The saying usually goes a little something like: It gets worse before it gets better.

Xiao Yi had thought he had experienced the most embarrassing moment in his life until he found himself staring a 37 missed calls and 53 missed texts from Xiao Qiu.

His eyes flickered slightly as he thought to himself. ‘Crap.’

There were even 6 missed calls from Lee, though he wouldn’t put it past it being Xiao Qiu on the other side.

What did he do last night?

Did he want to know what he did?

Xiao Yi pushed on his temple and swiftly ignored Xiao Qiu’s messages, opting to open his Weibo instead. His reasoning was simple - V pointed at his phone earlier, and Xiao Qiu shouldn’t have any idea of what happened last night as he wasn’t present.

His intuition was right.

Frost had been out of the spotlight for some days, the fans getting tired of searching for a ghost on Weibo, and Valley of Light forums being silent on sightings of him. Fans have a fleeting mind, they pay attention to something interesting for a few days and when a new topic is brought up, they switch their attention.

If he’d kept quiet, perhaps even the diehard fans of his old teammates would have forgotten about him once more. Alas, he went on a rampage.

[@X-Frost]: “I’m retired and I will stay retired. Stop bothering me.”

That should have been his last message, yet eleven followed behind it.

[@X-Frost]: “Hey ah, why is it so hard to keep my name out of your mouths? You don’t know the full story.”

Xiao Yi sucked in his breath as he read his message. Was he an honest drunk? Why’d he go on Weibo? How did he even log in when he was drunk… His password is 17 characters long and a mix of different characters!

[@X-Frost]: “No, you’re scum.”

[@X-Frost]: “I’m not poor.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Attached is a screenshot of his bank account. Thankfully, he was smart enough to move past the topic of the full story and scratch out account details but why was he bragging about his income?

[@X-Frost]: “No I made the money after leaving the team, I had nothing when I left and even lived on the street. It’s honest money, do you want lessons?”

[@X-Frost]: “I’m a bit drunk.”

[@X-Frost]: “I can walk in a straight line thank you but I don’t want to go to hell either, it’s too hot.”

[@X-Frost]: “You know what else is hot? Me. How do I take off my sweater?”

[@X-Frost]: “Successfully removed sweater.”

[@X-Frost]: “Why are you looking for me? I was told not to give my name or address to strangers, creep.”

[@X-Frost]: “Why would I go crying to my parents? I don’t have parents.”

That was it.

Xiao Yi was mortified. He swiftly deleted the posts from his page while cringing, but he was far too late.

He didn’t bother reading the response from the public, instead opting to close his phone and flop face-first into his pillow with red ears.

Because he didn’t bother reading the responses, he hadn’t known that he had inadvertently cleared some misunderstandings about himself that he hadn’t wanted to be cleared.

A few blocks away, while the previous Team X members were still fast asleep, Chen Qiang sat on the balcony with a beautiful view of the city which he opted to ignore. One hand held a cigarette, while the other held his phone, watching as Xiao Yi’s posts disappeared in real-time.

It didn’t matter if Xiao Yi deleted them. He, among thousands of other people, had already taken screenshots of his drunken ramblings hours prior.

Chen Qiang brushed his finger against his screen as the last post disappeared until the only recent post in the previous four years was him announcing his retirement.

Xiao Yi is active right now.

He felt as if he could glance to his left and see his old best friend sitting next to him, silently enjoying the view like he used to do when they first moved to the Team X building.

He wanted Xiao Yi to be here, too. Watching the early morning traffic drive past while drinking coffee.

He wanted an explanation of what happened four years ago, but he wouldn’t say he hated Xiao Yi or wanted revenge like the other three. He was just disappointed.

Chen Qiang glanced at the cars as they passed but his mind wasn’t focused on the beautiful, sunny day or the cars.

What did Xiao Yi mean by ‘you don’t know the full story’? The public knew what they knew, the previous staff leaked it as they left.

‘Had nothing when I left and even lived on the street’. Didn’t Xiao Yi collude with the company and steal prize winnings from them? Why would he be living on the street?

‘I don’t have parents.’

Chen Qiang glanced down at his lock screen. It was a photo of him and his parents.

Xiao Yi hadn’t contacted his parents all these years either, but he could have still approached his parents if he needed money, right? No matter how neglectful, they always gave him money so they wouldn’t ruin their reputation in the circle even when he moved in with them.

What was he missing?

He couldn’t understand Xiao Yi anymore, he hadn’t been able to since the day he coldly left them.