Desk-mate, Do You Like Me? - Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Before the Monday morning alarm could even ring, Li Mo was awakened by the sound of sweeping outside the window. The curtains in the guest room weren’t tightly drawn, and the morning light obliquely cut across the foot of the bed. He grabbed his phone and saw it was only 6:10 AM—even earlier than he usually woke up at his uncle’s house.

When he walked out of the guest room, Xu Qing was standing on the balcony reciting vocabulary, his shadow long in the morning light, a half-eaten slice of bread clutched in his hand. Hearing footsteps, he turned his head and chewed on the food in his mouth: “Awake? My mom left soy milk, it’ll be ready to drink after heating for two minutes.”

Li Mo “hmm’d” in acknowledgment, walked into the kitchen, and opened the microwave. As the aroma of warm soy milk wafted out, he suddenly remembered the brown sugar ginger noodles from last night, and his Adam’s apple bobbed: “Are we going to school together… today?”

“Why not?” Xu Qing stuffed the vocabulary book into his backpack and raised an eyebrow at him, “Should I leave you standing alone at the door acting as a door god?”

When the two of them walked into the classroom just as the early reading bell rang, the room was already half full.

Zhou Yueyue, sitting in the front row, nearly jumped up with excitement when she saw Li Mo. She tried her best to suppress her voice, which was trembling slightly from nervousness, and asked: “Li… Li Mo, is your… hand much better?”

Li Mo was taken aback by the sudden show of concern, then nodded: “Ah… it’s alright, just so-so.”

“Then… that…” Zhou Yueyue rummaged through her desk, and by the time she pulled out a letter and looked up, Li Mo had already walked away.

“Qingqing~ Wait for me~” Li Mo grinned as he trailed after Xu Qing, catching up in two steps to hook his arm around Xu Qing’s neck, “My hand hurts, I can’t walk fast.”

Xu Qing rolled his eyes, but his tone when he spoke held little impatience: “Really hurt? I see you’re quite happy though.”

“Not at all~”

As the back-desk mate of these two ‘gay friends,’ Tang Dawei couldn’t help but get goosebumps: “I’m telling you… they’re being sickeningly sweet so early in the morning…”

No sooner had Tang Dawei’s complaint finished than Yang Di suddenly darted over from across the aisle, holding a half-eaten pancake in his hand, and chimed in indistinctly: “Be content. Last time they were talking hidden in the corner of the sports field, I walked past and got a mouth full of dog food. It was even sweeter than my mom’s braised pork.”

This made Li Mo raise an eyebrow, and he intentionally leaned even closer to Xu Qing, raising his voice: “What? Jealous? Go find someone yourself if you’re jealous.”

Then, he realized: “Last time was half a month ago during P.E. class… Holy crap, Di Renjie, you really live up to your name.”

Tang Dawei froze: Damn, when did these two start being so gay?

Xu Qing ignored their playful banter, reached out to pull Li Mo’s hand down from his neck, his fingertip brushing against the back of the other’s warm hand.

Xu Qing’s finger paused slightly upon touching Li Mo’s hand, then smoothly slid down, gently clasping his wrist to pull the hand down.

“That’s enough,” his voice was low but clear enough to make Li Mo’s earlobe tingle.

Li Mo was about to grin, but then felt Xu Qing’s finger press his wrist inadvertently.

It was very light, like checking something, or an unconscious touch. Suddenly, he couldn’t smile anymore, and the hand that was held stiffened slightly.

“Oh, they’re even holding hands now!” Yang Di swallowed his pancake in one bite and punched Tang Dawei, “See that! Confirmed!”

Tang Dawei covered his face in agony: “I’m blind, I saw nothing…”

Only then did Xu Qing let go, expressionlessly pulling out a wet wipe to clean his fingertips, as if he had just touched something dirty, his actions full of disdain.

Li Mo stared at his series of movements, his mouth twitching, but in the end, he didn’t say anything, yet still managed to smile, only using his fingertip to rub the spot that had just been held.

The teacher for the early reading class hadn’t arrived yet, and the classroom buzzed with uneven sounds of reading. Zhou Yueyue clutched the letter, her fingertips turning slightly white.

She watched Li Mo and Xu Qing walk to their back-row seats one after the other. Li Mo deliberately nudged Xu Qing’s back with his shoulder, and Xu Qing, without turning his head, accurately slapped the injured arm—the exact one that was hurt.

Li Mo gasped, this time it sounded genuinely painful.

