“Does that mean you like me?”Gu Yan spoke in a low voice, and a smile that displayed a touch of interest curved up by his lips.
Qin Yao looked expressionlessly at Gu Yan. This seemed to be the expression he always had, his cold and handsome face would never reveal any hint of emotion. Even if he was obligated to smile every now and then, his smile would still be plain and cold, as if he had to force himself to do it.
“I, do.”Under Gu Yan’s unrelenting gaze, Qin Yao spat out these two words and his expressionless face had become slightly colder than before.
But Gu Yan acted as if he did not notice. He looked Qin Yao up and down carefully and put on a teasing smile:”So it turns out you like men, it’s really quite……fortunate that I was the one you fell for. I happen to like men too, and won’t find you disgusting for that.”
He got even closer to him, and spoke in an even softer voice,”I think you’re not bad at all, so if you insist on that drink, I can agree to it.”
Qin Yao’s face turned stiff.
“If you’re not going to reply I’m just going to take that as a yes. You look pretty good……”Gu Yan raised a brow, then lowering his eyes to look at Qin Yao’s lightly tinted lips, he suddenly kissed him.
This moment……Qin Yao turned his head abruptly to avoid Gu Yan’s attempt, and a shot of revolt appeared in his eyes.
Gu Yan’s lips brushed past Qin Yao’s ear and was left high and dry. He paused for a moment, but then he leaned back and straightened himself, his eyes revealing a dark and unclear emotion.
“What a pity, didn’t you like me?”Said Gu Yan.
Qin Yao turned back, and that sense of revolt had disappeared from his eyes, returning to its undisturbed stillness. The only thing that could slightly suggest his discomfort on his otherwise calm face was his stiff chin.
“Forget it.”Gu Yan shrugged and turned to leave the elevator.
Just as he left, he heard a large bang coming from right outside, it sounded as if something had fallen down from the top floor.
After that, screams came from the passersby on the outside.
Gu Yan quickened his steps, and when he reached the doorway, he saw the corpse laying on the floor. He was sprawled on the ground and the bones in this body had been crushed into a wet puddle of mess. Blood flowed out from his body, and quickly dyed the ground into a shade of red……
The crowd that gathered to watch the spectacle became larger and larger. Some had faces of fear, some of surprise, and some others, but nobody dares to approach.
Even though he could not see the face of the corpse, Gu Yan could still recognize what Sun jie was wearing today, and a cold hint of mocking humour flashed past his eyes. But following that, his expression changed, now into one of surprise and hurt.
Qin Yao was one step behind Gu Yan, and seeing the body, he furrowed his brows. He turned to look at Gu Yan, and just as he was about to say something, the loud noises of police sirens started to blare as several police cars hurriedly parked by the outside of the building.
A dozen policemen came over in a line, and seeing the scene, their faces all changed,”What happened here?”
“Somebody just jumped off the building!”
“Yeah yeah, that’s right, it was so scary. I was standing right there when it happened and almost got hit……”
“I think the top floor was a bar, was it? Did he get high off drugs maybe?”
The crowd started to clamour.
“Speaking of which, you police really are quick today! Things happened just three minutes ago, but here you are! Now that’s efficiency!”
The face of the young policeman who had been surrounded suddenly became a bit sour:”We received a report twenty minutes ago, and we came because someone reported that people were gathering and doing drugs here.”
The expressions of the crowd turned black.
“Oh, so that’s what it was, what a coincidence.”
“That’s what I’m saying, it has to be drugs! These people don’t care about their own lives, dying from it is what they deserve!”
“Shoo shoo, go away, don’t clump around here and cause trouble, it’s suffocating.”
The policeman who came to check the body came back, and shook his head to the senior policeman:”He’s dead.”
The senior policeman gave a light nod in response,”Secure the perimeters, go upstairs and search!”
“Yes!”A line of policemen quickly headed towards the bar at the top floor, and the rest began to question those at the scene to make records. Fortunately, there were quite a lot of witnesses so there was nothing much to question after the incident, they were all allowed to leave after that.
Gu Yan was also put through a simple questioning. Since he had been on the first floor this whole time, and not there at the scene of the crime, the policemen just jotted down his contact details and let him go.
