Chapter 10

As soon as Shuyi entered his class, he met Zack who was anxiously waiting for him.

"Oh there you are, why didn't you pick any of my calls last night?"

"Ahh I'm sorry I felt exhausted and slept early."

"Huhh..I'm pissed but it's understandable. Anyone would feel exhausted after being ambushed like that."

"Anyway how did you find me? I had no hope to be rescued since I saw nobody around that area for as far as I looked."

"I didn't, it was Shide who guessed it. I could swear I saw tears in his eyes while he was looking for you."

Shuyi didn't say anything but his cheeks got flushed in an instant.

"Shuyi, I genuinely think he likes you."

"You're imagining things Zack, we're just friends."

"For now maybe."

Shuyi and Zack burst out laughing. The day went on like every other day with one lecture followed by another. Shide got out of the cafeteria with his friends and saw Akira standing in a corner gesturing Shide to meet him.

"What do you want?"

"I'm not going to beat around the bush, I know you guys aren't together for a fact. I don't want you to be a collateral damage between me and Shuyi since you're of some significance to my boyfriend. So it would be better for you if you end this charity act of yours now and leave Shuyi to me."

"Look I don't know why it's so hard for your rotten brain to grasp but Shuyi is my man and the next time you try to hurt him will be your last day on the campus, mark my words. I'm sure your boyfriend already told you about everything I can do to you if you piss me off"

Shide didn't wait to hear his reply, rather he went straight to Shuyi.

"Shuyi...." He turned around and saw Shide waving at him. "Hey, why're you here? Aren't you supposed to be in your class right now?"

"I am, but I just quickly needed to see my boyfriend" Shuyi was shook to hear Shide call him his boyfriend around people and instantly put his hand on Shide's mouth.

"Shhhhh, I know we agreed on this but until Akira causes some sorta trouble, I don't think we need to pretend"

"Trust me, I have a reason for doing this. Wait a minute, are you embarrassed to be my boyfriend?"

Shuyi ruffled his hair and corner of his mouth turned up slightly in a smile. "No..you're overthi...."

Before Shuyi could finish, Shide took out his phone to click a selfie and grabbed Shuyi by his shoulder "then prove it"

Zack and Yuxin were standing at a distance watching  both of them.

"What's going on with them?" Yuxin turned to Zack.

"When did they get so close?" Zack whispered. Shuyi caught Zack and Yuxin looking in their direction and waved his arm.

"What took you so long? I thought you went to get coffee"

"There was a long waiting line so I changed my mind and met Yuxin on the way back, anyway what are you two doing?" Zack looked curiously at Shide who still had his arm around Shuyi. Shuyi tried to step away but Shide grabbed him again "we're taking a couple selfie"

Zack and Yuxin looked startled and confused. Zack opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out for a moment.

Looking at them making funny faces and at a loss of words, Shuyi laughed lightly and gently hit Shide on his arm "look what you did to them, we're not really a couple. We're just pretending to be one so that Akira stops targeting me"

Zack breathed a sigh " ahh...so this is what's going on, that explains the sudden closeness between you two" Little did he know they lived under the same roof everyday.

"In that case, you guys should behave a little more like couples to convince Akira. Shuyi, why don't you kiss Shide on his cheek in the photo like most couples do?" Yuxin remarked.

Shuyi looked at Shide who had a shy smile on his face " I don't think that's required, just click a picture and get it over with"

Shide pointed his phone and grabbed Shuyi's shoulder but just as he pressed the click button, he gave Shuyi a quick peck on his cheek.

Shuyi's face got flushed at his touch and he quickly stepped away to control his goosebumps. Shide looked at the picture in his phone "now this looks like we're really lovers" He glanced at Shuyi looking adorably cute with red cheeks "I'll go now, pick you up at the day end"

Shuyi nodded lightly and Shide walked away. Zack and Yuxin were looking at them like fans watching romantic drama. "I'm so shipping them together!!" Yuxin said grabbing Zack's arm tightly. "Ow....don't you have a class right now?" "Shiya!! I gotta run, see you"

Zack and Shuyi started walking to their class "Do really you think this would work?"

"I'm hoping, it's the only option, Shide is kind enough to help otherwise I'd probably have to leave the college"

"He seems to be really enjoying his role though" Zack looked Shuyi in his eyes and winked. Shuyi giggled a little " He's just...playing the part..I guess"

Zack opened the class door for both of them "if you say so"

Shuyi wondered what Zack meant by this but let it slide. "Would you and Yuxin like to ride with Shide and me on the way to the camping site tomorrow?"

"Sure, if that wouldn't disturb the couple's quality time" Zack burst out laughing and ran into the class before Shuyi could hit him.

Later that evening

Akira and Yuuki were in their apartment watching TV.

"Akira, look....Gao Shide posted a picture on his social media" It was the selfie they had clicked earlier in the university captioned 'mine❤️'

"Ughh..how much longer is he going to hide Shuyi behind him? It's starting to annoy me now"

"Akira, I think you should forget about the revenge, I really don't want us to piss Shide off"

Akira looked angrily at Yuuki " forget? you know it better than anybody that there's no way I'd do that. You first hand saw how Shuyi cursed and humiliated me in front of all my close friends. No only that, he hit me on the face making me a laughing stock for months. I know I cheated on him, but our relationship was over long before then when all he cared about was preparing for university entrance exam and yet because of him people thought of me as a fuckboy. I gradually lost my close friends ever since that day. My landlord heard everything Shuyi shouted that day and he passed it on to my parents. I was thrown out of the house and lost my family's trust for good. So don't tell me to forgive him, cause that's not an option."

Yuuki half hugged Akira and rubbed his back "I'm sorry for being so inconsiderate, let's force Shide to end this drama and once Shuyi has no one to hide behind, I'll help you finish him. I called some contacts and enquired about Shide after our last encounter with him. His exes are all girls which means he's not into guys, totally confirming that they're just pretending to be together for Shuyi's sake"

"Posting pictures is easy, tomorrow on the camping trip, let's see how far can Shide take it to protect Shuyi."