Alex's POV

I laid down on my bed with my hands behind my head, staring at the ceiling. My mind was racing with Chen-related ideas. The previous incident. He was on the verge of smelling his perfume on his face. Close enough to smell his breath and peer into his soft lips.

“For the sake of our fans and the student council’s charity event, why not show a bit of affection to me, Alex? That’d be fun,” Chen said and winked. 

To forget the picture of him leaning closer to my face, I continued to toss and turn.

“You know this is more convincing,” he smirked, whispering in a rich baritone. He was still staring at me, his razor-sharp gaze slaughtering me. Our faces were too near for two males in broad daylight in a public place. “Look.” He cocked his head in her direction. I followed him and noticed that she and her buddy were staring at us. “See?”

I didn’t believe I’d be able to get any sleep tonight. It’s all because of that jerk. I sat at the edge of the bed, wiping my face with my hands, as I awoke from my slumber. My eyes focused on the alarm clock on the small table beside the bed, and I let out a frustrated moan. 

It’s five o’clock in the morning.

***

I strolled towards the university entrance, exhausted from not getting a decent night’s sleep. It felt weird to brush my lips. Chen kissed me once more the other day. I was becoming increasingly concerned that kissing him had become a habit. 

I shook my head to clear my mind and kept walking through the school grounds to the main hall.

“Alex!” A woman’s voice cried out to me. She yelled my name once more. 

Damn it. She’s at it again. Oh, no! 

I groaned and turned to see Hani waving her hands as if nothing had happened the day before. Why was she here in the first place? Was she keeping an eye on me? Please don’t do that. In middle school, I’d had enough of her nonsense.

She approached me and continuously tapped my shoulders before throwing her arm around my shoulder. “Alex.”

With a wink and a smirk, she expressed her displeasure with the situation. 

I pushed her away with a shake of my head.

“What brings you here?” 

I didn’t wait for her to say anything else before I asked her about her presence. Despite my question seeming uninterested, she maintained an irritating smile on her face.

“I heard you’re here for school. So I came.” She smiled like a child and bent her body backward, her spine cracking. 

Without waiting for her to tidy herself up, I raised an eyebrow and went away.

She sprinted to keep up with my pace and walked alongside me, attempting to grab my arm. I yanked it away and sped up before she could reach it. 

“What does that imply, I’m here?” 

“I just started this yesterday. I realized that it was a little late in the semester. But I’m grateful that my father was able to persuade the school administration to let me enter.” 

Hani handed me her completed enrollment form, verifying that she was enrolled in the same university as me. 

That’s why you were in that coffee shop the other day. I came to a halt and gave her a hard stare. “But why?” I stumbled out of astonishment, my jaw clenched.

“Because…” She paused and wrapped her arms around me, practically pulling me off the ground. “I’ve been missing you. I’ve been looking for you for a long time! You should have told me you were going to be gone for a while.” 

This is quite humiliating.

Her high-pitched voice drew everyone’s attention throughout the grounds. I noticed their annoyed knotted eyes when I gazed at them.

To hold her at bay, I shoved her away with all the power I could muster. 

“Don’t you get it? I’m not a big fan of yours. It’s as simple as that. Why can’t you see what I’m saying? Please keep your distance from me, Hani. Goddammit!”

My face flushed with humiliation as she continued to whimper like a child who had been neglected the day before. My gut instinct prompted me to get away. 

Although I was never an athlete, I will do my best to run as fast as I can. I rushed until I reached the third floor of the Music Hall, carrying my small sling bag.

With only seconds until she arrived, I surveyed the rooms for the ideal hiding spot. My eyes were drawn to the student council meeting room. I strolled in and hid behind the stacks of boxes. 

“Wonderful,” I murmured.

“Alex, I know you’re here.” Hani went through the small hole in the enormous box, calling my name. “Please come out. Are you attempting to amuse me?”

Then there was nothing but quiet. Her voice was no longer audible to me. As a result, I cautiously emerged from the large box and proceeded toward the door.

While peeking from left to right numerous times, I carefully opened it as softly as possible, attempting to avoid the cracking noise. She was nowhere to be found. Thank you, God! I groaned and wiped the sweat from my cheeks.

