Chapter 8- People Make Mistakes
After getting out of the stadium, Qu Yi and Qiu Chen headed to Qu Yi's car, and Xiao Tan was politely escorted to another car arranged by the Qu family bodyguards. Well, Xiao Tantan understands, the dog couple doesn't want to be disturbed by an outsider like her.
When Qu Yi got on the car he saw Qiu Chen sitting there watching something. When he got closer he saw it was someone's live broadcasting from the gallery. There was mischievous smile hanging on the corner of his lips. Qiu Chen noticed Qu Yi getting on the car and subconsciously leaned his back towards him to let him have a better view of his phone screen.
"Was it cool? Was I cool just now? Look at their dumbfounded faces. Ha ha! Take that you @$%@!" Qiu Chen was now grinning like a little devil.
This kind of Qiu Chen made him more itch. Qu Yi felt dry in his mouth. But he still asked, "Everything back there was your plan? You knew there would be a hidden microphone?"
"Even better, I put it there. But you're a bit wrong. Not everything back there was in my plan. You never existed in my plan" Qiu Chen looked at Qu Yi with a touch of seduction in his eyes. If Qu Yi could still act like a gentleman, he wouldn't be called a man.
Qu Yi pulled Qiu Chen by his waist, with a single tug he made him sit on his lap and caught his perfectly shaped lips. Qiu Chen got shocked by the sudden pull, then felt a soft and warm touch on his lips. For a moment he got confused, then understood that Qu Yi was kissing him. At this moment Qiu Chen felt like there was a warm river flowing down his chest. It's not about the physical contact. Even though they had been in an ambiguous relation for so long, he only felt good about this man, apart from the soul-pull from the first time he looked into his eyes. But now it was different. The warmth in his chest made him feel complete. He wanted to be closer to Qu Yi. So he encircled his hands around the man's neck, pulled away from the kiss and buried his face in the crook of his neck. He inhaled the men's cologne from there and sighed in satisfaction.
Qu Yi felt Qiu Chen's emotion. He felt the same way too. He felt that he could spend a lifetime with this little sly person in his arms. He felt strangely at peace like his life suddenly has a purpose, and that is to be with this person, protect him, spoil him, spend every moment with him. He put his palm on the boy's cheek and caressed. Qiu Chen hugged his neck even tighter. He wanted to stay like this. But the man pulled his face up and kissed him again. This time he kissed him on the forehead, then proceeded to kiss his eyes, first the left one and then right one, then he softly touched his nose with his lips. Staying there for a few seconds, he captured his lips again. This time it wasn't the soft touch like before. He sucked on Qiu Chen's lower lip a bit following licking it softly. Qiu Chen opened his lips and allowed Qu Yi to enter his mouth. The two tongues of two enthusiastic people entangled and danced together like there was no future. Qu Yi pulled away when he felt that Qiu chen was out of breath. Then hugged him in his arms.
"Qin Shui, will you agree to be my boyfriend?" Qu Yi asked softly.
Qiu Chen curled up in his arms and nodded with difficulty as he was still trying to catch his breath. His subconscious behavior to choose to answer before even catching his breath made Qu Yi chuckle softly.
"The car has stopped for quite a while now. Shall we get down? Or your brother will kill me." Qu Yi reminded Qiu Chen.
"The car was moving all along?" Qiu Chen's face turned red when he realized that while they were doing this and that someone else was also present in the car. He hurriedly opened the car door and hopped down from Qu Yi's lap. But got frozen from shock when he saw Qin Shing standing not far from the car and it was inside the freakin' Qin Family Mansion. He turned around and tried to get on the car again. But the man got off the car and was standing behind him. So he ran headfast into the man's chest.
"So you started to avoid your brother too? You didn't allow me to do anything about those things but he was actually there with you. It seems like he is closer to you than your family" Qin Shing said sulking.
"No no! Xiao Shui didn't avoid brother! I didn't know he would be there! Ask him if you don't believe me." Qiu Chen went back to his timid, cute and loving little brother self.
"You don't need to act cute. Just come inside. Mom and dad are waiting. You come too" the last sentence was for Qu Yi. Qin Shing grabbed Qiu Chen's wrist and entered the house dragging him behind. Qu Yi followed behind the two brothers.
"Mom, Dad" Qiu Chen shouted as he trotted towards his parents. Qin Shing helplessly let go of his hand.
"Uncle Qin, Aunt Qin." Qu Yi greeted.
"Sit down" Mrs Qin said warmly.
After Qu Yi sat down Qin Zhen asked about some company matters to which Qu Yi replied quite politely. If he said he didn't feel puzzled by the Qin couples' attitude, it would be a lie.
