AFAILIAST CHAPTER 2

Chapter 2 — Bored of Playing?

On the huge advertisement screen, the man’s face looked flawlessly handsome yet cold and distant. Even through a single publicity photo, Pei Ji could feel the aura of aloofness that kept everyone miles away from him.

Someone like that… could he even have earthly desires?

No way he’d go as far as keeping another man, right?

Pei Ji felt as if his gaze had been burned. He quickly looked away, unable to believe it. “That’s impossible…”

Seeing his expression, as if lightning had struck him, Kong Chuan couldn’t help but laugh. “Why not? I saw it with my own eyes. And—”

Pei Ji’s face alternated between pale and flushed, his heart in his throat. “And what?”

Kong Chuan tried to recall exactly what Chu Tinghan had said back then. He organized his thoughts, wanting to explain clearly what kind of relationship Pei Ji and Chu Tinghan supposedly had.

But there was simply too much information, and after a long pause, he still couldn’t find the right words.

Pei Ji grew anxious seeing him hesitate.

What could possibly be so hard to say?

Could it really be something worse than him being a kept man?

“And what is it?” Pei Ji finally couldn’t stand it and urged him to continue.

Kong Chuan frowned, then suddenly relaxed, looking at him with a face full of realization, only for it to shift immediately into disgust and disbelief.

The range of expressions on Kong Chuan’s face made Pei Ji’s scalp tingle. His instincts told him whatever was coming next would definitely not be good.

Sure enough, Kong Chuan finally sighed, as if making up his mind, and said something that completely shattered Pei Ji’s understanding of the world.

“You’ve been living with Chu Tinghan for the past two years. You two were in a passionate, secret relationship, totally crazy in love.”

Pei Ji jolted upright in bed, his brain exploding with question marks.

What the hell kind of nonsense was that? A secret love affair? How could that even be possible???

Kong Chuan didn’t even blink, already prepared for Pei Ji’s disbelief. “But don’t worry. You two probably won’t have anything to do with each other anymore.”

Pei Ji frowned. “Why?”

“Because you’re about to break up.”

Pei Ji’s brain froze completely. He couldn’t even process the language.

A passionate, secret love affair, madly in love… and now breaking up?

Each part on its own he could maybe comprehend, but together it was so absurd that his mind just shut down.

After a long while, his face twisted into pure misery, stiff and bitter. “Why would we break up?”

That was exactly the part Kong Chuan didn’t understand either.

Even though they had barely kept in touch over the last two years, he vaguely knew Pei Ji had been seeing someone. When Pei Ji’s birthday came around a few days ago, Kong Chuan had called to wish him well and casually asked about his love life.

Pei Ji had said they broke up.

And the reason was—

“You said you got bored of playing.” Kong Chuan shot him a sideways glance.

“Huh???” Pei Ji froze like someone hit him over the head.

Ridiculous. Explosive. Outrageous. That kind of scummy behavior was absolutely not his style.

He tried to resist. “Did I really say that?”

“Of course. You told me yourself,” Kong Chuan said, recalling the scene.

It had been Pei Ji’s birthday. Kong Chuan wanted to call to cheer him up and maybe reconnect. But Pei Ji had sounded low, lifeless, as if all his energy had drained away. Kong Chuan thought he’d just fought with his boyfriend and tried to comfort him, but Pei Ji said he’d broken up.

There had been static and wind noise on the line, and Kong Chuan hadn’t caught everything. The only part he’d heard clearly before the call ended was Pei Ji’s self-mocking murmur: that he’d gotten bored of playing.

…Bored of playing?

What?

Pei Ji felt his heart turn to ice. There was no word in the world that could describe his feelings at that moment.

He had never imagined that seven years later, he’d become a freeloading jerk who lived off someone else.

Kong Chuan’s expression stayed dark. As Pei Ji’s childhood friend, he wanted to be supportive, but this whole situation was just too much. He really didn’t know what to say.

Pei Ji slumped back against the headboard, motionless for a long time.

A sugar daddy, living off others, a total scumbag…

From the way Kong Chuan talked, the last few years hadn’t gone well at all for him. He’d apparently even drifted apart from his closest friends.

Pei Ji’s head throbbed.

He couldn’t accept any of it.

Why couldn’t that car just have killed him outright instead of leaving him to wake up like this?

His face turned as dark as charcoal, his entire body radiating despair.

“You’re the one who dumped someone,” Kong Chuan said, baffled. “Why are you the one acting all hopeless?”

Pei Ji looked utterly lifeless. “Because I got dumped by myself, isn’t that enough reason?”

Seven years later, his future self had really left behind one hell of a mess.

Kong Chuan choked on his words.

“…Fair.”

Pei Ji closed his eyes and leaned quietly against the headboard, trying to think of a way out of this disaster.

It was his first time hearing about someone gutsy enough to dump their own sugar daddy and realizing that person was himself.

It was absurd.

After a long silence, Pei Ji finally opened his eyes and asked quietly, “Do you think he’ll come again?”

“Who?”

