Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Xie Guan! Xie Guan! Let me go! Ngh—!"

"Xie Guan—!"

Lin Xingshu’s voice was raw from shouting, his breath coming in ragged gasps. A crushing weight pressed down on his chest, suffocating him. He thrashed, desperate to escape Xie Guan’s hold, but the hand around his throat tightened, cutting off his air.

"Shut the fuck up!"

Xie Guan’s grip on his neck was brutal. He seized Lin Xingshu’s collar, dragging him toward the bedroom. His face was a mask of dark fury, his eyes ruthless—his handsome features twisted into a grotesque snarl.

"Be good. Be obedient. I promise I’ll treat you well. Stay with me, and you won’t regret it."

"Xie Guan… Is this who you really are?"

Lin Xingshu stared in disbelief at the man before him, whose face was contorted with raw lust, utterly devoid of affection.

This person was nothing like the gentle, attentive Xie Guan he had known.

Xie Guan merely shrugged, a cold smirk playing on his lips. "I’ve always been like this."

"Before… when I was sick, you came to my place to take care of me, cooked for me—was all of that just an act?"

"Lin Xingshu, you need a mental check-up. Are you delusional?"

Xie Guan snapped, cutting him off impatiently:

"Today is the first time I’ve ever been to your place. I’ve never taken care of you here, let alone cooked for you. Not only that, I’ve never stepped foot in a kitchen my entire life. My family never needed me to cook. Do you understand?"

Lin Xingshu stared blankly at the hand gripping his collar, his mind a void, his whole body numb.

He couldn’t comprehend why Xie Guan was denying these things. The memory of Xie Guan cooking for him was still vivid. Could it be… could it really be that he had imagined it all?

His gaze drifted to the table nearby, where a stack of small notes lay neatly in the corner—all handwritten by Xie Guan. He could deny everything else, but what about those notes?

"Enough of this. It’s a waste of time."

Xie Guan offered a thin smile and pulled him toward the bedroom. Lin Xingshu’s heart leaped, and he instinctively seized Xie Guan’s wrist, gritting his teeth.

"Let go!"

Feeling his grip about to be broken, Xie Guan looked at him in surprise. He hadn’t expected Lin Xingshu, who appeared so delicate, to possess such strength.

Lin Xingshu struggled violently, his resistance palpable. A flash of nameless anger ignited in Xie Guan’s chest, his competitive streak flaring. Gritting his teeth, he reached out and grabbed Lin Xingshu’s clothes.

Just as Xie Guan was about to drag him back into the room, Lin Xingshu acted on instinct—he bit down hard on Xie Guan’s wrist.

"Ahh—!"

Xie Guan let out a piercing shriek and instantly released him. Lin Xingshu stumbled back, falling to the floor before scrambling to his feet. He snatched a vase from the table and aimed it at Xie Guan.

Panting heavily, he glared at Xie Guan, each word a deliberate stab: "Don’t you dare touch me!"

"You—!"

Xie Guan looked at his reddened, bitten hand and barked a laugh, more amused than angry. "Lin Xingshu, you’re fucking insane! Get yourself to a hospital!"

"If I’d known you were a lunatic, I never would’ve picked you for that drunk dare!"

Lin Xingshu froze, his entire body stiffening. He stared at the icy, distant Xie Guan before him, lips trembling.

"W-what did you say? A dare?"

"Lin Xingshu, do you know why I never replied to your messages?"

Xie Guan said with a cruel smirk. "That night, I lost a game. My friends dared me to confess to someone at random. The moment I stepped out, I ran into you. Since we used to be schoolmates, I figured, why not you? From the very beginning, I never had any intention of seriously dating you."

"After all, we’re not even in the same league."

Xie Guan waved a hand dismissively, his gaze lingering on Lin Xingshu’s face, eyes narrowing slightly.

"But then I saw you a few times at the company and realized you weren’t bad-looking. I thought, why not go along with it? It’d be a fun little distraction."

"Who knew you’d be so ungrateful."

