In the dead of winter, a quiet snowfall blanketed the Nanyang University campus at night.
The campus was a pure white, and a casual walk around the school revealed rows of oddly shaped snowmen created overnight.
Liu Zi and Li Yan occasionally reached out to them in the group chat to arrange breakfast and keep in touch. However, now they had lost the chance to contact their brothers individually. Calling one out inevitably meant calling out the other too.
So, the four of them finished their meal and walked towards the teaching building together.
Yu Xun, halfway there, naturally joined the snowman-building group.
He squatted by the long street, holding a handful of snow: “Let’s make a little Yun Ci.”
Li Yan was about to say, “Haha, childish. Do you think my uncle will care?” but his aloof uncle, who seemed to dislike playing in the snow, also squatted down.
“……”
The two of them built a snowman before class.
They made two snowmen.
A pair.
Standing side by side.
Li Yan and Liu Zi walked behind, deliberately looking away. Li Yan said, “It’s glaring.”
Liu Zi: “Too glaring.”
Li Yan tried to cover up, “I meant the snow.”
Liu Zi: “That’s what I meant too.”
After Yun Ci finished building the snowman, he wiped his hands, stood up, and checked the time on his phone. The date at the top read: 12.30.
Tomorrow would be the 31st, the last day of the year.
It was also a day he marked in red on the calendar every year.
After this day, it would be a new year.
As New Year’s Eve approached, Nanyang University was at its busiest. Even Li Yan and Liu Zi, who usually bickered in less than five minutes of meeting, rare to get along, chatted harmoniously about their New Year’s Eve plans.
Liu Zi: “What are we doing for New Year’s Eve this year?”
Li Yan asked back, “Are you still in business?”
Liu Zi: “Why, are you investing?”
Li Yan: “Dream on. Your business loses money every year. Why would I invest?”
“……”
For the sake of New Year’s Eve, Liu Zi held back his retort.
On the school forum, there were many posts about New Year’s Eve. A freshman asked curiously: [I heard the school is going to cut off the power on New Year’s Eve?]
1L: [It used to happen, but not anymore.]
Original poster replied: [Huh? Why, did the school develop a conscience?]
2L: [There was a year when a batch of freshmen… forget it, just search the forum for videos and the truth.]
3L: [Knew someone would bring up the flashlight sing-along incident. 2333]
4L: [Don’t know if it will happen this year. I kind of miss it. I was a freshman that year, and now I’m almost interning.]
5L: [Hahaha, wrote so many reflections back then.]
…
As usual, Yun Ci went to the study room after class.
Yu Xun had been sending an unusually large number of messages today. Despite having just parted ways in the morning, he sent messages almost every few minutes.
Black avatar: [/image]
Black avatar: [/image]
Black avatar: [/image]
During a break in the library, Yun Ci opened them and found they were all selfies from Yu Xun.
To be honest, he looked quite handsome.
But it was a bit excessive.
yc: [Show me something else.]
Yu Xun replied instantly.
Black avatar: [Got it.]
When Yun Ci looked at his phone again after lifting his head from his exam papers, he was met with a meticulously posed photo of Yu Xun’s abs: “……”
The photo was a bit dark and cramped, probably taken in a warehouse. Yu Xun was holding his sweater hem with one hand, and the camera angle was from above, capturing his V-line hidden in his low-rise jeans.
yx: [Do you want to see anything else?]
yc: [……]
He understood.
Understood. What?
…
Yun Ci hastily turned off his phone.
Yu Xun’s messages kept coming until the evening when Yun Ci returned to the apartment building.
It was only when Yu Xun held him in his arms and asked if he wanted to hear a bedtime story that Yun Ci realized: “Are you worried about me?”
Yu Xun responded with an “Mm”: “Tomorrow…”
He didn’t finish his sentence.
Tomorrow’s date was too special.
“So what do you want to hear,” Yu Xun skillfully opened a previously bookmarked webpage, “Little Bear Moving?”
Then Yu Xun’s voice softly began beside his ear: “Little Bear wants to move to a new place to live. He heard there is a beautiful lake at the end of the forest…”
Yun Ci snuggled down a bit, his nose touching Yu Xun’s chest.
Yu Xun’s warmth made his eyes a bit teary: “I’m fine.”
He had started dreaming the night before.
But the dream wasn’t about the day of the accident.
Instead, it was about distant, almost forgotten fragments of daily life.
In the dream, Yun Xiao was smiling at him on a park bench, holding a cotton candy. The whole dream was as soft as that cotton candy.
In his childhood, he ran towards Yun Xiao, who bent down and patted his head, then asked, “Are you happy, Yun Ci?”
The dream ended abruptly there.
When he woke up, he thought for a long time and remembered that day was a weekend when Yun Xiao took him to a newly opened amusement park nearby.
It was a very peaceful day.
…
Yun Ci blinked one last time, buried in the soft blankets, and said with a muffled voice: “Tomorrow, I’ll take you to meet someone very important.”
As he spoke.
The clock struck midnight.
The date on his phone changed to 12.31.
The next day.
In the afternoon, the two bought flowers and then took a car to the cemetery.
On the way there, Yu Xun kept fidgeting with his clothes out of nervousness, and only stopped when Yun Ci grabbed his hand. Not long after, Yu Xun asked anxiously, “What kind of flowers did your mother like?”
