Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared-Chapter 68 - Have to Face

68: Chapter 68: Have to Face

68 -68: Have to Face

After a long journey, coming home, opening the door, and sitting on the sofa, Gu Fan lost himself in thought, daydreaming for a while.

With no one around, the silence felt eerily uncomfortable, compounded by the encroaching feeling of exhaustion.

He was very tired and wanted to take a nap, but Gu Fan sighed.

At this moment, he was wrapped in an endless sea of troubles, all chasing him relentlessly.

If he didn’t solve the mystery behind these disappearances soon, then the next one to vanish might be Lin Xi.

This thought filled him with a sense urgency that jolted Gu Fan from his seat.

He picked up his boxing gloves, slung his bag over his shoulder, and headed straight for the boxing club on his bicycle.

He could relieve some of the pressure accumulated over time while also honing his skills.

Gu Fan continually hit the sandbag, worked on training equipment, more focused and eager to improve than anyone else.

Perhaps everyone at the club saw boxing as a sport, a hobby, but for Gu Fan, it was a means of survival.

That was why he progressed so quickly.

Suddenly, an unexpected visitor in a suit walked in.

He looked around and then headed straight for Gu Fan.

Gu Fan had noticed the arrival and stopped boxing to watch him, unsure of the man’s intentions.

Yuan Cheng smiled amiably, “It’s been some time since I’ve seen Su Hui.

She’s on leave, and she doesn’t answer my calls.

I don’t know where she’s gone, and this is the only place I know she frequents.”

“Yes, she recently took a vacation to travel with me, to unwind.

She should be back at work now.” Gu Fan replied casually, acting normal.

But Yuan Cheng’s expression changed subtly when he heard this, “You said both of you went travelling?”

“Sure, we’ve known each other for some time now.

Travelling together is quite normal,” Gu Fan said, seemingly unaffected but leaving Yuan Cheng feeling unsettled.

An expression of disbelief appeared on Yuan Cheng’s face.

He asked again, “You two went travelling together, are you together now?”

Upon hearing such a naive question, Gu Fan felt pleased inwardly, his expression unchanging, “Going on a trip doesn’t necessarily mean being together, but typically people are together before they travel.

Don’t overthink it.”

Yuan Cheng chuckled awkwardly and then said, “I believe you two aren’t together.

You have a girlfriend, and I know Su Hui, she wouldn’t be the other woman.” He finished with a smug look, as if to say, you tried to trick me, but sorry, I’m better than you.

“Wow, even knowing about my girlfriend is quite impressive, you must have really looked into me.” Gu Fan said, although he had a contemptuous thought.

Yuan Cheng gestured calmingly, “Don’t misunderstand me, it’s not about you, I just hope Su Hui is in a safe environment.”

Upon hearing this explanation, Gu Fan scoffed sarcastically: “Please, she’s a policewoman, highly skilled.

She can protect herself, there’s no need to worry about her safety.”

Yuan Cheng immediately retorted, “That’s not the point, after all, she is a woman.”

“It’s clear you still care about her, you still love her, you still want to protect her in silence.” Gu Fan’s sarcastic tone implied, “Aren’t you impressive?” But realizing who Yuan Cheng was, he deemed it unnecessary to argue with Gu Fan.

So Yuan Cheng simply smirked, shrugged it off, and said: “It’s complicated, our past isn’t something I can summarise briefly.”

“Indeed, it’s also hard to explain my relationship with Su Hui.

Just as it’s plausible that you and Su Hui could break up after so many years, it’s also plausible my girlfriend and I could break up.

If I’m single then, Su Hui wouldn’t be intruding as a third party.” Gu Fan said this with a relaxed, collected expression, causing Yuan Cheng’s face to slightly change.

He kept reminding himself he was a dignified person and shouldn’t bother arguing with the likes of Gu Fan.

Gu Fan then punched the sandbag a few more times, implying that he didn’t want to say any more and wanted Yuan Cheng to leave.

But Yuan Cheng seemed oblivious and said again, “She’s always liked boxing, and I used to train every day to please her.

Because of her, a lot of men have joined this boxing club.

Everyone wants to be good at boxing, everyone wants to please her.”

Upon hearing this, Gu Fan paused, thinking: “What do you mean?

Are you saying I’m here grinding away at boxing just to please Su Hui?”

“Alright, as long as I know she’s okay, that’s enough.

Thank you.” Yuan Cheng said, preparing to leave.

But Gu Fan couldn’t help himself, calling out to Yuan Cheng: “Are you worried because Su Hui has disappeared these past few days, her whereabouts unknown?

I wonder if you are worried she might do something foolish.”

Yuan Cheng turned back, looked at Gu Fan calmly, and then solemnly said, “Yes, I am very worried about her.”

