Chapter 28: Ge, Help Me — Woken Up by a Black Shadow in the Middle of the Night, Standing by the Bed…
Days passed by, busy but peaceful and grounded.
In the evening, nestled in the sofa reading a book, he heard footsteps at the door.
“You’re back?”
Since Jiang Yan found a job, he sometimes returned even later than Jiang Yunian, so now it was Jiang Yunian waiting for him to come home. Jiang Yunian actually didn’t want him to be so tired. He now had family and friends, could manage his studies while earning some extra money; happiness had become concrete, and he was very content.
Jiang Yan responded with an “En.”
He looked a bit tired, a thin layer of sweat covering his forehead. Jiang Yunian couldn’t help but put down his book, walk over, and gently wipe the sweat from his temples with the back of his hand.
Jiang Yan lowered his head slightly, letting him do as he pleased, enjoying all the care given with peace of mind.
After looking at him quietly for a while, he turned his head, burying half of his face into the other’s palm, rubbing against it coquettishly.
Jiang Yunian felt that Jiang Yan had become particularly clingy lately, even more so than before. It was fine when they didn’t see each other, but once alone, he would instinctively stick close, like a puppy that couldn’t leave its owner.
But it was better than the cold silence; he couldn’t stand that invisible pressure. As long as the two of them were okay, Jiang Yunian was happy to indulge him. He gently rubbed Jiang Yan’s hair, “Alright, go wash up and sleep.”
Jiang Yan didn’t move, his clinginess flaring up, insisting he couldn’t sleep so early and pestering him to watch a movie together.
“Ge, accompany me.”
They didn’t have much time together originally, so Jiang Yunian half-reluctantly agreed. Anyway, tomorrow was the weekend and he didn’t need to get up early; staying up late with him once wasn’t a big deal.
Jiang Yan took a hot shower, put on a thin long-sleeved shirt, casually pulled out a disc from the remaining ones, and like last time, brought a thin blanket to drape over both of them.
Jiang Yunian obediently leaned over. Jiang Yan’s large hand naturally wrapped around his waist, pulling him into his embrace, so half of Jiang Yunian’s body nestled in his arms.
This time it was a Taiwanese youth art film, picture quality blurry, covered with a retro filter, carrying a sense of age.
The first to appear was a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy, clean-looking, refined, exuding the aura of a top student. closely followed by his classmate, an arrogant dark-skinned sports student.
The two had vastly different personalities and couldn’t stand each other. The dark-skinned sports student despised him from the bottom of his heart, thinking he was just an embroidered pillow who only knew how to study. The top student also disdained the dark-skinned boy for being vulgar, only relying on brute force to bully others in school.
A cliché plot, the direction naturally wasn’t surprising. Neither of the two submitted to the other, fighting and fighting, the grudge didn’t form, but instead they became good brothers.
The first half-hour was almost entirely about the bumps and scrapes between these two, with not even a shadow of the female lead. Jiang Yunian found it boring, turning his head to look at Jiang Yan, finding him watching seriously.
“He looks a bit like Ge.” Jiang Yan suddenly said.
The camera pointed to that clean and refreshing top student. Jiang Yunian felt not alike at all, “Where?”
“Not alike either,” Jiang Yan changed his mind again. He turned his head, the focus just now gone, hugging him tighter, fingers unconsciously rubbing his wrist, “Ge is better looking than him.”
Voice low and hoarse, “Waist is also thinner than his.”
“Mn… don’t move…” Jiang Yunian pulled out his wrist and moved away a bit, feeling his filter on him was too heavy, muttering softly, “How can I compare with a star.”
He looked up at him, only to find his eyes weren’t watching TV at all, but staring straight at himself, unknown how long he had been watching. Jiang Yunian felt uncomfortable all over being watched, lowering his eyelashes to avoid the gaze.
Jiang Yan was really clingy to an abnormal degree, and the look in his eyes was also strange.
Is it because I indulge him too much?
“In my eyes, Ge is the best looking.” Jiang Yan grabbed his hand again, blowing gently on the reddened skin.
Jiang Yunian muttered “Where is it,” and fell silent.
After blowing, Jiang Yan rubbed his wrist, then obediently put it back on the blanket, not moving randomly anymore, accompanying him to watch patiently.
Ten minutes later, the scene cut to the dormitory toilet door. The two exchanged a look, revealing an indescribable meaning.
In the narrow space, the dark-skinned boy couldn’t hold back first, pushing the person in without a word. The screen flashed, then the glass door blurred their figures.
“What are they doing?” Jiang Yan frowned.
“This…” How to say it?
Jiang Yunian’s cheeks burned.
This scene reminded him of when he lived in the dorms, a group of boys squeezing in the dorm to peek at films. Sometimes discussing which teacher had the best figure while watching, two with particularly good relationships would even hide in the toilet together.
