The high school campus was alive with vibrant colors and joyful music for the annual autumn festival.
Stalls filled with games, food, and student exhibitions lined the courtyard, and the ambient chatter of teachers and students created a shield of loud, distracting noises.
Jow walked through the bustling crowd with a quiet, delicate grace.
He wasn’t representing any booth; he was just an ordinary, humble student trying his best to fade into the background.
His breathtaking, innocent face looked remarkably radiant under the morning sun, though a subtle trace of fatigue still lingered in his soft eyes.
He held his notebook tightly against his chest, politely bowing his head whenever a classmate passed by, simply wanting to enjoy a rare moment of peace amidst the grand celebration.Jow walked toward the isolated path near the old school building, wanting to escape the overwhelming noise of the main courtyard for a few minutes.
He stood beneath the shadow of a large oak tree, taking a deep, stabilizing breath.
He felt a transient sense of happiness, believing that today, under the watchful eyes of so many guests and teachers, he was finally safe from his tormentor.
However, his fragile peace was nothing more than an illusion.
Before Jow could even turn around, three tall figures stepped out from the dense bushes, completely blocking his path.
It was Ray and two of Teng’s most loyal followers.
Their faces were grim, carrying a cold, systematic ruthlessness that made Jow’s heart instantly drop into his stomach.”Well, look who decided to wander off alone,” Ray sneered, his voice dropping into a low, threatening tone.
Jow’s large, beautiful eyes widened with absolute terror, his body instantly beginning to tremble as he took a step back, his spine hitting the rough bark of the tree.
“Please…
let me go,” Jow whispered, his soft-spoken voice shaking violently as he looked around, realizing the festive music from the main courtyard was too loud for anyone to hear his cries.
Before he could utter another word, Ray lunged forward, his heavy hand forcefully clamping down over Jow’s mouth.
Jow’s muffled scream was swallowed by the loud cheers of the festival outside as they roughly dragged his fragile frame into the darkness of the old, abandoned storage room.They threw Jow onto the cold, dusty concrete floor of the dimly lit room.
The heavy wooden door slammed shut, and the sound of the metal lock turning echoed like a death sentence.
Jow scrambled backward until his back hit a rusty iron shelf, tears of absolute helplessness instantly cascading down his pale cheeks.
He held his bruised arms, coughing softly from the thick dust in the air.
A moment later, the sound of heavy leather boots resonated through the room.
Out from the shadows stepped Teng, his hands carelessly tucked inside his trousers pockets.
His handsome features were cold, his dark eyes locked onto Jow’s trembling form with a terrifying, unyielding intensity.
Behind him, Ray and another boy stood holding a heavy plastic bucket filled with dirty, stagnant ditch water.”Did you really think you could just walk around and hide from me, Jow?” Teng murmured, his voice low and dangerously calm as he stepped closer, looking down at the beautiful boy on the floor.
Jow looked up, his extraordinary innocence and soft tears making him look entirely vulnerable.
“Teng…
please, I haven’t done anything to you.
Why are you doing this?” Jow choked out, his voice a broken whisper as he clasped his hands together, silently begging for mercy from a monster who possessed none.
Teng’s eyes flared with a toxic mixture of satisfaction and irritation.
Seeing Jow look so remarkably beautiful even while crying on a dirty floor triggered something dark within his immense ego.
He didn’t want to show mercy; he wanted to completely break the defiance in those pure eyes.Teng casually raised his hand and signaled the boys behind him.
Before Jow could even comprehend what was happening, Ray stepped forward and lifted the heavy bucket.
With a cold, brutal movement, he splashed the entire bucket of filthy, black ditch water directly over Jow’s head.
The ice-cold, foul-smelling liquid drenched Jow completely, soaking his pristine white shirt, flattening his soft hair against his pale face, and dripping into his burning eyes.
Jow gasped for air, a sharp cry of shock escaping his lips as the sheer humiliation of the act crushed his spirit.
The sickening smell of the stagnant water filled his senses, making him shiver violently as he sat on the wet floor, completely ruined and covered in filth.Teng let out a dry, cruel laugh, staring down at the broken boy with absolute satisfaction.