……

Lin Xingshu’s head spun, his vision swimming, his face burning. At this moment, he felt like nothing more than a puppet, toyed with and manipulated by Xie Guan without ever realizing it.

Humiliating.

So humiliating.

Watching Lin Xingshu’s silent despair, Xie Guan straightened his askew tie and scoffed. He stepped over the broken watch pieces on the floor, kicking the fragments aside.

"Cheap watches are like this—they shatter at the slightest touch. Not worth keeping."

With that, Xie Guan turned and left, leaving the room in dead silence.

Time lost meaning. Staring at the wreckage on the floor, Lin Xingshu slowly crouched down and carefully gathered the fragments into his palm. His eyes burned with unshed tears.

The glass was sharp, biting into his flesh without warning. Feeling the sting, Lin Xingshu looked down—his index finger was bleeding, crimson dots staining the floor.

Not just his index finger. The other fingers were already bandaged with band-aids—wounds from his clumsy attempts at using kitchen knives.

His nose burned, and the dam broke. He collapsed onto the floor.

Watching the tears fall onto the broken pieces in his palm, the salt seeping into his cuts, the pain flared—but in that moment, he couldn’t tell whether it was his hand or his heart that hurt more.

His first love had ended like this—if you could even call it that…

Lin Xingshu scrubbed at his face, trembling as he stood. Pressing his lips together, he swept all the painstakingly made food from the table into the trash.

In the corner of the table, the notes Xie Guan had once written for him still sat in a pile. Gritting his teeth, Lin Xingshu grabbed them in fistfuls and tore them to shreds without hesitation.

"All that care… all that concern—it was all a lie! You fucking liar!"

The scraps of paper rained down like confetti, Xie Guan’s childish handwriting torn to pieces. Lin Xingshu took a deep breath and began cleaning up the mess.

"Ping—"

The elevator outside suddenly chimed. Only then did Lin Xingshu realize—Xie Guan had left the door wide open when he stomped out.

Wiping his puffy eyes, he hurried to close it, but then he heard singing from the hallway.

The voice was low, the melody painfully familiar. Suddenly, he remembered—this was the song Xie Guan would always hum while cooking in the kitchen.

Lin Xingshu froze, his head whipped toward the door. His eyes grew round.

The newcomer was carrying two large shopping bags filled with groceries and snacks. Sensing Lin Xingshu's gaze, he looked up and met his eyes. Despite both hands being occupied, he still managed to wave cheerfully at Lin Xingshu with the bags:

"Ah Shu! Ah Shu!"

It was that damn Xie Guan. He'd actually had the gall to come back.

How could he have the nerve to come back?

Xie Guan held the two large shopping bags, his handsome face beaming with a smile. He rushed over excitedly, his dark eyes full of happiness, curved into crescent moons. He seemed delighted, as if completely oblivious to what had just happened.

Lin Xingshu's expression remained cold and indifferent. He gave Xie Guan a quick, cold look before turning away and stepping back inside, ready to shut the door.

"Ah Shu? Wait! Don't close the door—!"

In the next moment, a large hand slipped through the door crack. Just as it was about to get caught, Lin Xingshu's heart jumped, and he jerked the door open. Seizing the opportunity, Xie Guan gripped the doorframe with astonishing strength.

"Let go."

Lin Xingshu's voice was icy, his eyes filled with disgust.

Xie Guan froze completely, standing rooted to the spot, his dark eyes wide with panic. He didn’t understand what he had done wrong. Putting on a shaky smile, he tried to calm him down:

"Ah Shu, who made you angry? Don’t be mad. I bought you a cake today—I know you like sweets. And I got the ribs you love. I’ll make sweet and sour ribs for you tonight, okay?"

Then, Xie Guan’s gaze fell on Lin Xingshu’s hand hanging at his side. When he noticed the bandages wrapped around several fingers, he grew more alarmed.

"What happened to your hand? Why are you hurt? Let me see—"

As he spoke, he reached out to examine Lin Xingshu’s injuries, but before he could touch him, Lin Xingshu swatted his hand away with a sharp "smack."