Jiang Yunian was thin-skinned, watched twice out of curiosity, also not wanting to spoil the fun. At that time, people often came to inspect dorms, they dared not turn up the volume, trembling and not finding it that good looking. Later he hid when he could, occasionally unable to sleep due to heat at night, hiding under the quilt himself… nervous as a thief, afraid of being discovered.
Jiang Yan had no memory of the past, hadn’t contacted these, feeling disgusted was normal.
Jiang Yunian weighed his words, explaining slowly: “…Shows their relationship is very good, yes, um, good brothers helping each other… is also normal.”
“Relationship good, very normal…” Jiang Yan chewed over it carefully, suddenly turning to look at him, eyes exceptionally serious, “Like me and Ge being good?”
This sounded weird applied to himself, but couldn’t find words to refute for a moment, Jiang Yunian could only nod awkwardly.
“So that’s it.” Jiang Yan said in a low voice, eyes darkening, unknown what he was thinking.
At this time, a young and beautiful girl suddenly popped up in the movie, confessing to the top student in front of the whole class.
Finally waiting for the female lead, Jiang Yunian’s eyes lit up, thinking finally didn’t need to watch two boys doing that anymore.
But watching and watching, he became more confused… this plot development was truly baffling.
“Why is he angry?” This time it was Jiang Yunian who didn’t understand. Logically the movie was more than halfway through, the girl secretly loved the top student for many years, the top student should fall in love at first sight with the女主 (female lead) to have enough time for the following plot. Who knew the dark-skinned sports student bumped into the confession scene, face sinking, turning and leaving, looking like his girlfriend was snatched.
Even more outrageous was, the always calm and introverted top student panicked on the spot seeing the dark-skinned boy pull a face. Not only publicly rejecting the female lead’s deep confession, but turning back to chase the dark-skinned boy without looking back, this plot direction was too confusing.
Jiang Yunian frowned his delicate brows, muttering inwardly: No wonder this film piled up for years without selling, what romance film leaves the female lead aside to chase a silly big dark guy?
“Probably because of jealousy.” Jiang Yan seemed to guess his doubt.
Jiang Yunian’s eyes widened slightly, “Jealousy?”
“It’s acted like this on TV.” Jiang Yan said leisurely: “If Ge got a girlfriend, leaving me alone, I would be jealous too.”
Jiang Yunian rarely watched TV, Jiang Yan caught up a lot during his recovery. He gave an “Oh,” remembering the feeling of emptiness when he misunderstood Jiang Yan was interested in that “female deskmate” before.
So this can also be called jealousy.
Then both their jealousy is quite big. Thinking again felt it wasn’t very moral, too unfair to the female lead.
“So Ge can’t have a girl you like.” Jiang Yan suddenly said, tone somewhat roguishly domineering.
“Now… no shadow of it,” Jiang Yunian’s face heated slightly, growing up so big he hadn’t even been in love. Those heart-throbbing plots in idol dramas blurred into a mess in his mind, he didn’t know if after liking was sweet or sad.
Jiang Yan: “Best not to have, otherwise I will be jealous.”
“Childish.”
Jiang Yunian said so, but his heart was clear. The tide of life would sooner or later push them to their respective shores, perhaps next spring, or after several deep autumns, he would hold a girl’s hand, pressing a red fingerprint at the Civil Affairs Bureau; and Jiang Yan would also put a ring on another person’s ring finger on a certain ordinary night.
Some fates, just ticks passed by time.
Just a matter of time.
Later watched for a while longer, still the two big boys’ scenes, Jiang Yunian felt sleepy, saying watch the rest tomorrow.
Jiang Yan said okay, just that after many tomorrows passed, they didn’t think of this film again, after all Jiang Yunian didn’t rate it high.
It was getting late, Jiang Yunian told him to rest early, returning to his room first.
Inside the room, Jiang Yan lay on the bed with eyes closed, no sleepiness, an inexplicable dry heat窜 (running) in his body. A few minutes later, he dug out a photo of his brother from the second-hand phone.
…
The scene of those two boys in the toilet in the movie stuck in his brain, lingering.
At night, Jiang Yunian had a strange dream, identical to the wet dream last time. He dreamed the room rustled, as if countless small bugs crawling in the dark. A blurred figure floated in, stopping by his bed. That gaze seemed substantial, sweeping him from head to toe, making his hair stand on end.
Suddenly, an icy hand touched his bed, reaching his forehead.
Jiang Yunian trembled all over, a slurred hum spilling from his lips. He unconsciously moved his lips, opening a dry small mouth, suddenly his lips were gently pressed, a small section soft, cool, like a finger stopping on his lips. Jiang Yunian unconsciously opened wider, tongue extending, as if to squeeze it out, but that thing seemed to respond, entangling and playing with it. His mouth was sore, still useless, finally annoyed to the extreme, mouth opening wider, posturing to bite, before he reacted, that cold touch disappeared again, transferring to the bedside, a fine sound of clothing friction rang, carrying a trace of extremely light voice.
