CH 20

The alarm went off at 8 o’ clock. The room was completely dark, and there was only a sliver of light coming into the room from the corridor.

The small rooms that were created during renovations did not have windows, therefore, no sunlight could be seen inside. Each door had an exhaust fan that turned all day and kept air circulation.

Alex rubbed his eyes and sat up.

He did not have work for today, but he had made an appointment with some people to play basketball. He got up, grabbed his towel and washing basin, and went to the bathroom to clean himself. When he passed by the shower room, he saw that it was empty and decided to just take a shower.

The line to take a shower was long at night, but at times like this, it was empty. The people who lived in the underground practically had all gone out to work.

The tenants living there were all very young, and most of them were single.

The landlord was a thoughtful person. When he found tenants, he only looked for those that were young. He did not allow in people that had families such as old people and kids. Once, he had said that, before, he used to accept everyone. The problem was that kids were very noisy and drew on the walls. There were also some that would take off their pants without notice and pee on the corridors.

As for the old, they were sloppy and liked to hoard things. There was once when an old relative living with a family almost turned the underground basement into a recycling station.

The landlord had to fight with them until he finally chased them out. Because of that, he only accepted those that were young now, preferably tenants that were single. He would also inquire about the number of people that would live in the room, allowing up to two people. He did so because he knew that many problems would crop up if the underground basement became crowded. The bathroom and shower room would not be enough to use, and security risks increased. If the potential tenant was married, then he asked if they had kids. To those that had kids, he generally would not rent to them.

His method was very intelligent. Even though it was a cold, humid underground basement, it was managed very well by him. The corridor was very clean, and no one was allowed to place things in it. If someone did, the landlord would throw them away.

Things that were thrown away would not be compensated; it was written in the contract.

If the electricity went and there was no light in the corridor, then arrows drawn with fluorescent paint would immediately be seen on the floor and point to the exit. In the entire underground basement, extinguishers were separated into six different areas.

It could be seen that the landlord had put some effort into the underground basement.

Accompanied with its low price, the small rooms never lacked clients. It was said that the landlord had a long list of people that were lined up to rent. Updated once a week.

That was why the landlord never wasted his time on people that were not able to afford the rent. After three days without paying, then they had to leave cleanly. The new tenant would immediately come in to live.

When Alex returned from taking a shower, he looked at the empty room. Da Wei made his last payment last week. He invited people to a big round of drinking and then left on Saturday. Alex sent him to the train station and gave him one thousand yuan in the final moment.

Da Wei hugged him and slapped his back hard: “You better work hard! You’re so handsome! Become a big star for me! That way, when I turn on the television in the future, I will be able to say that we are friends and that we lived together in an underground basement! Don’t cry! Hold it! Aren’t you a man! Always crying!”

As Da Wei talked, he almost cried too…

Da Wei was a good person, honest, had a good personality, and was one of the few friends that Alex had. Alex had many acquaintances, but the ones that he could call friends were not many. Ones whom he could ask help from and ask to lend money when he was in need were even fewer.

Alex looked around the small room. In the future, he would live by himself in that room. He had some money in his hands now, but he did not plan on moving out and search for a better one. The main reason was because the rent was truly cheap. And… he could not be sure that he could always afford a more expensive rent. The reason why he was not sure… was not something that he could control.

He took out a ball from under the bed and put it into his backpack. Alex put on his clothes and changed his shoes to go out.

His stature was tall, and he liked to exercise. He was part of the basketball team throughout his high school years. He was not like other kids that had pocket money to waste on gaming rooms or internet cafes. Playing basketball was one of the few hobbies he liked that he had not stopped doing.

The room he rented was close to the west Second Ring, an old community. It was very convenient, and the subway was right in front of the exit. He got into Line 2 and traveled around half of the Second Ring, then he changed to Line 1 and sat for one station before getting off.

Very close to the famous gay park of the capital, there was a reputed stadium. Outside of the stadium, there was a basketball court with many fields. People who liked to play basketball loved to come here. When there were many people and they wanted to play a full game, it was easy to get enough people. It was even possible to have spectators.

Early on, Alex brought the basketball and played alone. Very soon, he met other people.

The boy’s ages were like his, but their identities were different. All of them were university students.

Boys naturally would not care about a difference in identity when they were playing. Alex was someone who had played in a basketball team, so his level was high and was very welcomed. He got along with them very fast and had the illusion of going back to his high school days.

When it was time, the boys finally remembered to ask about his name and identity. When they heard that he was a model, they felt that it was a glamorous career. To this type of school kids, it felt like a mysterious unknown world.

