Chapter 13

When I arrived at Xia Jialiang’s apartment complex, I saw Duan Chen locked in a fierce scuffle with another man.

Duan Chen fought fast and ruthlessly, with no semblance of technique, as if he were simply venting his emotions.

Duan Chen rarely resorted to violence. He firmly believed that problems couldn’t be solved with fists. Yet, when I once asked him why he learned taekwondo, he had grinned at me nonchalantly and said, “So if you ever get bullied, you can come crying to me.”

Now, his punches were chaotic, driven purely by emotion, and he seemed completely indifferent to the other man’s counterattacks, as though he had lost all sense of pain.

Xia Jialiang was beside himself with anxiety. He rushed forward, trying to pull them apart, placing himself between the two. Duan Chen’s fist landed squarely on Xia Jialiang’s waist.

“Xia Jialiang!” I ran over and supported him, and Duan Chen finally froze.

His reddened eyes landed on me, then shifted to the hand I was using to steady Xia Jialiang.

Xia Jialiang hunched over, rubbing his waist, his expression tinged with embarrassment. In a low voice, he explained to me, “That man is my ex-boyfriend.”

He didn’t elaborate further, but I could piece together what had happened.

I patted his shoulder. “Are you okay? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

Seeing him shake his head, I turned to meet Duan Chen’s gaze. “You two should leave. I’ll explain things to him.”