3 'Do I know you?'

A lively and colourful place where gamblers would gather to play various types of games such as slot machines, poker, blackjack, and roulette—a casino. Inside a certain well-known casino located in Beijing, China, there was a private gambling room full of important people, both men and women were dressed nicely. The women wore beautiful dresses with hints of sexiness and boldness, they slyly smiled as they watched the men dressed in suits playing poker.

A man dressed in grey suit fiddled around a diamond coin with his fingers before he lazily threw all the cards in his other hand onto the table

"Royal flush."

The other players around him groaned and bitterly placed their cards on the table as the dealer raked the chips.

"Drop your role as the devil, at this rate, you are going to take all of our money until we are left with nothing." A man, with his strawberry blonde hair in a low pigtail, complained as he placed his arm around a slim woman in a red dress. The woman laughed and gave him a peck on his cheek.

"Exactly, I am going to be scolded by my dear wife again…" The tall old man beside him sighed depressingly.

"Nobody forced you, people, to play with me. Blame yourself for being incompetence."

Pouting, the strawberry blonde-haired man switched the topic, "Hey, hey… Have you guys heard?"

"Heard what?"

"That second young master of Zou family has disappeared. He probably ran away from home."

Another man commented, "Second young master of Zou family? Isn't he just a waste, why bother with him anyways?"

The strawberry blonde-haired man shrugged his shoulders. "True. I just wanted to know if any of you have heard about it. Poor old man Zou, having such a grandson. If it was me, my grandpa would disown me, just to have me killed afterwards."

Speaking of the second young master of Zou family, there were only a small amount of people from the criminal underworld that wouldn't know about him. There wasn't much information about him but they knew that he was a total waste and useless when it came to business. He was a lazy young man who neglected his family business and did whatever he wanted. It was rumoured that he was too weak to even look at blood, along with being afraid to engage in activities. It was hard to believe that such a person came from the infamous Zou family.

The man in grey suit indifferently played with his coin. "Mhm…. A singing bird told me that he was different in the past."

"Different? Man, not that I've seen him personally but there are so many rumours about him, they are all bad and none good… in our world."

Not waiting for the other to speak, the strawberry blonde-haired man raised his wine glass and shouted, "Whatever, let's play another round!"

There were students roaming inside the main library to research, some were sitting at the tables and quietly studying. Going further in, around the corner, a soft dark green couch could be spotted, with a person on it. Elia had taken the couch as his resting bed since the roof wasn't available. His eyes were shut but he wasn't asleep. Engrossing in his own thoughts, he found himself asking a real question with a sudden realization.

'Why did I even enrol to a university anyway?'

He had the money to live luxuriously for a couple of years, even if his money would run out, he could easily find a job. Attending a university was a waste of time for him and he didn't even want to go to the classes. It was clear that he had gotten lazy and slow in the head ever since he returned to his past. Towards his past life, he could only sigh.

All of sudden, a loud and awkward noise was heard, Elia pitifully looked at his stomach. He missed breakfast so it was natural for him to get hungry before lunchtime. He reluctantly got up from the comfortable couch, but before he exited the main library, he gave one last look at the couch with sad eyes. He reminded himself to buy a comfortable couch when he would get back to his apartment.

Just as he was about to walk out of the campus, his shoulder was suddenly grabbed from behind. Elia curiously looked behind him and saw a man as tall as him. Strangely enough, the man wore a gloomy expression.

Adding more strength to his grip, the man gritted his teeth, "Found you, Ice cream."

Elia blankly stared at the man for a long time, and blurted out, "Do I know you?"

'Do I know you?'

That sentence repeated itself inside Teodore's head until he snapped back and saw the clueless expression on the timid man.

Clenching his jaw, he snarled, "Are you fucking kidding with me?"

Elia's mouth formed into a lazy smile and politely apologized, "I am sorry, I think you got the wrong person."

Not finding any faults in his expression, Teodore frowned, "You met me on the roof this morning."

"On the roof this morning…."

Elia lightly rubbed the back of his head as he looked like he was thinking deeply but he couldn't recall anything about it.

He awkwardly smiled. "Sorry, I don't remember."

Teodore was stunned, he couldn't believe the man had already forgotten about his existence. Not willing to accept it, he didn't give up. "I told you my name. It's Teodore Falco."

As if lightning had struck him, Elia eyed the man carefully and dragged out a sound. "Oh..." Then, he continued, "I remember now, you are the bothersome delinquent."

