Chapter 69: Deep Closet
Murphy’s Law states that the more you fear that something would happen, the more likely it is to happen.
Huang Shao was worried that the situation between the two of them would take a bad turn and it really did happen. Of course, this wasn’t because of Huang Shao. What was about going to happen, will happen.
Qin Xu was treated coldly by Jiang Yang for no reason for two whole days. Despite asking him why, he wouldn’t answer so he naturally couldn’t hold himself back anymore and exploded.
At this moment, it was convenient that the two of them are desk partners. Qin Xu sat next to him so even if he wanted to hide, it was difficult for him. Jiang Yang had tried to suggest to the teacher the idea of changing seats, but it was Jiang Yang himself who had proposed the idea of them sitting together in the first place so, with this sudden change, the teacher couldn’t help but be concerned. He asked Jiang Yang if they had a fight. He naturally couldn’t turn a blind eye to it and wanted to mediate.
How should Jiang Yang explain? Can he say —– Oh, it’s because I suddenly found out that Qin Xu likes me and I’m still not sure whether or not I feel the same for him. I don’t think I’m gay so I’m deliberately avoiding him.
Of course, he can’t say that.
And so, when asked this by the teacher, Jiang Yang randomly made up a reason that didn’t suffice for his reason to change seats and his request was naturally unsuccessful.
Jiang Yang tried to find a cla.s.smate to change seats privately. It was normal for students to change seats for a cla.s.s or two so that they could sit with their friends to play games and the like.
Jiang Yang’s reason was also quite good. He asked Huang Shao’s desk partner to change seats for a cla.s.s so that he and Huang Shao could play games. The male cla.s.smate also didn’t find anything wrong with it as he was familiar with how game-crazed Huang Shao is.
When the cla.s.s bell rang, Qin Xu saw a male cla.s.smate walk over holding his textbook and sit next to him. His expression immediately became unsightly. Through gritted teeth he asked, “Did Jiang Yang ask to change seats with you?”
The boy who was glared at felt his back go cold, “Yeah………”
Qin Xu’s expression darkened another shade.
The boy then recalled Qin Xu’s bad reputation and his tendency to be involved in fights. As a good student who had only concentrated on studying, he suddenly felt afraid.
Although Qin Xu was angry, he wouldn’t vent it on another person. He did his best to maintain a calm expression as he said faintly: “Do not change. You go call him back. Tell him I have something to say to him.”
The male student who had become a little slow to realise what was going on after all the studying that he had done finally realised that something was wrong. He quickly packed up his things and ran back to his seat to pa.s.s on Qin Xu’s words.
Jiang Yang who sat in the seat originally looking down while playing his phone suddenly stiffened. His head moved slightly as if he wanted to turn to look at Qin Xu, but he quickly stopped himself. He looked up at the male student and could tell that he no longer wanted to change seats. He could only cooperate by standing up and move back to his seat.
Under Qin Xu’s burning and watchful gaze, Jiang Yang slowly sat down. He could then hear him ask almost in an interrogating manner, “Jiang Yang, what do you mean by this? Can’t you just say it to me directly if you have any problems? Do you really have to avoid me like this?”
Jiang Yang heard his angry tone and suddenly wanted to laugh. If it was something that could be clarified so easily, then why would he go through all that trouble?
Qin Xu felt very wronged. He looked straight at Jiang Yang unblinkingly waiting for his response.
Jiang Yang looked at his straightforward and frank gaze and felt a little envious of his ability to express his thoughts so easily. He seriously thought about it for a moment. After the appearance of the system, Qin Xu had slowly changed over time and it was only after he noticed his feelings that he left behind lots of clues. Although he didn’t know when Qin Xu had started liking him, he was certain that it must have been for a while hence his clingy nature. But why could Qin Xu accept it so quickly after finding out that he liked another boy? Shouldn’t he similarly go through a stage of shock and denial?
But on the contrary, Qin Xu responded very calmly and accepted it very quickly. Could he have originally been bent? No, he liked Wu Tong before…..wait, isn’t Wu Tong originally a man?
It wasn’t just him, even he had secretly liked Wu Tong before.
Since young, the first person he had developed a good feeling towards had turned out to be a cross-dressing master, a well and truly man. Could it be…….that he was actually a closeted gay?
Jiang Yang was shocked by this idea that suddenly appeared in his mind and, for a moment, he couldn’t accept it. Thinking that his s.e.xual orientation had suddenly changed after more than a decade, Jiang Yang felt extremely complicated inside.
Qin Xu watched Jiang Yang’s expression change around a few times, but Jiang Yang continued to remain silent and didn’t pay him any attention. Qin Xu felt his mood worsen and he no longer wanted to be ignored. He suddenly grabbed Jiang Yang’s wrist to attract his attention, “Hey, Jiang Yang you………”
At that moment, Jiang Yang’s reaction was very big. He very roughly threw off his and his ears even inexplicably turned red. He himself didn’t notice that change and Qin Xu, who was too surprised by his strong rejection, also didn’t notice it.
Jiang Yang retracted his hand as if he was just shocked by electricity. Met with Qin Xu’s look of confusion, he was a little at loss. His mouth opened and closed as he seemingly had a lot to say but he also didn’t know what to say. He swallowed the words back down and said drily, “It’s nothing. You’re overthinking it.”
How could Qin Xu be placated so easily? All the emotions that he had acc.u.mulated over the past few days had filled his heart and, like a firecracker that was lit, it was immediately set off.
