Saving the Heartthrob Frenemy-Chapter 29: "That’s illegal."

Qie Xieling was more of a um, what do you call it? He was more of an indoor child so this whole hiking business was really not for him.

He could hike in game all day without tiring himself out but he couldn’t hike for even ten minutes without feeling like quitting. What made it even worse was that teacher Wong insisted that they hike up the mountain alongside their camping buddies.

The fact that Luo Muchen was his camping buddy meant that he had hiked all the way up the mountain with him. Worse off Luo Muchen wasn’t talking the entire time. When Qie Xieling tried to start a casual conversation, Luo Muchen would intentionally kill it and there would be back to that freaking deafening silence.

Qie Xieling decided that two can play that game and retreated inside his head to have conversations with himself. Yeah, Qie Xieling wasn’t easily bored with a brain like his.

This also meant that he was effectively ignoring the giggles and casual glances directed at him occasionally. It was only after stopping at the halfway point that Bo Ailun walked over his face panicked.

"Lin Lin, it’s bad. Last night those blockheads took a video of us getting scared and circulated it not only to the class but the entire school forum," he said and Qie Xieling who had his head tilted back to drink water paused for a moment his long eyelashes quivering slightly underneath the soft morning light.

He took two more sips before closing the water bottle. He clicked his tongue while raking his fingers through his hair with a slight quirk at the corner of his lips. Seeing that smile that wasn’t exactly a smile Bo Ailun and even Luo Muchen sitting next to him felt tremors down their spines.

One shouldn’t be afraid when Qie Xieling yells and loses his shit. They should be afraid when he smiles like that all nonchalantly. That was just the calm before the storm and the storm was fuckin coming. One wouldn’t know where or when it would strike but it was most definitely coming.

"Uh dage, you are scaring me," said Bo Ailun shaking Qie Xieling’s shoulders. He was genuinely frightened at this point.

"Okay up up up. Break is over. Get your lazy butts up and let’s reach the top," said teacher Wong clapping his hands and beckoning all of them to get moving.

Bo Ailun had no choice but to leave his best friend in the care of the class president. "Lin Lin, promise me you won’t push anyone off the mountain," whispered Bo Ailun and Qie Xieling rubbed the back of his neck while saying,

"That’s illegal."

Bo Ailun, "..."

That didn’t reassure him at all but he had to leave. Before leaving he left the sentence, "Don’t do anything stupid."

Qie Xieling brushed the dirt off his pants ignoring the inquisitive gaze coming from his side. He took a step forward when Luo Muchen blocked his path before asking, "Are you okay?"

Qie Xieling not so gently pushed him away and said, "Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?" leaving Luo Muchen at a loss. He was going through so much emotions at this moment that he could hardly keep up a conversation with Qie Xieling. If it weren’t that they were camping buddies he would have preferred to keep some distance away from him. But when Qie Xieling finally gave him what he wanted which was to leave him alone, it didn’t feel good at all. He felt like he was being shut out for good.

Qie Xieling caught a brief glimpse of Lee Ya and unlike the other times when she smiled and waved at him, she averted her gaze and acted like she hadn’t seen him.

You would think his little heart would be broken but that wasn’t the case or at least on the surface. He glanced at the group of boys who happened to look his way and were having a laugh at his expense.

"Daddy save me, hahahaha," said one of them imitating Qie Xieling’s voice before they all broke into laughter.

Luo Muchen couldn’t bear it anymore so he held Qie Xieling’s hand to pull him away and stop him from looking but Qie Xieling mercilessly brushed his hand away before walking forward.

No one, not his mother, not his doctor could have prepared Luo Muchen for this excruciating pain that came almost immediately. It was like someone dug into his chest and ripped his heart out with no mercy.

When they reached the top Luo Muchen was still consumed by that intense emotion that he didn’t realise Qie Xieling wasn’t where he was supposed to be.

Where was he one might ask? He had somewhat managed to isolate Deming and before Deming could free himself he was pressed against a tree trunk with Qie Xieling’s arm on his neck.

His eyes as dark as ink Qie Xieling pressed harder and said, "You think that was funny, huh? Was it amusing?..."

Deming didn’t answer his question. He just tried to push Qie Xieling away while saying, "What are you trying to do? Let me go." 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Qie Xieling gently slapped his face twice wearing a bone-chilling smile on his face. "Answer my fuckin question. Was it fun? Huh?" he said his face a little close to Deming’s.

"Qie Xieling are you fuckin crazy? If you dare do anything to me I will scream," he said and Qie Xieling chuckled lowly like a sinister being enjoying torturing others.

"Go ahead. I am sure they would love to see your cowardly appearance," said Qie Xieling pinching his face with one hand and forcing him to look up.

Qie Xieling lowered his head and continued saying, "I have to commend you. That shit was brilliant but this also means the retaliation will be equally as great," before lowering his voice into a whisper, "and you won’t see it coming. You won’t know when or where I will strike and I will enjoy watching you squirm." This statement and the way his voice sounded made Deming scalp go numb his body involuntarily quivering with fear.

"Oi, Xieling... what are you two doing? Are you fighting?" yelled teacher Wong as he came down looking for them with Luo Muchen.

Qie Xieling straightened up Deming’s clothes while saying, "No sir. We are just having a friendly chat... aren’t we?"

Deming felt like if he said no that would be the end of him so he put on a brave front and said, "Yes friendly chat."

This image gave teacher Wong the same feeling as the triads with Qie Xieling being the boss threatening an underling but he couldn’t prove it. He could only yell at them both saying,

"What sort of chat requires you to be alone in the bushes, huh? Get back to the group."