Chapter 16

Yuan Ye went to their school practically every other day. Sometimes, he didn’t even leave when it got too late after a day of fooling around. One night, he was playing cards in Guan Zhou’s dorm room. Guan Zhou said, “Just don’t go back tonight. We can squeeze in my bed together.”

There were paper strips all over Yuan Ye’s face. He shook his head, “Sleep on your own. I’m not squeezing with you.”

“Or I can sleep on Little Ding’s bed too. He went home tonight,” Guan Zhou said.

Yuan Ye still shook his head. “I’m not sleeping here. Hurry and keep playing.”

Guan Zhou threw out a card bomb and asked him, “It’s already so late. Even the main gates are gonna be closed soon.”

Yuan Ye set down some cards while saying without much care, “I’ll go stay in Yi ge’s room.”

The roommate playing with them looked up. He asked Yuan Ye, “Ye ge, you’re going to the celebrity dorms again? Goodness. You can even sleep with celebrities now??”

Yuan Ye laughed at his exaggerated expression. He threw out two two’s – no one could beat this hand. Thus, he then threw out all his other cards too. “Okay, I’m not playing anymore. You guys sleep earlier too! I’ll head out now!”

After saying this, Yuan Ye took off the paper strips on his face, stood up, and left. If not for the fact that Guan Zhou had reminded him just now, he would’ve forgotten what time it was. Guan Zhou asked him, “Does he even have extra s.p.a.ce?”

Yuan Ye didn’t turn around. He only lifted an arm and waved. “Yep. Stop worrying. Hurry and clean up.”

Yuan Ye was extremely familiar with the route from Guan Zhou’s dorm to Fang Shaoyi’s. It only took him five minutes when running. Before knocking, he looked up to check Fang Shaoyi’s window. Oops. The lights were off. Yuan Ye knocked very lightly on the door. After a few knocks, he quietly asked, “Yi ge, are you asleep?”

There were no sounds coming from inside. Yuan Ye knocked again. He figured Fang Shaoyi had already fallen asleep, so turned around to leave and check if the main gates were locked yet. If they were, he would just head back to Guan Zhou’s room for the night. He had barely taken two steps when the door behind him opened.

When Yuan Ye turned back, the smile on his face was bright as could be. With such a smile, he ingratiatingly called out, “Yi ge.”

Fang Shaoyi had his hand on the door, an eyebrow raised as he asked, “Where are you going?”

“I thought that you were asleep, so was going to go back to school or make do with Guan Zhou.” Yuan Ye scratched his head and grinned while saying, “I was playing cards in Guan Zhou’s room, so I forgot the time.”

Fang Shaoyi slanted his body. Yuan Ye kept his head down and burrowed under the other’s arm, like a monkey.

Fang Shaoyi had truly been asleep. It appeared that he had specially gotten up to open the door for Yuan Ye. The blanket on his bed was in a tangle. Yuan Ye felt a bit embarra.s.sed. “Go back to sleep, Yi ge. Don’t worry about me. When I finish washing up, I’ll just sleep in that empty bed.”

Fang Shaoyi was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Right now, he didn’t look like a celebrity, just a normal, handsome student. Only the little desk lamp was still on in the whole room. The light was faint, but made the atmosphere feel warm.

Fang Shaoyi pulled out a t-shirt and shorts from his closet. When he handed them over, he also flicked Yuan Ye on the head. He chuckled, then asked, “Don’t you like sleeping in my bed?”

Yuan Ye laughed playfully. “Your bed smells good.”

“Go wash up,” Fang Shaoyi told him.

Yuan Ye really did like sleeping in Fang Shaoyi’s bed. His bed was the same scent as the light fragrance on Fang Shaoyi. Yuan Ye laid on his pillow; all around, this scent surrounded him. It was very comfortable. He buried his face deeper into Fang Shaoyi’s pillow. He couldn’t really express what he was feeling in his heart, but it was just…… He didn’t know how to say it. It was just quite interesting.

The next morning, Yuan Ye still had a cla.s.s, so woke up pretty early. He was normally in the habit of jumping out of bed, so flipped over the railing and hopped off. Fang Shaoyi had just returned from outside. At the doorway, he heard a thud from inside. He hurriedly opened the door, only to see Yuan Ye pulling on his slippers.

