After the Beautiful Omega Was Targeted by His Straight Roommate - Chapter 15

Three minutes before the elective course began.

Jiang Zhao strolled leisurely through the back door of the lecture hall. He scanned the room from his high vantage point and immediately spotted Qi Yuxiao, who was occupying an entire row by himself.

Jiang Zhao naturally took the seat next to Qi Yuxiao and said to him, “I almost walked into the wrong classroom just now.”

He then glanced at the students around them. “Why does it feel like everyone looks so unfamiliar?”

Qi Yuxiao moved his gaze away from his phone and gave him a sidelong glance, exposing him bluntly. “The course has been in session for three weeks, and this is your first time coming. How could they not look unfamiliar?”

“Oh, come on. Don’t I have you, my good brother, to sign in for me?” Jiang Zhao patted Qi Yuxiao on the shoulder and gave a thick-skinned, mischievous grin. “After all, a brother is raised for a day to be used for a lifetime.”

Qi Yuxiao: “…”

Qi Yuxiao did not even want to give him a look.

Jiang Zhao’s peripheral vision caught the seat to Qi Yuxiao’s left, where he noticed an exquisite packaging bag sitting on the desk.

Jiang Zhao’s eyes lit up. He immediately recognized it as the packaging from a certain bakery opposite the school’s main entrance.

Jiang Zhao had an impression of this bakery. He had heard that every item in the shop had high ratings and affordable prices. However, because business was so booming, the line in front of the shop was always like a long dragon, making it very difficult to buy anything.

“Coming to class is one thing, but why did you buy me food too?”

Jiang Zhao reached out to take it quite boldly. However, just as he touched the bag, Qi Yuxiao moved it away with lightning speed in the next instant.

Jiang Zhao: “?”

Qi Yuxiao: “It is not for you.”

“Fine. You are actually eating alone?” Jiang Zhao blinked and withdrew his hand, saying with disdain, “If you do not want to give it to me, then do not. I did not want to eat it anyway.”

Capturing a hint of something unusual, Jiang Zhao suddenly narrowed his eyes. “Do you not hate sweet things? Why do you suddenly have the leisure and interest to buy bread?”

And it was from a bakery that required a long wait and was hard to buy from.

Qi Yuxiao said, “It is an apology.”

Jiang Zhao’s jaw nearly dropped. He said in horror, “I think I just had a hallucination. Say that again?”

Qi Yuxiao did not bother to pay him any attention.

He stared at the WeChat message on his phone that had been sent for half an hour without a reply. His gaze darkened suddenly.

The school bell rang for a dozen seconds.

Only then did a thin figure appear hurriedly in the aisle opposite them.

The boy was wearing a grey single layer of clothing. His silhouette was thin and his collar was somewhat large, revealing a section of his slender, white neck.

He looked around cautiously a few times. Finally, he walked over to a girl who had an empty seat next to her and leaned over slightly to ask something. The girl looked up at his face, showing a hint of shyness, and shook her head, saying “no.”

Thus, the boy sat down beside her.

Half a minute later, Qi Yuxiao finally received the reply he had been waiting for for over half an hour.

Qi Yuxiao: [I saved a seat, fifth row by the window. Do you want to sit together later?]

Tao Ran: [Sorry, I just saw the message. I already found a seat (rose icon).]

The teacher for this elective course was a well-known professor at the school with a humorous and witty teaching style. Most students who chose this course intended to slack off, but in the end, they would all be involuntarily attracted to the content the professor taught.

Before they knew it, it was time for the break.

While in class, Jiang Zhao kept shivering from the cold, feeling that the surrounding temperature had become somewhat low.

After class was dismissed for the break, he turned his head in confusion, wanting to see if the window next to Qi Yuxiao was not closed tightly. Instead, he caught sight of Qi Yuxiao’s expressionless face. There were unfathomable emotions hidden in his eyes as he stared gloomily at a certain corner of the classroom.

Jiang Zhao was startled and asked inexplicably, “Who offended you? Why is your face so sour?”

Qi Yuxiao ignored him. Jiang Zhao followed his line of sight and saw the boy sitting in the corner by the door on the other side of the classroom.

The boy’s head was full and rounded. His pitch-black hair was somewhat long, draped softly against the side of his ear, and the exposed skin was very white.

At that moment, the girl sitting inside stood up to indicate she wanted to leave. He immediately stood up and moved aside to make way for her, revealing a quiet and soft profile to Jiang Zhao.

“Wait a minute.” Jiang Zhao blinked and quickly recognized this person. “Is that not your roommate?”

“The one… Tao Ran?”

As the person’s name popped up in his mind, the photos he had seen in the school’s large group chat and forum showing Tao Ran and Qi Yuxiao sitting together in class also surfaced. Jiang Zhao raised an eyebrow. “Why is he sitting over there? Did you two not used to attend this class together?”

