Jiang Chen was part of the brawl, so Coach Jia hadn’t let him off the hook. He had to run every single lap alongside the basketball team, not a single one short.
By the time he finished, Gu Xin hadn’t spoken a word to him. Only Wei Meng, his fiercely loyal best friend, stayed by his side the entire time to keep him company.
Jiang Chen collapsed, utterly exhausted, onto a nearby bench. The Omega students who had originally intended to come over and thank them couldn’t wait around that long and had already left.
Unable to watch him suffer any longer, Gu Xin pulled a clean towel from his bag and tossed it over. “Wipe your sweat.”
Jiang Chen leaned his weight on his hands against the edge of the bench. He tilted his head back slightly, panting heavily just to speak. “Too tired. Can’t move.”
Gu Xin had no intention of wiping it for him. He shoved the light blue towel…embroidered with his own name…straight into Jiang Chen’s face. “Do it yourself. Who told you to meddle in other people’s business anyway?”
Jiang Chen carelessly rubbed the sweat off his face, then scooched a bit closer to Gu Xin. Propping the towel under his chin, he stared up at Gu Xin’s sharp jawline.
“Am I not allowed to?”
Gu Xin locked eyes with him, inhaled deeply, but before he could say a word, Coach Jia called him back to the court.
Running ten laps was barely a warm-up for the team. They still had to undergo another half-hour of dribbling and shooting drills. Jiang Chen sat on the bench, watching Gu Xin work up a sweat on the court, his jaw tense with focus.
Jiang Chen sighed wistfully. “Ah, it’s so good to be young.”
Coach Jia happened to be standing right in front of him. He spun around and glared at him. “Student Jiang Chen, you’re a minor. Can you please not say things like that in front of a thirty-year-old teacher? If you talk like an old soul out in public, you’re going to get beaten up.”
Jiang Chen crossed his legs, looking exactly like a lazy loafer idling on the streets. “Coach, I’m only saying it in front of you. You can just pretend I’m blowing hot air.”
Coach Jia was nearly driven mad by his attitude. Jiang Chen was infinitely more rebellious than the Alpha kids he had handpicked for the basketball team. Shaking his head helplessly, the coach decided to make peace with his own sanity; getting worked up over these young brats would only make him go bald.
He threatened Jiang Chen, “You better hope you never end up under my direct supervision.”
Jiang Chen folded the towel into a neat strip and draped it over his forehead, doing a stellar impression of a frail patient. “Coach, I wouldn’t dare. You’ve already broken me today. If I run one more lap, I’ll end up in the hospital, seriously.” His hands dangled limply at his sides.
“Can’t you say something superstitious but positive for once? Who curses themselves like that?” Coach Jia was almost amused by him now. “If you had just kept pretending to be an Omega earlier, I might have let you off the hook.”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier? Can I save that privilege for next week’s PE class?” Jiang Chen’s face lit up with eagerness.
Coach Jia snapped, “In your dreams.”
Jiang Chen sighed. “Coach, you’re not keeping your word. If you keep this up, your students won’t adore you anymore.”
Coach Jia replied, “If they’re all like you, I’d rather pass. I’d like to protect my liver from failing.”
While the Alphas on the court were drenched in sweat, Jiang Chen sat comfortably on the sidelines, sipping Gu Xin’s water and shooting the breeze with Coach Jia. It was a thoroughly pleasant afternoon.
Once the basketball team wrapped up their training, the group left the school together.
Before they split up, Coach Jia didn’t forget to give them a final reminder: a one-thousand-word reflection essay was due by the weekend!
After surviving a shared brawl, the members of the newly formed freshman basketball team had grown much closer. Since it was Friday, someone suggested going out for barbecue.
The shop was recommended by Wei Meng. His family ran a restaurant business, so he knew every good eatery in the neighborhood like the back of his hand. His mother kept a tight leash on him, which was exactly why he refused to bring his classmates to his family’s place…rebellious teenage boys preferred places where they could sneak a few beers.
They ended up at a skewer shop. As a natural social butterfly, Wei Meng was great at hyping up the crowd. He chugged his beer, boisterously bragging about his glory days back at No. 19 Middle School.
“Back at No. 19, no one could out-drink me!” Wei Meng shouted. “I could take on ten guys at once, they weren’t even a match!”
Jiang Yibai goaded him, “I don’t believe you.”
Wei Meng instantly fell into the trap. “You want to bet? Bottoms up!”
Jiang Yibai, finding this highly entertaining, joined in. “Let’s do it.”
