Irresistible You (19 Days) (BL)

16.

It was finally the morning of the first midterm exam.

He walked around the bend of the school roads, scraping the last tasty bits of dumpling that were stuck on the stick with his teeth. The sun bore down on him mercilessly, and he tugged at his collar with a frown. The bag slung over his shoulder seemed to drag him down, but he trudged on alongside the countless number of students streaming down the street in preparation for their exams.

A couple of girls bumped into him, and he swivelled around with a scathing glare on his face. It was evident that they were distracted by the last-minute preparatory notes in their hand as they winced, backing away from him as though he were an embodiment of a mythical beast.

Mo just shook his head, and advanced forward. He heard the scuffle of leather soles against the gritty earth behind him, and almost fell over as someone slung a heavy, albeit friendly arm over his shoulder.

"Wha—" He opened his mouth in protest.

Nianzu looked sheepish as grinned back at him, scratching the dark, short buzz of hair on his scalp.

"Hey boss!" That voice was too cheerful for such a dreadful, dull day. "Were you off drunk last night or what? You didn't turn up to hang out with us. Man, you sure did miss all the fun. Chen Fang and I even chatted up with some cute college girls from Zhejiang University."

"I have no time for such foolish rituals." He said, a mulish frown on his face as he yanked Nianzu's arm off of him. "Will you pay the bills in my house or wha'?"

Nianzu conveniently chose to ignore his darkening mood, yapping on and on about the girls they had met and this great noodle shop they had found downtown, and all that. But his focus was somewhere else, somewhere more specific.

Gotta make coins. Gotta make coins for ma.

It was the whole reason he had been meticulously studying all week. He had no other option but drop out of cram school to save some cash for his mom's operation. Of course, that meant that he had to peruse vast portions of the heavy syllabus material all by himself without a guide, for he couldn't afford a tutor. If he failed his exams yet again, he'd have to apply for a drop year and who the fuck could afford that, given his less than stellar fiscal position?

He clutched his carefully prepared booklet of revision notes harder, as he recalled all the formulae he had learned last night. His eyes drooped in exhaustion as he swayed. He didn't even get a wink of sleep, owing to that bastard He Tian's leery text messages that had him fuming all of last night in between calculus and statistics.

Bastard: Red, look at this weird cat on weibo. It reminded me of you. :D

                                                                           Guan Shan: fuck off, bastard. ill block you

Bastard: Don't ignore me. My head hurts.

                                                                          Guan Shan:  who told you to drink like a zombie last night, you weirdo

Bastard: You didn't come spend the night with me in my apartment like I asked you to.

Bastard: Lil' Mo?

Bastard: Ignoring me?

Mo Guan Shan stuck his phone back into his pocket, a dark glower intensifying on his face.

"Oi, Chen Fang, look at this!"

Chen Fang had snuck up behind and caught up to them at some point, and he was looking curiously at what Nianzu had gesticulated toward. Guan Shan followed the boy's line of sight, and saw that they were staring at his revision booklet in wonder.