiss against Wu Fan’s bloodied lips before leaving to the students’ administration office and seeking for help.





Leave this place so you wouldn’t be hurt any longer. A second of watching you get hurt is to a year of winter.





Leave, Wu Fan.

--

Updates will be around this length from now on, since I can't write long chapters to save my life, oh, and big announcement: 

This story is ending soon lol. 

totally unrelated, but does anyone speak cantonese here?