Rule Me School Me: A Complex Creatures Story (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 3

Bao Zheng swung his leather jacket over the back of his office chair and sat down at the wooden desk in his office. His breathing was quick and his heart rate was erratic.

How could it possibly be him? Am I stupid? Had I not come to terms with this ten years ago? How could he look so similar? Those eyes, even the smile. How?

He opened his laptop and searched Tan Zhi's name. Many articles showed up, unrelated, regarding athletes, political leaders, actors... all sharing the same name. He wiped his face in his hands, his fingers shaking and typed: Tan Zhi Highway crash.

An article popped up from China Daily with the headline AUTO ACCIDENT CLAIMS THE LIFE OF SMALL TOWN SCHOLAR TAN ZHI. He clicked on it.

"At 10:30 AM, June 4th, Tan Zhi, 24, was involved in an auto collision with a semi-truck..." He read aloud. "He passed away on his way to the hospital." Bao Zheng placed his face in his hands and rubbed roughly.

Get it together Bao Zheng, he just looks like him. Get it together. Tan Zhi died. You were at his funeral. You identified his body.

He sighed loudly as his eyes glazed over the small room. Stacks of books littered the floor while the large built-in shelves on the walls sat empty. He'd barely been a professor a week and his life was already in disarray.

No, he wouldn't let one strange coincidence, or fluke, or whatever it was, destroy everything he worked so hard to build.

"I really should straighten up my office," he said chuckling softly. Anything to get his mind off that student.

Bao Zheng stood and walked over to the shelves. He began placing the books onto them and coughed as the dust on the shelves unsettled, filling the air. Soon, the floor was cleared and his office actually looked like an office.

Bao Zheng walked back to his desk where a box of his belongings laid. He opened the box and pulled out his university diploma. He wiped the glass clean and placed it on his desk. Underneath it laid a picture from his undergraduate days, one of him and a smiling Tan Zhi.

They were so young then, standing outside the campus hall of the university in their graduation gowns.

Bao Zheng wiped the glass on the picture frame and placed the picture on his desk. He sat down and stared at the picture.

Seeing him makes me miss you. But I know you're gone.

Bao Zheng's stomach growled and snapped him out of his daydream. He glanced at his watch and realized it was past noon already. Someone knocked at his office door.

He quickly jolted to his chair and started fussing with papers. "Come in."

The door opened and older man peered in with kind eyes.

"How's it going?" He asked grinning.

"Professor Lee, come in, have a seat," Bao Zheng stated motioning towards the chair across from him.

"I see you've finally started getting your office in order," Professor Lee stated glancing around. Bao Zheng rubbed the back of his head and scoffed, "Yeah."

"Well good for you, how was your first class?"

"It was good. I was nervous but it went very well."

"Great." Professor Lee clapped his hands. "I knew you could do it. That's why I recommended you, always so brilliant. You can do anything."

"That's a huge compliment professor, thank you." Bao Zheng stood and bowed to him.