Qie Xieling had never gone through this before. He had seen girls cry over Luo Muchen and sometimes he would comfort them. He might buy a popsicle for them and tell them not to cry and that Luo Muchen was a dumb idiot for rejecting them.

AN: I know the irony, right?

But this was the first time someone had actually cried for him. He had been comforting himself by eating when she showed up at his doorstep barely wrapped up to hide her identity and her eyes were red and swollen.

Qie Xieling, "..."

He had mocked her before trying to pretend he didn’t know her but when she took off her sunglasses and started crying he was startled. Feeling helpless he stood there thinking maybe if he offered her a chicken wing it would help.

Her hair was haphazardly tied, strands falling loosely around her face, and her lips were bright red, with a glossy sheen that hinted at her intentions.

She was dressed in a thin, low-cut dress, despite the chilly weather outside. It was clear to anyone that she was trying to send a particular message, even through her tears.

Though Qie Xieling’s initial instinct was to shut the door in her face, he hesitated. He couldn’t ignore the fact that she was shivering, her body visibly trembling from the cold. Reluctantly, he stepped back and left the door ajar, allowing her to enter. He quickly grabbed a warm down jacket from a nearby hanger and handed it to her, his voice gentle but firm.

"Here, take this," he said, his eyes conveying his desire for her to leave. "You shouldn’t be out in this weather dressed like that. Put this on and let’s talk outside."

Haejin glanced at the open door and bit her lower lip and tears started flowing down her cheeks. ’Jolie, help,’ he called out but it was as though Jolie didn’t exist. She was obviously ignoring him.

"Am I ugly?" she asked her voice breathy and quivering. Qie Xieling couldn’t understand why she was so eager to be with him. They had only met a few hours or so ago. He didn’t know that Leong Jinn had upgraded his system and was messing with him however he could for his own sinister purpose.

"No, you are not. You are quite good-looking... you are talented and gorgeous," he said and Haejin stood up to face him.

"Then why don’t you like me or at least give me a try," she said but Qie Xieling pursed his lips trying to word this right.

She suddenly leaned forward her boobs slipping out of her dress. She wanted to hug him but he immediately dodged while yelling, "I am gay... a hundred per cent gay."

Haejin didn’t expect that. She knew that Qie Xieling hung out with a couple of girls before so this sudden change in sexuality must be a lie to deceive her.

"You don’t have to lie to me like that to reject me. It’s very despicable and I would like to think you aren’t that kind of person," she said but Qie Xieling was willing to shout it out at the top of the mountain.

"I can even come out on my account right now and let everyone know. I am not lying," he said and Haejin froze looking at the serious look on his face.

Her vulnerability evident in her teary gaze, she took the jacket without a word. Haejin wrapped it around herself, finding a bit of comfort in its warmth.

Qie Xieling didn’t have to coax her out of his apartment. She wordlessly left her cheeks flushed probably because she had been rejected.

Haejin walked out of the apartment into the chilly night her tear-streaked face illuminated by the dim streetlights.

Her heart was broken as she walked out of Qie’s apartment, her mind still reeling from his rejection. The cold night air wrapped around her like a shroud, and an ominous feeling gripped her as if an unseen beast was lurking in the shadows, watching her every move.

After all the crime stories she had read about she immediately quickened her pace, desperate to escape the suffocating feeling around her. Clutching the jacket Qie Xieling had given her, Haejin pulled it tightly around her, finding solace in its warmth and the faint scent of his body wash that lingered on the fabric.

Without further hesitation, she hurried towards her car parked nearby. The dim streetlights cast eerie shadows on the pavement, intensifying her unease. The sound of her heels clicking against the concrete echoed in her ears, magnifying the silence of the night.

As Haejin reached her car, she fumbled with the keys, struggling to steady her trembling hands. Her heart raced, adrenaline pumping through her veins, urging her to escape this unsettling atmosphere. Finally, she managed to unlock the door and slid into the driver’s seat.

The engine roared to life, and she accelerated away from the curb, leaving behind a cloud of exhaust gas. The screeching of tyres filled the air before the car disappeared into the night.

Unbeknownst to Haejin, in a car across the street, Luo Muchen was sitting in silence. His piercing gaze followed her disappearing car, a flicker of something darker dancing in his eyes.

He had been parked discreetly across the street from Qie Xieling’s apartment building for thirty minutes. His eyes fixated on Qie Xieling’s floor, wrestling with conflicting emotions. Each time he got the courage to open the car door he would remember Qie Xieling’s words.

He longed to make amends and tell him that he wants him now but fear held him back. He didn’t want Qie Xieling to look at him like he was a stranger and reject him. He feared that he would be shut out completely.

But the thought of Qie Xieling giving up on their relationship gnawed at him, filling him with an overwhelming sense of dread. He had to talk to him even at the risk of being rejected.

Just as his despair was beginning to cloud his mind a figure very familiar to him because of the billboards and online articles everywhere emerged from the entrance of Qie Xieling’s apartment.

Panic surged through his veins, threatening to consume him entirely but his expression remained stone cold watching her scurry into the night.