Fang Shaoyi scanned him up and down a few times in great concern. “Did you fall?”

“No, no,” Yuan Ye shook his head. He had just straightened himself, so his smile looked a bit silly. “I jumped off.”

Fang Shaoyi furrowed his brows and scolded, “Why are you always jumping? You’ll fall.”

“I’m used to it.” Yuan Ye remained smiling. Back then, he had been in the habit of smiling a lot. “I won’t fall. When I was young, I even jumped off our ceiling beams. This bed isn’t that high up at all.”

Fang Shaoyi was helpless against him. He didn’t continue chiding the other, only shaking his head and saying, “How come you’re so naughty?”

After washing up, Yuan Ye sat on Fang Shaoyi’s desk, eating breakfast. Fang Shaoyi had bought it for him after his morning run. Yuan Ye was quite heartless. Back then, he went looking for Fang Shaoyi all the time, not even wondering if he was bothering the other or not. He also didn’t feel like there was any distance between him and Fang Shaoyi. Whereas others were extremely cautious when simply speaking to Fang Shaoyi, Yuan Ye boldly wore the other’s clothes, sat in his dorm, and ate the breakfast he bought.

At the time, Yuan Ye had truly been too young. He had merely been seventeen. This, in addition to the fact that he wasn’t thinking of anything related to love at all, meant that the only thing on his mind was playing. When faced with any situation, he would simply feel the emotions without thinking too much about them. He wasn’t in the habit of considering why he felt certain ways. If there had been more thoughts in his head, he probably wouldn’t have been so unrestrained around Fang Shaoyi.

During that time, Fang Shaoyi had technically already graduated. There were still several months left before graduate school was set to start. Later, Fang Shaoyi no longer stayed at school and left to film. After he departed, Yuan Ye finally realized how boring things were. He was too lazy to go find Guan Zhou again, so normally all he did in his dorm was watch movies, read books, or write about any random topic.

When he really became bored out of his mind, he could also call or text Fang Shaoyi. However, it was rare for Fang Shaoyi to contact him first. It was always Yuan Ye taking that first step. But Fang Shaoyi always replied very quickly to him. Yuan Ye knew that this was simply Fang Shaoyi’s personality. Basically, he rarely took initiative to contact or communicate with others. He was always in a very pa.s.sive position when it came to socializing. This also made it seem more like he was a distant person, someone who was hard to pin down.

But Yuan Ye didn’t care about this. He never actually considered these things. If it’s slow for you to warm up to people, I’ll be warmer. If you don’t call me, I’ll call you. Exactly because Fang Shaoyi rarely called first, though, meant that Yuan Ye always felt exceptionally happy when he received a call from the other.

On this day, Yuan Ye was squirreled away in his dorm, randomly scratching at a piece of paper as he wrote. As soon as his phone rang, he reached for it and answered. He squeezed it between his shoulder and ear. “Who is it?”

Fang Shaoyi’s voice sounded out from the phone. “Me.”

Yuan Ye recognized his voice. His tone instantly became more cheerful. “Yi ge? I was just about to call you in a bit.”

“Un. What are you doing?” Fang Shaoyi asked him.

Yuan Ye also didn’t have any cla.s.ses now. Many of his cla.s.smates had already gone out to find internships. He was right in the middle of being bored. He told Fang Shaoyi that he had almost started growing mold in his dorm room. Fang Shaoyi heard him mutter endlessly, complaints galore, and felt quite amused. He laughed and asked, “Do you want to come play on set?”

Yuan Ye thought about it. “Play what?”

Fang Shaoyi said, “Anything you want.”

The director for that film was an uncle Fang Shaoyi was extremely familiar with; he could even be considered Fang Shaoyi’s father’s best friend. One was Fang Shaoyi, someone who had practically grown up on set so didn’t think too much of these things. One was Yuan Ye, someone who was unafraid of everything and missing a nerve in his brain. Thus, Yuan Ye really did go.

The train ride lasted over six hours. At the time, Yuan Ye packed up a few outfits, then towed his suitcase to the train station and bought a ticket. He got there that same night.

Fang Shaoyi was waiting for him at the station. When Yuan Ye got out, he dragged his suitcase along and ran over, a smile on his face. Fang Shaoyi hugged him before smiling at him too. The moment he saw the other’s smile, Yuan Ye felt elated. All the negativity from these few days of boredom and restlessness completely disappeared.。

At the time, Fang Shaoyi put all of Yuan Ye’s stuff in his room. He asked, “Are you okay staying with me?”