Getting angry, Teodore glared at him. "You are asking for a beating, Ice cream!"

Elia shook his head gently. "I don't like being beaten up."

"Then don't piss me off!"

Elia rubbed his ears as if they were in pain. "Can you please lower your loud voice? My ears are a little sensitive. Also..." His gaze fell on the hand that gripped his shoulder, "your hand too, please move it. I'm hurting."

Teodore's facial expression became darker and he wanted to teach him a lesson but ultimately, he loosened his grip and pulled his hand away from the other's shoulder. Elia breathed a relieved sigh and spotting the entrance gate, he casually walked towards it, no longer paying attention to the delinquent. Seeing the man walking away from him again, Teodore grabbed his wrist and firmly held it.

"And where do you think you're going now?" He hissed.

Elia furrowed, not liking how the current situation had turned out. "Hungry. I'm going to eat."

He thought the man would burst out of anger or not willing to let him go and eat, so he was prepared to make a run. However, contrary to his expectation, Teodore's face lit up, his mouth formed into a goofy smile, and it made Elia feel a bad premonition. Sure enough, his arm was dragged by Teodore who happily walked out of the university.

"Where do you plan to take me to?"

Giving him a childish smile, Teodore happily exclaimed, "To eat, and of course, you are the one paying!"

Elia was startled. "Ah?"

He wanted to reject him but Teodore didn't leave him any room for arguments so Elia let him drag his arm around as he wished. Soon, they arrived at a small food stall, Teodore excitedly pulled Elia with him to an empty table and called out the owner of the food stall.

The food stall owner spotted one of his regular customers and his smile became wider, "Oh, Teodore, you are here again so soon! Did you finally get some money to eat?"

Teodore lifted up Elia's arm. "This guy owes me a meal."

Elia scrunched his eyebrows and pulled his arm away from Teodore's grip, thinking that the latter was being too touchy with him.

The food stall owner laughed. "How fortunate of you, our special meal is only available for today. Wanna try, youngsters?"

Noticing that Teodore was looking at him for his opinion, Elia shrugged and carelessly showed him an OK sign with his hand, instead of voicing it out.

"Sure, we will take that, old man," Teodore replied.

With that, the food stall owner walked off to execute the orders, leaving the two of them alone. Glancing around, Elia saw that there weren't many people in the street, it appeared that the one they went to was the only food stall in the area.

Having read his thoughts, Teodore nonchalantly told him, "It's a small street, not many people walk here during these hours."

Elia nodded and sat back in a lazy posture as he patiently waited for their meals. Observing him, Teodore seemed to be in deep thoughts, his piercing grey eyes were profound as they were fixed on the man sitting beside him.

"What happened to the timid act you pulled off on the roof?" He suddenly spoke up.

Teodore wasn't one without a brain, he could easily tell that the brown-haired man was different from the one he interacted with on the rooftop. The man he currently was with was calm with a nonchalant attitude like he didn't care about the things happening around his surroundings, maybe even towards his own problems. What he couldn't figure out was the reason behind his action. There weren't any benefits, or that was simply his opinion.

Breaking his dazed expression, Elia turned his head to face Teodore. "It appears that I totally forgot about it until you brought it up."

Teodore resisted the urge to smack the seemingly forgetful man's head, the corner of his mouth slightly twitched in frustration.

Elia continued to speak, "Finding out that you are alone with a fierce delinquent on a rooftop, it is best to act timid if you don't want to attract trouble."

Teodore couldn't help but click his tongue distastefully. "That's a cowardly move."

A serene smile emerged on Elia's face. "Then, how is one supposed to act?"

With a confident tone, Teodore spoke as if what he stated was an obvious answer, "Naturally, to fight back. Show him who's the real boss and make him regret ever messing with you."

"Maybe for you, it works. But look at me," shaking his head, Elia pointed at himself and continued, "I'm just a defenceless student, where will the strength to defeat you come from?"

Teodore awkwardly scratched his cheek upon hearing the reasonable statement. "That's true. You look like you don't have much muscle at all."

Although he couldn't see most of Elia's bare body because of his clothes, Teodore was certain that, under all the clothing, there weren't any visible muscles showing as his frame was not only tall but also thin. He looked fragile and with that attitude of his, it was only reasonable for him to lack strength.

Seeing the food stall owner coming with their meals, they tacitly ended their conversation and gobbled down the food as, coincidentally, both of them had been hungry the whole morning.

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