ANONYMOUS

Guan silently sits alone on the couch surrounded by darkness.

The apartment feels empty.

The world feels empty.

His life feels empty.

Watching the city lights from the wide floor to ceiling window of his apartment, the encounter with his brother earlier flashed through his mind. Although he is not really mad with his brother, the tone he used puts him in a shitty mood.

While it is true that he once desired Min Chu, it is totally different from what he feels as of now. He already backed off from their lives and made some realizations in New York. Judging from what he saw from the photos of their wedding shown by Su Bin, the both of them happy together, especially Min Chu. He did not even attend their wedding to give them some peace of mind. Why is his brother still angry towards him?

Was it because of that night?

"Shit!" he hisses through gritted teeth as he kicked the coffee table.

The furniture rattled and made a screeching sound all over the silent apartment.

Guan composes himself and dials Su Bin's number; combing his hair backwards to appease his frustration.

"Yo!"

Guan narrows his eyes, annoyed with how much glee Su Bin sounded.

"Find me a match. Now," Guan commands, having no room for argument.

"What? Dude, you know we just got out of trouble. What if Uncle--"

"He won't." Then he hangs up.

On the other end…

"What the fuck?! Did he just…I am so gonna kill him later."

Su Bin is still in the company, reading some documents sent by Guan Qing. Glancing at the documents and at his phone, he mulls over whether he should do what Guan had asked. Adjusting his tie, he searches through his contacts and calls someone.

A little while later, he called Guan.

"** road, your opponent is unknown and the stakes are high. What's your decision?"

"Let's go," is the only reply Su Bin got and the line went dead.

He stares at his phone and knew that something is definitely wrong.

Su Bin arrived only to find Guan leaning against the car, with his hands inside his pockets. He seems apathetic towards everyone; even ignoring the women giving him signals nearby. He just stood there, head on the ground while lightly kicking the dirt on the ground. He is still wearing the same clothes in the hospital earlier: a black blazer, white tee, and jeans.

The venue is already packed with people. It is only half-past ten. As he walks towards his cousin, Su Bin looks around for someone suspicious, just incase another incident might happen.

"Yo! Su Bin!"

A man greets Su Bin and shakes his hand, stopping him from his tracks. He warmly returns the greeting while his eyes glance at Guan's direction from time to time.

"Yo, man, you were gone for a long time. Thought the two of you will never be back for good. We had a hard time reorganizing after that incident with the police, you know? My Dad also found out about the organization."

"Yeah, sorry about that, man." Distracted, Su Bin taps the man's shoulder but his eyes are on his cousin, who is now talking to a woman. He almost scoffed out loud. "Who is the challenger tonight?" he asked, finally putting his full attention on the man.

"Tony never gave a name, but he said this one's a big shot, said it will be a surprise. You know how he likes surprises."

Su Bin nods in confusion. "Sure. Thank you."

"No problem."

Su Bin left and finally reaches Guan's side He passes a cigarette stick to which the latter gladly accepts and lights instantly. The woman he saw earlier is nowhere of sight.

"You okay?"

"What do you think?" Guan replies, blowing off a cloud of smoke.

He chuckles and asks again, "Where is she?"

"Who? Ah~" Guan points at a direction where the woman is using his chin.

Su Bin raises a brow, "Ha, you were just fussing about checking on someone else's profile, and now--"

"I turned her down."

*cough! cough!*

Su Bin got choke with what Guan had said. "That's new?"

"I'm not in the mood."

He shrugged at his answer. "Figures."

As they were busy talking to kill time, a commotion starts as a luxurious car arrives. It looks more luxurious than Guan's, therefore, a huge crowd gathered around to check as to whom the car belongs to.

The two of them just stay in their place and watch as the crowd gather around in front of them. A while later, the owner must have got off the car as they heard gasps and wows.

The people are parting to the side. It looks like the owner of the car is heading towards them.

"Shit."

Guan heard Su Bin curse beside him. "You know him?"

"It looks like I do," Su Bin answers, his jaws clenching while throwing the cigarette on the ground.

"Business rival?"

"It is more than that"

Guan's interest is piqued with his answer. "Care to elaborate?"

"L-later. Let's talk later," Su Bin couldn't stand the way Guan is staring at him. It feels heavy.

"You--"

"Well, well, well…if it isn't the Niu's," the man smirks at Su Bin before turning to Guan. "It's nice to meet you at such an event. I believe you have no idea who I am, but your lovely cousin here has the perfect idea as to who I am."

The man was smiling while talking but it's not welcoming. Instead, it carries a hint of coldness and mockery.

Guan checks him out from head to toe. This man looks decent, he does belong here but his haughtiness and provocation irked Guan. He is going to crush him tonight.

"Let's continue our wonderful chat after the match."

The man turns his back and went to his car, leaving Guan and Su Bin speechless.

"What the hell was that?!" Guan finally found his voice after the man left. "Who the hell is he?"

Su Bin could not find a way to explain to him. "Let's just…finish the race, okay? I'll explain everything after."

"Your explanation better be good." Guan's nose starts flaring in anger as he enters his car; slamming the door as he does.

Through the cheerful noise and the blaring sound of music, the MC starts to hype up the crowd to announce the start of the race. The crowd gather at the starting point where two luxurious cars are waiting for the signal.

The MC introduces them to the audience. Even though he's only been in the country for over a month, Guan is already considered a pro in drag racing and is the crowd's favorite. Thanks to Su Bin's wide network, he had been able to compete plenty of races the moment he arrived and elevated his name.

The crowd went wild when they saw Guan gets out of his car. He maintains his smug face as his eyes never left the car next to him; waiting for the other party to get out. He really is curious as to what is the real identity of this man, and what is his connection with Su Bin.

The MC introduced the man with the name 'Jay'. The crowd also cheered but not as loud as when Guan was introduced.

The rules of the race are given before the race starts but Guan only half-listened as he knew them by heart.

Before getting in, the man named Jay gives him a 'good luck' with a smirk.

"Fuck off," is Guan's only answer and heard the man laugh.

Guan is already in a shitty mood earlier and this man is making it worse. He thought that racing tonight would calm him down but he is totally wrong.

A woman in a black jumpsuit stood in front of them with flags raised in each of her hand.

Smiling coquettishly, she shouts, "Ready!"

Engines rev as the crowd go wild.

The moment the woman puts her hands down, the two cars speed past her – leaving a cloud of dust.

Su Bin feels anxious as he watches the cars fade in the dark with only their taillights shining.

He feels really anxious, but it is not because of the race.