Are All You Straight Men Like This? - Chapter 8

Soon enough, Ye Ran realized he had celebrated too early.

On Monday morning, the heating in the teaching building was set quite high. The weather was gradually turning colder, and the air carried the petrichor scent of wet soil following the rain.

Ye Ran looked up at Liang Feng standing before him and said with restraint, “Is there something you need?”

Liang Feng had specifically styled his hair today, using mousse to slick it back. He understood perfectly where the advantages of his features lay. Hearing the question, a bright, sunny smile appeared on his face.

“Nothing, Student Ye Ran. Am I not allowed to sit next to you?”

Ye Ran’s fingers gripped his pen tightly. “I’m not used to sitting with others.”

His tone was cold, but Liang Feng acted as if he hadn’t noticed. “But during the club activity the day before yesterday, I saw you sitting with other people.”

“Those were my friends.”

“Aren’t we friends?” Liang Feng asked with a beaming smile.

Ye Ran replied, “No.”

Liang Feng said, “Ah… well, it’s not too late for us to become friends now.”

Ye Ran finally couldn’t take it anymore. He rarely let his emotions show, but now his brow was furrowed as he said bluntly, “You can go sit with your boyfriend.”

Liang Feng raised an eyebrow, staring at his face for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. “But we broke up ages ago.”

Ye Ran’s lips pressed into a thin line.

“I know you might have heard some rumors, but isn’t that just how breakups go? Even if one side has no feelings left, they still want to cling on for a few more days to occupy the moral high ground and make everyone else think they’re the victim.” Liang Feng shrugged.

Ye Ran remained silent.

Seeing this reaction, Liang Feng suddenly had a realization. The interest in his eyes grew even more intense, shining brighter than before. “Student Ye Ran… you haven’t ever been in a relationship before, have you?”

He looked at Ye Ran, his voice full of hidden meaning. “You really are interesting.”

Once class ended, Ye Ran walked out of the classroom without looking back. However, he was intercepted at the last row.

Liang Feng looked up at him with a smile. “Want to grab a meal together?”

Ye Ran didn’t say a word; he simply stepped around him and left immediately.

The few boys nearby looked at each other and patted Liang Feng on the shoulder, asking tentatively, “Brother Liang, even a rabbit doesn’t eat the grass near its own burrow. If you act like this and end up breaking up with Ye Ran later, how are you going to face each other as classmates?”

Liang Feng packed his bag listlessly. “You’re thinking too far ahead.”

“Holy crap,” someone with a sharp intuition picked up on the implication. “He’s that hard to get?”

Liang Feng smiled. “Hard to get.”

He lowered his head, a gloominess gradually growing in his eyes. His mind couldn’t help but recall the scene of Ye Ran and Shen Shi attending the club together last week.

Originally, he wanted to take things slow, but Shen Shi’s appearance had truly intensified his sense of crisis. An outstanding, handsome guy living with him day and night, even joining the same club… even if Ye Ran didn’t dare to be moved now, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t fall for him later.

Seriously, these straight men…

Can’t they just stay away from gay guys?

Monday and Tuesday were packed with major-specific classes. Even though Ye Ran tried to avoid Liang Feng by arriving and leaving exactly on the dot, he was still cornered about once every five times.

His low mood was so obvious that everyone in the dorm noticed.

Xiao Pang, Shu-ge, and Shen Shi were also busy with classes—Shen Shi most of all. Almost all the Finance Department classes were scheduled for the third and fourth periods of Monday and Tuesday, and since Shen Shi had been elected acting class monitor, he had to go to the counselor’s office to help out right after class.

Ye Ran hadn’t seen much of him these past two days.

At noon on Tuesday, after slowly finishing his lunch, Ye Ran’s head began to ache at the thought of the afternoon’s Introduction to Art Theory class. He listlessly climbed into bed for a nap and pulled the blackout curtains shut. Xiao Pang and Shu-ge shared a look and began whispering.

“What’s going on with him?”

“Don’t know. Should we ask?”

“No, Ye Ran is too introverted. He won’t necessarily tell us if we ask directly.”

Xiao Pang frowned in worry. “What do we do? I have a full schedule this afternoon and a class meeting tonight.”

“Me too,” Shu-ge sighed. “Our teacher loves to run over time.”

While they were at a loss, the door was pushed open. Shen Shi walked in. His steps were light; he had likely just returned from the cafeteria. He was carrying an unopened cup of lemon tea, the cold surface of the cup glistening with condensation.

Placing the drink on Ye Ran’s desk, he turned around and looked calmly at Xiao Pang and Shu-ge.

“What’s wrong with him?”

The teacher for Introduction to Art Theory was elderly, with silver hair and an elegant temperament. The PPT slides flickered across the white screen as he said gently, “You all need to take serious notes for this class. The final exam questions will be taken directly from these slides.”

The afternoon sky remained overcast. The cold wind whistled. After the autumn rain, the leaves fell rapidly; the evergreen branches were dry, and the yellowed fallen leaves curled at the edges as they were blown about.

