Ziehen: to draw out.
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The Art's teacher instructed them to draw imaginary objects. Zhou Yongliang did not quite understand what the teacher meant. What did it mean by imaginary? Did it mean an object that was not real?
Zhou Yongliang was a realistic person. He never thought about objects that were not real. All objects that existed in his life were real objects; vivid and touchable.
He also didn't have a good imagination. When he was little, when his peers imagined the existence of a superhero who would protect them, Zhou Yongliang was busy playing with his stuffed chicks. A real, touchable stuffed toy, not an imaginary object.
So, it was not surprising that Zhou Yongliang was currently confused about what to draw.
All students from his class were in the Art room. Dozens of tables in the room were arranged in such a way as to make a perfect rectangular shape. Usually, students faced the same direction towards the whiteboard, but now they sat while facing each other even though there was a distance of several meters between them.
Zhou Yongliang sat next to Huang Bo, a few tables apart from Chen Guangli and Ren Weisheng. Their two friends were a little late to come to the room, so they couldn't take the seats near Zhou Yongliang and Huang Bo. They had to stop by the canteen on the way to the Art room. Understandably, Ren Weisheng's big stomach could easily beg for food.
Slightly glancing to his left, Huang Bo's drawing paper began to fill with several curved lines that were not yet clearly defined. "What is it, Huang Bo?" He decided to ask.
Without taking his eyes off the picture he was drawing, Huang Bo replied, "It's an alien. When I was a kid, I had a dream of meeting aliens."
Zhou Yongliang chuckled softly at his friend's innocent answer. "But, some experts say that aliens are real, Huang Bo. Alien is not an imaginary object," he then stated.
"Zhou Yongliang is noisy!" Huang Bo glared displeasedly at Zhou Yongliang next to him. "This is my version of an imaginary object. It doesn't belong to those experts!"
Zhou Yongliang could only grimace at Huang Bo's exclaim. The boy wasn't really angry, but Zhou Yongliang decided to back down, letting Huang Bo return to work with his drawings.
In silence, Zhou Yongliang watched the drawing Huang Bo was making.
"Huang Bo." The call was only responded to with a murmur. "Does Hwang Jihyuk gege know Yang Liu?"
This time, Huang Bo turned to Zhou Yongliang while frowning. "Why are you suddenly asking about my brother?"
For a moment Zhou Yongliang hesitated. He bit his thin lips in a huff. 'Should I tell Huang Bo?' He asked himself.
Hwang Jihyuk's confession yesterday morning made him anxious. Instead of feeling joy, he was worried after hearing the confession.
Thinking about the confession was so tiring that he couldn't focus for a second. This morning, he fell on his knees near the bus stop because he wasn't focused on his steps.
"Yesterday, Hwang Jihyuk gege came to my place." Finally, Zhou Yongliang decided to tell his friend. "He said he got my address from you, Huang Bo."
"Huh? What? He got your address from me? How can that be? I don't even know your address!"
Zhou Yongliang's eyes widened at the unexpected answer. He stared at his friend in disbelief.
He could tell that Huang Bo was honest with him now. An innocent boy like Huang Bo would likely be honest with him. He didn't have any reason to lie with him. If there was a person who lied, the person was not Huang Bo for sure.
"Let's forget about that matter." He chose to brush off his uneasy feelings about Hwang Jihyuk. "Hwang Jihyuk gege told me that Yang Liu was not the right person for me, but you always said that Yang Liu was a good person. You two are quite contradictive, right?"
Huang Bo frowned. His face looked so serious for the first time. It felt like he was searching for the right answer to Zhou Yongliang's question.
"Yang Liu is indeed a good person," he then said. "But, even if he's a good person, he's not necessarily right for you, Yongliang. Maybe that's what my brother meant."
Zhou Yongliang fell silent. He didn't think about that possibility. What Huang Bo had just said made sense.
"But, does Hwang Jihyuk gege know Yang Liu well, Huang Bo? Do you also know Yang Liu well?"