“This is the first time I have seen him in person.” Jiang Zhao found it quite novel and asked casually, “Is your relationship not quite good? You used to sit together, so why not today?”

Qi Yuxiao still ignored him. Jiang Zhao turned back to look at him and realized that his face had become even more sour.

“Holy crap! No way?”

Jiang Zhao looked at Qi Yuxiao’s dark, sunken face and then at Tao Ran, who was sitting almost a whole classroom’s distance away from them. A possibility suddenly flashed through his mind.

He asked with pleasant surprise, “Have you finally discovered he is gay and decided to keep your distance?”

“I said he is not.” Qi Yuxiao gave him a look as if he were an idiot, his voice carrying a hint of regret. “I said the wrong thing a few days ago, and he has been avoiding me until now.”

Jiang Zhao asked: “What did you say?”

“I said the scent on him was good.”

Jiang Zhao: “…?”

Jiang Zhao had never thought there would come a day when he would momentarily doubt Qi Yuxiao’s straight status. He blurted out, “Are you sick?”

“No, why would you say that?”

Jiang Zhao suddenly froze for a moment. Like a flash of inspiration, his brain opened up.

Then he adopted an expression of deep thought, rubbing his chin with his fingers. “So after Tao Ran heard those inexplicable words of yours, he avoided you for several days?”

Qi Yuxiao: “Yes.”

Jiang Zhao analyzed: “If that is the case, then it seems he really is a straight man. After all, what normal man would not think the other person is a pervert upon hearing another male say such things?”

Qi Yuxiao: “…”

The more Jiang Zhao thought about it, the more he felt it made sense.

This was clearly more convincing than the few gay attributes Qi Yuxiao had argued against previously.

“If he were gay, he would have probably pounced on you after hearing you say such ambiguous words voluntarily…”

Jiang Zhao realized the truth. He understood now.

He nudged Qi Yuxiao with his elbow. “You are really something. No wonder you were so certain he was not gay; it turns out you already used such a brilliant trick to verify it.”

“Could you not have told me earlier? I was worried he had ulterior motives toward you at first.”

Qi Yuxiao: “…”

Jiang Zhao shook his head with a click of his tongue. “But this dirty trick of yours is quite costly for your friendship. Look at how Tao Ran is already avoiding you like this.”

In a rare moment, Qi Yuxiao’s tone was not so cold or harsh: “Then what do you think I should do?”

Jiang Zhao: “Why don’t you explain it to him? Make it clear that you are also a die-hard straight man.”

This sentence provided Qi Yuxiao with a new angle of thought.

Ever since that night, Tao Ran had been avoiding him.

Whenever he returned to the dorm at night, Tao Ran would immediately climb into bed and pull the bed curtain to hide. Once, he almost fell from the ladder because he was moving too fast.

Thinking about it now, Tao Ran might have been frightened by his unintentional honest words. He likely thought Qi Yuxiao might be gay, and as a straight man, Tao Ran could not accept it, so he kept his distance.

As expected.

Tao Ran was just like him: a straight man who was homophobic.

During the break, Tao Ran had been observing the surroundings vaguely but did not see Qi Yuxiao.

It seemed Qi Yuxiao must be sitting quite far away from him.

Finally, the bell for the end of class rang, and Tao Ran breathed a secret sigh of relief.

He stood up to pack his things. When he opened his backpack, he found the screen of the phone he had kept inside was lit up; someone had sent him a message.

Tao Ran unlocked his phone and found the message was from Qi Yuxiao.

Qi Yuxiao: [I see you. Do not leave yet, I have something to say to you.]

Tao Ran got nervous and immediately turned off the phone screen.

Alas, what was meant to come had finally arrived.

But what did Qi Yuxiao want to say to him?

He looked back and quickly saw the very eye-catching Qi Yuxiao in the crowd, who was following the flow of people and walking toward him step by step.

Before Tao Ran could mentally prepare himself, Qi Yuxiao had already arrived in front of him, taking in the confusion and daze on his face.

Qi Yuxiao asked: “Shall we head back together?”

Tao Ran opened his mouth: “I…”

Suddenly, a paper bag appeared in his line of sight; Qi Yuxiao was handing it to him.

Tao Ran looked down. It was precisely the packaging bag from the bakery opposite the school’s main entrance that was very popular and difficult to buy from.

Before this, Tao Ran had heard Xu Jiali mention once that the bread from that shop was delicious, and then he had accidentally mentioned it to Qi Yuxiao as well.

Then Qi Yuxiao had said that whenever he returned to school from the place he stayed outside, he would enter through the main gate. He told Tao Ran that if he wanted to eat it, he could help him buy it.

Tao Ran was very embarrassed at first, but after eating what Qi Yuxiao bought once, he could not stop thinking about the taste. He could not help but crave it whenever he thought of it.

Seeing that he liked it, Qi Yuxiao would habitually bring some bread from that shop for Tao Ran every time he returned to the dorm.

