章 18: Holding hands

Qie Xieling looked at him with a perplexed expression. Why did it matter whether Luo Muchen was coming or not?

"I won't mess with him," he said and Qie Ranzhe was tongue-tied for a second.

"Just stay as far away as possible from him," he said and Qie Xieling grabbed his duffel bag while responding,

"You don't have to tell me twice. Bye pa."

Qie Ranzhe suddenly felt like he was overreacting. Qie Xieling didn't like Luo Muchen at all and he wasn't secretive about it. This should lower that kid's chances of attracting his son's attention, right? Well, this CEO had forgotten that there is a thin line between love and hate.

Qie Xieling forgot all about his conversation with his father when he saw Bo Ailun running towards him. He dodged when Bo Ailun tried to hug him but Bo Ailun insisted. Thus began their morning ritual of one wanting a bear hug and the other making him work extra hard for it.

The two of them tussled until Qie Xieling put Bo Ailun in a headlock. Bo Ailun tap Qie Xieling's hand yelling, "Dad, I was wrong please let me go."

Qie Xieling kissed his cheek before saying, "Good boy," with a soft chuckle.

Bo Ailun frantically wiped his cheek while pointing his finger at Qie Xieling. "I won't be satisfied unless I return it back to you," he said and began to chase Qie Xieling.

While running the two of them didn't look where they were going thus Qie Xieling bumped into Luo Muchen and Bo Ailun bumped into Qie Xieling.

Luo Muchen had been watching them for a while and he would be lying if he said he wasn't sour. Let's just say his mission to be friends with Qie Xieling failed miserably.

Qie Xieling still treated him the same. It was either he was messing with him or he would treat him like air. Personally, Luo Muchen preferred when Qie Xieling messed with him, at least he was paying attention to him.

If he didn't take full advantage of this opportunity then he wasn't his mother's son. He embraced Qie Xieling restraining him while saying, "Aren't you going to apologise?"

Qie Xieling, "..."

He could have taken the easy way out and said sorry but when did he ever choose the easy route? He turned his head slightly and said to Bo Ailun, "Do you hear something? I swear I heard someone or something talking but there is nothing there."

Bo Ailun who was more than familiar with the routine by now said, "I don't see anyone either. You must be hallucinating."

Luo Muchen, "..."

It took everything in him not to yell at Qie Xieling right now. He was about to tell him to apologise again when their teacher Mr Wong showed up and said, "Since you two are already joined to the hip you can be each other's, camping buddy."

Qie Xieling, 'Fuck!'

While Qie Xieling was swearing internally Luo Muchen was ecstatic. He let go of Qie Xieling and straightened himself up. As the class president, he had an image to uphold.

"No no sir I can not spend the entire weekend with him on my tail," protested Qie Xieling.

Mr Wong pulled down his glasses and turned to look at him suspiciously. "Why is it? Is it because you want to start trouble this weekend," he said and Qie Xieling was at a loss. He was very innocent but already he was being labelled an offender.

"The class president is the perfect partner for you. He will make sure you don't fool around this weekend," said Mr Wong and Qie Xieling almost collapsed. If his dad wasn't sick he would have called him right now to come to pick him up.

Qie Xieling sighed at his misfortune while walking towards Bo Ailun who had ditched him when Mr Wong suddenly appeared out of nowhere but his collar was grabbed from behind.

Qie Xieling, "WTF!"

Luo Muchen pulled him back and held his hand before saying, "Stay close otherwise Mr Wong will think I am not doing my due diligence."

Qie Xieling tried to free himself but the more he pulled the tighter the hold. "Class president if we keep holding hands like this someone will misunderstand," he said and Luo Muchen smiled slightly before saying,

"Who? Ailun?"

Qie Xieling was about to answer with a snort when a silver SUV pulled up and a bodyguard opened the passager car door. Lee Ya exited the car and Qie Xieling's eyes brightened. Of course, Lee Ya would misunderstand.

Luo Muchen's smile froze seeing that look on Qie Xieling's face. He couldn't understand why it made him upset. All he knew was that he felt gloomy and irritable. He just felt like he should separate the two so he acted on impulse dragging Qie Xieling to the bus.

Lee Ya noticed Qie Xieling and waved at him with a bright smile but before Qie Xieling could wave back he was pushed into the bus.

The rest of the classroom entered the bus and Qie Xieling was stuck at the window seat unable to leave. He wanted to talk some sense into the class president but Luo Muchen's face was so ugly right now that Qie Xieling couldn't even say a word. When the teacher was done explaining the rules and the other teacher doing a head count, Qie Xieling finally stood up and called his bestie.

Like a wolf responding to the alpha Bo Ailun stood up and the two performed what could be described as a messed-up version of Romeo and Juliet.

Qie Xieling's intentions were simple. Annoy Luo Muchen so much until he let him go but who was he kidding? If Luo Muchen could survive years of his nonsense what more an hour-long bus ride?

Teacher Wong wanted to tell the troublemakers to sit down but if he did that he would have to tell the girls to sit down as well. Soon he couldn't even say anything because a popular pop song played on the radio and the girls' squeals filled the entire bus.

Like any other child under eighteen, they were possessed with the spirit of singing along on a bus.

What no one expected was how good of a performer Qie Xieling was. Yes, he had two dads but they weren't the flamboyant bubbly type. Okay, that's a lie. The most likely culprit he had learnt it from could only be Wen Qinxi.

The most shocked of them all was Luo Muchen. He couldn't help staring. He stared so much that one almost thought his eyes were glued onto this person.