Pei Ji gave him a look. “You really have to ask?”

“Oh~ your sugar daddy, Chu Tinghan.” Kong Chuan pretended to realize suddenly and rubbed his chin. “Probably not.”

Pei Ji blinked, stunned. So they wouldn’t even see each other again? “I mean, I got hit by a car. Why wouldn’t he come?”

“Why should he?” Kong Chuan asked in confusion. “You were the one who dumped him first. The fact that he’s covering your hospital bills is already pretty generous.”

“If it were me—” Kong Chuan stopped mid-sentence, deciding not to say the rest.

But the man on the hospital bed finished it for him. “You’d have come just to pull out my oxygen tube.”

Pei Ji’s voice was flat, devoid of emotion.

Kong Chuan twitched his lips. “At least you’re self-aware.”

“Alright, I’ve got to continue my rounds. You get some rest.”

As he walked to the door, he suddenly bumped into someone sneaking around.

Startled, he looked closer and realized it was Aunt Zhang, the housekeeper Chu Tinghan had hired for Pei Ji.

Aunt Zhang pressed herself against the wall, brushing her hair awkwardly. “I came to bring Xiao Pei his meal,” she said, gesturing toward the room.

Kong Chuan didn’t think much of it. He nodded and left.

Aunt Zhang carried the food in and said warmly, “Xiao Pei, you’re awake! You must be hungry. Come eat.”

Pei Ji looked at the food on the table. Every dish happened to match his taste perfectly, which puzzled him. “How do you know what I like?”

Aunt Zhang smiled. “You and Mr. Chu have been together for two years. I’ve been cooking for both of you that whole time. Of course I know your preferences.”

Then she paused and tilted her head, studying him. “You don’t remember?”

Pei Ji froze for a second, then forced a smile. “Of course I do.”

Traveling seven years into the future and losing seven years of memory weren’t much different. A lot must have happened during that time to make him end up like this.

He was desperate to know exactly what those seven years held. So while recovering in the hospital, he searched every major social media site for his own name.

What he found shocked him.

Almost all reports about him stopped two years ago.

Every headline had the same tone: “Contestant Pei Ji accused of bullying teammates during survival show!” or “Singer-songwriter Pei Ji’s new album flops, has he lost his touch?”

All the “news” was negative.

Comments and forums were full of people cursing him out, demanding that he quit the entertainment industry.

The content was so harsh that Pei Ji couldn’t bear to keep reading. He slammed the laptop shut.

The hospital room was dead silent, but his heart pounded wildly from panic.

Impossible. There was no way the future version of him could have become that kind of person.

He shut his eyes tightly, trying to calm down.

He couldn’t be sure whether he had really broken up with Chu Tinghan or not, but one thing was certain, he would never bully anyone.

Love might fade, but his character wouldn’t. He wasn’t someone who’d ever mistreat a teammate.

There had to be some kind of hidden truth behind all this.

The thought weighed heavy on his chest, making it hard to breathe.

God, who would have thought his future self would end up so pathetic?

But since fate had given him another chance, he wasn’t going to waste it.

He would clear his name and start over.

---

Half a month later, Pei Ji had fully recovered. He packed his things and completed the discharge papers.

He hadn’t touched a single cent of the 300,000 yuan Chu Tinghan had deposited in his hospital account.

Though his finances weren’t great, he still had some savings to cover the medical bills.

Before leaving, he even confirmed the exact amount spent since his admission, planning to repay Chu Tinghan someday.

He hated owing anyone anything, it felt better to settle the debt properly.

As soon as he stepped out of the hospital, he saw Aunt Zhang standing by the gate with a black car beside her.

Pei Ji suspected that Chu Tinghan might be sitting inside, and his heart suddenly raced.

Then, out of nowhere, Aunt Zhang handed him a bouquet of flowers.

Back in school, his admirers had always sent him letters, never flowers. This was the first time anyone had ever given him a bouquet.

It was a large bunch of pure white lilies.

Pei Ji blinked in surprise, looking down at them.

“This is from Mr. Chu,” Aunt Zhang explained.

He looked up, startled.

He’d dumped Chu Tinghan, yet Chu Tinghan was sending him flowers?

Wasn’t this sugar daddy way too nice?

After a moment, Pei Ji noticed a small note tucked among the lilies. Carefully, he pulled it out. Four characters were written on it:

“Let’s part on good terms.”

He couldn’t help reading it aloud.

Pei Ji had to wonder, was Chu Tinghan just hopelessly sentimental?

Still, it was a much classier breakup line than his own “got bored of playing.”

The contrast between them made Pei Ji feel an overwhelming sense of guilt.

Even though he hadn’t met Chu Tinghan face-to-face since waking up, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he owed him, money, affection, everything.

Pei Ji stared at the elegant bouquet for a long time.

No. He couldn’t accept becoming a freeloading, heartless jerk in this lifetime.

He was going to make things right for the future version of himself.

Right now, he wanted nothing more than to meet this man, his so-called lover, the mysterious Chu Tinghan.

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