A Certain Someone ( The On1y One ) Chapter 097 – Old Flame

He’s Out on a Business Trip for a Week, Didn’t Manage to Get His Address. How About You Call a Cab to Guangdong to Chase Him?

Jiang Tian drank a little too much tonight too.
That colleague of Sheng Wang had a silver tongue, and managed to contribute 80% of the liveliness for the dinner all by himself. He downed alcohol like water, words like “Top tier talent” “young and accomplished” tumbled easily out of him, tossing out professional lingo one after another. He could easily resume any conversation topic, he could make all sorts of jokes, and chatted all over the place with the glass in his hand.

If it was before, Jiang Tian would have rejected him without a second thought if he wasn’t feeling like drinking. Yet, it seemed like he had forgotten to bring his tongue with him today, he would drink every time the person toasted him, not even bothering with any formalities, straightforward like a machine. He drank until his temples throbbed, but he couldn’t even remember a single character from the person’s name — all he remembered were the parts related to Sheng Wang.

That person said he was rather fated with Sheng Wang: their universities faced each other directly opposite, before graduation, they’d met during school events. While other people were having the time of their lives flaming each other, it was Sheng Wang, the youngest one, who could stay the most composed. He did not talk much, and would watch the fight go down across the other side of the table, occasionally cracking a few jokes now and then.

He even said he remembered this year two boy on the spot. The few girls in his line of profession liked Sheng Wang quite a lot too, thinking that this junior looked handsome and fresh, and rather obedient too; surely it would be fun to tease him. In the end, they found out that there was no way to do so at all — Sheng Wang’s closeness with people stopped at the surface level, the moment the event was over, he was nowhere to be found. He didn’t like to talk on WeChat, nor did he enjoy going out to play — he had the qualities of a workaholic at such a young early age.

Eventually, they became co-workers, and with a second look, he turned out to be a workaholic just as expected. Other than specific days of rest, Sheng Wang was constantly awake no matter the time they looked for him. He was like a spinning top that did not know the meaning of rest, he could live on magic alone.

Jiang Tian listened to those intermittent teasing remarks, and then scenes constantly formed in his mind; some familiar, some strange.

He could imagine Sheng Wang sitting at the edge of the table, the glee of schadenfreude in the corner of his eyes as he watched other people get up in each other’s faces, and then mischievously cut in when he found the chance.
But he couldn’t imagine Sheng Wang being quiet.

His Wang-zai was really quite interesting upon being teased: he would be driven mad, he would be pleased as pie, he liked to forcibly maintain his dignity, but not for too long, and run away on the way laid out for him. He would run not too far before slinking back, tail between his legs. He had a great temper, no matter how long it was since his friend last contacted him, he could chat up a storm with them.
He really did like to chat on WeChat, he also really did like to sleep in.

The colleague said Sheng Wang had developed extremely quickly, and he was ashamed for how inferior he was in comparison. But all Jiang Tian saw was that brilliant and radiant youth encasing himself in layers and layers of shells, sealing all the most genial, the most gentle, the most passionate parts of him away on the most inside. Other people were all praising him, but all he felt was heartache. Later, with the alcohol getting to him, he was hurting all over his body.

The staff in charge of getting in touch with them for the project had arranged a place for them to stay in: right in the school they would be working with, with great conditions. Everyone got a house to themself. Jiang Tian was ushered into the car back to his lodging, and shut his eyes with knitted brows the moment he sat on the backseat.

However, they were barely on the road before someone let down the car window. With the wintry wind of late night, the intoxication was gone by half. Jiang Tian suddenly opened his eyes, and held onto the driver’s seat as he leaned forward, saying to the driver, “Stop the car.”
The professor was already asleep. His fellow doctor turned around from the front seat, asking, “What is it? You wanna puke?”
Jiang Tian said, “I have to do something.”
“Then should I get the driver to send you?”
“No need, I can call one on my own later.”

Jiang Tian exited the car, leaving everyone behind in confusion, and hurriedly made his way back. When he returned to the private room, all that was left was the waiter clearing away the dishes. He asked for directions, and rushed downstairs to the open air parking lot. Just as he turned around the corner, he saw Sheng Wang pulling his scarf up, and waving goodbye to his colleague.

The temperature at night was rather low — when Sheng Wang spoke, there was a pale patch of mist before his nose, just like the tone of his skin. He waved his hands, and ducked inside the car without even looking back. The car drove out of the road curve, and disappeared into the night with a blink of an eye.

In that moment, Jiang Tian abruptly realised: Sheng Wang was no longer that boy who would obediently wait to be claimed after he drank, and forcibly make him walk in a straight line with him anymore.
Soon, another car turned out of the road curve, and he was the sole spirit left at the enormous parking lot. He stood for a long time in the dark and quiet night, his heart viciously and yet gently filled up by an emotion, so swollen that it hurts.
He thought that once he brought those spikes further away from him, Sheng Wang wouldn’t be pricked as much. He did not expect that returning only after it had been that long, he couldn’t find the opening of that tough layer of shell anymore.

