“Lin Yi, I like you. Please be my boyfriend!”
As soon as the words fell, the tall, broad-shouldered young man, his face flushed red, slowly approached him…
Lin Yi jolted awake!
His breathing was ragged, and his chest rose and fell slightly. It took him a while to come back to his senses.
Lin Yi knitted his brows tightly, rubbed the goosebumps on his arms, and turned over in his dormitory bed.
Ever since his teammate had confessed to him at the birthday party before winter break, Lin Yi had kept dreaming about that night, waking up in a start just like this.
Lin Yi was actually fairly good at socializing. However, whenever he found himself facing a relationship that was about to become—or had already become—awkward, he couldn’t help feeling anxious and at a loss.
Amid the alternating snores and teeth grinding of his roommates, Lin Yi let out a heavy sigh. He couldn’t summon even the slightest trace of sleepiness.
With nothing to do in the middle of the night, he picked up his phone, logged into Happy Match, and absentmindedly claimed his daily energy.
There was an event offering rewards for completion, and sharing a link would earn him an item. Lin Yi skillfully tossed the link to the person pinned at the top of his WeChat chat list.
He had barely switched back to the game when a WeChat notification popped up at the top of his screen.
[Little Bro: Did the Village Chief visit you in a dream again?]
Lin Yi: “…”
When Chen Yanchuan was little, he had been so frail that Lin Yi always stood up for him whenever he was bullied at school.
Now, Chen Yanchuan had grown taller than Lin Yi and no longer needed his protection, but Lin Yi was still accustomed to acting like his big brother.
Don’t ask. If you ask, it’s because your big bro has a heart of gold.
Since repeatedly waking up from dreams just because a guy had confessed to him would seriously undermine his dignified big-brother image, Lin Yi hadn’t had the nerve to tell Chen Yanchuan about it.
When winter break had just begun, Lin Yi had sent Chen Yanchuan a game link in the middle of the night for the first time. When Chen Yanchuan asked why he wasn’t asleep, Lin Yi had brushed him off with the excuse, “The Village Chief visited me in a dream.” After all, the main storyline of Happy Match involved rescuing the Village Chief.
Who would have thought that this bastard would hold a grudge over such a trivial thing?!
He just wouldn’t let that stupid joke die.
Lin Yi switched back to WeChat, typed out a reply, and simply admitted it before asking a question of his own.
[01: That’s right.]
[01: Why aren’t you asleep, then?]
Chen Yanchuan was usually an early-to-bed, early-to-rise kind of person. For some reason, though, his entire sleep schedule had gone completely haywire over winter break. Whenever Lin Yi woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t fall back asleep, he’d send Chen Yanchuan a game link, and the guy would reply instantly.
[Little Bro: I’m waiting.]
[01: Waiting for what?]
Lin Yi had already prepared himself. If Chen Yanchuan came out with some pretentious nonsense like waiting for dawn, he’d crawl through the internet connection and kick the bastard into next week.
[Little Bro: Waiting for the Village Chief to visit me in a dream, too.]
Lin Yi: “…”
You might as well wait for dawn, you shameless little bastard!
Lin Yi no longer wanted to talk to a dog. He switched back to Happy Match and resumed rescuing the Village Chief.
After playing two rounds, the dog finally sent him something that sounded like actual human speech.
[Little Bro: Am I bringing you breakfast today or not?]
Chen Yanchuan had been a neat freak since childhood.
By the time military training ended during their freshman year, his tolerance for communal living had reached its limit. The very next day, he promptly submitted an application to live off campus and rented a place outside.
There were plenty of delicious breakfast shops near Chen Yanchuan’s place, especially one long-established shop famous for its steamed soup dumplings. The pleats were uniform, the wrappers soft, and the meat filling fresh, juicy, and springy. They were so delicious that you could practically eat them without noticing if someone had dropped dead right beside you.
A basket of dumplings paired with the shop’s pork bone and kelp soup made for such a satisfying breakfast that it was hard to describe.
Whenever they both had eight o’clock classes, Lin Yi would ask Chen Yanchuan to bring him breakfast.
However, the dumpling shop had expanded its premises toward the end of the previous semester and temporarily closed for renovations. It still hadn’t reopened.
When you couldn’t get the food you craved most, everything else seemed less appealing. Three days into the new semester, Lin Yi had been making do with whatever he could find at the nearby campus canteen every morning.
Lin Yi typed the two characters for No need, but then glanced at Chen Yanchuan’s earlier dog-related nonsense. He gave a quiet, disdainful snort, deleted his reply, and typed something else.
[01: Don’t bring any. I’m not eating dog food.]
For once, Chen Yanchuan didn’t fire back.
[Little Bro: The dumpling shop is reopening today.]
