Chapter 9: Inescapable Fate

  Two men were leaning against the wall at the entrance of the bar, one with a round face and short stature, the other with a pointed mouth and cheekbones. Both had their shirt collars turned up and their chests open, with cigarettes lit between their index and middle fingers, exhaling smoke from their mouths. Familiar faces, it was actually the messenger who was sent to the milk tea house. Two pairs of drifting eyes fell on us, the cigarette butts were thrown to the ground, and they walked over in a few strides, expressionless, standing like two door gods, one on each side. The pointed-faced one nodded slightly, indicating for us to follow.

  Dazzling lights, twisting waists, the still noisy music, I remain calm and composed, looking straight ahead. This time they were sitting in the most conspicuous position on the side of the stage, the lights sweeping past, their faces flashing in and out of my line of sight.

  Zhang Jiu Yu sat in the middle of a black and white striped single sofa, his arms open and resting on the armrests at both ends, with his legs crossed and his body leaning back against the backrest. His head was slightly tilted to one side, his mouth pursed and raised at an angle, his eyes gleaming coldly, and his expression arrogant, like a born king. On the long sofa to the left, closest to the inside, was Ji Dong, his body leaning forward with his fingers interlocked and supporting his thighs on both sides, his head lifted and his gaze following us as we approached. On the right side of the long sofa, surprisingly, sat Xiao Ran, the flickering light casting an unreal beauty on her. She still held her head high, glanced at me disdainfully, then turned to smile sweetly at Jiu Yu, who ignored her, his eyes fixed intently on me as I approached.

  I tightly grasped Ruoxi's hand, the touch was smooth and warm, lightly biting my lip, facing a big pile of eyes staring at me, feeling my brain nerves numb, my heart pounding heavily.

  In the midst of a lingering heat, Xiao Ran suddenly stood up, her eyes gleaming with cold light. She quickly walked towards me and slapped me on the ear with lightning speed. When everyone including me was in shock, Ji Dong rushed out from inside, grabbed Xiao Ran's palm that was about to slap again, and shouted loudly: "What are you doing?"

  Xiao Rang's teeth clenched, eyes staring at me fiercely, voice cold: "Let go."

  Ji Dong didn't let go, his gaze turned inward, and I followed him to look over, Yu Yu still had that devilish smile, a face full of schadenfreude, her head tilted slightly. Ji Dong finally released Xiao Ran, she rubbed her wrist and gave me a disdainful glance before walking back to her seat.

  Ji Dong looked at me with a hint of heartache in his eyes, I touched my left cheek which had been slapped three times and smiled at him shaking my head to indicate that I was fine. He paused in front of me without intending to return to his seat, I leaned forward and whispered: Winter melon, help take care of Ruoxi for a while. Then pushed him away, he looked towards Ruoxi, his eyes flashing with a hint of abnormality, but finally sat back down.

  Got slapped and surprisingly didn't feel tense anymore, just felt heartache for my left cheek, why does it always have to suffer? Does the person hitting me not have a left hand... except for myself...

  Xiao Xi was clearly frightened on the side, and Xiao Ran also had a good impression of her in her heart, just like I described her at first. It can only be said that we actually don't understand Xiao Ran very well. Yeah, it's only been a week, what understanding can there be?

  "Come here." A cold voice.

  "I don't want to." I glared at him, suddenly fearless. Anyway, you want to make things difficult for me, but I won't let you have your way.

  "You don't have the right to say no, my... next girlfriend." His good-looking eyebrows rose up, and there was a playful smile in his eyes.

  When he saw me not moving, he got up himself, strode through the crowd of people standing upright, and came to my side. I took a step back in shock, but was still caught by his strong hand. Wu Xi's hand slid out of mine as a result, and I had no choice but to yield to this barbaric behavior. After stumbling and treading on countless feet, I was finally led into the inner seat. He still forced me to sit close to him, with the two of us squeezed onto a not-so-large sofa. His hand went through my neck from behind, naturally wrapping around me, and with a bit of force, he pulled me down into the sofa, my head resting on his shoulder. I didn't dare move anymore. My eyes wide open, holding my breath, the distance between us was once again so close, my heart beating fast like a drum.

  Are you crazy? It's not the first time, what are you so nervous about! Lumimi, you must hold yourself together! You can't be like those silly girls who willingly go crazy just for a good-looking face! This devil has always taken pleasure in your suffering, don't forget that! Is this pervert worth your heart skipping beats? Amitabha amitabha... start silently chanting the mantra to calm down.

  "That day and Ji Dong danced together, wasn't you?" The interrogative sentence came out of his mouth but sounded like he was stating a fact.

  My heart, which had finally calmed down, started racing again. My eyes darted around nervously, and I suddenly turned my head, intending to explain that it was just me. But I forgot that I was in his arms, with my head still resting on his shoulder. As I turned my head, my face was directly in front of his lips. He pursed them, and his breath brushed against my left cheek, sending a burning sensation through me. My face felt like it was on fire. After chanting for half the day, my emotions had finally calmed down, but he easily shattered them again. A charming smile appeared on his face as he lowered his head to look at me, his posture exuding ambiguity. My mind went blank once more.

  "Want to continue what we didn't finish last time?" The devilish man's low, magnetic voice sent a warm breath into my ear.

  Around me, a dozen or so pairs of eyes converged at this moment, especially Xiao Ran's gaze was the most piercing. I held my breath and quickly turned my face away, but met Ji Dong's deep eyes instead, with a hint of heartache, and more of something I couldn't understand. I took a deep breath, then gave him a meaningful look, glancing towards where Ruoxi was still standing, just as we had agreed that he would take care of her.

  "Today, I've gathered everyone here to make an announcement." He raised his voice, speaking in a tone similar to that of a national leader, "From now on, this girl is mine, has everyone taken note?"