Jiang Yunian’s eyeballs slid uneasily, feeling a trace of heat in half-dream half-awake state, he slowly opened his eyes, about to pull the quilt down, just rising a bit, the scene before him shocked him almost losing his voice!
In the pitch-black room, a person actually stood by the bed!
“Who… who?!” Jiang Yunian swallowed saliva in fear, shrinking back continuously.
“Ge, it’s me.”
Jiang Yan’s voice came from the darkness, throat seemingly blocked by something, carrying deliberate suppression.
“Ah Yan?” Jiang Yunian couldn’t believe it, “Why are you here?”
He hurriedly lifted the quilt, turning on the bedside lamp, staring at him.
Under the light, Jiang Yan looked troubled, brows revealing a sense of endurance. He grabbed Jiang Yunian’s hand, voice carrying a trace of helplessness.
“Ge, I feel a bit uncomfortable…”
Jiang Yunian seeing his situation, how could he not understand what it was? Happening in the middle of the night, his face turned green then red, unknown if from scare or what.
“How are you…”
Jiang Yunian was stunned instantly, eyes flickering, daring not look more. Solving this secretly by himself isn’t enough? Why find him?
Scared half to death by Jiang Yan in the middle of the night.
Jiang Yan looked painful, obviously tormented enough. Jiang Yunian tried to avoid sight, saying with a muffled voice let him go himself.
Jiang Yan didn’t move, begging in his ear.
Jiang Yunian’s eyes widened, didn’t expect him to make such a request, pinching the quilt corner at a loss, “This isn’t good right…”
He himself was a novice.
“Didn’t Ge say, it’s normal between good brothers?” Jiang Yan simply squeezed into the quilt, with reason and evidence.
Jiang Yunian was speechless for a moment, said so, but didn’t expect to really do so ah.
Really shooting himself in the foot.
Looking at Jiang Yan’s flushed face, Jiang Yunian’s heart beat drums, in a dilemma.
Struggling for a moment, finally couldn’t bear it. He bit his lip with a red face, patting the bedside signaling the other to sit down.
…
Towards the end, Jiang Yunian was extremely tired, sweating but not caring much, more of heart hot.
Jiang Yan’s head pressed against him, eyelashes sweeping his skin seemingly inadvertently, saying something in his ear.
Jiang Yunian felt a burst of shame and annoyance in his heart, “Talking nonsense… go rest quickly”
Jiang Yan shook his head “En”, “Wait a bit more.”
Then hugging him, strange words popping out of his mouth unknowingly, Jiang Yunian was pestered by him to no end, somehow falling for his trick again.
Unknown how long passed, Jiang Yunian was so sleepy his eyes couldn’t open, someone still shamelessly praising him, Jiang Yunian didn’t even have strength to push him, lazy to argue.
When he was groggy about to fall asleep, felt Jiang Yan gently hugging him, lips pressing against his back neck, laughing low.
That voice intimately gentle, making ear roots soft hearing it.
Jiang Yunian was too tired, didn’t think much, letting him hug to sleep.
In the darkness, Jiang Yan opened his eyes, gaze clear where was half a bit of sleepiness. He stared at Jiang Yunian’s fair back neck, eyes deep bottomless.
Phone screen faintly lit, the photo was exactly Jiang Yunian’s quiet sleeping face.
He lowered his head, gently kissed the hair tip of the person in his arms.
“Mine.” He said silently, corners of mouth slightly hooked, revealing a trace of satisfaction.
Staying up late, next day waking up with dark circles, eyes couldn’t open.
Jiang Yunian regretted immensely in his heart, messing around with Jiang Yan.
In return, Jiang Yan specially got up early to make breakfast for him, Jiang Yunian looking at his refreshed appearance, couldn’t help complaining.
Compared to the wilting self, why is his energy so good?
Really unfair.
No early class today, Jiang Yan let him eat breakfast then go back to sleep, Jiang Yunian was really sleepy, so went back to sleep.
Waking up again, Jiang Yan left a note on the table, letting him take the snacks in the fridge to school to eat, pad stomach when hungry.
Jiang Yunian opened the fridge, finding a few more boxes of homemade pastry and pure milk, probably made while he was sleeping.
Jiang Yunian muttered, “That’s more like it.”
He casually took some, ate one himself, distributing others to classmates.
Hao Meng bit a mouthful of pastry, praising fiercely: “Too delicious, our Ah Yan is really skillful, whoever be his girlfriend in the future must be happy to death.”
Jiang Yunian uncontrollably remembered the shock received last night, saying resentfully: “Better not.”
Being gifted isn’t necessarily a good thing.
Hao Meng didn’t know what he thought, pretending to be melancholy: “If not for rabbits not eating grass by the burrow, this miss would have easily captured him.”
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