Are You Addicted?

Gu Hai was awakened by the sound of a cell phone alarm going off at 5:00 in the morning. Entering a state of post-waking confusion, he cracked his eyes just enough to get a view of his dark surroundings. To his surprise, among the things that jumped into his line of vision are stars. It"s really rare to see stars in this bright yet seemingly gloomy city, so the sight of these heavenly bodies confused Gu Hai even more. He couldn"t make out whether it was already morning or not.

f.u.c.k! Who"s the idiot[1] who set the alarm so early?

He remained motionless for a few seconds, dazed and irritated. Until finally, it dawned on him. The idiot he was referring to in his head was in fact himself. At this realization, he was able to muster enough strength to open his eyes just a bit wider.

With great difficulty, Gu Hai started to shift. His eyelids felt like gravity has put a curse on them. One second they were open, the next shut tight. Fighting the urge to go back to sleep, he turned and casually looked over at Bai Luo Yin"s peacefully sleeping face. Finally, Gu Hai was able to force himself off the bed.

In the darkness of the early morning, Bai Luo Yin was forced into consciousness by the sensation of someone gently kissing his face. The kisses were so gentle that he didn"t mind having been awakened by them. He closed his eyes and relished Gu Hai"s kisses for a couple more minutes. When he opened them again, the lamp was already lit. He could see Gu Hai standing beside the wardrobe, looking for clothes.

"What time is it?" Bai Luo Yin said as he sat up.

Gu Hai threw a couple of clothes towards him, "Wear these today. It"s a bit cold out."

Bai Luo Yin got up and went to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. As he did so, a familiar scent–one which forced him to stick his head out the bathroom"s door– started to invade his nostrils. He saw Gu Hai standing at the corner of the kitchen, carefully and meticulously placing the food that he bought from Aunt Zou"s restaurant earlier into plates and bowls.

This sight made Bai Luo Yin pause. He quietly calculated the distance from their apartment to Aunt Zou"s restaurant, as well as the time it takes to go back and forth. With this information, he was able to determine the time that Gu Hai got up.

During breakfast, Bai Luo Yin couldn"t help but ask, "Why didn"t you wait for me to wake up, so we can go out and eat instead?"

"Wait for you to wake up?" Gu Hai snorted. "We won"t even have time to eat if I did that."

"Then why didn"t you just wake me up earlier?"

"Don"t you already know the reason why?" retorted Gu Hai as he took one half bitten egg and shoved it into Bai Luo Yin"s mouth.

Bai Luo Yin stood behind Gu Hai inside the elevator. As they approached the first floor, Gu Hai suddenly turned his head and gave Bai Luo Yin an extremely hideous expression, which caught Bai Luo Yin off guard. This simple act gave Bai Luo Yin quite the scare. After gaining his composure, Bai Luo Yin kicked Gu Hai"s leg and said, "Can you not be so childish?"

Needless to say, this delighted Gu Hai. He couldn"t help but smile as he moved towards Bai Luo Yin to fix his collar and zip up his jacket. Finally the doors opened and, the pair walked out of the elevator together.

No thanks to the cold weather, the bicycle, which the two have been using every day to get to school, had also turned cold. So, for the sake of "exercising", they decided to just jog to school.

Today, never once did Bai Luo Yin felt the need to sleep all throughout their morning cla.s.ses. He wasn"t sure whether the reason for this was because he had slept half an hour longer than usual this morning, but Gu Hai proudly credited himself for this achievement.

Gu Hai has this habit of stretching out his arms and touching various parts of Bai Luo Yin"s back during cla.s.ses. It"s not an act that"s intended to elicit any s.e.xual response from the person in front of him. It"s just something that he unintentionally does out of his subconscious" desire to make sure that this person does exist.

At first, Bai Luo Yin always felt a bit annoyed whenever Gu Hai would touch his back. Sometimes, he"d even get so irritated that he can"t help but turn around and curse him. This was then. Just like all things, time changed Bai Luo Yin"s att.i.tude towards this habit. Whether he admits it or not, he has now grown to like it. It has even come to the point where he would–in his own volition–turn around and check on the person behind him when the latter fails to reach out to him for some time (which happens whenever Gu Hai would try to concentrate on the lecture at hand).

