KMYB | Chapter 10

Meng Kewen was yanked up from the grass by Wu Fengyi, and the others were also staring unblinkingly at Zhi Xishui and Zhou Zeqi.

"This is a confession, right?"

"Xishui likes Lao Zhou? No way, they didn’t even know each other before."

"Weren’t they already a CP in the forum?"

"Those long fan posts in the forum even said that in their past lives, one was the blue sky and the other was the white cloud, and you’re still arguing about this."

"Look at how useless Lao Zhou looks. If I didn’t know better, I’d think it was Lao Zhou confessing to Xishui."

Wu Fengyi nodded in agreement. "Exactly, he does look pretty useless."

Zhou Zeqi stared at Xishui without blinking. Stared until Xishui’s face was burning hot, and even his voice started to tremble. "You, what do you think?"

"It’s only been one minute, Xishui. When you usually ask someone to think about something, do you only give them one minute?"

"Is one minute not enough for you to think it over?"

"…"

Zhou Zeqi’s lips twitched with amusement. If someone else had said that, he would have suspected they had something wrong with their head.

But it was Xishui.

Xishui looked serious, his eyes firm. He really thought one minute was enough for Zhou Zeqi to think it through.

Fine.

Enough to think.

A simple "okay" turned over and over in Zhou Zeqi’s mouth before he finally said it. Before he spoke, he had wanted to ask, why do you want to date me? But he swallowed the words back down. He was afraid that once he asked, Xishui would run.

Because right now, Xishui looked exactly like someone so nervous and scared he wanted to bolt.

No matter what, he’d grab the person and keep them in his hands first.

No rush.

"Okay."

As soon as the words fell, Xishui looked a little dazed, then surprised. "You agreed that quickly?"

Zhou Zeqi smiled. "You only gave me one minute to think about it."

"Then, then okay." Xishui felt a little uneasy. He looked at Zhou Zeqi’s eyes, his nose, the shape of his beautiful lips, and imagined what it would feel like to kiss Zhou Zeqi. It didn’t seem unpleasant at all, not in the least. He wanted to kiss Zhou Zeqi.

But burning calories still had to come first.

If Zhou Zeqi needed his help with anything, he’d gladly offer it.

The air was hot and dry. The branches and leaves in the bushes were crowded together, curled at the edges from the heat. In this kind of weather, if you didn’t drink water for long, your throat would quickly feel like it was smoking.

Xishui had forgotten to bring his big water bottle when he went out.

Seeing him keep licking his lips in discomfort, Zhou Zeqi picked up the bottle of mineral water he had already taken a sip from on the ground, unscrewed the cap, and handed it over. "There’s nothing else. Do you want to drink some?"

Xishui looked at the bottle mouth and didn’t reach out to take it for a long time.

He had never drunk from anyone else’s water, and he had never shared a cup with anyone either. At home, everyone had their own water cup, and if the cups looked the same, they would even put labels on them for identification so they wouldn’t get mixed up.

Xishui reached out, then halfway there, pulled his hand back again. His slender fingers hid inside his sleeve, but his eyes looked toward Zhou Zeqi’s face.

Zhou Zeqi held the water out a little closer.

"Xishui, you were the one who liked me first. Are you disgusted by me?" His tone was tinged with amusement, not too obvious, but it still carried a teasing, knowing edge, as if he could see right through Xishui.

Xishui hurriedly said no.

He was even going to kiss Zhou Zeqi. How could he possibly be disgusted by him?

Xishui took the water from Zhou Zeqi’s hand and tilted his head back. Keeping the bottle mouth a few centimeters from his lips, he poured the water into his mouth.

"…"

"Here." Xishui handed the bottle back to Zhou Zeqi.

Zhou Zeqi’s gaze deepened, but he said nothing.

From far away, Wu Fengyi watched them and rested a hand on Meng Kewen’s shoulder. "Look at how useless he is."

