The Night Breeze Whispers Your Name

9. Disappointment and Anger

"Lu Mu Ning?!" the old guy II's high-pitched voice echoed in the garden and interrupted the training.

Stealing a furtive glance, I saw Annoying was at the other side of the garden, stooping like a child waiting for scolding.

"Where were you?" the old guy II eyed him from head to toe with curiosity as Annoying looked like a mess.

"I..." Annoying raised his eyes to look at the old guy II, but seeing Sly behind him, he swallowed his words, fidgeting restlessly.

Indeed, it was frustrating. We looked for Sly for hours while he was attending the training, unaware of the drama he caused.

"You?" the old guy II pressed impatiently.

"I am so sorry, Shifu," Annoying apologised, but didn't reveal any details. Maybe he was afraid that I would take Sly's side and deny his words.

"Go clean the entire temple as a punishment, you are lucky this time."

"Shifu, can I join the training? Just watching is enough, please, then I will clean everywhere," Annoying begged the old guy II, making us shocked.

"THE AUDACITY!" the old guy II roared, "no dinner for you and when you finish the cleaning, sit on your knees here until bedtime!"

"Yes, Shifu," Annoying bowed respectfully with a sad expression and rushed to the main temple. After that, the old guy II apologised to the old guy IV and the training continued.

I have to admit that the 'gifted' move was a good one although there was nothing magical about it. Watching the old guy IV demonstrating the move twice, I learnt it already. On the other hand, the others weren't as good as me, so the entire session was spent with only one move.

Pathetic!

As I had already mastered the move, I lost my focus and my thoughts were filled with Annoying. He somehow managed to make me intrigued and I wondered why he was so obsessed with this so-so move. Also, the way he mentioned his brother added fuel to my curiosity. Myriad of scenarios chased each other in my mind, preventing me from getting too bored.

When the training was finally over, we went to the main hall for dinner. There, my eyes looked for Annoying unwittingly, but apparently he finished cleaning the hall. Sighing, I grabbed my chopsticks, but seeing a baozi, my mind drifted back to Annoying. If I was that hungry, he must have been starving. Thinking back to the time when Annoying gave me his baozi, I felt indebted. I put the baozi aside and ate the rest.

After dinner, I left the main hall hastily, planning to give the baozi to Annoying without anyone seeing it. Obeying the order, Annoying was sitting in a kneeling position in the garden. He looked messier after the cleaning and from his hunched back, I could see he was dead tired. I took a few steps towards him, but he didn't notice me. I took a few more hesitantly and only then he raised his head a bit. For a second, our eyes met, just for a second before he averted his gaze, lowering his head.

Even though it was a brief moment, I managed to see that his gaze was soft, not angry at all. I reached for my sleeve for the baozi, but the others appeared in the garden, so I just walked passed Annoying's kneeling figure and rushed inside the room.

As I was the first one in the room, I put the baozi under his blanket hastily and sat on my mattress. The others followed my suit and the expected gossiping started.

"After all that pestering, Mu Ning was the one ditching the training, unbelievable!" Angry commented disdainfully.

"What a hypocrite!" Noxious of course had to agree with Angry.

"Where was he though? Coming that messy..." Sly joined the conversation and the moment he finished his words, Annoying entered the room.

"I think it is me who should ask you this question," Annoying said with a gentle yet cold tone.

"What do you mean?" Sly asked, but from his wiggly behaviour, I understood he knew what Annoying meant.

I think Annoying also noticed it as he clicked his tongue and rubbed his nose bridge before saying "I will ask directly then, where were you last night?"

"I was sleeping here," Sly lied without stuttering, but his wiggling got worse.

"Really?" Annoying took a step towards him, "then whom I was searching for last night?"

All except me froze, their eyes shifting between Sly and Annoying.

"I was always here la-"

"LIAR!" Annoying snapped at him, making us shocked with his sudden outburst, "you weren't anywhere inside the temple, so I searched for you the entire night, being afraid something bad happened to you!"

Sly's eyes widened, "I..."

"Don't you dare to lie!" Annoying threatened him, trembling with anger.

"I just went out for a short while for some fresh air, how come I knew you were looking for me?!" Sly shot back, but rather mildly.

"Unbelievable," Annoying sighed and the anger in his eyes turned into disappointment. It was understandable as he missed the only training he looked forward to because of something trivial.

"What?! I didn't ask you to look for me, it is your own doing!" Sly yelled at Annoying as he wasn't sensible enough to keep his damn mouth closed.

I expected Annoying to beat the hell out of Sly, but he remained motionless. "You are right, I just cared too much," he mumbled with hurt coloring his words and went out after taking a clean robe with him.

Maybe I should kill Sly during his sleep... For my personal satisfaction, nothing related to Annoying...