Chapter 53 — Let’s Date
The buildings in the old neighborhood were packed close. Afraid of being seen from across the way, the first thing Yu Fan did after letting Chen Jingshen in was kill the lights and yank the curtains shut. Only the desk lamp on warm mode stayed on. A sliver of moonlight slipped through where the curtain did not quite meet.
He had been half sitting against the headboard and somehow ended up with his head on his own pillow. They did not talk much. Whenever they paused, even for a moment, Yu Fan’s hands went looking for something to do. He would grab his buzzing phone, switch it to silent, tap open the group chat and skim it. He knew the words on the screen, but strung together they refused to stick in his head. He lost patience, locked the screen, and looked up at Chen Jingshen.
Chen would quietly lean down and kiss him again.
Shyness, novelty, and a restless heat all folded into the silence, into the heavy summer night.
After that sharp canine had been teased again and again, Yu Fan pressed a palm to Chen Jingshen’s face and rasped, “Chen Jingshen, lick my tooth one more time and I’ll bite your tongue off.”
Chen had pushed all the messy hair off Yu Fan’s forehead, so his whole face was exposed to the air. His words were fierce, but his expression was the slack, oxygen-thin kind of lazy. The skin under his eyes was pink, his lips were wet, and he had no bite in him at all.
Chen looked at him for a moment, slipped a hand to the nape of his neck, casually brushed away the thin sweat there, and said he knew.
A shiver went through Yu Fan for no reason. Something felt off.
He shifted a leg, then his mind went blank and his whole body locked up. After a long beat he found his voice. “Chen Jingshen, maybe stop.”
The cool hand at his neck withdrew. Chen hummed, got off the bed. His tall frame stood at the headboard. “Borrowing your bathroom.”
In the light and shadow Yu Fan saw Chen’s ears were red, his jawline drawn tight and sharp, and for once there was even a little sweat.
The bathroom door shut.
Yu Fan stared at the ceiling for a while, then dragged the blanket over himself. His whole head was hot.
So this is why he cannot do homework after kissing.
He yanked out the pillow and slammed it down over his face. Even the pillow felt like it would start smoking.
He stayed buried like that for who knew how long. When the heat finally eased a touch, he sat up, turned on the light, cranked the fan to max, and reached for his phone to distract himself.
With his brain cooling down, he could finally process the group chat.
【Zuo Kuan: I give up. You can’t reach Yu Fan at night anymore. What the hell is he doing?】
【Zhang Xianjing: Busy. Didn’t he find a tutor?】
【Zuo Kuan: A tutor who stays till midnight? Look at Zhu Xu. That guy is in a relationship, voice chats two hours with his girlfriend every night, and he still squeezes out two replies for me. Yu Fan hasn’t replied for four hours.】
【Zhu Xu: hehe… hehehehe [heart-bubble.jpg]】
【Zhu Xu: Maybe Yu Fan is dating too?】
【Zuo Kuan: Impossible. 】
【Zuo Kuan: With that temper, who could he even date?】
Yu Fan’s thumb paused there before he scrolled on.
【Wang Lu’an: What do you mean? Plenty of people chase my bro.】
【Zuo Kuan: I know, one’s in my class. 】
【Zuo Kuan: That’s not what I meant. Look at Zhu Xu. Dating turns him into a sweet-talking clingfest, hugging and kissing every day. Can you even picture Yu Fan hugging and kissing anyone??】
The bathroom door clicked open. Yu Fan flung the phone aside on instinct.
Chen came back with water on his cheeks and a few dark drops on his collar. He glanced at the blanket Yu Fan had just tugged over himself.
Yu Fan panicked and tossed the blanket off, sitting up like it was nothing.
Chen quickly looked away, picked up his backpack, slung it over a shoulder. “I’m heading back.”
Yu Fan grunted, slipped on his shoes, and followed him to the door.
Chen looked over. “You planning to lift my palanquin?”
“…As if. Move it. I’m double-locking.”
After shooing him out, Yu Fan went to the balcony and waited. Soon he saw Chen leave the building.