He was starting to regret it.

This city was an unfamiliar one to him, yet this was also where Sheng Wang had stayed for a long time. The city lights illuminated the nights, the clamour of people filled the city.
He thought this was the bustle that the other person liked, but he managed to lose the person he liked amidst the bustle. He only had the earliest version of the map, but he did not know where to start looking.

The university campus wouldn’t be too quiet even if it was late into the night. The BBQ wings shop, the hotpot restaurant nearby were full to the brim. There were plenty of students who were from the library on the road. It was different from the Fuzhong from before — it was also different from where he lived overseas.

Jiang Tian would take a few more looks when he passed by, imagining: did Sheng Wang eat at a certain table here too? Who did he eat with? Was he still as picky?

This project would last for quite a while, so he brought his cat over too. Animals are always sensitive to unfamiliar places; usually, whenever he entered his house, his cat would most definitely be waiting at the highest level of the shoe cabinet, sticking its head out asking for pets. Today, however, it was hidden away in some corner, and he saw not a trace of it for a while.

He poured out food and water, took off his jacket and sat down on the couch. He waited for quite a while before he saw the young cat poke its head out from the cardboard box he had yet to discard, check around furtively, and then trotting its way to him.
He scratched the cat’s chin, took out his phone and hesitated. He called Zhao Xi.

*
Sheng Wang would get drowsy after drinking, and with the non-stop work earlier, he was asleep almost immediately upon reaching home. He most definitely did get the full eight hours of sleep, but there were dark circles around his eyes when he showed up for work the next day.

Zhang Chao was alarmed, and while he went to make coffee, he came over and winked at him. “What happened to you? This looks pretty bad.”
Sheng Wang filled his schedule up, looking like he was terribly busy. “What else could it be? Have you not heard of hangovers before? I’m far worse than you when it comes to drinking.”
“Drop it,” Zhang Chao propped himself against his desk, stubbornly refusing to leave. This person had received a giant bombshell of a gossip last night, and before he had a chance to truly process and think about it, the person involved himself had already boarded the car and fled. His stomach was filled with the urge to gossip, and if he couldn’t empty it out, he literally couldn’t pay attention for work at all.
“You can’t call this a hangover,” Zhang Chao bit the rim of the cup, lowering his head. He said, cheekily, “Judging by your appearance, it’s more like ‘hard to forget an old flame’ for you.”
Sheng Wang: “……”

This person was quite something — out of all things, he had to mention that, and even did it in a way that wouldn’t even enrage him, because he was spot on. However, this wasn’t quite right either: you have to have someone new before the person qualifies as an old flame, and Sheng Wang had not gone through that entire process at all.

“Wow, I really was right?” Zhang Chao — this annoying menace — was a smooth person at the dining table, but now at this time, he couldn’t tell when to cut it out. He continued saying, facing Sheng Wang’s glare head-on, “Then that’s no problem at all! Don’t they say it’s always like matchsticks and dry logs between ex-lovers? No spark the first time you saw each other, no problem, just see each other a few more times. Isn’t there a meeting with the cooperation centre tomorrow? Why don’tcha go with me?”

Cha, to hell with your cha.
Sheng Wang opened up his schedule and showed it to him in annoyance. “See this? I’m away on a business trip tomorrow.”
After he spoke, he couldn’t help but to add, “One week.”
He expressed his strong displeasure on that issue without realising.

“Then it has to be said that fate truly toys with people,” Zhang Chao shook his head, sighing. “But that’s alright too, don’t you have his WeChat? Just chat! Find something or another, once you start talking, then a conversation would surely begin, and the more you talk, wouldn’t everything fall into place?”
This person had been single for 30 years, he had never dated before. He must have gone insane from being repressed or something, but he was particularly enthusiastic in matchmaking people. He sounded like he knew what he was talking about whenever he goes into theory, yet he had never personally tried it for himself before.
Sheng Wang’s sore spot was prodded at again, and so he grabbed a file, smacking him away in return. “The hell do you know.”

The gossiping troublemaker ran away, Sheng Wang’s gaze returned to his computer. He stared for ages, but not a single word entered his mind, so he simply gave up, and rested heavily against the chair.
A long time ago, he thought: as long as the things getting between him and Jiang Tian do not disappear, no matter how much closer he went to him, it would be to no avail. But the moment he actually saw the person himself, he couldn’t care any less about the so-called “rationality” at all.

When he saw Jiang Tian’s fingers, all he wanted to do was to grab them. When he saw his Adam’s apple, all he thought about was the way it flushed in red as he kissed that part. When he saw every inch of him, all the thought was: these were all mine before, I could do whatever I wanted with it.
The few years they were separated, longing was a stubborn habit. When he truly saw him, he finally realised: he really……really does miss Jiang Tian. He missed him like he had gone insane.
But he couldn’t find that opening anymore.

