shine ? l. yanjun #wattys2018

"zhou xiang yu!" cai xukun caught up to her.

"oh, kunkun." she smiles softly.

"do you have an answer or anything close to one?" he asked hopefully.

"kunkun, i appreciate you and your friendship and i value our friendship. i really just cannot think of you in that way because you're really like an older brother that i never had. i'm really sorry but i think it's best we stay friends." she breaks the news to him.

"oh," his smile slightly faltered, "that's fine. i respect your decision. at least i was able to tell you because if i didn't, how would i know your opinion on me?" he turned the situation into a lesson.

"yeah, of course. i'm really sorry, okay?" she apologized.

"hey, we're still good friends. hopefully we can continue being better friends." he nods.

"i'm sorry again. i'll see you around?" she smiled before walking to her car.

sighing, xiang yu buckled up. looking around the area, she couldn't seem to spot zhimei in any of her hiding spots. she tried to look for yanjun and found him talking with zhangjing. zhimei's presence wasn't there so she felt a little happy but slightly suspicious. she sighed once more before driving off to her parents' house.

"meimei! i'm home!" she calls, closing the door. without a response, she raised a brow in confusion. "meimei!" she called again. "meimei?" she began looking around for her. going into the kitchen, she found her and zhimei. zhimei had her in a choke hold and a knife was against her cousin's neck.

"take another fucking step and i'll kill her." zhimei threatened.

"put it down." she says calmly, reaching  in her back pocket.

"don't fucking tell me what to do!" zhimei seethed in anger.

xiang yu discreetly called yanjun and kept her phone in her back pocket. yanjun picked up and didn't hear her responding to her. instead, he heard the conversation between zhimei and xiang yu.

"put the knife down, zhimei," she spoke calmly. "let my cousin go." she took a small step forward.

"xiang yu, wait for me. i'm coming." yanjun spoke even though he knew she couldn't hear.

"what's happening?" zhangjing asked.

"i will text you the code '11' and that's when you will call the police. zhimei's got a knife around her cousin's neck." yanjun quickly ran to his motorcycle.

he was glad it was parked by the school. he had to go to the post office to pick up a package after class so that's why his motorcycle was there. he sped off to xiang yu's parents' house. he spotted zhimei's car parked near her home. parking his motorcycle beside xiang yu's car, he rushed inside.

"what do you have that i don't?" zhimei asked, tears starting to fall. "why does yanjun like you so much?"

"listen, i'm nothing special. i help him with homework and studying. that's all. we're just good friends. please, let meimei go and put down the knife. we can solve this issue another way." she spoke warily, keeping her eyes on meimei's neck. meimei's heart rate was still high, her breaths uneven.

"you've made me suffer for far too long, xiang yu. you need to suffer too." she pressed the knife against meimei's neck, almost piercing her.

"zhimei," yanjun appeared behind xiang yu, "put the knife down."

"tell me what she has that i don't. she's clearly not prettier and she's not rich." zhimei laughed dryly.

"xiang yu shouldn't be any of your concern. look at yourself. are you seriously willing to kill someone? are you doing this to show me that you're capable of becoming a murderer? who can love a murderer, zhimei?" yanjun began guilt-tripping her.

zhimei stood her ground, refusing to let her cousin go. yanjun had his phone in hand, discreetly texting '11' to zhangjing. when zhangjing received the text, he immediately called the police and said that there's a hold-up in progress. he gave the address to xiang yu's parents' house and told them not to ring the sirens upon arrival before hanging up. he texted yanjun, telling him the police are on their way.

"zhimei, stop." yanjun began to step closer.

"one fucking step and her throat is slit." zhimei was able to pierce meimei's skin, small beads of blood appearing. meimei held in the pain.

yanjun has left the door open on purpose. the police headed inside and towards the chatter in the kitchen. getting a view of the situation, they prepared themselves for the arrest of zhimei.

"yanjun, why can't you love me?" zhimei's tears began falling again.

"because you're crazy, and not the good kind. put the knife down, zhimei." yanjun cautiously spoke. he sensed the presence of the police and motioned for them to come inside with his hand that was behind his back without turning around.

"put your weapon down and release the girl." an officer pointed his gun at her.

"no!" zhimei yelled, trying to move closer to the backyard. the knife pierced her skin again, a little deeper this time around.

"ah!" meimei yelled in pain.

as the confrontation went on, other officers went around the back and entered from the backyard. zhimei didn't see them, keeping her gaze forward. the officers entered and prepared the taser. soon enough, the officer pressed the taser to her side and shocked her, causing her to release the knife and meimei. meimei ran to her cousin, hugging her.

"thank you for calling us, we'll take it from here. we will contact you again for your statement soon." the officers detained zhimei, leaving the house.

"i thought i was going to die." meimei hugged her cousin.

"i wasn't going to let you die." xiang yu chuckles.

"are you two fine being here alone?" yanjun asked.

"this house is safe and all and she's been detained but i don't feel safe anymore." meimei sighs.

"xiang yu, i can call zhangjing over and the both of us can stay with you guys for a while." yanjun offers.

"that'd be great." xiang yu nods.

"i'll be back, okay?" he gave her a side hug, leaving.

"can you help me with my wound?" meimei looked at her.

"yeah, of course."

+

this was a somewhat lengthy chapter.

3k?!!!?!?!11!!?? thank you guys so much!!21111!!!!

in all honesty, i didn't think this book would surpass 500 reads. but 3k? you all are awesome!

<softyanjun>