42: Fireworks in Bloom
Qian Kun went straight to the underground parking garage. The driver started the car the moment he saw him.
Before heading to his older cousin’s place, Qian Kun had already told him to wait downstairs, and sure enough, he came down not long after.
After giving the address, Qian Kun added, “As fast as you can.”
He sank into the dim backseat. The cold garage lights fell across his sharp, icy features. He clenched his fingers tight and closed his eyes.
That afternoon, when Shen Jin said he hoped he’d come, Qian Kun understood in that instant that he could never refuse Shen Jin.
Right now, he urgently wanted to see Shen Jin, just to ask him one question.
He’s not good to you. Do you want to… switch to someone else?
*
The server went to invite the schoolmate who suddenly arrived. In the private room, everyone else was arguing about whether to order alcohol.
“Our birthday boy just turned eighteen today, young and thriving. Isn’t this exactly the day to crack something open and celebrate?” Jiang Yifan suggested.
“As class president, shouldn’t you lead by example?”
“But the class president’s already an adult. How many little brats do we have here? If you’re not old enough, raise your hand?”
Being called little brats, the classmates whose birthdays hadn’t passed yet weren’t having it.
“Hey, no personal attacks!”
“That’s too much. Take this!”
The small cake on the table got tossed back and forth. The ones who weren’t participating had to work hard just to dodge it.
Liu Qimai noticed it. Class Nine didn’t just mess with outsiders, they were even competing with each other. While that side was chaos, he couldn’t help looking at Shen Jin again, who stayed quiet and composed the whole time.
Shen Jin slowly lifted his head, gaze settling on the doorway.
His long legs were crossed, his back straight, sitting upright in the sofa chair. His wrist rested on his knee, pale clean fingers holding his phone.
Where he sat, it was like a territory of his own.
Liu Qimai heard his own heartbeat speeding up.
Before this, he’d never met someone so clean and beautiful it made his chest tighten. Every movement was refined, elegant.
“I… I really do want to chase him.”
What drew people wasn’t just Shen Jin’s looks, but that quality of drifting through this world, as if you could never quite grasp him.
Liu Qimai didn’t even feel like playing cards anymore. He asked Zhou You, “Answer me seriously. What are the odds I can get him?”
Zhou You actually thought about it. He even dug out a sheet of paper from who knew where and started calculating like he was doing math homework. “Done. 0.1%. The only remaining possibility is that he goes blind.”
Liu Qimai: “…”
He’d lived for over ten years. This was the biggest critical hit of his life.
For a moment, he really wanted to swing a forty-meter broadsword at his best friend.
No one noticed how tense Shen Jin’s whole body was.
He felt every cell speeding up, until the moment he saw the person who appeared at the doorway, and then it cut off sharply.
Ke Minghuai’s unexpected arrival froze the room.
They were schoolmates, sure, but this was a third-year senior, someone they barely interacted with. He was the kind of person who showed up either on television or at award ceremonies.
Ke Minghuai seemed oblivious to the awkward atmosphere. He looked at Shen Jin. “I happened to be nearby. I heard you were here, so I came by to see you. I still have friends waiting, so I’ll head out first.”
He then nodded politely to the other classmates present, the kind of gesture that made people feel strangely honored.
Shen Jin buried the disappointment in his heart, bit by bit. His runaway heartbeat settled, and he forced himself back into good spirits. “Perfect timing. I have some student union work to coordinate with the president.”
Shen Jin wasn’t sure how long he’d be gone, so he paid first in the app, then transferred a sum to Jiang Yifan. If they wanted to order anything later, they could go ahead. If it got too late, everyone’s taxi fare would come out of that too.
The way Shen Jin could just casually throw money at the problem was honestly way too cool.
“Jin-ge, look at me, okay? I went to a top high school, I can embroider, cook, and do flower arrangements. I’m an excellent Omega!”
“This shiny golden thigh, do you still need a leg accessory?”
“Jin-ge, don’t lock your standards too hard to gender!”
