The Assassin's Enemy Lover

57 Eating sour lemons in the morning

“Do you think if I ask cadet Han nicely he will tutor me for the sand people’s language? The way he twisted his tongue naturally when he spoke was so mesmerizing you would think he was a native speaker... Ah-Chen..... Chen-ge... Chen Chen,” called out Li Ran when he realised that Yi Chen wasn’t listening to him.

The words Chen Chen were Yi Chen’s last straw. “What,” he responded feeling slightly more irritable than usual today. He hadn’t answered Li Ran before because his mind had blanked out for a moment.

All he could think about was that Zi Han had followed Shorty out of the class just now. These two had already fought and had bad blood between them so if not to resume yesterday’s showdown why else would they be hanging out together?

He thought he could give them time. If they weren’t back in five minutes then he would go out and find them. But as seconds turned to minutes he suddenly felt restless.

Despite feeling this way outwardly he was as indifferent and aloof as usual while occasionally staring at the door checking for certain people. But four minutes and forty-seven seconds later they weren’t back.

“Hey..... What’s on your mind? You seem more irritable than usual today,” asked Li Ran his expression much more serious than before. He had been around this refrigerator ever since they were kids so he could easily perceive any slight changes in temperature no matter how indifferent Yi Chen looks.

Yi Chen’s brow furrowed hearing his question. Why did he care so much about this? If they fight, they fight. What did that have to do with him? Thus his expression relaxed as he replied, “It’s nothing.”

“Oh, for a second there you had me worried,” replied Li Ran only for a cadet from another class to walk in and call Yi Chen,

“Class president Chen, the mech division professor is looking for you for something. He is in the lab.”

.....

Yi Chen immediately got up while Li Ran complained, “Why can’t he just communicate with you through the various platforms available to him? Instead, you have to walk all the way for him to say a few words.”

Normally Yi Chen would also be annoyed. He extremely valued his time and this would count as an unnecessary waste of time. But his heart felt lighter when he got up and walked out of that class. Maybe he hoped to run into Zi Han and Shorty so he could tell them to get back to class.

This thought made his steps subconsciously increase but he didn’t see anyone till he got to the lab. Meanwhile, Zi Han was regretting his decision very much right now. He should have never mentioned his mother’s name to Shorty because now he was clinging to him like sticky tofu refusing to be shaken off.

“So can I meet her? We can go home together after school and I can help you with that thing you need help with. It’s a plus because I can also get to meet her,” explained Shorty his eyes as bright as pearls under the moonlight.

“She doesn’t stay with me and that thing I need you to help me with doesn’t need you to come home with me,” replied Zi Han before turning around to leave.

Shorty caught up with him and walked backwards in front of Zi Han almost begging for him to arrange a meeting. Zi Han felt a headache creeping up on him. He had been through this in his neighbourhood where men and women alike would try and give him gifts just to get to his mother but he had never experienced this with a schoolmate.

“Here..... have this. My mother bought it. That should suffice for now. Now are you going to help me or not?” said Zi Han after peeling the back of another cooling patch and sticking it on Shorty’s slightly swollen face.

Shorty touched his cheek almost breaking down in tears. This cooling patch was bought by his goddess and now he was wearing it.... AAAAAHHHHH, how exciting.

Zi Han, “...”

“Shorty focus!” said Zi Han feeling slightly annoyed.

“Right, right, right..... focus, yes. I know..... I know a painter. She is extremely good at it and I think she can help you with the whole handling the brush situation. We can ask her before class starts,” replied Shorty obsessively rubbing his cheek.

“Now we are talking.... let’s go,” said Zi Han draping his arms around Shorty’s shoulders before pulling him along, “just don’t show that kind of face around me. It’s kind of creepy.”

“Uh, yes, yes..... sure. Anything that makes you happy boss,” replied Shorty subconsciously handing over the position of ring leader to Zi Han. If Zi Han knew his mother’s name could get him things he might have had a lot of minions serving him.

This little incident Yi Chen did witness and his mood plummeted. It turns out the cooling patch was given to anyone and everyone who had a swollen face. Not only did they get cooling patches they even got hugs too.

Wow, talk about eating sour lemons in the morning.

Zi Han who had no idea his distribution of cooling patches had a severe impact on someone was sitting with his legs spread apart and his chest resting on the backrest of his seat as he watched the tall girl from yesterday excitedly taking out her set of paintbrushes which were extremely rare in the federation.

She was more than willing to share her hobby with anyone who showed a little enthusiasm. So despite conflicting with Zi Han just yesterday, she had already forgotten past grievances and was excitedly sharing her stuff.

“Hey, four-eyes move over. You can go sit with your best friend,” said Shorty instructing Zi Han’s deskmate to migrate.

Zi Han who was curiously touching a paint brush responded to Shorty without glancing in his direction,

“If he doesn’t want to move don’t force him.” He wasn’t a fan of bullying people nor did he want Shorty to sit next to him otherwise he might end up strangling him if he keeps asking about Zi Xingxi.

But who would have thought four eyes didn’t want to sit with him either. He wanted to sit with his friend but he was afraid to ask Shorty, well, because Shorty was terrifying. The boy was short but he was as explosive as a stick of dynamite.

“I want to go sit there,” said four-eyed his eagerness apparent.

Zi Han, “.....”

He helplessly watched as Shorty migrated over to become his deskmate.

“Professor Quinn said we should self-study today. He is waiting for the mech parts to be delivered,” unenthusiastically announced Yi Chen as he stepped into class only to find that at a desk not so far away from his Zi Han was chatting it up with Shorty and his gang.

His irritability skyrocketed at this moment and he couldn’t understand why. With a deep inhale he walked over to his seat and sat down with a deep exhale.

He wanted to ignore whatever was happening behind him but his ears couldn’t help but subconsciously listen to the conversation.

“I think if you hold the brush at the end of the handle it would make it very difficult to write properly. Try touching the middle of the brush and write. Let’s see if that helps,” said the girl handing him the most suitable paintbrush in her collection. It wasn’t as hard as the calligraphy brush he had at home but it was good for practice.

“So if I hold it like this Sh-,” he said but paused when he realised he didn’t know her name, “what is your name again?”

“Shannon and this is my twin brother Shaun,” she said nudging her brother who was placing his head flat on the desk appearing as though asleep.

Shaun mumbled something in complaint after being disturbed before he fell back to sleep. Zi Han had had a confrontation with these two yesterday but he hadn’t noticed they were related. Maybe it was because he saw red at that time and couldn’t see the similarities between these fraternal twins.

“Nice to meet you, Shannon and Shaun. So if I hold it like this will it make a difference?” he asked as he attempted to write a character using the paintbrush.

Shannon smiled as she took the paintbrush from him, dipped it into a tiny paint tub and took it out before copying one of the characters from Zi Han’s notebook. It sent perfect but it looked far better than the messy chicken scratches he did last night so he praised her,

“You are a natural at this.” Two people weren’t too pleased with his words of praise. One such person was Hela. She watched the two from a distance and felt like she had been forced to wear a green hat before the relationship even started.

She tried to hold back and behave like a proper young lady but when she saw Shannon place her hand over Zi Han’s and guide him to write it she couldn’t help but frown.

She stood up without warning and walked over under Li Ran and Yi Chen’s gazes. Yi Chen immediately lowered his gaze soon after. That’s because his indifferent personality still manifested itself even though he wanted to see what was going to happen.