Help, My Buff Roommate is Begging to Touch my Abs - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Encountering a Macho Man

“You jinx! You killed your parents, and now you’ve come to ruin me!”

“Gan Jinbao, can’t you stop being so selfish? Even PhD students are delivering takeout nowadays; what’s the use of you going to university?”

“Jinbao, we can’t just think about ourselves. Have some consideration for your aunt and uncle. Don’t go to university. Go out to work early so you can help support the family.”

……

“Passengers, welcome to North Capital. This flight is about to conclude…”

Dreams and reality intertwined as Gan Jinbao snapped his eyes open.

Gan Jinbao was an orphan, taken in by his aunt’s family.

His aunt was a rural woman; his uncle originally worked on construction sites in the county seat but stayed home to do farm work after breaking his leg.

His cousin was starting university the same year as him because Jinbao had skipped two grades. Everyone felt he was the best student; though the two of them had tested into the same city, his school was actually much better than his cousin’s.

But simply because the cousin was his aunt’s biological son, he had the right to go to university, while Jinbao was expected to work to support the family.

But he was Gan Jinbao; he wasn’t willing to be buried like this. He wanted to fight his way out of that suffocating home.

After the college entrance exams, he went out to work. After working for three months, combined with his hometown’s national student loans and subtracting the cost of this flight, the 6,000 yuan he earned from working had 5,500 left.

It should be enough for university living expenses; if not, he’d just take some part-time jobs.

As he thought about this, the flight attendant opened the cabin door.

Jinbao-er picked up his luggage and walked out.

North Capital’s airport was huge, even bigger than the airport in his hometown, Spring City.

Just as he walked out of a corridor, he saw a sign not far away that read “Caution: Slippery Floor.”

But without paying attention, he still slipped, his whole body falling backward.

Just as Jinbao-er thought he was going to slam hard onto the ground, a warm, thick, large hand suddenly gripped his waist tightly. Scorching body heat was transmitted through his white T-shirt.

Immediately after, he felt himself being pulled into a hug by a thick, powerful arm.

The moment he tilted his head back, he saw a ruggedly handsome macho man.

Yes, a macho man!

“Be careful.”

The macho man steadied him, and after speaking, he grabbed his suitcase and walked away quickly, as if he were in a rush.

Jinbao-er stared at his departing back.

The man wore a work vest, and his thick, powerful arms pulled the suitcase; he was like a walking personification of hormones.

That’s right, Jinbao-er was gay. He had known since high school and had even fallen for his desk-mate. Like most of his kind, he had fallen deep, only to be discovered and end in a pathetic mess.

Jinbao-er watched that back disappear lingeringly before pulling his suitcase and continuing forward.

……

September in the North Capital was still filled with summer’s dry heat.

The moment Jinbao-er stepped out of the airport, he felt a wave of heat hit him, making him break into a sweat.

He had done his research before coming; the airport was far from the school, and there was no direct subway. The cheapest transportation was the airport bus.

So, Jinbao-er followed the navigation to the bus station. After asking the driver about the destination, he paid the 50 yuan fare and boarded.

There weren’t many people heading toward his school. After waiting for nearly an hour, the bus was only half full.

Many travelers were urging the driver to go, but the driver said it wouldn’t leave until it was at least mostly full.

The travelers didn’t plan on switching buses either; after all, the airport bus was the cheapest option. It was dozens of kilometers to the school, and a taxi would cost at least a hundred-plus yuan.

Jinbao-er dizzily leaned against the window seat and dozed off.

“Master, my phone got swiped. I’ll give you this watch as collateral for the bus fare, is that okay?”

A tall, strong man walked with his head lowered from the bus door to the driver.

The driver sized him up, his wrinkled face showing no emotion: “No.”

Don’t be fooled by this man dressing like a decent human being; what kind of scammers don’t exist nowadays?

Trying to trade a watch for 50 yuan how could he be so easily fooled?

Rejected again, the man could hardly hide his disappointment: “Master, this watch is real. The very expensive kind.”

He somewhat anxiously took out the watch, preparing to hand it to the driver.

“Not looking, not looking. Hurry up and leave, hurry up and leave.”

The driver waved him away impatiently, nearly knocking the watch to the ground.

Looking at the driver’s “thousand miles away” rejection, the man felt even worse.

Heaven knows how many people he had asked for help; not a single person believed him.

It seemed he could only be thick-skinned and ask the police for help.

Just as he was out of options, the best-sounding voice he had ever heard in his life rang out.

“Wait, Master, I’ll pay for him.”

Jinbao-er, who had already woken up and been silently observing everything, stood up, grabbed his phone, and scanned the QR code in front of the driver.

“WeChat Pay: 50 yuan received!”