  Two seconds of silence later, a deafening "yes" almost blew the roof off. I was startled and came to my senses, wanting to struggle but still being held tightly in his arms. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Ji Dong had already pulled Yu Xi over to sit next to him in the empty seat, and the golden boy and jade girl feeling was quite suitable, I wanted to smile at them but couldn't bring myself to do so. Ji Dong kept his lips tightly closed, not making a sound, staring into my eyes with a thick, unshed mist that made it hard to see clearly.

  "They've all dispersed." Yu's hand waved in front of my eyes, and the crowd began to disperse. Ji Dong and Ruo Xi stood up shoulder to shoulder, but they just looked at me with worried eyes, not leaving. I smiled at them, pretending to be relaxed, and winked to let them know not to worry. I thought some things needed to be discussed, and it would be more convenient with just the two of us.

  In Ruo Yu's arms, it wasn't easy to remain calm, but I knew that once they left, he would let me go. Although I didn't know why he always pretended in front of others, he didn't have any intentions towards me, and even a fool could understand that. As expected, he released me, his eyes cold and expressionless again, as if the arms that had just wrapped around me were fake, and the breath that had blown into my ear was also fake, all just my imagination. I really couldn't understand how this person could change so quickly, and even if he liked playing various boring games, shouldn't it be with a beautiful girl like Xiao Ruan, not me?

  "You'd better understand your position." His voice was cold and detached, his eyes icy as he stared at me, his face expressionless. "Just obey and cooperate with me, don't think about anything else."

  "No, I came today to make things clear with you!" Her eyebrows were furrowed, looking at his calm eyes with agitation. "Take back what you said earlier! You have no right to ask me to be your girlfriend! And why does it have to be me? Can't you find anyone else? Little Ruan loves you and you obviously care about her too. You've been together for four years, there must be a lot of things you can't bear to part with. If all you need is a girl to accompany you on the surface, she's more suitable than I am. So please let me go, I don't have that ability."

  She poured out a lot of words from her heart, and it was to the devil-like boy that almost everyone feared. Her voice trembled with tension, and tears flowed out unconsciously. She had never felt as weak and helpless as she did now.

  "Aren't you happy to see me in pain? I'll satisfy you, so are you satisfied now?" I surrendered again, letting tears pour down, still stubbornly raising my head to look at him, allowing him to touch the weakness in my heart.

  His good-looking eyebrows furrowed slightly, then relaxed again, the corners of his lips curled up in a sly smile, but his eyes were unfathomably deep. He didn't get angry, just coldly smiled and said: "Whether you're willing or not is beyond your control, what I want, there's nothing I can't get." Then he leaned closer to me, his fingers pinched my chin, the tips of his fingers exerting a slight force, with an evil smile and an alluring expression, "You'd better believe I have this ability."

  "You're despicable!" With tears streaming down my face, I suddenly flared up and swung my left hand at his approaching face.

  He slapped me with a loud slap, slowly raised his head and stared at my eyes, the turbulent eyes were full of anger, as if he wanted to swallow me whole. The aura around him was overwhelming, rapidly approaching me, my heart racing I quickly retreated step by step, tripped and fell onto the sofa, my back straight against the backrest. At this moment someone tried to rush over but was deterred by his icy stare.

  The moment he approached me, he swung his fist and hit me straight on. I reflexively closed my eyes tightly, the blood from my bitten lip mixed with tears flowing into my mouth, salty and astringent. A "whoosh" sound beside my ear, his fist heavily hit the sofa behind my head, deeply embedded, only one centimeter away from me.

  "Don't think I'm afraid of hitting a woman!" A cold voice with gritted teeth.

  His eyebrows were knotted together, still glaring at me fiercely, he raised his hand and wiped it across the bridge of his nose, in an instant, he pressed me down on the sofa again, his palm was still scorching hot and powerful, tightly suppressing me.

  Looking into his eyes with a fierce gaze, I was stunned, my chest heaving violently, gasping for air. My heart was already tense to the point of death, and my brain was completely blank, unsure of how to react, stiffly maintaining a calm exterior. Tightly biting my lips, staring at his eyes burning with anger, not daring to move my gaze one bit, appearing righteous and majestic. To be honest, I was really afraid he would reenact the drama from last time, but for some reason, an inexplicable courage in my heart made me dare to resist him, or maybe it was because of the elegant and refined him I met at the dance party that night, or perhaps it was because he didn't let that punch hit my face just now... This devilish personality of his, while attracting people, also makes them deeply resentful.

  It was actually a losing gamble, but unexpectedly, I seemed to have won. In the midst of our intense stare-down, he finally let go of me and retreated back to his original position, plopping down on the sofa with a loud "thud". He lit up a cigarette, taking long drags and exhaling slowly, as if that was the only way to calm his anger. Meanwhile, all the tension in my heart was suddenly released, and I buried my head into the sofa, trembling uncontrollably.

  "You are destined to be mine, don't think about changing it." The cold voice was like a transmission from a distant time and space, very vague, the only thing that clearly struck my consciousness was that desperately beating heart.

  It took me a long, long time to calm down from the intense trembling. When did I become so weak and powerless? My fear of him had reached such an extent that I couldn't forget the feeling of my whole body shaking with terror.

  He lay motionless, covering his face with his arm. Those scattered faces were all near or far away, and Yu Xi and Ji Dong also stood by the sofa next door, looking over with worried eyes. The moment he was knocked down, Ji Dong wanted to rush up, but was stopped by someone. Zhang Ze's identity as a senior was still there, even if he really came up, he couldn't stop the fierce tiger from roaring.

  It seems he has made up his mind and won't let me go. Everything of mine is in my own hands, and the only one who can save me is myself.