Zhou Lu panicked for a second. He let go of Li Yu’s hand, pulled him into a tight embrace, and said, “Don’t, don’t cry. Did I hold you too hard and hurt you?”
That only made things worse. Hearing those words made Li Yu feel even more aggrieved, and the tears in his eyes burst forth.
He leaned against Zhou Lu’s shoulder, looking as helpless as a little kitten abandoned by a coldhearted owner.
The breath from his nose brushed against Zhou Lu’s neck.
Zhou Lu felt a tickling, itchy sensation in his heart. He gently patted Li Yu’s back to help him catch his breath.
Feeling Li Yu’s breathing gradually steady, Zhou Lu wrapped one arm around Li Yu’s waist and supported the back of his head with the other, quietly studying the teenager before him.
Looking at Li Yu’s bloodshot eyes, Zhou Lu felt as though someone was tightly gripping his heart, leaving him barely able to breathe.
He stroked Li Yu’s head and softly comforted him, “It’s alright now.”
At such close range, Li Yu looked at the man’s dark hair falling over his forehead, eyebrows long and sweeping up into his temples, slender and gentle eyes, high bridge of the nose, and fair skin.
“He’s so good-looking.”
Thinking this in his heart, his brain completely short-circuited. Uncontrollably, the words slipped right out of his mouth, “Why aren’t you mine?”
Zhou Lu narrowed his eyes, his grip on Li Yu’s shoulders trembling slightly. Thinking he had misheard, he asked again, “What?”
Seeing Zhou Lu looking so serious, Li Yu panicked slightly and tried to break free from his grasp, turning his face away as he muttered, “It’s nothing.”
Zhou Lu turned his face back, unable to suppress the joy on his face. “Xiao Yu, you like me, don’t you?”
Uncomfortably, Li Yu insisted that he didn’t.
Looking right at him, Zhou Lu refuted him word by word, “No, you do, or why would your reaction just now have been so intense?”
Realizing that his innermost secret had been completely exposed by the person he liked, Li Yu felt a bit flustered, but a few seconds later, he mustered up his courage.
“Yes, I admit that I like you. But since you’ll be with that girl later on, I won’t pester you, so you can rest assured.” A sour, aching pain gripped Li Yu’s heart. With that said, he turned around and started to walk away.
How could Zhou Lu ever let him go? Panicking, he grabbed him from behind in a tight embrace, “Don’t go!”
“Would you want to try being with me?”
“Try what?!” At first, Li Yu thought he had misheard, but he still swallowed nervously.
“Go out with me,” Zhou Lu said.
Li Yu’s pupils shrank in shock!
Hearing Zhou Lu directly confess his feelings to him, his heartbeat grew more and more violent.
“Actually, I’ve kept these words buried in my heart for a very long time. I hesitated until now to finally tell you,” Zhou Lu said, gazing straight into his eyes.
Perhaps because he had been immersed in the role of unrequited love for too long, Zhou Lu’s sudden confession left Li Yu stunned, not knowing how to express himself.
Zhou Lu liked him too? How on earth did he not know?!
“Are you serious?” Li Yu asked, finding it hard to believe.
“I’m serious. I’m not joking around, nor am I acting on a momentary impulse!” Zhou Lu explained.
Zhou Lu knew that confessing this all at once would leave Li Yu completely overwhelmed.
Ever since he first laid eyes on Li Yu, he had always felt an inexplicable sense of fondness for him.
Could that fondness even be called love?
He used to think that a guy liking another guy was wrong, something that shouldn’t happen.
He figured Li Yu probably wouldn’t like him either, given that their gender was right there out in the open.
Yet, never in his wildest dreams did he expect that Li Yu would actually confess to liking him today!
He couldn’t help but feel overjoyed! Since the opportunity was right in front of him, he didn’t want to hesitate anymore. He had simply gone straight ahead and confessed to Li Yu.
Li Yu still felt a bit dazed; he couldn’t believe it!
He even thought he must be inside a dream, one so wonderful it felt completely surreal!
Right up until Zhou Lu placed a kiss on his cheek.
The moment he genuinely felt the warmth of Zhou Lu’s lips, Li Yu blushed and finally confirmed to himself that all of this was real.
“Xiao Yu is back! Go wash your hands and come sit down for dinner!” Li Yan was sitting at the dining table, with several dishes of Li Yu’s favorite food laid out in front of him.
Just as Li Yu arrived home, before he even had time to take off his shoes, his mouth was already watering from the sight of the food on the table.
“Ah, Big Brother Yan, the dishes you cook are my absolute favorites!”
“As long as you like them,” Li Yan said with a smile, continuing, “As long as you like them, I’ll keep cooking them for you, for a lifetime! How does that sound?”
Li Yu was eating with great relish, completely missing anything amiss in his childhood friend’s words, and nodded happily, “Sounds good.”
“Big Brother Yan, I’m full. Take your time.”
“Alright, go ahead.”
Watching Li Yu’s retreating figure after he finished eating, Li Yan narrowed his eyes slightly.
Li Yu returned to his room, sat on the edge of the bed, and pulled out a badge to examine it closely. Touching it over and over wasn’t enough, so he finally pressed a soft kiss to it with his lips.
“This is the very first gift Brother Lu gave him. Uh, wait, this should be Brother Lu’s token of love! Yes, let’s call it that.”
Remembering how Zhou Lu had confessed to him that he had been captivated by him from the very first moment they met, Li Yu never imagined that Zhou Lu could hide his feelings so deeply.
They were in the same class for so long, yet he hadn’t even been able to pick up on Zhou Lu’s hidden intentions!
Li Yu’s eyes curved into crescents, revealing his two adorable little canine teeth.
“A token of love.”