The driver and the surrounding passengers all looked at Jinbao-er as if he were a fool.

“Go ahead and sit.”

Jinbao-er looked up nonchalantly and smiled at the big tall guy.

The big tall guy was exactly the man who had steadied Jinbao-er earlier, but at this moment, he didn’t recognize him.

The two ended up sitting together.

“Brother, thanks! Rest assured, once I go to the bank to get money, I’ll definitely pay you back double.”

The man looked excited and touched. Heaven knows, as a second-generation rich kid, he had actually fallen to the point where he couldn’t even borrow 50 yuan, and the person in front of him was the savior who rescued him from fire and water!

“Hello, my name is Zhao Yuheng.”

Zhao Yuheng extended his hand toward Jinbao-er with a serious face.

Jinbao-er was a bit awkward. This was his first time shaking hands with a stranger but he still instinctively reached out: “Gan Jinbao. You can call me Jinbao-er or Jinbao.”

“Jinbao? As in the ‘Jinbao’ of ‘Gold Ingot’?”

Zhao Yuheng asked.

Jinbao-er nodded with a smile.

This guy turned out to be a “social butterfly.” After putting away his luggage, he directly threw an arm around Jinbao-er’s shoulder and gave it two heavy pats.

“I’m telling you, straightforward good people like you are really rare as hell nowadays…”

This arm-throw by Zhao Yuheng carried an alarming amount of force.

Jinbao-er felt his shoulder sink, and immediately after, a scorching temperature seeped through that broad palm, through the thin white T-shirt, and into his skin without any obstruction.

It was the characteristic, explosive body heat of an adult man.

Jinbao-er’s body froze instantly, as if he had been hit by a freezing spell; he even forgot to breathe.

He was forced close to the other person, his nose almost brushing against Zhao Yuheng’s sweat-dampened neck.

A faint scent of masculine pheromones mixed with the smell of sunlight hit him, dominantly occupying all his senses.

“…People nowadays are too cold, you’re the one who’s a real friend, Jinbao-er!”

Zhao Yuheng didn’t notice the stiffness of the person in his arms at all. Instead, he got more excited as he talked, and the arm around him tightened even more. His thick, muscular arm was tense, almost hooping Jinbao-er entirely into his chest.

This damned, suffocatingly close distance!

Jinbao-er’s face “whooshed” into a burn, turning red from his ears to his neck.

He could clearly feel the rise and fall of the other’s chest; those solid muscle lines were faintly visible through the fabric, brimming with a sense of power.

But this is a straight man…

Jinbao-er wailed in despair in his heart.

He instinctively wanted to shrink to the side, trying to pull away a bit.

But the bus seats were narrow to begin with, and Zhao Yuheng was such a tall and burly macho man; just sitting there, he took up half of another person’s space.

With this shrink, Jinbao-er didn’t escape; instead, it was like he was actively snuggling closer to Zhao Yuheng.

His thigh accidentally bumped into the other’s leg.

Through their pants, that scorching heat transmitted once again.

The corner of Jinbao-er’s eye uncontrollably drifted downward.

He saw that because Zhao Yuheng was sitting, his legs were forced to spread slightly apart.

Those were a pair of extremely oppressive long legs. The muscle contours on the thighs were taut under the work pants, trembling slightly with the jolts of the vehicle.

And at the edge of those loose pant legs, a patch of thick leg hair was faintly visible…

Jinbao-er suddenly closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Gan Jinbao, oh Gan Jinbao, can’t you have some backbone?

This is a public place; what kind of messy things are you thinking about in your head?

Zhao Yuheng was still talking incessantly about his “tragic encounter,” slapping his own thigh with his free hand as he spoke, making “thump thump” sounds.

With every slap, the vibration of that muscle seemed to transmit through the air into Jinbao-er’s heart.

“Jinbao-er, why aren’t you talking? Why is your face so red? Is it too hot on the bus?”

Zhao Yuheng suddenly lowered his head, bringing his face close to Jinbao-er’s, looking concerned.

Their noses almost touched.

Jinbao-er looked at that ruggedly handsome face so close at hand.

Looking at those clear eyes devoid of any stray thoughts, he only felt his heart beating like thunder, as if it were going to jump out of his throat in the next second.

He turned his head away in a panic, avoiding that burning gaze, his voice thin as a mosquito’s buzz.

“No… no, maybe it is a bit hot.”

“Oh, then I’ll help you open the window a bit wider.”

As Zhao Yuheng spoke, he really went to open the window.

Yet, that hand around Jinbao-er’s shoulder never let go; instead, it seemed like a natural habit.

Feeling the weight and temperature of that large hand on his shoulder, Jinbao-er felt ashamed, indignant, and helpless in his heart.

This damned straight man, can’t he have some sense of boundaries!