The dormitory began to fill up as people returned one by one.
Wang Zhuang, the trendiest and most shopping-loving guy in dorm 608, pushed open the door with bags in hand and shouted, “Guys, I just got back from shopping.”
“If he’s not out shopping, he’s on his way to shop,” Liu Sheng mocked, “I always felt he should have majored in fashion.”
“…”
Wang Zhuang said, “Actually, I did think about it.”
Sometimes, the people in the dorm would chat about their future aspirations. He continued, “I might not necessarily work in my major. After studying it, I feel it’s not really for me. But talking about this now is still too far off. Thinking too much about it makes me anxious.”
They chatted idly, but it made the two who weren’t participating in the conversation stand out even more.
Wang Zhuang pulled out a chair, sat down, and casually said, “You two seem weird.”
He didn’t take his own words seriously, just noticed that the two of them were unusually quiet today. His buddy Yun Ci was blushing, which was odd enough, but even Yu Xun next to him had his hand supporting his chin, head slightly down, avoiding everyone’s gaze.
Yu Xun raised his head a bit, “Weird how?”
Wang Zhuang replied, “Weird as in…”
Yu Xun said, “Weird as in focused on studying, busy with homework.”
Wang Zhuang glanced at the books in front of Yu Xun and Yun Ci. Being a fellow law student, he questioned today’s homework load, “Really? I don’t think we have much homework today.”
“…”
Yun Ci knew that if he didn’t say something, it would look even more suspicious.
He grabbed his book back, slammed it shut, then got up to move away from the long table, distancing himself from the person next to him, “Just started, is that a problem?”
Wang Zhuang said, “No problem; true warriors finish their homework just before lights out.”
…
Afterwards, Yu Xun and Yun Ci fell back into silence.
Yu Xun clutched his pen, catching a glimpse of Yun Ci washing up, then using his hands to lift himself directly up to the top bunk without even using the ladder, pulling the covers up, and making no further movement.
*
The next day, weekend.
“Welcome.”
Liu Zi stood at the shop entrance, drawing out the greeting.
After the temperature dropped, the flow of people at the south gate of the university decreased as well. Passersby hurried along, and he stood under the decorated ribbons and light balls, blank-faced, waiting for his shift to end. After a few shouts, he squatted on the street, “…Not many people today. Maybe we should close early while the boss isn’t here.”
Liu Zi was someone who used to skip classes and now often skipped work.
But as he spoke, he noticed Yu Xun didn’t react.
Turning his head, he saw Yu-ge still taking photos as usual, snapping several shots of his own face, then looking down at his phone, not lifting his head for a long time.
On the WeChat chat interface.
The white avatar hadn’t shown any activity since last night.
The photos and messages he sent over, who knows if the other person even looked at them.
If Yun Ci hadn’t tried to push him away with skepticism, he wouldn’t have impulsively said something so straightforward, and the space between them wouldn’t have shrunk to this extent.
Liu Zi, having observed for days, deduced something, “…Who are you waiting for a message from?”
Yu Xun didn’t avoid the question, “Someone very important.”
Liu Zi: “?”
Yu Xun added, “Yun Ci.”
These two sentences together sounded odd.
But upon second thought, Liu Zi found it made sense.
A rival, in a way, is also an important person.
As for why Yu-ge was waiting for a message and why Yun Ci wasn’t replying, it was easy to understand.
This was the victory of the cold shoulder tactic.
“He must be feeling bad right now,” Liu Zi said casually, “It’s normal for him to need some time to accept it. Let him take his time.”
After a moment, Yu Xun agreed, sent the last two messages in the chat, and put his phone away, “You’re right.”
At the same time, in Li Yan’s dormitory.
Li Yan lay in bed, waking up at noon, only to find Yun Ci sitting like a fixture by the door.
“…What’s with that expression as you look at your phone?”
“?”
Li Yan said, “You look like you want to throw your phone.”
Yun Ci, staring at his phone screen, fingers tense, said, “Not just that. I want to smash it.”
On the phone screen, Yu Xun had sent several selfies.
yx: [Image]
yx: [Image]
yx: [Image]
Not all were selfies; one was of a white cat crouching by the big glass window of a dessert shop, looking inside. The cat looked a bit proud, seemingly interested in the desserts but too aloof to go in.
Following that picture were two words.
yx: [Like you.]
…
How does a cat resemble me?
In the message history, it showed that half an hour later, the next picture was of a small desk ornament.
With it was a sentence: [Also like you. Cute.]
So, everything looks like me?
Yun Ci didn’t know why he kept reading this person’s messages.
He stared at his phone for a long time, thinking, perhaps to stop him from sending more nonsense that he couldn’t prevent in time.
Further down.
yx: [How long will you ignore me?]
The last two sentences.
yx: [My fault.]
yx: [I shouldn’t have mentioned kissing.]
…
He mentioned it again.
With a “clang,” Yun Ci’s phone really fell to the floor.
Li Yan was so startled he almost jumped out of bed: “Damn! Why are you so angry? I know you’re upset, but calm down. It’s not worth breaking your phone. I haven’t even gotten up yet. If we gather people to fight now, it’ll be too late—”
Yun Ci picked up his phone: “Slipped.”
Li Yan thought it was hard to tell if it really slipped or if it was residual anger from an unresolved conflict.
Yun Ci didn’t say anything more.
