Early that morning, Sihan and Haoran had barged into Yichen and Qixian's room, kicking off a ruckus that eventually drove the four of them down to the shore. Now, Yichen and Qixian stood a few paces back, watching with flat expressions as Haoran and Sihan acted like the ultimate "lovey-dovey" couple.
"Seriously? You dragged us out here just to witness this?" Qixian gestured toward them, his face twisted in a look of mock disgust, though there was no real malice behind it.
"What, are you jealous?" Haoran teased, flashing a mischievous grin. "Why don't you and Yichen just take this as an opportunity for your first date—"
"That wasn't funny at all," Yichen interrupted, his voice cool. "We aren't in that kind of relationship."
"That's right," Qixian agreed quickly, nodding.
"Yeah, sure. As if your pheromones don't react to each other every time you're in the same room," Sihan started to retort.
"And not like you hadn't marked him..." Haoran added and looked up to them but the two were already walking away. "How rude!" He called out to their retreating backs.
They walked in silence for a moment, the sound of the waves filling the gap. "Aren't you going to swim?" Qixian asked, glancing over at Yichen.
"No," Yichen answered shortly, keeping his pace steady beside him.
"Why? Don't tell me you don't know how to swim?" Qixian teased, trying to lighten the mood.
"Of course I do," Yichen said, not taking the bait.
"Really?" Qixian pressed, leaning in slightly. "You?" He said judgingly.
"Why don't we talk about you instead?" Yichen countered, a clear attempt to shift the focus.
"Changing the topic already?" Qixian teased. But when he noticed the sudden, heavy seriousness in Yichen's gaze, he faltered. "Oh... well... what is there to talk about?"
"You're not going to tell me?" Yichen asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
"Tell you what? That I know how to swim? You have to be specific! How am I supposed to know what's on your mind?" Qixian glared, his defensive walls going up.
"Your injuries," Yichen said flatly.
"What injuries?" Qixian let out an awkward, forced laugh. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't lie to me. I'm your partner now, Qixian," Yichen said, his frustration beginning to bleed through his voice. "And I'm an Enigma. Of course I can sense them, obviously."
"Oh... uhm... well..." Qixian stammered, searching for an excuse. When he realized he was cornered, he snapped back, "Why do you even want to know so badly?!"
"Do I need a reason to care about my partner's condition?"
Qixian fell silent, biting his lip.
"So you really won't tell me?" Yichen asked. A flicker of genuine hurt crossed his face. "That's disappointing," he murmured, almost to himself.
"Did you sense anything... else?" Qixian asked cautiously, his voice dropping an octave. "Other than the injuries, I mean?"
"Is there more I should know?" Yichen asked, his eyes searching Qixian's face.
"No. There's nothing much," Qixian said, looking away toward the horizon.
"As much as I want to force the truth out of you, I can't. And you're lucky for that," Yichen admitted, his tone turning dark and unreadable.
"And why is that?" Qixian asked, raising an eyebrow at the sudden shift in energy.
"Because you're injured. And those injuries are... extensive," Yichen said, his gaze lingering on him one last time before he began to walk faster, leaving Qixian behind. "You're lucky, because if you were healthy, you'd find out I'm not nearly as gentle as you think."
________________
"They've been gone for almost three days! How do you explain that?!" Jin Rou's voice cracked like a whip across the room as he seized a porcelain vase and hurled it with a violent jerk of his arm. It shattered against the wall into a thousand jagged pieces. "Next time," he snarled, his eyes narrowing with lethal intent, "it'll be your head instead of the ceramic."
The assistant flinched at the sound of the impact, his entire body trembling as he kept his head bowed low, staring at the floor. "I'm sorry, sir... I should have investigated more thoroughly. It was my oversight." He swallowed hard, his voice shaking with visible fear. "We will find out exactly where they went immediately, sir. I'll put everyone on it."
"No," Jin Rou snapped, cutting him off with a sharp wave of his hand. "Don't waste any more time on them, since you always fail anyway."
"Ser?"
"We just need to lure him. Find Chengli. We are running out of time." He paced the room, his jaw tight with tension. "I won't be able to face the board or anyone else at the gala if we fail again. The humiliation would be irreversible."
"Right away, sir," the assistant replied, his voice barely a whisper. He gave one final, frantic bow and scrambled out of the room, desperate to escape his master's presence before another object—or his own life—was thrown.
____________
"What are you looking at so intently?" Haoran asked, leaning over to catch a glimpse of whatever had captured Qixian's undivided attention.
Qixian didn't pull his gaze away from the glass, his eyes fixed on the massive structure looming in the distance. "A sports club," he answered simply, watching as the car drew closer to the sprawling complex that dominated the city center.
"Whoa, that's absolutely huge!" Haoran exclaimed in genuine amazement, his face pressed near the car window to take in the sheer scale of the facility. The architecture was modern and imposing, standing out even among the surrounding skyscrapers. Suddenly, his eyes lit up with an idea. "Hey, let's stop here!"
"What? Right now?" Sihan asked, glancing at the rearview mirror in confusion even as he instinctively began to ease his foot off the accelerator, slowing the car down.