He watched until Chen got into a car and pulled away, then sat on the balcony railing and reached for the cigarette pack he kept there. He shook one out and was about to put it to his lips when a thought flashed through his mind.
If he smokes a lot, would his mouth smell like smoke all the time?
It is not like he can run to brush his teeth every time before a kiss.
And Chen Jingshen is a weak chicken who coughs twice at a whiff of smoke.
Plus that little girl upstairs said it. Smoke too much and your lungs turn black.
Yu Fan stuffed the cigarette back in the box. He sat there dry-mouthed under the moon for a bit, then opened a local shopping app and typed three words: “smoking cessation candy.” He picked a few at random, did not check the brands, and set delivery for 7 a.m.
After ordering, he went back to WeChat and listlessly scrolled. Nothing nourishing. A few pages later he was back at the same exchange.
The night was quiet. The lights in the building across the way had all gone out, which gave the illusion that anything you did would pass unnoticed.
Yu Fan closed WeChat, drifted over to his browser, and when he came back to himself there was already a line in the search bar:
“How do you date someone?”
The next morning, Chen Jingshen watched his desk mate sleep through two whole periods.
Yu Fan finally stirred for PE, squinting as he dragged himself downstairs to line up. When the PE teacher called his name a second time, Yu Fan answered with a lazy grunt.
Wang Lu’an could not help asking, “Didn’t you crash at eight last night? Why are you still dead on your feet?”
“Who said I slept at eight?”
“Zuo Kuan. He said you ghosted him after eight.”
“…”
It felt like the person on his other side lowered his eyes at him. Yu Fan’s heart skipped. He straightened a little, then muttered an indistinct “yeah.”
PE meant laps as usual. The morning sun was mild. Yu Fan shuffled around the track once and the sleep he had shaken off began to settle back over him.
Last night he had a sudden whim and looked up a bunch of random stuff after Chen Jingshen left. He kept reading until three in the morning. By the time he got to class he could barely keep his eyes open.
“Zuo Kuan and the guys are in the lab building classroom smoking. Let’s sneak off there after we run. If they do roll call, they probably won’t mark us,” Wang said, pocketing his phone.
“Mm.”
They reached the fork, ready to slip away while the teacher was not looking, when a cool voice sounded behind them. “Where to?”
Yu Fan started to turn. Wang Lu’an answered first.
“Lab building. This.” Wang mimed a smoking gesture and grinned. “Study god, if they call names, help us out and tell the PE teacher we went to the nurse.”
The last few PE classes had been a race to the courts. Now that it was summer, half the basketball courts stood empty.
No one wanted to go back to class drenched in sweat. Everyone went to the lab classrooms to smoke and play cards.
Wang tossed a card. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something like a cigarette in Yu Fan’s mouth. “Yu Fan, give me one… what is that?”
“Quit-smoking candy.” Yu Fan shifted the stick of candy and answered around it.
The candy he bought came as a lollipop with a stick printed like a cigarette. At first glance Wang thought it was the real thing.
“What kind of dumb design is that…” Wang asked. “Why the sudden health kick?”
“Don’t feel like smoking.” Yu Fan guided his snake across the screen, lazy as ever.
“Relax. You’ll cave in a few days,” Zuo Kuan said, looking at his hand. He suddenly remembered something. “Oh right, Yu Fan, after you sent that letter back yesterday, the girl in my class almost cried.”
Yu Fan flicked his thumb. No comment.
“And another girl went to comfort her. Guess what she said.”
Wang was more curious than Yu Fan. “What?”
“She said, ‘Don’t cry. It’s better he turned you down. He is so fierce and fights all the time. What if he hits his girlfriend in the future?’”
Yu Fan: “…”
Wang burst out laughing. “Hahahahaha!”
Yu Fan kicked the leg of Wang’s chair. Wang straightened up at once, still choking on a laugh. “That is nonsense. Yu Fan has never hit a girl, and he is not gonna hit his girlfriend.”
Is that the point here?
