Chapitre 8: THE GOOD-FOR-NOTHING

Hungry and exhausted from work, Xuan Tianmei opened the door to the two-bedroom flat she shared with her twin brother, Xuan Tianyi.

Xuan Tianmei was immediately confronted with the sight of Xuan Tianyi leaning against their worn-out beige sofa, watching TV. She guessed — not wrongly — that he had been at home all day and hadn't done anything at all. Silently, she prayed that he had had the sense to prepare something for dinner, or at least gone out to buy takeouts.

Xuan Tianyi lifted his head from the TV and watched her tired figure walk lazily towards him. "Ah, Mei Mei. Are you back?"

Without giving him a reply, she eyed him warily and slumped into the armchair adjacent to where he sat.

"How was work?" Tianyi asked. Guilt, starting to worm its way into his mind, he added, "You look tired."

"Did you cook anything?" she asked, although the answer was now apparent to her.

"There was nothing to cook," he said.

Xuan Tianmei frowned slightly and glared at him. "So, you haven't had dinner?"

Xuan Tianyi shook his head while muttering a no.

"You," Xuan Tianmei pointed at him accusingly. She then continued, "If you don't make something for me to eat because you're lazy, that's okay. But what are you starving yourself for, what time is it now?"

Xuan Tianyi frowned. She was more upset because he hadn't eaten rather than because she'd come home to meet an empty table.

"If there's nothing to cook, why don't you just buy takeouts?" she asked, still nagging him.

Xuan Tianyi's frown deepened. "I don't have any money on me."

Xuan Tianmei sighed. Her voice softening, she asked, "Why didn't you just ask me?"

"Asking you for money all the time, isn't that embarrassing?" Xuan Tianyi pouted.

"How's it embarrassing? I'm your jie. If I don't take care of you, who will?" she asked with a faint smile.

She didn't mind that he was jobless, she didn't mind giving him money, she just wished he got off the couch sometimes. It was frustrating to return home from work at 8 or 9 pm and see the glass you left on the coffee table in a hurry still sitting there when someone had been at home all day.

"Whose jie are you? I'm your ge," Xuan Tianyi asked, frowning.

Although they had been told many times in the past that Xuan Tianmei was fifteen minutes older than Xuan Tianyi, and although Xuan Tianmei's actions had always seemed a lot more mature, Xuan Tianyi still refused to accept that Xuan Tianmei was older than she was.

He was jobless, and she took care of him and his needs a lot more than he did her, but he was a man while she was a woman. It only made sense to him that she acknowledged him as the elder.

Xuan Tianmei — who was happy whenever the topic of seniority was brought up — smiled.

She was the elder, she knew it and was sure he knew it in his heart as well.

Having the right to be referred to as the elder always gave Xuan Tianmei a sense of superiority and fulfillment. Most especially since she knew it was one of the things Xuan Tianyi — try as much as he might — couldn't take away from her. She had sacrificed her childhood and teen for him anyways. She was now sacrificing her youth for him. Don't talk about how she ceased being the most beautiful person in the room once he walked in.

"Okay, okay, fine, you're the elder," feeling that's what the older one should do, she conceded. "Let's go get something to eat."

As she got her purse, Xuan Tianyi started to hurry to his bedroom.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"To Comb my hair," he said, pointing to the direction of his bedroom.

"Your hair is fine, just run your hand through it a bit," she urged him, hunger and fatigue irritating her.

Xuan Tianyi shook his head adamantly. "That won't do. What if I run into someone at the canteen?"

"Aren't you ridiculous, who can you run into at the canteen?" she asked. Like she suddenly recalled her brother's reputation, she added, "That you haven't fucked yet."

Xuan Tianyi smirked, and said, "You can never tell."

With that, he dashed into his bedroom.

***

Thirty minutes into dinner, Xuan Tianmei sat alone at a table for two in a canteen not very far from hers and Xuan Tianyi's apartment, chewing on the end of her chopsticks. Her gaze, trapped at the table opposite her where her twin brother Xuan Tianyi was sitting with his arms around the shoulders of a strange man.

She still couldn't fathom How Xuan Tianyi, who was sitting in front of her had disappeared to the table opposite her.

Her eyes narrowed as she stared eerily at her brother whose lips were so close to the stranger's ears, it almost looked like he was nibbling on them.

As Xuan Tianyi retracted his arm, he and his stranger turned around to look at her, and she instantly noticed that the stranger's face had become red from blushing.