Since the policemen did not ask for too many details, Gu Yan did not add anything either.
Gu Yan had come in Sun Jie’s car when they came, but he did not choose to hail a taxi on his return. Instead, he chose to walk silently by himself on the road.
After walking for about ten minutes or so, he suddenly turned back and reproached fiercely:”Why are you still following me!”
Qin Yao was walking just ten or so steps behind Gu Yan. Every time Gu Yan took a step, he would take a step, but when Gu Yan stopped, he too, would stop, he was following him without being too sticky or too loose.
“Are you mad? I told you got to follow me, can you even understand what I’m saying?”Gu Yan’s voice was slightly cold.
Qin Yao did not speak, he just stood there, but the calm on his face seemed to tell him that ‘you don’t own this street, it’s none of your business whether I walk on it or not’.
Gu Yan scoffed out of anger from seeing his expression. He came over in a large stride to Qin Yao’s front and stared firmly at his eyes,”You don’t like me, don’t you?”
Qin Yao still remained silent, but there was a hint of inquiry in his eyes.
“Do whatever you want.”Gu Yan threw a sharp look at him, and turned away coldly to leave. But suddenly, he stopped after taking only two steps. After a short moment, he turned back to Qin Yao:”That guy that just died? I knew him.”
Qin Yao’s eyes were grave, and he finally began to speak:”Why are you telling me this?”
“I don’t know, just felt like talking about it to someone. You don’t seem like someone with a loose tongue, and there’s nobody else here.”Gu Yan laughed self-deprecatingly, and his voice was hoarse. He raised his eyes, and his eyes had started to redden unknowingly,”He was a friend of mine, and I came with him today.”
“I’m an artist, so I shouldn’t have been here in the first place. But he really was a good friend of mine, in fact, he’s the only friend I have in this city, so I couldn’t refuse him. And……I trusted him.”
Gu Yan raised his hand to cover his eyes, leaning his head back slightly,”Trust, do you know what that is? I trusted him so much, I trusted that he wouldn’t have done anything to harm me, that he wouldn’t betray me……”
“But he……I refused him and left early.”Gu Yan put his hand away, and his eyes were dry without a single drop of a tear,”I thought he just didn’t know better, I thought it was an accident, I found so many reasons to excuse what he had done……I couldn’t stop him, so I could only leave.”
“Thank god I left.”
“But the police? What report? Heh……Turns out he insisted for me to come out just so he could……”Gu Yan laughed deeply, but it seemed to be able to penetrate into one’s core,”Do you know what consequences I would have to face if I didn’t go?”
“I’m sure you know. Even if you don’t really like me, or if you’re even a fan of mine……I’m sure you can’t at least say you understand a little, right?”
Qin Yao pursed his lips faintly, and for the first time, a complex emotion was revealed on his face when he looked into Gu Yan’s eyes. He paused for a moment,”Perhaps he’s not the one who called the police.”
“Nobody else knows besides me and him that we were out today, and nobody else knew what we were here for either.”Gu Yan’s tone seemed to express a sense of deep exhaustion,”Nobody else knew……”
“You……”Qin Yao seemed to want to comfort him, but he stopped at only a single word. That was not something he should say.
Gu Yan said:”It’s no matter, I forgive him. He’s already dead, and he has paid for his betrayal with his own death.”His voice sounded so serene, but his dark eyes seemed to have lost its lustre, covered over with a dead skin of greyness.
There was not a single hint of pleasure of relief to be taken from his tone.
The faint sound of voices came from the distance, there were other people walking their way.
“Stop following me.”Gu Yan grunted and turned to walk in the other direction.
Just as Qin Yao was about to follow him, the view of Gu Yan’s figure suddenly entered his eyes. Not a single hint of that prideful and arrogant figure was there, as if the support holding all that up had just collapsed. Right now, his firm steps had also become disconcerted and troubled.
It looked as if all the vitality had drained from him in that instant……That trust he had was completely wiped clean from the betrayal he faced.
Qin Yao stopped, and clenched his fists. He lowered his eyes and covered that pained emotion in his eyes. For a moment, that desolate back seemed to have overlapped with that person’s, and every time he recalled about him……It would hurt so much that he could hardly breathe.
Because he was powerless.
And he hated himself for being so weak.