Saving the overbearing CEO

Chapter 485: How A Heartthrob Fell In Love With A Silent Shadow

"That's because he is Gecko. Why else would your consciousness not kick him out for five worlds straight..... What a fuckin coincidence, right? Your first love came to rescue you and brought you out. What are the odds?" said Machu with a pleased smile on his face?

He had witnessed with his two eyes as this first crush developed and also witnessed it torn apart. He wondered if Qie Ranzhe would take a step forward this time or backwards like the last time.

Thankfully, Qie Ranzhe took off the pulse oximeter otherwise it would be beeping at a fast pace broadcasting his reaction to the entire world.

From the first time he met Wen Qinxi under his secretary's desk he had an inexplicable sense of familiarity but couldn't figure it out. Back then Gecko was a pimple-faced teen with braces and thick-framed glasses. Even when he looked like that he still dazzled though he was a bit introverted.

This is why Qie Ranzhe didn't recognize him at a first glance. "Gecko," he murmured with a subtle smile that couldn't be noticed easily but Machu didn't miss it. Machu actually hoped they did end up together but of course, life happened.

Two hours later Qie Ranzhe lay in the dim-lit room after making a call to transfer a huge lump sum to Wen Qinxi's account as initial payment. He didn't want to further inconvenience him by delaying this. He tried asking Machu what sort of things Wen Qinxi had to do to get him out but Machu refused to divulge the details.

He could only wait till he was discharged to check out the server and see it himself. For now, he could only lie on his side reminiscing on the past. It was such a rare phenomenon that Wen Qinxi even caught his attention back then.

In fact, he didn't even know his real name because everyone including the teachers called him Gecko. He was like an invisible shadow 75% of the time because he kept to himself. Their social circles didn't intersect apart from sharing a class.

This is the story of how a heartthrob fell in love with a silent shadow.

For a year Qie Ranzhe had never paid attention nor interacted with the boy known as Gecko who sat a few seats ahead of him in class. If you were to point out Gecko to him and ask him the very next day who is Gecko he wouldn't remember. That's how much of an impression Wen Qinxi had on Qie Ranzhe.

But something big happened after that year for him to finally notice him. That year Qie Ranzhe was sort of dating this girl a class below theirs named Sying.

Sying was the one who pursued him but it was for this reason that she felt insecure because Qie Ranzhe wasn't as into her as she was into him.

She decided to improve the feelings between them by suddenly hanging around one of her classmates to make Qie Ranzhe jealous which was a stupid plan in itself. Her unfortunate victim was a boy named Mingmei. The name itself told you something was up.

The true meaning of his name was plum tea because his mother drank a lot of it when she was pregnant only to give birth to a beautiful baby boy that she mistook for a girl when he was born.

But his name could also be misunderstood as beautiful girl which suited him. Anyway, Sying started hanging out with Mingmei all the time which reached Qie Ranzhe's ears.

He decided to pay more attention so he wouldn't lose face. Soon after he came over to exert his dominance at her class in the morning. That is until he noticed a unicorn pen she was guarding with her life. She wouldn't even let him touch it which sparked an unfortunate chain of events.

Qie Ranzhe found out it was this Mingmei guy who gave it to her.

Being a hot-blooded teen unwilling to be made to wear a green hat he went after Mingmei. It was around the time that his mother had discovered his father had a mistress outside and they had a child together so he was especially sensitive about that.

One can guess what sort of fate Mingmei suffered when Qie Ranzhe found him. News broke throughout school that Mingmei got a good beating from Qie Ranzhe reaching Wen Qinxi who liked keeping to himself. This touched his sore spot because he knew this kid Mingmei was just like him, always keeping to himself so how could the kid go after the great buddha's girlfriend.

Wen Qinxi hacked this girl's cellphone and placed the evidence inside Qie Ranzhe's desk proving Mingmei's innocence. Not only did she plan this out with her group of friends but also took his unicorn pen without permission and pretended it was a gift from Mingmei. So the poor boy suffered beatings from the petty male god for no reason. To make matters worse, he was into guys so why would he go after a girl all of a sudden.

Qie Ranzhe apologized and compensated Mingmei that is after dumping Sying. But what attracted his attention was the person who uncovered the truth. Curious, he asked Machu to find out who had the capability to hack Sying's cellphone.

One can only imagine his reaction when he found out the vigilante was the quietest person in their class. He seemed harmless on the surface but apparently, he had a dark side he was concealing to the rest of the world.

Gecko had managed to pique his interest that he would occasionally glance in his direction whenever he was around. Even Wen Qinxi felt some difference in the air around the class but he couldn't figure out the reason.

Qie Ranzhe's interest remained stagnant until one weekend when he went camping during the summer holidays to distract himself from the fights at home. He went with Machu, Dai Yu, Shao Lan and Zhao Huangzhi who had just returned from abroad and wanted to hang out with them like old times.

Whilst sitting on a park bench sipping on a can of iced tea he suddenly noticed the so-called Gecko in the distance. It seemed he had also come camping with his family.

What truly grasped Qie Ranzhe's attention was how differently he behaved in front of his family. Never in a million years would you think it was the same person.

He was talking and laughing incessantly which was completely opposite to how he behaved in class. What gecko? This was clearly a puppy high on caffeine. He watched on as Wen Qinxi opened a bottle of water and snuck upon his brother and poured its contents on his back.

Wen Qinxi started running with his brother chasing after him while their mother yelled at them holding a frying pan. The nerd's unrestrained laughter was like a taser jolting Qie Ranzhe's heart. He suddenly wanted to see that smile again purely out of interest.