“See? I know you’re here, Alex,” she muttered loud enough for me to hear. She hid behind the barrier that separated the two rooms. I recoiled as I noticed her smirking in front of me. I took off running once more.

I ran into Chen as I approached the building’s corner. He stared at me with skepticism, as if he was perplexed by my condition, bathed in sweat and gasping for air in the early morning.

I took his hand without saying anything. We dashed downstairs as soon as I heard Hani’s voice reverberating throughout the building.

“Hey, what’s up?” Chen inquired as he tried to get me to come to a halt, so he could explain himself.

“Goddammit, I don’t have time to explain!” I was in a panic and couldn’t help but run until we could find a haven. A location where she couldn’t find us. I took his hand and ran three buildings away from the Music Hall to the utility area, where just a few students walked by.

Nobody would imagine that someone hides in these spots because of their position; not even a student here could think of that option.

Who’d have guessed that someone may be hiding in this messy room, which is full of stapled boxes and cleaning supplies neatly put in each corner?

There were clouds of dust everywhere, and the stench of workers’ sweat added to the stale atmosphere. But that made no difference to me as long as I could keep my distance from that woman.

“What’s going on?” Chen muttered under his breath. Sitting behind the room’s door, he wiped his sweat with his scarf. I knelt behind the closed door, peering through the gap. He sputtered, “Damn it, I covered myself in these fucking clothes and you drag me into your fucking marathon.”

“That weirdo you met yesterday is after me right now,” I continued, pausing to catch my breath.

“However, why is she pursuing you like this?” 

Before bending his knees to sit near me, he fanned himself with his palms. He glanced up at me as I was peeking through the hole. When he slowly stood and approached closer to me, I turned away to avoid being distracted from his sight.

“Since we were in middle school, she’s been like that,” I explained and sat beside the stacks of folded boxes, nodding. “I have to get rid of her now that she’s here.”

“How do you intend to proceed?” 

“I’m not sure. She previously caused so much havoc. I’m sure she’ll do the same now.” 

I was grabbing a seat next to him, wiping my sweat from my brow with my handkerchief.

Chen guffawed. “How about showing her what we did the day before?” 

“You bastard,” I stared at the shut door. Is he attempting to trap yet another kiss?

“Aside from that, do you have any other plans?” He let out a soft chuckle while shaking his head.

“Nothing. However...” I flicked my head upward when we heard her voice not far away. At that moment, we were stunned. We peered through the door’s little hole.

“Alex?” Hani’s piercing demand for my name echoed throughout the building. I was hoping that with Chen present, she wouldn’t consider entering the utility room. Otherwise, we’d be finished.

Chen shoved me to the side, saying, “Just move, I need to see her well.”

“No, just move.” I pushed him back. 

We pushed on until the paint pail spilled all over us and soiled the floor. We then fell silent, feeling terrified and transfixed as we saw the paint trickle from our garments.

“Alex, are you there?” 

Her voice grew louder as she approached this room. 

Chen and I were both terrified. 

The cat, thankfully, meowed. “Oh, it’s only a cat,” she uttered and continued, scratching her hair, “I’m a complete moron. What happened to them?” She said as she walked away.

I peered through the hole once more and saw her leave. We were relieved when we realized she had left. I now shifted my attention to the paint-covered man beside me. We were both drenched in paint.

“What the fuck did you just do?” Chen’s face flushed as he snarled. As he stood to remove the stains off his garments, he cursed. My gaze was drawn to him. I felt my blood flowing through my skull in rage without even realizing it.

“Did you just say to me, ‘What the fuck did you do?’” 

I took a step in his direction after pausing to stand. 

“Well, who pushed me in the first place?” 

He didn’t say anything and just stared at me. 

“Look over there, there’s a lunatic after me. I was irritated by the fact that I ran into her after such a long time. Now, this.” I snarled as I extended my ruined clothing out in front of him.

“It’s not my fault! You pushed me, it was so evident.” 

“How come it’s not your fault?” My brow furrowed as I locked my gaze on him.