Ye Ran stared at the scenery outside the window, his slender fingers tightening around his pen.

Class is almost over, he thought irritably.

Liang Feng had arrived early today and taken a seat in the back row. Once class ended, he would surely pester him again with ambiguous, flirtatious talk. Everyone in the class knew what Liang Feng was up to. Even though Ye Ran was the one being harrassed, in the eyes of others, this farce didn’t distinguish between right and wrong.

So annoying.

He aimlessly drew black lines in his notebook. On the podium, the old professor timed his lecture perfectly; as the final concept was explained, the bell rang simultaneously.

Ring—

The classroom erupted into noise. Students chatted and laughed as they packed their bags and textbooks, discussing where to go for dinner.

Occasionally, a few stray glances swept over. Ye Ran sat quietly for a few seconds, then stood up. Out of the corner of his eye, he could already see Liang Feng.

Liang Feng leaned against the back of his chair, smiling as he stretched his arms. He held a rolled-up notebook, tapping it rhythmically in the air like a hunter waiting for Ye Ran to fall into his trap.

“Ye Ran, want to go eat together?” he asked, drawing out his words lazily.

The surrounding boys immediately burst into teasing laughter. Ye Ran gripped his backpack, his features cold and impatient. He didn’t plan on being submissive anymore. Liang Feng’s pestering made him feel nothing but disgust and anger. Today, he was going to lay everything out—

Thud.

Liang Feng’s smile froze. The blank notebook in his hand had fallen to the floor. A figure walked past him and, whether intentionally or not, stepped directly onto the notebook’s cover.

A collective gasp echoed through the classroom. A girl who was leaving late tugged on her friend’s sleeve. “Holy crap, that’s Shen Shi, right?”

“He’s so f*cking handsome!”

“As expected of the ‘Campus Grass,’ damn!”

Amidst the succession of whispers, Ye Ran’s pupils dilated. He stood dazed in the aisle, looking at Shen Shi, who had suddenly appeared at the back door of the classroom.

Shen Shi was wearing a black windbreaker; he looked tall and upright. With his back to the light, his eyes were deep and dark. He walked calmly through the crowd until he stood before Ye Ran and said, “Ye Ran, let’s go.”

Ye Ran snapped back to reality and nodded. “Okay.”

He followed Shen Shi’s lead, watching as Shen Shi once again stepped over the notebook on the floor, treading on the name “Liang Feng” until it was dirty and messy. Without hesitation, Ye Ran also stepped heavily onto it.

All the noise behind him was left in the dust, along with the irritation and oppression of the past two days.

The evening sky was dim, and the streetlamps along the tree-lined path flickered on. The cold wind hit his face, and the dry leaves rustled. Ye Ran happily zipped up his jacket, hiding half his face under the collar.

Shen Shi glanced at him. Ye Ran was smiling brightly; his phoenix eyes were clear, the skin around them slightly flushed from the cold wind. His raven-feather eyelashes drooped, casting a soft shadow over his eyes.

“Send me your class schedule when we get back,” Shen Shi said.

Ye Ran: “Send it to you?”

“Yes. From now on, I’ll pick you up after class.” He looked at the still-confused Ye Ran, his voice low and flat. “You might not know, but that Liang Feng is gay.”

Ye Ran froze, his footsteps involuntarily slowing down. The night breeze was light and cold, bringing with it Shen Shi’s unvarnished voice.

“He’s pestering you like this because he wants to date you.”

Shen Shi continued, “You don’t know how difficult people like them can be. I’ll pick you up after class from now on so he won’t come to bother you anymore.”

The temperature in his body dropped sharply. Ye Ran was grateful half his face was hidden in his collar, otherwise Shen Shi would have easily seen his pale complexion.

“Shen Shi,” his voice was very soft, his numb fingertips trembling as he asked with difficulty, “Are you… very repulsed by gay people?”

Shen Shi said, “Mhm. I don’t really understand their way of thinking.”

After a pause, he tilted his head slightly and asked Ye Ran, “What about you?”

Ye Ran looked at him blankly. The streetlamp light slid softly and dimly over Shen Shi’s profile. The boy who had just pulled him out of that classroom looked as he always did—cold and composed.

Even though he seemed unapproachable on the outside, Ye Ran knew that Shen Shi was actually meticulous and reliable. He was the one who would take him to the hospital in the middle of the night, walk him back to the dorm in a downpour, and calmly lead him out of a mess when he was in trouble…

He really, really didn’t want to lose this friend.

Ye Ran’s mind went blank. In that moment, it felt as if his body were no longer under his control.

“Mhm,” he heard his own voice ring out softly on the quiet path. “I’m the same as you.”

In his sight, Shen Shi gave an imperceptible sigh of relief. “Mhm. I see.”

He had lied. They weren’t the same.

Ye Ran thought: I am actually the kind of person Shen Shi loathes.

But if he hid his orientation and didn’t leave a single trace, could he continue being friends with Shen Shi?

Fine. Starting today, I am a straight man.