Meng Kewen echoed, "Way too useless."

After Xishui finished drinking, he felt much better. He glanced toward the lawn where Wu Fengyi and the others were, then looked back, uneasy, at Zhou Zeqi. "What are we going to do now?"

Zhou Zeqi leaned back. "What do you want to do?"

Xishui went stiff.

He had never thought about it.

His mind was full of nothing but kissing Zhou Zeqi. If he wasn’t going to kiss Zhou Zeqi, then why was he even dating Zhou Zeqi?

But besides kissing, what else did dating require?

Xishui tried hard to remember what his older brothers and sisters, and the classmates around him, usually did when they were dating.

Most of the time, they were fighting.

"You don’t love me anymore."

"Who’s that person?"

"You haven’t replied to me in two hours."

Sometimes they also went for walks, but usually at night, never in the middle of the day. When they walked, they would usually hold hands and walk very slowly.

On weekends, they would go shopping, but Xishui didn’t know what they did while shopping. He had never gone along. He knew about the walking because he often went to the track at night to run, and he had seen it with his own eyes.

Under what circumstances could he and Zhou Zeqi kiss?

Xishui looked at Wu Fengyi and the others, then at the glaring sun above. Even without any dating experience, he knew this was not a good time for kissing.

"Then I’ll go back," Xishui said to Zhou Zeqi.

Zhou Zeqi thought he had misheard. "What?"

Xishui shut his mouth. He clearly sensed that he had said the wrong thing. Even if it wasn’t wrong, Zhou Zeqi definitely wouldn’t like hearing it.

Zhou Zeqi was a little unable to make sense of Xishui. He reached out, gripped Xishui’s wrist, and nearly dragged him into his arms. Xishui barely managed to steady himself, his knees brushing the bench, standing as close to Zhou Zeqi as possible.

"You confess, I agree, and then you say you’re going back?" Zhou Zeqi pointed out how unreasonable Xishui was being. "Xishui… what are you doing, do you even know?"

Xishui thought Zhou Zeqi’s palm was really hot.

He struggled.

Seeing him frown, Zhou Zeqi was afraid he might really hurt him, so he let go.

Xishui didn’t run. He stood there, covering his right wrist with his left hand, and said in a weak voice, "Your hand is so hot, it almost burned me."

Zhou Zeqi was out of temper again.

"Let’s go, I’ll take you back." Zhou Zeqi stood up. Xishui was startled by how suddenly Zhou Zeqi got up and hurriedly took two steps back, then nodded.

Wu Fengyi and Meng Kewen were still leaning against each other, saying in unison, "Look at how useless Lao Zhou is!"

–

Xishui and Zhou Zeqi walking together was one of Jingti’s sights to behold.

But it was also something that took everyone by surprise.

The heat around Xishui and Zhou Zeqi in the forum was extremely high, so high that even some teachers knew about it. Everyone also knew that those photos were photoshopped, those long fan posts were made up, and those people were all crazy, but the CP was sweet, and the two of them had no real connection in daily life.

It was rare to see them in the same frame even once in a year.

Walking together, they were painfully easy on the eyes. Xishui looked good no matter what. As a ballet department student, his posture was impeccable, and on top of that, he had a face that was one in a million.

Xishui was half a head shorter than Zhou Zeqi, and his frame was also one size smaller.

That couldn’t be helped. Even though they were both boys, body frames came in different sizes. Xishui had a slender, long build, while Zhou Zeqi was a sports student. The sports college was always full of rough types, and their memory of Zhou Zeqi once punching a basketball so hard it flew out of the playground and was never found still lingered to this day.

It was already unusual enough that Xishui had shown up at the gymnasium last week. Don’t be fooled by his face, which looked like he was born to eat, drink, and play around, everyone actually knew that Xishui was a very well-behaved kid. Aside from classes and dance practice, he didn’t really have any other entertainment.

