Bai Qi suddenly realized that Bo Yan was even more homophobic than he thought. He probably wasn’t happy about being seen half-naked, his face flushed red with anger.
Oh no, how to make amends?
He had no experience dealing with homophobic straight men, and was a little afraid Bo Yan would hit him. His face quickly drained of color, timidly clutching the bag of grapes in his hand.
His delicate bones were so frail, and he was small. He looked soft and tender, as if a touch would make him tremble.
This was a body that even his boyfriend wasn’t allowed to touch.
Bo Yan’s long fingers pinched his brow, his chest rising and falling heavily, as if struggling to control the urge to hit someone. He turned to put on a short-sleeved shirt, concealing his increasingly reddened body.
“I should apologize. Which bed do you sleep in?”
His voice was hoarse. After asking, he went back to fixing the cabinet, not looking at Bai Qi again, his ears still flushed.
Bai Qi breathed a sigh of relief.
Although Bo Yan was homophobic, he seemed able to restrain himself and didn’t directly lose his temper.
That was enough. As long as they coexisted peacefully and he didn’t get hit, that was fine.
Confirming that Bo Yan wasn’t looking at him anymore, Bai Qi quickly trotted into the dorm, placing the grapes and egg fried rice on the bed next to Bo Yan’s, breathing slightly. “Number three.”
Jiang University’s dorms were four-person rooms with beds above desks. Bo Yan’s empty bed was number four, by the door. Bai Qi’s bed, number three, was next to the window and next to bed four.
They were on the same side, their desks even touching. Bo Yan stood not far from Bai Qi, his tall figure extremely present, making the already relatively spacious dorm feel cramped.
With a new roommate, Bai Qi should have offered hospitality and helped tidy up, but after the awkwardness just now, he felt it was better not to get close.
Moreover, although Bo Yan seemed to be his roommate, they were too far apart in reality. Their life experiences were completely different, and Bai Qi didn’t know what he could talk to him about.
He washed the grapes and quietly sat by the window to eat.
The midday sun spread over him, his hair and eyebrows dyed a hazy light gold, strands of sweet fragrance drifting into the dorm.
After a few bites of egg fried rice, his snow-white, delicate fingertips picked up a purple grape and brought it to his lips, gently biting into the bursting juice. His lips stained with a deep red moisture, seeming to have ripened to the point of decay, just waiting for someone to lick them clean.
The sound of fixing the cabinet stopped.
Even though the air conditioner was on, the room seemed to get hotter and hotter, so hot that Bo Yan soon strode to the bathroom and took another shower.
Once he left, Bai Qi felt a little more relaxed. He quickly finished his egg fried rice and turned to look at Bo Yan’s bed, finding that the cabinet had been repaired.
However, while the rest of the dorm was clean and tidy, Bo Yan’s bed was piled high with the large items Zhang Cheng and the others had carelessly left there, so much so that Bo Yan’s two very expensive-looking suitcases hadn’t even been opened.
No wonder Bo Yan went to shower again; the cabinet probably had some dust.
Bai Qi felt increasingly guilty. Bo Yan’s low-key arrival at the dorm was surely to focus on studying; yet his cabinet was broken, his bed piled with clutter, and Bai Qi had even bumped into him as soon as he entered.
This experience for a homophobic and clean-freak straight man was unimaginable. Even so, Bo Yan didn’t get angry with him; he had a very good temper.
Bai Qi immediately called Zhao Bin, wanting to call them back to tidy up. The phone only rang once before being hung up, replaced by a video call from Zhao Bin.
Bai Qi helplessly opened it, Zhao Bin’s smiling face immediately appearing on the screen, along with the chaotic sounds around him. He could vaguely see many people behind him, with quite a few glancing this way.
Zhang Cheng also squeezed into the screen, his voice incredibly loud, “Xiao Qi, don’t worry, Bo Yan isn’t here yet.”
Bai Qi’s heart skipped a beat. He subconsciously turned to look at the bathroom, seeing the door was closed and breathing a sigh of relief.
He quickly whispered, “Come back and tidy up quickly, Bo Yan is in our dorm.”
“Who came? The dorm supervisor?” Zhang Cheng didn’t hear clearly, the noise around him too loud. He asked while walking towards the edge of the crowd.
A moment later, he paused.
The light and shadow in the video suddenly darkened. Behind Bai Qi, a slender male jawline appeared, the clearly defined Adam’s apple particularly prominent, broad shoulders pressed down, vaguely enveloping the delicate young man in front of him.
For a moment, Zhang Cheng almost thought Bai Qi was going to be eaten.
Only then did he finally hear what Bai Qi said.
“Bo Yan is here.”
…
Seeing Zhang Cheng and Zhao Bin start running, Bai Qi finally hung up the video call with peace of mind, threw away the trash, and went to shower.
It was stuffy and hot today. In the bathroom, he took off his thick hoodie, his fair, translucent body glowing with a fine pink hue.
Turning on the shower, Bai Qi found that the water temperature Bo Yan had used was very low, so low it was almost like cold water. Even in summer, it felt cold.
Surprised at his good constitution, he raised the temperature a little, the gushing water washing away the heat from his body.
