A number of gazes peeked into the classroom through the back door and glass windows, barely noticeable.
They were all students of seventeen or eighteen, and they were poor at hiding their feelings. After sneaking a look inside, they turned away, their faces flushed.
"Whose parent is he?"
"When he stopped me to ask for directions, I thought he was a transfer student..."
"Oh, he's sitting in Pei Ying's seat."
The stares prickled against Pei Ying's back. He cast a cold glance outside and shifted his position, deliberately blocking Xin Hexue from view.
"Why did you come?"
He scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he asked.
The young man wore nothing but a black shirt on his upper body. Its fabric was thin and draped loosely, and the top two buttons were undone, revealing the hollows of his collarbones and their delicate, slender lines.
Pei Ying badly wanted to button his shirt.
The air conditioning was strong in the classroom. Xin Hexue loosely curled a hand against his lips and coughed twice, his face pale with the lingering effects of a serious illness. "I saw the invitation to the parent-teacher meeting in your exercise book," he explained. "It's during the second class this afternoon. I'm not late, am I?"
Pei Ying kept his expression taut. Without a word, he took the school uniform jacket hanging on the back of his chair and draped it over Xin Hexue's shoulders.
Xin Hexue tipped his head up to look at him. "Are you upset? Guangji didn't have time, so I took it upon myself to come."
"I've already explained it to your homeroom teacher. I came as a friend your brother asked to attend, and I'll pass anything from the meeting on to Guangji."
"You don't have to worry about any misunderstandings."
Pei Ying turned his face away, avoiding Xin Hexue's eyes.
That wasn't what he cared about.
"You haven't fully recovered," Pei Ying said stiffly. "You should be resting at home."
"..."
Xin Hexue listened in silence to the notification sound as his Affection Points increased.
Pei Ying's deskmate, on the other hand, was very enthusiastic. "So you're a friend of Pei Ying's brother! I'm Pei Ying's deskmate!"
Xin Hexue shook his hand, and they exchanged names. "Hello. I'm Xin Hexue. Thank you for looking out for Pei Ying's studies at school."
His deskmate withdrew his hand before his palm could grow sweaty with nerves. He fidgeted. "Then can I call you gege?"
Pei Ying could stand it no longer and cut in. "Since when are you related?"
He looked to be in a terrible mood. His deskmate's face turned ashen. "I was joking."
The atmosphere turned chilly, and his deskmate went outside to see whether his parent had arrived.
Xin Hexue hesitated, but gently spoke to Pei Ying in the end. "Weren't you a little too harsh with your deskmate just now? He didn't mean any harm."
Pei Ying forced two cold chuckles from his throat.
The second afternoon class period was set aside for the parent-teacher meeting. The subject teachers and homeroom teacher would come to report on the recent exams.
The students were free to do as they pleased, while the classroom was left to the parents and teachers.
Xin Hexue had arrived quite early. The other parents gradually entered the classroom, and when the bell rang, Pei Ying left along with the other students.
He didn't go far, though. He leaned against the corridor railing with his hands in his pockets, his expression cold and his eyes fixed on Xin Hexue.
He saw the young man look troubled after receiving the grade slip, then give him a reassuring smile in the corridor.
It felt strangely wonderful.
No one had attended a parent-teacher meeting for him since his mother died when he was in elementary school.
But wasn't Xin Hexue only two years older than him?
Pei Ying had seen Xin Hexue's information from the special assistant.
His face blindness had even caused him to develop social anxiety disorder. Was he going to be all right, coming out and meeting so many people this time?
Pei Ying noticed that his face remained quite pale.
The forty-minute parent-teacher meeting passed quickly.
Pei Ying stood in the corridor the whole time, but didn't pay attention to a single word from the podium.
Xin Hexue walked out of the classroom with the crowd. Using the Klein blue streaks in Pei Ying's hair to identify him, he went up to him with the grade slip. "Your scores seem a little uneven. Do you want to come to the office with me and ask the teachers for their advice in private?"
Pei Ying glanced at the disastrous grade slip.
It really was quite serious. He hadn't passed a single subject except math.
He had even deliberately handed in blank papers for two subjects.
"There are still more than six months before the college entrance exam. There's plenty of room to improve your scores."
The young man was still trying to persuade him in a soft voice.
Pei Ying was a head taller than him. All he had to do was lower his eyes to see the pale pink hollow of his collarbone, which the thin shirt failed to conceal.
He pressed his lips tightly together. Before Xin Hexue could react, he seized his hand and pulled him into a secluded stairwell corner.
Xin Hexue's back struck the wall, and the sharp pain made him frown.
The Alpha braced a hand against the wall and loomed over him. "Why are you being so nice to me?"
Pei Ying was so close that their breaths mingled. Xin Hexue turned his face away awkwardly, his lashes trembling. "You're Guangji's younger brother, and we live under the same roof. I want us to get along better."
