Xie Lian's artistic side| Colors of the Heart ~ Hualian AU

Chapter LIII

Someone was banging loud on the door of the room where Qi Rong was sleeping. He cussed and stood up quickly, as if a shadow of the previous occupant of the room was still there to haunt him. In between waking up startled and reaching for the door, he hit his foot on the chair and cussed even louder. Still, the banging did not stop.

"WHAT?"

As he opened the door, a missile-like person passed by him running and started jumping on the bed laughing hysterically. Qi Rong rubbed his eyes, confused, and continued to cuss, only to find...

"Guzi?"

"Papaaa!! I found the way to papa-two's home!! Guzi is true hero, yeah!!" Guzi raised his hand in a victorious-hero position on top of the bed.

Qi Rong closed the door and watched the kid for a bit. He was a little something, that brat. He knew his way around town already and came to see his mast... friend. That was kinda cute, except that it was Tuesday. Guzi was wearing his uniform and tiny backpack hanging over his shoulders.

"Guzi, wait, slow down. It's Tuesday morning, you're supposed to be at school."

Qi Rong tried to catch the kid by the arm and sit him down but he evaded and started running around the room.

"No, no school for heroes, just hero training for Guzi! Yeah!!"

"Guzi, stop. Your dad was clear about the rules, you need to go to school or your mom will be mad."

Guzi found himself a pack of crisps and opened it, dropping a bunch on the floor. "No school! School for losers, no hero. No villain, too." However, in the next second it was as if a sudden thought occurred to Guzi, and it made him stop running and come close to Qi Rong. "Papa-two, isn't villain cooler than hero?"

After listening to that question, Qi Ring thought his eyes were about to starting tearing up. He petted the kid's head and sighed. "Sometimes, kid, sometimes." Qi Rong pulled the snack from Guzi and stuck a hand-full of crisps in his own mouth. "Fine, brat, you get to stay with me today. But this is not happening again!"

"This happening always! Papa-two rocks! Papa-two is a hero-villain, the best, powerful and cool! Yeah!!"

Qi Rong laid back on the mattress and laughed. "What's with the 'yeah' today? Why you keeping saying it?"

Guzi climbed on the bed and started jumping up and down again. Their little world was weird and wrong, but comfy at the same time, Qi Rong reflected while being violently shook up and down on the mattress.

***

Xie Lian woke up to his cellphone buzzing. He answered by automatically scrolling the green button, unable to focus his vision amidst the sudden light.

"Hello?"

"PUQIII!!! I'm so happy to hear your vooooice!!"

Xie Lian's heart was beating fast from being startled and he could not help but smile when hearing Shi Qingxuan. "Hi Puqi." He interrupted his greeting to yawn before continuing, "I'm sorry I didn't call you yesterday."

Shi Qingxuan was already very alert on the other side of the line. "That's not a problem, dear, I figured you must be really tired after the quick message you sent, but I was still worried. How are you?"

"I'm okay..."

Sometimes, when we sleep, our worries sleep too, and they may take a slightly different amount of time to wake up. Xie Lian was so groggy that he just answered whatever came to his mind, but as he started to become more aware of his surroundings, what day it was, and what he was doing there, everything surfaced pretty fast. San Lang was supposed to be sleeping by his side. That hurt.