Amid the laughter, Shen Jin left the private room. He looked around, and sure enough, he didn’t see the “friends” Ke Minghuai claimed were waiting.
Ke Minghuai knew he couldn’t hide it from Shen Jin. “I originally planned to talk after you were done in there.”
The two came downstairs. Scattered passersby moved around them, and various colored vehicles shuttled under the streetlights.
The sky was heavy and dark. Thick clouds drifted in, covering the waning crescent moon. The air carried the restless pressure of an oncoming storm.
“How did you know I was here, Huai-ge?”
“I asked Xiao An.”
In fact, Shen Xie’an had deleted Ke Minghuai some time ago. When Ke Minghuai went looking for him, Shen Xie’an said right to his face, “Huai-ge, I think it’s your fault you lost your wife.” “You’ve never truly thought about my brother. Do you even know how badly he’s had it all these years?” “Some people disappearing is the best thing that can happen. My brother finally doesn’t have to suffer your family’s bullsh*t anymore!”
Ke Minghuai let Shen Xie’an scold him for hours, until Shen Xie’an’s throat was dry.
Only then did Ke Minghuai say he wanted to win Shen Jin back.
Seeing how sincere his attitude was, and how this proud genius could actually lower his head, something Shen Xie’an had never seen in his life, Shen Xie’an finally added him back… begrudgingly.
Ke Minghuai took out a jewelry box and handed it to Shen Jin, eyes carrying a quiet anticipation. “Happy adulthood. I’ll send more gifts to your home in a few days.”
Shen Jin saw the Tiffany blue packaging and immediately knew it wasn’t cheap.
Under Ke Minghuai’s hopeful gaze, Shen Jin gently pushed it back. “Huai-ge, did you receive the package I mailed back?”
Every year, he’d kept those expensive gifts, never using them, only thinking that maybe one day he’d return everything.
That wait lasted nine years.
“I haven’t opened it yet. What is it?”
“The gifts you’ve given me over the years, including the stuffed rabbit you sent back this time.”
Ke Minghuai’s gentle gaze looked like moonlight crushed into pieces. “Xiao Jin, the broken engagement wasn’t what I wanted. Whether it’s my mother, or those relatives who hurt you, I’ll give you an explanation. Are you willing to…”
Before he could finish, Shen Jin lifted his eyes, calm and steady.
“We can talk about that later. Huai-ge, do you remember the day before you went abroad, when we agreed to go to the amusement park?”
Ke Minghuai nodded. He was about to apologize for standing him up, but Shen Jin continued.
“The time we agreed on came, and you never showed. Hours later, I got your message saying you couldn’t make it. On the way back, I happened to pass a mall hosting an opening promotion. That day was Qixi. Any couple who went onstage and kissed, the pair who kissed the longest would win the grand prize.”
Ke Minghuai’s face turned pale. He hadn’t expected it to be that kind of coincidence.
Shen Jin asked, “Guess what I saw?”
“I saw my fiancé, who told me the school suddenly needed you, kissing a beautiful Omega on that stage.” Shen Jin still remembered that scene vividly. Back then, he was in the early stage of differentiation, mentally fragile. After Ke Minghuai drove off the relatives from the Xie family branch, with all that gentle, silent care, Shen Jin had started depending on his fiancé in name. “We were a contract arrangement. Who you get intimate with isn’t my business, but you shouldn’t lie again and again.”
Ke Minghuai pressed a hand to his forehead. Back then, when he noticed Shen Jin relying on him, he’d felt a strange happiness, and also panic at a feeling he didn’t understand.
That was one of the reasons he decided to go into training and avoid Shen Jin. He needed time to think things through.
Ke Minghuai said, “A school leader really did call for me that day. I don’t know why, but I ended up there. Then an Omega said he was being chased for debt, and asked me to help hide him, and I…”
By normal logic, he would never have done something like that. That day had felt like he was possessed, and of all people, Shen Jin had seen it.
“I was in the audience. You didn’t look forced.”
