Lin Oufei gave the driver the school address. After the taxi started moving, the car fell into a flight mode-like silence.
Xin Hexue leaned against the car window, pressing his burning forehead against the glass. In a daze, he felt like the glass was melting. Upon closer inspection, he realized that it had started raining at night, and the raindrops were trailing across the car window.
He watched as neon lights splashed onto the raindrops, creating mottled colors. His forehead grew hotter, and his eyes were burning, so he half-closed them.
“Just now…why did you…”
Before Xin Hexue finished asking, Lin Oufei frowned and explained. “There was a step there. I stepped into empty air when I came down. That’s why I bumped into you and kissed you on the…”
‘..Forehead.’
‘Just the forehead.’
It was supposed to aim there.
Lin Oufei pursed his lips tightly, tasting the bitterness of the lies.
Hearing the explanation, Xin Hexue’s head leaning against the glass lowered slightly, seemingly not noticing Lin Oufei’s tense posture.
“Why did you go to that kind of place?” Lin Oufei asked, his voice cold like the rain outside.
Xin Hexue: “You already asked that.”
Lin Oufei fell silent again, instantly remembering Xin Hexue’s explanation earlier while waiting for the taxi. He said that he originally came out with a certain senior.
He had obviously asked the question, but that wasn’t what he wanted to ask.
Lin Oufei closed his eyes in frustration and supported his forehead, his palm pushing his bangs up, as if letting the chaotic thoughts on his forehead also breathe for a moment.
“Did you fail to get through to Lu Yang’s phone?”
— Or am I the first person you thought to ask for help?
Lin Oufei asked.
“It’s late…” Xin Hexue laughed softly. “You know him. If he knew, he’d worry himself into a frenzy and only make things worse. Then I’d have to deal with him.”
— I would worry too.
Lin Oufei turned his head away, looking out the other window.
“And, what if he discovers it was a social gathering… Although I didn’t know beforehand either, but explaining it to him would be very troublesome overall.” Xin Hexue’s words didn’t sound like he was annoyed.
Lin Oufei: “I understand.”
Stop talking.
[Lin Oufei Heartbreak Value +5]
Xin Hexue smiled.
“You shouldn’t have drunk.” Lin Oufei found a new excuse. “Besides, that glass of alcohol left your sight for a moment.”
He looked at Xin Hexue’s profile, noticing the blush at the corner of his eyes and cheeks hadn’t subsided. He reached out and touched the forehead. “Maybe there was something inside. We should go to the hospital.”
“I just got rained on on the way over. I probably caught a cold and have a fever.” Xin Hexue grabbed his wrist and pulled it down, his expression helpless. “Nothing like being drugged happened.”
Disappointment flashed through Lin Oufei’s eyes, but it was gone in an instant.
Then came a deeper worry. “If you have a fever, then you should also go to the hospital.”
The driver ahead shouted, interrupting them with a thick Beijing accent. “Are we heading straight to school or turning around to the hospital? Let’s not argue, I can do either with a step on the gas!”
Xin Hexue pressed Lin Oufei down. “Let’s go back to school, master.”
………
It seems he lost all his strength after pressing Lin Oufei down earlier.
Xin Hexue leaned against the car window, his consciousness blurry from the high fever. He felt thirsty and his lips felt dry, as if a layer of crust had formed on them, so he lost the will to speak.
But Lin Oufei also fell silent, and it was unknown whether he was sulking because of his stubbornness earlier.
He closed his eyes. The mottled lights felt like they were branded on his retina, and the thin barrier of eyelids was useless.
Xin Hexue was so exhausted he unknowingly fell asleep.
“I…” Lin Oufei turned his head, speaking only half a sentence before swallowing it upon seeing the scene before him.
The wind before getting in the car had tousled Xin Hexue’s hair, making his black hair appear soft and fluffy. If it were childhood Xin Hexue, he would never let his hair be this disobedient.
As the taxi moved forward, the car’s vibrations made those strands of hair tremble too.
Lin Oufei saw it very clearly, along with the eyelashes casting spiderweb-like shadows on Xin Hexue’s face. He then inexplicably felt like he was also a trembling and struggling insect in the center of the web, awaiting the web’s owner to feast.
Streetlight shadows shifted.
Xin Hexue’s upper body tilted, and his head rested on Lin Oufei’s shoulder.
Lin Oufei’s arm came around and stopped on the thin shoulders as he looked down.
‘He’s still asleep?’
‘Good.’
He couldn’t pull his outstretched hand back, so his five fingers simply covered Xin Hexue’s eyes.
For the first time, he hoped the driver would take a detour.
………
The dorm room light “clicked” on.
Xin Hexue’s condition wasn’t good for climbing up to the bunk, so Lin Oufei, afraid he might fall, helped him lie down on his own bed.
The Beijing local roommate had gone home for the weekend, and the other roommate had gone to meet an online date tonight, so he won’t be back tonight.
The dorm was quiet, with only the sounds of the gradually ceasing rain outside and breathing.
