Chapter 2 – The Past ( Part 1 )

Su Yuan followed Ning Jun into his car and sat in the front passenger seat. He was as docile as a small bunny, he did not look around nor did he fidget. It was so unusual that Ning Jun was the first to react when he glanced at him and asked, “Aren’t you going to ask me where I’m taking you?”

Su Yuan meekly asked, “Where are you taking me?”

“My place.” Came Ning Jun’s crisp and prompt reply.

Su Yuan took a moment or two to digest this, and after a murmured “Oh…” he stopped talking. Both of his hands were placed on his knees and his entire posture was stiff and upright.

Looking at him now, Ning Jun felt as though some tiny animal was using a small claw on his heart, and he felt an uncontrollable itch begin to grow within him. He coughed twice as he tried to hide his sudden loss of composure, his voice was quite cold, “Aren’t you curious about what I’m going to do to you?”

Su Yuan did not repeat the question this time, instead, his long lashes dropped to cover his eyes and he quietly said, “No, you can do anything you want.”

Ning Jun’s heart shivered when he heard this, but just as the mood seemed to be getting romantic, he heard Su Yuan continue, “You can beat me or scold me, anything’s fine.”

Ning Jun’s sharp reply came, “Is this the kind of person you think I am? When have I ever scolded you or beat you?”

Su Yuan shook his head, “You never have.” He paused for a moment before bravely continuing, “But I feel like you are really angry right now.”

Ning Jun’s hooded gaze fell onto Su Yuan as he said, “I am very angry now.”

Once again, Su Yuan dropped his head and did not dare to speak up.

Su Yuan had always been somewhat of a pushover in front of Ning Jun. Even when he had forced Ning Jun to be with him, back then, the moment he saw Ning Jun he would transform into this vulnerable small animal. He did not dare to unsheathe his claws, all he could do was use his own soft and pliable body to coax and nudge at the other person.

The atmosphere inside the car was quiet, and although the two of them were quite close to each other, it was obvious that they were each lost in their own thoughts.

With his head bent toward the ground, Su Yuan looked at the car mat beneath his feet and was suddenly overwhelmed by memories of their past.

The first time he and Ning Jun met was when they were both sophomores in high school. At the time, Su Yuan’s father was in power, and he had yet to become the sort of no-good rebellious teenager. His academic performance was exceptionally good and was popular among his peers. Most teenagers would treat him with great deference and politeness, they did not dare to act out in front of him.

That day, Su Yuan had been walking to a classroom with his usual entourage of friends. As they were walking down the corridor, they suddenly heard the sounds of a fight coming in from the promenade outside the window. Even the presence of the trees and leaves did not stop them from noticing the silhouettes of people fighting each other. Filled with curiosity, Su Yuan signaled to his friends and led them all over there. The sight that entered his eyes was one of utter chaos, all the people inside seemed to be completely focused in their fight that they had no idea that some random passersby had entered. Out of nowhere, a boy appeared heading straight for Su Yuan’s head with a nunchaku in his hands. Instantly, Su Yuan’s eyes widened in alarm, but he instinctively knew he would not be able to dodge this and thought to himself, this was probably not going to end well.

To his surprise, in the nick of time, a youth managed to save him from danger’s side, and with a strong pull of his collar, Su Yuan stumbled sideways toward the youth. His sudden action caused Su Yuan to fall straight into his arms as they both heard the heavy thud of the nunchaku as it came into contact with the youth’s back. In his embrace, Su Yuan lifted up his head and coincidentally, the youth had been gazing downward at him, and thus their two eyes met.

They were surrounded by thick green foliage and the sound of chaos, but at that very second, Su Yuan felt the whole world go silent, and all he could hear was the thundering beating of his heart.

He ignored the people behind him who were trying to comfort him, and using the youth’s hands to steady himself, he regained his footing. He reached out to grab the guy’s sleeve and asked, “You’re okay, right?”

The guy merely rolled his shoulders and said, “It’s nothing.”

Su Yuan’s eyes were locked onto him as he continued, “Thank you for blocking that for me—what’s your name?”

The boy seemed to notice how his behavior seemed a little odd, and giving him the once-over, he calmly replied, “I’m Ning Jun.”

Again, Su Yuan pressed him, “Then… Can I treat you to a meal?”

Ning Jun’s brow furrowed, and he tried to pull his sleeve back from the other person, but could not, “No need. Can you let go of my clothes?”

