To My Pretender [BL]

[3] - Past Rumour

As if a large slug was inside his stomach, a slimy discomfort swirled in his stomach and to his chest, that he thought a large rock laid at bottom of his throat. If he was to speak again, this rock would probably force itself out of his mouth.

Just when Wu Jie was about to grab the glass again, a hand grasped the cup and it disappeared from the table.

Wu Jie furrowed his brows and tilted his head up, only to see the tall figure with black hair, chugging the glass down in one go.

Thankfully, he could still make it out to be Shen Xiaoyun's face. When Shen Xiaoyun glared down at those sitting near Wu Jie's area, his eyes were always compressed in an impudent, almost malicious way.

"Stop drinking. You're going to get sick," Shen Xiaoyun commented, lowering the glass that Wu Jie held before onto the table.

No one dared to say anything. Instead, they averted Shen Xiaoyun's gaze and tried to ease the mood again.

It was ironic that Wu Jie wanted to escape the uncomfortable situation but now he actually felt like passing out, and it was disturbing. He pressed his palm against his forehead, attempting to hold the weight of his head.

The voices of the people began to muffle together along with the clinks of tableware and meat sizzling.

No matter how hard he concentrated, he could no longer distinguish whether the noises he heard were from humans or the wind or something else.

His glances wandered everywhere around him, scanning the familiar faces around him.

The laughing.

The talking.

Every bit of it was suffocating.

Everyone here was laughing so happily, and he too, was laughing at some point. After all, if he didn't, they'd ask him what was wrong and tell him he had changed. In fact, he hadn't changed at all.

He had been so self-deprecating and lonely from the start.

To think Wu Jie, someone who was loved by all and loved everyone, was so detached from himself and isolated between idealisation and reality, was something that no one would've thought of.

If they did, then Wu Jie knew he had accidentally let a piece of himself fall out, and it was a sign to immediately pick himself back up and perform the same act again.

Even with the passage of time, far from healing, this loneliness had grown only deeper until now it has reached the walls of his veins.

"Maybe we... get some answers... of him now!"

I want to vomit.

"Hey, Wu Jie... exactly... disappear off to... Stop making... guess already."

What are they saying?

My head is burning,

"Wu Jie, was our... friendship... shallow to you?"

"My head hurts..." he mumbled.

Stop asking me questions.

"Let's all give a toast to Wu Jie's reappearance! Now this is what we call a reunion. Your face still looks the same, but you look even skinnier. Why don't you hit the gym or eat more? How are you going to satisfy your wife with that? Oh wait, you're still not married yet," one teased.

The person tapped his shoulder twice, still hugging him with one arm. "Wu Jie, I know you said you're taking a break, but you must just be on a leave, right? If it's near Yongran Law Firm, then we can go get lunch sometime."

My head hurts.

Chen Yichun interjected with a smile, "Hey, stop it. Wu Jie doesn't need to tell you everything he has been doing. Stop asking him these personal questions. He doesn't need to be thinking of marriage let alone even date. Isn't that right, Wu Jie?"

"So, you're actually jobless? Hey, Wu Jie, are you really jobless? Hah! That can't be. Impossible! You were the smartest kid in the entire year group that even my mum kept comparing me to you. I bet you're actually the CEO of a company, or maybe you also own a private clinic. C'mon, there's no need to hide it from us. You can't be doing construction work, because your hands don't have a single callous!"

"Hey, Wu Jie. Did you complete your Master's or PhD? I forgot what you said when we spoke about what we wanted to study."

"Wu Jie."

"Where do you live now, Wu Jie?"

"Wu Jie, what have you been doing for the past few years?"

"Hey, Wu Jie."

"Wu Jie, can you hear me?"

"Wu Jie, did you really sexually assault your co-workers?"