As they were talking the maid brought some tea and snacks. While having tea Mrs Qin made it clear to Qu Yi, "We know what happened back in the university. At first when Xiao Shing told us about pursuing Xiao Shui, we disapproved of you two being together. Our baby was already hurt once very severely. We don't want him to go through this again. But when we saw you supporting him even knowing that the whole gallery was listening to you, it occurred to us that we may give you a chance."
"But don't even think about hurting him, even by mistake, or you'll have to pay the price" Qin Zhen warned Qu Yi.
"I will never ever hurt him and if I ever do you can do anything you want to me" Qu Yi swore an oath but he couldn't help but wonder if it's in the Qin's blood that they love to threaten people with same exact words.
During the whole conversation Qin Shing kept glaring at Qu Yi but he could nothing do about Qiu Chen and Qu Yi being together as their parents approved of it. Qiu Chen sensed his brother's mood, tugged his sleeve and looked at him with his pleading puppy eyes. Well, Qin Shing, the mighty President Qin, as a professional bro-con, was unable to say no to his brother. So he reluctantly moved his hostile gaze away from Qu Yi. The family of five got along quite well. Mrs Qin wanted to keep Qu Yi for lunch but was rejected by him politely as there was much to do in the company.
Unlike the happy environment over here, the B University was in a mess. As one of the prestigious universities of the country, the university authority invited many big shots on the final sports day. Each of the big shots learned what was going on from Qiu Chen's live performance. It ruined the university's image. The students were panicking because most of the B University graduate would either go to the Qin's or to the Qu's for internship and jobs. But now they collectively offended them. They could understand that the other party might have the list of the people who bullied Qin Shing. The more they felt afraid, the more they hated the bullies. Because even many of them wouldn't get the opportunity to enter Qin or Qu group, they could get into some other companies. But no company in the capital would dare to offend these two big bosses for them.
After Bai Ling got out of the university, he received many phone calls from his friends. He thought they might asking about why he left without notifying. Until he returned home and his black faced little sister handed over her phone to him he knew about the live broadcasting of the scene. And only now he got to know that the whole university, no the whole capital knows about what happened.
"At least, no one will slander him now" This was the only thing he could think of the whole situation. Bai Ling sat lifelessly on the sofa thinking about what happened. If he could go back to past, he would never return the proposal Xiao Tan brought to him on Qin Shui's behalf. A little prince who could leave his palace and live in the slum for him, a pure and white person who got slandered but never refuted, also for him, how could he hurt him? But he hurt him. He hurt him, and now there was someone else by his side to protect him, to wipe his tears when he cries, to feed him ice cream when he is sad. Bai Ling remembered the face Qiu chen used to make whenever Qu Yi fed his ice cream. Qiu Chen would glare at him angrily as if to say "I'm not a little kid" and then bite the ice cream down grudgingly. His appearance was so adorable that It would make people want to love him. Bai Ling fell in love with him. But he fell too late. The boy who once loved him so dearly decided to love someone else. He once had the chance, but now he lost it.
"You might want to see this. I kept this thing all along. You didn't want to see it, but I couldn't bear myself to throw it away" Bai Lian, Bai Ling's younger sister handed over a letter written on a blue paper. Bai Ling's hands were shaking as he opened the letter.
"Bai Ling,
As you may already know that I love you. I am writing this letter not to pester or confess to you but to make something clear. I don't care if you hate me. I love you, and it has nothing to with you. I love you because I wanted to love you. It was my decision. If you hate me, that is also your decision. It has nothing to do with me. You love me or hate me, I'm gonna love you.
-Qin Shui"
Bai Ling read the letter again and again, tears rolling down his cheeks. He once received the world's most precious thing, a selfless love. But he trampled it down for his pride. Not only that, he also helped other people hurt him. But as he kept reading the letter a sentence hit him, "You love me or hate me, I'm gonna love you." Would such a person suddenly stop loving him just because a new and better person arrived? Certainly not! He had to see Qiu Chen, he had to ask him if he still loved him, even a little bit.
Bai Ling clenched the letter and ran out of home trying to find Qiu Chen. He ran all the way to the university. Only when he was about to cross the gate that he remembered that Qiu Chen must had already left. He didn't know where Qu Yi took him. "Second Young Master Qin", this phrase suddenly came to his mind. He had to go to the Qin Mansion to find him. As the abode of one of the most famous families of the capital, people more or less knew the Qin Mansion. Bai Ling hurriedly stopped a taxi and told him the address. But it was a fruitless attempt. Let alone seeing Qiu Chen, he was mercilessly driven away from the very entrance of the mansion. Even the guards looked at him disdainfully. This was the one that caused their second young master hurt so much. Strangely enough, Bai Ling didn't mind. Something inside him told him that he deserved it.