Su Yuan forcefully gripped Ning Jun’s sleeve, and with a doe-eyed look, he sent countless unspoken signals to Ning Jun. Still, he continued to ask, “I only want to treat you to a meal, can we become friends?”

Ning Jun kept a cool face and did not reply to this. Instead, he abruptly pulled down the zipper of his jacket and turned away, leaving his jacket in Su Yuan’s arms.

swoon

Su Yuan was stunned as he remained rooted to the spot and stared blankly as he walked further away.

By now, everyone else was exchanging looks with each other, and the boy who had nearly beaten Su Yuan with the nunchaku had rushed over. He gave him a deep bow before saying, “Sor…Sorry, I did not mean to hit you.”

Su Yuan absentmindedly waved away his apology saying, “It’s nothing, you didn’t hurt me.”

He looked at the people around him and asked, “Do any of you know which class Ning Jun is in?”

And from this day forth, the entire school instantly knew just how smitten the famous Young Sir Su was with Ning Jun, as well as how he had fallen for him at first sight.

The moment the time for recess came, Su Yuan came looking for Ning Jun with some extra things.

“Ning Jun, do you drink milk tea?”

“Ning Jun, do you like biscuits?”

“Ning Jun, do you want to go play basketball?”

“Ning Jun, what are you having for lunch today? Shall we eat together?”

“Ning Jun, do you have anything planned after school? Want to follow me somewhere fun?”

……

And every time, Ning Jun’s reply would be cold and distant.

“No, I don’t drink that”, “No, I don’t eat that”, “No, there’s no need”, “No, I don’t want to go”

That year, the one word that Su Yuan constantly heard from Ning Jun was ‘No’.

However, even in the face of such cold reactions, Su Yuan was not in the least discouraged by it. In fact, every single day, without fail, he would go and ‘report’ to Ning Jun in his class. Even the teacher who bore witness to this had nothing to say about him. The same could not be said for the students though, they would regularly gossip about them in private.

There was this one time where Su Yuan had convinced someone else to lie to Ning Jun and he asked to meet at the sports field behind their school. The minute Ning Jun arrived, he realized that Su Yuan was the one behind it and promptly turned to walk away. Then, Su Yuan had reached out to grab him and sweetly he tried to say, “Don’t be so hasty… Can’t you wait a moment?”

Ning Jun’s brow furrowed and his chilly reply was, “If you have time to do things like this, why don’t you spend it on studying?”

The moment he finished speaking, a sudden ‘bang’ exploded above their heads and fireworks filled the sky. Soon, a second one appeared, and a third one and the world seemed filled with the sound of fireworks being let off.

With the firework-filled sky as his backdrop, Su Yuan tugged at Ning Jun’s wrist. Armed with a dimpled smile and eyes so clear one could see the reflection of Ning Jun and the fireworks in them, he said, “I can study well, but I also want for you to just be together with me…”

Ning Jun was stunned, and he did not speak again about leaving. In the end, he really did spend an entire hour with Su Yuan, both of them quietly watching those fireworks.

After that day, Ning Jun’s attitude toward Su Yuan seemed to change. Much to the delight of Su Yuan, who instantly began to make use of Ning Jun’s wavering feelings, as he invited him to go horseback riding.

The trainer headed over to them to help, but Su Yuan waved him away and hopping eagerly after Ning Jun he babbled, “Ning Jun, Ning Jun, do you know how to ride a horse? I can teach you ah~”

With swift and nimble moves, Ning Jun expertly seated himself atop the horse, his actions speaking for him as he looked down at Su Yuan expectantly.

Su Yuan broke into a sneaky smile which brought out his dimples as he continued, “Wow, you’re so good at this?! Then can you teach me….”

Before Ning Jun could object, in a flash he was on the horse. Sitting behind Ning Jun with his arms wrapped around the other’s waist, he explained, “Aiyo~ I’m stuck to the horse’s back now, I can’t get off.”

Ning Jun’s entire body seemed to freeze instantly, but he did not push him off. Instead, he actually put up with him and let him hug him the entire time while they rode around the track a couple of times.

Later, Ning Jun needed to go to the toilet and Su Yuan was quite bored as he was sitting on the horse by himself when he suddenly heard someone call out his name.

“Su Yuan!”

oh no, who is it now?

Su Yuan glanced back and soon smiled.

“Little Jin? Are you here to have fun too?

