Long Shen felt his head had been hit by a hammer many times. He shook his head few times to lessen the dizziness he had. He opened his eyes slowly and found out that he was in his apartment, sitting on the sofa with wine bottles cluttered everywhere.   

Long Shen saw a man sleeping on his embrace. It took him a while to finally process that he was hugging Tian Dong in his sleep. Long Shen gritted his teeth and pushed Tian Dong away from his body.

Tian Dong's back hit the floor, and the guy was also awakened, "Ouch—" Tian Dong rubbed his head that hit the wine bottle on the floor. Tian Dong opened his eyes and saw Long Shen was trying to get up and wash his face.

He was still a bit drunk, though, so he staggered and slumped few times when he was walking towards the bathroom.

Tian Dong hurriedly tried to prop Long Shen with his hand, "Brother Long, you had drunk too much yesterday, let me help you…"

Long Shen looked up towards Tian Dong. He gritted his teeth and slapped Tian Dong's hand, "Who let you sleep in my arm? Did you take advantage of me when I was drunk? You little piece of shit! I will make sure your life will be in hell!"

Tian Dong was silent when Long Shen tried to get up again and walked by himself. But he staggered and fell again. He drank too much.

Tian Dong crouched beside Long Shen and tried to help him again. He tried to touch Long Shen's shoulder to prop him.

"Brother Long, let me help—"

SLAP!

"GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU BASTARD!" Long Shen shouted in front of Tian Dong, whom he had just slapped on the cheek. Tian Dong watched in a daze as he saw Tian Dong sput on the ground full of disgust.

"How dare you take advantage of me when I'm sleeping! The only person that I want to embrace is James Grind, my Jamie! You took advantage of me when I was drunk! Ugh!" Long Shen felt that his body was full of disgusting leech crawling around him. "I have to take a bath. You fucking disgust me!"

Tian Dong watched in silence, his body shook, but he was too shocked to react properly. He got up from the floor and took his jacket. He walked without looking back, but before he opened the door, Tian Dong said, "You are so disgusted with me because I'm ugly. But you keep calling me James Grind and cried when you are sleeping. Long Shen, is your love really that shallow?"

SLAM!

Tian Dong slammed the door, leaving Long Shen still sitting on the floor. He looked at the door that had been shut. Somehow, he felt that he had lost something. Maybe he made a mistake, although he didn't understand what his mistake was.

Long Shen propped himself again and finally reached the bathroom. He washed his face and saw himself in the vanity.

His handsome face was flushed, his hair was messy, and the swollen eyes prove that he was crying so much last night.

Long Shen touched his swollen eyes, feeling something was amiss.

"Did I really cry last night? Is it because of my desperation to meet Jamie again?" Long Shen pondered. He remembered last night, with his last trace of consciousness, he was holding his James Grind, so comforting and warm.

As if he had transmigrated back, become Long Zhen again with his James Grind.

But when he woke up, he was Long Shen, and he had that ugly Tian Dong in his embrace.



Honestly, he didn't feel the retch when he held Tian Dong. He felt the comfort that he longed for.

But whenever he saw that ugly face, he just wanted to punch Tian Dong. There was no way his gorgeous James Grind would transmigrate inside Tian Dong's ugly body. That kid was surely taking advantage of the situation.

Just because he got the dream from the previous life, he wanted to take advantage and approached him.

"That little shit, he dares to take advantage when I'm at my lowest!"

Long Shen took a bath, but he kept on thinking about Tian Dong. His mind kept replaying that last sentence Tian Dong said before he slammed the door.

'Long Shen, is your love really that shallow?'

'Is your love really that shallow?'

'Is my life for Jamie really that shallow?'

Long Shen gritted his teeth and punched the bathroom wall, "Of course, it's not shallow!"

Long Shen tried to brush away this doubt in his heart. He needed to do shooting again tomorrow, so he had to be in a great physique. He also had another meeting with a man. Maybe this time, he wouldn't feel disgusted and slowly make this man fall in love with him. Maybe after that, James Grind would be convinced.

As in for that Tian Dong kid…

Long Shen clicked his tongue in annoyance, "He is just a broke kid. He will come at me again. How could he afford to lose this job when it's so hard to get a good job nowadays?" Long Shen brushed the problem away from his head and got ready to have a brunch before having a light exercise.

***

Tian Dong was sitting in the backseat of a taxi while returning to his small apartment. He looked lost and hurt. Tian Dong rubbed the bruise on his cheek. Long Shen really slapped him hard even though all he wanted to do was to help Long Shen out of his misery.

[Wuwuwu, he hit me again. At this point, I don't even know what to do anymore…]

[Pupa: I have to say what he did to you was kinda scummy, not going to lie.]

[Kinda scummy? That is a total scumbag move!]

[Pupa:.. his Ragemeter is still 90%.]

[So?]

[Pupa: You know you will only trap yourself in this world if you cannot decrease his Ragemeter.]

[Ugh! Fine, I will think of a way. But for now, I don't want to see his face at all!]

[Pupa: What are you going to do then? Finding another man?]

[… GREAT IDEA, PUPA! I will find another man to release this stress. I really need a physical refreshment right now!]

[Pupa:… Please ignore my advice just now. You have this very common habit of running away when you think it's too much. It will cause an even bigger problem if you do this. You know you are going to make things worse. I don't know how much frustration I can handle, knowing the mess you will create.]

Tian Dong returned to his apartment and started scrolling his texts. Tian Dong was a loner most of the time. His friend circle was almost nonexistent. But he did had few good friends which he contacted some times.

And a guy…

"Who is this guy… Aaron Xu?" Yunyu asked Pupa.

Pupa materialized in front of Yunyu and replied, "That is your good friend."

Yunyu scrolled the text and saw plenty of ambiguous text from Aaron Xu. Although Tian Dong didn't seem to like this guy, Aaron was definitely into him.

"Okay, I will have a date now!" Yunyu said. 

"… what if Long Shen saw you?"

"So what? He is the one who doesn't need my help. Unless he begs and kisses my feet, then there is no way I would forgive him! I have a pride myself! Do you think I will continue to be his punching bag forever? Peh! Pei! Let him drown in his own sorrow!"