gloom

It didn't come out as surprising when he saw the dripping wet Fen Yichen. There is a puddle of water where he was standing. If he doesn't change out of it, he would get a cold inside the car with its AC on. 

"Do you have a change of clothes inside?"

"Yeah, it's in the trunk. Inside a black bag."

With the help of the driver, the trunk was opened revealing a black duffel bag with extra clothes and towels. 

"Why do you have to change your clothes?"

"There are times my clothes vanish when left in the room or in the locker, it's a bit of a hassle to find it everytime, so I decided to just bring in a set."

"You should report it to the dean or something." 

Stealing his clothes is technically bullying. Though it didn't seem like Fen Yichen cared one bit. 

"It must be your admirers, you have a lot. From people treating you like a study deity and people who like you. If we try to catch them one by one, do you think they could circle the whole school?" 

"I'm not sure if they could circle the school, you're exaggerating it a bit much." 

"You should be a bit self aware, there a lot of people who likes you." Xie Mingze grumbles while crossing his arm. 

Fen Yichen turned to look at the perdon beside, the corner of his lips twitching as he tried go supress the smile on his face.

"Are you jealous?"

"Ha, why would I?"

Xie Mingze crossed his arms and turned his gaze to his damp shirt.

"Because you are my boyfriend. It's your job to be jealous whenever someone approaches, whenever someone looked at me."

He said with a matter of fact voice like it was given. This is bad, now Mingze is starting to think he was not acting boyfriend like. It was part of their deal, so you he should do more research.

***

Hanya was inside the theatre room. Absolutely furious.

"That bitch. He told me he would help me, turned out he was busy working on Yichen."

She gnawed on her nails. This was her habit while thinking deeply. Hanya didn't stop until it bleed and she felt a sting. 

Honestly, she felt like a fool. She even asked Xie Mingze to deliver a letter to Fen Yichen. After acting all innocent, did he sneered at her secretly? She thought it was one sided, but turned out Mingze and him was already dating.

Feeling betrayed, she annoyingly flipped her hair. She hates being tricked the most, Hanya wants revenge.

An alliance would be good. Someone who hates Mingze equally as hers.

Remembering the thumbtacks issue, she found someone perfectly fitting for the job. Nobody talked about it since the atmosphere in the club would turned sour, but everyone suspects it was Oliver, he was the only one with a motif to do so. 

The light suddenly opened and Hanya squinted her eyes, waiting for a few seconds to adjust to the light.

"What are you doing with the lights closed. If it were someone else, they might've get a heart attacked." 

Oliver frowned, his hair was a bit damp despite holding an umbrella. The rain outside was still going strong, Hanya was stuck inside and decided to wait for the rain to stop.

"I'm here to help with the costume, what's the progress?"

"So far, there's only a need of few fixing for the main lead's dress. You can sew it, the sewing kit is under the table." Hanya replied, silently observing Oliver before adding.

"Oliver."

"What?" Oliver struggled to get the thread in the hole since the light was a bit dim. 

"What do you think of Xie Mingze? I know you hate him."

"Ouch!"

Surpised by Hanya's sudden conclusion, Oliver pricked himself with the needle. 

"I did hate him before…" He trailed off, looking at the lone umbrella on the corner of the room. 

"But not now, he helped me just recently."

"Holy Shit!"

Hanya cursed, just when she thought she had found someone to help her get back at Xie Mingze. She felt annoyed when she saw the expression on Oliver's face.

"Did you also get seduced by that bitch? Aish, I can't believe this Xie Mingze is busy flirting with men left and right."

"I'm not seduced by him nor I have feelings like that. I just don't hate him as much as before. Right now I owe him one."

Since he is useless, Hanya did not bother talking with him anymore like the conversation did even happen. She turned back to sewing the costume not speaking anymore.

***

In front of his computer, Xie Mingze was busy surfing through the forums. He decided to research on things since its his job to do so. 

"Ming, dinner is ready!"

"Just a minute, I'll be wrapping things up here."

"It's bad habit to make food wait. What are you doing here?"

The door opened, with his Mama Xie entering the room. 

"Eat first before doing whatever you are doing."

Flustered by his mom's sudden entrance to his room, Xie Mingze accidentally pressed the spacebar on his keyboard. The play button was pressed and the video played.

"Ten ways to be affectionate with you boyfriend. First make sure…"

Beep!

Immediately he stopped the play button and mechanically looked at Mama Xie while his mother gave him a teasing smile.

"Aww young love, still you should eat first before researching. I'm sure no matter what you do, Little Yi would be happy."

"It's not what it looks like."

Xie Mingze's face was as red as a tomato.

"It doesn't matter, you guys are already. As long as you don't let your grades drop then I won't comment about your love life. Come one let's eat downstairs."

Mama Xie left his room after saying her piece, not letting her son say anything. Anyways, its dinner time and she cooked dinner for the family, she would not allow him to not eat properly.