Do You Hate? •fengqing• Heaven Officials Blessing/Tian Guan Ci Fu/TGCF

Chapter 2

"Gege!"

"Ah, San lang! You startled me."

Mu qing looked at them confused. "Who's he?" He asked but the one in red returned the question. "Who're you?" Glaring at him and tightened his hug around Xie lian with an expression that seemed to be saying 'you're not qualified to sit beside my gege'.

Mu qing was a little taken aback but ignored him and instead shifted his gaze to the man sitting beside him.

Xie lian laughed awkwardly or apologetically, he can't tell and intoduced. "Mu qing, this is Hua cheng. Also came from my previous neighborhood. San lang, this is Mu qing. My friend."

Hua cheng just looked at him from head to toe with an uninterested face before pulling a chair to sit in the opposite side of xie lian, completely ignoring him.

The three started chatting happily as they talked about their memories from the past whilst eating.

Mu qing however was left out without any clue with what they were talking about so he just quietly ate. Not bothering to join the conversation that he's obviously not welcome. Atleast not until when he finished eating, someone came up to him to strike up a conversation.

"Hi. You're Mu qing right?" Mu qing looked up from his lunch just to see a guy smiling at him.

"Ah. Yes." Mu qing nodded looking at the guy.

"I'm Zu xian."

"I see." Disinterest obviously lacing Mu qing's tone making the guy laugh. "What's funny. Are you here to get your hair tie? Here." Indeed it was the same person who he thought was Xie lian's clone. He was about to untie his hair when the guy seized his wrist.

"No no. You can keep that. I was just wondering if your face still hurts. I see you still haven't removed the pad Ling wen gave earlier. And your lips looks swollen not to mention your nose still looks a bit red."

For a moment, Mu qing just stared at him as he squints his eyes. Seeing his gaze, Zu xian blinked. "Okay. That came out weird. I wasn't staring at you or anything like that. I just happened to be close to you earlier in line so I noticed." He explained. Seeing Mu qing's still looking at him with suspicion even more, he sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Okay. That sounded even weirder. You know what? Nevermind. Here. I came to give you these. The whole class heard the impact of the door hitting your face you see? It's kinda loud... So take these if it still hurts. And your lips, it's best to use ice to reduce the swelling. Same goes to your forehead."  He said placing 5 pills of the same kind on the table. "Don't worry it's really painkillers. Don't eye it like it's some sort of drugs." He sighed.

"Fine." Mu qing finally spat. Zu xian smiled seeing him take the pills and just nodded before leaving.

Mu qing tore the pill out of its aluminum wrapper and was about to eat it when Feng xin decided to not ignore him after all. Just annoy. "Are you really going to fucking eat those? What. Your face still hurts? Your stomach? The door didn't even hit you that fucking hard."

"Do you want a demonstration?" Mu qing spat and drank a pill. "If I didn't, he would've got it for nothing. Mind your own business." He said and stood up, packing his lunch. "I'll go ahead Xie lian."

"Huh? Okay. See you later."

Mu qing just nodded and left. An unexplainable feeling building up inside him and exited the cafeteria without looking back. Usually Xie lian stops him from leaving, insisting to go together. Unlike today. It's normal. Mu qing thinks. He got reunited with his childhood bestfriends. Ofcourse he'd want to spend time with them more that Mu qing who's stuck beside him for years with his attitude.

Mu qing didn't want to but he's slowly getting swallowed up by what if's. Now that Xie lian's old friends are here, what will become of him? What if Xie lian stops hanging around him? What if Xie lian unconsciously leaves him behind? What if he will really spend all of his college life alone? He knows he has no right to claim Xie lian and that Xie lian can leave him if thats what he wants but the thought of having xie lian taken away from him makes his heart throb with a feeling he can't quite understand. Fear? Anxiety? He doesn't know. He grew accustomed with Xie lian's presence beside him that thinking of having that side empty bothers him.

Mu qing sighed and continued his steps without a destination in mind and only snapped out of his thoughts when the bell rang.

Mu qing scanned his surroundings. He's in a hallway with frames hanged at the wall. It looks like certificates and honors the school received from competitions, seminars, etc. He didn't know where he was at and certainly didn't know how to find his way back to his room. Mu qing saw four rooms in the hallway. Two on the left, the other two on the right while one he saw was at the end of the hallway.

He went to each doors and read the plaques plastered above them. The two on the right was the faculty and the janitors quarters. The ones on the left are the room for important school guest and broadcasting room. And the last one at the end was the principals office.

"Great. Now I'm lost. How the hell did I even get here?" Mu qing murmured to himself while looking at the principals office plaque.

He was about to turn around when he suddenly heard a voice next to his ear. "That's right. How did you end up here?"

Startled, Mu qing slightly flinched with the sudden presence so close to him. He hurriedly distance himself away to see who owned the voice and relaxed, seeing the familiar face.

"Oh. It's you."