A-Bo put down his phone after seeing what Google had shown him as the meaning of "ribbon." He felt like calling I-Bo again, but then he sighed and leaned back against his bed. I-Bo's words kept swirling in his head.
Then he looked at his bedroom door, because Zhan still hadn't stopped knocking continuously. As if he wouldn't get up, he finally stood up and headed to the door. He opened the door with a firm face, looking at Zhan without saying anything.
Zhan stepped back a little, not letting their eyes meet, quietly playing with his fingers, and said, "Please, I actually want you to take me home..."
A-Bo stopped him and said, "I should take you? Don't you know the way to your home, or did I bring you?"
Zhan lifted his head and looked at him, at a loss for words.
A-Bo twisted his face and said, "I am not I-Bo, that you act all kinds of arrogance and control him."
Zhan turned away slowly and left the doorway.
A-Bo banged his door shut and locked it. He went back, picked up his phone, started to dial I-Bo's number, then stopped the call and sighed. Zhan went back to the room he was staying in, took his bag and his phone, and left the room. He walked slowly, went downstairs, and headed to the exit door from the main living room, only to find the door locked.
Despite all his efforts to open the door, he couldn't-there was no key in sight. He stood by the door for over two minutes, feeling himself flow slowly. He turned and looked toward the stairs. He went back, walking as if he didn't want to, and headed to A-Bo's bedroom. He leaned against the wall as if he wouldn't knock on the door, but then he knocked as if pitying the door.
A-Bo had already turned off the light in his room; he looked at the door without blinking, then adjusted his lying position and didn't move from where he was lying. Zhan stayed at the door for over five minutes, not stopping his knocking. A-Bo removed the duvet from his body, threw it aside, then got down from the bed with a firm face, headed to the door, opened it, and looked at Zhan, at the same time cutting him a serious warning: "If you knock on my door again, I will disrespect you. Why are you such a nuisance? Please get out before I lose my temper."
Zhan looked at him, frowned, and said, "So, through the window do you want me to leave the house, since the living room door is locked?"
A-Bo said, "Go through the roof, not only the window for all i care."
Saying that, he was about to lock his door when Zhan quickly entered the room as if about to burst into tears, he went to the middle of the room, stopped, and said, "Do you know why I said I want to go home? You just keep giving a person trouble without stopping to consider him, without giving a listening ear. Would I just get up in the middle of the night and say I want to go home? I didn't say you have to take me-just come and open the door for me so I can go on my way..."
Zhan was speaking, but all of A-Bo's attention was on his room floor, which Zhan had entered directly. He looked shocked, as if he hadn't seen that coming.
Zhan ignored his ailment that he understood immediately.
A-Bo calmed himself a little, looking at Zhan, and said, "Because you saw that the other day when I-Bo came in with you, I persuaded myself not to react, you think this is a public room? Were you told that even I-Bo enters my room anyhow? Don't you have any sense, or are you out of your mind? Come and get out before you push me to the wall.
And don't you dare step on my carpet with those feet of yours. That filthy room you entered and lay down in-all dust and dirt-didn't your common sense tell you to clean the room and wipe it, then change the bedsheet? And then you'll come into my room and wipe the dirt from your body all over me and annoy me? Please come and get out before I lose my temper..."
He finished speaking angrily, opening the door wider for Zhan to come and leave. Zhan clicked his tongue and said, "Well, i won't go unless you open the living room door for me."
A-Bo shouted at him, "Won't you get out of my room?"
Zhan burst into tears, headed to the door, and said, "You know why I wanted to go home....isn't it because of an urgent issue?"
A-Bo said, "I don't care about your urgent issue....get out of my room."
Seeing that he was damn serious, because his entire mood had changed since Zhan entered the room, Zhan left the room, looked at him, and said, "Please open the living room door for me before it's too late."
A-Bo banged his door shut and locked it. Zhan kept staring at the door. After a minute, A-Bo came out. He put on the shoes he wore around the house. Zhan watched him, then followed behind him, glaring at him. A-Bo went downstairs and went to open the living room door for him.