They envied that he was tall, handsome, stylish, and able to receive cheering from girls who had boyfriends whenever he shot at the basket.

Alex was a model. Economical independence and work environment caused him to be good at matching clothes. Compared to him, the male students seemed like potatoes.

There were even some female students who chased him.

That girl was the friend of the girlfriend of a guy, and she self-proclaimed that she had fallen at first sight. After watching him playing many weekends, she finally got the courage to confess to him in the basketball field.

That time, a group of big boys surrounded them and made catcalls. They felt that the woman was pure and beautiful, and the man was tall and handsome, a perfect match. The result was that Alex rejected the girl, which made everyone surprised.

When they ate together, the male student’s eyes were full of envy and jealousy. They cranked up their imaginations and made guesses, asking him if he did not like ordinary beautiful women because he had seen many beautiful models.

Alex did not explain, so they believed that it was a silent acceptance. A group of single men were filled with envy.

They did not know that the reason he rejected her was because of his own inferiority.

He deeply knew that the reason those students felt envy towards him was because they were naïve and were not experienced. They only thought that being a model was a glamorous career but did not know the difficulty and ugliness in between. If he had gotten together with that girl and allowed her to understand his life, the beautiful illusion would be broken very rapidly.

He felt that at that time, she and the boys would look down on him.

That was because he was not worthy of a female college student.

The male college students that envied him did not know that they were, in fact, the existences that made him envy.

He had actually tried when he was in high school. He wanted to get rid of his original life through getting into a university. Unfortunately, his brain was not good enough, and it did not help when studying. In the end, he could not even make it to college and could only enter society.

Only the people who entered society knew the good and pureness on campus. However, when they realized it, they also realized the concept of being unable to turn back time.

Later, he got a girlfriend who was a model like him. It was also the girl who chased after him. In fact, the number of girls that had chased him were many, but he seemed to not care about romance and things related to it.

Being with that girl was also because of mutual pity and problems. Her family background was like his, and she said that she had not returned home for two years already. She said that being alone outside was pretty good and that there was no need to go home. That home did not need her to go back.

Alex heard that and felt sad too. He wanted to convince her to go back and visit no matter what. Even though she liked him and was very clear about it while chasing him, she also laughed coldly at those words.

At that time, Alex thought in his mind that maybe a woman’s heart could be harder than a man’s. Or maybe, it was simply because he was too weak.

Anyways, he only felt that having no place to return to made him feel panicked.

The original big group of people drinking at that time later became the two of them talking about each others family.

In a corner of the bar’s corridor, the girl fervently kissed him and said while crying: “You understand me, right? You understand me…”

His heart ached, and a different type of affection for her surged, adding on his young age and alcohol… that night, he brought the girl back to his shared-rent three-bedroom house.

The girl was very thin. Because she had to stay in shape, the amount of food that she ate was maybe even less than a mouse. When she laid down, the bikini bridge was visible. When Alex used strength, sometimes he would be hurt because of her hip bones. Until the end, he did not even know if she was a virgin. He did not ask, he also felt that it was not important.

He had seen many men and women in their industry seeking for comfort between each other. Having someone to accompany them, not being alone, was the most important thing.

The half year that they were together could not be considered happy or unhappy. The girl constantly cried, drank, and would cry even harder after drinking. She would say that she wanted to become successful, earn a lot of money, and use a thick stack of money to hit her dad and stepmother.

Alex was not a boyfriend that was good at coaxing people. He only knew to stay by her side silently. He felt that in those moments, she needed someone to accompany her.

Later, he understood the thing that she needed the most. Those things were things that he could not give her.

To get what she needed, she got together with a man that was in his thirties. He was an entrepreneur. She was modeling for his company’s products when he took a fancy to her, and they became a pair rapidly.

When she told him to break up, there was not any guilt and even said unpleasant words. She said that other than having a handsome face, he had nothing. The things that she wanted, he could not give her, and could not afford.

The people who knew them all felt injustice on his behalf. They dragged him to drink, and they ended up being the ones who got drunk. Probably, the words that the girl said, despite being directed at him, had lit up a cannon that hit all the men that had unsteady incomes and unfixed place to live.

Contrary to what was expected, the one who was calmest was Alex. Being together with her was originally because of mutual pity and problems, a way of seeking comfort from each other. The result was that in that period, not only did it not manage to give him the comfort that he needed, but it also added psychological pressure on him.

When she left him, he felt relaxed and did not feel sad.

Because he knew since the beginning that what she said was the truth.

Other than his handsome face, he had nothing. But life went on, and he could not live with only water.