What?
What did you say?
Lin Zong’s body temperature seemed naturally high, and the warmth on his face was impossible to ignore.
The heat of his palm covered the side of his face, his jaw, and even behind his ear.
It felt very comfortable.
Huo You’s mind wanted to pull away, but his body was completely unable to move.
Just staying pressed like this.
For a split second, Huo You could not help thinking: What if he just went to City A? Perhaps he could continue maintaining a connection with Lin Zong.
If he got lucky, he might even be able to stay like this, being touched, being satisfied.
“Huo You!”
Lin Zong was angry.
His brows were knitted tightly together.
Huo You craved this kind of contact, but if things went on like this, he would not be able to answer the question.
He reached out to gently tug at Lin Zong’s wrist, tilting his head back to signal him to let go.
Lin Zong gave a huff and pulled his hand away.
Huo You cleared his throat and spoke, “My eyes really are not uncomfortable.”
“Then why do you keep rubbing your eyes? And you even like rolling them,” Lin Zong crossed his arms, turning his face to the side. “I only asked you so many times because I was trying to be kind. If you still will not tell me, I am never asking about anything again.”
Huo You: “”
This was.
Being threatened?
Huo You felt a slight urge to laugh, raising his eyes to look at him.
“Actually, I just do not really want people to find out that my eyes are abnormal,” Huo You said slowly. “When I was little, distant relatives and neighbors always said I was not my parents’ biological child, because my parents have normal eyes and there is no foreign ancestry in our family tree.”
“What.”
How could anyone be so boring, maliciously speculating just based on someone’s eyes?
Lin Zong’s expression turned indignant, and his fists clenched tightly.
Huo You saw it and offered comfort, “It is nothing much, just kind of annoying. Rubbing my eyes and rolling them were both just ways to avoid making eye contact.”
Lin Zong fell silent for a few seconds, then tentatively said, “But your eyes look really nice.”
Huo You did not speak, only shook his head.
His gaze looked somewhat desolate, or perhaps sorrowful.
Lin Zong felt a bit uncomfortable watching him, his heart instantly filled with remorse.
Perhaps he should not have forced Huo You to talk about a topic he did not want to discuss.
Likewise, he should not have forced Huo You to apply to University A either.
“I am sorry,” Lin Zong blurted out. “I will not ask anymore.”
Huo You had not recovered from the apology yet when he heard the other continue, “And I will not force you to apply to University A either.”
“I really did not know it was that kind of heartbreaking reason,” Lin Zong lowered his head, his face full of sincerity. “I was just too curious. You said before that your eyes felt uncomfortable, and I thought you were avoiding the doctor or did not have money for treatment. I was even thinking that if you needed help, I could ask my parents to cover it on credit for you, and once you were cured, you would not roll your eyes at me anymore.”
“Lin Zong,” Huo You sighed, interrupting him, “I am perfectly healthy. As for you making me apply to University A, I never felt like you were forcing me.”
I was just once bitten by a snake, ten years afraid of well ropes.
“Give me one more day, okay?”
Lin Zong stood in front of Huo You, one looking down and the other looking up, their gazes crashing together without any obstruction.
Normally, Huo You would have darted his eyes away to look somewhere else, but today, perhaps to prove that he was very healthy, he stubbornly forced himself to complete this long-duration staring contest task.
His eyes really were very nice.
The pupil on the blue side seemed a bit larger than the brown side.
Without realizing it, Lin Zong bent down, wanting to get closer for a better look.
“Lin Zong,” Huo You leaned backward, his eyes still fixed on him. “What are you doing?”
“Oh.”
Lin Zong was snapped back to reality and felt somewhat at a loss for a moment.
He hurriedly straightened his body, his hands left with nowhere to go as he rubbed them frantically against his short-sleeved shirt before remembering he did not have pockets.
“You take your time to think about it,” Lin Zong said. “Anyway, if you go to University A, Jianbing and I will definitely call you whenever we go out to play. You will not have to worry about being bored.”
Huo You gave a hum, still watching him from the bed.
Lin Zong felt his scalp tingle from the stare, scratched his head, and walked away.
Huo You naturally lay back down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
Lin Zong not only felt guilty when he thought he did something wrong, but he would also say sorry.
