Cucummato (TianShan)

19. He Tian : Mo Guan Shan

He Tian

When Ling Ling left, she returned a couple of minutes later to tell him she saw a watermelon puddle. He didn't understand what she said but followed her outside.

"Maybe a person exploded and melted because it's so hot outside," she hypothesized, and that's what drove him to go out and check.

Turns out, it's puke.

He knew Mo Guan Shan went straight to his part-time job after he left the garden. The guy has a very tight weekend schedule. When he arrived, the diner hadn't opened yet so he went directly to the back. The owner was busily stacking bottle cases and sorting the beer from the soft drink bottles.

"Hey, sonny! It's you!" the big bellied owner said when he recognized him. "Your grandpa doing well now?"

"He is, thank you for your concern boss," he answered and nodded. After bits of small talk every delivery, they've had a good grasp of each other's circumstances and mutually considering each other as business pals. "Actually, I'm here to check on Mo Guan Shan."

"You know my part-timer?"

"He's actually my classmate and he also works for my grandfather."

"Small world, small world!" he roared in his usual scratchy laugh. "There any problem?"

"Well, I'm wondering if he's sick. He didn't look so good when I saw him this afternoon," He Tian said, sprinkling a bit of lie for the boss to bite.

The boss knotted his eyebrows and looked inside the open back door. It's still dark inside compared when they open the front sliding panels.

"Boy seemed fine to me," he said but with a hint of uncertainty. He motioned for He Tian to get inside and see for himself.

Mo Guan Shan's absentmindedly wiping bottles at a steady pace that makes it look like he's been used to doing it for a long time. He Tian stood by and watched until the other boy finally noticed his presence.

"What the hell?!" Mo Guan Shan blurted out when he finally shifted his eyes towards him. Bottles rattled and he quickly held a case to keep it steady on top of another. "Why the fuck are you here?!"

"Just checking. You seem fine." 

"Of course I am. Now go away."

"But you look pissed," he remarked. Mo Guan Shan kept quiet so he stepped closer to him and ruffled his hair. He could be imagining it but he felt extreme rage on his fingertips. "So, you're seriously pissed."

Mo Guan Shan stopped abruptly that He Tian sensed a dangerous air before he noticed that they're face to face. They're staring at each other face to face and He Tian was painfully aware that it's not in a romantic kind of way. It's a WWE staredown. Like a hen fluffing itself to intimidate an attacker.

"Why do you bother yourself too much with me? What is it to you if I'm okay or not?"

"We're friends aren't we?" He Tian said and raised a hand to touch Mo Guan Shan's shoulder but the red-faced boy swatted it away.

"I'm a fucking outsider!"

Fuck. So he really messed up on that part. He remembered what he said to Ling Ling and how Mo Guan Shan awkwardly excused himself and left in a hurry. Fuck. Why did he have to say that?

"Little Mo. . ."

"Anything wrong boys? If you wanna fight it out there's a bigger space outside, all right?" the owner interrupted as he stood by the door.

"Nothing wrong here, boss. He's about to leave," Mo Guan Shan said and pushed him by the chest. He Tian gritted his teeth in frustration.

It took a lot of willpower to hold him back from doing what he really wanted to do to Mo Guan Shan. If he got his way, things might have been upside down by now and sometimes he wishes he'd just lose control and fuck it all.

Mo Guan Shan

His foul mood remained until the end of his shift. He felt lethargic, working in an automaton and zombie-ing around trying to survive every painfully long minute of serving dishes and taking orders.

He said goodbye to his boss who stared at him with a worried frown.

"Maybe you really should take a break, kid. Looks like you need a good long sleep."

Mo Guan Shan yawned at the idea of sleep, remembering his own bed and the urge to just curl up and do nothing for a minute.

He shivered when a cold blast of wind washed over him and remembered that he didn't bring his jacket because it was friggin hot when he left that morning. Taking his phone from his pocket, he called Xue Chen while walking under the bright city lights. To be honest, he's not in the mood to talk to anybody else but he needed to check on her. It's part of his responsibilities as her boyfriend.

"You sound tired," Xue Chen commented after a while. "Are you outside?"

"Yeah. I'm a little bit tired but I'm heading home now."

"Be safe, babe. See you tomorrow?"

"Uh, oh yeah. See you tomorrow. I love you."

He yawned when he finally ended the call. Something doesn't feel right but he's too tired to think about every little thing because when he does, disaster happens. Like what he did to He Tian. He realized he was being unreasonable.

By the next day, first thing he did was apologize to He Tian, saying that he's just too agitated by the heat. The guy smiled good-naturedly and told him he didn't mind. They did the gardening without talking to each other until Ling Ling arrived, ignored him completely and focused all her attention to his target.

Mo Guan Shan didn't mind. He's looking forward to his date with Xue Chen that he's not bothered with He Tian's apparent improvement in his treatment of Ling Ling. They seemed to have broken the ice and were talking about rich people stuff he cannot relate at all.

That night on their movie date, Xue Chen told him they should just break up. Instead of being surprised, Mo Guan Shan felt relief. It might have shown on his face because Xue Chen looked like she'd been slapped.

"Did I mess up?" he managed to ask. One thing he's sure of, that wasn't about him cheating because he never did.

"It felt like you were doing all of these out of obligation," Xue Chen reasoned. Just like the fingers that were fidgeting with the strap of her bag, her voice trembled as she looked at him intently. "We barely even talk to each other. All you do is work."

Mo Guan Shan didn't refute that. Of course, in order to bring her on dates, he needed extra money. Unlike some people, his allowance didn't come with excesses for stuff like going out on a movie, let alone for two.

"You seem so preoccupied with other things, I don't know if you're even aware I exist anymore," she said.

Mo Guan Shan tried to think of excuses but he felt like it was useless. He was really thinking about a lot of stuff. Maybe it was too early for him to enter in a relationship.

It was just the effect of the vegetables. He was carried away at how easy it happened, like a treasure just happened to float his way and he got greedy. 

"Well, sometimes relationships age like flies," Jian Yi said when he called after seeing the update of his relationship status. "It naturally dies out fast, just like how fast it started."

"So, wanna go for a drink?" Zhan Xixi shouted from the background.

"No thanks. I'll just sleep this off," he said.

He did. In retrospect, he may have been acting like a jerk to many people as of late. He snapped on He Tian who was only concerned with his well-being and now, he didn't even try to work things out with Xue Chen.

He's too exhausted, he didn't even try crying for that sudden breakup. He snored his way to Monday.