Chapter 53: I Belong to You

Inside a bar located near the coast of Jinhai City, figures moved about restlessly, and a few young men and women were already dancing with their arms around each other's waists.

The surroundings were bathed in deep purple lighting, under which people could only be made out as dark, shadowy silhouettes.

A red-haired youth draped in a black uniform walked in, surrounded by a few individuals, and was quickly led by a waiter to a relatively less noisy booth.

Huo Zhanyan raised an eyebrow, looking impatiently at the boy next to him: "Is this where you brought me?"

After the welcome party concluded, around eight or nine in the evening, several boys didn't want to return to their dormitories and suggested sneaking out to find some fun.

Huo Zhanyan was not surprised by how these people managed to leave the school grounds; he had sneaked out a few times himself. Since he had nothing to do tonight, he simply tagged along to see what it was like.

If they wanted to go out, the students here always found a way, as long as they didn't get caught.

Huo Zhanyan looked at the figures in the bar without much interest, though he didn't particularly mind this novel environment either.

A boy next to him laughed and said to Huo Zhanyan, "Brother Huo, you can't possibly have never been here before, right?"

"Who says I haven't been here?" Huo Zhanyan scoffed, naturally taking the largest seat and resting one arm lazily across the back of the sofa, looking entirely at ease.

His red hair turned into a dull, deep crimson under the dark purple lights. His posture was somewhat rebellious, and coupled with his sharp eyebrows and eyes, he looked unapproachable.

Because of his tall and sturdy physique, in this kind of environment, no one would even suspect he was just a high school student.

After they sat down, the waiter poured drinks into all of their glasses.

Huo Zhanyan directly picked up a glass, tossed his head back, and downed it in one go. He then showed his empty glass in a circle to the others, crossed his legs, and slammed the glass back onto the glass table.

"Nice!"

"As expected of Brother Huo."

The boys nearby laughed. As soon as they entered, several people in the bar had cast glances in their direction, and seeing Huo Zhanyan now, some even applauded.

"I can drink a thousand cups without getting drunk," Huo Zhanyan sneered.

Someone at the adjacent table noticed Huo Zhanyan, waved at him, and then walked over with a glass in hand, pulling his female companion along.

"Huo Zhanyan, you little punk, you've really done it, running off to a place like this." The speaker was a dyed blonde whom Huo Zhanyan had known for a long time; the other person had been four grades ahead of him back in elementary school.

After graduating from Stanilt School, his family had paid for him to study abroad at a university before he slipped back to China to live the life of a privileged second-generation heir.

If Wen Xiao were here, he would recognize this blonde guy as the very person who had driven Huo Zhanyan to school this morning.

After all, Huo Zhanyan was only seventeen and didn't even have a driver's license.

"Why shouldn't I be able to come?" Huo Zhanyan raised an eyebrow and let out a cold laugh.

"Aren't you still underage? Did you sneak out of school? Aren't you afraid of getting caught by the teachers?" The blonde sat down right beside Huo Zhanyan.

Huo Zhanyan leaned back against the sofa in a lazy posture. His unbuttoned shirt revealed a few open buttons, and even through the fabric, one could sense the faintly bulging pectoral muscles beneath his thin clothes, while his freely stretched limbs concealed explosive strength.

He looked like the master of this domain rather than an out-of-place underage student.

A boy next to him laughed and said, "It's the welcome party today, and our school is entirely full of guys. The party was boring, so we came out to look for some fun."

"None of you better get drunk, or how are you going to get back later?" The blonde glanced at them, figuring none of them looked like they could hold their liquor.

"We've arranged for someone to pick us up."

"Every year at the masquerade ball, we just wait to mingle with the girls from Valencia Girls' Academy," said a boy holding an empty wine bottle. "Since they separated the boys' and girls' schools, does anyone know what it's like to be in a school where you can't see a single female student!"

Another boy familiarly greeted a nearby waiter, asking to call over a few pretty girls.

Huo Zhanyan frowned, then watched as the blonde patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile, "You came to the right place with this bar; there are plenty of pretty girls here."

The music in the surroundings was deafening, and someone was singing into a microphone on the stage.

From a distance, one could see people who had been drinking kissing whoever was next to them, completely unconcerned about whether outsiders were watching.

Combined with the ambiguous atmosphere created by the dim lighting, quite a few people were already unable to restrain themselves from engaging in intimate acts.

Huo Zhanyan frowned while picking up another glass of wine. After all, he had committed plenty of disciplinary infractions, and drinking was just an insignificant one among them; no one could control him anyway.

"Brother Huo, you couldn't still be a virgin, could you?" A boy nearby teased, and was promptly kicked by Huo Zhanyan's long leg.

Huo Zhanyan lifted his gaze to look at him, maintaining a blank expression that made him look hard to mess with: "Mind your own business."

The waiter brought over several pretty girls with different styles. Among them, a girl in a red dress was about to sit right next to Huo Zhanyan, but before she could get close, Huo Zhanyan raised a hand to block her.

A single, gentle glance caused her to take a step back, not daring to approach any further.

Huo Zhanyan felt an intense restlessness surging throughout his body, wondering if he had been influenced by the passionate environment of the bar.