Yuan Ye didn’t even have the mind capacity to wonder about this question. He smiled like an idiot and asked Fang Shaoyi, “Where else would I sleep?”

Fang Shaoyi couldn’t help pinching his cheeks after observing his idiotic appearance. He said, “I think you can sleep in the warehouse.”

“Nope. I’ll stay with you,” Yuan Ye said.

Thus, Yuan Ye stayed in Fang Shaoyi’s room. Every day, they left and returned together. Though Yuan Ye was only seventeen, Fang Shaoyi was already twenty one. In this industry, twenty one was an age that wasn’t considered old, but definitely wasn’t considered young either. Those in the film crew couldn’t be blamed for overthinking things when they noticed Fang Shaoyi bringing a boy around with him everywhere. Fang Shaoyi kept a close eye on him, scared that he would run off by himself. As a consequence, Yuan Ye would often bring a little stool over and sit, watching Fang Shaoyi act. He really loved watching. This was his first time watching Fang Shaoyi act live. He felt like this Fang Shaoyi was a bit unfamiliar, yet very mesmerizing.

Sometimes, Fang Shaoyi would tell his a.s.sistant of that time, “Keep an eye on him.” His a.s.sistant back then was a girl just shy of thirty. She had started working in the entertainment industry since she had graduated and was quite sensitive to certain things. In those days, she had been slightly mistaken about Fang Shaoyi and Yuan Ye’s relationship.

After enough time, Yuan Ye started noticing. He felt that when she spoke about him and Fang Shaoyi, her tone seemed suggestive. After work one day, Yuan Ye asked Fang Shaoyi after they returned to the room, “Yi ge, I think your a.s.sistant is overthinking things?”

As he read over the script, Fang Shaoyi asked, “What things?”

Yuan Ye had always been one to get straight to the point. “I think she thinks we’re together.”

Fang Shaoyi removed his gaze from the script and moved it onto Yuan Ye. He asked, “What together?”

“You know, a couple.” Yuan Ye planted his b.u.t.t on the bed. He didn’t even feel awkward speaking about such a topic. “She spoke with me for a long time today. I could tell from her tone of voice that she thought I was your significant other.”

Fang Shaoyi surprisingly didn’t say anything else. He only made a noise of acknowledgment.

“What are you ‘un’-ing about ahahaha. Don’t you find it strange?” Yuan Ye sprawled out completely on the bed. He turned his head to look at Fang Shaoyi. “Even made me feel a bit embarra.s.sed.”

Fang Shaoyi rested his gaze on him. He couldn’t help revealing a faint smile and teasing, “I can’t tell that you’re embarra.s.sed at all. I can only tell that you’re pretty happy.”

And Yuan Ye was truly quite happy. However, he normally couldn’t understand his own emotions anyways. He didn’t know why he felt certain ways or how to express these feelings. He continued to ask Fang Shaoyi, “In the entertainment industry, is it that normal for two boys to be in a relationship?”

Fang Shaoyi glanced at him. “You’re interested in this stuff?”

“I’m just asking,” Yuan Ye said.

“It’s pretty normal anyways. Gender has no role in deciding who likes who,” Fang Shaoyi answered lightly.

Yuan Ye made a noise of acknowledgement and didn’t say anything else. He laid there by himself for a bit. A few minutes later, he turned around to stare at Fang Shaoyi. Fang Shaoyi didn’t know what thought had struck him; when he spoke again, his voice was a lot softer. His chest rose up and down slowly as he quietly asked, “Yi ge, do you……like boys?”

Fang Shaoyi looked over. He nodded very curtly, and also very carefreely. “Yes.”

Yuan Ye blinked. He noticed the tiny smile on Fang Shaoyi’s face. Then, the other spoke while making eye contact with him, “I like boys.”

At the time, his gaze made Yuan Ye feel nervous for some reason. Yuan Ye propped himself up with his arm. “Oh!”

The back of his head was facing Fang Shaoyi, but he still heard Fang Shaoyi start, “Do you like……?”

Yuan Ye rubbed his nose and asked, “Do I like what?”

Fang Shaoyi slowly spoke. He only said one word——

“Me.”