"The last song for today is a very special song that is very close to us. Cupid Jie, we'll sing it for you." Song Huo, the lead singer of Venerate said.
The concert was taking place in a small auditorium in Atmos' underground which could house around 300-400 people. The screaming of the fans was so loud that the sound could actually be heard outside the soundproof room. However the girls were well behaved and sat on their respective places instead of trying to run up to the stage. But their idol suddenly mentioned another girl's name which made momentary chaos break out. The fandom operators rushed over to calm down the audience while the security stepped out, ready to catch people misbehaving.
~"Darkness has always been associated with evil,
But it's the only thing that has been there for me.
All these lovers, companions, soulmates,
Are just not written in my destiny.
Have you ever known yourself to be true,
To anyone than other than yourself?
That's the way it should be.
Only at night,
When no one sees me,
Can I be me."~
I was happy to listen to them sing this song but I suddenly grew so nervous because I could feel the presence beside me. Ling Bingchen was quiet as he listened to the band sing the song all of them standing at their respective places with spotlights on them while the VCR behind them played a video of a cartoon black coloured dragon flying in the night sky. The lyrics of the song were written in yellow subtitles.
As I thought of Ling Bingchen listening to the lyrics and knowing what it was talking about sort of panic grew in my heart as if someone was sneaking into the forest to capture my flag before even the horn for the start of the game blew.
"This song is really nice." Ling Bingchen suddenly leaned over to talk into my ear. I could feel a few of my hair blow away by his breath as the air seeped through the hair tendrils to hit my earlobe. So itchy, it felt so itchy I unconsciously held my palms to stop myself from scratching away the sensation.
I hummed my agreement trying my best to keep my eyes on the stage but I lost. My face tilted and I turned to look at the man beside me. His face was still tilted down to be parallel mine. His eyes, however, was looking at the singers on stage.
The multi-coloured dancing lights reflected a shaded hue of rainbows on his face as his eyes twinkled. It was like another universe. The glitters made his otherwise empty eyes seem so full now as different patterns etched themselves out like a kaleidoscope, the move so hypnotic that I felt dizzy and wanted them to stop but it still kept rotating in a dazing fashion and coloured specs of dust kept moving into another unique design.
"Do you like him?" Lian Qian had asked me.
I don't know what like or what love was. But since the day under the tree, I had made eye contact with him; I always wanted him to look at me. Whether it is with empty black eyes or with these beautiful rainbow eyes that made my gut wrench with a sweet pain; they were beautiful to me anyway.
I felt a need to possess, to hold his chin in place and make his roving eyes stay focused. But what scared me was how selfish these eyes were making me. What if these eyes were actually not mine to keep? Will there be another person crying in front of me and telling me I took away their treasure?
Ling Bingchen suddenly turned to look at me before I could look away. Half his face was in the shadows as he looked a little taken aback at our closeness too but he didn't back away. There was no sign on his face that showed that even for a second he contemplated backing away. There was no hesitation whatsoever.
And that made me even more agitated.
"Wh-what?" I asked.
"Why are they singing this song for you?"
~"Time runs bare footed on the road of glass shards,
But one bleeding is not him but our hearts.
Healing is a myth, the wound doesn't scab;
Wait for the last drop of blood to fall down the hourglass.
The waning moon takes your soul away,
Being a human originally was a temporary solace."~
"It's because I wrote it," I whispered.
His eyes hardened into colorful ice chips.
"Little liar."
I looked at him confused.
"It is sad, isn't it? That piano piece, Drowning. All that stuff about a trance is all bullshit."
Actually, there are times I want him to stop looking at me too.
~
As Chief was still angry at me and Lanyard had to study for an exam, I was, for once, alone for lunch. So I traced my way to the nearest cyber café to pester Hacker to buy me a burger.
Cyber cafes are generally known for stingy tobacco smoke filled air in a small closed off place with all kinds of perverts and pedophiles frequenting it with the exception of the general gaming crowd. Thus cyber cafes were dominantly for the male population. But leave it to Hacker to attract a crowd of girls to even enter such a place for him.
Hacker was playing League of Legends as a group of schoolgirls were standing behind him, though I doubt they understood the game. One of them was sneakily taking pictures of him while the other talked to each other giggling and looked at him from the corner of the eye.
"Let's go. Buy me KFC."
"Where are the other two? Go with them." Hacker didn't even bother to look at me as he spoke and concentrated on pushing his turret.
"No. You have to." I said as I proceeded to press randomly on his keyboard, wasting his ultimate. He helplessly watched as the enemy Kog'Maw cut his Kalista down and killed him.
