Chapter 64: How Much is ‘Quite Like’?
Cheng Ge didn’t even need to walk close to see that Wen Ling’s face was taut.
Cheng Ge wiped his hands clean but still felt they were a bit dirty, so he only used the back of his hand to touch Wen Ling’s face. His tone was very gentle: “Why this expression? Did you wait too long?”
Cheng Ge thought Wen Ling disliked watching basketball, yet he forced him to watch a whole half. Wen Ling was too bored, hence the bad mood. He immediately felt a bit guilty.
Wen Ling’s face was still taut. Being touched on the face by Cheng Ge, his expression softened slightly. Then he shoved the water in his hand into Cheng Ge’s hand, his tone carrying a hint of command: “Drink the water.”
Cheng Ge didn’t hesitate, immediately drinking more than half the bottle, marveling internally at how considerate Wen Ling had become.
“Let’s go, back to the dorm.” After drinking the water, Cheng Ge felt refreshed, but he could sense Wen Ling’s spirits were not high, even a bit downcast. Did he really dislike basketball games that much?
“How did you feel?” Cheng Ge asked carefully.
Wen Ling looked at Cheng Ge’s side profile, words popping out a few at a time. “You made eight shots. You won. Very impressive.”
Cheng Ge blanked for a second, then suddenly burst into laughter. He found Wen Ling’s rigid way of speaking incredibly cute, and he hadn’t expected Wen Ling to watch so seriously.
“Thank you, but I meant how did you feel, not how did I play.”
“Noisy.” Wen Ling summarized in one word.
What he hated the most was that every time Cheng Ge shot the ball, so many people would scream, and the bright gazes of so many people would land on Cheng Ge.
Cheng Ge thought to himself that Wen Ling truly couldn’t adapt to noisy environments at all. He felt a bit troubled; he would still spend a lot of time and energy playing basketball in the coming period. What would Wen Ling do?
While Cheng Ge was worrying, he heard Wen Ling suddenly pop out a sentence: “So many people were looking at you.”
Cheng Ge: “?”
“No, you got it wrong. They weren’t looking at me, they were looking at my captain, that Number 1. You should have seen him, right?”
“Didn’t see him.” Wen Ling didn’t hesitate at all.
“How could that be? That really tall one, with curly hair, the super handsome one.”
“Didn’t see him. I only saw you.”
Listening to Wen Ling’s words, Cheng Ge inexplicably laughed for a while, then patiently explained, “Anyway, they really weren’t looking at me, they were looking at my captain. You got it wrong.”
Cheng Ge really wasn’t being modest. His captain was the star player of the sports college, tall and handsome, with an exceptionally good personality and tons of fangirls. He felt half the students watching on the court were his captain’s fans.
Besides, Cheng Ge truly didn’t feel anyone looking at him. Throughout the entire half, he could only feel Wen Ling’s intense, unblinking stare, okay…
Wen Ling pursed his lips and didn’t reply.
Cheng Ge didn’t know what went wrong for a moment, so he had to change the subject. “Can you give me a tissue?”
Cheng Ge knew Wen Ling always carried tissues with him, probably due to being a bit of a germaphobe.
Wen Ling pulled a folded tissue from his pocket, pulling out two sheets for Cheng Ge.
“Thanks.”
Cheng Ge used the tissue to wipe the sweat off his face, neck, and collarbone. He dried his hair, and finding the wet hair poking his eyelids annoying, he brushed it all back until he felt a bit more comfortable.
The person who had been standing quietly to the side suddenly reached his hand towards the top of Cheng Ge’s head. Before Cheng Ge could dodge, Wen Ling had smoothed down a portion of his hair.
“Don’t touch,” Cheng Ge reacted, grabbing Wen Ling’s wrist, his tone a bit hurried. “It’s all sweat.” Saying that, he used the remaining clean tissue to wipe Wen Ling’s hand clean.