After a while, there was a faint noise outside, seeming to be Zhang Cheng and Zhao Bin returning; others from the other dorms seemed to have come over too, but the sound of the water made it hard to hear clearly.
Bai Qi didn’t pay attention to this, focusing on applying shower gel, his whole body covered in white bubbles, before slowly rinsing.
However, a few minutes later, the message notification on his phone, placed outside the shower curtain, rang. He ignored it, and the messages kept coming.
Finally, Bai Qi couldn’t take it anymore, wiped his hands, and looked. It was a row of exclamation points.
Zhang Cheng and Zhao Bin kept sending him WeChat messages in the dorm group chat. Zhang Cheng kept exclaiming how handsome Bo Yan was in person, how cold and cool he was, and he had gotten an autograph for his sister, the artistic signature incredibly beautiful.
Zhao Bin said later that he was a little afraid of Bo Yan, feeling they weren’t on the same wavelength, and that he was very busy, constantly on the phone, asking Bai Qi what it felt like to be alone with him.
Zhang Cheng also suddenly remembered the scene from the video earlier, feeling something indescribable.
They were so close together just now.
As half a fanboy of Bo Yan, he admired the other’s aloof arrogance and knew he was a clean freak who didn’t like being approached.
Impulsively, he couldn’t help but ask Bai Qi if he had been bullied.
Bai Qi replied in surprise: “No, Bo Yan has a pretty good temper.”
Zhang Cheng wasn’t quite sure, but didn’t say anything more. Bai Qi was always a little slow to react, probably hadn’t sensed anything.
They’ll get to know each other more slowly.
After replying, Bai Qi looked at the class group. Everyone already knew Bo Yan was in their dorm. The group was excitedly discussing, and someone had posted a screenshot of the hot search; it seemed that Bo Yan going to school was currently the top trending topic.
He exited without paying attention and found many friends knew he was roommates with Bo Yan, excitedly messaging him to ask about Bo Yan. Even his old junior high and high school classmates were asking.
This made Bai Qi a little distressed. Naked, he stood there replying one by one. He didn’t reply to those asking about Bo Yan’s privacy, otherwise answering that he was a nice guy.
After all this fuss, it was half an hour later when he finished showering and came out.
Walking out of the bathroom, Zhang Cheng and Zhao Bin were unusually quiet, playing games on their phones, probably also replying to everyone’s WeChat messages.
Bo Yan’s bed had been tidied up. He had many books and manuscripts about acting, neatly arranged, filling the bookshelf. The desktop computer clearly looked very expensive, and there were many electronic products he hadn’t seen before.
The originally simple wooden desk now looked retro and high-end because of these items, elevating the overall tone of the dorm.
Bo Yan himself was currently eating at the desk; it was a lavish, nutritious meal specially prepared, the lunchbox exquisite.
In contrast, Bai Qi’s side of the desk was simple, bare, with almost nothing on it.
Bai Qi was somewhat astonished. Only after truly interacting with this top idol did he realize that the gap between people wasn’t just about personality and experience, but in every aspect, they were far apart.
It was said that Bo Yan’s family ran a large company, and he only went into the entertainment industry to play around like a young master. So when he wanted to study, he could easily put everything aside.
Bai Qi’s family had debts, and he had lived with his mother since he was young. His major wasn’t a high-paying one, and he could only supplement his income through side jobs. Even after graduation, he wouldn’t have this much money.
He didn’t feel any imbalance, just a little hesitant to approach Bo Yan’s side, afraid of accidentally breaking something he couldn’t afford to replace.
The ladder was between beds three and four. Bai Qi carefully climbed onto his bed using the ladder.
As he moved, his trousers rode up a bit, revealing a small red mole on his slender ankle, its crimson color strikingly eye-catching against his porcelain-white skin.
Bai Qi tried to get onto the bed as quickly and quietly as possible, but only after getting up did he realize he’d forgotten his phone.
His beautiful face wrinkled involuntarily.
He could go down, but Bo Yan was still eating nearby. Going up and down constantly would feel strange.
But if he asked someone else to pass it, the only one left downstairs was Bo Yan.
After thinking for a moment, feeling a little embarrassed, Bai Qi leaned on the bed railing, peeking down.
This glance met Bo Yan’s eyes directly.
Bai Qi froze, then politely asked, “Excuse me, could you please get my phone for me?”
From the angle below, the beautiful face peeking from the bedhead was luscious and alluring, beautiful enough to take one’s breath away.
Bo Yan’s long eyelashes drooped, his expression hidden in the shadows. He got up to get the phone.
Meanwhile, Zhang Cheng was lying on the opposite bed, playing on his phone, constantly typing, bragging to others about how handsome his dorm was, with both the school flower and the school hunk.
Finally, he happily received a bunch of envious and jealous messages, went to get a drink from the rack on the headboard, and suddenly heard Bai Qi’s voice.
He instinctively looked up and saw Bo Yan handing the phone to Bai Qi.
Huh?
It was a simple action, yet Zhang Cheng felt Bo Yan was different; he wasn’t as nonchalant as he was with others.
Such a sharp and arrogant person, yet his movements were so gentle.
As if… the person opposite was some kind of fragile treasure that had to be handled with utmost care so it wouldn’t break.