"Yu Ge, I'm going to drop to Diamond! AH! Don't! Don't!"
"Buy me a burger."
"Yu Ge let me go. The Yuumi is coming! The Yuumi is coming!"
"Burger. KFC."
"My farm! My farm!"
Hacker could only watch as his nexus fell down and his team mates kept cursing him out in both the team and all chat. Even the enemy camp kept complaining that they won too easily.
Hacker dropped down to Diamond 2 and also got suspended for 6 hours for getting reported.
"I was trying to play Aphelios but the internet was glitching and I couldn't keep up with a new hero and lost a few matches. I had to help the boss fix his connection and just as I was going to try and go back to Master, you actually made me drop to Diamond 2 instead," Hacker complained as we walked to the nearest KFC.
"Two burgers and cola?" Hacker rechecked.
"And a bucket."
"Then you pay for it."
"You said you'd pay."
"This whole time," Hacker turned with a vengeance to look at me," I never said one word of treating you. It was decided by you on the first place."
"Okay, okay. You have money anyway," I tried to flatter him.
"I'm not the one with a CEO dad." Hacker said. I got behind him and pushed him to the counter to order.
"I'll call you papa. Then you can be my CEO dad."
Hacker finally went to order the food while I occupied a table, wiping the table top with a few tissues.
"Where's Lian Qian?" Hacker asked as he unwrapped a burger.
"On a blind date."
"Oh, which exam does she have tomorrow?" Hacker asked calmly as if he didn't even hear my actual reply and I groaned, knowing it didn't work.
"Advanced Calculus."
"And Wen Lili?"
"What about her?" I asked cautiously with my mouth full.
Hacker sighed and shook his head.
"Why didn't you go for classes today?" This time it was Hacker's chance to shrug off his answer.
"Qiu Yu?" someone called from behind.
I turned around to see a boy. He had a hunter cap on his head and looked familiar.
"Yes?"
"You're having lunch here too?" He asked as his eyes swept over to Hacker but he didn't acknowledge him. I nodded at him.
"I'm Pin Jian, from Political Theory." I suddenly remembered where I had seen him. He sat diagonally from me in class and one day while he and his friends were talking, he had loudly announced that quiet, aloof girls were his ideal type.
"Oh." I nodded again.
��Can I add Wechat?" He asked while taking his phone out. I took my phone out and let him scan the code, before he bid farewell and finally left us alone.
"Another one bites the dust." Hacker commented, sighing.
"What? He asked to add Wechat. He didn't say I had to reply to him."
"How many men have you conned like this?"
"Who told them to come to be conned?"
"Anyway, on a serious note, I'm officially telling you, I'm going to play professionally."
"What?"
"Yeah, I signed a contract with Zephyr yesterday. I'm going to be there substitute Adc. Their official substitute got banned last season because of a fight. And the main Adc, Raptor has medical issues with his wrist."
This was good news, obviously it was. Ju Linping had always loved nothing more than his games. He was the sunshine of Computer Science Department. He always laughed and was very popular on campus for his good looks and friendly personality. However, that wasn't the point. He was also exceedingly talented and had even been selected as one of the prospected team members for ACM-ICPC. His parents had wanted him to go for that too so for sometime he had diligently studied for it too. I thought that's what he wanted too but suddenly he said, just a week after giving the qualifying test for ACM that he was going to professionally.
"What about ACM?"
"I didn't get in."
"You sabotaged it?!" There was no way he wouldn't make it if he wanted to. My conjecture was proven true as a sheepish flush painted his white cheeks.
"What about your parents?" His parents didn't like him playing games and had made him turn down previous offers of training under numerous Esports companies.
"I'll tell them today. Anyway, I'm an adult now and can sign my own contracts. They can't stop me anymore."
"Ju Linping, have you thought it through? You'll have to drop out of college or you can only do online course."
"Yu Ge, I've originally always wanted to do this. Don't worry, nothing will change. The base is in this city. I'll still meet you all when I have time."
"Stop joking. I've heard professional teams are nocturnal beings. I always lose when I play at night. You won't even function during the time that we do."
Hacker laughed.
"Let's meet up later. I'll tell the other two also. I'll help you with Chief too, in the passing." Hacker winked.
My heart sank as I thought of Lanyard getting to know of this. But in a way it would be better for her, I guess. Out of sight, out of mind.
A million thought weighed in my mind as we walked out of the KFC. Hacker however was in a good mood, whistling cheerfully.
Suddenly, I saw an ice-cream truck and I stopped. Hacker looked at me and then followed my gaze.
"Papa," I called smiling cheekily.