Reptiles

"I'll kill you, you bastard!" I yelled as a threw dirt in Long Jingluo's face. Did I? My glasses were broken and on the floor.

"Ugh!" Long Jingluo fell on the ground again.

It was a bit blurry and dark, my vision was not helping.

It seems like Long Jingluo was staring at something. A tree stick? But it was bending... a rope? He stood up and threw it at my chest, lightly. I grab it with both of my hands. The rope was strangely warm, the texture was rough like fish scales, and it's moving... moving?

I quickly threw it away and started to panic.

It was a snake! Definitely a snake! It was slithering in my hands! The way how they move without legs? Disgusting! Burn it! Kill it! Stab it! Don't let it get close to me! The skin texture was horrible! Worse than sandpaper! Ew! I just touched it!

- - - - - - - - - -

Long Jingluo noticed a snake slithering around in the dark. From the color and the scale patterns, it wasn't venomous. He stood up and threw the snake. He thought it would be funny, but his conscience started to kick him. Xie Feihao had always been afraid of reptiles, but the person right in front of him couldn't be Xie Feihao. It would be fine... right?

A few seconds passed as he silently watched. There wasn't any reaction from Xie Feihao. Long Jingluo got slightly upset that his predictions were correct.

As he was about to conclude, Xie Feihao dropped the snake and ran behind him. Long Jingluo jumped from Xie Feihao's sudden movement.

"Ew! Ew! Ew! Get that thing away from me! I just touched it!" Xie Feihao yelled and panicked, "Kill that thing with fire!"

Long Jingluo raised both of his hands to head-level unconsciously. That was how he reacted in the past when he was a child. He and Xie Feihao used to play in the back garden at the age of 8, looking for crickets and insects. That came to a stop when they found a large snapping turtle. It had almost snapped Xie Feihao's finger off when he tried to feed it.

There were many encounters with reptiles after that incident, but it never ended well for Xie Feihao. He was never good with animals, after all.

Long Jingluo imagined the snack cursed Xie Feihao in his head before it slithered away. "It's gone. Calm down!" Long Jingluo told Xie Feihao. He turned his head to find Xie Feihao wiping his hands on Long Jingluo's jacket.

Long Jingluo froze. He expected Xie Feihao to cry.

A shadow appeared behind them. Long Jingluo turned his head back; it was Yang Li. Long Jingluo thought Xie Feihao's scream must have caught Yang Li's attention.

"Haohao, what are you doing?" Yang Li asked while holding a flashlight, noticed what the two of them are doing.

"Baptizing my hands." Xie Feihao replied while glaring at both of his hands.

Yang Li started to burst out laughing, "I came because I thought someone was dying, but you freak out because of a lizard!" His laughter caught Li Honglie and Li Feifei's attention.

"It was worse! A snake! A snake I'll tell you! It was slithering in my hands!"

"So Xie Feihao's weakness are snakes." Li Honglie had a dark expression on her face, "I'll keep that on my mind." Then she started to laugh menacingly.

"Was it venomous?" Li Feifei asked as she hid behind Li Honglie.

Long Jingluo thought it was strange that he felt relief.

"So you two fought in the forest? And you lost? Ha!" Li Honglie laughed as she pointed at Xie Feihao from the backseat next to Li Feifei.

"Shut up." Xie Feihao mumbled while a part of his cheek was covered in bandages.

Long Jingluo was confused. Why is Xie Feihao angry? A third of his face was covered in bandages.

"Haohao, what did you do to him? He looks irritated!" Yang Li had tried to keep his voice down so Long Jingluo won't be able to hear, but he failed.

Long Jingluo, who was in the front passenger seat, turned his head to glare at them, but the only response he'd received was a laugh from Li Honglie, "Look at his face!" She burst out.

In the midst of the cacophony caused by Li Honglie and Yang Li, Long Jingluo heard a mumbled from Xie Feihao, "No, I'm not him."

- - - - - - - - - -

Li Honglie woke up late, but she thought it didn't matter since it was the start of the summer vacation. She sluggishly crawled out of bed and into the bathroom, but the first thing she'd seen was the horrendousness of her hair.

She'd brushed them straight, but no matter what she had done, the curls always come back. Li Honglie quickly changed herself into something both fashionable and comfortable. As she opened the guest bedroom door, she took a glance at another door on the other end of the hallway.

It hasn't been long since Li Honglie's parents tried to convince her to go back home, but she insisted to stay with Zhao Lili. Li Honglie never liked how her father ordered her around. After all, it's a once in a lifetime choice to live with a famous retired actress.

Normally, there would be waves of laughter or complaints, but Xie Feihao had been awfully quiet today.

Li Honglie ignored the silence, turned to her left, and walked down the stairs. It'd seem like the nanny of the house had prepared some meal for her.

"Good morning." Li Honglie nodded.

"Miss, it's almost noon." Noon? Since when?

"Where's Xie Feihao today?" Li Honglie asked. Why was Xie Feihao so silent today? Did he run off somewhere with idiotic Yang Li?

"He went to a family meeting because of some rumours on social media." The nanny gave a detailed report. She'd thought Li Honglie wasn't a stranger, since she did live in this house for a while now.

Li Honglie took out her phone with curiosity, but when she noticed her phone had been on silence the whole time, she realized why Xie Feihao was very quiet today.

There were fourteen phone calls and 23 messages from Yang Li.