Utter Defeat

1. One Year

Two Years Ago

"Xiao Yang, hurry up!" Ji Bo shouted to his newly-made friend as they ran towards the Faculty of Business and Economics for the department orientation.

"I am doing my best!" Sun Xiao Yang shouted back, following his friend behind. The white shirt he chose for the first day of the university was already wrinkled, his overly white skin flustered and his neatly-styled slightly long brown hair was all messy thanks to running under the heat of August. Well, at least he was with a friend who he discreetly made through RenRen. Otherwise, with his terrible sense of direction, he could only imagine finding the right marble building on time.

"WATCH OUT!"

Xiao Yang heard the voice, but it was too late. A basketball landed full force on his head, making him fall on the asphalt road.

"Are you okay?" a concerned voice asked him, checking his head with careful fingers.

"Yeah, I am-" the words stuck on Xiao Yang's throat as he saw the young man's face hovering over him.

Light brown double-lid big eyes, a long nose, cherry lips, sun-kissed skin and black short hair... he should be the prince charming...

"Can you see me?" the charming young boy waved his elongated fingers in front of the fallen boy's eyes for a few times until he brought the wandering soul back to his body.

"Ge," Xiao Yang grabbed the hand in front of him swiftly, "do you have a lover?"

"HA?" the older boy exclaimed in horror. Turning to his friends, he said "we must take him to infirmary, he must be hurt on the head."

His friends just laughed while Ji Bo made it into the scene. "Are you okay, Xiao Yang?" he asked worriedly, trying to help his friend to his feet.

"Ge, tell me!" Xiao Yang refused to let the hand he was holding go, "are you single? Can I hit on you?"

"Just take him away," the older boy saved himself from the grip. Did all the lunatics have to find him?

"Come, we're gonna be late," Ji Bo started to drag Xiao Yang towards the faculty while the latter was jibbing.

"At least tell me your name, pleaseee?" he shouted to his angel, and taking pity, Li Hong granted the younger's wish.

"His name is Zheng Hao! He is a senior from Economics!"

"Thank you, nice ge! See you later, Hao geeeee!"

***

"Ya, Zheng Hao, your lover is here again."

Rolling his eyes, Zheng Hao repeated for the millionth time, "he is NOT my lover."

"True," Li Hong teased him, "he is your stalker!"

"SHUT UP!" Zheng Hao nudged him with his elbow as Xiao Yang stood in front of their bench.

"Hi, Hao ge," the excited young man reached him a cold Americano, "here, for you."

"I don't want it, you keep it," Zheng Hao rejected, but Li Hong interrupted.

Getting the drink from the younger and handing it to the older, he said "a second ago, you said you were thirsty, so just say thanks and drink it!"

***

"What the hell?!" Zheng Hao shouted with frustration, seeing the downpour. It was literally impossible to leave the safety of the canteen without an umbrella, but guess who didn't bring one... bingo!

"Hao ge!"

Knowing the owner of the voice, Zheng Hao raked his hair with irritation. This boy must have implemented GPS on him; otherwise it would be impossible for him to locate him that accurately each time.

Xiao Yang ran up the stairs and stood next to Zheng Hao with a blue umbrella in his hand. Pointing towards his red BMW at the foot of the stairs, he said "let me take you to the faculty, ge."

Although Zheng Hao wanted to reject the offer, he had a presentation to do; therefore, unwillingly he nodded and ran to the flashy car with Xiao Yang, who covered them with his umbrella.

Once in the car, the senior saw that the freshman's right side was all wet while he was completely dry.

***

"Wow Zheng Hao! I heard you found yourself a rich wife!" a classmate whose name Zheng Hao didn't remember announced it loudly while clapping his hands in an exaggerated manner.

"Just shut up," Zheng Hao replied calmly and focused on his book again.

"Why? Don't you want anyone to know about that pretentious bastard?"

Zheng Hao dropped the book with a glare. Although he found that certain freshman highly annoying and weird, he was definitely not pretentious or bastard. He could even pass as a nice young man. A weird one, but still...

"Oho, are you angry? Why? Isn't he a show-off with his fancy red car and branded clothes? Don't tell me you let him fuck you in exchange of mon-"

He couldn't finish as a punch landed on his cheek.

"WHAT THE-" he exclaimed in shock as well as pain, but got silenced again with another punch. Then the assaulter pressed him against the wall and bent his hands behind him.

"If you insult Hao ge one more time, I will break your jaw, do you get it?" Xiao Yang asked threateningly and the other nodded with fear.

"Good," Xiao Yang let him go. Then he walked towards Zheng Hao and hooked his arm around his waist as he was a bit shorter than his senior. He dragged the latter towards the exit, but before they left the area, he turned around and said "by the way, we are unfortunately not lovers yet, I am still trying to win his heart over."

***

"Hao ge!"

"I don't have time for you right now," Zheng Hao declared as he kept checking the library tables for the book he lost. Damn, it never happened to him before, but the stress of the final exams muddled his brain and boom! He lost a library book which turned out to be sold only in Europe!

"Ge," Xiao Yang grabbed his arm, stopping his movement, "I found the book!"

That attracted the senior's attention. He turned around swiftly to see the book in the freshman's hand.

"How?" he asked as he snatched the book with relief.

"I treated the library lady to a coffee and she let me check the cameras. You just mixed the books and placed this one on the shelf rather than the right one."

...

One year... Xiao Yang diligently did his best to make Zheng Hao love him, but the other was adamant. He didn't want to date a rich obsessive kid and make his life complicated.