Forcing Me To Love You Isn't Fair Play (BJYX)

Chapter 3: A Wedding in Milan

Today, XiaoZhan decided to wear a dark red coat to work. Red was his favorite color, and it always made him calm. He felt that he always had to wear a piece of red in order to feel safe, like how carrying his red umbrella with him all the time made him feel safe.

Today was one of the days where he really needed to feel that blanket of calmness. Now he had a deity that was after his body (in order to eat it, of course, *cough*). That deity was able to get rid of a demon that was too powerful for his umbrella in a blink of an eye... how was he supposed to fight against someone like that? 

All of these thoughts went through XiaoZhan's head as he got off the bus to walk towards his workplace.

"You've finally met the deity again, haven't you?" that voice.

XiaoZhan whipped around to see the same mysterious stranger that led him to the broken house 18 years ago. He hadn't aged a day. "You-!"

"He's going to end up killing you at this rate... what a shame." The stranger interrupted with a sigh at the end. The umbrella that XiaoZhan wanted when he was a kid was still in his hands. "Want me to help you again?"

XiaoZhan looked around and realized it was as if time had stopped for them. Nobody was moving and the world looked a little gray. Just how powerful was this being in front of him? He knew about him being a treasure to eat, and yet he wasn't aching for a bite?

Cautiously, XiaoZhan readied his umbrella (even though he was sure that it was going to be useless) and said, "The last time you helped me it didn't work." 

"It would have worked if you hadn't let yourself get tricked by that mischievous deity. I did warn you beforehand." He wasn't wrong. "I'm willing to help you again. Will you accept it or not? Hopefully, you'll follow instructions this time." The deity had a smile on his face the whole time he was speaking but for some reason, XiaoZhan felt absolutely no warmth.

"I don't need a deity." XiaoZhan bit out.

"But the deity needs you. He needs the power that you will give him when he eats you alive. So? How about it? Pride or Survival?" 

XiaoZhan's face became completely blank and his eyes cold. "First, tell me what kind of help you'll give me." 

The mysterious stranger's smile widened and from thin air, he produced a shining silver necklace. Attached to the chain was the head of an ox. "This is a special necklace... listen carefully, beautiful Zhan, or else you'll end up being eaten by a lion."

The necklace floated until it fell onto XiaoZhan's palms. It looked normal enough. It didn't look like anything special... but so did the guy's umbrella. 

"You must make him wear this necklace. Once he wears it he will be completely under your command." 

Under his command? "What do you mean?"

The stranger's smile turned playful and he placed both of his hands on the handle of his umbrella. "He will be so in love with you that he won't be able to deny your every command nor would he be able to think about hurting you without feeling so heartbroken to the point of dying." In love!?

"But I don't want him to be in love with me!?"

With a shrug, the stranger said, "It's the only help that I can offer you. Do you want to be eaten?" 

"N-no, but—" flustered, XiaoZhan held the necklace as if it was some sort of evil thing. "I... I don't want to be eaten." 

"Then there's your answer."

XiaoZhan swallowed and gripped the necklace in his fist. "So all I have to do is put it on him?" 

"There's one last thing... you have to kiss him in order to have it activated."