"Xie Guan, are you joking with me?"

Xie Guan was completely confused. He couldn’t comprehend why Lin Xingshu had suddenly become so cold with him, but he didn’t dare argue. Nervously, he withdrew his hand but still clung to the doorframe, hesitant to let go.

Lin Xingshu, standing inside, sneered at Xie Guan’s timid, fearful demeanor. "Let go. If you don’t, I’m shutting the door."

"Wait, Ah Shu—"

"I’ll count to three. If you don’t let go, I’m closing it."

With that, he actually started the countdown. Xie Guan’s eyes widened, but he stubbornly held onto the doorframe, desperate to explain. Yet Lin Xingshu gave him no chance. Lowering his gaze, he ignored Xie Guan’s hand and yanked the door hard.

"Ugh!"

The door was yanked back violently. Xie Guan’s hand remained tightly gripping the frame, but he didn’t dare resist, afraid of angering Lin Xingshu further. Unsurprisingly, his fingers were smashed in the door.

Pain shot through him, and Xie Guan let out a pained grunt, his brows furrowing instantly. He lifted his eyes pleadingly toward Lin Xingshu, only to find him standing behind the door, gripping the handle, his gaze completely blank—cold, detached, as if looking at a stranger.

In that instant, Xie Guan felt himself plummeting into a bottomless pit. His entire body seemed dunked in ice water, trembling uncontrollably. Even the pain in his crushed hand went numb.

"Xie Guan, I warned you. If you didn’t let go, I would shut the door."

Lin Xingshu’s gaze dropped to Xie Guan’s hand, now red and swollen, the skin broken. He hadn’t even used full force—if he had, Xie Guan’s bones would have snapped.

"Are you letting go or not?"

"No..."

Xie Guan still refused to release his grip. Like a kicked dog, he pressed closer to the door crack and then knelt down pathetically, lifting his head with eyes begging desperately.

"Ah Shu, tell me what I did wrong. I’ll change, I promise. Don’t look at me like this..."

Lin Xingshu remained unmoved from start to finish. He looked down at Xie Guan kneeling before him, his eyes completely cold.

"Fifteen minutes ago, you were arguing with me, mocking me as a 'cheap watch.' And now, you’re kneeling at my doorstep, begging for forgiveness."

"Xie Guan, you’re really something else."

Lin Xingshu suddenly laughed, his eyes full of scorn.

"Xie Guan, remember what you said to me earlier? You told me I was sick, that I needed to get my brain checked. But now, it seems you’re the one who should be in a hospital."

Lin Xingshu’s gaze lingered on Xie Guan’s face, now ghostly white. His lips trembled, but no words came out. The light left his eyes bit by bit.

Now, he knelt weakly before the door, his grip on the frame going limp. Slumped on the ground, head bowed, his eyes empty—like a lifeless, exquisitely crafted doll.

Lin Xingshu looked down at his utterly broken look and couldn’t help but laugh again.

You fake. God, you're such a fake.

How could someone be so fake?

He was actually impressed by Xie Guan’s acting skills—how convincingly he could play completely broken.

Look at him, crawling like a beaten dog. Was this the same Xie Guan who had been so arrogant just fifteen minutes ago?

The Oscars should give Xie Guan a gold statuette.

Lin Xingshu suddenly grabbed Xie Guan’s wrist hard and, under his shocked look, shoved him to the ground. Spotting the two bags of groceries, his rage burned hotter. He grabbed them and hurled them at Xie Guan.

The bags struck Xie Guan, scattering groceries everywhere. Kneeling amidst the mess, Xie Guan’s eyes had reddened at some point, his gaze filled with sorrow as he looked up at Lin Xingshu.

Their eyes met, and a sharp pang twisted Lin Xingshu’s heart. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and when he looked at Xie Guan again, his expression was stone-cold.

"Xie Guan, it’s over between us. From now on, I never want to see you again."