"Yes! Let's go check out that sports club. Look at the size of it!" Haoran insisted, pointing excitedly at the grand entrance of the building as they drifted toward the curb.
Sihan sighed, though a small smile played on his lips at Haoran's typical impulsiveness. "Fine, fine. Let me call Yichen and let him know we're making an unscheduled stop there," he said, pulling out his phone to dial the other car as they veered toward the parking area.
___________________
Inside the sprawling sports club, the atmosphere was a mix of high-end luxury and competitive energy.
"You know this place, don't you?" Yichen asked, his eyes narrowing as he observed the way Qixian navigated the corridors with a strange, practiced ease, walking as if he knew exactly what was around every corner.
"Yeah," Qixian answered, his voice distant. "I have some pleasant—and very unpleasant—memories tied to this building."
"Whoa! Forget the memories for a second, look at the size of this place!" Haoran exclaimed, still spinning around to take in the massive courts and training areas. "What kind of sports do you actually know how to play?"
"Archery," Qixian replied, already pivoting on his heel and heading toward the dedicated archery range without waiting for the others.
"Archery? That's so cool! Why don't we go check it out?" Haoran said happily, his excitement infectious.
"Sure," Qixian said, his stride confident as he led the way through the facility.
"Hey, where are you two going now?!" Sihan called out, noticing Qixian and Haoran disappearing toward a specific wing of the club.
"Let's just follow them and find out," Yichen said, already moving to keep pace.
When they reached the range, the air was quiet, punctuated only by the distant sound of arrows hitting targets. "The archery ground? Why are we here specifically?" Sihan asked, looking around at the rows of targets.
"Probably because you followed us here?" Haoran said, chuckling at Sihan's confusion.
Yichen stepped closer as Qixian picked up a professional-grade recurve bow. "You actually know how to use that?" he asked, watching Qixian test the tension of the string.
"Of course I do," Qixian said, a sharp, knowing glint in his eyes. "Wanna see?"
Yichen let a slow smirk spread across his face. "Sure. Show me what you've got."
"I have a very pleasant memories when I hold a bow, you know,"
"Mind telling me?"
"I can still vividly remember that time, I shot my 'big brother' right in the shoulder," Qixian said, his voice dropping into a dark, haunting chuckle that made the hair on the back of Haoran's neck stand up. "He almost lost his entire arm."
"You did not!" Haoran gasped, his jaw dropping in genuine shock.
"Oh, I definitely did," Qixian said proudly, his expression unreadable. "We were nineteen at the time."
"Why on earth would you do something so violent to your own brother?!" Haoran shouted, horrified.
"He asked for it," Qixian answered simply. He stepped up to the line, his posture shifting instantly into that of a seasoned marksman as he positioned his bow.
"Why would your brother ever ask you to shoot him?" Yichen asked skeptically, crossing his arms.
"Perhaps to provoke me, by looking down on me. And to give my parents a reason to scold me. He was always so fucking childish about things like that, he's actually crazy that I even thought he should stay at the mental hospital." Qixian explained, his focus narrowing on the target.
"You're nuts," Sihan commented.
"You should be proud!"
"Saying that your brother should stay at the mental hospital isn't something we should be proud of." Haoran said though there's an amusement in his tone.
"No, I'm telling the truth. He even couldn't stand it if I achieved something perfect." He drew the string back, his muscles tensing, and let the arrow fly. "Different from my parents, though. They only hated me when I wasn't perfect."
He spoke about his experience as if he were discussing the weather—even as his arrow slammed directly into the center of the bullseye.
"Whoa... is that a perfect bullseye?" Sihan asked, his voice filled with amazement, though it felt like a deliberate attempt to distract everyone from the heavy tension in the air.
"It is," Qixian said, his chin tilting up with a flash of pride.
"What kind of family did you grow up in to turn out like this?" Haoran murmured, his voice thick with newfound sympathy.
Qixian raised an eyebrow, glancing back at him. "What's that supposed to mean? Perfectionism is just a part of life where I come from. I'm perfectly mental!"
"Is that why you left them? Why you ran away?" Yichen asked, his voice softer now, searching for the truth behind Qixian's facade.
"Maybe. Or maybe not," Qixian answered reaching for another arrow.
"Did they... did they hurt you a lot?" Haoran asked, his voice cautious, as if afraid of the answer.
"Why do you think that?" Qixian countered, his tone sharpening.
"Because..." Haoran started, struggling to find the right words.
"Because I don't talk about them? Because I mentioned my 'big brother' was the favorite?" Qixian cut him off with a bitter smile. "Ah... wait. I didn't actually tell you he was the favorite, did I?"
"Not really..." Sihan started, 'to them, except me, I know everything.' he thought as he was desperately trying to pivot the conversation before it became too painful.
"I see...," Qixian interrupted, his voice returning to a casual, breezy tone that didn't quite reach his eyes, "well, let's just say I don't really have a family to begin with."
A heavy, suffocating silence followed his statement.
"Don't worry about them!" Haoran said suddenly, stepping forward and beaming at him. "You have us now. We're your family!"
"I guess it is," Qixian murmured, turning back to the target so they couldn't see his face. And you always will be, he added silently in the privacy of his own mind.