Adversity is a Gift (19 days fan fiction) He Tian x Red Head

Chapter Twenty One - Bastard

When He Tian woke in the morning his head felt like a brick.  Prying his eyes open, he rubbed at the grittiness there, his body wracked with tiredness.  Tian felt like a slug hauling himself out of bed, he staggered towards the shower.  Fucking apartment, every time he looked around he was assaulted with memories...some of them good, some of them fucking awful.  He wanted out of this place, out of this city.

Standing in the shower he quickly washed his hair, scrubbed his body his eyes trailing over all of the wounds and bruises.  Scarring littered his skin, old scars from years of cruelty.  Shit there was plenty space for more, his torso maybe?  His back was a no go, it was covered.  Maybe his face or arms?  His Uncle usually was clever enough to give him injuries which were easily hidden by clothes, but lately they had become more visible, more violent.

Resined, He Tian pulled on grey, washed out jeans, a navy blue hoodie and slid his knife into the back of his belt, taking it out a few times until he was sure it was a quick and smooth withdrawal.  Going to his wardrobe he grabbed a flick knife and stuffed it into the sock of his right leg.  The last things he had to take with him were his phone, which was now dead because his charger was at brother Qiu's, and his bag which he stuffed with even more clothes and shit he needed to get the fuck out of Beijing.  Luckily he still had a lot of cash stashed in the apartment so he rifled his hiding places until he was happy he had enough.

He Tian took one last lingering look at Mo Guan Shan's things piled by his door, then he blanked his expression, tugged on his winter coat and walked out the door.  His bag laden with his meagre belongings, Tian rode the elevator down to the ground floor and asked the door man to hail him a cab.  It was only 8am, but the city was already awake, a hive of industry. 

In the back of the cab his stomach churned with apprehension.  It made him so fucking furious because he was sick of feeling like this, every fucking time he was raked over the coals in his Uncle's office, just the action of walking through that expensive wooden door was enough to make acid burn in his stomach.  It wasn't fear, more like he was resigned that this shitty fate he had been handed was his to live.  Alone.  Nobody else could do it for him.

When the taxi arrived outside his office building, he pulled his hood up against the rain which had started to fall in an icy sheet.  He Tian hated autumn, he preferred the sultry heat of the summer or the freezing cold snow of the harsh Beijing winter.  Striding through the doors, he arched an eyebrow at the guards at the door, they looked fucked.  The initiation must have got out of hand if the gangsters at the door still had hungover, green faces.  Guess he missed a good time after he knocked his boyfriend out.

The lift swished up silently, relentlessly towards the office floor.  The doors slid open and he meandered in, take in the few people with heads in hands, small bottles of hangover remedy were clearly visible on a lot of desks in the open plan office.  Many people who normally hated him and cursed his name behind his back, called out to him like they were his best friends.  Assholes.

"He Tian, you missed a fucking epic after party!"

"Why didn't you come back?"

"Hey where is that kid?  Boss was impressed with his performance."

"Wasn't he with She Li?" 

He Tian shrugged like he couldn't give a fuck about the redhead who'd caught everyone's attention.  Ignoring Mo's presence here yesterday was the best thing he could do.  Flipping his hood down he made sure that any trepidation he was feeling was not evident on his face, as he passed his colleagues to reach that crappy wooden door.

He Tian lifted his fist and knocked.

"Come."  His Uncle's voice sounded impatient.  Perfect.