After The Beautiful Woman Moves Into The Jock's Dorm Room - Chapter 49

Chapter 49: Cherishing the Present is What Matters Most

Cheng Che was momentarily stunned, a flash of distress in his eyes. He said seriously, “If you are willing, you can also feel this happiness.”

His words were very direct, and Shen Qingyu understood immediately. He thought Cheng Che meant that if they were together, he would become part of the family and could feel this happiness. But Shen Qingyu felt that his relationship with someone was unrelated to family. It wasn’t because Cheng Che’s family was happy that he would feel this happiness if he were with Cheng Che. Furthermore, Shen Qingyu was currently appearing as a friend. The reason Cheng Che’s mother treated him so well was because they were friends.

If he appeared as a boyfriend, the result might not be the same.

After all, not everyone can accept their son being gay. In fact, he hadn’t even told his aunt his true sexual orientation all these years.

A few days ago, his aunt even asked if he had met any nice girls at Wen University, asked if he liked any girls, and encouraged him to try harder.

Shen Qingyu smiled faintly, skipping past the topic.

Cheng Che was clearly a bit disappointed, but he didn’t express it directly. He wasn’t too bothered; he had always been patient with Shen Qingyu.

Shen Qingyu rushed back to the clothing store in the last few minutes of his break. He originally thought Cheng Che would have left, but he was surprised to find that Cheng Che was still there when he clocked out.

“You haven’t left yet?” Shen Qingyu said in surprise.

Cheng Che said, “No one is home, so there’s no point in going back. I was just browsing around the mall, waiting for you to finish work so I could take you home.”

He raised both hands, holding two large bags full of blind boxes.

“This new series is quite nice. I bought a few boxes. Let’s open them together.”

Shen Qingyu wasn’t enthusiastic about blind box culture, but Yang Yu loved it. Yang Yu had a glass cabinet filled with various blind boxes at his house. So, Shen Qingyu occasionally bought one to open for fun, keeping the ones he liked and giving the uninteresting ones directly to Yang Yu.

They found a place to sit. Shen Qingyu took out a box, looked at the pamphlet, and pointed to the pink one: “This one is pretty. I want this one.”

“If you can get it, I’ll give it to you.”

Shen Qingyu rubbed his hands together, excitedly blew on his palms, and then gently tore open the box. He secretly pulled out the card for a peek, then thrust it in front of Cheng Che. “Holy cow! It really is this one!”

Opening the bag, a delicate, palm-sized figurine appeared before him. The figurine was wearing pink clothes, and its eyes sparkled with pink hearts, looking exactly like a character in a manga who gets giddy over a handsome guy.

“That’s impressive.” Cheng Che clapped for him, then took the packaging from his hand, crumpled it, and tucked it into the bag.

Shen Qingyu noticed his action of “cleaning up his trash,” and felt a warmth spread through his heart.

Having gotten the style he wanted, Shen Qingyu enthusiastically said, “Which one do you like? Let me see if I can help you draw it.”

“Any is fine. How about the blue one?” Cheng Che said.

“I wonder what the hidden style looks like,” Shen Qingyu muttered, helping him open a box.

He got his wish—the figure inside was a style not shown on the pamphlet. Shen Qingyu froze, then suddenly let out a small shriek.

“It’s the hidden style!”

Cheng Che hadn’t expected his luck to be so good, picking up just a few boxes and actually getting a hidden style.

“It’s so beautiful.”

The hidden style was a gradient of sky blue and cosmic purple, very delicate. It seemed to have subtle sparkles under the light.

“Do you like it? I’ll give it to you,” Cheng Che said very generously.

Shen Qingyu shook his head, “No need! I’m happy with this pink one!”

After opening all the boxes, Cheng Che and Shen Qingyu took the subway home.

As usual, Cheng Che walked Shen Qingyu to his door. This time, Cheng Che didn’t wait for the sensor light to turn off; he simply gave him a hug.

Shen Qingyu also accepted the embrace openly, even actively wrapping his arms around Cheng Che’s waist.

Cheng Che hadn’t expected Shen Qingyu to reciprocate. His body stiffened for a moment when he felt Shen Qingyu’s soft palms resting on his lower back.

…

The vacation quickly ended. Shen Qingyu returned to the dorm a day early, thinking that the room would surely be dusty after being empty all summer, so he planned to clean up.

Unexpectedly, when he pushed open the dorm room door, he saw Lu Xiao lying on his bed playing Switch.

Lu Xiao heard the door open and lifted his eyelids. “You’re back.”

His greeting sounded as commonplace as a husband waiting for his wife at home, which made Shen Qingyu a little unaccustomed to it, causing him to momentarily freeze.

“When did you get back?”

“The day after we got back from the trip.”

“Why did you come back so early?”

Lu Xiao looked a little displeased. He tossed the game console aside and flipped out of bed. He stood in front of Shen Qingyu, looking at his cheeks, which had visibly rounded out after just a few days apart, and couldn’t resist reaching out to pinch them.

“What are you doing!” Shen Qingyu reacted like a startled rabbit. He pushed him, but couldn’t move him, and could only pout while Lu Xiao pinched his cheeks.

“I missed you.” Lu Xiao bent down and hugged him tightly, using so much force that it seemed he wanted to press him into his very flesh and blood.

He was hugging too hard, and Shen Qingyu felt his breathing getting constricted.