“…”
Even at this point, Shen Jin wasn’t angry. He didn’t have that right. At most, he felt disappointed.
“Do you remember what happened that night?” Shen Jin’s voice stayed flat. “That’s what I was truly angry about.”
After Ke Minghuai realized he’d kissed a stranger, his mind collapsed. Regret and self-loathing swallowed him whole. He accepted Yu Pingling and the others’ invitation, drank too much that night, and later blacked out.
Shen Jin let out a breath, voice dull. “That night, you broke into my home and tried to…”
Ke Minghuai jerked, eyes snapping to Shen Jin’s pink lips. “I tried to kiss you?”
Shen Jin looked away. It had never been this awkward between them.
That night, Shen Jin had been frightened when Ke Minghuai barged in drunk. He ran upstairs, but got pinned in the stairwell halfway.
In the struggle, he slapped Ke Minghuai. The handprint on Ke Minghuai’s face the next day came from that.
Shen Jin couldn’t erase the image of that kiss he’d seen earlier in the day. How could he accept it? He fought like his life depended on it, but a drunk Alpha’s strength was terrifying.
At the moment he was almost kissed, Shen Xie’an, woken by the noise, opened the door. Seeing things turning bad, he rushed to the kitchen, grabbed a frying pan, and knocked Ke Minghuai out with one hit.
Ke Minghuai went down.
After that, things got… weirdly comedic.
The brothers stared at each other. Shen Xie’an panicked, on the verge of tears. “I-I didn’t kill Huai-ge, did I?!”
He nudged the motionless Ke Minghuai with his toe, too scared to get close.
With the crisis over, Shen Jin was the one with nerve. He went over, ignored the swelling bump on the back of Ke Minghuai’s head, flipped him slightly, checked his breathing, and said, “He’s alive.”
Shen Xie’an finally exhaled. “So what do we do now?”
Shen Jin said, “Destroy the evidence. Then throw him out.”
It made perfect sense.
So the two of them worked together to drag that heavy “corpse” into their family car, called a driver, and had Ke Minghuai sent back to the Ke residence overnight.
Ke Minghuai going abroad the very next day was, for Shen Jin, only the third hit in a row.
After that, the two of them seemed to avoid each other on purpose. There was only one contact after he landed, and then silence.
Part of it was giving the other person time to cool off.
Another part of it was that Ke Minghuai truly didn’t know how to face Shen Jin, the one he felt endlessly guilty toward.
Using the training rules as cover, Ke Minghuai cut off contact entirely.
The one thing he hadn’t expected was that Shen Jin knew everything.
Neither of them noticed the black SUV parked not far away.
The person inside had no idea how long he had been watching.
After watching for so long, Qian Kun’s overheated mind finally cooled down.
Even if Ke Minghuai did something wrong, what did it have to do with him, an outsider? Why was he worked up?
It was like a hunting dog that had caught a scent, ready to lunge and tear out a throat at any moment.
Qian Kun had never known he could be this vile. Was he really thinking that if Ke Minghuai disappeared, Shen Jin would finally see him?
Qian Kun gripped the door handle so hard his knuckles went white, yet he couldn’t bring himself to say the words to make the driver turn around and leave.
Seeing the two part on bad terms, with Shen Jin walking along the road, only then did Qian Kun think to open the door and get out, pretending he’d just arrived.
Ke Minghuai seemed shaken by what Shen Jin said tonight and left in a daze.
Shen Jin checked the time. He opened his phone. There was no message on WeChat.
So… he wasn’t coming.
Until Shen Jin suddenly noticed that the car parked by the roadside looked familiar, like a black Range Rover someone had used before.
Even the license plate looked familiar.
Shen Jin blinked quickly. The chill in his chest began to warm.
He did come. Then maybe he wasn’t trying to draw a line between them.
Shen Jin walked over to the car, planning to ask what the hell he was doing.
When Qian Kun saw Shen Jin heading this way, he instinctively opened the door.
By the time Shen Jin stopped in front of him, Qian Kun lowered his gaze to the person before him. “You’re done talking?”