“Don’t push your hair up.” Wen Ling was also a bit hurried, very agitated.
Wen Ling truly couldn’t stand the feeling of all those shy and excited gazes falling on Cheng Ge earlier. It felt as if his most important possession was being stared at, coveted, and might even be snatched away.
“Is it that ugly?” Cheng Ge wasn’t angry, he just felt Wen Ling’s possessiveness was excessively strong—even trying to manage his unflattering hairstyle. “You’re so bossy.”
Wen Ling didn’t refute Cheng Ge’s latter sentence at all. He was already exercising great restraint.
“Not ugly, it looks good, but you can’t do this anymore. I don’t like it.”
“Okay, okay.” Cheng Ge didn’t believe Wen Ling’s illogical words for a second. Doesn’t “I don’t like it” equate to ugly?
However, he was already very gratified that Wen Ling would speak such tactful words for the sake of his self-esteem.
Actually, Cheng Ge himself didn’t really like having no hair on his forehead.
This was mainly because of Cheng Ge’s former upper bunkmate.
It was probably a year ago. One day, his upper bunkmate went on a date, meticulously styling his hair with a middle part. When he came back, he cried to them miserably, saying his girlfriend laughed at him for having a “traitor’s haircut” and couldn’t stop laughing after just two bites of food.
Cheng Ge learned from this lesson. Since then, he rarely dared to sweep his hair all the way back, afraid someone would pop out and call it a “traitor’s haircut.”
It was just too hot today, and he had sweated too much playing basketball. The clumps of wet hair were uncomfortable, which was why he pushed it up.
As the two walked along, Cheng Ge felt Wen Ling constantly leaning toward him. Disliking the sweat on his own body, he distanced himself slightly from Wen Ling, telling him to “behave.”
As a result, Wen Ling became sulky again.
He sulked the whole way until he finally squeezed out a sentence to Cheng Ge: “I’m unhappy.”
Seeing the person’s small face stubbornly taut, Cheng Ge found it both funny and helpless. He smiled and asked Wen Ling in return, “Then what should we do?”
Then he was glared at angrily by Wen Ling.
Because Wen Ling himself didn’t know what to do either. He just didn’t want Cheng Ge to be looked at by others, didn’t want Cheng Ge to spend so much time on other things. He wanted Cheng Ge to stay with him all the time.
But Cheng Ge was unwilling, and Wen Ling didn’t want Cheng Ge to be unhappy either.
“Don’t be mad, don’t be mad. Being mad too much hurts the body.” Cheng Ge patted Wen Ling’s chest, not a bit cowardly. He was much bolder now and loved to tease Wen Ling when he had nothing to do.
Moreover, he discovered that a person like Wen Ling needed to be pushed a bit so he wouldn’t bottle things up, allowing him to express those messy thoughts in his head.
Cheng Ge poked Wen Ling’s slightly puffed cheeks.
Compared to before, Wen Ling wasn’t as skinny now. He had plumped up a bit, but these slightly puffed cheeks weren’t fat; he was purely angry.
Don’t ask Cheng Ge how he could tell, because his finger almost got bitten.
Cheng Ge only dared to secretly gossip in his heart that Wen Ling was a puppy. On the surface, he was still very ingratiating, only daring to coax him in a soft whisper, “What do you need to be a little happier?”
“I’ll go along with whatever you want, okay?”
Don’t ask, asking just means Cheng Ge chickened out.
After a long while, Cheng Ge finally waited for Wen Ling to say: “Do you like playing basketball that much?”
Like it that much? Playing from morning till night!
Cheng Ge told the truth: “Not to the extent of ‘that much’, I just quite like it.”
Wen Ling tilted his head, very persistent: “How much is ‘quite like’?”
“I don’t know. Anyway, not as much as I like you.” Cheng Ge was completely familiar with the routine, understanding Wen Ling thoroughly. He leaned close to Wen Ling’s ear and whispered, “I like you the most.”
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