"I still have an appointment with some friends. I hope I"ll see you when the new freshmans enter college. See you."

    Owen gave the remaining medicine to Zhou BIn and waved before confidently walking away.

    "Even his back is so handsome. Is it really impossible for ordinary men to make a living?" Mao Xian sighed.

    "Wait, he seems to really think you"re a middle schooler…… wouldn"t it be better to just tell him?" Zhou Bin asked. 

    "…… Forget it ba." Nie Chuan grabbed the back of his head, "Strangers not meeting again after coming together by chance should be common ba?"

    "But the problem is he said he"s in CBU…… CBU"s basketball team seems to be pretty strong in the league? They had a fierce fight with DK last year."

    "Ah?" Nie Chuan turned to Zhou BIn. "Maybe that Owen is a bench warmer?"

    Mao Xian interjected, "From my observation, even though that guy wasn"t wearing sports clothes and he didn"t reveal any muscle, I have a feeling that his body is very good. I"m not sure if he"s a small forward or shooting guard……"

    "Or maybe DK will already be eliminated before it matches with CBU?" Nie Chuan tried to comfort himself again. 

    Zhou Bin helplessly patted Nie Chuan"s head. "Can"t you say anything good? Shouldn"t it be CBU that"s eliminated first?"

    "Ah…… right."

    That evening, in the warehouse that had been transformed into a basketball court by Reece, there was the constant sound of athletic shoes squeaking on the floor. When a dunk sounded, it felt as if the entire warehouse was about to collapse.

    Reece and his opponent were having an unrestrained one-on-one. Whether it was offence or defence, the speed at which they interchanged could make people feel overwhelmed. Unfortunately, there was not an audience. 

    His opponent"s dunk in midair was smashed down by Reece, the basketball bounced again after hitting the floor. 

    Reece"s opponent"s flaxen hair, which had originally been brushed back, had already become messy. He brushed it back with his hand, revealing a clean forehead, then directly sat down on the basketball court and bent over to laugh.

    "What are you laughing about, Owen?" Reece picked the basketball back up and sat down across from him.

    "I"m thinking of a middle school student I saw this afternoon, he was really cute. The ball was already almost out of bounds but he still desperately chased after it. How long has it been since you and I had also been so persistent? It wasn"t an extraordinary match, just a one-on-one in a community basketball court. Ah, that"s not right, ” Owen pointed to Reese with a smile and said, “In last year"s quarterfinals, you knocked our CBU out in the last five minutes. I still haven"t forgotten the you in those five minutes. You were unstoppable."

    Reece didn"t speak.

    "I played basketball with you for three years in middle school and that was the first time I saw you in such a state. Meet a Buddha, kill a Buddha but I thought I would be killed by you,” Owen said in a self mocking tone, but there wasn"t the slightest bit of shame on his face because of the defeat. On the contrary, his eyes revealed his desire to conquer the strong.

    Reece still didn"t speak.

    "However, this year it"s impossible for you to continue to be arrogant in front of me, Reece." Owen looked at Reece. The killing intent in his eyes was boiling over, it was so sharp that it could cut Reece in two at any moment.

    "Do you want to continue competing?" Reece stood up.

    "No need. There won"t be any results even if we continue." Owen stood up lazily, "Didn"t Carlo Brandon contact us for a practice match?"

    "Will you take part?"

    "Without Connor, even if you were stronger, DK is only a second-rate team in the end."

    Owen walked to the edge of the court, picked up a towel and wiped his sweat, then headed towards the door. 

    "Owen, you will regret it if you look down on DK."

    Owen paused. Looking back, he smiled thoughtfully. "Interesting. Reece never speaks reason. It seems like this year"s DK has an interesting newcomer?"

    Reece was silent.

    Owen looked up and thought for a moment before saying, "Well if it"s like this then I really want that little guy to join us in CBU. Otherwise, if we don"t have any newcomers, wouldn"t we get laughed at by that idiot Carlo?"

