After their Friday afternoon lecture Gu Shan followed Professor Jiang to his office as instructed. He didn't have the faintest idea why the old man wanted to have a talk to him but he desperately prayed inwardly that he wouldn't suggest him to attend another congress. He seemed to have lost interest in them since his Congress in Germany. Last time when he went to America he didn't feel that particular excitement he usually felt whenever he was flying out of country to showcase his technology skills.
He knocked softly and entered upon hearing approval from the other side. A beautiful young lady who was seated in front of the professor turned around to look at him with a sweet smile and their eyes locked for a moment. Slowly he approached the professor's desk curious about the strange girl. Judging from her facial features,she evidently looked American or maybe European.
"Professor,"Gu Shan bowed perfunctorily.
"Gu Shan you're here. I wanted to introduce you to my niece here,"Professor Jiang began.
"Hi, I'm Ashley,"the girl said in Chinese and stood up to shake hands with him.
It had been quite long since Gu Shan shook hands with someone let alone a lady so at first he was hesitant to respond but figuring out it would be rude to decline her gesture he stretched his hand and met hers resulting to a firm handshake. The girl grinned at him widely.
"Gu Shan,"Professor Jiang called out interrupting them."My niece here wants to apply as an exchange student at our university. I would like to request you to give her a proper tour around our campus.
"I would like you to show me around,"The girl added still in chinese but considering she wasn't yet fluent at the language she had trouble using the right intonation for some of the words.
"Okay,"Gu Shan agreed speaking in English.
"Don't worry Gu Shan here can speak English,"Professor Jiang said and the girl's smile broadened definitely mesmerized about it.
"So tomorrow I'll send you my address you can come pick her up,right?"
"Sure,"Gu Shan nodded,"If there's nothing else I will like to leave."
"Sure. Go ahead."
Gu Shan said goodbye and walked out of the office taking a few deep breaths. He wasn't good at socializing and professor Jiang was definitely putting him in a tough spot.
*****
The following day,Gu Shan woke up earlier than usual. He was anxious about the whole tour guiding thing so he could barely sleep any longer. He took a cool shower to calm his nerves and dressed up ready to leave.
"Where are you going?"Liu Daxun asked curiously,his gaze inspecting Gu Shan's elegant outfit,"Are you going to see your uncle?"
"No. The professor's daughter. She's American and she wants to apply as an exchange student at our university so Professor Jiang wants me to give her a tour so she can familiarize herself with the campus or see if it's worth studying here,"Gu Shan explained.
"When will you be back?"
"I'm not sure about that."
"Okay. Good luck."
*****
Gu Shan took a taxi to Professor Jiang's house to pick the girl up. To his surprise the girl was dressed up already just waiting for him to show up. He was kinda glad she wasn't the tardy type that always made guys wait for them for two hours to decide which outfit they should wear. Professor Jiang offered his car to make it convenient to travel to the desired places without worrying about fatigue and maybe hide from the scorching sun.
Since they hadn't had breakfast,they passed by one of pastry shops and bought whatever each of them preferred.
"Do you come here often ?"the girl asked referring to the pastry shop.
"Not much,"Gu Shan replied bluntly.
The girl was both talkative and inquisitive throughout the tour. He showed her different spots in school like where she should go if she wanted American food. They even talked about their love lives - something Gu Shan never wanted to talk about especially with a girl he had met less than twenty four hours ago. Ashley was open and apparently she had broken up with her boyfriend and she decided to seek a new life away from home. She didn't look sad and it seemed like nothing when she talked about it.
*****
Li Yunxi stared at the entrance of the club hopelessly. Disappointment and maybe sadness was etched across his handsome face. It was almost seven and Gu Shan hadn't shown up at the club for their usual cocktail lesson. For the past two and a half weeks,they had spent every evening at the club preparing cocktails. Sometimes Gu Shan even overstayed and helped him serve drinks to customers. But now the boy hadn't shown up yet and it didn't seem like he would.