Bai Ling went back and decided to wait for him in the campus. As a student Qiu Chen must attend his classes. He waited in front of Qiu Chen's class everyday. He even tried to ask Wen Liu. He remembered that Bai Ling once laughed so freely with this person.
"I don't know where he is or when he will come back. I'm not aware about his whereabouts. Even if I was, I would never tell you" Wen Liu answered with a stern voice. Tho he knew about the little highness's whereabouts, this @$$ho!e didn't need to know.
"Aren't you his friend? I saw you guys sharing a meal and laughing together" Bai Ling insisted.
"He is the young master of the Qin family. Can your dense brain process that? If he doesn't want me to know, I can never know!" Wen Liu hated this man named Bai Ling from the very beginning. So when he got the chance to berate him, he didn't want to lose it. He continued,
"He had a meal with me. I just came to him to say a word of sympathy. He shared his meal with me. He said he didn't mind people talking about him because they were not important to him. But do you know what happened then? You came and scolded him for bullying that Tang Feng. Do you know why he didn't refute you? Because you killed his last bit of hope. He closed himself off. I really wanted to be his friend. But I couldn't cross the wall he suddenly built that day. Luckily, Tantan came later. Bai Ling, I really pity you. You are so stupid."
Bai Ling also thought that he was stupid. But he still kept waiting. He was no longer the cheerful person who would be praised no matter where he went. Without carefully chosen tidy attire, unkempt unshaved beard, and an expectant but tired look in his eyes Bai Ling looked really haggard. If it were in the past, people would've pitied him and curse Qiu Chen. But now they didn't even look at him, like they didn't want to dirty their eyes. Even Tang Feng started to avoid him. The Tang Feng who caused most of this situation was not much better than Bai Ling. All the students from his class saw his true colors. They were afraid of him. He could harm someone who didn't even deliberately offend him to this level, what if they actually offend him? They couldn't dare risk it. Chang Shi wasn't afraid of these things. Because Tang Feng couldn't harm him more than he already did. Because he told all those disgusting words about Qiu Chen at the party all those second generations ghosted him. Some, in order to win favor of Qin and Qu family for their own families, revealed his every word to the Qu and Qin family personnels. So, now their family business is facing a lot troubles. Chang Shi had been absent from class for almost a week.
This day Chang Shi finally came to class. As soon as he entered the class he saw Tang Feng sitting alone. He went to him. Just when Tang Feng thought that Chang Shi would console him, his words enter his ears.
"Are you happy now? Are you happy now to use my feelings for you to bully Qin Shui? How many times you 'unintentionally' provoked me to bully him? Now even my family is implicated. Are you satisfied? What? Don't even try to say that you were unintentional. Blame me for being blind. But I am no longer blind" Change Shi vented all his reasonable and unreasonable temper on Tang Feng.
"I will apologize to him, I will apologize" Tang Feng thought Chang Shi just lost his temper like past. As soon as he act pitiful Chang Shi will accommodate. But he was wrong.
"Apologize to whom? Qin Shui? Do you think he will be willing to see you? He is going to transfer from here" Chang Shi heard about Qiu Chen's transfer when his father made him to go to Qin family to apologize. He didn't even see Qiu Chen's shadow, and only knew this from the black faced housekeeper.
'Qiu Chen is going to leave this university' was the only information Bai Ling could capture from the entire hassle. For a moment he felt like buzzing sound cut off all the possible sound around him. He turned around and started walking. With gradually speeding up, he started to run towards the administrator's office. When he reached there he tried to enter the office but was stopped by the office attendant.
"If student Bai is here to ask about student Qin, his family already did the office work to transfer him from here" the office attendant said blankly.
"Do you know where he went?" Bai Ling asked with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
"Personal information is not to be disclosed" the attendant replied.
Bai Ling left the office hopelessly. He didn't know where Qiu Chen went. He didn't know if he could ever find him. From this day on he stopped attending classes, remained at home reading that one letter over and over again. This is the only thing of that person he had, all to himself. He treasured it more than all the disdain he ever had for that person. Bai Lian couldn't see her brother tossing his life away like this. So she forcefully took him to the mall to give him a haircut and buy some cloths.
Just as Bai Ling got out of the salon, he saw Qiu Chen and Qu Yi roaming around hand in hand in the mall. For a couple of seconds he couldn't believe his eyes. Is it really him? He saw him at last?
"Qin Shui! Qin Shui! Stop, please, listen to me!" Bai Ling shouted and ran towards the two people.