Yun Ci recalled what Yun Xiao used to praise: “Good grades.”
Yu Xun: “That fits.”
He then asked, “What about handsome?”
Yu Xun, lacking confidence in himself, said, “…The only thing presentable is this face.”
Yun Ci: “She liked it, especially if it was someone with the surname Yu, preferably with the name including ‘Xun.'”
“……” Yu Xun listened to this obvious lie and asked, “Did Aunt really say that?”
Yun Ci kept a straight face and replied, “Yes.”
“Anyway, she will like you,” Yun Ci added.
“Why?”
“Just a feeling.”
“……”
When they arrived, Yan Yue had already been there. He was accustomed to visiting Yun Xiao early in the morning since their first meeting had also been in the morning.
At Yun Xiao’s grave, a bouquet of flowers was neatly arranged.
Yu Xun bent down and carefully placed his own bouquet on the grave.
It was the first time he saw Yun Xiao’s picture clearly.
Previously, at Yun Ci’s home, he hadn’t gotten a good look at the photo as Yun Ci had taken it away.
Yun Xiao’s features were very similar to Yun Ci’s.
As he was looking, intending to step aside and let Yun Ci have some time alone with his mother, Yun Ci held his hand and said, “Mom, this is my boyfriend.”
“He’s the one I used to talk about a lot, the one I found annoying.”
“But now, he’s someone I really like.”
“You should also,” Yun Ci paused and said, “…like him quite a bit, right?”
In the black-and-white photo, Yun Xiao continued to smile at him.
—
After visiting Yun Xiao, Yun Ci needed to go home. Yu Xun stayed nearby to wait for him.
He wandered around but couldn’t find a better place to pass the time, so he ended up at the same old internet café.
When he entered, the owner wasn’t there. A temporary worker didn’t even look up as he asked, “How long?”
Yu Xun handed over a banknote and said, “Two hours.”
“Machine 1,” the worker said as he unlocked a computer, “Go ahead.”
Yu Xun played a few games, checking his phone intermittently, waiting for a message from Yun Ci.
About an hour later, his phone rang.
Yun Ci, leaving his house and opening the building door, initiated a video call: “Where are you?”
Before Yu Xun could respond, Yun Ci noticed the background noise on the call—a familiar clamor, a bit chaotic, with distinct keyboard and mouse sounds.
Sure enough, Yu Xun said on the other end of the call, “At the internet café.”
It was the only internet café that needed no special mention.
Yun Ci stood at the building entrance, vaguely recalling how he had sneaked out in the middle of the night while Yan Yue wasn’t looking, following the same route as now.
He retraced his steps to the internet café.
Before he could go in, he ran into the café owner.
The owner, smoking by the door, looked up and greeted him, “Oh, back again.”
“……Yeah,” Yun Ci casually said, “Just came to check in.”
The owner pointed inside, unaware of their meeting arrangement: “A certain someone is here too. Looks like you two bumped into each other.”
……
They weren’t here for a match.
Before Yun Ci entered, the owner suddenly said, “Did something happen before?”
“?”
Yun Ci froze at the door.
The owner continued, “He came here last time with red eyes and stayed for a long time.”
“He asked why he wasn’t crying.”
“He said he couldn’t be discovered.”
“……”
Yun Ci’s fingers tightened, and after a moment, he pushed the door open and went inside.
The internet café was as usual—dim and chaotic, with students gathering to surf the net, still in their high school uniforms. It felt like, no matter how the outside world changed or how much time passed, there was always a corner here that remained forever unchanged.
Tonight was New Year’s Eve.
So the café was especially crowded with students celebrating the holiday in groups.
Yun Ci stood at the door and saw Yu Xun in the corner of the café, surrounded by a group of students in uniforms.
Yu Xun, the only one not in a school uniform, leaned against his chair with his headset slightly askew, casually clicking the mouse.
The surrounding students cheered, “Awesome! Bro, can you help me with the next game?”
“……”
Yu Xun was about to agree when he glanced up and noticed Yun Ci at the door.
“Play yourself,” Yu Xun took off his headset, placed it on one of the students’ heads, and picked up the jacket on the chair. “I have more important things to do, I’m leaving.”
Outside the internet café, the narrow hallway could barely fit two people.
Yu Xun said, “So soon?”
Yun Ci responded, “Yan Yue has to go to school in the afternoon.”
As Yu Xun put on his jacket and was about to say “Let’s go,” Yun Ci grabbed his wrist, stopping him.
Yu Xun looked down at him.
Yun Ci’s mind was occupied with the café owner’s words. He tightened his fingers, lowered his voice, and said, “Close your eyes.”
Yu Xun, though confused, always followed his requests without question.
As soon as Yu Xun closed his eyes, Yun Ci gently placed a warm kiss on his eyelids.
Yu Xun’s eyelashes fluttered as he opened his eyes in surprise, meeting Yun Ci’s gaze, who hadn’t pulled away yet.
“?”
The two were very close. Yun Ci, staring into his eyes, thought of what excuse to find.
But the next moment, Yu Xun, with his usual slightly raised eyebrow and a hint of sharpness, said, “—You find my eyes quite attractive and couldn’t help yourself, right?”
“……”
“Yeah,” Yun Ci didn’t refute, looking into his eyes and said, “Yes.”
