The morning sun filtered through the tall classroom windows, casting a warm, golden glow directly over Jow as he walked into the room.
He looked incredibly fragile; dark circles hung heavily beneath his eyes from the sleepless night, yet his breathtaking, ethereal beauty seemed to shine even brighter in the dawn light.
He was an exceptionally handsome, soft-spoken boy, and his pure, innocent aura made several classmates turn their heads to look at him in awe.
On his desk, he carefully placed the diary, completely rewritten from scratch.Mr.
Steven marched into the classroom, his expression as stern as ever.
“Jow, bring your homework to my desk immediately.
If it’s not completed, you will be facing the Principal.” Jow stood up, his heart fluttering with nervousness, and walked down the aisle with gentle, polite steps.
He placed the notebook before the teacher and lowered his head, nervously twisting his fingers.
Mr.
Steven adjusted his thick glasses and began flipping through the pages.
The complex chemical equations, perfectly drawn diagrams, and neat notes were so flawless that the teacher’s hard facial lines gradually softened.”Exceptional!” Mr.
Steven announced loudly, turning the notebook toward the entire class.
“Look at this, everyone.
The dedication and intellect Jow has shown in just one single night is highly commendable.
Jow, I am giving you full marks for this assignment.
Outstanding work.” Hearing the high praise, a soft, beautiful blush crept onto Jow’s cheeks.
He felt a deep sense of happiness swelling in his chest, making all his sleepless hours and the struggle under the melting candle entirely worth it.
He softly thanked the teacher and made his way back to his seat, his eyes shining with pure joy.As Jow walked back, his timid gaze briefly crossed paths with Teng, who sat at the very last bench.
The cruel, arrogant smirk that usually sat on Teng’s face had completely vanished.
Instead, Teng’s eyes were dark, dangerous, and filled with a volatile mixture of rage and jealousy.
He was staring intensely at Jow, gripping his expensive fountain pen so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
Teng had expected to see Jow humiliated and crying in the Principal’s office today, but watching this beautiful, fragile boy succeed and gain everyone’s admiration dealt a massive blow to Teng’s gigantic ego.During the lunch break, Jow quietly sat in a secluded corner of the vast school cafeteria.
The sheer exhaustion from the night before had left him starving, so he kept his head down, politely eating a simple bowl of rice and soup.
He was just glad to have a moment of peace, away from the intense stares of his classmates.
But the silence didn’t last long.
A sudden, heavy hush fell over the cafeteria, and the ambient chatter stopped completely.
Jow froze, his spoon hovering near his lips, as a shadow loomed over his table.Teng stood there, flanked by his usual group of followers.
He leaned against the table, staring down at Jow with an intimidating intensity.
“Enjoying your little victory, transfer student?” Teng murmured, his voice dripping with venomous mockery.
“You think because Mr.
Steven praised you, you’re safe from me?
Your innocent, smiling face is genuinely irritating.” Teng casually signaled one of his friends, who stepped forward and roughly swiped his hand across the table, knocking Jow’s glass of juice right onto his lap.
The bright red liquid splashed all over Jow’s pristine white uniform shirt, ruining it completely.The entire cafeteria watched, expecting a scene, but Jow did no such thing.
Tears of humiliation instantly welled up in his large, beautiful eyes, blurring his vision.
His lips trembled, but instead of fighting back or shouting, he quietly lowered his head.
With shaking hands, he pulled out some tissue papers and began to gently wipe the spilled liquid from the table, his shoulders shivering from the silent emotional pain.
Seeing Jow so helpless and broken, Teng’s friends laughed out loud.
Yet, looking at Jow’s tear-stained, extraordinarily beautiful face, a strange, suffocating knot tied up inside Teng’s own chest, though he quickly masked it with a cold glare.”Clean it up properly,” Teng spat coldly, turning around to walk away with his gang.
Jow remained there, quietly finishing his cleaning, refusing to let them see him sob out loud.
He kept his dignity through his silence.
However, Teng’s pride was far from satisfied.
Later that afternoon, after the final bell rang and the school campus emptied out, Jow walked down the isolated corridor leading toward the old chemistry laboratory, trying to head home.
