THE guy slowly got up. His black hair was messy and a bit longer than normal, most of it was covering the upper half of his face. The only thing Luo Yan could see clearly was his thin lips.
The guy was about 170 cm tall, a few centimeters shorter than his brothers. He was wearing a light blue shirt that was a size bigger than his slender frame, giving emphasis to his slightly thin arms.
"Are you alright?" Luo Yan asked when he noticed the scrapes on his knees.
"I'm so sorry. I lost my glasses and can barely see," the guy apologized. "Did I hit anyone?"
"So you're saying you just trip here on your own because of your poor eyesight?" Luo Jin asked, highly skeptical.
"Yes, I did," the guy answered, clearly he didn't hear the skepticism in Luo Jin's voice. "I'm really sorry."
"If you're done, then you can be on your way," Luo Ren said coldly.
Luo Yan looked at his older brother, it's been a whole since he'd seen that cold expression. Actually, there's only one time he'd seen it. When Luo Ren first came to the hospital. He thought that the aloof exterior of his brother had already thawed. But it seemed like he was only ever gentle whenever he's with his family.
Then he glanced at Luo Jin who looked like he was ready to punch the guy if he even said something remotely offensive.
Luo Yan sighed. Just why were these two being so antagonistic towards this guy? The guy looked like he could barely handle a slap, much less a punch. In his opinion, he really was just someone who had a bad eyesight, lost his glasses, and accidentally tripped here.
"Oh, okay."
The guy started walking, not even a few steps yet and he fell down again. See? Just a guy with a bad eyesight.
"Brother, Ah Jin, you were kind of mean to him," Luo Yan said.
"Of course we were. He almost crashed into you," Luo Jin said, as if it was the most justified thing.
"Forget that guy, whoever he was," Luo Ren then said.
Luo Yan only shook his head, that's when he saw a smartphone almost half-buried on the sand. Being that it was not there earlier, then it could only belong to the guy who fell on the exact position. He bent over and picked it up. He looked at the direction the guy went into and saw that he hadn't gotten far yet. No, he actually stopped and then started touching his pockets. As if realizing that his phone actually fell off. He then turned around and started running back.
"I'll give this back to him," Luo Yan said and walked forward before his two brothers could react.
Knowing them, especially Luo Jin, they'd just probably say to just leave the phone there. Under normal circumstance, he'd probably just let it be. But that guy just reminded him a little of one of his roommates during college. He's extremely myopic and couldn't function properly without his glasses. Luo Yan's three roommates had always treated him really well during the four years they've shared the same room together.
Although he wasn't able to fully be himself in front of them, he tried to treat them as kindly as he could. But those three had probably already felt that he's been holding back with them. Especially that myopic roommate. For all Luo Yan knew, that guy probably already knew how black bellied he was but just never talked about it.
Reminded of the past, he couldn't help but think of what could have happened to his original body. Did someone claim it at the morgue? Did someone even put him in the cemetery? As much as possible, he tried to avoid thinking about it. It's just too depressing to think of the possibility that nobody claimed his body. That nobody even cared.
Luo Yan shook his head and just put away those negative thoughts.
He looked ahead and just as he did, he saw the guy with bad eyesight tripped again. But this time, at least he managed to balance himself and avoided falling face first on the sand again. Because the guy was running, they soon met half-way.
"Your phone," he said before the guy completely passed by him or worse, crashed into him. "It fell when you tripped earlier."
The guy did stop. "You're the boy from earlier." Well, being called a 'boy' in his age was kind of annoying. So Luo Yan didn't answer and just gave the phone back to the guy who accepted it immediately. "Thank you."
Luo Yan stared at him for a bit, especially at the hair covering his face. "You should pull back your hair a bit. It might help you see better."
He didn't wait for the guy's answer and walked back to his brothers. Who, by the way, were already striding towards him, reaching him faster.
"What are you doing, running off to some stranger?" Luo Jin scolded.
"I could have just given the phone back. You didn't have to do something that would just waste your energy," Luo Ren added.
Waste his energy? Luo Yan resisted the urge to laugh. Sometimes, his older brother could really be more sharp tongued than Luo Jin. He's just sneakier about it.
Luo Yan looped his arms on Luo Ren's left arm and then on Luo Jin's right arm. "Yes, yes, I'm in the wrong. Let's just continue our sightseeing."
———-
Li Xu Min stared at the three blurry figures walking away. The three were probably brothers, considering how overprotective the other two were of the younger boy. He couldn't properly see the face of the boy but he sure had a nice voice.
Then his phone suddenly rang. He just pressed the answer button because he wouldn't be able to read the name of the caller anyway. "Hello?"
"LI XU MIN!" shouted a woman's voice from the other side. "Where the hell are you? You said you wanted to check those rock formations then you suddenly disappeared. If you wanted to go off somewhere, you should have send a message or at least call!"
"Calm down, Li Li, shouting will ruin your image."
"I don't care! Just tell me where you are."
"I'm somewhere at the beach. I lost my glasses so I'm not sure if I'll be able to call the right person. You know how bad my eyes are. You should have just called me when you realize I wandered off."
"Don't you dare blame me. It's not my fault your attention keeps wandering off from one thing to another. Just don't move from where you are. I'll ask Ah Hui to get you."
Then she hung up.
Li Xu Min looked at his phone and then sighed. He'd definitely get scolded by Song Liuli later. He pushed back his hair. Some of the passing people suddenly stopped walking and just stared at him. If Luo Yan was still there and saw that, he'd probably feel a little bit of shock.
Because what was beneath the tangled mess of hair was a very unforgettable face. A pair of clear black eyes surrounded by thick eyelashes, a straight nose, and pinkish lips. Add those to his fair skin and people could only think of one word while looking at him.
Angelic.