How Can Two People From Different Sides Ever Fall in Love? - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: He’s So Arrogant

Back in the public restroom, Hollis leaned against the sink, arms crossed, silently watching Raven’s departing figure.

The back was straight, the shoulders and neck perfectly aligned, and the pace was steady and unhurried—much like a superstar on a red carpet leaving time for reporters and fans to take photos.

Raven certainly had the face of a star. If a red carpet actually invited him, likely no one would doubt his celebrity status.

As the sound of footsteps gradually faded and Raven’s silhouette disappeared through the doorway, Hollis lowered his arms and switched to resting his hands on his hips, silently counting the time he had missed with Raven.

The moment he received news of the business trip, his mind had been in turmoil. The night before departure, he had clung to Raven, making love until the early hours of the morning. After the intense battle, his body was exhausted, but his spirit was hyper-active, refusing to sleep for a long time.

In the deep of the night, he scrutinized Raven’s features until dawn broke over the horizon.

He hadn’t originally intended to wake Raven, but his body woke up with the morning sun while his brain remained stalled. His grip on Raven’s hand tightened instinctively; the person in his arms woke up in a daze from the slight pain.

Upon waking, Raven wasn’t even angry. He struggled to open a pair of slightly swollen “peach blossom” eyes, his voice raspy yet soft: “You’re leaving… I’ll get up to see you off.”

Faced with Raven’s accusations today, Hollis didn’t defend himself, because Raven wasn’t wrong. At that time, he had indeed been no different from a beast.

That morning, as soon as Raven finished speaking, Hollis thought: Since he’s awake anyway, might as well not let it go to waste. So, he pestered Raven into doing it once more. Raven was so tired and sleepy that he spent the whole time whimpering, lacking the strength to cry out and naturally lacking the power to stop him.

Before departing, Hollis had swiped the perfume Raven used regularly. It was a brand with a somewhat familiar look and a tongue-twisting name. The owner, out of a tendency to love the new and loathe the old, had only purchased a sample size, which worked out in Hollis’s favor.

Hollis picked up the bottle and tilted it, seeing a tiny bit of residue at the bottom. The bottle was small; in his hand, it made the small look smaller and the large look larger.

He tucked the perfume bottle into his pocket and went to the roadside to wait for his ride. Before getting into the car, he pulled out the bottle and sprayed the last of the residue; a faint, smoky sandalwood scent lingered around him.

Sense of smell is one of the human brain’s most persistent memory triggers. The moment the perfume sprayed out, he fantasized that Raven was standing beside him—until he got into the car and the driver let out a sneeze, snapping him back to reality.

Hollis reached into his pocket; currently, the empty bottle sat there quietly. He hadn’t expected to smell a new scent on Raven the moment he returned.

He glanced at the lonely bottle lying in his palm. He exhaled slowly, tucked it back in his pocket, strode out of the restroom with his long legs. Time was about up; Raven should be far enough away by now.

Raven was already seated in the hall, witnessing Cybill’s lunch-break masterpiece from its birth to its destruction, while simultaneously seeing the fastest runner in history.

Speak of the Devil, and he shall appear.

Out of the corner of his eye, Raven saw Cybill go from high spirits one second to deathly silent the next. Behind his lenses, his gaze shifted back to Hollis on the speaker’s podium.

Behind Cybill’s back, he waved his hand toward Hollis on the stage. Hollis’s cold expression softened slightly; facing Raven, he gave an almost imperceptible nod.

“Why is he staring at us?” Cybill grew even more panicked. Talking behind someone’s back only to be caught red-handed by the subject was embarrassing enough. Now, the subject wasn’t even saying anything, just staring at them intently. If glares could be weapons, she and Raven would likely be chopped into pieces by now.

This was Cybill’s first time seeing Hollis in person. In the past, she had only heard colleagues compare him to Raven, which gave her some vague concepts. Comparisons, of course, included both good and bad things, but since she didn’t know him in reality, she hadn’t taken it to heart. Seeing him today, his looks were exactly as rumored, and the fierceness was real.