Lin Oufei found the medicine box under the bed, then went to the water dispenser at the end of the corridor to pour a cup of warm water. When he returned, he saw Xin Hexue propping himself up on the bedside, trying to get out of bed. He set the cup down and, along with the blanket, pushed Xin Hexue back down. “Where are you going?”
“To shower…” Xin Hexue’s voice was hoarse, his smile soft and light. “I smell like alcohol, I’m afraid I’ll make your bed smell.”
Lin Oufei’s brows knitted tightly. Looking at the flushed face in front of him, he realized that Xin Hexue’s mind was muddled from the high fever and alcohol, and not as sharp as usual, so he could only communicate with him using simple words. “There’s no smell.”
Standing by the bed, he took a deep breath, leaned down, and pressed his own forehead against Xin Hexue’s.
“You’re burning up.” Maintaining this posture, Lin Oufei gazed into those moist eyes. “You can’t shower when you have a fever.”
He saw his own figure hazily reflected in those eyes. For a moment, he was stunned and forgot what to do. When he came to his senses, he straightened up immediately. “Take the medicine first.”
Having said that, and making sure Xin Hexue was lying obediently in bed, he brought over the water cup and fever reducer. Supporting the back of Xin Hexue’s head, he helped him take the medicine at a slightly inclined angle.
Once Xin Hexue was lying back down, Lin Oufei tucked the blanket around him. “You can close your eyes and sleep now. I’ll take care of everything else.”
Xin Hexue’s fever-reddened eyes were uncomfortable with the dormitory’s overhead light. After looking at Lin Oufei for a moment, he closed his eyelids to rest.
Lin Oufei picked up the jacket Xin Hexue had taken off, folded it neatly, and put it away in the cabinet. Then he fetched a small towel, filled a basin with warm water, soaked the towel and wrung it until it was half-damp. He began wiping Xin Hexue’s forehead, neck, and the hollow of his collarbone. When he reached the buttons of the shirt, he only undid two for ventilation before withdrawing his hand.
He repeated the wiping process without feeling tired, only a kind of emotion most people might call happiness welling up in his heart.
The water in the basin had cooled down. Just as Lin Oufei was about to go empty it, Xin Hexue, who was sound asleep, turned over. It was then that Lin Oufei suddenly noticed that a strand of his own hair was entwined with one of Xin Hexue’s on the pillow.
Lin Oufei’s throat felt itchy, beginning to cramp with a kind of longing.
Xin Hexue’s phone on the bedside desk suddenly lit up and buzzed with vibration. Lin Oufei glanced at it and reached out to decline the call.
‘So noisy.’
………
The beds assigned to Xin Hexue and Lin Oufei weren’t next to each other. Xin Hexue slept on the upper bunk opposite Lin Oufei’s.
And every night, Lin Oufei slept in the spot where Xin Hexue was now lying. After lights out and hidden in the darkness, he would sleep with his back against the wall, his eyes looking upward. By the light of Xin Hexue’s reading lamp, he would watch him send messages to Lu Yang; or watch Xin Hexue return after a phone call with Lu Yang and climb into bed in the dark; or look toward Xin Hexue’s bed while relieving his own desires.
But most of the time, he just stared without doing anything, for so long he almost felt he would turn into a piece of damp, rotting wood that could sprout green moss at any moment.
Why was it Lu Yang, and not him?
Because he came later?
But this matter shouldn’t be about first come, first served. Otherwise, the elderly folks who get up early to queue for eggs at the supermarket entrance should be the most impressive.
Lin Oufei sat on the chair by the bed, his eyes lowered.
The lit phone screen showed it was now 1 AM. At this hour, even taxis were rare on the streets. It would probably take about forty minutes for one to run over from the Sports Academy.
Forty minutes was enough time for him to prune the jasmine branches on the balcony, pick the freshest, brightest flower, make it into a pressed flower bookmark, and cut out half a poem.
“Jasmine seems to have no season. In the day, in the night, always blooming small
fragrant buds…,” Lin Oufei murmured softly.
It’s just that Xin Hexue didn’t know the person who sent that bookmark was him, nor did he know the ending of the poem he received at seventeen.
Because of his hesitation and indecisiveness, he could only watch his happiness from the sidelines.
This was Lin Oufei’s first eighteen years.
—Happy birthday.
He wished himself on this new day.
He curled up on the foot of the bed like a snake shedding its skin.
The blanket silently bulged up, arching into a curve of crawling on hands and knees.
In his sleep, Xin Hexue only felt a coolness at his waist and something squeezing between his thighs, clamping them so he couldn’t close them. He soon sank into an even more stuffy and feverish dream.
………
“Mmm…”
In the quiet night, Xin Hexue let out a soft moan. A flush different from the fever’s redness crept up to the corners of his eyes, and along the exposed navel where his shirt was lifted, and the flesh on the inner thighs that had been stroked and pinched by fingers.
Although he was often ill, his body wasn’t frail and bonny. His torso and limbs were slender yet well-proportioned, and his abdomen had thin, supple lines.