    Still, Reece remained silent. He quietly began to clean up the court. 

    Owen departed with a smile.

    On Sunday night, Nie Chuan began to pack up his things in preparation to go back to school.

    At this time, his phone rang. When he saw that it was Reece"s number, Nie Chuan hurriedly put it through, "h.e.l.lo, Reece?"

    "Are you coming back to school today?"

    "Ah, of course I"m coming back, I still have cla.s.s tomorrow morning!"

    "How will you come back?"

    "By taking the bus ah."

    "I"m coming to pick you up."

    "Ah? What?" Nie Chuan dug at his ears. Did he mishear? 

    "Did you eat dinner?"

    "I ate."

    "I"ll be there in half an hour."

    With that, the phone hung up.

    "Eh? Why is Reece coming to pick me up?"

    However, Reece absolutely dislikes waiting for others. Nie Chuan immediately sped up his speed of packing. 

    Half an hour later, Reece"s Land Rover stopped outside Nie Chuan"s house. 

    Mother Nie recognized Reece"s car at a glance and shouted loudly to Nie Chuan who was still in his room, "Xiao Chuan, hurry up ah! Reece is already here!"

    "Oh, got it! Bye, mom!"

    Nie Chuan picked up his duffel bag and rushed out the door. 

    He threw the duffel bag into the back of the car and was just about to sit down when he recalled how Reece didn"t seem to like him sitting in the back and went to sit in the front.

    Reece seemed to have just finished exercising. He was still in his sportswear and wearing a wristband. His neck was originally long but when he tilted his head to look in the rearview mirror, the lines that stretched between his neck and shoulder were very sensual. Nie Chuan swallowed and looked to the other side. 

    "How did you bring so much stuff?" Reece asked faintly.

    He wasn"t somebody who liked to chat with others. Even on the highway, he could suffocate the people in the same car, but he would take the initiative to talk with Nie Chuan. 

    "Oh, it"s just clean clothes and some snacks."

    "It"s all chocolate, right?"

    "…… Yeah."

    "You have to brush your teeth at night after you eat chocolate."

    "Ah…… I got it."

    Nie Chuan propped up his chin and looked out the window, wondering about how Reece knew that he didn"t brush his teeth after eating chocolate. 

    When the car arrived at the entrance of the dormitory, Nie Chuan lifted his leg and was about to step out of the car when he was dragged back by Reece.

    "What happened to your knee?"

    "Ah! Today with Mark…… When we first met, that big guy who played one-on-one with me. Do you still remember?"

    "I don"t remember."

    "You don"t remember? He"s the one with the bandana and the tattoo on his neck," NIe Chuan pointed to his neck and gestured. "The guy with the tattoo that went all the way into his shirt!"

    "I won"t waste my memory capacity to remember the people who don"t need to be remembered."

    "…… Alright."

    "And then? What happened between you and Mark?" Reece raised his eyebrow.

    Nie Chuan swallowed a mouthful of saliva. "I had another match with him."

    "Get out of the car, I"m going to have a look at your knees."

    "Ah, oh!"

[T/N: NC went ah when to indicate "okay, I"m getting out" then oh when he got picked up]

    Nie Chuan got out of the car. He was about to head towards a streetlamp when someone grabbed him by the waist and picked him up with ease. By the time he was able to react, he had already been lifted through the air and seated on the hood of the Land Rover.

    Nie Chuan was startled. When he looked up, he met Reece"s eyes. 

    In any case, he was about 180 cm ah! Reece actually held him up so easily…… no, hauled him up?

    "How did you hurt yourself?"

    When this was brought up, Nie Chuan"s eyes brightened and, with vivid descriptions and gestures, he recounted how he scored without any preparation.

    "Wah, you didn"t get to see Mark"s face. His expression when he looked back at the basket…… even I couldn"t believe that was me!"

