Chapter 32 - Book Club
Chapter 32 – Book Club
With her eyes on the portrait, she said, "Only Jiejie deserves to be with our handsome Yao Yao."
Rui Yewan on the other hand heard his sister screaming from where he lay. He stared in the direction from where the scream came from before rolling his eyes and laying back down.
He was holding up the rule book above his head as he read in silence.
"So many rules," he mumbled wondering how Ji Yao got these rough men to follow such rigid rules.
Two heads suddenly crept up slowly on the side of his bed like stalkers startling Rui Yewan so much that he yelped before closing his mouth.
"What the fuck…..," he swore with his gaze shifting from the skinny man with a tattoo on his face and the bald giant they call Big Hei.
Xunshi Zhe smiled reassuredly as he explained, "Oh, don't misunderstand us. We are just welcoming you onboard that's all."
Big Hei nodded his head in acquiescence. He would rather be reading his manga that Ji Yao gave him instead but Xunshi Zhe just had to drag him into this. "Oh, that's nice… tha-thank you," he said feeling a little awkward.
Big Hei turned to face Xunshi Zhe and asked, "Can I go now?"
Xunshi Zhe smiled stiffly at Rui Yewan while reprimanding Big Hei through gritted teeth. "Don't be rude. You just want to go back and read your manga," said Xunshi Zhe. A somewhat peeved Big Hei couldn't refute that. He was like a husband being forcibly dragged by a wife to the new neighbour's house with a basket of cookies.
"Wait, what's that… what's ma-nga?" inquired Rui Yewan a little curious.
As though injected with chicken blood, the sluggish Big Hei who just wanted to leave suddenly ducked down before reappearing with a thin book. "This is manga….. shadow master volume three. Do you want to take a look?," said Big Hei eager to share his good stuff.
Rui Yewan nodded his head as he took the book from Big Hei. His eyes shone bright like a star opening him up to a whole new world. Big Hei smiled brightly feeling proud of himself for converting a new otaku. This meant there would be one more member in the book club.
As Rui Yewan was slowly drawn into the dark side like Darth Vader, Rui Fei was exploring the confines of his future roommate. When he entered the cabin earlier, Ji Yao had ignored him all until he asked, "So where do I sleep?"
This question had Ji Yao pausing the motion of his brush on the vibrant piece of paper before he slowly raised his head glaring at him. Being stared at like that made this decent young man suddenly have the desire to bully Ji Yao.
Unfortunately, he had to restrain himself for now so he wouldn't get kicked out before he barely had enough time to grow roots. Rui Fei suppressed a mirthless smile but Ji Yao noticed. Agitated he stormed out of the cabin slamming the door on his way out.
Thinking Ji Yao had gone to speak to Ji Wen he made himself at home exploring his benefactor's lair. Well, he was right. Ji Yao did go to have an open and honest discussion with Ji Wen which didn't go very well. Here is what happened….
"Find him somewhere else to sleep," he said after kicking the door open. This didn't come as a surprise to Ji Wen as he was expecting this exact reaction. In fact, if Ji Yao didn't come to see him then it could only mean his son was abducted by aliens and replaced with one of their own.
He calmly took a green bottle with what Ji Yao identified as rum then proceeded to place his crossed legs on the desk as he leaned back into his seat. Ji Yao gritted his teeth fighting off the urge to push his father's feet off the desk.
"Why?" asked Ji Wen as he bit the cock of the bottle. He flicked it in Ji Yao's direction acting like the world's greatest antagonist. "You don't want a girlfriend so your dad found you a friend. Isn't it great? Look… you will understand one day when you have a child. You always worry about their future especially when you are no longer there to take care of them," he said in a heartwarming speech but Ji Yao ignored him.
The youth directly walked over to Ji Wen's canopy bed at the corner and lifted the quilt to get in. "Then I will sleep here," he said but Ji Wen hurriedly took his feet off the desk and said,
"I ate in the bed and definitely dropped some breadcrumbs," while pointing at him with a bottle of rum in his hand.
Ji Yao who was about to set his butt on the bed swiftly got up like he was about to sit on a stove hot plate. "Why the hell would you do that?"
Ji Wen grinned as he took a good sip feeling proud of himself. He stood there watching him before saying, "Cause it's my bed I can do whatever I want."
Ji Yao messed up the quilt out of anger taking Ji Wen by surprise. His mouth was agape and eyes wide open like he had just caught his son in bed with miss piggy (I hope Kermit the frog would take the news better than Ji Wen.)
He actually wanted to leave the bed like this but his nature wouldn't allow it. His clenched fists were sweating as an unreachable itch spread inside him. Ji Wen's smile grew bigger realising how uncomfortable his son was. "Just do it….. I know you want to," he said with both his eyebrows raising twice.
"Damn it," swore Ji Yao as he started making the bed. His resistance was so weak when it came to this and his father knew it.
"Couldn't help yourself, could you?" said Ji Wen as he leaned against the desk peering at him. Ji Yao ignored him as he straightened out the quilt so Ji Wen continued with his motivational speech.
"I don't know why you are so against this….. Don't you ever feel like maybe hanging out with your age mates? I know our lives are furthest from a regular person's but it's normal to want, you know….. like human interaction with people your age. Who knows maybe you would form unbreakable bonds that could pass over to the next lifetime, right?" he explained but Ji Yao still couldn't grasp his father's meaning.
He had the crew members and his father which was more than enough for him so why should he go and form new friendships with strangers.. He liked the way things were and didn't want to change anything but his father didn't seem to understand that.