The flashing lights around him illuminated all sorts of crowds, their intertwined or separated figures reflecting in Huo Zhanyan's eyes and inexplicably arousing an impulse within him.

"I don't need that," Huo Zhanyan had just finished speaking when someone nearby chimed in with laughter.

"Hahaha, Brother Huo, your first kiss is probably still intact, isn't it?"

Seeing that Huo Zhanyan remained silent, the boys widened their eyes in surprise. They hadn't expected that Huo Zhanyan, who always looked like a delinquent and seemed accustomed to such venues, was actually still a novice.

Given his status as the heir of the Huo family, he could have whatever kind of person he wanted.

"Does Brother Huo have someone he likes? Are you saving yourself for your future wife?" someone asked nearby.

Huo Zhanyan let out a cold scoff, unwilling to answer. With a single sweeping glance of his eyes, the people nearby obediently shut their mouths.

"What does it mean to like someone?" Huo Zhanyan suddenly asked.

The person next to him was stunned by the question, thought about it for half a day, and replied, "It probably means you want to kiss her and do intimate things with her."

Someone elbowed him: "You better stop talking. Have you ever liked anyone? The kind of thing you're talking about is just thinking with your lower half."

Huo Zhanyan drained the last dregs of wine in his glass, his brow furrowing even tighter, making him look so angry that no one dared to speak loudly.

Thinking about it, why on earth had Huo Zhanyan caught them sneaking out of school? Especially when he wanted to tag along, they couldn't refuse at all.

"When I see him, I just want to kiss him."

Huo Zhanyan recalled how, whenever he watched Wen Xiao talk, his gaze would involuntarily drift to the other's slightly reddish lips.

On a few occasions, he had wanted to lean in, lick the moisture from those lips, and see what they tasted like.

He couldn't explain it, but he felt utterly bewitched. Just thinking about it made his whole body feel as though it were burning up.

"Brother Huo, who do you want to kiss? You couldn't possibly actually like that person, right?"

The people around him couldn't help but gossip.

"Is it a girl from Valencia?"

Huo Zhanyan suddenly felt that these places were completely meaningless, and the blaring rock music sounded terribly annoying. He used to enjoy this kind of environment, but now he always felt like something was missing.

He seemed to constantly crave a sense of novelty, just like how he favored extreme sports that made his adrenaline spike.

Yet beyond that, there was something else he desired even more.

Huo Zhanyan put down his glass, abruptly stood up, and told the group: "You guys have fun yourselves."

With that, Huo Zhanyan walked straight out of the bar, completely ignoring the voices calling out to him from behind.

Seeing him leave with a dark expression, the boys couldn't help feeling worried: "Do you think Brother Huo is angry? Will he cause trouble when we get back to school?"

"Probably not..."

Huo Zhanyan hailed a cab and headed straight back to the school. By the time he reached the gates, the guards on duty refused to open them.

He walked along the perimeter of the school walls, feeling his head grow dizzy and muddled as he walked, as if the alcohol was finally hitting him.

Having unconsciously consumed three drinks back at the bar, he now felt as though his entire body was floating.

Huo Zhanyan instinctively dialed a phone number. Without even needing to check his contacts, his fingers tapped lightly on the screen, and the call went through.

Wen Xiao had just stepped out of the shower, still draped in a bath towel, when his phone rang. Picking it up, he saw it was a call from Huo Zhanyan.

Upon answering, he noticed the other's voice sounded off, his breathing was heavy, and the sound of car horns could be heard in the background.

"You're not at school?" Wen Xiao frowned. "You sneaked out?"

"Yeah." Huo Zhanyan replied and then fell silent again, slowly squatting down near a street corner.

"Where are you?" Wen Xiao asked as he walked over to the wardrobe, pulling it open to grab a white T-shirt and a pair of jeans.

Since it was late and classes weren't in session anyway, there was no need to wear the troublesome uniform.

"I don't know," Huo Zhanyan said.

Wen Xiao asked for Huo Zhanyan's location, guessing that after reaching the school gate, he must have walked around toward the west side.

"Are there any landmark buildings near you?" Wen Xiao asked.

Huo Zhanyan glanced around, failing to recognize anything except for the sound of a bell tolling.

"I hear a bell."

Standing by the window, Wen Xiao looked out at the distant church spire, where the sound of the bell faintly echoed in his ears.

The bell was melodious, not dull or noisy, and its crisp, ethereal tone blended with the sea breeze blowing in from outside, bringing a sense of calm to the heart.

Listening closely, Wen Xiao heard the bell strike four times, indicating the top of the hour, followed by another ten strikes. He checked the time on his phone: it was exactly ten o'clock at night.

The fact that Huo Zhanyan could hear the bell meant he wasn't too far from the church.

After changing his clothes and standing at the doorway, Wen Xiao simply said: "Stay right there and don't move. I'm coming to find you."

As soon as he pushed his door open, he noticed someone else opening a door on the same floor. The person was wearing a dark blue suit and looked very familiar, nodding in greeting when he saw Wen Xiao.

"Going out this late?" The person glanced at Wen Xiao's outfit and chuckled. "Sorry, just curious."