Help! My hunky roommate is begging me to touch his abs!

"Starving? Your brother hasn't eaten yet."

Hu Xiaowen rolled her eyes at Liu Yu, thinking to herself: It's not like I bought it for you to eat.

Jin Bao'er was not in the mood to speak and remained silent.

"Would you like something to eat?" Hu Xiaowen asked him.

Jin Bao'er shook her head.

I'm not in the mood to eat when things aren't resolved yet.

But seeing the two of them eating so happily, my appetite was still whetted, and I said in a weak, hoarse voice, "Give me one too."

Hu Xiaowen smiled; in truth, none of the three of them had much backbone.

"Let me tell you, you can't be too nice to this stupid straight man. If you're nice to him, he'll think we're easy to bully."

Hu Xiaowen said to Jin Bao'er while drinking his porridge.

Jin Bao'er kept giving him meaningful glances.

Liu Yu was standing next to her.

But Liu Yu was only focused on drinking porridge while watching videos.

They don't seem to be visiting the sick; they're clearly here to enjoy themselves.

Hu Xiaowen received a look from Jin Bao'er and calmed down a bit, then advised, "Let me tell you, we are not the same kind of people as him."

"Look at the clothes he's wearing, they're worth several of our outfits. We're not even in the same circle to begin with, so it's better to separate sooner rather than later."

Jin Bao'er didn't say much, just kept nodding. They were already heading towards parting ways.

At noon, Liu Yu went back to class, and Hu Xiaowen also had things to do.

Jin Bao'er said she would lie down for a while longer and be discharged tomorrow, and told them to go home first.

In the end, he was the only one left in the ward.

Jinbao took a nap and had a dream.

In my dream, it was the night everyone knew he was gay and that he liked Zhao Yuheng.

The difference was that when he was exposed that day, Zhao Yuheng took his hand.

She gently lowered her head and kissed his palm, saying, "Baby, I actually like you too."

Jin Bao'er shed tears of happiness in her dream.

Zhao Yuheng gently wiped away his tears with his rough fingertips; the touch was rough yet powerful, unbelievably real.

In reality, Zhao Yuheng, sitting by the hospital bed, had his hand hovering above Jin Bao'er's cheek.

Seeing him cry incessantly, my heart ached, and I muttered to myself, "What kind of dream is he having to cry so hard?"

A smile played on his lips, but his eyes held an unyielding mix of doting affection and regret.

It wasn't until Jin Bao'er opened her eyes that she saw her hand hanging in mid-air.

Zhao Yuheng quickly composed himself, withdrew his hand, and the lingering illusion from his dream remained on his fingertips.

Jin Bao'er just looked at him without saying a word, her emotions unreadable.

Zhao Yuheng didn't know what to say, so he just let him look at him.

After this, they'll probably really be separated, and won't even be considered friends anymore.

After all, she couldn't get over her own conscience, and then she treated him like this; no one would forgive her in her shoes.

Let's say goodbye properly then.

He was just thinking about how to leave gracefully when he heard Jin Bao'er ask in a hoarse voice, "Does it hurt?"

That voice would normally make people laugh, but today it sounded so weak it made people's hearts clench.

Zhao Yuheng suddenly realized what was happening and pressed the wounds on his forehead and the corner of his mouth.

The scabs on the corners of my mouth have already scabbed over, and my forehead is just a little red.

"I……"

Despite a thousand excuses, none of them could make him say, "Jinbao'er, let's just leave it at that."

"It doesn't hurt."

He only managed to utter those two words in the end, his voice low and hoarse.

"Does it hurt?"

Zhao Yuheng thought of Jin Bao'er's desperate screams yesterday, her voice so loud it seemed like she was about to burst someone's eardrums.

"It doesn't hurt."

Distressed.

As Jin Bao'er spoke, her heart was churning with pain.

As the sun set, fiery red sunlight streamed through the windows, and the ward was so quiet that you could hear each other breathing.

Unable to bear the suffocating atmosphere, Zhao Yuheng suddenly stood up.

He pretended to be very busy and looked out the window, his back ramrod straight.

"Brother Heng."

"Um."

