BSBA 8

The Obsessive Young Master and His Little Attendant (Part 8)

The girls were visibly startled, their minds quietly filling with speculation.

Had Ning Shu been a girl, they would have been green with envy by now. But since he was a boy, none of them thought to read anything further into it.

Gu Chen never had a deskmate. The seat beside him had always been left empty.

Ning Shu glanced at that spot. Even though a faint, inexplicable prickling crawled across his scalp, he still pinched his fingers together and walked over for the sake of his mission.

The first period ended.

Li Hong sauntered over, tilting his chin slightly in Ning Shu’s direction. “Ah Chen, who’s this?”

The reason he suspected there was something between this pretty boy and Gu Chen was simple. Young Master Gu had never once allowed anyone to sit beside him, yet today he had made an exception.

Gu Chen replied casually, “My little attendant.”

Li Hong knew at once that this had something to do with Gu Chen’s father. He recalled Gu Chen mentioning not long ago that the old butler would be returning to his hometown, and the pieces fell into place immediately.

He remarked offhandedly, “Not a bad face, though.”

Gu Chen glanced up at that, lips curving with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile. “Is that so? Since when did you start paying attention to another man’s looks?”

Li Hong felt vaguely that something about those words was off, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on what. He let it go and shrugged with a grin. “Good looks don’t discriminate.”

Meanwhile, Ning Shu had been quietly observing Li Hong in turn. He had done his homework. Gu Chen knew plenty of young masters, but the ones he was genuinely close to were few. And of those, the only one who shared his class was Li Hong.

So he greeted politely, “Hello, Young Master Li.”

Li Hong blinked, looking genuinely surprised. He pointed at himself with a casual laugh. “You know who I am?”

Ning Shu noticed Gu Chen’s gaze settle on him, though he didn’t have the chance to look over just then. He gave a small nod. “You’re in the same class as Young Master. I made sure to remember.” 

Li Hong glanced over at Gu Chen with an amused grin. “Your little attendant is pretty dedicated.”

A shadow flickered through Gu Chen’s eyes and was gone just as quickly. He reached out and toyed with a pen on the desk, the curve of his lips deceptively pleasant.

He tilted his head slightly, the line of his mouth hooking up as he spoke with a hint of cold indifference. “I’m thirsty. Go buy me a bottle of water.”

Ning Shu had a card on him, one specifically designated to cover Gu Chen’s expenses.

In a sense, the reason he was attending this school at all was to run errands for Gu Chen… and also to report back to Gu Chen’s father on the young master’s affairs.

By the time Ning Shu returned with the water, Li Hong had already wandered off to flirt with the girls in class.

Still slightly out of breath, Ning Shu handed the bottle over. “Young Master, your water.”

The school shop was quite a distance from Teaching Building 1. Ning Shu wasn’t one for exercise, and even a short run was enough to dust his cheeks pink.

The soft, slightly breathless sound of him reached Gu Chen’s ears, gentle as a cat’s purr, and stirring all manner of suggestive thoughts.

It felt as though something lightly scratched across Gu Chen’s heart.

He watched Ning Shu the way one might watch a cat they were coaxing closer.  “Why are you standing so far away? I’m not going to bite you.”

Ning Shu had rushed back. He wasn’t sure whether he’d broken a sweat, and he was worried that if Gu Chen caught the scent of him, it would be off-putting. So he had kept his distance.

Hearing that, he hesitated for a moment before stepping a little closer.

Seeing that Gu Chen was only watching him with that faint, unreadable smile and showed no sign of doing anything further, Ning Shu lowered his head and twisted open the bottle cap.

“Young Master.”

Ning Shu looked over with those bright, gentle eyes, his head slightly lowered, his fair face carrying that air of quiet introversion.

The slender line of his neck, as graceful as a swan’s, was exposed just enough to make a person want to bite down on it.