How could he not notice Jiang Yang’s acts to hide from him? The moment he was angered, Qin Xu couldn’t control himself. He felt extremely angered and also very wronged. He angrily patted on the desk and said, “I’m thinking too much?! You’re clearly evading me! Do you think I’m blind?!”
His sudden outburst attracted the attention from the whole cla.s.s. Seeing that Qin Xu’s expression didn’t seem right as he confronted Jiang Yang, they could tell that things weren’t good. Didn’t these two big brothers already reconcile? After not quarrelling for so long, why did they……..Huh? Wait. What did Qin Xu say earlier? Why did it sound like a wife’s grievances towards her husband? It’s just my imagination, right? Right?
The air around them became quiet.
The cla.s.smates were stunned. They instantly started imagining all sorts of things and their expressions were a little complicated.
The nature of their conflict this time was obviously different from before. Jiang Yang was faced with both Qin Xu’s accusation and the watchful eyes from the onlooking cla.s.smates. He suddenly felt both awkward and ashamed. With a hint of panic, he pressed Qin Xu’s head down to block his line of sight and deliberately said calmly: “It’s nothing. You guys continue with your studies. We won’t disturb you.”
The cla.s.smates hesitantly turned back but they were obviously still a little curious, so they would occasionally glance back a few times.
Qin Xu looked back up with look of reluctance. Jiang Yang said to him in a small voice, “Cla.s.s is starting. Don’t make trouble.”
Qin Xu looked at him with a pair of dark, shiny eyes and insisted: “I’m not.”
He had clearly wanted to deal with this coldly so that his and Qin Xu’s relationship could slowly return back to those of normal cla.s.smates but, like this, Jiang Yang was at loss of what to do.
“Since you’re not saying the reason then that means that there’s nothing wrong, so you shouldn’t hide from me.” Qin Xu said this with clear intent to reach some sort of resolution.
Jiang Yang was a little frustrated. He scratched his head and thought about it before opening his mouth: “Do you still remember the system?”
Light flashed through Qin Xu’s eyes as he seemingly thought of something and he felt a little guilty. Jiang Yang however was doing his best to organise his thoughts, so he didn’t notice it. He continued: “It’s original intention was for us to become friends. We are friends. Friends. Understand?”
Qin Xu was stunned for a moment. Hearing him saying something in a not-so straightforward manner, he was in daze for a while before he could finally react. Jiang Yang had deliberately placed an emphasis on the word ‘friend’ and had repeated it twice. Qin Xu fell silent for a while as he seemingly realised something. The light in his eyes gradually dimmed and his face fell.
He looked down and said with his long lashes blocking the emotions in his eyes: “I understand.”
Jiang Yang had originally thought that he would need to explain for a long time, but he saw Qin Xu suddenly quiet down and turn back to work on his homework dejectedly. In any case, he no longer looked over at Jiang Yang anymore.
“…..” Jiang Yang hesitantly reached out and patted his shoulder, “You really understand?”
Qin Xu let out a sound of affirmation. When he saw Jiang Yang still looking over at him, he turned around and said grimly: “If you ask again, I won’t be able to guarantee that I won’t bother you. Didn’t you want me to leave you alone?”
…… That’s true but…..
Being looked at by Qin Xu like that, Jiang Yang felt a little guilty. It was as if he had just done something wrong. As for Qin Xu, he inexplicably looked like a large dog that was abandoned by its owner. With drooping ears and a pitiful whine, he looked very pitiful.
He felt even more guilty seeing this.
Jiang Yang silently retracted his hand. He no longer said anything, and he also proceeded to look down to work on his homework.
And thus, this strange atmosphere was maintained.
When they had lunch, they didn’t sit together like they had usually. When Qin Xu walked over with his plate of food, despite there clearly being a vacant seat next to Jiang Yang, he deliberately acted like he didn’t see it and moved to sit at another seat further down. He started eating without a word with a gloomy expression.
Huang Shao saw this and leaned over to Jiang Yang who sat in front of him. With his hand covering his mouth he whispered: “What’s wrong with Qin Xu these days? Why is his expression so bad? Is he heartbroken?”
Jiang Yang’s hands that held onto his chopsticks stalled for a moment before he continued to pick up a piece of meat to eat with a look of calmness.
Usually, when someone around them isn’t acting right, their friends would start joking around and speak nonsense. They obviously didn’t know that he was heartbroken and was just randomly guessing but sometimes they can accidentally guess the truth.
Huang Shao ate his lunch and couldn’t help but add: “Did you guys have another fight? You should go and talk it out. Xiao Yang Yang, you are too proud. If you continue acting like this, you’ll be disadvantaged. You clearly didn’t mean it that way and you know that you would regret it later so why bother? We’re also about to be in our third year so there’s not much time for us to be together. Make sure you don’t regret it later.”
He persuaded Jiang Yang very sincerely as a friend and Jiang Yang naturally could hear his concern.
It was just that the situation this time was special, and it wasn’t convenient telling Huang Shao. Jiang Yang could only think to himself and process those words himself. He then pulled at the corner of his lips and smiled softly, “It’s not a fight. We’re friends. Don’t worry.”
Jiang Yang who had explained it with this sentence received a WeChat message from Qin Xu the same night. It was just one sentence.
“Who’s your friend. I’m not your friend.”
The author has something to say:
Qin Xu little child: So angry. Who’s your friend?! I don’t want it!