“Of course, it was your fault. We wouldn’t have this fucking problem if you hadn’t pushed me. Try looking.” He drew his garments closer to my face. “This is a costly coat. It’s now wrecked. You’ve ruined it.”

I snorted and shrugged my eyes, dismissing the need to explain myself. There was no way this moron could comprehend the issue. 

“See? Do you want to see my lovely clothes?” He stretched them out once more. I averted my gaze and searched for a rag to wipe the paint from my garments.

He was silent and let out a frustrated groan. “Anyway, we simply have to take them off.”

“What?” As soon as I twisted my body to face him, I sputtered.

“All you have to do is take off your fucking clothes and wipe us down. We have no choice but to change clothes inside this… uh… utility clothing.” 

He raised his arm and pointed out to the utility uniform hanging near us in the open workers’ locker. 

I sighed and looked at the locker he mentioned.

He was correct. We had no choice but to change or else we’d be stuck in this room till the evening. 

When I looked at him, I noticed that he was removing his clothes without hesitation. So, I decided to strip down to my underwear while being cautious.

“Just wait there and see if that woman goes by.” 

Chen urged as he stripped off his trench coat, scarf, peach pink sweater, white long sleeves, and slacks, showing his toned body and only wearing his boxers.

To check on Hani, I sat on a stool near the window. I looked at Chen, who was half-naked from the waist up, with a sudden notion.

His body was in good shape. He wiped his abs, as well as his broad shoulders, left and right, with a cloth to remove the stains, then raised his toned arms to see if they were stained by the paint.

His entire body was saturated in sweat and exuded an extraordinary amount of machismo, his aroma filled the room. I spotted a smudge on his back as he continued cleaning the stains off his body. 

“Hey, come on over here,” I motioned for him to approach the window.

“And why?” he inquired, his voice trembling.

“Just come here.”

He approached me and took a position in front of the stool. When I saw his toned figure up close, I gulped. As he handed me the fabric, I responded, “Give me that rag and turn around.” 

Surprisingly, he followed me and turned around to show me his back. While my hand cleaned away the stain, I blinked for a second to take a good look at his body.

I averted my eyes after finishing cleaning off and handed him the fabric I had used recklessly. Then he locked his gaze on me. 

“You, too, have some paint on your back.”

“Really? Where is it?”

To wipe it away, I rotated my body in my seat. But I’m unable to get to that point.

“Rise to your feet. I’ll clean it up for you.” 

Chen pinned me to the wall with my back to him as soon as I got off the stool, so I could feel the warmth of his hands in the rag as he rubbed from my neck down.

“Is it finished?”

He didn’t respond and wiped his brow once more. When I turned to face him, to my surprise, he didn’t stop there, despite his best intentions. Instead, he continued cleaning the stains off my arms while emitting husky sighs in his deep-toned voice. He strained my pants as he looked down. 

“Wait a minute, your pants are also painted,” Chen exclaimed in a hushed tone.

To double-check, I knelt. As soon as I saw my favorite jeans smeared with paint, I cursed. “Take off your jeans.”

“And why would I do something like that?” I scowled at him as my brow furrowed. He frowned and snatched my belt, which he unlocked. While unlatching the belt, I pushed him a little and took it off myself without losing eye contact. Despite several attempts, I was unable to unzip my pants.

He made a chuckling sound. “How come you’re wearing shabby, torn-up pants?” 

“Stop saying that.” I retorted as I continued to unzip. But he kept going. “Shut the fuck up! Could you please assist me? Goddamnit!” 

He knelt dangerously close to my manhood, assisting me in unzipping my pants without grumbling or objecting. I couldn’t help but gaze up at the ceiling to divert my attention and then close my eyes. This is not happening to me.

Chen and I took the utility workers’ uniforms from the locker and tried to fit them into the respective sizes. We each grabbed one, and after the last button, he prodded me and flicked his head to indicate that we were on our way out.

We dashed to the door, dragging our ruined garments in a plastic bag after us. He slid open the door and led the way. I trailed behind him and quietly shut the door behind me.

I turned and took a few steps forward, only to see him startled as if he had seen a ghost. “What’s the matter?”