“L-Let go of me.”

“Let me hug you for a little longer.” He let out a sigh of satisfied contentment.

This was the first time in Lu Xiao’s life that he had wished so strongly for school to start.

Because Shen Qingyu was at school.

Lu Xiao released him and pressed: “Did you miss me?”

Although Shen Qingyu really wanted to say no, considering Lu Xiao’s tiresome personality, the word “no” was on the tip of his tongue but changed to: “Yes, yes, yes, is that enough?”

It seemed that any phrase followed by “is that enough?” would sound reluctant.

But Lu Xiao couldn’t tell at all. Instead, he said happily, “That’s more like it.”

Shen Qingyu pushed him aside, opened his suitcase, and began to organize his belongings. Lu Xiao stood beside him, watching, like a little shadow he couldn’t shake off. He was tall and bulky and simply in the way. Shen Qingyu told him off a few times, but he wouldn’t budge, so Shen Qingyu could only ask him to help.

“Right, why did you come back to school so early?” Shen Qingyu asked casually.

Lu Xiao was silent for a moment, then said, “I argued with my dad. I don’t want to see him. It’s annoying.”

He rarely mentioned his family in front of Shen Qingyu, so Shen Qingyu was quite curious.

“What did you argue about?”

Lu Xiao sneered: “He cut off my allowance and told me to figure it out myself. As if I care about his money.”

Shen Qingyu felt he was clearly trying to save face. After all, he usually spent money lavishly like a young master. If his father really cut off his allowance, given his personality, he would probably have to borrow money.

Since they were roommates, Shen Qingyu asked with concern, “Do you have money for food? I can treat you. I’ve saved quite a bit from my part-time jobs.”

“No need,” Lu Xiao said curtly.

Lu Xiao had a bit of a dominant male personality and would absolutely not allow the person he liked to pay for him.

In Shen Qingyu’s words, he was just too concerned about saving face.

“I have money,” Lu Xiao said seriously, as if afraid Shen Qingyu would think he was broke and pity him. “Besides, I can always sell a few game items or watches or running shoes or whatever.” His tone was casual, as if he didn’t care about the situation at all.

Shen Qingyu, however, looked disapprovingly: “Your family bought those for you. It’s not right to sell them, and you shouldn’t let your argument with your dad escalate to this point. Families don’t hold grudges overnight.”

Lu Xiao harshly scoffed, his face full of anger: “Do you know why we argued?”

Shen Qingyu: “?”

“My dad wants me to study abroad next year.”

Shen Qingyu’s expression became somewhat complicated: “Aren’t you supposed to study abroad next year anyway?”

His major was a Sino-foreign cooperative program. If he didn’t study abroad for the remaining two years, he wouldn’t even get a graduation certificate.

Now Shen Qingyu was certain: Lu Xiao was entirely initiating the problem unilaterally.

“But I don’t want to go abroad. I’ve changed my mind.” Lu Xiao sat on his chair, looking down at Shen Qingyu, who was squatting on the floor. Their eyes met, and Shen Qingyu could see himself reflected in his beautiful eyes.

This time, Shen Qingyu didn’t ask why. His first reaction upon hearing Lu Xiao’s words was even to avoid the topic.

He knew the reason Lu Xiao didn’t want to go abroad, but he completely refused to take responsibility for that reason.

“Lu Xiao,” Shen Qingyu persuaded him calmly, “don’t be so impulsive. This is a lifetime matter.”

Shen Qingyu absolutely could not bear the consequences.

Lu Xiao liked him now, looking like he would give up the whole world for him, but Shen Qingyu had never asked him to abandon these things. Furthermore, they weren’t even together. Even if they were, Shen Qingyu wouldn’t ask Lu Xiao to give up studying abroad just for the sake of their relationship.

He didn’t want Lu Xiao to regret his foolish actions one day after his feelings for Shen Qingyu faded.

That would be truly irreversible.

Lu Xiao was well aware of this logic. He wasn’t so foolish as to truly throw caution to the wind, but hearing this from Shen Qingyu made him feel humiliated.

“Won’t you miss me?” Lu Xiao lowered his head, feeling dejected.

Shen Qingyu considered him a roommate and a friend, so of course, he would miss him.

He sighed softly and said, “I will.”

Lu Xiao suddenly looked up, his eyes seeming a little watery.

“We still have a year to spend together, don’t we?” Shen Qingyu gave him a bright smile. “Who knows what will happen in the future? Cherishing the present is what matters most.”

Lu Xiao didn’t hear what he wanted to hear. The feeling of shattered expectation was not easy to bear. He gritted his back teeth and turned his head away, refusing to look at him.

He looked like a child throwing a tantrum at an adult.

Shen Qingyu gently patted his head and whispered, “A year is neither long nor short. Don’t be confused by unknown things.”

“What do you know?” he said coldly.

“I don’t know, but I think studying abroad is actually pretty great. You can experience the customs and culture of another country.” Shen Qingyu paused and continued, “If you’re studying abroad, then if I ever get the chance to travel overseas, you’ll be my only connection there. You’ll have to show me around properly.”

Bang! A sound exploded in Lu Xiao’s mind, like brilliant fireworks lighting up.

Shen Qingyu’s words felt like a commitment weighing a thousand pounds, bringing new life back to his withered and depressed heart.