Rue

6

A busy month passed by and Xiao Zhan saw himself in the university library, a pen in his hand while typing something on his laptop. He has been working on the pending and currently unfinished research he had with Li Qin. Across him is the woman who is also working on something related to their research on her laptop.

"I'm hungry." Xiao Zhan said, "I'd just go out and buy something. Do you want me to buy you something to eat as well?"

Li Qin looked up to him and nodded, "Sure. Your treat?"

Xiao Zhan nodded.

Li Qin showed her timid yet beautiful smile, "Okay then."

Xiao Zhan left his laptop and his other things with Li Qin inside the library. He went out and started walking to the canteen across the campus.

He was busy minding his business with furrowed brows when he came across Wang Yibo.

The younger man caught his eyes as well which made him smile. He approached the lad, "Hey."

Wang Yibo nodded, "Hey. Have you seen Seungyoun?"

Xiao Zhan shook his head, "No. Why?"

Wang Yibo, "He said the organization will be accepting new facilitators today. I'm just going to discuss things with him."

Xiao Zhan, "Oh.."

Wang Yibo tapped his shoulder and nodded, "Mn. I have to go now. Bye."

Xiao Zhan was quite stunned, this quick?

"Okay. Bye." Xiao Zhan smiled and turned around and looked at the boy walking away.

Wang Yibo gulped an amount of water while sitting beside Cho Seungyoun, "When will this end?"

Cho Seungyoun let out an "ah?" before running through the paper on the table, he looked at the girl currently performing in front of them and looked at the paper again, "There are total of 15 auditionees. We're currently on the thirteenth person."

Wang Yibo scratched his nape and nodded, "Mn."

They observed how the girl swayed her body, flowing with the rhythm of the melody Wang Yibo is not familiar with and rolled his eyes. He is tired, he can't deal with any of it. he shouldn't have roamed around the campus to find Cho Seungyoun. Bad bad decision.

"Number 15, Ms. Cheng Xiao?" Cho Seungyoun announced making Wang Yibo squinch his eyes, he seems to have heard that name before.

A familiar face had walked to the center of the room. The girl in front of him smiled and bowed.

"Can you tell us more about yourself?" Cho Seungyoun asked.

"Mn. Hello, I am Cheng Xiao. I do ballet but I can do choreography and Hip Hop as well. I'm open to criticisms and uh.. other genres as well."

Then, Wang Yibo remembered, she is his Xiao Zhan's neighbor. The girl who always accompanies him while waiting for the older man to open the door for him and sometimes cook food for him. Yeah, he is not good at memorizing names at all.

"Okay, you may now start." Cho Seungyoun smiled and leaned his back on the back of his chair, giving the dance floor entirely to the contestant in front of them.

A slow violin starts to play and so are Cheng Xiao's limbs.

Wang Yibo and Cho Seungyoun simply observed the woman giving her all to the dance floor.

Cho Seungyoun, "She's good."

Wang Yibo, "I know her."

Cho Seungyoun shot a shocked stare at the man beside him, "Really? How good was she?"

Wang Yibo looked at the older man with dead eyes and shook his head, "No, not as a dancer. She's Zhan-ge's neighbor."

"Oh. You've talked to her before?"

Wang Yibo is not into lying so he nodded, "She also sometimes cooks for me. You know, during those sleepless nights."

Cho Seungyoun furrowed his brow, "Does she have a crush on you?"

Wang Yibo avoided Cho Seungyoun's face slowly leaning in and looked at him, disgusted, "No. She's just a good person. She also gives Zhan-ge some fruits and I don't know what else as well."

He knew Cho Seungyoun was about to say horrific stuff so he already put his palm on Cho Seungyoun's mouth to shut him up, "No, she doesn't like Xiao Zhan either. Now, shut the f**k up."

Cho Seungyoun, "Yo, calm down. Everybody knows Xiao Zhan is yours."

Wang Yibo looked at Cho Seungyoun with a glare and no longer responded verbally, his eyes went back to the younger woman dancing in front of them. Cheng Xiao seems to be a good dancer, better than most auditionees in her batch. He could also see himself collaborating with her and probably have a piece with her in the college's future events.

