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He Xuan knew the siblings didn’t have a choice. Perhaps he might have been slightly sympathetic, under different circumastances.
But he didn’t care. Not when those who paid the price was his innocent family.
Revenge couldn’t bring them back, but it was all worth it to him. He avenged them, and Shi Wudu repaid the blood debt he owed.
Unfortunately, the guy was still alive — though only hanging on by a thread — and He Xuan figured he could settle with this outcome. ‘Content’ wasn’t exactly the word, but this’ll do.
“I hope you aren't planning on jumping.”
He Xuan whipped around from his place by the rooftop railing. He spotted a guy leaning against the wall, the top half of his figure bathed in the orange of the evening sun. How long had he been standing there?
The guy donned the same uniform as him, except more proper with all the buttons buttoned and his tie straightened. His long hair was tied up in a half bun, not a strand sticking out of place. He looked every bit the model student.
“I wasn't,” He Xuan replied.
“Then, reminiscing the old times?” the stranger tried.
He Xuan turned back around, gazing out at the campus.
“Look, look, Ming-xiong! Everything looks so small from here, don't you just feel like you're at the top of the world? Nothing can stop me, mwahahaha!”
He Xuan would never admit he was still thinking of that fool, so he settled on the next best answer. “I just hate everyone. Don't project your issues onto me.”
He thought he heard a chuckle, followed by footsteps strolling towards him. The guy came to a stop right beside him, and placed his hands on the railing. He Xuan was then made aware that the guy was taller than him, which not many people were, so he was probably a senior.
“Don't worry, projecting my issues onto others — I've already done enough of that to last several lifetimes.”
They stood side-by-side, watching the world submerged in sunset before them. A silence that was not awkward, almost comfortable.
“Oh, I’m Jun Wu by the way. Nice to meet you.”
He Xuan didn’t miss a beat in answering, “I figured. Your reputation preceds you, y’know? Student Council President.”
Jun Wu chuckled. “I won’t be for long, considering all the offences on my list. Wanna compare whose is longer, He Xuan?”
He Xuan side-eyed Jun Wu. “So you already knew. Nothing goes past you, huh.” He breathed a sigh, turning back towards the outside scenery. He decided he could entertain the former president’s whims for a bit. “I don’t have the details on what crimes you committed, but you have a restraining order and I don’t. I think that speaks enough.”
“Yet. Isn’t Shi Wudu still in a coma?”
He Xuan gritted his teeth. “Unfortunately.”
Jun Wu hummed. “We’re not that different, you and I.”
He Xuan always disliked it when people pretended to know him well. Assuming they knew the real him when everything was a superficial facade.
But with Jun Wu… It felt like the other really could begin to understand him. Both doing whatever it took to see their plans to the end, both hated by the world, both with no one left who cared for their dastardly existences.
“I suppose.”
And now that he wasn’t under a fake name anymore, the new companionship he formed with this stranger he just met seemed a little bit more genuine.
He Xuan noticed the smile fade from Jun Wu’s face as a wave of melancholy seemed to wash over him. Though his gaze was locked onto a nearby tree, his eyes were focused on something distant, far away.
“Would the world be a better place without you?”
Jun Wu blinked out of his trance, whipping his head over to look at He Xuan. The boy was still staring straight ahead, nonchalant despite asking a question that seemed to come of nowhere. Caught off-guard and not sure where the other was going with this, he answered after a pause, “…That's one way to put it, yes.”
“Then that's all the more reason to keep living.”
After a second spent processing his words, Jun Wu laughed. The tension in his shoulders eased. For once, there was someone who didn't judge him for being the worst scum on earth. And he didn't judge He Xuan, either.
“You’re quite funny.”
“Thanks. It’s one of the traits that make me so desirable.”
Jun Wu contemplated in silence for a while.
“Say, you need help with your lawsuit? Not that my parents would be proud of me today, but they did leave behind a large inheritance. I could help you out.”
He Xuan locked eyes with Jun Wu, pupils blown wide in disbelief. “…Are you serious?”
“Don’t tell me you would rather rot away in a cell?”
The younger boy cleared his throat and looked away. “Well, I don’t have the means to ever repay—”
“Not even a kiss?”
He Xuan found Jun Wu’s face a mere few centimetres away from his own, and the words died in his mouth.
Jun Wu never got to hear the other’s answer, because their lips soon crashed against each other, closing the distance between the two. They were leaning dangerously close against the railing, but neither gave a care for it as they lost themselves in each other.
Both had made decisions they regretted in the past, and yet this was not one of them.
…
Jun Wu stared at the fishes behind the large aquarium glass, a tranquil smile adorning his face. Watching the creatures swim about without a care in the world, he was starting to see the appeal.
“Long time no see, Jun Wu.”
The man was surprised to hear a familiar voice he had not heard in a decade. He turned around, eyes falling on a wheelchair-bound Shi Wudu.