Compared with Jingti’s own tyrant Zhou, Xishui was practically a blank sheet of paper.

But what they didn’t know was that this blank sheet of paper had a little scheme to it.

He was coloring himself in, stroke by stroke.

Walking along Jingti’s most famous Huaiyin Avenue, the whole boulevard was filled with the fragrance of pagoda blossoms. Sunlight filtered through gaps in the leaves, casting a mottled pattern of light and shadow.

Xishui lowered his head and looked at the hazy shadows of himself and Zhou Zeqi. There was a distance between them… far enough that he couldn’t reach it with his hand, not far, not close. Zhou Zeqi was carrying the bottle of mineral water he hadn’t finished yet, his steps lazy and unhurried.

Xishui’s pace slowed slightly as he moved a little closer to Zhou Zeqi.

He should start with holding hands.

The next step would be kissing.

He was going to kiss Zhou Zeqi to death.

Xishui cautiously extended his fingers, but before he even touched him, Zhou Zeqi had already turned his hand and caught him first. Xishui lost his footing and blurted out, "What are you doing?"

Zhou Zeqi looked down at him. "What are you doing?"

"Holding hands."

"Me too."

"I was first!" Xishui really had been startled badly by Zhou Zeqi. He was completely focused, all his attention on secretly reaching out to hold Zhou Zeqi’s hand, and then the other man suddenly grabbed his hand. His heart practically shot up to his forehead in that instant.

Seeing Xishui’s serious expression, Zhou Zeqi slowly let go of him.

"Go ahead," Zhou Zeqi said.

Xishui reached out and grabbed Zhou Zeqi, finally satisfied.

His fingers were already long and pretty, his knuckles not too thick, but compared with Zhou Zeqi’s, they were still a little smaller. Zhou Zeqi took the lead, interlocking their fingers, and only when he saw that Xishui didn’t react did he withdraw his gaze.

It was more than ten minutes’ walk back. The weather was too hot, and Xishui’s palms were already dripping with sweat.

Only after they entered the residential building did it start to feel less hot.

Xishui pressed the elevator button and looked up at Zhou Zeqi. "We don’t need to hold hands now."

"We’re home."

Zhou Zeqi let go of him.

The elevator rose slowly, the numbers changing one after another. Xishui stared at the display, and just as they were about to arrive, he said to Zhou Zeqi, "Do you still need to go back to school?"

"Not going back. I’ll take a nap after lunch, then study."

Xishui lowered his head and glanced at the time on his phone. It was already almost three in the afternoon.

"Are you home alone?" Zhou Zeqi’s gaze landed on Xishui’s clean, white neck and didn’t move.

"Not alone," Xishui shook his head. "Lin Xiaojin and the others are here too. We had barbecue today."

That was the place that made Xishui feel heartbroken.

Barbecue plus soda was the source of happiness, and also the root of suffering.

If only he could kiss Zhou Zeqi right now.

He should have known not to prepare.

Xishui felt a little troubled, and a little anxious.

"When are they leaving?" Zhou Zeqi asked.

Xishui said, "Probably at night. They’re still sleeping. They won’t wake up until it gets dark."

"Ding~"

They arrived on the 17th floor.

Xishui stepped out first, with Zhou Zeqi following behind him. Their apartment doors were right next to each other.

While fishing out his keys, Xishui said to himself, "Then if I say goodbye to you now, when will we see each other next? Tomorrow?"

Zhou Zeqi listened to him mumble at his side, lowering his eyes.

His expression was unreadable.

Zhou Zeqi opened his own door and pushed it lightly. The spacious living room was fully visible at a glance, empty and quiet, missing only a little swan.

Before Xishui had even opened his door, his wrist was suddenly seized by Zhou Zeqi, who dragged him into the neighboring apartment and slammed the door shut from the inside.

The little swan was carried into the wolfdog’s den.

——————–

Author’s Note:

Xiaoxi: Aw~