He leaned over, his shadow completely swallowing Jow’s shivering frame.
“Look at you now, Jow,” Teng sneered, his dark eyes fixed onto Jow’s tear-stained, ruined face.
“Where is your dignity now?
This is your actual place—down here, covered in filth, crying at my feet.
Remember this smell every time you think about defying me.” Teng didn’t waste another second.
He turned on his heel and walked out of the room with his gang, the heavy steel door slamming shut once again.
Jow remained on the cold, wet floor, the foul water dripping from his clothes as he pulled his knees to his chest and sobbed uncontrollably in the dark, his soft spirit completely shattered by the brutal humiliation.The distant, muted sounds of the school festival’s upbeat music filtered through the cracked concrete walls, serving as a cruel mockery of Jow’s current reality.
He stayed curled on the wet floor for what felt like hours, his teeth chattering uncontrollably from the freezing cold of the ditch water.
The foul stench of the filth clung tightly to his soft hair and ruined uniform, making him feel physically sick.
With agonizing slowness, Jow forced his trembling body to stand up, his weak hands gripping the rusty shelf for support.
Every muscle in his fragile frame screamed in protest, but the thought of his grandmother waiting at home gave him a small spark of strength.
He used a relatively dry corner of his oversized jacket to wipe his burning eyes and the dark water dripping from his face, trying his best to regain a fraction of his composure.When he finally managed to push the heavy steel door open, the hallway was completely deserted.
The festival was starting to wind down, and the sun was setting, casting long, bloody red shadows across the empty corridors.
Jow kept his head hung low, deliberately taking the hidden back exit of the school to avoid being seen by any lingering students or teachers.
He knew that if anyone saw him in this humiliating state, it would be the end of his remaining dignity.
He unlocked his rusty bicycle with clumsy, numb fingers and began the long, exhausting ride back home.
The evening wind hit his damp clothes, making the chill penetrate straight into his bones.
His injured chin throbbed painfully, and his mind was a chaotic storm of Teng’s cruel laughter, but Jow clamped his jaw shut, refusing to let another tear fall.By the time he reached his small house, the darkness of the night had fully enveloped the neighborhood.
Jow paused at the front door, his heart hammering against his ribs as he stared at his ruined appearance in the reflection of the dark glass window.
He looked utterly broken, like a beautiful bird dragged through the mud.
He carefully pulled off his wet, foul-smelling uniform jacket and hid it in a plastic bag behind the old water tank outside.
He smoothed down his damp hair as best as he could, taking several deep breaths to clear the tremble from his voice.
He couldn’t let his frail grandmother see him like this; her weak heart could never survive the shock of knowing what her precious boy was enduring just to keep them afloat.”Grandma, I’m home,” Jow said as he pushed open the front door, forcing a soft, cheerful note into his tone.
His grandmother emerged from the kitchen, her steps slow as she leaned on her walking stick.
She squinted her old eyes, instantly noticing how damp Jow’s hair was and how pale his skin looked under the dim yellow bulb.
“Oh, my boy, why are you wet?
Did it rain outside?” she asked, her voice filled with motherly worry as she reached out to touch his face.
Jow gently caught her frail hands, offering a reassuring, beautiful smile despite the dull ache in his entire body.
“A student accidentally knocked over a water cooler during the school festival, Grandma.
I was standing nearby and got caught in the splash.
Don’t worry, I’m perfectly fine.
I’ll just go wash up and change.”Later that night, Jow sat on the edge of his small wooden bed, the silence of his room providing a temporary sanctuary.
He looked at his fresh green apron hanging on the back of the door—his ticket to his part-time night cashier job that started tomorrow.
He knew that the smell of the ditch water would eventually wash away, but the memory of Teng’s cold, dark eyes would remain forever.
Jow steeled his fragile heart for the upcoming days, knowing that this was just the beginning of a long, terrifying ordeal.
He was trapped in Teng’s forbidden maze, and every step forward was becoming more dangerous than the last.”He turned off the lights, completely unaware that inside a luxury apartment across the city, Teng was staring at a video of Jow’s wet, crying face on his phone, his thumb gently tracing the screen with a dangerously cold fixation.”