These days Qiu Chen lived so comfortably that he almost forgot about Bai Ling. He is newly in a relationship. This is his sweet time with his boyfriend. Dealing with one paranoid brother apart from dating Qu Yi was a headache for him. He had no time to remember Bai Ling. So this time he was quite surprised. But he knew that the mission wasn't complete yet. It means he had to make Bai Ling regret even more. But this person looked haggard, it wasn't enough to satisfy the original's desire to revenge. Qiu Chen stopped. It caused Qu Yi to be dissatisfied. He didn't like his little boyfriend waiting for his unrequited love. Qiu Chen understood what was going on inside the man's head. He tiptoed and whispered into his ear, "I have to put it to an end. So he never comes back." Qu Yi pursed his lips in reply.
When Bai Ling arrived in a hurry, he saw two people whispering intimately. He felt sour.
"May I talk to you alone?" He didn't like to see these two people together.
"You may. Let's go to that restaurant. I will go talk to him for a bit" the last part was for Qu Yi.
To see Qiu Chen still coming alone with him, Bai Ling's eyes lit up with hope. He quickly followed Qiu Chen to the restaurant inside the mall. Qu Yi also followed them and sat down at a table not far from them.
"Say what you want to say" Qiu Chen patiently asked.
"I am sorry. Can you forgive me? Can you give me another chance?" Bai Ling asked sincerely.
"I accept your apology" Qiu Chen's sentence made Bai Ling go to nine clouds, but his next sentence pulled him down to earth, "Giving you a chance? For what? To hurt me again? NO."
"I will never hurt you. Believe me this once, please?" Bai Ling was on the verge of tearing up.
"Anything else? If not, I'm going back" Qiu Chen stay seated even if he told this.
"Why? In this letter you said that you'll keep loving me. So, why are you being with him now? Didn't you not care if I hate you or not? I love you now. Please give me a chance, okay?" Bai Ling's tone was that of begging by the end.
Qiu Chen knew nothing about the letter. So he searched about it in the system and got all the info about it. This was a letter written by the original in a moment of hopelessness and desperation. He was on the verge of losing himself when he wrote it, but Bai Ling never read it. Qiu Chen felt angry on the original's behalf. This man owed the original too much. Qiu Chen decided to make him regret to death.
"This letter? Gosh! I even forgot about it! You had it all along? No, that shouldn't be. Lianlian told me you threw it away. Did Lianlian pick it up? That's more likely" Qiu Chen smiled like he remembered an embarrassing but fun story from the past. Bai Ling was still looking at him expectantly. Meeting his eyes Qiu Chen started talking again.
"This letter was written when we were in 10th grade, just after Tantan went to talk to you. I agree that I was childish. People make mistakes when they're young. I did too. But I don't like you anymore and I don't want to dwell in the past" Qiu Chen calmly replied.
"So, now in your heart I am just a mistake you made?" Bai Ling looked like he had no soul.
"Sorry, I mistook you for someone else."
"Qiu Chen, you're a mistake! You always have been a mistake."
The familiar yet unfamiliar voices rang in Qiu Chen's head. He forced it down.
"If I was given another chance to go back to the past I'd still fall in love with you" Qiu Chen's this sentence made the faces of both men look really colorful. One was happy beyond himself, another was so bitter that he looked like he could kill someone. Then the heard his next words.
"People need to make mistakes. It's a part of growing up. If I weren't hurt by you, I would've never understood how precious love can be. I would've never understood how the right one would love me. I would've never learned to value the person who loves me. I would've never had the man I deserved. And I would've never found him" Qiu Chen looked over at Qu Yi who was sitting near them, love and tenderness flowing down his eyes. The last sentence he told wasn't for the original but for himself. If Bai Ling hadn't hurt the original, if the original hadn't had the obsession because of this, Qiu Chen would not have to come to this world, and would not meet Qu Yi. He is really grateful for this.
He looked back at Bai Ling and said with a smile, "Thank you for letting me meet him."
Qiu Chen's sincere smile finally made Bai Ling understand that he meant every word he said. There was no chance for himself at all. And Qiu Chen didn't blame him. He even forgot about the letter.
Bai Ling laughed self-deprecatingly. He pushed away this person. When this person was at his lowest, he only scolded him. But there was another who stood by his side at that time. It was quite normal for Qiu Chen to love that person so much. At least this person returned his love. Bai Ling suddenly felt if Qiu Chen hated him, it would be better. Then at least for hating him he would remember him. But the way Qiu Chen talked now, he was already a closed chapter in Qiu Chen's life. May be in a few years he would even forget the young love he once had for him. He will be happy together with that person.
Bai Ling watched Qiu Chen and Qu Yi as the exited the restaurant and touched the letter in his pocket. This is all he is left with now. Even if that person no longer remembered about him in future, this letter will always be the proof that he once loved him.