Zhang Chao wasn’t wrong, actually. He just needed to come up with something, and once the opening was made, then everything would fall into place. But his biggest problem was that he couldn’t find the opening at all.
He spent so many years, wrapping himself up in layers upon layers, to deal with this, to cope with that. By the time he saw Jiang Tian, he had already forgotten how to remove those shells instead.

He wanted to see Jiang Tian, he wanted to talk to him, and yet he was also afraid that he would have nothing to say when he saw him. He hid away in his shell, searching, looking, but he didn’t know which was the him Jiang Tian was the most familiar with.
If every time they see each other was filled with tentativeness, then that “old flame” would slowly waste away in continuous disappointment — that was what he was the most afraid of.

Sheng Wang dug his phone out, and tapped into the chat he had pinned at the top for many years. He stared at the blank page for a long while, and backed out of it again without leaving a single word. He leaned on his chair, his head tilted up in irritation. Only when his phone vibrated a few more times, then he lowered his eyes to get started on hsi work again. After replying to a few messages, he slid down the app several times before recalling that he had yet to add the contacts Zhang Chao sent over last night.

Zhang Chao was very considerate: he added the names of the people under every contact card, so that he wouldn’t be unable to match anyone up. Sheng Wang sent out a request to be added out one by one, and then saw a notification at the very end.
Sheng Wang moved his fingers, replying to Zhang Chao: why is there still a retracted message? what did you take back?

Zhang Chao just so happened to pass by with his phone, and was startled when he saw a blank profile picture out of nowhere. When Sheng Wang had just started working, his profile picture was a pair of eyes rolling, showing the whites, his nickname was rather fearsome too. Zhang Chao couldn’t bear to watch it anymore, and tactfully reminded him, saying that it wasn’t quite appropriate to reply to clients and bosses with a pair of eyes rolling; it would be better if he changed it.

He didn’t know how much Sheng Wang liked that pair of eyes exactly, but in any case the person was completely reluctant when he changed it. After he changed it, he was in pretty low spirits for the next few days. Therefore, he swallowed back the suggestion he had yet to say out loud — he didn’t think that an entirely blank profile picture and a nickname like “?” was any better than before.
He still thought that there was something wrong with his internet whenever he saw that profile picture.

Zhang Chao replied, saying: I retracted your unforgettable old flame, don’t you already have his WeChat?
?: ……
?: ok

Zhang Chao read his reply, and felt a complicated mix of emotions for some reason. It was true that he had not dated before, but he did secretly crush on that one or two people when he was young and foolish too, he knew the frustrated sort of feeling too. On one hand, it was his matchmaker heart at work again, but on the other, it was because he admired this little brother of his. Zhang Chao, as a bystander, wanted more than anything to matchmake them together, it was just that he didn’t know how to even do it.
This is so worrying, so goddamn worrying.

Just as Zhang Chao was worried on the behalf of the “emperor”, the emperor himself had cowardly escaped to a different land.

Sheng Wang was actually a little vexed when he saw the schedule of the business trip, but if he were to go look for Jiang Tian, he couldn’t find any particular reason to either. After pondering and mulling, after recalling how Jiang Tian would be staying for half a year, he suddenly settled on a decision. He packed his luggage, and escaped on the second day, launching himself all the way to Guangdong.

When his flight just landed, he received Zhao Xi’s phone call. The other person said, “Didi, come save your Xi-ge.”
Sheng Wang was waiting for his luggage, and was completely baffled. “What happened?”

“Old comrade Zhao’s andropause has been acting up lately, and is even naggier than an old granny; one of him is as much as an entire duck farm. Your Lin-ge and I are planning to come out and escape him for a bit. Isn’t it the 31st the day after tomorrow? I said the two of us will be celebrating the new year with you, please consider offering us a place to stay.” Zhao Xi was probably damaged from being annoyed, and his tone was extremely wooden. “Don’t you live around Shijingshan? Which district, gimme a house number, Lin-zi and I will be seeking asylum with you by then.”
Sheng Wang didn’t know if he should laugh or cry. “Xi-ge, I’m away for a business trip in Guangdong, it would already be the 3rd by the time I’m back in Beijing.”
Zhao Xi: “……”

Sheng Wang was silent for a moment. He hesitated, wondering if he should mention to him that Jiang Tian had returned. But then again, Jiang Tian probably had his own arrangement, there was no need for him to go out of his place, so he chatted for a bit and hung up.
What he didn’t know was that the moment he hung up, Zhao Xi sent a message to Jiang Tian: he’s out on a business trip for a week, didn’t manage to get his address. how about you call a cab to Guangdong to chase him?
Jiang Tian: ……

TO BE CONTINUED.