Zhou Yueyue lowered her head, slowly placing the letter back into the deepest part of her drawer. The edge of the envelope was slightly wrinkled, and she pressed it with her palm, but couldn’t smooth it out.

The first class was Math. Li Mo opened his book and noticed that Xu Qing had already highlighted the key points for him, complete with small, fine annotations beside them, the handwriting as neat as print.

He nudged Xu Qing’s elbow: “Qingqing.”

Xu Qing didn’t turn around, his pen tip pausing on the scratch paper: “Speak.”

“Thank you,” Li Mo’s voice was a little lower.

Xu Qing’s pen tip paused, and a number was written askew.

“If your hand is crippled, stop seeking trouble,” his voice was flat, but his pen tip unconsciously dotted a string of ink spots on the scratch paper.

Tang Dawei and Yang Di exchanged glances from the back row, silently communicating with their mouths: I surrender to the gay guys.

During the break for calisthenics, Li Mo used his hand injury as an excuse to stay in the classroom. When everyone was gone, he leaned closer to Xu Qing’s side, his fingertip tracing the open English notebook.

“Di Renjie said he saw us in the corner of the sports field,” Li Mo suddenly said, “What did you say to me that day during P.E. class?”

Xu Qing closed the notebook, his movements unhurried. “Said you were stupid.”

“That’s not all, is it?” Li Mo reached out and pressed down on the book, preventing him from pulling it away, “I think I remember someone saying…”

The back door of the classroom suddenly opened. Zhou Yueyue stood in the doorway, her breathing slightly ragged, as if she had run back. She was clearly stunned to see only the two of them in the classroom.

“I… I came back for my water cup,” she said softly, quickly walking to her seat to pick up her cup, her gaze lowered, not daring to look around.

Just as she was about to leave the door, she suddenly stopped, turned, and looked at Li Mo.

“Um… Li Mo,” her voice was trembling a little, but much steadier than in the morning, “Could I take a few minutes of your time after school? I have something I want to tell you.”

Li Mo was visibly stunned and subconsciously glanced at Xu Qing. Xu Qing was looking down, organizing his books, his profile betraying no emotion.

“Uh, sure,” Li Mo rubbed his nose, “But…”

Zhou Yueyue immediately cut in: “Right behind the classroom is fine! It won’t take long!” She said, then quickly left, as if afraid he would change his mind.

The door closed softly. The classroom was so quiet that only the faint sound of the broadcast calisthenics music could be heard from outside the window.

Li Mo turned his head to look at Xu Qing, who was already standing up, preparing to go out for the exercise.

“Hey,” Li Mo grabbed his sleeve, “Don’t you have anything to say?”

Xu Qing lowered his head to look at his hand, then raised his eyes to meet his gaze. “Say what?”

His mouth seemed to curve into a smile, or perhaps it didn’t, “Good luck?”

He pulled his sleeve back, turned, and walked out the door, leaving Li Mo alone in the empty classroom.

The calisthenics music was playing the eighth set, the jumping exercise. Li Mo stood in place and suddenly lightly kicked Xu Qing’s desk leg.

Something slid out from under the desk—it was Xu Qing’s vocabulary book.

Li Mo bent down to pick it up. On the open page, besides the English words, there was a dense pattern of the same character written unconsciously:

墨 (Mo). 墨 (Mo). 墨 (Mo).

The handwriting was varying in depth, almost tearing through the paper.

Li Mo’s fingertip paused on that page for a long time without moving. Outside the window, the calisthenics music ended, and the noise of voices approached from afar.

He gently closed the notebook and carefully tucked it back into its original place, as if he hadn’t seen anything.

Li Mo was distracted throughout the afternoon classes. The math teacher was drawing a function graph on the blackboard, but his pen tip was unconsciously tracing the same character on his scratch paper.

Xu Qing sat upright, his profile focused on taking notes, gilded by the sunlight. Only his slightly reddened earlobe betrayed something.

During the last self-study session, the student in front poked Li Mo’s back with a pen: “Brother Mo, Zhou Yueyue has been staring at you all day.”

He winked, “Is something really going to happen after school?”

Before Li Mo could answer, Xu Qing suddenly closed his book and stood up. The movement wasn’t loud, but it made several people around look over.

“Going to the office to ask a question,” his voice was calm, but he didn’t look at anyone, walking straight out the back door.

