Chapter 181 - 181 - Romantic Gesture

9 Am the shuttle bus came over to pick up the construction workers. A few hundred of them lined up in front of the gates. Men, women, and children. Anyone who is willing was given a job and was paid with food.

Before going out, Yue pulled up his hair into a top bun, secured it with a bun bin, and wore the hood up. Plus, he wore a face mask hiding half of his face. Next, he wore huge sunnies hiding his eye and eyebrows.

Fan Xui just curiously looked at him.

"You should wear your hood up too." he pulled him down to his height and adjusted the hood over his head and placed the face mask on him. "You are too pretty for this place. Don't ever let anyone see your beauty,"

Fan Xui chuckled. "I should be the one saying that..." he gently caressed his masked face. "You still look beautiful,"

"Really? then my plan failed. I might have to start wearing my old man costume tomorrow," Yue mumbled, adjusting the mask and glasses over his face.

Fan Xui silently held his hand. The first time he met Yue, he was also wearing a getup. He looked like a beggar who had barely washed his face or his hair. Even so, his steady-looking eyes were brilliant and beautiful enough to capture his heart.

'Nothing can wear down his beauty... sigh... my duty to protect him is not going to be easy,'

He could already see many men glancing at Yue's way with interest.

Fan Xui moved up front, hiding Yue from those prying eyes.

The line slowly moved, and they finally got in.

Yue and Fan sat upfront with Yue on the window side.

Qian stood there with an unknown look on his face. "Hey Yue, what does Peng Peng like?" he shouted.

Yue forced open the jammed windows and shouted back. "Wine, get him wine, and don't worry, he will forgive you. Just prepared to grovel a lot,"

"I should," Qian sighed. "I will have to do a lot of groveling...."

This was the first time Fan Xui had ever seen Qian so distracted. When it comes to lovers, Qian had no luck because he was too aloof/dumb. He did not care about anyone other than his research. But now....

He looked like he was on the verge of tears.

The shuttle drove away, leaving Qian standing there alone by the gate.

Qian glanced up at the sky, not letting the tears drip down. "It's going to be okay... wine... I need wine," he ran back into the barrack to one of the old general's offices. He was known to have a wide collection of wines and whiskeys stored in there preciously.

But the old man passed away at the first wave of the zombie apocalypse. That room was given to another senior officer.

He sneaked in and pulled all the drawers out, revealing the back. there was a small fridge in there. it had a fully organized win wine secretly hidden. He picked out the topmost.

"Chateau Lafite Rothschild, 1946," read the label. "it's old, must be good," he picked that one and ran out the room quickly before anyone noticed him.

Peng Peng's house was quite close to both his father's house and the barracks. It was in a small secluded area with a lot of private houses. The military patrol the area often so it was relatively safe. And also it was right next to Liwei's house.

Standing before the door, he shuffled his feet anxiously. "Should I knock.... he will reject me again... aghh...."

The front door was firmly locked. So he went to the side, checking on the windows. It was locked, but the latch can easily be opened.

Standing on his tippy-toes, he reached the window. With a credit card, he swiped the small gap in between the two windows, pulling up the latch.

It was opened in no time.

"Yes..." then came the second hurdle.

He did not know how to climb in. The window was quite high up from the ground. There was nothing nearby that he could use to climb over.

"Fuck, I climbed up and down an elevator shaft. Who hard can a window be..." he gripped onto the window sill and slowly pulled himself up.

Halfway up, he realized that he completely overestimated his arm strength. His biceps were aching and burning, to no avail.

"I can do this... Romeo had to climb into a balcony... why can't I climb into a window for god's sake..." he grumbled, putting one of his legs up.

After a few minutes of struggle, he rolled into the house unceremoniously onto a floor full of beer and wine bottles.

Some poked his back painfully, thankfully none of them broke.

Qian Wen got up with difficulty massaging his back and arms. Looking around, all he could see were snacks packets, and bottles rolling on the floor and on the sofa.....

He had previously been to Peng's place before. His boyfriend was very keen on keeping everything clean and will not even let a single piece of nail on the ground.

"Why is this place like this? Peng Peng.... are you here?"

A loud shuffling sound was heard, and the bed creaked a bit.

"Peng Peng," Qian ran to his bedroom and looked in. There was a huge pile of bedsheets on top of the bed.

"Why are you here? Go out!" Peng Peng harshly shouted from inside the sheets.

"i... I just wanted to see you... I knew you won't open the door for me.. so kind of used the window. You really should secure your latches. Maybe make it into a digital one, as Yue has. It will be more secure..."

"I don't need your advice on how to live! Get out!"

Qian froze. He could see a small foot that was poking out of the huge pile of sheets, trembling slightly. "I...missed you so much. L-let me just sit here for a minute… I just want to talk to someone. " He sat at the corner of the bed and gently touched his feet.

Peng Peng's toes curled up, but he did not pull away.

"You know... it was all my fault. Everything was my fault... I watched my student turn into a zombie right in front of my eyes. He was crying for me to save him... but I couldn't... I didn't know how to...."

Peng Peng poked half his face out. His eyes looked swollen and tired with a thick ring of dark circles under his eyes. "It's not your fault."

Seeing his face Qian finally broke down. The tears he had been holding in rolled down uncontrollably. "Oh Peng Peng... I wish that was the truth....everything..."

"Everything is my fault,"

"Shut up, it was that blazing rock that fell from the sky,"

Qian shook his head silently sobbing. "You don't understand. I was the one who asked them to bring it down. I was the reason the meteor even struck earth...so many died because of my mistake."

Peng Peng's eyes went wide.

Qian did not have the courage to look up in fear he might see disappointment and anger in those eyes. "Every day I wake up I felt numb...."

"i.... I didn't feel like living anymore."