    Nie Chuan smiled very proudly, his eyes curving into the shape of crescent moons. 

    "I really wanted you to see it!"

    "Oh, you wanted me to see it that much, did you want to get my recognition?"

    Reece"s hands were braced on either side of Nie Chuan"s legs. He tilted his head up halfway, looking at Nie Chuan. This was the first time Nie Chuan saw Reece"s face from a high position.

    Nie Chuan didn"t know if it was because of the light from the streetlamps but the contours of Reece"s face were softened and even the light smile on his lips carried an intimate flavor.

    "You taught me for so long…… of course I want you to see my progress ah."

    Nie Chuan wanted to turn to avoid Reece"s eyes but found that he couldn"t look away because this kind of Reece had an inexplicable charm that captured and pulled at Nie Chuan"s line of sight, making him unable to move. 

    "Then do you want a reward?" Reece asked in return.

    His voice was deliberately dragged out. Nie Chuan felt as if the rhythm of his heartbeat seemed to also slow down alongside Reece"s voice. 

    "Ah? What reward is there?"

    Could it be some luxurious grade of Swiss chocolate? For example, Frey?

    Reece tilted his head slightly and leaned towards Nie Chuan. His eyes were getting closer and closer to Nie Chuan, causing him to unconsciously lean back.

    "I can kiss you, do you want it?"

    Suddenly, Nie Chuan thought about the joke that Reece had previously made and his face flushed once again.

    "Hey! Don"t play with me!" Nie Chuan pushed Reece with his hand but Reece didn"t budge.

    He slowly straightened up and replied dully, "Since you don"t want it then nevermind."

    Nie Chuan felt as if his world was collapsing. Just now…… he really thought Reece would kiss him. 

    Even if he told others, n.o.body would believe him. Reece really had a bad habit of playing with others. 

    "Next time you make this kind of joke, I"m cutting off relations with you," Nie Chuan said very seriously.

    He can accept Reece"s ridicule and taunts but some matters are very important to Nie Chuan.

    "I know, your first kiss is reserved for that girl named Celine."

    Nie Chuan stopped talking.

    Reece lowered his head and carefully unraveled the gauze on his knee. 

    "Your wound was handled very neatly. The binding is also acceptably tight. Zhou Bin helped you with it?" Reece asked.

    Nie Chuan shook his head. "No, it was a medical student. He seems to be from CBU. He said he"s on the CBU basketball team."

MadMadamMims: Oof! I need a drink! This is giving me heart palpitations! *sweats*

Re: So I noticed in the comments from ch 36.1 that some readers seem to feel Owen is being creepy with the interest he is showing in NC, especially in the situation where he mistook NC for a middle schooler (minor), and I just wanted to share my thoughts on that and hopefully clear some misunderstandings about Owen. From my perspective in respects to 36.1, Owen isn"t interested in NC romantically. As both a fellow basketball player and a member of CBU"s basketball team, he"s just interested in this "kid" who happened to have great potential and wanted to scout him for his team because he appreciates his talent. He showed his goodwill by treating NC"s wounds and then he got NC"s number as a means of maintaining a connection, albeit in a bit of an underhanded way xD From their exchange, I did not manage to find anything inappropriate. All I perceived was a college student treating some middle-schooler-looking kid like, well, a kid. He teased NC a little but, ultimately, he realized that he may have said something wrong and I personally thought that the way he tried to communicate with NC about it was very mature.

I feel that, as readers, we tend to develop a bit of a bias when reading certain genres. For instance, just by being aware that a novel is BL, we might unconsciously think a certain way about certain character"s words or actions and attach a romantic/flirtatious meaning to them, particularly if they are male. To sum things up, I just hope that you guys will give Owen a chance and not think badly of him just from that one exchange. I just really liked Owen as a character and I truly hope that he will come to grow on you as well ^^ thank you for reading the chapter and special thanks to those of you who took the time to read my Great Wall of Text! Stay safe ?