Yu Fan wanted to argue, but could not figure out how, so he went cold. “Shut it. Talk about something else. Leave me out of it.”
“Fine. He is cranky when he is tired. Don’t poke him,” Zhu Xu said around his gum. “Hey, did you hear? A senior girl dropped out.”
Wang gave him a look. “How the hell do you know what happens in senior year?”
“I heard it from the senior athletes. Big gossip up there,” Zhu Xu said. “They say the girl liked a guy. The guy neither refused nor accepted. He kept her hanging, but the hugging and kissing and all that did not stop. He even told other people he was just playing around. The girl got depressed and quit school.”
Yu Fan was idly rolling the candy from one side of his mouth to the other. He almost bit his tongue.
“F***!” Wang slapped his thigh. “That guy is a straight-up scumbag. He makes us guys look bad!”
Zhu Xu: “Right? I heard he also yelled at her a lot. What a jerk.”
“Yeah, yeah!”
Neither refuse nor accept. Keep her dangling. Kiss and hug anyway. Sometimes even scold her.
Yu Fan checked all four boxes. He froze. The candy stopped rolling.
Zuo Kuan: “Only the girl dropped out? The guy is fine? That is way too cheap for hi—”
The back door banged open. Yu Fan bit down on the candy stick and looked up, then paused.
Chen Jingshen stood at the door, breathing a little fast. His gaze went straight to Yu Fan.
The noise startled everyone. Seeing it was Chen, they relaxed.
“Study god, you scared me. I thought—” Wang started.
“Director Hu is coming,” Chen said.
Footsteps pounded in the hall. A familiar bellow followed. “You there in front! Who are you! Informers get an extra charge! No one inside is getting out. I can smell the smoke from down the hall!”
“F***!” Wang yelped.
Cards flew. Cigarettes vanished. The boys scattered like birds. As long as Hu Pang did not catch you red-handed, it did not matter if the room reeked of smoke. Deny till death.
They all lunged for the windows. Desks and chairs crashed. The empty lab building sounded like an earthquake.
Yu Fan stepped aside to give them space. He glanced back to say something, when a hand clamped around his wrist. The next second he was yanked toward the open window.
He stared at Chen’s back, candy in his mouth, and mumbled, “Chen Jingshen!”
Chen did not look back. “Jump.”
“…”
Behind them came Hu Pang’s roar. “Yu Fan!”
You have got to be kidding.
Yu Fan gritted his teeth and, dazed, followed Chen out the window.
Seven or eight boys scattered across campus. Hu Pang and the security guards clambered through the window in hot pursuit. When the pack split, a guard asked who to chase.
“The one in the lead,” Hu Pang panted, his tie flapping. “Chase Yu Fan!”
Wind howled in their ears. The laps they dodged in PE were paid back with interest.
Chen clearly had no experience being chased by teachers. He dragged Yu Fan along the back lane behind the lab building. Yu Fan wanted to tell him no one came this way and they should head for the track, disappear into the crowd, and deny everything.
He looked over. The wind had blown Chen’s hair into a mess. His brows were drawn. His white collar snapped back. He glanced behind at the guards chasing them.
A spark of sunlight hit the black of his eyes. It looked like the moon Yu Fan had stared at for a long time last night.
The cool, familiar mint scent reached him. Something unknown climbed his ribs like ivy, covered his heart, and sent a fine tingle to his brain. For no reason at all, pure and bright, he felt exhilarated.
“Chen Jingshen,” Yu Fan said over his own pounding heartbeat.
Chen answered briefly. “Mm.”
“Open your mouth.”
Chen frowned, puzzled, and looked over. Yu Fan pulled the “cigarette” from his lips and pushed it toward him.
Chen parted his lips on reflex.
A faint sweetness spread on his tongue.
“Let’s date,” Yu Fan said, his voice carried by the wind.
Chen slowed without meaning to. He stared at Yu Fan, stunned, with the last of the candy melting in his mouth.
Yu Fan’s ears were a touch red. He darted a glance at Chen, then quickly looked away and added stiffly, “I won’t do domestic violence to you.”
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