Wang Yibo whispered to the other guy beside him, "I like her."

Xiao Zhan yawned as he just looked at the woman in front of her busy typing on her laptop, "I'm tired. Can't I go now?"

Li Qin raised her eyebrows and huffed, "It's barely 3:30 in the afternoon, what are you talking about? The class will start at five. Don't trick me, Xiao Zhan."

Xiao Zhan, "I'm not. I need to see Yibo."

Li Qin, "You two have a date?"

Xiao Zhan, "No!"

Li Qin looked at him in disbelief, "Why are you shouting? Ugh, proper library etiquette, Xiao Zhan. Miss Qi will kick us out anytime. Why are you acting so weird?"

Xiao Zhan stretched his arms and sighed heavily, "Look, if sitting here all day is not enough to feel numbness on your lower body, it does for me. I have to go. Anyway, I have helped you with several parts, is it not enough? I also really have to pee."

Li Qin, "Fine--"

The woman was not even finished when Xiao Zhan left the place quickly. He immediately went to the bathroom and opened a cubicle and shut it close. He hurriedly opened his zippers and let out a sigh. He is not comfortable using those open urinals, peeing while seeing another man peeing is uncomfortable. He was busy calming himself down when he heard two familiar voices approaching the restroom.

A voice stated, "I didn't know you like her! No wonder you kept on mentioning her while she performed."

Another familiar voice answered, "I didn't mean the like one. I just like her to be a part to practice the freshmen. Plus, I still like... you know?"

"Didn't he reject you already?"

Oh, Xiao Zhan already figured those voices out. It's Wang Yibo and his friend, Cho Seungyoun.

"So, what? I'm not like you who finds others just to move on."

Cho Seungyoun, "Eh? Isn't she pretty cute? She also dances well. I think both of you would click. Anyway, why settle for a person who hurt you as if you weren't a friend?"

Xiao Zhan suddenly felt a pain in his heart.

Well, Cho Seungyoun is right. If he were Wang Yibo, he wouldn't continue to love him, someone who almost threw their friendship away over a simple confession.

He heard Wang Yibo sigh, "You do know I'm not that type of person. Xiao Zhan is important to me. I've known him for a long time. Unlike Cheng Xiao, I barely know anything about her aside from the fact that she dances and is Zhan-ge's neighbor. She may be pretty but that's not how it works."

Cho Seungyoun, "Whatever you say."

Xiao Zhan gulped. He heard a zipper being opened just on the other side of the cubicle he is in. He flinched when he heard Wang Yibo's voice closer to him than before.

"Anyway, I don't want anybody to be my rebound or something. I want to be fair. I'll court someone and like someone without having the problem of tons of 'what if's in my head. Oh, there are also much more important things to prioritize than love, you know? Mister Liu just announced earlier about the video portfolio we have to pass."

Cho Seungyoun, "s**t, did he? I'm not done with the essay on Miss Yu's subject."

Wang Yibo chuckled, "See?"

He heard a few thugs and scratches before hearing the footsteps of the other two leaving the scene. That's when he finally exhaled and cleaned himself.

He does know how immature he was when he avoided Wang Yibo but it is all because he does not know how to confront or talk to the younger man. He is not used to receiving confessions, especially to men, to Wang Yibo.

Wang Yibo is a great man, he knows that. But he only sees Wang Yibo as a brother, or does he really?

He left the restroom only to see Wang Yibo and his neighbor, Cheng Xiao, talking to each other with Cho Seungyoun beside Wang Yibo smiling cheekily while looking at the two.

Cheng Xiao, "I really didn't know we go to the same university. I thought you and Xiao Zhan-ge go to different universities. I sometimes see Xiao Zhan-ge on the ground floor but I never saw you."

Wang Yibo smiled, pretty but in an awkward way, "Well, surprise? Anyway, we have to go now. Just meet us tomorrow so we can start and end the program as quickly as possible."

Xiao Zhan saw Cheng Xiao nodded and the other two boys bowed to the lady. After that, he quietly walked away.

Now that he witnessed it himself, he does think Wang Yibo and Cheng Xiao do look good together.

Xiao Zhan couldn't help but smile bitterly at the thought.