CH 58

Huo Ran wanted to keep asking, but Kou Chen suddenly stood up, got a pair of underwear from his bag, and swung it around his finger as he headed for the bathroom.

“Where are you going?” Huo Ran asked. 

“Shower,” Kou Chen said. “I feel sticky all over. Sure it’s nice and warm here, but it’s way too humid, I can’t take it.”

“We’re not done talking yet?” Huo Ran followed him to the bathroom door.

Kou Chen didn’t close the door either. He took his clothes off with his back to the door, revealing half of his grim reaper.

You had to say that the tattoo artist was pretty talented. Every time the grim reaper appeared it was like it came with its own background music. Very eye-catching. 

And the design avoided the parts that would distort when you moved, but at the same time, it almost came to life with that movement.

Mhm… Nice.

And the entire thing was even cooler. The black flames and the reaper’s cape molded into one, and his ass crack was covered in all the flames…

Ass crack?

The entire thing?

Huo Ran suddenly realized that not only did Kou Chen take his shirt off, he had already taken his pants off as well, and had turned to look at him.

“How do you strip so fast?” Huo Ran asked a bit awkwardly.

“Shirt, then pants and underwear together, and done.” Kou Chen said. “What else is there? I’m not disabled.” 

“Oh.” Huo Ran nodded, thinking that he had a point.

“I’ll talk to you later, I’m showering first.” Kou Chen turned on the water and tested the temperature. “A cold shower is fine in this weather, nice.”

As he sprayed himself with the water, some of it splashed outside the shower and onto Huo Ran’s legs.

“Fuck,” Huo Ran backed away, “The water’s coming out, do you even know how to shower?” 

“The grim reaper’s not gonna keep an eye out for me, what can I do? And it’s not like I have eyes in the back of my head.” Kou Chen turned back to him, suddenly yelling, “What are you standing there for? Close the door!”

“Fuck,” Huo Ran startled.

He felt really embarrassed when he realized he was standing outside the door the whole time Kou Chen was showering, so he immediately jumped off to the side and back to the bed.

“Ranran!” Kou Chen called from the bathroom, “Can you get me my phone?” 

“Why?” Huo Ran sat up. “What’s wrong with you? Shower selfie?”

“Gotta take a picture of me taking a cold shower in January.” Kou Chen said.

“Can you even tell from a photo?” Huo Ran handed him his phone. “What’s the difference between hot and cold water?”

“Hot water creates steam.” Kou Chen took a selfie before handing his phone back. “You don’t even know that?” 

“Now I do.” Huo Ran left.

Kou Chen was probably in a good mood. He was humming songs the whole time he was showering.

But it’s pretty much one of his habits. In the dooms, he could hear him sing all kinds of songs in the shower even through the walls.

Huo Ran sat cross-legged on the bed and watched TV. There wasn’t much on at that time, so he picked a news channel and zoned out. 

“You’re not tired?” Kou Chen finished showering and handed him a can of coke from the fridge before opening his own.

“It wouldn’t be very decent of me to fall asleep before you’re done showering, would it?” Huo Ran drank his coke and said with a laugh.

“Come on,” Kou Chen sat beside him, leaning on a cluster of pillows and blankets. “You just wanna hear the gossip. How I hit the teacher, why I hit the teacher, why I hit the teacher again… right?” 

Huo Ran only smiled.

“Actually, I don’t like talking about it.” Kou Chen tipped his head back and took two large sips. “It’s not fun. I haven’t even told Chuan-ge and the guys.”

“…Nevermind then.” Huo Ran suddenly felt a bit guilty. “It’s fine if you… don’t want to say.”

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Leb Ejc arxfv.

“Po sbe gfjiis vbc’a kjca wf ab rjs la atfc P kbc’a?” Bbe Jtfc qbxfv tlw lc atf yjmx klat tlr offa.

Leb Ejc ibbxfv ja tlw.

Giving you a taste of my nimble toes.” Kou Chen said as he crawled the two toes up his back. “How about it?” 

Each step of his toe was very nimble, and Huo Ran could feel its every movement.

Impressive, impressive.

Kou Chen’s probably very happy with such a skill.

“Very awesome,” Huo Ran said. “You can get your feet away from me now.” 

Kou Chen ignored him and put his other foot on his back, crawling them up the same way. “I can give you a little dance too.”

It kinda made Huo Ran want to laugh, like Kou Chen was poking at his ticklish spots.

He allowed it for a moment, but when Kou Chen showed no signs of stopping, he twisted around and grabbed Kou Chen’s ankle.

“What are you doing? What are you doing?!” Kou Chen pitched his voice like it was his toes that were talking. His toes wiggled nimbly as they struggled. 

“Fuck off!” Huo Ran smacked his foot.

“Ah, ah…” Kou Chen continued yelling.

“Fuck,” Huo Ran smacked his foot again, “Are you gonna talk or not!”

“See?” Kou Chen laughed, “I was right.” 

