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Mai Ding’s voice outside had woken An Ziyan. He remained on his bed with hands covering his head, hearing how Mai Ding scolded him, and how he loved him
When he decided to stand up to open the door, Mai Ding was not there anymore.
The next day, Mai Ding decided to avoid An Ziyan because he was very ashamed of those things he said on impulse last night. Now that An Ziyan knows he likes him, he was even more ashamed, because he thought that An Ziyan would hate him because he was straight, and there was a "curved one" liking him. The more Mai Ding thought, the worse he felt, because he thought that he was an a.s.shole and he even had the urge to consume rat poison. When he came from the toilet, Mai Ding saw An Ziyan and ran back into the cubicle with his b.u.t.t facing out. If we didn’t know the real reason, we would"ve thought that he was a pervert. When An Ziyan pa.s.sed by his cla.s.sroom, Mai Ding would use a book to hide himself. When they meet each other on the staircase, Mai Ding would disappear quickly before An Ziyan could say anything.
Mai Ding was like a radar. As long as he can sense An Ziyan within his area, he would run faster than anyone. A few days have pa.s.sed, just like that. Mai Ding’s cla.s.s had just ended and just when he was about to take his book and go back to his room, he saw An Ziyan leaning at the bars outside.
“Mai Ding, How long do you plan to avoid me?”
Mai Ding opened his mouth, not knowing what to do. He just threw the book in his hand at An Ziyan before running away again. An Ziyan followed him, and because of Mai Ding’s shorter legs, An Ziyan caught hold of Mai Ding’s wrist in a short while saying, “You a.s.shole.”
“Let go of me, if not I will shout for help!” Mai Ding used all his strength to struggle.
“You"re going to shout for no reason? And run for what?”
“I"m too ashamed to see people, too ashamed to see you.”
“Why?”
“You would still ask me? Isn’t it because of what I said that night?”
“What did you say?” An Ziyan decided to pretend that he doesn’t know about this matter, to prevent this a.s.shole from hiding from him.
This time, Mai Ding quieted down and stared at An Ziyan saying, “You didn’t hear anything?”
“Hear what?”
Mai Ding then heaved a sigh of relief in his heart. So, An Ziyan didn’t hear anything.Seems like G.o.d is also helping him. In that case, he can still be An Ziyan’s friend. As long as he was not being hated, Mai Ding was willing to take on second best choice (which is being his friend). He suddenly put a smile on his face and said, “Hey, why didn’t you say so earlier?” This guy, he changed his face faster than flipping a page of a book.
He was indeed an idiot since, and he was so easy to trick. That night, he said those things so loudly that it was impossible to hear it. An Ziyan was thinking like that in his heart, but he didn’t say it out loud.
Just like that, An Ziyan and Mai Ding went back to normal, as though nothing has happened before. But, even if he pretended that nothing has happened before, Mai Ding was unable to face An Ziyan so naturally and honestly like in the past. Being on this “friend” position, he was sad and relieved. Such conflicting emotion was gradually pushing Mai Ding to the limit. There were times where he thought that it would be much easier to just say it all out, regardless of whether An Ziyan would hate him or not. But he just wouldn’t dare, because he was not ready or prepared, for he doesn’t want to use the friendship he has with An Ziyan to be at stake.
Tonight is Li Ming’s birthday. He invited a few of his friends for a celebratory meal. Of course, Mai Ding went as well. Mai Ding then realized that most of Li Ming’s friends were girls, and he couldn"t believe that a nerdy geek like him who doesn’t leave the house can befriend so many female people. Sometimes, Mai Ding didn"t understand what the girls were thinking and what perspective they were looking at to a.s.sess guys.
Li Ming introduced them for a while, but Mai Ding can’t really remember their names. During dinner, a few of Li Ming’s friends suddenly talk about An Ziyan, “Ah Ming, do you think that An Ziyan will fall for someone like me? Afterall, I still have some beauty in me right?”
Li Ming slanted his eye angle to look at the girl saying, “You can forget about it, because An Ziyan has a girlfriend already.” Once Li Ming blurted those lines out, he immediately regretted it, as he saw Mai Ding’s face getting darker and darker. Li Ming hinted asked his female friends to comfort Mai Ding through giving some looks at his female friends, however, when those girls approached him and wanted to say something, Mai Ding waved his hands saying, “It is no use, I am "curved" now.”
Besides for Li Ming, no one knows what Mai Ding is saying. Li Ming then went forward to fill up Mai Ding’s cup with alcohol saying, “It"s my birthday today, you shouldn"t have a sad face that shows as if someone has died. Come, drink with me.”
Mai Ding raised his cup and chugged it down. After that, the scene was like the usual "forget-your-sorrows-with-liquor", as Mai Ding kept drinking more and more. Finally, he started to lose his sanity, for he started seeing Li Ming look more like An Ziyan, so he jumped on Li Ming’s body saying, “Being friends with you is so torturous for me.”
Li Ming was almost suffocated by Mai Ding’s hug. He had some pity for him, he thought that this a.s.shole is really hurt.
Hence, he decided to do a good deed, he then turned to his friends who have drunk quite a lot saying, “You guys go back first then.”
“Do you need us to carry him back?”
“No need. I will call his family to fetch him.”
After that, they left. Li Ming wanted to push Mai Ding away, but he can’t push away at all, “You let go of me now! Look carefully! I am not An Ziyan, I am Li Ming."
Mai Ding raised his head and looked at Li Ming’s face clearly before lying back on his shoulder saying, “Don’t lie to me. Li Ming is so ugly, how can I not recognize him?”