Suddenly, two boys gripped his arms from behind, dragging his fragile body into the dim, vacant laboratory, slamming the heavy wooden door shut and locking it from the inside.Jow stumbled into the darkness of the lab, his heart racing with absolute terror.
Standing by the window, half-draped in shadows, was Teng.
In his hand, he casually swirled a glass test tube containing a smoking, volatile blue chemical substance.
“I told you, Jow, your life here will become a living hell,” Teng said, his voice echoing eerily in the empty room.
He walked over and forcefully grabbed Jow’s chin, tilting his extraordinarily beautiful face upward.
Jow gasped, his body trembling violently, tears cascading down his pale cheeks as the stinging, sharp smell of the chemical filled his nose.”This beautiful face and these defiant eyes are what make you so stubborn, aren’t they?” Teng whispered, bringing the toxic test tube dangerously close to Jow’s eyes.
“What if I drop a single splash of this acid right here?
You’ll be ruined forever.” Jow closed his eyes tightly, crying softly, completely powerless against Teng’s physical strength.
He choked out through his sobs, “Please…
just let me go.
I haven’t done anything to you.” Seeing Jow’s utterly pure, soft tears and his breathless innocence, Teng froze.
The raw vulnerability of the beautiful boy hit something deep within Teng’s dark soul.
In a fit of unexplained frustration, Teng suddenly smashed the test tube onto the floor, the blue liquid sizzling against the concrete.
He roughly pushed Jow away, letting him fall onto the ground, and walked out without another word, leaving Jow weeping quietly in the dark.The echo of the heavy wooden door slamming shut resonated through the empty laboratory, leaving Jow in absolute darkness.
He collapsed completely onto his knees, his fragile shoulders shaking violently as the tears he had tried so hard to suppress finally overflowed.
The physical pain in his bruised chin where Teng had dug his fingers was nothing compared to the absolute terror that had just gripped his heart.
Under the dim twilight filtering through the dusty windows, Jow looked at his torn sleeve and the red juice stains that ruined his pristine uniform.
He felt small, helpless, and completely cornered by a monster he didn’t know how to fight.
With trembling fingers, he picked up his dropped backpack, dust clinging to his soft hair, and slowly stood up, supporting himself against the heavy oak table.The journey back home on his rusty bicycle felt like an eternity.
The evening chill of the city began to settle in, making his small body shiver through his damp, ruined clothes.
Jow kept his head hung low, carefully pedaling through the narrow lanes, avoiding the gaze of any strangers.
His mind was a chaotic whirlwind of Teng’s dark whispers and the terrifying image of the smoking blue chemical.
By the time he reached the familiar, peeling walls of his small house, the night had fully arrived.
Jow stopped at the wooden gate, taking deep, shaky breaths, forcing himself to rub his eyes and plaster a reassuring smile onto his face.
He couldn’t let his grandmother see the broken version of him.
He couldn’t let his only family carry the weight of his torment.”Grandma, I’m home,” Jow called out softly as he pushed the creaking front door open.
His voice was laced with a forced cheerful note that almost cracked.
His elderly grandmother emerged from the dimly lit kitchen, leaning heavily on her walking stick, her face immediately wrinkling with deep concern the moment her eyes fell upon him.
She shufled over, her frail hands instantly reaching out to touch his pale, trembling arms.
“Oh, my sweet boy, what happened to you?
Look at your uniform!
And your face…
why is your chin so red?” Her voice trembled with motherly instinct, her thumbs gently brushing against the faint reddish marks left by Teng’s brutal grip.Jow quickly averted his eyes, biting his inner lip to prevent a sob from escaping.
He held her fragile, wrinkled hands and offered a soft, apologetic smile.
“It’s nothing, Grandma.
Really.
I…
I was carrying some chemistry equipment for Mr.
Steven in the lab, and I accidentally tripped over a stool.
The red juice from a student’s lunch box spilled on me, and I bumped my chin against the table.
I’m just clumsy, that’s all.” The lie tasted bitter on his tongue, but seeing the worry in his grandmother’s eyes melt slightly into a sigh of relief made the deception necessary.
“Go rest, Grandma.
I’ll wash up and eat the dinner you made.””no matter how fragile his steps might be.”