“Mhm.” Huo Ran sighed and let go of his foot. “Go on, we started it anyway, and I’m not feeling very generous right now. I wanna hear, I wanna know why you hit the teacher. I’ve been curious for a whole semester now.”

“Okay then, since we’re such good friends.” Kou Chen took his feet back.

Huo Ran turned around and crossed his legs again, looking at him.

Kou Chen didn’t immediately start talking. He furrowed his brows, seemingly thinking about how he should start it. A moment later, he looked up at him: “Are you homophobic?”

“Wha…” Huo Ran started. It took him a couple seconds to react, “Homophobic? Why would I be?”

“Good.” Kou Chen grabbed his bag and took out his cigarettes. He unfolded the map on his lap and put the ashtray on it, before lighting his smoke.

Huo Ran watched him blow out smoke, feeling like he just discovered some massive secret. He asked carefully: “You’re… gay?” 

“No,” Kou Chen narrowed his eyes behind the smoke and laughed. “But who knows, it’s not like I’ve dated anyone before. I gotta fall in love first before I know… Anyways, I had a friend…”

Huo Ran looked at him, the gears in his brain spinning.

“Actually, I can’t really call him a friend. We were in the same class in middle school, and then again in high school.” Kou Chen said. “We talked sometimes. Not really friends, but we didn’t hate each other.”

“He is?” Huo Ran asked. 

“Mhm.” Kou Chen nodded. “But I’m not really sure. He was a bit introverted, the quiet kind. I still don’t really know how he was gay.”

“You can’t really tell that, right?” Huo Ran said. “You’re being a bit stereotypical here.”

“Shut up,” Kou Chen blew smoke at him. “Anyways, in our first year, our teacher did something similar to Old Yuan. Told us to write our thoughts down in a letter, and it’ll be kept secret.”

Huo Ran immediately realized what happened. 

“The teacher didn’t keep his secret, right?” He asked.

“Mhm.” Kou Chen grimaced slightly. “First he called him in for a chat, then he told the other teachers, and a bunch of people found out after that… Actually, if it were just the students who knew, they didn’t really care, but the teacher wanted to call his parents in.”

“Holy shit.” Huo Ran said.

“He begged on his knees in the teacher’s office, and a lot of our classmates saw.” Kou Chen put out his cigarette and frowned. “Do you know what it feels like? Even though it didn’t happen to me, I never trusted him to keep our secrets, so I copied an essay praising the motherland and handed that in… But he trusted him. He held it in for too fucking long, and probably thought he would find some comfort in the teachers I guess, that’s what I think.” 

“Then why did you trust Old Yuan?” Huo Ran went off topic for a second.

“I didn’t in the beginning,” Kou Chen said. “But he’s done so much for us, and I’m not blind. Besides, hasn’t Old Yuan always been trustworthy?”

“Mhm.” Huo Ran laughed. “Poor guy… So that’s why you hit the teacher?”

“Beat him up.” Kou Chen raised an eyebrow. “It was pretty gruesome. How would you feel seeing a classmate beg at the teacher’s feet to not tell his parents? And he didn’t even keep his promise, the whole school already knew.” 

Huo Ran squeezed the coke can. If it happened to someone in their class… It really wasn’t a good feeling.

“I beat him up on the field, in between classes. The principal, the dean, they were all there.” Kou Chen said. “I wanted to do it in front of the whole school, so he could get a taste of what it feels like to be humiliated in front of everyone.”

“And then?” Huo Ran leaned forward and asked a bit eagerly.

“And then I got punished for it, and they called my parents.” Kou Chen said. “My dad paid off the teacher’s family, and kept it under wraps.” 

“Why did you hit him a second time?” Huo Ran said.

“Because the student went missing.” Kou Chen’s voice suddenly lowered. “He didn’t come to school the day after he begged, and then I never saw him again. I still don’t know what happened to him.”

Huo Ran opened his mouth, but no words came out.

“After I found out he went missing, a group of us beat the teacher up on the field again.” Kou Chen said. “This time we went a little overboard. The people at my old school aren’t like the people here at all. They show no mercy… we sent him to the hospital.” 

“Good job.” Huo Ran squeezed the can again, making coke spray out of the top and splash onto Kou Chen’s face.

Kou Chen glanced at him and wiped his face: “Fucking finish that right now! Immediately! It’s almost full and you’re still squeezing it?”

Huo Ran tipped his head back and downed the rest of the coke.

“This time not even my dad could pay to cover it up. The school gave me the option of transferring or getting suspended.” Kou Chen said. “I chose to transfer. I didn’t want to stay at that shitty place anymore. It’s disgusting.” 

“Did your dad hit you?” Huo Ran asked.

“No,” Kou Chen said. “My sister supported me on it, said men should just be a bit violent and all that. So my dad didn’t do anything, only yelled at me. That was fine, my dad’s a lot worse at yelling at people than he is hitting them.”

Huo Ran breathed a little sigh of relief, and didn’t say anything.