The school was very large. Their dorm and the classroom area were both very far from the main gate. Every time they left the school, they also used the side gate. Therefore, Tao Ran did not know that the bread from this shop was so hard to buy and that one had to wait in line for a long time.

He had only found out after hearing Xu Jiali mention it by chance a few days ago.

Tao Ran’s guilt immediately reached its peak.

Because of his own issues, he had been avoiding Qi Yuxiao for the past few days.

his act of avoidance was very obvious; even the most dull person could notice it.

Qi Yuxiao was so good to him, so how could he treat him like this?

Even though he had treated him this way, Qi Yuxiao continued to buy bread for him.

It was already late autumn, and the temperature at night was very low.

Tao Ran followed closely beside Qi Yuxiao.

Qi Yuxiao led him down a path with very few people. A cold wind blew against them. Because his clothes were thin, his body could not help but shiver.

A hand suddenly appeared in front of him, holding a jacket. Tao Ran looked at Qi Yuxiao blankly.

“Wear it,” Qi Yuxiao said.

Tao Ran felt a warmth in his heart and his sense of guilt grew heavier. He took it dazed: “But what about you?”

“I am not cold.”

Tao Ran put on the jacket. Their sizes were different, so Qi Yuxiao’s jacket was a bit large on him, and it still carried the residual heat from Qi Yuxiao’s body.

Tao Ran wrapped the jacket tightly, looking at Qi Yuxiao and then lowering his head to look at the ground covered in fallen leaves, repeating this several times.

After a long while, he finally managed to speak: “Um… Qi Yuxiao, you said you had something to tell me. What is it?”

Qi Yuxiao paused his steps and turned toward Tao Ran.

His voice was deep and serious as he called his name.

“Tao Ran.”

Tao Ran also stopped with him: “Yes?”

Qi Yuxiao: “Actually, I am a straight man.”

Tao Ran froze and blinked: “Huh?”

Qi Yuxiao: “The sentence I said before might have caused you to misunderstand. Actually, I am not gay.”

“…Huh?”

Tao Ran was somewhat bewildered, not knowing why Qi Yuxiao suddenly brought this up.

Straight man, Tao Ran knew what that meant.

A straight man was a male whose sexual orientation was toward females.

Long before university started, Dr. Chi had specifically told him that the environment would become larger and the people he met would be increasingly complex. He told Tao Ran that he must be alert and guard against straight men.

Dr. Chi also said that homosexuality was temporarily still a minority in this society. People’s acceptance of homosexuality varied; some felt that love had nothing to do with gender, while others expressed a lack of understanding for those who liked the same sex. The better ones might not understand but would still show respect.

But there were also extreme people who instinctively rejected and discriminated against the gay community, even showing strong aggression toward them.

Tao Ran had actually already experienced this once.

Therefore, Dr. Chi constantly urged Tao Ran that after entering university, he must not reveal his true sexual orientation unless it was absolutely necessary.

Tao Ran had always kept this firmly in mind.

However, after entering university, perhaps because Tao Ran was excessively socially anxious and his social circle was extremely small, he had never been asked about his sexual orientation. He also very cautiously and carefully kept this secret hidden.

According to Tao Ran’s observations, Zhuo Qiang and Su Jiali should be straight men; whether they were homophobic was unknown for now.

But they were both very good people and seemed to assume Tao Ran was also a straight man. In the beginning, Zhuo Qiang even thought about introducing a girlfriend to him. Fortunately, Tao Ran refused on the grounds that his family did not allow him to date.

Zhuo Qiang firmly believed this and even muttered at the time about what kind of parents were so feudal that they would not let their child date even in university.

Tao Ran had heard the term “straight man” a few times from Zhuo Qiang and Su Jiali, always when they were talking about Qi Yuxiao.

But in front of Qi Yuxiao’s “straight man” label, there was often another word: homophobic.

It was easy to understand; homophobic meant having a fear or hatred of homosexuality.

Qi Yuxiao’s homophobic straight man attribute was very obvious.

Tao Ran had once witnessed a male suitor blocking their dorm door to confess to Qi Yuxiao.

At that time, Qi Yuxiao’s expression was cold to the extreme as he responded indifferently: “I am not interested in men. Stay away from me.”

A part of the reason Tao Ran did not dare to contact Qi Yuxiao at first was for this reason.

But later, Tao Ran found that Qi Yuxiao was also a very good person. As they spent time together, he relaxed and gradually forgot about Qi Yuxiao’s homophobic straight man attribute.

Tao Ran realized something. His face stiffened and his heart skipped a beat.

As soon as Qi Yuxiao opened his mouth tonight, he stated that he was a straight man and emphasized that he was not gay.

Why was he doing this?

Had he discovered something?

Tao Ran’s face suddenly turned pale, and his palms sweated with nervousness.

He raised his eyes guiltily, only to find Qi Yuxiao watching him very seriously. In a very certain tone, Qi Yuxiao asked:

“Tao Ran, you should also be a straight man, right?”

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