Chapter 48 Part1 (1/2)
Deep in the Act
Translator: Kotoni
Editor: Isalee
Quality Check: Isalee
First Published on Chaleuria
Chapter 48.1
It was just after five on a wintry morning, and the sun had not yet risen. Gao Zhun exited the hotel and slowly made his way through the gloom, down the street winding through this debauched corner of town. It was not a long walk. Overhead, soft rain began to fall like fine drops of dew. Afraid that his clothes would get wet, he sought shelter under the eaves of a club with lowered shutters. Steeped in emptiness and boredom, he waited for the rain to stop.
His phone started ringing. He glanced at the screen, saw that it was Justin, and rejected the incoming call with a tap. He had lost track of just how many times the young man had tried to contact him today. A full page of unanswered calls flooded his screen as soon as he opened his call log, and he scrolled down the rows until he found his outgoing calls to Fang Chi. There were so many of them, as many as there were of Justin's calls to him; all were equal in their wretchedness, and there was little difference in how pitiful they all seemed.
He tapped lightly on Fang Chi's number - this was almost a habit by now - and felt his heart begin thumping against his chest at the first ring of the dial tone. Longing and panic churned within him; the more he dared to hope, the more terrified he became. Even the thought that Fang Chi might pick up his call scared him to the core, and he hung up as the dial tone sounded for the third time, unable to bear the torment any longer. But his phone soon started ringing once more, sending shudders of fright through his body. When he saw that it was yet another call from Justin, impatience flared in his gut and he answered his phone at last.
”Sir!” The young man's voice quivered with the elation of one who had been bestowed with an unexpected honor. ”Where are you? My friend brought me two cases of good wine from Chile. I'm near your place right n-”
”Haven't we been through this before?” Gao Zhun cut him off without any sympathy, ”Stop calling.”
After a moment of silence, Justin's besotted plea came through the phone, ”Sir… I really miss you…”
”Don't. What happened between us was just a one-off,” Gao Zhun fired a single parting shot before hanging up. Then, turning off his phone, he breathed deeply as if he were suffocated by it all.
A man approached from afar; so empty was the dusky gray road under his feet that his solitary figure looked rather lonely. He, too, seemed like a pleasure-seeker on his way home after a wild night out. Despite how cold it was, he was clad in only a short-sleeved top, an old pair of jeans, and dirty sneakers. Rain scattered all over his uncovered head and beaded in the short fuzz of his buzzcut.