Behind The Red Curtain | YiZhan ✓

32-A Day, A Night, A Lie

The night was quiet as he woke up from his sleep and opened his eyes to find himself in a messy room. The curtains were closed, the room lit with only the light of the tv showing the daily news. His phone was ringing as loud as usual, yet the noise seemed to be ten times more annoying. So he picked it up with a groaning manner.

"The hell do you want.." The latter scoffed in disbelief at the other end of the line. "Wang Yibo, you're not seriously sleeping right now, are you?" He tossed around the bed and sighed. "I asked, what do you want?"

"Ah.. you don't know what happened today. I really meant it when i said to not trust that guy. Can you believe that he just agreed on a date with our boss? He has to be crazy.." Yibo suddenly shot up as he pulled the sheets off. "What..? Duyi??"

Zixin sounded excited yet mocking as he spoke, making Yibo feel stressed. "What- no!  But Han Delun of all people. I didn't think he would be so open to say that he likes men. But does Zhan laoshi even swing that way? I mean with him agreeing to go out and stuff... i'd say it's likely."

"No no- wait, i can't.. i can't catch up right now... ugh... just.. tell me the time and place.." Zixin frowned to himself. "So you could go and do what? I just said it's Han Delun. You think you would stand a chance against him? Zhan laoshi already chose him. So just forget him and-"

"Luo Zixin, stop trying to fix shit for me and just say it!" The line then went silent for a while, waiting for his answer. "...fine, just stop yelling. You know i'm doing this for your own good."

He knew he did. But his heart wasn't weak enough to give up just yet. So he sat there and listened before grabbing his keys and running out.

"A day, a night. It all ends with a lie." It was a part of a poem his father used to read him at night. Nothing too sad, but the words were deeper than the depths of the ocean could ever suffice. He didn't know why it had brought him such horrid nightmares at the time, when all the story told, was the untold.

No matter how good hearted a person, they will always lie. That was the moral of the poem, so Zhan craved it in his heart till this day. He would always remember it whenever he was faced with a blocked exit. Because no matter what happens to a person, you know there is worse. Comparing yourself to others was obviously a mistake, and he knew so too. Yet life was just too messy, too dirty, and too sinful to care. So he let it be.

The doors of the restaurant opened by the polite waiters waiting up front, while his face was instantly smacked by the warm air inside. "Do you have a reservation sir?" He hesitated to answer, his hands still trembling from the trauma. So he held them by his chest and exhaled, remembering the poem once more. "Han... Delun. I was invited by him."

The worker didn't even seem to have the need to check as he quickly brought him to the table. "Please wait here sir, he should come in the arranged time soon enough."

He was glad he was alone now, a little relieved in fact. He didn't know what kind of a face to make when he would come, so this gave him a little more time to think.

But to his luck, he was late for no more than a good five minutes. "Why, you came." He took a seat before him as he spoke, later fixing his tie to seem polite. "You didn't really give me much of an option with the indirect threats. Are you the one who has been following me around?"

Delun didn't seem too interested as he brushed the topic off with quick words. "Let's just call it caring. And it wasn't me, i sent my men."

Zhan scoffed at his unbothered behaviour. "It's still you. And you even tried to break in to my house." Delun shook his head as he grabbed the menu. "Oh? Someone tried to break in?" So it wasn't him? Then who was it? But he didn't have enough time to think. "Just what do you want from me? If it's because i turned you down- then forget it, i won't sleep with you."