Zhao Yuheng suddenly turned his head and looked at Jin Bao'er seriously, a hint of panic flashing in his eyes.

"I'll call you Heng-ge one more time."

Zhao Yuheng frowned, staring at him quietly, his Adam's apple bobbing violently.

"I am very grateful to you. It is your kindness and your favoritism that made me have thoughts I shouldn't have had."

"This is my problem, not yours. You don't need to feel guilty or have any other thoughts."

Jin Bao'er's voice trembled, yet remained unusually firm.

Fingers gripped the bed sheet tightly:

"...I know you might think I'm disgusting, or that I'm a pervert..."

"I don't think you're a pervert!"

Zhao Yuheng abruptly interrupted him, his voice rising sharply with an urgency he himself was unaware of.

He scratched his head in frustration, the veins on his forehead throbbing. "I just..."

I just can't accept it, accept this kind of friendship that goes beyond brotherhood, accept that I feel nauseous at the thought of getting close to a man.

But seeing Jin Bao'er's reddened eyes and his desperate attempt to hold back his tears, all the words stuck in his throat, and he couldn't say them no matter what.

At that moment, sunlight shone on Zhao Yuheng's profile, adding a touch of warmth to his handsome, angular face.

Jin Bao'er couldn't help but take another look, etching that face into her heart.

"Zhao Yuheng".

"Um?"

Looking at Jin Bao'er's serious face, Zhao Yuheng felt as if his heart was being gripped by something.

"Let's live our lives peacefully from now on and not bother each other anymore, okay?"

Hearing this, which was the answer he had been looking for, Zhao Yuheng suddenly felt a sharp pang of melancholy and a deep discomfort.

Even breathing hurts.

Perhaps it was the bond they had formed over the past few days, or perhaps it was the regret he felt last night, that made him somewhat reluctant to part ways.

That was the only way he could console himself.

"it is good."

A single word, as if it had used up all the strength of his body.

……

In the afternoon, while Zhao Yuheng went out to buy fruit, Jin Bao'er was discharged from the hospital.

In the end, he could only carry a heavy bag of fruit and return to school dejectedly.

In the months that followed, the two indeed didn't exchange a single word.

Although they shared a dormitory, Jin Bao'er always left early and returned late.

He doesn't take naps in the dorm, gets up early every day, and doesn't come back until almost lights out at night. Even his two older brothers barely exchange a few words with him.

Zhao Yuheng thought he would feel relieved, but every time he ate bread, he would think of the steaming hot breakfast that Jin Bao'er prepared...

When doing laundry, I subconsciously look for that busy figure...

When playing basketball, I can't help but look off the court to see if that familiar little guy is there...

When I go to buy milk tea, I still habitually buy two cups, but after buying them, I don't know who to give them to.

I could only shove the child into someone else's hands, and when I turned around, I felt empty inside.

He wasn't the kind of person who couldn't live without someone.

But a strange bitterness lingered in my heart, as if I had lost something important, or as if a piece of my heart had been ripped out.

That day, on the basketball court, Zhao Yuheng was drinking water, panting heavily, and sweat was streaming down his neck.

Two boys were shooting hoops not far away, with a height difference of about 10 centimeters.

The short boy was holding the ball, preparing to shoot with a jump shot, while the tall boy stood in front of him, raising one hand with a helpless smile on his lips.

This defensive approach is so poor that calling it "letting the team go easy" would be an understatement.

Even if the big guy throws in a "vast ocean of water," the short guy, with his height, can't get the ball in no matter how hard he tries.

"Let me pass, let me pass."

The short man spoke softly, with a hint of coquetry.

"Isn't that enough? Should I just put it in for you?"

The tall guy laughed and cursed, but still took a few steps back to make it easier for the shorter guy to shoot.

The short guy quickly threw the ball—it missed.

"Hahaha."

"Ah! Don't laugh, don't laugh!"

The shorter man, seeing the taller man laughing so carefree, angrily reached out and slapped him.

The big guy covered himself with his hand while laughing even harder, and reached out to ruffle the little guy's hair.

As Zhao Yuheng watched this scene, the water bottle in his hand had been crushed without him even realizing it.

Mineral water dripped through my fingers, and the bitterness in my heart surged like a tsunami.