But now it was covered with a glistening, bright sheen. Along with the swaying of his waist, his abdomen contracted, twitching intermittently.
The rhythm of his chest’s breathing also quickened.
Lin Oufei thought to himself that even at a time like this, he’s so beautiful.
His legs turn red as soon as they’re pinched, and his waist keeps swaying, does he want more?
Leave everything to me.
Lin Oufei’s lips and tongue rubbed again, then completely enveloped once more, this time tightening his throat as well.
[Lin Oufei Love Value +3]
[Lin Oufei’s Love Value is Full]
“Ah…” The person on the bed threw his head back and moaned in his sleep, a flicker of red peeking from his parted lips.
“So lewd, baobei.” Lin Oufei gave a light laugh, then the dark color in his lowered eyes faded, his expression turning calm again as he picked up the warm towel, wiping and cleaning up the mess.
The person on the bed had already fallen into a deeper sleep after being extremely exhausted.
There was a loud banging on the dormitory door, like the legal husband arriving to catch them in the act.
………
After discovering that Lu Yang still didn’t understand his hints no matter how he rephrased it one hundred and eight times, Yu Zao couldn’t help but shout, “What on earth has Xin Hexue gotten himself into?!”
“You don’t actually believe Lin Oufei and your wife ended up together because of a geomagnetic storm, do you?”
“What?” Lu Yang said. “When did Beijing have a geomagnetic storm? There was no warning. I need to call and remind Xin Hexue.”
It took a moment for his brain to register Yu Zao’s words. For a second, Lu Yang felt as if he had strolled through Norwegian forests, dived deep into the Pacific off Sanya, his breath filled with the scent of freedom.
One second later, the lime juice in his hand met its end in the trash can.
Now, he stood outside their dormitory door, water dripping from his body and feet, indistinguishable whether it was sweat from running all the way here or rain pouring from the sky. Drops fell down and pooled together with the rain slanting into the corridor.
Lu Yang knew he looked very pathetic, and running ten kilometers in the middle of night to his boyfriend’s school wasn’t dignified either.
But right now, he only felt rage.
He hated himself for not being wary of this guy surnamed Lin earlier! No wonder he’d always disliked him! What tricks did he use to seduce Xin Hexue when he wasn’t looking?!
Lin Oufei acted as if he hadn’t heard the banging. He lowered his eyes and smoothed the blanket, his fingers brushing through the stray hairs on Xin Hexue’s forehead.
“My family is very traditional.” Lin Oufei said, as if moved by a sudden thought. “Even if I resist with all my might, I am destined to grow into a traditional man. So why fight a hopeless battle?”
—I can be the mistress.
Lin Oufei suddenly pulled the dormitory door open. Lu Yang was unable to stop his momentum and Lin Oufei dodged his fist. “You shameless bastard…”
Contrary to his expectations, Lin Oufei showed no shame or remorse at being caught. He said coldly, “What are you trying to do by making such a loud fuss? Do you want the whole floor to come see the spectacle?”
As if the one who should feel ashamed for making a scene was Lu Yang.
Lu Yang was caught off guard by this unexpected reaction. By the time he processed it, he was already inside the dormitory, and Lin Oufei had closed the door behind him.
“Keep your voice down. He’s tired and sleeping,” Lin Oufei said.
Lu Yang lowered his volume. “Someone already told me. What is there left for you to explain? Don’t you even have a shred of shame? I always considered you a friend, and this is how you destroy the relationship between the three of us?”
“Soneone told you? Told you what?” A chuckle escaped Lin Oufei’s lips. “So you know. Why are you so angry now? Is your anger because you’re uneasy about losing his affection, or is it the possessiveness and pride that comes from a male’s instinct after being ‘defeated’?”
Lu Yang was bombarded by this jumble of words. “Don’t shift the focus! What we’re talking about is your inappropriate behavior of getting between us!”
Lin Oufei said calmly, “Isn’t what I said the focus? Or have you been so overwhelmed by instinct that you can’t listen to others now? My feelings for Xin Hexue don’t include possessiveness like yours. I don’t mind if he has a boyfriend, because I only focus on the emotional connection and resonance between him and me. And you, in contrast to me, mind that he has a lover on the side.”
“Looking at it this way, perhaps my affection for him is more pure. Since that’s the case, what grounds do you have to stand on a moral high ground and condemn me?” Lin Oufei questioned.
Lu Yang’s brain short-circuited, his expression going blank along with it.
Huh? I don’t understand. What is this person talking about?
“Are you even human?” Lu Yang asked angrily.
But a smile tugged at the corner of Lin Oufei’s lips. This was the day he had smiled the most.
“I’m already a dog.”
He smiled widely, parting his lips and teeth, and revealing a smear of white turbidity on his tongue.
Can a high fever be transmitted through bodily fluids? He felt like his blood was scalding hot; perhaps he and Xin Hexue were experiencing the same chills and fever.
A suppressed coughing sound came from within the bed, “Ahem…”