“He’s a bit nearsighted; he’s probably trying to figure out who we are.” During the lunch break, Raven had dropped his guard, and the truth slipped out.

Cybill narrowed her eyes: “How do you know that?”

Raven’s expression went blank for a second. He was about to bluff his way out when Cybill nudged him.

“Good grief, his look is even fiercer! Raven, what if he comes over? Do you have a chance of winning? Can the two of us take him together?”

“I doubt it.” Hollis ran every morning and loved rock climbing; his muscles were the real deal, and his grip strength was terrifying. Even if he fought them with one hand behind his back, they would likely still lose.

Raven didn’t think it was shameful for his weaknesses to lose to someone else’s strengths; he spoke the truth without any psychological burden.

His thoughts were led away by Cybill for a moment. He thought to himself: Since you’re so scared, don’t gossip about people to their faces.

Cybill was thinking the same thing. She let out a few light coughs, changed the subject, and raised her volume significantly: “Are we going to the bar tonight? Recently, Jamie, Emily, and Simon have been asking me what on earth you’re busy with—busy enough that you don’t even have time for the bar.”

Heaven knew what Raven was busy with; perhaps Verdi had skipped only her when assigning work. Her public identity, after all, was Raven’s relative.

Before Raven could ask who Jamie, Emily, and Simon were, the figure on the podium flashed and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“He’s so arrogant! He actually managed to resist listening to gossip!”

Raven: “…”

He wasn’t in the mood to ask further and flatly rejected Cybill: “Not going.”

“Why?” Cybill withdrew her gaze and grabbed Raven’s arm with both hands, shaking it like a sieve. “Starting six months ago, you suddenly vanished. Now that you’re back, you won’t even go to the bar with me.”

Raven was too lazy to pull his arm away and corrected her tonelessly: “I took my annual leave, thank you.”

“You didn’t secretly go get married without telling me, did you?”

Raven was puzzled: “Why would I waste annual leave instead of taking marriage leave?”

“True.” Cybill grew tired of shaking him and let go, her tone suddenly turning somber: “Raven, tell me, what is the essence of marriage?”

“Hard to say. A thousand people have a thousand faces; everyone’s situation is different.” Seeing her fall silent after his answer, Raven asked, “Is your mother pressuring you to get married again?”

Cybill grew up in a single-parent household, raised by her mother. Before starting work, she had always presented the image of a “good girl.” The most rebellious thing she’d done since childhood was probably shipping campus idol CPs in private and drawing a few fanart pieces. In those innocent years, her drawings were quite restrained.

After starting work—specifically after attending a few bar gatherings with colleagues—her delayed rebellion woke up, and she would occasionally stay out all night. This was on the condition that Raven was present.

However, even with economic independence, her mother’s control was omnipresent.

Cybill paused, then nodded in admission: “I’m afraid I’ll regret it later. My mom says women have an ‘optimal childbearing period,’ and once you miss it, it’s not so easy if you want to get married and have kids later.”

“Have you looked into it? That so-called ‘optimal childbearing period’?”

Cybill shook her head: “That’s just what they all say.”

“Go look into it first. If you need my help, call me anytime.”

Raven was very wary of participating in these types of life-topic discussions. The establishment of certain systems acts as both a right and a shackle; he didn’t dare lightly advise someone whether to join or quit. After a moment’s thought, he added: “You need to think clearly: is it your mother who wants you to do this, or do you want to do it yourself? No one but you can take responsibility for your life.”

Cybill nodded thoughtfully, then rested her chin on her arm, exposing only one eye to stare sideways at Raven: “Why won’t you go to the bar with me anymore? Are you tired of walking me home every night?”

Raven was used to her jumping logic and countered: “I insisted on walking you home; did you find it annoying?”

Cybill shook her head vigorously like a muffled rattle: “How is that possible!”

How could she be annoyed? She often felt that meeting Raven was her good fortune.

The reason Cybill and Raven became close started from a colleague bar gathering. After it ended, he insisted on walking the solo female colleague home, and she happened to be the last one to arrive.