Jiang Chen didn’t care much for alcohol; he only took an occasional sip. Since he wasn’t particularly close with the rest of the team, he spent most of the time just listening to them talk.
Gu Xin didn’t care for beer either, mostly because drinking too much meant constant trips to the restroom. Instead, he spent the entire evening passing skewers to Jiang Chen, providing an impeccable level of table service.
Once everyone had had their fill, they headed home.
Wei Meng had a massive craving for alcohol but a terrible tolerance. By now, he was stumbling drunk and incredibly talkative. Jiang Chen, thoroughly exasperated, helped Gu Xin support the heavy guy as they walked him to his doorstep.
Standing at his door, Wei Meng’s cheeks were flushed bright crimson. He waved at the two of them. “Chen’er, Class Monitor… see you tomorrow!”
Jiang Chen replied half-heartedly, “Yeah, yeah, see you tomorrow.” With a firm shove, he pushed the oversized boy inside and promptly shut the door tight.
A second later, they heard the unmistakable, roaring voice of a furious mother echoing from inside.
“Wei Meng! You dared to go out drinking?!”
“Ow! Ow…”
Jiang Chen and Gu Xin exchanged a look and quickly sprinted away.
Although Gu Xin’s parents weren’t the loud type, he had basically grown up under the watchful eye of Jiang Chen’s mother. He had seen Mama Jiang yell at Jiang Chen’s older siblings, Jiang Xin and Jiang Zheng, plenty of times. The familiarity of it brought a wave of nostalgia.
When they reached the bicycle parking lot, both of them burst out laughing simultaneously.
Jiang Chen rarely brought up Wei Meng to Gu Xin, but he couldn’t help it now. “Wei Meng is definitely getting his ears pulled tonight. His mom does that every single time he drinks.”
Gu Xin looked at him. “Does that mean you used to go out drinking with him a lot?”
Jiang Chen countered, “Did you see me drink much tonight? Just a cup or two. I don’t even like it. You drank way more than me with Jiang Yibai and the others.”
Gu Xin smiled faintly. “Are you keeping score with me now?”
“You’re the one who started it,” Jiang Chen muttered. “How’s your tolerance anyway?”
“Not great. I don’t really drink,” Gu Xin admitted. He didn’t like the feeling of losing control; he preferred keeping his mind and nerves perfectly sharp.
As they passed a convenience store near their neighborhood, Gu Xin asked, “Want something to drink?”
Eating nothing but meat all night had left a greasy aftertaste, and Jiang Chen was parched. “Yeah.”
Gu Xin hopped off his bike. “Yogurt?”
“Sure.”
“Still mango flavored?”
Jiang Chen paused for a fraction of a second. “…Yeah.”
The meat tonight had been grilled a bit too dry. Jiang Chen was a picky eater, so he hadn’t eaten much at the shop.
Gu Xin went inside. When he emerged, he was holding the yogurt, but he had also bought a freshly warmed sandwich.
After entering their residential complex, they didn’t go straight home. Instead, they wound up at the neighborhood playground. Gu Xin sat on a long bench with a bottle of water, while Jiang Chen claimed a swing, balancing his yogurt in one hand and the sandwich in the other.
Gu Xin watched him eat with an appetite. “Are you coming over to my place tomorrow to practice?”
The sandwich wasn’t large, and Jiang Chen finished it in a few bites. Sucking on his yogurt straw, he nodded. “Sure. I’ll sleep in the morning and head over to your place in the afternoon.”
In truth, Gu Xin wasn’t just skilled at the violin…he was an excellent pianist as well. The only reason Jiang Chen had managed to stick with piano as a kid was because Gu Xin, after finishing his violin lessons, had signed up for piano classes just to practice alongside him. Eventually, Gu Xin excelled so much that his family bought him his own piano.
Gu Xin had held in his question all night, but he finally voiced his confusion. “Why did you step in to help those Omegas today?”
Jiang Chen swallowed his last gulp of yogurt. “Hmm?”
There was a subtle, inexplicable hint of irritation in Gu Xin’s voice. “I’m asking why you got into a fight for them. It wasn’t worth it.”
Jiang Chen finally realized they were talking about the brawl.
Honestly, he could have just looked the other way. But those three jerks had been cornering the Omegas, forcing them into a date, laying hands on them, and spitting out absolute filth…saying things like, ‘If you’re willing to let other Alphas temporarily mark you, why not us?’ Jiang Chen had a younger brother who was an Omega. If his own brother were ever cornered and harassed like that out in public, he wouldn’t just argue for a few minutes; he would kick their front teeth straight down their throats.
