Standing Next To You-Chapter 49: Meeting Fei Chuan again

"...I was sure I hated you. So why do I keep coming here every year? You must have put a curse on me, Bei Sangyun."

A man in his mid-fifties sat in a wheelchair as he spoke in front of a grave.

He was only in his fifties, but his head was full of white hair. His once handsome figure was tainted by the passage of time. He looked tired and old, his gaze filled with remorse and sadness he could not hide.

It was slightly windy today, and the wind ruffled his white hair as only the sound of the breeze passed through the silent graveyard.

"...But I am also pretty sure that I didn’t hate you at first. So when did it start? When did this feud between us, which has lasted our entire lifetime, begin?"

The man looked up at the sky, which was starting to turn dark.

"Was it when you started relentlessly bullying me every single day in the past?"

Only the breeze replied to him.

The man closed his eyes as he reminisced about those times.

"It is fascinating. As time passes, our memories spent together are becoming clearer in my head. They are bad memories, but why is it I am constantly reminded of it and even sometimes miss it?"

The man looked at the grave again. There was no anger or hatred on his face as there used to be when he looked at this grave. The man had lost his enthusiasm and appeared defeated.

"If I only had the courage to fix our misunderstanding back then, we might not have ended up in this cruel fate. If only you had taken the empty seat you left beside me and spent a minute talking about the past, you and I might not have resented each other so much."

The man bitterly smiled. "But what’s the point of wondering about this? You are dead. You left this world and took with you my drive, ambition, and my heart to your grave. You are still cruel to me even in death."

The rain started to pour from the gathering dark clouds.

The bodyguard who had been guarding the man from afar ran towards him with an umbrella.

"Master, we should leave. The rain will only get heavier."

The bodyguard pushed the man’s wheelchair towards the car, leaving the quiet and lonely grave behind.

Whoosh~

The flowers the man had placed on the grave were drenched by the rain, making the silent grave appear even more desolate than before.

****

"....it’s important to understand the relationship between volume and pressure. According to Boyle’s law, pressure is inversely proportional to volume if temperature is constant....."

The teacher resumed his disrupted lecture while the class redirected their attention away from the back seats.

Bei Sangyun’s eyes were fixed on the front, as if she were listening to the teacher. However, in reality, she was as stiff as a wooden doll.

Her heart was racing, and all her attention was on the boy beside her.

It was strange. Why was she so nervous?

Was it because she was seeing him again?

Bei Sangyun discreetly glanced at Fei Chuan from the corner of her eyes.

Fei Chuan had awakened from his nap and was also listening to the lecture at the front.

His hair, longer than most boys’, covered half of his face. Bei Sangyun could only see the tip of his nose. His skin was pale and fair, perhaps just as fair as when they were kids. He also appeared thinner compared to other boys.

Bei Sangyun couldn’t help but stare.

The adult Fei Chuan in her memories was very different from the teenager Fei Chuan. Did he look like this in the past?

Most of the clear memories she had with Fei Chuan were from when they were already heads of their respective families and occasionally met at gatherings.

Fei Chuan had grown into a tall, handsome man that most women in high society dreamed of. He looked masculine with a healthy complexion, and exceptionally charismatic, very different from the gloomy pale Fei Chuan now.

Anyway, although that man had grown up to be so handsome, his arrogant demeanor had become even more annoying. Bei Sangyun came to dislike him more as he would always disrupt her plans or mock her in public.

She and Fei Chuan did not have good memories from their childhood, through their high school days, and became official enemies after graduation. Their conflicts had escalated once they entered society.

In summary, she and Fei Chuan could not coexist peacefully until one of them emerged victorious, forcing the other to surrender completely.

They were both so prideful and stubborn that neither would give in. The man was adamant about making her lose, constantly boasting about his life achievements in front of her grave. He wanted to win even after her death.

However, it was clear that the man had indeed won because he was the last one remaining standing. Yet, he still appeared desolate and was suffering even after she had left.

Perhaps seeing Fei Chuan again, made the complicated feeling Bei Sangyun had during the times she spent as a ghost, resurfaced.

