Chapter 6 - Don’t Make That Expression in Front of Me
The driver braked violently, causing the passengers to fly forward from the inertia. Ji Liao wasn’t in time to hold onto the handle and fell into He Cheng Ming’s arms.
He heard a muffled groan above his head. When the bus stopped, he quickly righted himself. After all, it was the weight of a fully grown male student and he wasn’t sure if He Cheng Ming had gotten injured.
Ji Liao had just stabilised himself when voices of complaints and backlash filled the bus. He turned to glance at He Cheng Ming and saw him pluck an earphone from his ear, then stuffed it into his own ear.
The lamenting immediately disappeared, replaced with soothing music.
Ji Liao’s heart skipped a beat.
When they reached the bus stop, the two of them alighted. Ji Liao kept thinking of earlier when he had bumped into He Cheng Ming and asked, “Were you injured?”
He Cheng Ming had both hands stuffed inside his pockets, and while wiggling his eyebrows, he asked, “What happens if I’m injured?”
Ji Liao choked up and didn’t respond for a while.
Seeing his stupefied expression, He Cheng Ming’s heart softened until it was a complete mess. He said earnestly, “Never mind.”
As he said this, Ji Liao felt that something wasn’t right. He took the other boy’s hand out of his pocket. The knuckles on his right hand had thin red streaks of blood and the outer layer of skin was torn. The wound spread across four fingers.
This probably happened when He Cheng Ming had forcefully tugged at the handle to support himself.
Ji Liao felt pained just looking at it as other complex feelings started forming in his heart.
He Cheng Ming saw Ji Liao’s misery written across his face, and he withdrew his hand. He bent over and whispered into his ear, “Don’t make that expression in front of me. I wouldn’t be able to help myself...”
With a delighted smile, he strode towards the school.
The heat that had just dissipated from Ji Liao’s face returned due to He Cheng Ming’s words. Looking at the tall and upright figure in front of him, he couldn’t help but wonder if this person was really the cranky and domineering school bully.
...
After his morning lessons were over, Ji Liao was still uneasy and ran to the clinic for a bottle of iodine and bandages.
He hovered at the entrance of Class Two for some time, not daring to utter a word.
Lin Jiang came back from the toilet and saw Ji Liao standing by the entrance with his head stuck in, looking around. He couldn’t help but ask, “Are you looking for Ming Ge?”
The last time he saw Ji Liao and He Cheng Ming together, they had seemed quite close. He had thought that Ji Liao was a low-profile young master of a rich family. But after investigating, it was discovered that he was just an ordinary person who wasn’t from a rich family or background. His results in school were also average.
But since he was He Cheng Ming’s friend, he was also Lin Jiang’s friend.
“Ming Ge is most probably sleeping. Want me to call him for you?” As he said this, Lin Jiang headed towards the classroom, preparing to shout. Ji Liao hurried to stop him upon seeing this. “There’s no need. It’s nothing much. Just help me hand this over to him. He injured his hand.” He gave the iodine and bandages to Lin Jiang.
“Ming Ge injured? It couldn’t be. He fought with somebody and lost?” Lin Jiang had an incredulous expression on his face.
After all, in his heart, He Cheng Ming was the best fighter in the world.
“Eh...it wasn’t a fight.” Ji Liao reluctantly explained, “He was slashed by a handle on the bus.”
“Huh?” Lin Jiang was even more confused. “Ming Ge took public transport? Are you kidding? He really hates to be in crowds of people. Besides, he has a chauffeur. Why would he take public transport?”
Ji Liao stared blankly. Did he hate to be crowded with people?
Now that he thought about it, when it was the busiest, he would seem really unhappy and displeased.
“I don’t know. I’m going back.” Ji Liao threw out those words, then ran off. He felt as if something had sprouted in his heart and it began to grow crazily.
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