Utter Defeat

2. Two Years

1 Year Ago

"Finally we graduated!" Li Hong declared happily, dusting off the invisible dust from his graduation cap.

"Agree," Zheng Hao nodded wholeheartedly, his eyes still on his diploma.

"Look, your wife is coming," Li Hong nudged his friend, seeing Xiao Yang coming towards them with a huge bouquet of half pink half red carnations.

Zheng Hao shook his head in disbelief, but in a very very very deep corner of his heart, he felt cherished. It was a super nice gesture for him to remember his graduation day, let alone bring that huge bouquet although Zheng Hao never gave him hope.

"Hao ge, congratulations!" He smiled, showing his even white teeth as he passed the bouquet to Zheng Hao.

Meanwhile, the fireworks lightened the semi-darkness.

***

"What are you doing here?" Zheng Hao almost shouted, seeing Xiao Yang in his father's dry cleaning store.

"Hao ge," Xiao Yang waved his hand excitedly, "I spilled wine on my shirt, so I brought it here so that Uncle Zheng can take care of it," he explained with a smile.

Brimming with anger, Zheng Hao grabbed the younger's arm and dragged him out of the store before his father came back to the counter.

"What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Ge, I told you already."

"No, the real reason... nevermind, just leave my family alone."

"No no," Xiao Yang shook his head vehemently, "you got me wrong, ge! I am here because I missed you. As you graduated, I don't see you at university. Also you don't reply to my messages, so I came here to see you."

"Why are you this persistent?" Zheng Hao asked tiredly, "you are handsome, rich and easy-going, it shouldn't be a problem for you to find a lover. Why are you chasing me?"

"Because I love you, ge," Xiao Yang announced honestly, his hazel eyes shining, "as you said I am handsome, rich and easy-going, so just be my boyfriend, okay?"

"Just leave me alone."

As soon as Zheng Hao said it, a heavy rain poured down as if the sky cried with Xiao Yang.

***

"Good afternoon, Zheng Hao," an elegant woman in her fifties greeted Zheng Hao as soon as he entered his family store.

"Good afternoon, you are...?" Zheng Hao asked politely, looking at his father curiously, but his father just shrugged.

"I am Sun Xiao Yang's mother," the woman replied, then fixed her already-neat hair which was bundled in a bun, "I am here to ask you for a favour."

Zheng Hao's gaze hardened. First Xiao Yang and now his mother... After a month of silence, he thought the younger one finally gave up, but now his mother was there, probably to give Zheng Hao a good amount of money to leave his son alone.

"My son loves you so much, you are the only one he talks about."

Okay, that was unexpected. Zheng Hao was slightly taken aback, but composed himself rather quickly.

"So?" he asked coldly, ignoring the glare he got from his father.

Mrs. Sun feigned a cough, then smiled again, "can't you give him a chance? He is a nice young man, I am sure you-"