“Mm. You’re here, so why didn’t you come up?”
“I saw you. I wanted to see if you were going back up, or if we were returning to the dorm together.”
“Let’s go back.” Shen Jin glanced at his watch. He still had two hours before the time he’d agreed on with his cousin.
Actually, at noon, he’d seen the corner of a beautifully wrapped box peeking out of Qian Kun’s backpack.
He wanted to see whether, if he wasn’t being presumptuous.
Was Qian Kun going to give it to him or not?
Rain began to fall, light at first, then heavier and heavier. This year’s autumn rain came especially late.
Shen Jin grabbed the still-dazed Qian Kun and pulled him into the car with him. Qian Kun glanced at the hand that had just been tugged. His curled fingers scraped against his burning palm, lingering on the warmth that had vanished in a blink.
The beast locked deep in his heart was impatiently trying to shatter its restraints and swallow its prey whole.
He was already on the verge of the breaking point.
All it would take was the smallest spark, and he wouldn’t be able to maintain the status quo anymore.
The rain poured. Neither of them had an umbrella. Half-soaked, they returned to the dorm.
They’d barely gotten back when the thunderstorm severed the cables near the school. The whole dorm area sank into darkness.
Shen Jin heard classmates screaming outside. He was about to go borrow candles from another room.
In the dark, his wrist was suddenly grabbed.
“Huh?”
In the next instant, Shen Jin was jerked against the wall. His head didn’t hit it, because a large hand cushioned the back of his head, blocking the impact.
Then a heat-soaked body, still carrying dampness, pressed close, only a few centimeters away. Shen Jin’s body tensed instantly, snapping into a defensive state.
It was his instinct when facing danger. He smelled an overwhelmingly dangerous presence, and it made him desperately want to escape.
Fear grew in his chest, the absolute suppression that came from gender. Yet the scent was far too familiar. Shen Jin clenched his teeth, endured it, and still didn’t strike back.
He kept his eyes open, trying to make out the other person in the dark, but all he could feel was the silent pressure.
“What’s wrong with you? Are you drunk?” But there wasn’t any alcohol smell on Qian Kun at all.
There was a knock at the door. Someone from another dorm was asking if they needed candles.
Shen Jin was about to answer, when Qian Kun suddenly lowered his head, drawing closer, close enough that Shen Jin could feel his breath. It was like he was telling him without words, don’t speak.
A moment later, the person outside assumed they hadn’t returned yet.
The footsteps faded, heading off to ask other rooms.
The air held only the sound of their slightly ragged breathing.
Shen Jin felt Qian Kun’s hand shift, like he wanted to touch him. When the presence drew close, it changed direction instead.
Bang.
Qian Kun slammed his fist into the wall.
Shen Jin froze completely in shock.
He could only be sure of one thing.
Qian Kun wouldn’t hurt him.
Qian Kun moved away from the person beneath him. His head lowered, slowly leaning against the wall.
His voice was hoarse, containing a trace of pain and trembling. “You… don’t be with him anymore.”
He’s not good.
Don’t look at him, okay?
That despicableness and wretchedness was like a rusty scalpel, churning through his internal organs.
Shen Jin felt a burning drop fall onto his shoulder, dampening his shirt.
He didn’t know if it was sweat… or tears.
Shen Jin froze. He wanted to touch it, but his hand was caught and pressed to the wall, slow but firm.
He didn’t resist. His mind was still blank.
Who did “him” mean?
Was Qian Kun talking about what he’d just seen with Ke Minghuai?
Shen Jin almost laughed at the absurdity. Just moments ago, he’d been pinned under that terrifying presence, the fear still branded into his bones, and yet he couldn’t help finding it ridiculous.
“I wasn’t with him in the first place.”
Qian Kun seemed to short-circuit.
Like a computer that had frozen.
“What did you… say?”
Author’s Note:
Qianqian: I think I’m hallucinating.
- From a certain Alpha whose heart just bloomed into fireworks Hooray~ ~~~
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