Li Mo stared at the empty seat, his fingers unconsciously curling up. The shadow of the phoenix tree outside the window lengthened little by little, and the sound of cicadas came and went.

When the dismissal bell rang, Xu Qing hadn’t returned. Zhou Yueyue was already standing in the back row of the classroom, clutching her backpack, her fingers nervously twisting the hem of her clothes. Classmates were leaving with laughter, some whistling at Li Mo, only to be playfully pushed away by Tang Dawei.

“Li Mo…” Zhou Yueyue’s voice was as soft as a mosquito’s buzz, “Actually, I…”

The classroom door suddenly opened. Xu Qing stood in the doorway, holding a thick stack of homework books, his breathing slightly rushed as if he had run back. He walked straight to his seat without looking at the back row.

“Xu Qing!” Li Mo suddenly called out, “Want to go grab a bite to eat together?”

Xu Qing paused for a moment, then continued stuffing books into his backpack. “No.”

He stuffed the vocabulary book into the innermost layer, “I have… to preview tonight.”

It was an obvious lie. Li Mo saw his eyelashes flutter twice—Xu Qing always did that when he lied.

Zhou Yueyue plucked up her courage to interject: “Just a few minutes… Li Mo, I really…”

“Alright,” Li Mo suddenly cut her off, his voice light, “Say it right here then.”

He pulled out his chair and sat down, his gaze, however, reached over Zhou Yueyue’s shoulder and locked onto Xu Qing.

Xu Qing stopped zipping his backpack.

Zhou Yueyue took a deep breath and pulled out a delicate envelope from her backpack: “Please… please accept this!”

She closed her eyes and bowed sharply, the envelope nearly poking Li Mo’s chin.

The classroom was terrifyingly quiet. Xu Qing finally looked up, his gaze sweeping over the pink envelope, then fixing on Li Mo’s face. His expression hadn’t changed much, only the corners of his mouth were tightly drawn.

Li Mo didn’t take the envelope. He suddenly stood up, the chair legs scraping against the floor with a harsh sound.

“Zhou Yueyue,” his voice was very soft, but every word was clear, “Thank you. But I have someone I like.”

The pink envelope trembled slightly. Zhou Yueyue’s eyes instantly turned red: “Is… is that so…”

“It is,” Li Mo smiled, but his gaze was still fixed on Xu Qing, “It’s a particularly troublesome person. Clearly cares a lot, but insists on pretending not to; clearly jealous, but insists on saying things like ‘Good luck.'”

Xu Qing abruptly stood up, his backpack strap sliding off the back of the chair. “Boring.”

He turned to leave.

“Xu Qing!” Li Mo called out to him, “Vocabulary book, page 56, the page full of my name—” his voice suddenly dropped, “What does it mean?”

The entire classroom was so silent that you could hear the sound of a phoenix leaf falling outside the window. Xu Qing’s back was frozen in the doorway, his fingers tightly gripping the backpack strap.

Zhou Yueyue suddenly bent down to pick up the fallen envelope, her voice tearful but unusually firm: “I understand! I wish you two…”

She didn’t finish, covering her face as she ran out.

The door swung gently. The setting sun stretched their two shadows long, intertwined on the floor.

Xu Qing finally turned around. The sunset flickered on his eyelashes, obscuring his gaze.

“Li Mo,” it was the first time he had called him by his full name so seriously, his voice hoarse, “You’re truly the stupidest person I’ve ever met.”

Li Mo walked towards him step by step, until he could see the fine light on Xu Qing’s eyelashes.

“Then what are you?” he asked softly, “Liking such a stupid person, what does that make you?”

Xu Qing suddenly grabbed his collar, the force so strong it almost lifted him up. Li Mo could feel his fingers trembling slightly.

“I’m even stupider than you,” Xu Qing said, then fiercely kissed him.

From outside the window came the sound of Tang Dawei gasping, accompanied by Yang Di’s exclamation, “Holy crap.”

But Li Mo heard none of it, only the deafening sound of his own heartbeat and Xu Qing’s disordered breathing.

Xu Qing was the first to let go, his earlobes red as if they were about to drip blood, yet his tone was still aggressive: “Get it now?”

Li Mo touched his bitten lip, his eyes curved with a smile: “Didn’t get it. How about you demonstrate again?”

The vocabulary book slipped out of Xu Qing’s loosely zipped backpack, landing open on the floor. Amidst the dense ‘墨 (Mo)’ characters, a new small line of English had been added:

I’m such a fool for you.