63 Her

After reaching at the entrance of the club, Jin Longwen reflexively turned towards the direction of the north. A heavy sigh escaped from his lips when his eyes landed on one of the skyscraper.

"Tch." He took out a package of cigarettes from his pocket and pulled one out.

Unfortunately, before he could manage to light it up, it was already snatched by Hiroto who had just arrived beside him.

"What are you doing?" Hiroto asked with annoyance laced in his tone.

Jin Longwen, on the other hand, only raised his eyebrow in response before he attempted to snatch back the cigarette from Hiroto's hand. But, Hiroto wasn't stupid either to just let his friend easily took it away, so he threw the cigarette onto the floor and stomped it under his foot.

Jin Longwen pursed his lips, staring intently at Hiroto, clearly displeased by his action. But, he didn't seem to mind it much as he proceeded to take out his cigarette package again. Meanwhile, Hiroto remained persistent and directly snatched the package from Jin's hand.

This time, the man did not stay quiet and question his friend like a father scolding his child. "Are you done?"

Hiroto snorted. "No. I'm only done if you're done."

Jin Longwen pinched the spot between his eyebrows as he let out a long sigh. "What do you want? I've already finished what you asked of me today."

"Indeed you have."

"Then, stop bothering me!" Jin Longwen grew irritated at his friend antics.

"If you can stop sulking and spacing out for the whole day, I will refrain myself from bothering you."

Jin Longwen raised an eyebrow after hearing Hiroto's request. He scoffed. "Refrain, not stop."

"If I ever stop, you'll end up a caveman for the rest of your life."

"That doesn't sound so bad. I don't have to deal with a bunch of imbeciles and upper class clowns then. Wouldn't that be an amazingly wonderful life?" Jin Longwen seriously pondered about it.

Now, it was Hiroto's turn to pinch his glabella. He was starting to get a headache from dealing with Jin.

"Seriously, man. What's up?" Hiroto finally asked.

"What?"

"Don't avoid the question."

"I seriously don't get what you mean," Jin said as he turned towards the direction of the north again.

Hiroto scratched his head feeling helpless. He knew what Jin was doing right now. Jin only acted oblivious like this when something was truly weighing on his mind and being the skeptical person he was, he would only find you irritating if you tried to forcefully dig it out.

But, this time, it was really worrying. Hence, even though it would take a little extra effort to make Jin open up, Hiroto would do so patiently.

He grabbed Jin's shoulder and turned him around. However, to his dismay, Jin's head was still fixed on the opposite direction. His eyes remained unmoved.

"Jin." Hiroto called sternly.

Clicking his tongue, Jin finally relented and turned to face his friend.

"What's wrong with you?"

"It's nothing." Jin shoved Hiroto's hand away from his shoulder. "Since the meeting is done, I'm going back now."

The corner of Hiroto's lips twitched upon hearing Jin's rebuttal. 'Well, this is troublesome,' he thought to himself.

'That day is still two months away. So, what's bothering him?' Hiroto continued to ponder. But, as soon as he saw Jin really leaving him behind, he stopped him. "Wait!"

"What? You better have a good reason for holding me back now!"

Hiroto walked after him and persistently demanded, "Something is clearly bothering you. Tell me."

Jin Longwen threw back his head and sighed deeply. "For the last time, it's nothing."

"If it's nothing, you won't be spacing out for the whole day and lit the cigarettes like you're a heavy smoker. That would be the fourth time today if I let you smoked it just now."

"There's nothing weird." Jin Longwen lightly shook his head and cocked an eyebrow at him. "I do smoke."

"It is fucking weird, okay? You rarely smoked to begin with and I've never even seen you with one since last year."

"Then, it has relapsed," Jin Longwen retorted nonchalantly.

"Look. Just tell me."

His eyebrows were pulled together as Jin eyed his friend sneeringly. "You're even worse than a girl."

"Yes, thank you."

"It wasn't a compliment."

"In my ears, it sounds like 'you're the world most caring friend.' Indeed, I am. So, thank you."

"You need to get your brain check then."

Folding his arms across his chest, Hiroto asked him, "Have I ever told you that you're worse than a baby?"

Jin Longwen went speechless.

"It's really hard taking care of you."

"No one ask you to do so. You volunteer, remember?"

It was true. Akiyama Hiroto was originally working by himself in Tokyo where he had spent most of his life at. However, after hearing what happened to Jin Longwen, he immediately flew over and decided to help him. He did volunteer, but he had never guessed it would be this challenging.

Perhaps, it was because they were living in different countries, Hiroto never knew Jin Longwen was this gloomy and detached. Despite being one of his closest friend, he could still feel an enormous thick wall separating them.

"Jin." Hiroto sighed in resignation. "I'm your friend, right?"

Ba-thump!

Suddenly, her expressionless face with her pair of crystal clear eyes that seemed to hide an endless stream of sadness emerged in his head.

'I'm your friend, remember?'

He said that sentence himself, yet the unshakable irony was they were both in fact the same. She and him were just two shadows walking on an empty desert stretching miles and miles away.

She and him were just two individuals addicted to the idea of solitude. Finding the word "sadness" a beautiful reality and "happiness" an artificial truth.

That was why he understood her from the beginning. He knew even without her saying it. Just her eyes alone would be enough.

But what was that smile? What was that kiss she left him with?

Jin Longwen looked towards the same direction once again. "It's not even one kilometers away. I could just walk."

Hiroto raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"City View Apartment."

"You wanna go there?"

"I don't know."

"Huh?" Hiroto was confused. Although he was relieved that Jin was beginning to open up, he didn't quiet understand what he was talking about. Nonetheless, he was sure this was what Jin was concern about.

"I'm hesitating," Jin said, still looking towards the apartment.

"What is it that you're hesitating about?" Hiroto asked.

"Her."