He occasionally checked his phone for any message from the boy informing him that he would be late or that he wouldn't make it but apparently they were none. He felt angry. At least he should have called him or texted him so he wouldn't wait for him blindly. There was one memory that made him insecure about the boy. He recalled Liu Daxun mentioning that Gu Shan had gone out with some girl to give her a tour around the school. But Liu Daxun mentioned the girl was their professor's niece and they were complete strangers. How come they had extended their tour till such a time?Just the thought of the boy hanging out with someone else made his heart ache and his longer slender fingers clenched into fists,his nails digging into his palms threatening to draw out some blood. He didn't want to believe that he could actually get jealous of someone. Their relationship had grown closer but they were still at a level that he didn't have the right to get jealous of him.
"Get me some whiskey,"a young lady ordered throwing her purse on the counter. At least he had found a distraction to his racing thoughts.
*****
The following morning the trio decided to have a slight change in their morning routine. Instead of going for their usual morning run,they went to the gym. To everyone's surprise Gu Shan tagged along even though he hated working out. Since it was very early,there were only one to two guys at the gym. They occupied their own spot and began working out.
After lifting the gym equipment for a few minutes,Gu Shan felt his muscles weakening and like someone was pumping air out of his lungs. He immediately gave up and picked on something interesting. The other three were working out shirtless. He took the time to admire their well built bodies while praising them.
Gu Shan especially ran his fingers up and down on the athletic stomach of a particular guy. His fingers outlined the six packs showing off their presence on the same organ he was touching.
"Get your hands off me!"Li Yunxi lashed out at him gripping Gu Shan's hand tightly and yanking it away from his body. The tingling sensation Gu Shan's fingers created was turning him on.And also he was angry about last evening- the boy didn't look the least bit remorseful for standing him up at the club.
"What's wrong?"Xiao Hui asked shocked by his friend's aggressive behavior. Li Yunxi was a calm guy. For him to behave that way something must have triggered him. Gu Shan didn't know why but he could feel tears welling up in his eyes. He hated it . He wasn't that vulnerable ,was he? He excused himself and ran to the bathroom and when he was sure he was out of everyone's sight,he let the tears rolled down his face freely.
"Why did you shout at him? I thought you guys are close now?"
"It's nothing. I'm struggling with some inner turmoil and I mistakenly took it out him,"Li Yunxi said feeling guilty for overreacting.
"He looked like he wanted to cry,"Xiao Hui pointed out.
"I've never seen him cry. Even when he broke up with his girlfriend he didn't cry,"Liu Daxun informes them.
"He broke up with his girlfriend?"
"Yes. Last semester."
"You should definitely check up on him ,"Xiao Hui suggested.
Li Yunxi was glad the conversation about Gu Shan and his ex girlfriend didn't go on. He felt the more they talked about it the more guilt would strike him.
"You should apologize to him later."
"Mm ,"Li Yunxi nodded like a scolded kid. He let jealousy take the better part of him and without knowing he was burning with rage and growled at the fragile boy like an aggressive wolf chasing its prey. Jealousy could awaken flames inside a man.
"ShanShan,is everything alright? Liu Daxun asked leaning against the sink outside the bathrooms.
"I'm fine,"Gu Shan said in a teary voice.
"Yunxi didn't mean to do that. If you're fine please come out."
Liu Daxun pondered for a while waiting for his friend to step out of the bathroom but he didn't.Instead, Gu Shan urged him to go away so he could compose himself without showing how vulnerable he had just been a few minutes ago.
When Gu Shan came back,he looked more fresh and had a beautiful smile decorating his face. He had successfully managed to lock his vulnerability.
"Do you want to go back home?"
"No. I want to lift some weights ."
Gu Shan joined them and this time he was stronger than when they first came to the gym half an hour ago. It felt like someone had pumped some strength into him. It was typical of a martial arts drama where the main character suddenly unleashes a strong move surprising everyone with his hidden skills.