Gu Fan shook his head: “I may not have known Su Hui for a long time, but I know one thing, she’s stronger than you think, she wouldn’t do anything foolish.

If you’re truly concerned about her, either let go of everything to be with her and hold onto her tightly, or never appear in her life again, let her slowly forget you.

Don’t show up only to disappear again, awakening her feelings for you.”

Yuan Cheng remained silent for a while, then laughed at himself: “I’ll consider your advice, but you know, sometimes I really can’t help myself, I’m not like you.

I can’t let go of everything, I don’t think you’d understand.” With that, Yuan Cheng turned and walked away with long strides.

Watching Yuan Cheng’s retreating figure, Gu Fan mused: “What did your last sentence mean, to complain about your own helplessness, then to boast that you’re still better than me?”

While rationale advised Gu Fan to avoid clashing with people of power and influence, emotionally, he despised those like Yuan Cheng.

If you don’t want her anymore, why keep clinging on, as if saying, ‘my stuff remains mine, even I don’t want it anymore, nobody else can touch it?’

Gu Fan did some more punching, then packed up to leave.

He suddenly noticed several missed calls‒from Lu Yi, which immediately set off alarm bells in his head.

Getting back to her straightaway, he heard an anxious Lu Yi at the other end of the call: “Gu Fan, where are you?

I’ve been calling you for so long.”

“I’m at the boxing club, is something wrong?” Gu Fan’s heart sank slightly at hearing Lu Yi’s urgency, indicative that something unpleasant had happened.

Severely distressed, Lu Yi exclaimed: “I’m waiting at your doorstep right now, guess who’s also there?”

“Who else is there?” Gu Fan treads carefully, his heartbeat accelerating, an uneasy feeling rising within him.

Lu Yi took a deep breath, “It’s Xia Yue’s parents, they seem quite angry, like they’re here to accuse you.”

“To accuse me, how did they narrow down on me?” Gu Fan was confounded, knowing he would soon face a difficult predicament, but he had a hunch about what it could be.

“You don’t need to guess, I asked, it was Du Jun who told them.

Apparently, you all went to visit the museum together, and Xia Yue left with you, implying that Xia Yue’s disappearance has something to do with you.” Lu Yi sighed heavily, such treachery.

“Okay, I understand, I’ll be back soon, try to keep them calm, don’t let any conflict arise, understand their feelings.” With that, Gu Fan hung up the call, staying silent for a while; seemingly brewing up a storm, he suddenly flung his bag onto the ground, proceeded to kick his locker angrily, letting out a few curse words.

After venting his anger, Gu Fan took a few deep breaths to suppress his rage, picked his bag off the ground, left, and tried to recompose himself while walking.

“Du Jun, Du Jun, you’ve crossed the line.” Gu Fan got more exasperated the more he thought about it, wishing he could rush to Zhao Rui’s house and disclose Du Jun’s misdeeds to Zhao Rui’s parents, making Du Jun feel the sting from a stab in the back.

Gu Fan cycled furiously to his home, venting his dissatisfaction with Du Jun.

Near his house, he braked sharply, took several deep breaths to regain his composure to face Xia Yue’s parents.

For now, Gu Fan could only hope that Du Jun hadn’t twisted the truth too much while pointing the finger at him.

Gu Fan felt that anyone might consider Xia Yue’s disappearance to be his responsibility, but Du Jun of all people should not think so.

Finally, the time to face the unavoidable had arrived.

Gu Fan felt guilty and had no face to see them but had to anyway.

On arriving home, he was met with Xia Yue’s parents’ stern questioning faces.

“Uncle, Auntie.” Gu Fan said, meekly, as if he had done something wrong.

Xia Yue’s father spoke coldly: “My son is missing, you were all with him, I want to know what happened, your classmate said you were the last one to be with Xia Yue.”

At his words, Gu Fan heaved a sigh of relief.

Du Jun had provided some details but hadn’t trumped accusations against him in front of Xia Yue’s parents, blaming him entirely for Xia Yue’s disappearance.

Lu Yi quickly rose to share the burden: “It wasn’t just Gu Fan, I was there too, we didn’t go anywhere dangerous, we were just on a sightseeing trip.”

Gu Fan felt grateful to Lu Yi, then started to explain: “Here’s what happened, the foreign culture museum is not normally open at night, but they were hosting an event that night, a song and dance performance, so they opened up to the public.

But we found the performance uninteresting and decided to see the relics displayed inside the palace, which was open to the public…”

Gu Fan briefly described what happened, intentionally skipping the weird parts, particularly when the museum’s power went off abruptly, and the main gate got locked, trapping them inside.

“I understand, I’ll go there to investigate.” Having said this, Xia Yue’s furrowed parents left abruptly with their bad moods intact.