Cla.s.s was dismissed around noon and the two decided to buy takeouts and make their way back to their apartment. Upon reaching their floor, the two got surprised when they discovered that someone has once again opened their unit"s door. The sight made them stop in their track.

What"s going on? Didn"t they secretly change the lock yesterday? Could it be a thief?

The two slowly made their way inside the living room, looking for any sign of danger. In the end, they found no reason to panic, as everything was as when they left it this morning. They entered the kitchen and saw Jiang Yuan"s figure moving inside.

"My babies, you"re back! Mom already prepared food. You guys go wash your hands and get ready to eat."

The vein in Gu Hai"s forehead started to pulsate heavily. He quickly pulled Bai Lou Yin back towards the living room.

"What"s going on? Wasn"t the lock already changed? How was she able to get inside again?" Gu Hai said through gritted teeth.

d.a.m.n it! She even has the nerve to get a locksmith to take the lock apart?

Just when they were about to go back to the kitchen and question her, Jiang Yuan entered the living room with a radiant smile adorning her beautiful face. She was wearing an expression that makes it seem like the sun had shone brightly today just for her sake.

“That’s right, I forgot to tell you guys. The lock was broken. Don’t worry about it though, I already had it fixed.” After saying this, she quickly returned to the kitchen, humming as she started to arrange the food on the dining table.

Bai Luo Yin walked towards the front door and looked at it. The lock looked exactly the same. He and Gu Hai worked so hard to change it yesterday, yet today his old lady easily broke through it. It was so professionally done that the only mark on it was the one he made yesterday with a screwdriver. Just one look and he was able to tell that no locksmith had a hand at this. Everything was done personally by his mom.

Gu Hai approached him and stood to his side. He started laughing coldly. "I finally understand."

Bai Luo Yin looked up. "Understand what?"

"I can finally understand why your dad, who"s so honest and sincere, could give birth to such smart child like you. She has just proven herself to be your mother, and you her son. Now I know why, my dad is so obedient to your mother."

Bai Luo Yin"s threw a sharp look at Gu Hai. He was quite unhappy at the fact that he was mentioned in the same breath as Jiang Yuan. Yet he can"t deny the fact that many of his good genes came from her.

The pair made their way into the kitchen.

"I"ve decided that from today on, I"ll come over everyday to make food, wash your laundry, and clean the bathroom. I still can"t be at ease with a housekeeper. I don"t really do much all day so it would be better to be here to help you guys out."

Bai Luo Yin and Gu Hai"s faces took on a ghastly expression.

Jiang Yuan adds, "Of course I won"t stay too long. I"ll only stop by at noon and night time."

Gu Hai"s face darkened.

How can she be so disgusting? What makes her think she can just do whatever she wants?

Jiang Yuan pushed the food towards Bai Luo Yin and Gu Hai.

"Eat quickly."

Bai Luo Yin"s chopsticks wouldn"t budge at all. He looked straight at Jiang Yuan with expressionless eyes.

“After today, can you not come here and bother us anymore?” Bai Luo Yin said. Each word he spoke was accompanied with a certain weight that expressed his resolve.

Fact of the matter is, Gu Hai has been wanting to say those words since earlier, but chose not to since, after all, she was Bai Luo Yin"s mother.

Jiang Yuan"s lips turned so white that not even her lip tint could conceal her emotions.

"Luo Yin, mom misses you. If mom doesn"t see you for one day, my heart…"

"You don"t miss me," Bai Luo Yin interrupted, "You just want to take advantage of the situation here."

Jiang Yuan"s eyes started to well up.

"I never saw you show your face when I still lived with my dad. Didn"t you also live well then?"

