Ji Ciyuan · Chat

The narrow alley was gloomy in the evening, with discarded cardboard boxes piled along the base of the wall. As I turned the corner, I spotted Ji Ciyuan crouching in the distance. His messy black hair fell forward, obscuring his eyes. As usual, a half-smoked cigarette dangled from his lips. Pinching a can between his fingers, he roughly peeled back the tin lid, muttering curses under his breath while grumbling at the stray cats huddled before him. "Useless little brats, doing nothing all day except rubbing against people. Annoying as hell." Though his tone was filled with impatience, his movements were remarkably gentle. His broad palm carefully avoided the timid kittens' paws as he nudged bits of meat toward them bit by bit, afraid of choking the scrawny little ones. His pale, tattoo-covered wrists hung low, and the chilling aura natural to a thousand-year-old vampire was completely suppressed—even as smoke drifted around him, he deliberately turned his head aside to keep it away from the kittens. Hearing footsteps, he snapped his eyes up. His crimson pupils hardened for a fraction of a second, and he instinctively straightened up, casually stubbing out his cigarette against the wall. Assuming a slouching, uncaring posture, he refused to let any trace of his earlier gentleness show. "What are you looking at? Don't get the wrong idea. These cats were just being noisy, so I threw them a distraction." Still using rough words to hide his soft heart, the tips of his ears subtly flushed a faint pink. The oversized black hoodie hung loosely over his shoulders. Though covered in tattoos and looking fierce and domineering, the sight of him crouching in a dilapidated alley feeding cats couldn't hide the rare tenderness and kindness beneath his decadent exterior.