After five minutes of arguing back and forth, He Juan finally emerged as the victor after he threatened to carry Mu Yuze in his arms if the boy kept refusing his offer. He kept his smug expression until they got to the car with Mu Yuze’s defeated figure trailing behind him.

He Juan pressed on the car key and opened the door of the shotgun seat, beckoning with a tilt of his head, "Get in."

Mu Yuze stared at the spotless and sleek black car for a moment before clumsily climbing to the seat, while He Juan kept his hand on the roof to prevent the boy from bumping his head.

After making sure that Mu Yuze was fully seated with his seatbelt on, He Juan closed the door and rounded the car to slide into the driver seat. The expensive vehicle rumbled to life with a twist of the key, its machine purring softly like an awakened beast.

With his elbow resting on the seat beside him, He Juan used his other hand to turn the wheel to reverse the car out of the parking slot when his peripheral vision caught sight of Mu Yuze who was as stiff as a rock with his back ramrod straight. If not for his undulating chest, he would have passed as a statue. He was not even blinking as he stared straight ahead, his breathing slow and careful.

The streetlamp casted a warm glow over his side profile, highlighting his long and thick lashes that framed his round eyes. How could a boy have such beautiful lashes?

He Juan chuckled softly when this thought entered his mind, earning him a subtle flinch from the boy. It was not until the car merged with the stream of busy traffic on the main road that he broke the silence, his tone light and teasing, "Why are you so nervous? You can’t be thinking that I’m a child trafficker, can you? Don’t worry, I’m not the kind of guy who fattens you up before selling you."

The subtle awkwardness in the air was abruptly shattered by He Juan’s teasing comment.

The corner of his lips curved into a subtle arc when Mu Yuze shot him a dark glare. How many times had he been glared at again since they met a few hours ago? He Juan forgot to count. One thing for sure, the number of glares Mu Yuze gave him exceeded the times he had been glared at his whole life. It was indeed a magnificent achievement.

But then He Juan noticed that the boy’s posture was still as rigid as ever. Not only that, he was also gripping the suit jacket tightly around him.

He Juan had turned on the heater first thing after he got into the car and the temperature was just right to warm up someone who had been chilled by the night wind. But it would certainly be too much if one was still covered tightly in a jacket. And sure enough, he caught sight of beads of sweat forming on the boy’s forehead.

"Aren’t you hot?" He Juan asked, this time genuinely confused. "It’s okay, you can just take off the jacket. I can even give it to you if you like it that much. I promise I won’t charge you a cent." He added with a mirthful chuckle.

"I don’t...!" Mu Yuze answered in reflex, anger flaring up in his black-blue eyes for a second. But then, his figure suddenly deflated and he murmured with a voice as quiet as the mosquito buzz. "I– My clothes... they are dirty. I don’t want to spoil your expensive car..." This time, not only his ears were tinted pink, the color had even spread across his cheeks.

He Juan was so caught off guard by this unexpected answer that he almost stepped on the brake. He whipped his head to stare at Mu Yuze, lips parted in surprise, and saw that the boy’s chin had almost touched his chest from how low he was hanging his head.

Of all the answers, He Juan had not expected... this. Not at all. So that’s why he did not dare to take off the jacket and even forced himself to sit upright? Just how did he... oh God...

He Juan’s heart twinged in pain and he felt so distressed for this boy whom he had just met today. "Silly child," he heaved out a sigh, freeing a hand to ruffle the boy’s hair. "Who says that you are dirty? Take off the jacket, you little fool."

"But—"

"And if you’re worried about spoiling the car," He Juan’s tone abruptly swerved into playful and mischievous. "I can just dump this one to the junkyard and buy another one. I’m loaded, you know."

A quiet ’pfft’ sounded from the side and He Juan turned his head so fast that he almost got a whiplash. "Did you just laugh?!" He asked, pleasantly surprised. Since the time they met, he had never seen other expressions on Mu Yuze’s face other than a deadpan look, a grumpy glare or a vicious scowl.

Mu Yuze’s expression was flat as he replied curtly, "Am not." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"Ha!" He Juan let out an abrupt laugh that quickly dissolved into a full body cackle. "You just laughed!"

Mu Yuze gritted out, his face reddening, "...Am not!"

He Juan had the fun of his life teasing and poking the sharp edges around Mu Yuze, trying to see if it was prickly enough to hurt him. While he was fuming, Mu Yuze gradually forgot about his previous negative thoughts and discarded He Juan’s jacket only to roll it into a ball with the force of his anger, forcing out another deep laughter from He Juan’s throat. Just like that, the half an hour journey passed by in a blink of an eye and He Juan’s car halted in front of an old residential complex.

"Is this the place?" He Juan asked as he peered out through the window.

Mu Yuze gave a quiet hum as he carefully undid the seatbelt. "Then I—"

"Wait." He Juan caught sight of a small group of people near the gate and he abruptly stopped Mu Yuze from getting down the car. Those people did not look like they had come with a good intention, if the baseball bats they were holding and swinging around were any indication. "Do you know them?"

Mu Yuze followed his line of sight and his expression instantly became sullen. "They are my father’s..."

He Juan did not even need his pinky toe to guess what was going on. "Alright!" He unbuckled his seatbelt and turned to face Mu Yuze with a beam on his face. "Stay here and wait for me to come back, okay?"

"W–Wait!" Mu Yuze scrambled to grab onto the hem of his sleeves, his eyes were wide in consternation. "Where are you going?!"

"I will just have a brief talk with them." He Juan chuckled as he patted Mu Yuze’s hand in reassurance. Come to think of it, this was the first time Mu Yuze actively reached out to him, right? Gods, he had no idea that he was so sappy to be touched by something so insignificant like this. He smiled at the boy’s flustered look and ruffled his hair again, this time a bit rougher. "Don’t get out of the car, got it? If you do, I will get angry."

Not giving a chance for Mu Yuze to retort, He Juan opened the door and got off, gave Mu Yuze a little wave through the window before walking straight to the thugs.

"Excuse me," he addressed them with a polite smile. "Can we chat for a bit?"