He suddenly felt a bit empty.

Fuzhong was a pretty open-minded school. The teachers were all rather nice, with a couple exceptions. And then there were teachers like Old Yuan. So the first thought Huo Ran had when he heard Kou Chen’s story was that it was pretty unbelievable.

It was unbelievable that those teachers existed, that something like that happened.

If it was at Fuzhong, even if it really happened, it wouldn’t be dealt with to that extreme. If it were in their class, in front of Old Yuan, it probably wouldn’t even happen in the first place. 

The huge difference between the two schools made him feel a little emotional.

How did that student feel at that moment? How did he feel after? Where did he go? How is he doing now?

None of those questions have answers.

“How about it?” Kou Chen asked. “Never would’ve expected that, right?” 

“Mhm.” Huo Ran nodded. He took a cigarette from the pack, and grabbed the map and ashtray to put on his own lap. “Everyone says it’s because the teacher talked too much and got on your nerves, that’s why you hit him.”

“Everyone says?” Kou Chen helped him light the cigarette. “I was the one that fucking said it.”

Huo Ran laughed: “And you say you don’t exaggerate?”

“Was I?” Kou Chen said. “I said I hit the teacher, I said he got on my nerves, and he really did talk a lot. I would take him five fucking minutes to spit out something Old Yuan could in one sentence.” 

Huo Ran almost choked on his laughter.

“I never understood that. It’s not like he gets paid by the hour, so what’s the point in dragging classes out for so long?” Kou Chen tsked. “He was just bad.”

Huo Ran didn’t say anything, only listening to Kou Chen insult that teacher. When he was done, he moved on to insult the principal. When he finished his coke he raised his chin at Huo Ran: “Go, get Ge another coke.” 

“You’re drinking coke, not alcohol.” Huo Ran didn’t move. “Are you drunk? Who’s your Ge?”

“I’m telling you to get it for me, no room for discussion.” Kou Chen stared at him.

Huo Ran still didn’t move, and stared back at him.

“Aren’t you also drinking coke? It’s like you’re drunk too.” Kou Chen said. “I just want you to get me a coke, why are you fighting me on it?” 

Huo Ran thought that Kou Chen had a point, so he thought about it seriously and then he replied: “…I dunno.”

“Gege loves you.” Kou Chen said.

Huo Ran startled, suddenly thinking back to Sports Day, when he yelled ‘Gege loves you’ at Kou Chen. He couldn’t help but laugh.

“Go get it.” Kou Chen smiled smugly and waved him off. 

Huo Ran hopped off the bed and looked in the fridge: “There’s no more, Sprite?”

“Nah, I’m not touching a drop of Sprite without alcohol.” Kou Chen picked up the phone and called the front desk. “Good evening, can I get a case of coke? A small case. Coca-Cola, not Pepsi, thank you… Bold? What bold? Oh, oh, cold, yes please.”

“One case?” Huo Ran was surprised.

“Six cans.” Kou Chen said. “For tomorrow too.” 

Someone quickly got them their coke, and Huo Ran handed Kou Chen one before putting the rest in the fridge.

“You’re not drinking any?”

“How am I supposed to sleep then?” Huo Ran laid down on the other bed. “Didn’t even sleep last night.”

“You made me tell you a bedtime story?” Kou Chen said. 

“Exactly.” Huo Ran laughed.

Kou Chen didn’t say anything as he drank his coke with a smile.

Right as Huo Ran was about to nod off, Kou Chen came and sat on his bed. “I’m gonna turn off the light, do you want the normal lamp or the sparkly shell lamp?”

“Sparkly… The sparkly shell lamp I guess.” Huo Ran actually wanted the normal lamp, but it was something Kou Chen bravely haggled the price down a buck to gift him after all. 

“Okay.” Kou Chen was very satisfied with his answer. He turned on the shell lamp and covered it with a towel before turning off the big light and going back to his own bed. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” Huo Ran said.

After that, Huo Ran couldn’t fall asleep. 

It wasn’t because of the lamp, Kou Chen put a towel over it so it wasn’t that bright. Maybe he drank too much coke.

He turned around and glanced at Kou Chen on the other bed.

He found that he wasn’t sleeping, he was air cycling.

“Aren’t you a bit too energetic?” Huo Ran was shocked. 

“Can’t sleep.” Kou Chen said. “I can’t sleep after thinking about all that. Makes me sad.”

“Sorry about that.” Huo Ran said.

“My ass.” Kou Chen turned his head as he cycled, “Actually, every time I think about it, it puzzles me. Is it really that big of a deal? It’s not like he murdered someone.”

Huo Ran didn’t say anything. 

“Ranran,” Kou Chen looked at him. “Keep it a secret, don’t tell anyone.”

“Mhm.” Huo Ran nodded.

“Now you know another one of my little secrets.” Kou Chen laughed. “So you’re the person who knows the most of my secrets.”

“So much pressure.” Huo Ran laughed. 

But it really was a nice feeling.