Confrontation

Seeing him stare at him in a daze, the agitation and disgust in Shen Si's eyes nearly took solid form.

"Don't want your eyes anymore?" Shen Si's voice was icy.

Cen Xia came back to his senses. "Sorry."

Staring at someone like that was indeed rather rude.

Shen Si suddenly bent down and leaned in close, his voice bearing down on him in a gloomy tone. "Do you know what happens to people who offend me?"

A chill flickered in his eyes as he spoke slowly. "Didn't Shi Su tell you how he made it through his first month at school?"

Of course Shi Su hadn't, but Cen Xia had read about it in the book.

Four words would probably sum it up: darkness without a day's light.

It was hard to glimpse even a corner of real suffering through a few short passages. To readers, it was only a few chapters, but for the person living through it, those were countless real days and nights.

Seeing him fall silent, Shen Si went on. "You and Shi Su are close, aren't you? Otherwise, why did you stand up for him yesterday?"

"How about this? Why don't you take Shi Su's place and please me?" His gentle tone was laced with malice sharp enough to draw blood and seal a throat.

"Shouldn't good friends share their blessings and shoulder their troubles together?"

He placed heavy emphasis on "troubles." The corners of his eyes and brows curved in a smile, but there wasn't a trace of one in his eyes.

"You know Zhou Zanli, don't you? He used to be Shi Su's best friend, but he isn't anymore." Shen Si spoke unhurriedly. "Do you know why? Because he offended me. The funny thing is, he blamed all the cold looks and ostracism he suffered on Shi Su instead."

"He thought everything would be fine once he joined the Student Council, but he was wrong. The Student Council was the very place that drove him mad. He couldn't take it anymore, so he came to me."

Cen Xia listened in silence.

"He told me Shi Su had made him do everything. Otherwise, how would he have dared offend me?"

"He knelt in front of me and begged me to take everything out on Shi Su instead. He said he was innocent."

When he finished, he slowly straightened and leaned against the edge of the desk, staring at him without blinking. "What about you? What do you have to say?"

"If you say the right things, I can let you off just like I let Zhou Zanli off." His voice fell softly, carrying an almost seductive note.

Outside the window, the day was sinking toward the west, and the room was beginning to darken. Cen Xia's eyelashes flickered. "Thank you for telling me all this."

The corners of Shen Si's shapely lips lifted slightly. "What's your choice?"

Even pinned to the ground, Cen Xia didn't look disheveled in the slightest. One knee rested on the floor, while his other leg bent to support him. He raised his head slightly, his taut neck forming a clean, graceful line.

As the room grew darker by degrees, Shen Si saw a smile suddenly ripple across his face. His Adam's apple bobbed gently, and he spoke three words in a low voice:

"I choose you."

Before the words had fully faded, he suddenly sprang up and broke free. Under Shen Si's astonished gaze, he lunged forward, twisted Shen Si's hands behind his back, and pressed almost his entire body against him.

There wasn't a breath of space between them.

Shen Si could even feel his warm breath clearly against his ear. Once he realized what had happened, he was at once embarrassed and furious.

"Cen Xia!"

The shout was almost torn from his throat.

He struggled with all his might, but his wrists were clamped fast, unable to move an inch. In desperation, he lifted a foot to stomp hard behind him, but Cen Xia caught his intent first. He pivoted sideways, raised his knee, and pressed down, pinning Shen Si's entire leg firmly to the floor.

Now there wasn't the slightest gap left between them.

"Don't move." Cen Xia pressed him down a little harder, threatening him.

His breath brushed the back of Shen Si's ear as he spoke, and the thin skin there instantly turned bright red.

Cen Xia looked up at the two people itching to make a move and continued his threat. "You two, don't move either!"

Rage surged in Shen Si's heart, but his thoughts remained perfectly clear. He shot the two a look. They glanced at each other, then, a moment later, abruptly turned and left together.

They slammed the door shut, stirring up specks of dust.

Cen Xia froze for a second, a little surprised that they had just left.

Shen Si seized that fleeting opening. He twisted his wrists with sudden force and wrenched them free, then spun around and drove his bent knee hard into Cen Xia, forcing him back.

Pain shot through Cen Xia, and his grip loosened. Shen Si took the opportunity to throw him to the floor.

A great cloud of dust rose from the floor, gathering in the shape of the light in the air, thick enough to nearly obscure their vision.

Cen Xia crashed heavily to the floor. Before he had time to feel the pain, he immediately grabbed Shen Si's ankle and yanked hard. Shen Si lost his balance and staggered forward.

With a thud, dust flew everywhere.

Cen Xia cried out in pain. He'd tried to steal a chicken only to lose the rice used to lure it: most of Shen Si's body landed squarely on top of him, making stars burst before his eyes.

Shen Si wasn't much better off. His right elbow and knee had hit the floor, and the pain kept him from getting up for quite a while. His brows were tightly furrowed, his eyes full of pain.

As the dust settled, the position the two were in was excessively suggestive.

Cen Xia lay on his back with his legs slightly apart. One of Shen Si's legs was wedged between them, and Cen Xia's head was buried against his shoulder. Their skin was almost touching.

If someone walked in on them, no one who saw them would believe they were fighting.

Cen Xia took two hard, pained breaths, and Shen Si's scent immediately filled his nose.

It wasn't perfume, but a faint scent from his clothes.

The two stayed in that position and rested for a while.

Cen Xia pushed at the person lying motionless on top of him and turned his face aside so his mouth wouldn't be right against Shen Si's shoulder when he spoke. "Move a little. My tailbone's a bit numb."

The person on top of him didn't move.

"...Are you trying to crush me to death?"

Shen Si's voice came from above his head. "All the better if I do."

Shen Si's chin was resting against the top of his head, and as soon as he spoke, his jaw brushed lightly over Cen Xia's hair.

It tickled a little.

"Does it hurt too much for you to get up?"

"I'm trying to crush you to death." Shen Si snorted coldly.

The top of Cen Xia's head started tickling again, and he shook his head, unable to stand it.

"Tsk, can you stop moving?"

"Stop talking over my head. It tickles."

Shen Si doubled down. "I'll talk if I want."

"I'm telling you, once we get out that door, you're dead meat..."

Cen Xia was annoyed to death by him. For a moment, he even forgot that his hands could still move, and opened his mouth and bit down hard on Shen Si's shoulder.

"Hiss-"

Cen Xia got a mouthful of the taste of his clothes.

"Are you a dog?!" Shen Si cursed angrily.

"I told you to shut up ages ago. Say one more word and I'll bite you again!"

Shen Si's chest heaved violently. After holding himself back several times, he finally pressed his lips tight and said no more.

He closed his eyes and thought, Once I get out, I'll make Cen Xia regret what he did today.

Dead silence fell around them.

Cen Xia could feel the person on top of him go rigid, his chest rising and falling more rapidly. When Cen Xia had just bitten his shoulder hard, there had been more bluster than substance in the other man's angry tone. Even his body, pressing down on Cen Xia, had been trembling slightly beyond his control.

A flicker of understanding crossed Cen Xia's mind.

He really was hurt pretty badly.

How come I barely got hurt when I was the one underneath him, but Shen Si, who landed on top, was hurt so badly he couldn't move for a while?

Wasn't he pretty energetic when we were fighting?