Su Jin was Su Yuan’s young cousin sister on his maternal uncle’s side. She was 2 years younger than Su Yuan, and she looked vibrantly alluring. She seldom called Su Yuan “Elder brother”, and would usually call him directly by his name. From a very young age, Su Yuan had played with this cousin sister and he was exceptionally doting toward this mischievous girl and usually just went along with whatever she wanted to make her happy.

“Pom, pom, pom” Su Jin plodded over, and demanded, “Quick, take me around a few times!”

Upon seeing this, Su Yuan made a move to get off the horse saying, “In that case, let me go get you a smaller horse.”

Su Jin had not yet finished learning how to ride a horse, and hearing this she immediately shook her head, tugging at his clothes, she pleaded with Su Yuan, “I don’t want to, I don’t want to, can’t you just bring me around a few times so I can take a few selfies?”

This brought a laugh out of Su Yuan, “So you’re here for selfies…”

With a hapless but gentlemanly sweep of his hand and an adoring smile, he said, “Your wish is my command, my little princess.”

Su Jin held onto Su Yuan’s hand and was soon lifted up onto the horse. She sat in his embrace, with his arms loosely around her which gave her just enough space to take some selfies.

Suddenly, Su Jin grabbed onto his arm and said, “Su Yuan come closer to me, I want you to be in the shot.”

Su Yuan, “Alright, alright, alright, I will follow your every command, my little princess.”

Together with Su Yuan, Su Jin finished two rounds of the paddock and had more than enough pictures. She picked a few of the ones she liked and sent them out. Only then did she give Su Yuan’s arm a pat of satisfaction, “Alright, let me down, I’m supposed to have lunch with someone.”

First, Su Yuan got off the horse, only then did he half-carry, half-drag Su Jin down, “Let me send you off.”

Su Jin happily murmured “Mmm”, but a glance behind him surprised her and she asked, “Did you bring that person here with you?”

Su Yuan looked behind and noticed that Ning Jun was there. He must have returned not too long ago, but as he stood there watching the two of them, his face was impassive.

Su Yuan knew that Ning Jun had a cooler personality, plus he had yet to ‘acquire’ his heart so he gave a vague answer to Su Jin, “Mmm, he’s my classmate, I brought him here to have some fun today.”

Su Jin saw just how handsome Ning Jun was, and with a knowing laugh at Su Yuan, she complained, “Good on you Su Yuan, you actually went behind my back and got to know such a handsome guy, you better watch out! Next time I’ll tell my mum.”

Su Yuan’s aunt was quite the gossip and hearing this made him shiver in fear as he quickly tried to placate Su Jin, “Oh, my Princess, have mercy on me. I am this close to making him mine. Can’t you wait till he’s mine—then I’ll treat you to a meal okay?”

It was only after this promise that Su Jin let him off.

However, the moment Su Yuan said this, he was soon proven wrong. From that day onward, Ning Jun visibly cooled down toward him.

No matter how much patience Su Yuan had, he was still merely a 17-year-old youth. He had been chasing after Ning Jun for a year and just when it seemed like they would be together, suddenly everything seemed to go back to square one, and soon this had Su Yuan anxious and agitated.

By then, they had already entered senior year and some of Su Yuan’s friends had begun to try to talk him out of it. Some other friends, however, tried to convince him to just use some force, and Su Yuan was torn between trying to decide what to do.

However, soon, he got to know that something had happened to Ning Jun’s family. Perhaps it was because his reason was clouded then, or he had been tempted by the devil, maybe it was purely his baser instincts that made him such a shameful person, but he made the decision of asking Ning Jun to meet outside.

Su Yuan angled his chin upward, and for the first time, he let Ning Jun see his proud and forceful aura as he said, “I’ll help you solve your family’s problems, but in exchange, you have to be together with me.”

Ning Jun was seated opposite him, and he narrowed his eyes with an imperceptible expression, “Is this how you court someone?”

Su Yuan was completely clueless about the problem in this question, it was, after all, his first time abusing his power to take advantage of people and this made him feel quite self-conscious. Still, he continued to put on the act of fearlessness as he said, “If you don’t agree, then your family’s problem will worsen.”

Ning Jun noticed that he seemed to silently acknowledge his previous question, and his expression grew darker as he asked, “Were you pretending all along before?”

Su Yuan instinctively wanted to deny that, but he felt that he needed to steady the atmosphere, so he avoided the question, opting instead to ask, “So do you agree or disagree?”

Ning Jun’s eyes bore into him, and gritting his teeth he answered, “As you wish.”