Zhan walked slowly, reached the door, then went out, looking at him. A-Bo locked the living room door. Zhan felt a cold....he was only wearing a head covering, no cold-weather coat. Walking slowly, he left the compound entirely, a terrible cold entering him. Only then did he confirm that A-Bo was evil and had no conscience.
He took out his phone to see if he could order a ride. He stood in the neighborhood after checking the ride. After almost five minutes, he saw headlights from a car coming from the compound. He lifted his head until A-Bo came out with the car. He saw him park where he was standing. Zhan looked at him.
With a firm face, A-Bo said, "Do not waste my time, mr." Zhan pouted and opened the front passenger door. But he was afraid to sit and mess up his car and get into trouble. He got in but didn't relax his whole body in the seat. As he got in, A-Bo pulled off. They arrived at hos apartment without him saying anything to him. After parking, Zhan said, "Thank you."
Then he got out of the car without looking at him, headed to his apartment door, opened it with his key, and went inside. Zhan didn't lock the door; he stood by the window, opened the curtain a little, and peeked to see if A-Bo had left. He saw A-Bo turn on the light and checking where he had sat with his phone.
Zhan squinted, then quickly turned around to check his pant, he hadn't stained it. He looked at A-Bo again and saw that he had finished his checking and he turned off the phone's light. Zhan knew then that he might have realized why he said he was coming home.
He pouted because it's so embracing. He stood by the window for over five minutes without seeing him reverse. He wanted to see him leave so he could lock his door with the key, because of the earlier incident when he had left his door unlocked and Yoki had fallen into his house like a thief.
Zhan saw A-Bo open the car door after almost ten minutes and get out. Only when he saw him heading to his apartment door did he run upstairs quickly and enter his room.
By the time Zhan entered the bathroom, he saw that he hadn't stained his clothes. He took a pad he had bought back from China from his trunk. After fixing himself up, he came out, changed his clothes, put on his cold-weather coat, and lay down.
Around one in the morning, Zhan woke up from the sleep that had overtaken him, terrified, even though he hadn't been sleeping long. He sat up, his heart pounding. He had dreamed that Yoki came and was banging on his door. Also, his mind was on the living room door-had A-Bo locked it before leaving, or had he left it open?
Quietly, he got down from the bed, opened his door, went out to the corridor, and peeked downstairs. He saw A-Bo lying on a chair, his eyes closed, and he had turned the living room light to dim. Quietly, Zhan went downstairs without making any noise. After a few seconds, he went back upstairs to get him a duvet. As he was coming back down to the living room, A-Bo opened his eyes.
Zhan stepped back, stammering, "It's a duvet. I see it's very cold tonight..."
A-Bo pointed at himself and said, "I should use your duvet? What? You, who can comfortably enter a room full of dust and dirt and lie down, are the one to bring me your duvet for me to use because I've gone mad? Any person who can comfortably be in a dirty, dusty room without cleaning it, and walk around the house barefoot, there's no level of filth he won't commit. That's why you and I-Bo are alike-birds of the same feathers. I would rather lie down and let the cold kill me than use something that came from your room. Even this chair....I'm only lying on it because it's new furniture."
Zhan glarenat him, then turned and went back upstairs with the duvet. It was brand new-he hadn't even used it; he had just taken it out of its pack. Deep down, he told himself that Heaven would deal with this weird guy. He sighed after entering his room, locked his door with the key, and lay down.
***
The next morning around seven, Zhan came out of his room. He didn't see A-Bo in the living room. That made him go downstairs, go to the door, and try it-it was locked. He peeked at the garage and didn't see A-Bo's car. He clicked his tongue and went to the kitchen-he had gone to bed hungry.
Around ten o'clock, he finished everything he needed to do and left the house for school. He didn't see A-Bo again that day. Bin kept trying to engage him in conversation until he got tired and left him alone.
After they came out of the department, Bin looked at him and said, "Is there any problem, Zhan? I see your mood is completely bad today."