At the time, Jiang Chen had merely stepped up and said, “Did you guys eat straight out of a toilet bowl? I can smell the stench from all the way over here.”
A few girls nearby had burst out laughing, making the bullies lose face. Enraged, they cursed at Jiang Chen and lunged forward, grabbing him by the collar. What they hadn’t expected was that Jiang Chen…who looked like a fragile Beta…was actually a seasoned street fighter. They had kicked a steel wall.
Shortly after that, Gu Xin had spotted him being cornered by the upperclassmen Alphas and charged into the fray.
“Their mouths were too filthy,” Jiang Chen said, swinging his legs on the swing. “Why are you sounding exactly like my mom? She asks my sister the exact same nagging questions.”
Hearing the comparison, the frustration simmering in Gu Xin’s chest tightened. “Fighting gets you hurt. Next time, find another way to handle it.”
Jiang Chen’s brows furrowed instantly. “Why are you suddenly lecturing me? I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Gu Xin deeply disapproved of Jiang Chen resolving issues through violence. “Just don’t stick your neck out blindly next time. If I hadn’t been there, how were you going to fight off multiple Alphas? What if you got seriously hurt?”
“It’s not like I’ve never fought an Alpha before. Why would I be scared of them?” Jiang Chen dismissed it carelessly. “Besides, they’re the ones who put their hands on me first.”
Gu Xin pressed on, “Jiang Chen, you’re missing the point. Don’t look for trouble.”
“Hey, what is wrong with you tonight? Why are you berating me? Did you take the wrong medicine or something?”
Gu Xin let out a heavy sigh. “…Forget it. Let’s just go home.”
Jiang Chen tossed his sandwich wrapper and empty yogurt box into the trash can with a dull thud. He looked at Gu Xin. “Is it just because you look down on me for fighting? I fought all the time when I was at No. 19 Middle School. I’m used to it. If you can’t stand looking at it, then just pretend you didn’t see anything.”
Realizing Jiang Chen had entirely misconstrued his intentions, Gu Xin quickly tried to explain, “That’s not what I meant—”
“Whatever.” Jiang Chen aggressively ruffled his own hair. Now that his long hair was gone, a rare wave of genuine irritation washed over him. “I’m going up.”
Gu Xin watched him head toward the elevator. Frustrated, he kicked a small pile of sand by the path. Just as the elevator doors were about to slide shut, he slipped through the gap. “Chenchen.”
Jiang Chen turned his face away, ignoring him. Gu Xin shifted his position, forcing Jiang Chen to look at him. “Don’t be mad.”
Jiang Chen rolled his eyes, reached out, and slammed the button for the tenth floor. The moment the doors opened at Gu Xin’s floor, he pushed him out.
Gu Xin opened his mouth to speak, but Jiang Chen cut him off flatly. “I don’t want to talk to you for the rest of the day.”
Gu Xin watched the elevator doors slowly seal shut between them. “…”
Back in his own apartment, Jiang Chen wasn’t entirely sure if he was angry, but he hated it when Gu Xin used that tone with him.
His mother asked if he had eaten. He offered a curt, distracted reply: “Yeah, ate.”
The moment his bedroom door clicked shut, Mama Jiang whispered to Papa Jiang, “Did he swallow gunpowder out there? What’s with the attitude?”
Papa Jiang comforted her gently. “He’s just a kid, he bound to run into things that frustrate him. Xiao Chen knows how to process his own feelings. We just need to keep a supportive eye on him.”
Mama Jiang sighed, feeling defeated. “I suppose that’s all we can do. This boy… the older he gets, the harder he is to read. He keeps everything locked inside.”
Papa Jiang smiled. “It’s just the teenage rebellion phase. Completely normal.”
Meanwhile, Jiang Chen tossed his backpack onto his desk and plopped heavily into his chair. His gaze drifted to a framed photograph sitting on his desk.
It was a photo of him and Gu Xin from the fifth grade, both dressed in soccer jerseys. His arm was slung over Gu Xin’s shoulder, while Gu Xin’s hand rested firmly around his waist. They were both holding up peace signs. He was grinning like an absolute idiot in the photo, while Gu Xin maintained a closed-mouth, polite smile. Gu Xin had always been like that…no matter the occasion, he was always flawless.
This was the final photograph they had ever taken together in primary school.
Right after graduation, their paths had completely diverged: one went to the city’s top-tier Elite No. 1 Experimental Middle School, while the other ended up at No. 19 Middle School…the school with the worst reputation in town.