How could someone be raised to be this kind of person?
Right as he was thinking that, the phone he had shoved under his pillow began to vibrate.
Huo You looked over, waiting two full seconds before stretching out his arm to grab it.
“Auntie.”
“Hello, Xiao You,” the aunt’s voice came through. “I came to bring you some fruit and soup, but where did you go? You have not been home much lately, and why does it feel like the table is gathering dust?”
Huo You sat up.
“I have been staying at,” he paused, “a friend’s place lately.”
“Oh, oh. How is your leg?” the aunt asked. “Your uncle is going on a business trip next week for a month, you should move back home so I can take care of you.”
Half a month ago, moving back to live there was all Huo You had wanted to hear.
But now, he no longer had the status to move back.
Even for the rented apartment he had, his aunt had no reason to renew the lease for him.
“Auntie,” Huo You said in a low voice, “no need, I have my own plans.”
“Hey, you are just a kid, how can I let you be? Do not worry about your uncle, I will work on him some more. It is not like he can actually ban you from coming home.”
His aunt was still insisting, but Huo You suddenly felt a wave of distress, and an itchy sensation faintly spread beneath his skin.
He closed his mouth and stopped talking, turning the phone call into his aunt’s solo voice channel.
As his contact with Lin Zong grew more frequent these days, his skin hunger had not reacted too drastically, but this time, for some reason, it surged violently.
Gradually, he could barely hear what his aunt was saying.
His entire mind was filled with only one thought: to go find Lin Zong.
“Do not blame your aunt, she just wanted to know the truth, even though you are not.”
The sound in the earpiece cut off abruptly.
Huo You hung up the phone, tossed it haphazardly onto the bed, and pulled a pillow into his arms, hugging it tight.
There were no plush dolls here; he had wanted to appear normal in front of Lin Zong’s parents.
It was so uncomfortable.
He wanted to cry.
“Men, cry if you want to, cry, cry, it is not a crime, ooh ooh.”
“Cry my foot,” Lin Zong grabbed a pack of tissues from the long table in front of him and hurled it at Li Jianbing, who was howling into the microphone. “Did you not say you were going to your grandmother’s place early this morning?”
Li Jianbing shouted into the mic, “It is a long story.”
Lin Zong: “Then do not tell it.”
“When I was booking my ticket yesterday, Zhou Yangyang happened to send me a message,” Li Jianbing dropped the microphone and squeezed in beside Lin Zong’s leg. “I quickly switched screens to reply, and guess what?”
Lin Zong: “You forgot to pay.”
Li Jianbing nodded heavily, “No one knows a son like… wait, no, what is wrong with you? You do not seem very excited.”
Who can be excited about singing KTV early in the morning?
“Me.”
“Fine,” Lin Zong leaned back against the sofa, closing his eyes. “It is truly a miracle you managed to find a KTV open in the morning. So, are you still going to your grandmother’s?”
“Yeah,” Li Jianbing said, “My flight is at two in the afternoon.”
Lin Zong could not help clapping, “Fantastic. Fragmented time has been fully utilized by you.”
“Why do you not come with me?” Li Jianbing said while using his phone to queue up a song. “Consider it a graduation trip.”
“Not going,” Lin Zong flatly refused. “The mosquitoes will kill me.”
Li Jianbing’s grandmother lived in the countryside, in a large courtyard with nice scenery nearby and relatively convenient transportation, making it a great place to stay when you had nothing to do.
The only drawback was that summer there was practically a mosquito paradise.
Lin Zong had been there once and had practically been paid a visit by mosquitoes all over his body.
Terrifying.
“Oh, right, you cannot go,” Li Jianbing remembered. “You still have to take care of Huo You.”
Lin Zong shook his head, “Nah, he does not really need me to take care of him.”
“For real? He is practically part of the weak, sick, and disabled squad.”
Right as those words fell, the phone screen on the table lit up.
A voice call, with the contact’s name displayed in two large characters:
Huo You.
Li Jianbing mockingly repeated Lin Zong’s previous words, “He does not really need me to take care of him.”
Lin Zong slapped him across the back and picked up the call.
“Hello, Huo.”
He had barely spoken two words when the person on the other end abruptly cut him off: “Where are you? I am coming to find you.”