Pei Ying's sharp brows drew together. The answer left him feeling even more restless and stifled.
His brother again!
Every time they talked, it always came back to his brother!
The Alpha's fierce jealousy burned like a raging fire.
Xin Hexue's next words undoubtedly added fuel to it. "If it makes you uncomfortable, I'll keep a more appropriate distance."
Everything in Pei Ying cried out in refusal. Light streamed through the window at the stairwell corner, but with his back to it, his face looked even gloomier.
"No."
He spoke through gritted teeth.
Pei Ying raised a hand and gripped Xin Hexue's chin, tilting it up. He stared intently at that touch of pale rose pink, the cruel impulses in his heart ceaselessly stirring.
He wanted to kiss Xin Hexue.
"Is it just because of my brother?" Pei Ying asked coldly. "I thought... you were nice to me because—"
You must have some feelings for me too.
He closed his eyes and impulsively pressed a kiss to the young man's lips.
The young Alpha was too reckless. It could hardly be called a kiss at all; their teeth knocked together as though in retaliation.
Xin Hexue frowned in pain.
Smack.
The sound echoed through the empty stairwell.
Pei Ying froze. His left cheek had been knocked aside into the evening light, where a red handprint stood out starkly.
He could still taste traces of blood in his mouth.
Pei Ying looked coldly back at Xin Hexue, only to be stopped in his tracks by the red at the corners of the young man's eyes, brought on by anger.
Xin Hexue's chest rose and fell, and he coughed weakly a few times.
After a long while, he steadied his breathing. "You went too far."
Xin Hexue brushed past Pei Ying's shoulder and headed downstairs without looking back.
The Alpha was left standing there alone, stunned.
[Pei Ying Affection Points -1]
[Pei Ying Affection Points +1]
[Pei Ying Affection Points -1]
[Pei Ying Affection Points +1]
Xin Hexue walked on without a word.
K asked, [Are you angry?]
Xin Hexue smiled. [I'm not angry, gege.]
K studied his smiling kitten face and detected no anger.
But given what had just happened, a normal person would have been angry.
K tactfully phrased the question differently. [Then... have you calmed down?]
After all, his host had just slapped the target.
Xin Hexue replied, [What he would do was within my expectations.]
Rather, Xin Hexue had deliberately guided him toward it.
Even the way his lashes trembled each time had been carefully designed.
Just kidding.
Xin Hexue said, [There's no question of calming down. I hit him, but shouldn't he be the one who enjoyed it?]
Sure enough, the next second, Pei Ying seemed to have come to some realization.
[Pei Ying Affection Points +20]
Xin Hexue's eyes curved as he proved his point to K. [See? Humans are inexplicable creatures.]
What one couldn't have was always the best, and the easiest thing to pique one's interest at first.
Ever since their first meeting, Xin Hexue had cultivated the illusion before Pei Ying that he was wholly devoted to Pei Guangji.
The Pei family's second young master, neglected by his family, lacking friends, and long accustomed to exiling and suppressing himself, had first grown angry and embarrassed over his own one-sided feelings after getting the wrong idea. Only after those feelings passed would his interest and liking for Xin Hexue truly turn into serious "affection."
The rebellious younger brother's thoughts were easy to guess.
Now that Pei Ying was more or less dealt with, the thread with Pei Guangji could also be brought to a temporary close. Xin Hexue calculated when the aircraft accident in the script would occur.
K noticed his host's steps slowing.
He even stopped in front of a stray dog in a corner of the campus and played with it.
K asked, [What's wrong?]
Xin Hexue stroked the enthusiastic puppy's head. [I'm waiting for Pei Ying to come apologize to me.]
Chapter 10: Face Blindness (10)
Someone at the school was probably responsible for feeding the stray dog in front of him.
They had even built it a little shelter.
It wasn't entirely a stray, but it didn't exactly have an owner either.
Xin Hexue cupped the little yellow dog's muzzle. The fur under its jaw and around its neck was a little longer and felt soft to the touch.
It lacked a collar and a dog tag.
Something wet rubbed against his palm.
Xin Hexue pressed his lips together and paused for two seconds. In the end, unable to stand it, he took out a tissue and wiped his hand.
After that, however, he took a photo with his communicator. "Look at the camera."
After making sure the photo showed the little yellow dog's features, Xin Hexue released its muzzle and patted its head. "Such a good dog."
The little yellow dog seemed to understand that he didn't like being licked and instead kept rubbing its furry head against him.
Xin Hexue pressed send. The contact name at the top of the chat was Pei Guangji.
[Can I keep it?]
The little yellow dog was a bit too affectionate and clingy. Xin Hexue stroked its head absentmindedly as he gazed at the dense bushes in the distance.