She gave them a small smile, and they turned back around. At this point, Xuan Tianmei had to admit that her brother was a demigod. A promiscuous little demigod. He flirted with a guy wherever he found himself and in her memory, no one had ever turned him down. If he wasn't a god, there was no explaining how else he did it.

***

"I thought you were going to ditch me," Xuan Tianmei complained to Xuan Tianyi as they walked along the path that led to their apartment from the canteen. The furiously blushing stranger not in sight.

Xuan Tianyi chuckled, then said, "Never."

Xuan Tianmei raised her brow at him, and he continued, "That guy was cute, but we went there together. I'll never ditch you for some random fuck."

Doubting the sincerity of his words, Xuan Tianmei sighed and asked, "Are all gay men this promiscuous?"

"I can't say," Xuan Tianyi brushed his hair with his hand. "I've heard gay people, generally are the most loyal lovers. And hey, I'm not that bad."

Xuan Tianmei scoffed, "Of course you're not. You just sleep with whomever you meet anywhere. Sleeping around like this when you're broke —"

"Okay, hold on," Xuan Tianyi interrupted her. "First, I don't sleep with whomever I meet. I flirt with whomever I meet. There's a big difference. I only sleep with those I like —"

"And never call them back."

"We already fucked. What am I calling them back for?"

Xuan Tianmei shook her head, "Acting like this. I doubt you're ever going to settle down."

"Isn't settling down a little too overrated? I mean, no one wants you anyways so I'll just... Ouch!"

"Idiot," Xuan Tianmei hit him on the back of his head as she cursed.

Xuan Tianyi laughed.

"Xiao Shuai," Xuan Tianmei called.

"Hmm?" Xuan Tianyi answered.

"Work has been pretty hectic lately. Can you go with me to assist me tomorrow? I'll give you 20% of my pay."

Xuan Tianyi furrowed his brows. He would get some money if he obliged her. The problem was that she was a makeup artist, "What can I assist with, isn't your job just painting people's faces?"

"Even if it's just to carry around my makeup bag, I'll appreciate it. That bag is so heavy."

"Okay, fine," he agreed.

As silence fell upon them, Xuan Tianmei peered at him curiously. Unable to shake off the scene at the canteen, she asked, "Seriously though, where do you draw the line at playing around?"

Xuan Tianyi thought about it for a moment and replied nonchalantly, "Rich people, I guess."

Xuan Tianmei chuckled, "Why?"

"Well... You and I, we've never really had enough of anything. I feel like the rich and people like us are two worlds apart. So it's like, let them continue to live in their world while I continue to live in my world."

Xuan Tianmei nodded, so Xuan Tianyi continued, "I feel like there's this boundary separating the rich from the poor and I don't want to cross it.

"You know those people... They think different from us. I just... Don't know how to explain it but I don't fuck with rich guys."

"Never?"

"Well, if I didn't notice he was rich before we did it... Then I guess it's okay.

"You know, I fucked this guy once, and while I was laying in bed, he asked me to date him. Said he'd buy me a car, a house, and all that bullshit. Even though it may not have been his intention, I felt like he was rubbing his money in my face and I felt disgusted with myself for fucking someone like that."

Xuan Tianmei laughed, "You? You can feel disgusted with yourself for fucking someone?"

"Of course," Tianyi said with a frown. "Since that time, I've never again done a guy with a flashy car."

Xuan Tianmei chuckled. It was nice to know her brother had some dignity. If you could call it that. "If you got hooked up on someone —"

Xuan Tianmei frowned as Xuan Tianyi interrupted her with a laugh that suggested she was saying a ridiculous thing. No one had managed to hold his attention for longer than a night.

"Listen to me first," she urged him.

"Okay, okay," he calmed himself down.

"What kind of person can hook you up? You know, make you loyal to him and think of settling down."

Xuan Tianyi thought about it for a second then replied to her, "Someone whos smart and likes me because he likes me, and not because I've got beautiful eyes and a pretty face." Almost dreamily, Tianyi continued, "When I meet someone who doesn't say he can't help loving me because I'm the prettiest person he's met, then I'll do everything to be with him. If —"

"Idiot," Xuan Tianyi's sharp tone brought Xuan Tianyi out of his daze. He turned to see she wasn't beside him anymore but was now standing behind him.

"You passed our house."

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