Lin Yi’s eyes lit up the moment he saw the message!
He immediately started typing: Then why didn’t you say so earlier? Bring me some…
Before he could finish, Chen Yanchuan sent another message.
[Little Bro: I misspoke. It’s a dog food shop.]
[Little Bro: A shop for food humans don’t eat.]
“…”
Even through the internet, Lin Yi could practically picture Chen Yanchuan’s mocking face.
On one side were the delicious breakfast dumplings he’d been craving for ages. On the other were his pride and dignity.
With righteous indignation, Lin Yi made his choice.
[01: Humans don’t eat it, but dogs do. I’m eating dog food, and that’s final!]
[01: Woof! Woof! Woof!]
[Little Bro: Got it.]
[Little Bro: I’ll feed you at dawn.]
…Whatever.
For the sake of those dumplings, he’d let it slide!
Heh. There was plenty of time. Sooner or later, Chen Yanchuan would have a moment when he needed his big brother.
For the rest of the night, Lin Yi played round after round of Happy Match to kill time. He didn’t even know what time he’d finally fallen asleep again. When his roommates woke him up that morning, he was still clutching his phone.
Lin Yi was terribly sleepy. He got out of bed, plugged in his phone to charge, and shuffled off to wash up, yawning nonstop.
He had plans with Chen Yanchuan that morning, so he didn’t go out for breakfast with his roommates.
After washing up, Lin Yi unplugged his phone, grabbed his books and pens, and headed toward the parking lot closest to the dormitory area for students in the sports college.
The parking lot was outdoors. As soon as Lin Yi rounded the corner at the entrance, he spotted Chen Yanchuan’s white Bentley Bentayga.
Lin Yi jogged over and knocked on the driver’s-side window.
The window rolled down, revealing a familiar, handsome face. His brows were sharply defined, his eyes bright, and his jawline was even more clearly defined than Lin Yi’s life plans.
Chen Yanchuan’s hair had been brushed up and away from his forehead, forming a natural lift.
The neat, slicked-back hairstyle exposed his smooth, broad forehead and revealed the contours of his face in full.
Lin Yi immediately noticed something unusual about him.
“Whoa! You even styled your hair today.”
Chen Yanchuan turned off the engine and got out of the car, his tone indifferent. “My hair’s gotten long enough to block my eyes.”
Lin Yi made a series of exaggerated “Ooh, ooh, ooh” sounds, teasing him. “Oh, please! You’re just a peacock showing off its feathers.”
After closing the car door, Chen Yanchuan glanced sideways at Lin Yi and delivered an utterly infuriating reply.
“Just admit you’re jealous.”
Lin Yi curled his lips into a confident smile. “Tch! Your big bro here wakes up every day because he’s too handsome to sleep peacefully. You think I’m going to feel inferior just because you slicked your hair back?”
“Handsome guy, you’ve got eye gunk.”
Lin Yi’s expression changed in an instant.
“Holy crap! Really?!”
He immediately leaned toward the rearview mirror to inspect his face, looking left and right. There was absolutely nothing there.
Only then did Lin Yi realize Chen Yanchuan had played him. He straightened up, turned around, and was about to start cursing him out.
“Here. Your dog food.”
A bag of packed breakfast was shoved right in front of Lin Yi’s eyes.
Since he’d already accepted the food, Lin Yi swallowed the words he’d been about to say.
He took the bag and opened it to look inside. Seeing that it contained only one person’s portion, he asked in surprise, “Why did you only buy this much? Aren’t you eating?”
Chen Yanchuan held up the brown paper bag in his hand. “I’m having a sandwich.”
Lin Yi shot him a suspicious glance. His paranoia was worse than an emperor’s.
“Afraid I’ll say you’re eating dog food, too?”
Chen Yanchuan slung his backpack over his shoulder, locked the car, and started walking forward. He tossed two words at Lin Yi in a calm voice.
“Immature.”
He didn’t mention that the dumpling shop had been packed on its first day back in business, or that he’d spent nearly an hour in line just to secure the very last serving of steamed soup dumplings.
Lin Yi hurried after him, muttering under his breath. “Sure, you’re the mature one. You slept for a whole night and still called my delicious breakfast dog food.”
Chen Yanchuan held out his hand toward him. “Then stop eating it. Give it back.”
Lin Yi hugged the bag protectively to his chest without explicitly refusing.
“You already have a sandwich. Why are you trying to eat so much? How many stomachs do you have?”
Chen Yanchuan raised an eyebrow, looking faintly amused.
“Getting territorial over your food, are you?”
“You dare insult me again!” Lin Yi glared at him, eyes wide. “You’re getting more and more disrespectful toward your big brother. You ungrateful little brother!”
