Chapter Text
It was late spring in Nanjing. Everyone was at the club in their too-short shorts and mini skirts, dancing with what seemed like an endless stream of strangers to celebrate the finally nice weather, Jiang Mu included.
After obtaining her degree through four years of hard work and ensuring her mother's health was back to normal, she decided to return to China. Because why not? It's not like there was anything worth staying in Canada for anyway.
After coming back to China, Jiang Mu had found herself letting go more and more each time. Sure, she went out with friends to parties and bars while she was in school, but never to this extent. Never to the point where she didn't know what number drink she was on and whose hands were on her.
The heat from the dozens of bodies jumping together radiated in through the thin fabric of her clothes, layering her in another sheen of sweat. Pushing off the hands on her hip that belonged to the nameless guy she was dancing with, she made her way to the bar.
Considering she was a regular here, the bartender slid a drink her way with just a nod of her head, adding it onto her tab without a hassle. Lifting the glass to her lips, she enjoyed the slight burn as the liquid flowed down her throat, increasing the fog in her mind. But this was how she liked it.
Ever since the breakup, or "the event", as she liked to call it, Jiang Mu couldn't remember the last time she'd been alone. Physically, anyway. It was always guy after guy, each one a variant of leather jackets, with silver chains, with a haze of cigarette smoke surrounding them.
It was clear who she was trying to replace, but no matter how hard she tried, not a single knockoff seemed to compare to the real thing...
Pushing the thought out of her head, she took another sip, scanning the people around her for someone new. She locked in on her target in less than a few minutes of looking. Record time–even for her.
She walked up to the guy, looking him up and down before downing the rest of the drink and pointing out her empty glass. Without missing a beat, he motioned to a bartender to get her a refill, as Jiang Mu took a moment to analyze.
He was tall. Taller than her, at least, which was all that really mattered. His shoulders were wide, filling out his jacket perfectly. Underneath the black leather and silver zippers, he wore a simple black cotton tank top and some faded black jeans. An immediate point booster, she thought, evaluating him silently.
As he turned back towards her with the drink in hand, she noted the rest of his features. His hands were big and slightly veiny, his hair perfectly messy, his face prettier than most others in this club, his smile crooked and slightly oily in a way that made her shiver, which she ignored. But his best-selling feature, the thing that made her choose him most of all, was his eyes.
Unlike the-one-who-shall-not-be-named's, they were cold, hollow, hungry eyes. Ones that made a shiver run down your spine as if just associating with that person was a bad omen.
He was looking at Jiang Mu the same way she remembers Jin Xin staring at the window display of a candy store once, which made her nod in approval.
You see, caring and kind eyes, like Jin Zhao's, were something Jiang Mu tried to avoid like the plague. She found it much easier to spend a day or at most two with some jerk like this who clearly only wanted her for her body and looks, and it's a win-win, a transaction at most.
She gives her body in return for a fleeting feeling of being 18 in Thailand again, back when she was naive and thought that everyone and everything in this world was forever.
After deciding on this guy, she took a step towards him, accepting the drink from his hand and taking a sip while brushing her knee against his leg. Catching on to her blatant sign, the guy flashed her an oily smirk before clearly silently plotting how to get her into his bed for the night.
"Mei nu, what's your name?" He said, as his hands snaked their way onto her waist, fingers grazing the curve of her ass, testing the waters.
When she made no effort to move away, he flashed another smile and fully grabbed her ass, slightly kneading the soft flesh as he pulled her closer to him.
"Jiang Mu." She said, voice straining a bit over the loud music, standing on her tiptoes to lean closer to his face for better communication. "What about you?"
"I'm Wang Yu." He responded, pulling her closer before lifting her onto a barstool in front of him so they were face-to-face.
Following muscle memory, Jiang Mu opened her legs, allowing him to step into the space.
The heady scent of his cologne enveloped her, making her head spin for a moment before she snapped back to reality.
As they continued talking, her drink gradually disappeared, and he suggested dancing.
Taking him up on that offer, she jumped off the stool and grabbed his hand, trailing behind him on the way to the dance floor.
Jin Zhao was nursing a warm cup of brandy, scowling at his friends as they went on and on about how good the women here looked.
Ever since San Lai and Jin Feng Zi moved to Nanjing, they've tried to take him out as much as possible when he wasn't working, clearly a ploy to make him move on from Jiang Mu after all these years, but they were horrible at being subtle about it.
"Did you come here just to talk about how good the women look? Why don't you stop wasting time and go talk to one?" He said, rolling his eyes at their expressions after he said that.
San Lai looked at him with a suddenly serious expression, one that informed him the next words out of his mouth were going to be either the smartest or stupidest thing he's ever said. And after just a few words, Jin Zhao knew it was the latter. "Xiong Di, let me tell you, what kind of friend would I be if I went out there and found myself a woman, leaving you all alone with Feng Zi over here?"
Jin Zhao hid his smile behind his glass as he brought it up for a sip, eyes twinkling with amusement as his friends started quipping. "Okay, okay. You clearly came here for a reason, so don't let me stop you. San Lai, we all know how touch-starved you are. Go, find yourself a woman." He said after swallowing the last of his brandy.
The two stopped goofing around and turned to listen to him. Accepting defeat in the fact that Jin Zhao would once again just sit around drinking and not talk to anyone of the opposite gender. San Lai's shoulders slumped a little before a smile emerged on his face. "You Jiu, you really are the best friend I've ever had. Trust me, when I get married, you're for sure to be my best man."
"Am I just non-existent to you two?" Jin Feng Zi added, making the pair laugh as San Lai patted his back.
Scanning the room a few times, he stood up, turning towards the bar as he called over his shoulder, "Wish me luck!"
As the crowd swallowed him, Jin Zhao turned back to Feng Zi, and the two started talking about the menial things that had happened in the week they hadn't seen each other.
After what seemed like only 5 minutes but in reality was 20, San Lai came back in a rush, face flushed, looking as if he had seen a ghost.
Taking in his appearance, the other two laughed, wondering which young lady was fierce enough to scare their friend to this state.
However, seeing the shock in his eyes, their laughter quickly died down. "San Lai, what's wrong?" Jin Zhao asked, eyebrows furrowing. The last time he saw his friend with this kind of expression on his face was around the time of his accident.
"I-I....." He stuttered, eyes darting between the two of them slowly as if he wasn't even sure what he had seen.
"Spit it out already! We don't have all night!" Feng Zi said, exasperated, not able to put up with all the suspense.
Taking a deep breath and avoiding Jin Zhao's eyes, San Lai spit out the words he was avoiding in a speedy jumble. "I think I just saw Jiang Mu at the bar with some guy who looks really suspicious, and he was touching her everywhere, and they moved to the dance floor, and I tried to follow them, but I lost them in the flow of people."
The silence that fell upon their table when he finished speaking was so loud it would have given anyone goosebumps.
"What did you say...?" Jin Zhao had heard what he said. In fact, after the words 'Jiang Mu' had left his mouth, he only heard what he was saying. But he didn't believe it. It couldn't be true, not in the slightest.
Jiang Mu would never come to a place like this alone, drinking with strange men and letting them touch her. It was impossible.
In fact, those words didn't even sound right to Jin Zhao in the same sentence. It was as if telling him that the sky was green and water was red.
But just in case, to make sure San Lai hadn't lost his mind at an early age, the three of them made their way to the dance floor.