“Will you believe if I will leave you in the streets alone?” Li Ming almost puked blood in anger, but he still took out his cellphone and called their neighbor staying in room 503, “Hey, Xiao Yang, sorry to trouble you, but can you help me pa.s.s a message to 501 saying that Mai Ding is drunk and at the barbequed cuttlefish shop outside the school where you turn left and turn into the next corner?” After that, he hung up the phone and looked at Mai Ding’s face before sighing. It is so difficult for a guy to like another guy, there are so many things to consider.
After a short while, An Ziyan appeared and coldly looked at those two men hugging each other. He frowned as he approached them and pulled Mai Ding to him before saying, “You can go now.”
Li Ming felt that An Ziyan and Mai Ding have at least one thing in common, they are both heartless. He was so nice, and yet he got called “ugly” by Mai Ding, and on the other hand, he was about to be pierced to death by An Ziyan’s cold eyes. He also didn’t dare to say anything, he rushed off immediately because the dorm gates were going to close. When Li Ming left, An Ziyan’s face turned blacker as he saw the drunk Mai Ding.
Mai Ding moved closer to An Ziyan and smelled his clothes with all his might, “Why do you suddenly smell so good?” When he finished saying this, his stomach flipped as he bent down to puke at the side of the road with his hand still grabbing onto An Ziyan’s sleeve. An Ziyan bit his teeth while helping Mai Ding pat his back. The force he used was not the normal, it was heavy, and Mai Ding almost puked out his intestines, so he stood up straight saying, “Are you trying to pat me to death?!”
“That"s what I thought.”
“Why are you so angry?” Although Mai Ding is drunk, he was still able to clearly see that An Ziyan’s face is colder than the usual while he frowns. He doesn’t have the time to think so much, because his head hurts, and now that he just puked, his throat hurts as well. He rubbed his forehead saying, “I am not feeling too well.”
“You asked for it.” Mai Ding was always able to make An Ziyan lose control of his temper.
“You think I wished for this to happen? This is all because of you, a.s.shole.” Mai Ding points at An Ziyan and whines.
“So noisy, walk faster.” An Ziyan dragged Mai Ding and started walking. Mai Ding looked like he has taken medicine that made his bones softer, as he was unable to walk more than a few steps. An Ziyan rolled his eyes, and bent down to piggy back Mai Ding. As the faint yellow lamp light shines on the both of them, both of their shadows have elongated. Mai Ding lied on An Ziyan’s back and let the soft wind blow across him, carrying An Ziyan’s breath and smell into Mai Ding’s heart. He held onto An Ziyan’s clothes tightly. By the time they reached the school gate, An Ziyan looked at the time, the dorm gates have closed and he looked at Mai Ding on his back. He originally thought he was asleep but he didn’t expect him (Mai Ding) to be staring at him all this time.
An Ziyan turned around to walk towards the bus stop. Mai Ding then asked, “Where are we going?”
“My house.” An Ziyan eventually let Mai Ding go down from his back.
“What do you want to do to me?”
An Ziyan didn’t want to reply Mai Ding. When they walked to the bus stop, he put Mai Ding down and Mai Ding still felt a little giddy. Finally, the last bus came, and An Ziyan dragged Mai Ding up the bus. The bus was rather empty, so they sat at the last row with An Ziyan sitting at the window seat, looking outside.
Suddenly, Mai Ding remembered something and started searching his bag.
Mai Ding finally found the lottery ticket in his bag, and he put it in front of An Ziyan as he mocked himself, “Why am I so unlucky? I always can’t win the lottery. Do you think I am at the corner of G.o.d’s eye? If not, why is He always not able to see me, and not let good luck befall unto me?” Even though he"s drunk, he can’t forget about winning the lottery.
“Why do you want money?”
“I used to want to do a lot of things, such as going to Maldives, buy a villa, and change all my teeth to gold.”
“That’s all you want to do?”
“But now, An Ziyan, if I were to win the lottery, I will spend all my money to buy you, and keep you by my side.”
“Do you think you can just buy me like that?”
“Besides money, I can’t think of any reason to let you stay by my side.” Mai Ding mumbled before falling asleep on An Ziyan’s shoulder.
An Ziyan turned his head to see the Mai Ding, who is leaning on his shoulder, he then took off his jacket and put it on Mai Ding.
It took around 10 minutes before the bus reached An Ziyan’s house. In order to make it more convenient for him to go school, his father specially bought him a house near the school. An Ziyan pushed Mai Ding, and Mai Ding opened his eyes dreamily. He saw An Ziyan standing up to get off the bus, so he quickly followed him.
At the entrance, An Ziyan took out his keys out to open the door.
“I"m very sorry, I have troubled you so much ever since you befriended me. You can let me go now, after sleeping for awhile, my head doesn’t hurt that much anymore. I can go to some nearby motel to sleep.” Mai Ding felt that even though An Ziyan was expressionless, his heart must"ve been feeling rather annoyed with him.
“Do you think I will let you stay in a motel?”
“It’s alright, even if we"re friends, you don’t have to…” Mai Ding didn’t finish his sentence, for An Ziyan grabbed his wrist. Mai Ding’s hand started to hurt because of that.
“Don’t keep saying the word "friend", hearing it makes me angry.” He pulled his hand and kissed Mai Ding on his lips. Mai Ding was widened his eyes and was immediately awoken from his drunk state, but still he didn’t want to push away. He just stood there and let An Ziyan invade his mouth.
If this was a dream, then Mai Ding didn"t want to wake up.Mai Ding was like stone as he stood there. He had no reaction toward the kiss, which An Ziyan couldn"t take but scold him, “Are you a dead person?”
This kiss came too quick, which made Mai Ding not know what to do. But, how can things that happen in dreams happen in reality?
Unless, G.o.d has finally seen the one standing at the corner of His eye?
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To be continued...