Though they weren’t close in high school, Shi Wudu was a competent enough treasurer of the student council for Jun Wu to appreciate his presence. Still, despite parting on good terms, he had to control himself to not laugh when he thought about how He Xuan was the one to do all that to the all-mighty Shi Wudu. He knew enough of the incident to know that the man would be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Jun Wu spotted another familiar figure from the corner of his eye — Shi Qingxuan. “Ge, Ge! Where are you running off to on this fated day?!” He spotted his brother’s wheelchair very quickly and made a beeline towards him.
“Stop running around like a kid,” Shi Wudu chastised. “And your birthday is no fated day at all, trust me.”
“Oh? It’s your birthday today, Shi Qingxuan?” Jun Wu turned to the birthday boy. How interesting that He Xuan had the same birthday too. “You have my well wishes.”
It appeared Shi Qingxuan had only just noticed Jun Wu’s presence when he spoke. “A-Ah, Jun Wu! Thanks, I guess…?” He shifted his weight from one feet to the other, as if nervous around him.
Jun Wu then rememberd Shi Qingxuan and Xie Lian were good friends. Even if many years had passed, surely he still remembered the things Jun Wu had done.
He sighed, “Xie Lian isn’t here, is he?”
Shi Qingxuan giggled nervously. “Uhh he might be… What a small world we live in! Hahahaa—” He was cut off by his elder brother elbowing him in the side. “Anyways, what are you doing here all by yourself?”
“I came here to visit the aquarium with my husband, he’s in the toilet now so I’m holding onto his Blahaj for him.” Jun Wu grinned as he showed off the huge shark plushie in his arms.
Shi Wudu raised an eyebrow. Was this really the same guy who deeply traumatised Xie Lian and had a restraining order filed against him?
The younger brother had different priorities, meanwhile. “Wow, you’re married?!” He looked excited, but his voice carried a tinge of concern — as if thinking what sane person would marry Jun Wu.
“Sorry I kept you waiting.”
Jun Wu turned around to see He Xuan walking towards him and his expression lit up. “A-Xuan, there you are.” He couldn’t help but tease, “I almost thought you had run off and left me here.”
“I would never do that.”
As He Xuan approached, he saw the people behind Jun Wu and froze in his tracks.
Shi Qingxuan met his eyes, and was similarly rooted to the ground. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at seeing his ex-best friend and also the same guy who ruined his brother’s life.
“Ming-xiong—”
“YOU CRAZY FUCKING BASTARD!”
Shi Wudu would’ve fallen off his wheelchair in rage were it not for his brother scrambling to hold him down. Face red with anger and gripping his wheelchair so hard his knuckles turned white, he glared daggers at He Xuan.
Who only stared back unflinchingly. “Hello to you too. Shi Wudu,” he greeted in a cold tone.
Jun Wu sent a quick prayer to whatever god was up there, then stuffed the Blahaj into He Xuan’s left hand and intertwined fingers with his right’s. “Let’s go somewhere else, A-Xuan. The fishes here aren’t very interesting,” he whispered in a soft tone.
Jun Wu’s hand was so big and He Xuan’s so skinny that they didn’t fit exactly, but no one else would hold these blood-stained hands except each other.
He Xuan looked at his spouse, his cold demeanor and harshness all melting away in an instant. “Okay. Whatever you say.”
Ironic, because it was He Xuan’s birthday and he should be the one making the decisions. Then again, Jun Wu also didn’t want to ruin this special day with such trivial inconveniences, so that waas a bigger priority at the moment.
“Don’t you fucking run away!”
“Ge, calm down, please!”
“Why are you still protecting that psycopath?!”
“What’s all this shouting?” a new voice that didn’t belong to any of the Shi’s chimed in.
A voice that Jun Wu recognized all too well. He stopped dead in his tracks and turned around slowly.
Standing before him was the one guy he wanted to see the least right now — Xie Lian. They met each other’s gaze and neither moved for a while.
It was eerily silent except for the noisy rattling of Shi Wudu’s wheelchair and the siblings’ gradually escalating argument in the background.
Jun Wu swallowed as he put on a strained smile. “Xie Lian. I’m glad to see you’re doing well—”
“Don’t utter his name with your filthy mouth.”
A hand was gripping his arm in a death grip. Hua Cheng was a few centimetres shorter standing in front of him, but an intimidating aura rolled off him like waves.
Just as quickly, another hand grasped tightly onto Hua Cheng’s arm holding Jun Wu’s. “Out of respect for our past friendship, I’ll kindly ask you to keep your hands to yourself, Hua Cheng.”
Hua Cheng glared at He Xuan. He said friendship, but it wasn’t anything deep or personal at all. A purely transactional alliance that had long expired.
He Xuan continued, “I give zero fucks about what Jun Wu did or didn’t do ten years ago, but I’m not getting widowed at the age of 27.”
“Widowed…?”
The shock on the normally unfazed Hua Cheng’s face was enough to make He Xuan almost crack a grin. He took the opportunity to release the other’s grip on Jun Wu and spun on his heels, tugging his spouse away.
“…Was the widow joke really necessary?”
He Xuan looked back with a smirk. “Being funny is one of the traits that make me so desirable, isn’t it?”
Fingers intertwined the entire time, their matching rings glinted under the light.