Huang Bo moved restlessly on his chair. "I don't know much about Yang Liu, Yongliang," he replied hesitantly. "However, I have known Yang Liu for a long time. During that time, he never did anything bad. Forgive me, Zhou Yongliang. That's all I can say about Yang Liu. I also gave Ren Weisheng, Chen Guangli, and Zhong Hai gege the same answer when they asked me about Yang Liu."
The answer was quite unexpected for Zhou Yongliang. He never thought that Huang Bo knew Yang Liu outside the school. It seemed that there were many things that he didn't know about his blonde friend.
"Okay, Huang Bo. I can understand your relationship with Yang Liu. You've known him for a long time, but you two are not close," the brown-haired student said. "Then, how is the relationship between Hwang Jihyuk gege and Yang Liu?"
Huang Bo frowned for a moment to think. "Hwang Jihyuk gege and Yang Liu have... a close relationship, Yongliang. Hwang Jihyuk gege is the only person who knows Yang Liu inside out. Hwang Jihyuk gege knows everything about Yang Liu."
Zhou Yongliang was shocked at Huang Bo's explanation. "H-how did Hwang Jihyuk gege know Yang Liu that well, Huang Bo?"
At first, Huang Bo was a little hesitant to talk about his brother's relationship with his classmate, but Zhou Yongliang 's face was so messy that he finally decided to give up.
"Hwang Jihyuk gege is two years older than me and was born in Korea. But, when my mother was pregnant with me, my grandfather in Beijing asked her to give birth here. We decided to comply with his wish and moved to Beijing. I was born in Beijing and also lived here for several years."
Zhou Yongliang earnestly listening to his friend's story.
"When my brother was in the sixth grade of elementary school and I was in the fourth grade, our family moved to Tianjin because of my father's business. That's when I and my brother met Yang Liu for the first time. We were neighbor back then, and naturally, we became friends. But, although the three of us were friends, Yang Liu was much closer to my brother. They were like glue and a stamp, while I and Yang Liu were not that close."
The further explanation made Zhou Yongliang shocked. He didn't expect that Huang Bo and Yang Liu were childhood friends.
"Then, when my brother was already in his third year of middle school and I was in my first year, our family moved again to Beijing and settled here. To be precise, three years ago we moved to Beijing. Even though there's a distance between Beijing and Tianjin, but my brother and Yang Liu still maintained long-distance communication. They always shared their personal life stories via email or telephone. I'm often jealous of their relationship." He chuckled for a bit remembering the past.
"And, the time came when my brother suddenly said to my father that Yang Liu would move to Beijing last year. My brother was in his second year of high school, and I was in my last year in middle school. My brother also said that while living in Beijing, Yang Liu would depend on our family. My father said yes because he knew how good the relationship between my brother and Yang Liu. They are still on good terms until now even though they don't live together. That's the story."
Huang Bo's story was so long. The blonde student looked tired and decided to take a sip of his mineral water.
Zhou Yongliang was still silent. He did not know that Hwang Jihyuk and Yang Liu had been close for a long time.
But, why did yesterday Hwang Jihyuk seem to give Yang Liu a negative judgment when the angel-faced man met him? Why was it look like Hwang Jihyuk deliberately badmouthed Yang Liu when they were on good terms?
Zhou Yongliang got a headache thinking about that. His brain was unable to make a detailed analysis. It seemed that Hwang Jihyuk and Yang Liu kept a secret that only the two of them knew.
"Yongliang." The tap of Huang Bo's hand on his shoulder brought Zhou Yongliang back to his senses. "Don't think too much about it. You better just finish the drawing assignment. Not much time left, you know."
Zhou Yongliang glared in surprise. True, he and Huang Bo had been chatting in a whisper for so long that he had forgotten the assignment assigned by his Art teacher.
The Art class was free and relaxed. Many students eat snacks, chat, or listen to music, just like Yang Liu who listened to music through his earphones.
Ah, Yang Liu! The vampire! Zhou Yongliang had just gotten an idea of what imaginary object he could draw.