“You can stand? Then your condition should be fine with just a pair of crutches. Why bother with a whole wheelchair? That is way too much trouble.”
Hearing this, Huo You tilted his head and gave him a meaningful look.
His injury was indeed minor, just a fractured lower leg. Under normal circumstances, simply getting it set and cast would be the end of it.
Unfortunately, the person who crashed into him was extremely responsible and determined to create the absolute best recovery conditions for him.
They even suggested that he come live at their house.
Without waiting for a response, Lin Zong bent down and grabbed his arm.
Huo You had not anticipated Lin Zong’s action. The sudden contact made his entire body stiffen, and his gaze immediately shifted to the arm being held.
Lin Zong’s body temperature came with its own navigation system, instantly seeping into his skin.
Huo You felt every dormant nerve in his body come back to life, leaping forward eagerly as if trying to break through a barrier.
This tactile sensation inevitably left his throat dry.
Yet, more than anything, there was an inexplicable sense of being soothed, as exhilarating as an electric current running through his entire body.
He craved to be closer; he craved to be touched.
Huo You’s vision blurred slightly, out of focus, leaving him able to see only Lin Zong.
His vibrant, slightly greenish-tinted spiky hair swayed back and forth in front of his eyes. Looking closely, he could even see a mole on Lin Zong’s left earlobe that looked just like an ear piercing.
His facial features were still quite gentle, though he seemed habitually prone to squinting when looking at people, which right now carried a bit of impatience.
Wake up.
Lin Zong pulled him along, intending to walk, but found that this person was as stiff as if he had seen a ghost.
“What is it this time?” With limited patience, Lin Zong’s tone inevitably grew agitated. “Can you lean on me? Are you planning to stand there like a pole and act as a calming needle for the sea?”
Huo You’s ears were filled with a buzzing sound, making it hard to hear what Lin Zong was saying. He could only feel surrounded by the other’s presence.
Fresh and faint, defying easy description.
In short, it enveloped him, gradually easing his tense nerves from excitement into calm.
Huo You’s fingers twitched uncontrollably. It feels so good.
At that moment, his craving reached its peak.
It was not as if he had never had simple physical contact with others before, but accidental touches on previous occasions always left him extremely irritated.
Even with friends he got along quite well with, there was always a sense of being violated.
It would even plunge him into a contradictory emotional state for a long time, yearning to be touched yet utterly disgusted by actual contact.
This had once caused him a great deal of misery.
Yet this time seemed different.
He could accept Lin Zong touching him, and even desperately wanted to get closer.
It felt just like reaching a warm, safe house.
Slap!
Using all his might, Lin Zong dealt a blow to his back.
“I am asking what is wrong with you,” Lin Zong began shouting, “Acting like you are possessed by a ghost. It is seriously creepy.”
Huo You finally snapped back to reality, cleared his throat, and after a brief internal struggle, pulled his arm away and draped it across Lin Zong’s shoulder over his clothes.
“This is fine.”
The shock from the sudden touch just now had been too intense, leaving his throat tightly hoarse.
“What do you mean?” Lin Zong was baffled. “I am helping you support yourself, and I cannot even grab your arm?”
He had indeed heard of Huo You, the top-ranked student in their grade: cold, unsociable, a severe germaphobe who never had physical contact with anyone.
Was that arrogant demeanor actually true?
Lin Zong could not resist rolling his eyes at him.
Such a show-off.
I am giving you an eye-roll back.
Carrying the nearly one-meter-ninety-tall Huo You, Lin Zong slowly shuffled into the apartment building, deposited him by the elevator doors, and instinctively went back out to push the wheelchair.
It was not that he had forgotten this fellow’s misdeeds, but his upbringing made it impossible for him to leave a disabled person to fend for himself just over a few eye-rolls.
Besides, he could always roll his eyes right back.
Once the elevator arrived, Lin Zong stepped inside with him and pressed his finger against the control panel. “What floor?”
Huo You sat in the wheelchair and looked up at him.
Lin Zong probably did not study well and had a terrible memory, seeing as he had just been told the apartment number a moment ago.
He was not entirely clear on Lin Zong’s usual grades; he had only seen him a few times in the school hallway, heard others call his name, and knew he was very talkative. That was the extent of it.
Still, he figured talkative people probably disliked communicating with quiet ones.
Just as he thought of this, Lin Zong suddenly gave his arm a slap. “When on earth can you speak, and when can you not?”
If you could channel even a fraction of the frequency you use for rolling your eyes into actually speaking, you would be considered quite eloquent.
Huo You calmly dodged the touch and used speech to distract himself from the excitement brought on by the renewed contact. “Now.”
One second, two seconds, three seconds.
Silence again.
Lin Zong felt an urge to shake him dizzy. “Now what?”
“Now I can speak,” Huo You said. “Third floor.”
Lin Zong: “Huh?”
Right, he remembered now: Unit 1, Room 301.
Lin Zong closed his eyes for a moment, helped press the elevator button, and accompanied him upstairs.
As the elevator rose, Lin Zong’s phone rang once more.
He seemed to lead a very busy professional life.
Lin Zong pulled it out and glanced at the screen.
Disaster. He had completely forgotten about Jianbing, who was waiting bitterly outside. At this rate, the poor guy had probably flipped over several times inside the car.
Instead of answering, Lin Zong switched to WeChat to send a message.
ZONG: 【I am busy doing good deeds. Wait for me a bit longer.】
Jianbing is not a pancake: 【I also need to be helped. I have some physiological issues that need a quick resolution.】
ZONG: 【Speak human language.】
Jianbing is not a pancake: 【I really have to pee.】
At a loss for words, Lin Zong heard the ring of the elevator arriving.
Putting away his phone, he wheeled Huo You to the door of 301 at top speed and urged, “Hurry up and unlock the door. I will push you inside.”
Might as well help him all the way to the end.
Huo You was already suffering immensely, his eyes practically glued to the hand Lin Zong had just used for typing.
The fingers were slender and well-knotted, the nails trimmed very neatly.
He wanted to touch them, or perhaps go even further.
Resting his hands on his thighs, Huo You exerted silent force, pinching himself to shift his focus.
The wheelchair crossed the low threshold and stopped in the entryway.
Huo You offered a hoarse word of thanks, inwardly praying that Lin Zong would leave quickly.
Whether his wish was heard by the heavens or not, Lin Zong casually acknowledged him with a sound and turned right back into the elevator.
Huo You stood up, grabbed the underarm crutches left by the door, closed it, and pushed his wheelchair inside with one hand.
The apartment was rented by his maternal aunt. It was a small studio of about twenty square meters, completely visible at a single glance from the entrance.
By the window stood a desk neatly stacked with textbooks, right next to a bed whose headboard was crowded with plush dolls of various sizes.
Moving toward the bed with maximum speed, Huo You tore off his short-sleeved shirt and threw himself into the pile of neatly arranged dolls.
Craving touch, feeling irritable, and even wanting to cry.
He uncomfortably rubbed and kneaded the dolls, attempting to ease the agonizing sensation in his bones that felt like ants crawling over them.
Yet it seemed ineffective; he only wanted to get closer to Lin Zong.
Even catching a whiff of the scent on him would make him feel significantly better.
Driven by a morbid craving, Huo You fumbled out his phone in a daze and sent a reply.