11 Frightened the Little Rabbit Away (1/2)

Mei Chao Bing's hands lifted involuntarily as if hugging this little rabbit to his chest was the normal thing to do. He stopped himself though and his hands remained awkwardly hanging in the air while a certain someone clung to him.

His lips parted. He should say something, shouldn't he? But what was he to say? Why had his little junior even come? And why was he so flustered? His fingers tugged into Mei Chao Bing's robe and his frantic heartbeat couldn't be missed. Something was up.

Well, the first thing should be to calm him down …

Mei Chao Bing hesitated but finally, one of his hands landed on Yun Bei Fen's head and gently patted him. ”There, there. You're looking as if the sky would come crashing down any moment now. What got you so flustered?”

Yun Bei Fen lifted his head and stared at Mei Chao Bing, spellbound. His senior martial brother didn't look down at all. Could it be he didn't know what had happened? It wasn't impossible. His master hadn't said anything about that either …

Yun Bei Fen's eyes teared up and he hugged Mei Chao Bing even tighter, burying his face at his chest. His poor senior martial brother! If there was anything he could do for him …

Yun Bei Fen had no idea that he was already doing that. Mei Chao Bing stroked his back and the last bit of resentment he had felt vanished just like that. Yes, his master was a traitor but he wasn't. There were still people who cared about him. It might not be many or, no, most likely it was just this person but that was enough.

He bent down and hugged Yun Bei Fen back, startling him. ”You probably heard about what happened with my Master. Don't worry about it. It was his decision, not mine. Whatever happens in the future I'll just continue to walk on my own path. As for everything else … Well, there is nothing I can do about it if people talk behind my back, saying that I might also have something to do with it. I'll have to live with it. It's alright as long as the people close to me know that it isn't the truth.”

Yun Bei Fen froze and his eyes widened. He didn't even hear what Mei Chao Bing was saying. He only noticed that something was really wrong. He was … standing in his senior martial brother's courtyard and his senior martial brother was hugging him! He could clearly feel the muscles of those strong arms and the heat of that chest and the soft sensation of a few strands of hair that were loosely hanging down from his shoulder. The worst was the warmth of his breath caressing his cheek though.

Yun Bei Fen's face flushed red and his hands that were still tightly clasping the back of Mei Chao Bing's robe trembled. Eh? What was going on? His knees were suddenly so weak too …

He looked up through his lashes and came face to face with Mei Chao Bing. His senior martial brother had closed his eyes. Despite the thing that had happened he seemed relaxed, almost content.