He threw his phone on the table and didn’t check the messages again.
Everyone’s life was leisurely over the weekend. There weren’t many people in Li Yan’s dormitory; half had gone out on dates, and the other half were playing games or sleeping. Speaking of dating, Li Yan remarked, “That’s the beauty of college. My roommate had three different dates this week, all with different types and majors.”
Lying down, he asked, “By the way, is anyone pursuing you?”
Yun Ci was just twisting open a bottle of mineral water, and the bottle almost burst from his grip.
“No.”
Li Yan said, “That shouldn’t be—”
Yun Ci interrupted, “I said no.”
Li Yan thought to himself, if there’s no one, there’s no one. Why so fierce?
Yun Ci hesitated all day about whether to go back to sleep in his own dorm that night.
Around eight o’clock, his phone, which had been left untouched on the table all day, started to ring.
[“yx” is inviting you to a video call…]
Yun Ci declined the call.
Two seconds later, the phone rang again.
Li Yan asked from the side, “Who’s calling you non-stop?”
Yun Ci was about to say it was a spam call and to ignore it.
The phone stopped ringing, but the chat interface showed a few new messages.
yx: [Pick up the call or meet in person]
yx: [Choose one]
yx: [If you don’t choose, I’ll assume you want to meet in person.]
“…”
Yun Ci felt cornered, with no room to maneuver. Compared to talking face-to-face with Yu Xun about last time, a video call might indeed be more bearable since it left some distance between them.
He stood up and walked out of the dormitory, telling Li Yan, “I’m taking a call, something came up.”
“It’s not an important call,” he emphasized for some reason, “just a casual one.”
Li Yan, hearing this clarification: “?”
He didn’t even ask anything.
Before answering the call, Yun Ci stared at the word “video” for a few seconds, feeling uncomfortable.
Normally, when chatting with Li Yan and the others, he rarely sent voice messages, especially those over thirty seconds, which he would simply ignore. He would never make a call.
In conversations, he always kept his replies as brief as possible.
In fact, he’d only had two voice calls with Yu Xun before.
He found a secluded spot in the corridor, hesitated for a moment, and clicked “accept.”
The screen immediately switched to the video call interface.
Two frames appeared, one of him and one of the other person.
Yun Ci adjusted his wrist, trying to angle his phone camera to only show half his face. After a moment, he changed his mind and pointed it at the railing next to him.
Yu Xun’s voice came through: “Where are you?”
Yu Xun continued, “I can’t see you.”
Yun Ci replied, “Why do you need to see me?”
Yu Xun’s camera was shaking, and his voice followed suit, “Isn’t the point of a video call to see you?”
He was outside, apparently walking. The camera focused on his face, which seemed more vivid than in his usual photos. The street and streetlights blurred into a soft glow.
But his face still didn’t match the word “soft”; instead, it made him look even more mischievous.
“Get to the point,” Yun Ci said, his voice hard, “I’ll hang up once you’re done.”
Yu Xun “oh”ed and surprisingly fell silent for a few seconds. During those seconds, the only sounds in the video call were the wind as he walked and the background noise of students riding bikes around the campus.
His eyes lowered slightly, “… Don’t ignore my messages, Xiao Ci.”
“…”
He looked like he was the one being bullied.
As the one being provoked, Yun Ci suddenly lost his stance.
“My chasing you is my business, liking you is also my own business, you don’t have to care about it,” Yu Xun stopped walking, standing under a tree, “Just treat me as an ordinary friend, okay?”
Suppressing his anger, Yun Ci said, “Which ordinary friend would—” would say they wanted to kiss.
“It’s my fault for crossing the line.”
“Those words—I won’t say them again.”
Yu Xun raised his eyes again; his face, which usually hovered in front of Yun Ci, appeared in the video, his features unchanged. Logically, nothing should have been different, but through the screen, it seemed entirely different.
After saying, “I won’t say them again,” Yu Xun added, “I’ll wait until we’re together to say them.”
“…”
Is this your idea of boundaries?
Yu Xun showed no embarrassment. The earlier “cautiousness” seemed like a mirage; he genuinely believed he’d shown great restraint this time.
Yun Ci was speechless, but since Yu Xun had retreated to the “ordinary friend” position, continuing to argue would seem overly concerned.
The video call timer ticked on.
Just as Yun Ci was about to find a moment to hang up, Yu Xun flipped the camera.
The lens, previously on his face, now pointed at the surrounding scenery.
The street. The lights at night. The trees on both sides.
The camera shook a bit, then settled on the night sky above him.
The video call broke the barrier of being in different locations, merging their two worlds into one.
“Look at the stars,” Yu Xun said on the other end of the phone.
The stars were faint, and the night was too dark, but Yun Ci could see the twinkling lights with some effort.
Yu Xun suddenly said, “It looks like you.”
“What?”
“The stars,” he said, “they look like you.”
This was the third time today he said something looked like Yun Ci.
From a cat to a trinket, and now stars.
After leaving the camera frame, Yu Xun’s voice became the background of the night sky: “Maybe when you like someone, everything you see reminds you of them.”
“Whether it’s cute, interesting, or shining, everything that catches your eye will feel like them.”
I like you. So everything in this world that draws attention seems to resemble you.
Iscjjdiejdjdjdbshsnxahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Yu Xun is so stinking cute