"What are you looking at?" A slightly hoarse voice with a hint of annoyance disrupted Bei Sangyun’s thoughts. She had forgotten to conceal her stare as she fell into a daze.

Fei Chuan glared at her through his bangs.

Bei Sangyun blinked. For a moment, Fei Chuan reminded her of a puppy with long hair, barking and glaring.

"Pfft." Bei Sangyun chuckled. That image really suited the current Fei Chuan.

The glare in Fei Chuan’s eyes intensified. "What are you planning? Are you going to annoy me even during class?"

Bei Sangyun’s laughter paused. "...."

Fei Chuan narrowed his eyes. "Don’t think just because I’ve always been silent that I’m a pushover."

Bei Sangyun felt that this scene and those words were a bit familiar. Did Fei Chuan say this to her before?

Suddenly, a memory flashed before her eyes.

It was in the familiar school canteen. Fei Chuan was drenched with soup, and his food was a mess. There were rice crumbs in his hair. Several students were looking at him while laughing.

Fei Chuan raised his drenched head and glared at Bei Sangyun with deep anger in his eyes. "Just because I am always silent doesn’t mean I am a pushover."

....

Fei Chuan did not receive any response from Bei Sangyun. The girl in front of him simply stared back at him in a daze, deepening his frown.

What was wrong with her? Why did she keep staring at him?

Fei Chuan looked away and moved his chair closer to the window, wanting to avoid her as much as possible.

Bei Sangyun remained quiet, deep in thought, until the teacher left the room. The high school memories she had buried at the back of her mind were coming back now, and she didn’t like it one bit.

Agh. She wished she could forget all of those.

Fei Chuan gave her one cautious look before standing up and leaving the classroom.

"Look at him go; he must be running away from you, Boss Lin."

Several students surrounded Bei Sangyun enthusiastically.

"Bossy Lin! We missed you."

"You’ve been absent for two days. Where did you go, Boss Lin?"

"Boss Lin, did you play somewhere else? Why didn’t you bring us along?"

Bei Sangyun was taken aback by the students around her. She found them all familiar, but she had forgotten their names.

Not all of the people in Class 3-1A were afraid of Bei Sangyun. Some of them were quick-witted and tried to align themselves with her to gain influence in the school. They chose Bei Sangyun as their boss so they could benefit from the Lin family’s advantages.

After all, their lives wouldn’t end with school. When they graduated and entered society, they needed strong connections and support.

They referred to themselves as Bei Sangyun’s friends, even though their role was more like her lackeys.

Of course, Bei Sangyun was aware of the superficial nature of her friendship with them. She was using them just as they were using her.

"Boss Lin, are you openly going after Fei Chuan now?"

"That man had a peaceful life in these two days. He must have thought you spared him! Haha, he doesn’t know the worst is yet to come."

"Should we go after him now and throw some soup over his head? I heard the cafeteria will serve some chicken soup today."

Bei Sangyun: "...."

Suddenly, she stood up.

For some reason, this group of teenagers annoyed her. They weren’t doing anything to harm her and they weren’t her enemies, but the sound of their laughter grated on her ears.

She glanced at the group calmly. "No one should touch him. The only person who can bully him is me."

Everyone: "...."

They stared at Bei Sangyun dumbfoundedly. Was she serious?

A girl who had more courage than everyone hesitantly asked, "But Boss Lin, didn’t you say that we should bother Fei Chuan every now and then? You said you can’t openly harass him because you’re from the Lin family..."

Bei Sangyun: "...."

Did she give some cruel order to her lackeys at those times?

Thinking back to the desperate Bei Sangyun who would do anything just to get the top rank, there was a possibility that she had indeed issued some ruthless orders in the past.

Agh. No wonder the teenage Fei Chuan glared at her like that.

Bei Sangyun looked around at the group of teenagers. They were the typically famous school bullies, their uniforms weren’t worn properly and their young faces had a hint of arrogance.

She got a headache. What kind of life she had lived? Obviously, not a good one.