"That"s because someone was there to take care of you. But now…"

"But now I will take care of him," Gu Hai interrupted, "Didn"t you always believe in the western education system? Well, we"re already 17 years old. We"re old enough to be independent. If you"re afraid he won"t be living well, I can guarantee you right now that I will always be here to wash his clothes and make his food. When he"s in pain or tired, I"ll know it. As long as you can guarantee that you won"t step through that door again, we will definitely live well. But if you insist on coming to bother us again, then I can"t guarantee that you will still see us tomorrow."

Gu Hai"s voice was not loud but it held a certain authority…one that has the ability to cause the ground to shake.

From then on, Jiang Yuan did stop coming to their home.. Occasionally she would send someone over to bring them things like clothes and quilts, which they didn"t use. Everything was thrown into a room where it started to pile up.

—

Bai Luo Yin has really started to live in Gu Hai"s apartment. And once he started living there, two weeks quickly pa.s.sed by. Aside from Sat.u.r.days and Sundays, which he spends at Bai Han Qi"s house, the rest of his time was spent with Gu Hai.

The two developed a regular routine. Gu Hai would always wake up half an hour earlier than Bai Luo Yin, buy breakfast and wait for Bai Luo Yin to wake up so they can eat together. Bai Luo Yin felt guilty about it so he asked Gu Hai if they can take turns buying breakfast. As expected, Gu Hai immediately refused. The reason was that he can drive and Bai Luo Yin can"t so it would take him longer to get to Aunt Zou"s and back. In turn, Gu Hai started giving Bai Lou Yin driving lessons every day at noon.

After cla.s.s, the two would always head straight home, have dinner, and then workout. They would either hit the gym or play basketball, which they really liked doing. They would play until their clothes are soaked in sweat. After that, they would usually take a hot shower or bath. The rest of the night will be spent doing all sorts of trivial things.

The two never quarreled, so it was exceptionally peaceful in the apartment. The reason was probably because there was really nothing to argue about. When their room was messy, they would both ignore it. It also wasn"t a problem when their toiletries go missing or are thrown all over the place. They would simply use whatever they see, regardless if it"s clean or not.

They also never argue over which television station to watch since their preferences are more or less, the same.

Their biggest problem was food.

Gu Hai promised that he would make food for Bai Luo Yin. And, being the person that he is, Gu Hai kept true to his words. The best thing that Bai Luo Yin could say about Gu Hai"s cooking skill is: I won"t die of food poisoning.

It"s true. If he shuts his eyes and pinched his nose, the food Gu Hai prepares is actually edible. There is, however, one dish that Gu Hai is good at. And that is, boiled eggs. Everyday, he would boil eggs and every time it was cooked really well, Bai Luo Yin would actually give him a praise or two whenever he serves this..

Every weekend, like a ritual, the two would go back to Bai Han Qi"s home. And every time, Aunt Zou would be at a loss for words upon seeing how much food they would consume. In one breath, they would eat several people"s worth of food. They would eat so much and then complain about not being full.

One afternoon, Aunt Zou has decided that enough"s enough and went over their apartment to give them a large amount of food (one week"s worth to be precise), which she instructed them to place inside the refrigerator. And because she is the sweet aunt that she is, she would even, on her spare time, make extra food, which she sends over to them. She does this without any reservation.

Gu Hai is always diligent and responsible when it comes to washing their dirty laundry. Of course, this is especially true when it comes to Bai Luo Yin"s clothes. His he would toss into the washing machine, but Bai Luo Yin’s he would wash carefully by hand. Bai Luo Yin had urged him several times to just toss everything into the machine, but Gu Hai–very stubbornly–insisted on hand washing them. He was very selective about which article was to be hand washed and which one should go into the machine.

It didn"t take long before Bai Luo Yin discovered that, in reality, Gu Hai only hand washed one item, and that was, his underpants. Every night, Gu Hai would stand in front of the bathroom sink and with great determination, would scrub, scrub, scrub away. It was then that, Bai Luo Yin finally understood how Gu Hai could easily run several miles at a time without losing his breathe. Since, after all, washing clothes had already left him flushed and gasping for air.

Translator"s Note

[1] 傻逼 （sha bi) means more or less, idiot, but it"s way more vulgar in Chinese, more like stupid c***

Are you addicted?