With the designated driver in the front seat, Raven sat in the passenger side, and Cybill, under the influence of alcohol, opened up. During the conversation, she practically laid herself bare and even took out her phone to show Raven the fanart she had drawn. Her only remaining shred of logic was keeping her fingers from scrolling further down.

Raven had drunk quite a bit then. In the dim light, his gaze was hazy and unfocused, and his voice sounded as if it had been soaked in liquor, carrying a suggestive melancholy: “My dad also studied painting.”

Cybill was surprised and delighted by the common topic, failing to hear that touch of melancholy: “Really? I’d love to see the Uncle’s masterpieces!”

Raven only smiled and didn’t speak.

When they gathered again later, he took Cybill to a different bar—quieter and better for talking. The longer they spent together, the more Cybill understood why people like Jamie, Emily, and Simon liked to hover around Raven. When someone with good looks, a good body, and a good personality appears within your range of attraction, it’s hard not to be moved; it’s only human nature.

For Cybill, this attraction could be very simple—simple enough that just because she met a very good person, she developed a liking for them. It could also be very complex—complex enough that she couldn’t distinguish exactly which type of emotion it was. But it didn’t matter; what mattered was that they had established a connection because of it.

“Going to the bar alone now is so boring.” It wasn’t that Cybill didn’t have other friends, but with Raven there, she was more “like a fish in water” at the bar. Especially since she used the identity of Raven’s relative as a shield, and Raven didn’t refuse. However, she knew her boundaries; as long as Raven didn’t nod, she wouldn’t leak his contact information to anyone.

Her “fake relative” Raven took a deep breath, too lazy to expose her. Is it boring because I’m not there? It’s boring because you can’t use the ‘relative’ identity.

Click—

The conversation ended as a can of coffee was placed on the table, interrupting Raven and causing that breath to catch in his throat.

Just as he was about to exhale, he followed the arm upward and saw Hollis, who had returned, along with two more cans of coffee held between the fingers of his other hand. Then Hollis took two steps forward and handed one of the cans to Cybill.

Cybill was overwhelmed with fear and pointed at herself: “For… for me?”

Hollis nodded. The next moment, he withdrew his hand, popped the tab of the can—another click—and only then did Raven notice the can in front of him already had its tab opened.

“Th—thank you.” Cybill stood up, taking the coffee with both hands. One second, her face looked as if she were holding a landmine; the next, she said in surprise, “Oh, it’s still hot.”

Fearing Hollis would think she was being picky, she quickly explained, “It’s perfect; the weather is cold, and Raven isn’t used to drinking cold things either.”

Hollis was noncommittal. He didn’t say a word the whole time, acting as if he had just come over to deliver coffee and would leave immediately after. Only before leaving did he give Raven a meaningful look.

Cybill marveled: “So he’s actually the kind of ‘good person’ who starts out being very annoying!”

Raven finally let out that breath and shook his head silently. Immediately after, Cybill let out an “Aiyoh” and turned to scold Raven: “You haven’t said thank you yet!”

The afternoon session proceeded on schedule. Thanks to the coffee Hollis delivered, Raven barely managed to survive the afternoon without a nap. As he expected, they still hadn’t reached a conclusion regarding the legalization of same-sex marriage.

After packing up to leave work, Raven once again declined Cybill’s bar invitation, reminding her: “Focus your mind. Once this meeting is over, things are going to get busy.”

Exiting the Federal Conference Building, he took the subway. Accompanied by the last rays of the setting sun, he dragged his exhausted body back to his rented apartment. As he stepped onto the stairs for the final stretch, a silhouette suddenly appeared at the apartment door.

Currently, this silhouette was sitting on the ground, long legs stretching down across several steps, blocking Raven’s path.

He had come uninvited, occupying the hallway and looking down from above, saying arrogantly: “Weren’t you going to find Jamie, Emily, and Simon? You should have said your car was restricted today; I wouldn’t have minded giving you a lift.”

After all, they were “heading to the same destination via different paths.”

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