Briefly, Zhan said, "Nothing."
Bin said, "Just tell me the truth. Maybe you're even angry at me without me knowing."
Only then did Zhan look at him and say, "Why wouldn't I be angry at you, Bin? You just brought a senseless bastard into my life while I was minding my own business. You caused me all this, honestly."
Bin fell silent, then quietly said, "Yoki? I didn't know he was a bastard, Zhan. I swear, I thought he had sense, the way I see him quiet and calm in the department."
Zhan said, "Well, yesterday around six in the evening, he showed up at my apartment. Unfortunately, I had left the door open, and he just barged into the living room on his own."
Bin opened his mouth, looking at Zhan without blinking, shocked, and said, "Your apartment, Zhan? I'm ruined. So what happened?"
Zhan didn't answer him out of frustration. Bin frowned and said, "Well then, I'll go crazy at him. Did his mother go to find you your house? Was he told that everyone is a bastard like him?"
Zhan just looked at Yoki from a distance as he headed toward where they were sitting. Bin didn't even notice him; he was still speaking angrily: "Well, didn't you call the cops on him? Please tell me what happened when he went to your apartment?"
Bin turned around when he saw a man's shadow in front of them.
Yoki looked at Zhan intently and said, "Did you take it to that guy to do what to me? What do you think he can do to me? His useless muscles...he wants to hit me? Who does he think he is? What is he proud of? Their title that hasn't broken any ground or what? And I see he's forgetting that we're in America, not China. He wants to show me a different treatment...doesn't know what I did in China?"
Bin stood up and said, "Look, Yoki, Zhan is not the kind of man you're thinking of. Leave aside seeing him quiet in America. He is a person of dignity who knows his worth. And worldly matters are not his concern. This get-together, I dragged him to because he had to go-it wasn't his idea. That's why throughout, he isolated himself in one corner-you saw that too. And the one you're calling 'that guy' is his fiancé, not someone interfering.
And as for their title, it hasn't broken ground-their house here in America, not just anyone in China can own such a big house in another country. And you, I see you're renting an apartment in America. Besides, Zhan's parents didn't send him to study in another country until they confirmed his husband was there. And his husband is also in this country. You see, you wouldn't call him 'that guy.'"
Yoki gave him a look and said, "You, watch your mouth, don't bring trouble into your life. Useless fiancé-since when does a fiancé become a husband? Even the wedding day meant to broke, let alone a common engagement. Is he proud of an engagement?"
Bin made a noise, holding his waist, and said, "I see you don't want peace, sir. If you don't get out of my friend's business in this country, right in front of you, I will call 911 for you and expose you to trouble that no one can get you out of except Heaven. Like you said, this isn't China....your case will be heard immediatel. And his neighborhood, they will check the surveillance cameras and see how you entered his apartment, so it will be confirmed that no injustice was done to you..."
Yoki adjusted his stance, looking at him intently, and said, "Really? So you're crazy and I didn't know?"
Bin said, "I'm defending him. And if you don't be careful with us in this country, you'll see pure ignorance. When I saw you quiet and calm at school, I didn't know you were an experienced bastard until now. Well, besides a bastard, who would enter a person's apartment like it's his father's house? So is it a mental illness they're spreading rumors about as the heart condition?"
Yoki raised his hand to slap him, then stopped, made a fist, bit his teeth, looking at him breathing heavily.
Bin laughed and said, "Don't stop...try it, please. Slap me, go ahead. The thought of deporting you back to China in a cargo ship is what's restraining you. Try slapping me....you'll see the power of Heaven."
Yoki said, "From you to your friend, I will take care of both of you, in this country." Then he turned as if to fly and left.
Bin said, "When I was told your father is a deputy governor, I should have been ashamed that day and covered my face. I thought you were the son of a vice president with this kind of arrogance. It turns out he's a common deputy....not even known in China. And if you can't try to 'take care of us,' you're not even a real man. You've been seen-a professional drunkard, codeine addict. I don't know what bad luck makes us even greet you...except that your just handsome and have no sense."
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