All the way to the canteen, Lin Yi and Chen Yanchuan engaged in a heated debate over one very important question: Which one of them was the real dog?
It was peak breakfast time, and the canteen was packed with people everywhere.
The two of them walked around the entire place without finding a single table with two empty seats together.
Lin Yi suggested, “How about we find a bench along the tree-lined path and eat there?”
Chen Yanchuan hummed in agreement.
Just as they were about to leave the canteen, they suddenly heard someone call out.
“Lin Yi—!”
The voice sounded familiar. Lin Yi turned to look, and his expression stiffened.
It was Yuan Ding.
The teammate who had confessed to him before winter break.
Today was the day the basketball team resumed training, so Lin Yi had already prepared himself to run into Yuan Ding. But damn it, he hadn’t expected their first encounter to happen so early in the morning!
Awkwardness surged through him, and his first instinct was to run away.
Fortunately, that was only an instinct. His emotions hadn’t reached the point where they could control his actions.
Lin Yi forced himself to put on a relaxed, open smile and walked over.
“What a coincidence! Do you have an eight o’clock class today, too?”
“Yeah.” Yuan Ding was holding a tray. He smiled at Lin Yi without the slightest sign of awkwardness. “We’ve finished eating. You two can take our seats.”
Lin Yi noticed another young man sitting beside Yuan Ding.
He was about as tall as Yuan Ding, though not as muscular, and had a rather refined appearance.
He wasn’t part of the basketball team.
Perhaps noticing Lin Yi’s curious gaze, Yuan Ding introduced him.
“Oh, right. You two haven’t met before. This is my boyfriend, Meng Junzhe. He’s a junior in the College of Aeronautics.”
B-boyfriend?
Lin Yi was genuinely shocked, but he quickly recovered and greeted him normally.
“Hello, senior.”
Meng Junzhe smiled. “Hello, Lin Yi.”
Yuan Ding said, “We’ll get going, then. You two sit down and eat.”
Lin Yi replied, “Sure. Thanks.”
“No problem.”
Once Yuan Ding and Meng Junzhe had left, Lin Yi could finally stop pretending that everything was normal. He stared blankly at the tabletop, lost in thought.
“Are you disappointed?” Chen Yanchuan asked as he leisurely opened his brown paper bag.
Lin Yi was still bewildered. “Disappointed about what?”
“Your admirer found someone else over winter break and is now in a relationship.”
Lin Yi found the idea absurd. “Why would I be disappointed? I don’t like him.”
“Then why are you spacing out?”
“I’m just… Hey, I’ll tell you something, but you aren’t allowed to make fun of me.”
Chen Yanchuan replied, “Okay.”
Lin Yi opened the breakfast bag and took a sip of kelp soup before continuing.
“I originally thought things between Yuan Ding and me would become really awkward. We’re still going to be on the same basketball team, after all. We’ll keep running into each other all the time. Just thinking about it annoyed me and made me anxious. I couldn’t sleep properly for the entire winter break.”
The moment the bag was opened, the aroma of the food wafted straight into Lin Yi’s nose, making his mouth water.
Unable to resist any longer, he stuffed a dumpling into his mouth. After chewing and swallowing it, he exclaimed enthusiastically, “Holy crap! Their dumplings are still just as delicious!”
Then he returned to the subject.
“But now it looks like the whole birthday party incident is behind us. Yuan Ding and I can go back to interacting exactly as we did before. That’s great! Neither of us has to feel awkward.”
Chen Yanchuan looked at Lin Yi.
“You couldn’t sleep properly just because you were worried things would become awkward between you and Yuan Ding?”
“Yeah.” Lin Yi glared at Chen Yanchuan, warning him, “If you dare make fun of me for making a big deal out of nothing, our friendship is over.”
“I wasn’t going to make fun of you.” Chen Yanchuan lowered his eyes. “I thought it was because of something else.”
“Something else?”
Lin Yi asked in confusion, “What else could it be?”
Chen Yanchuan’s expression and tone remained indifferent.
“Being liked by a guy, especially someone you know personally. It makes you uncomfortable.”
Lin Yi paused slightly.
Then he said, “Of course not. It’s not that serious.”
“Is that so?” Chen Yanchuan murmured, though it was unclear whether he was asking Lin Yi or himself.
Lin Yi nodded and answered earnestly.
“I genuinely don’t understand why a guy would like another guy, but I respect it. Someone’s sexual orientation won’t affect how I see them as a person.”
After finishing his sentence, Lin Yi caught sight of the watch on his wrist and suddenly exclaimed, “It’s 7:49! Hurry up and eat! Stop chatting, or we’ll be late!”
Lin Yi hurriedly devoured the breakfast he had barely touched, while Chen Yanchuan’s thoughtful gaze continued to drift toward him again and again.