I’m Dating My Big Brother’s Roommate Online and I’m Way Too Cute! - Chapter 5

Within seven or eight minutes, Guo Jia and Chen Zhansen had devoured half of the snacks on the table. The rest were left for Ji Yan to use as props for his photos.

Two heads leaned toward him once again.

Ji: [Gege, I went shopping with my roommates this afternoon. I accidentally got something stuck in my throat while eating. It hurts so much!]

Chen Zhansen looked at the message, then at Ji Yan’s impassive expression. To an outsider, it would look like he was just browsing a boring webpage. Chen laughed and mimicked the tone: “Yan Ge, you are truly such a ‘green tea’ girl!”

“Hahahaha!” Guo Jia roared with laughter.

“Either shut up or get out,” Ji Yan replied. Since he was just acting, the actor himself did not feel any embarrassment.

With a slide of his fingertip, the second message was sent.

Ji: [Gege, it really hurts! What should I do?]

A few days ago, the supervisor had returned from a business trip, so the laboratory naturally became busier. Zhuo Yu’ang was currently at his computer selecting and processing image data.

A faint notification sound vibrated through the fabric of his trousers. He checked it and smiled. The younger brother was truly persistent. He paused for a moment and sent a reply.

Back at the cafe, the message was received. Guo Jia slammed the table and cursed the scumbag from head to toe. Ji Yan’s lips curled into a slight smirk, one so cold it made Chen Zhansen shiver.

The scumbag’s message read: [That is easy. I suggest you start by having a craniotomy to fix that little brain of yours.]

It was blatant sarcasm. He was clearly saying that if there was a medical problem, one should find a doctor; looking for an irrelevant person meant there was something wrong with one’s head.

Not long after Zhuo Yu’ang sent his reply, Ji Han, who was sitting near him, received a call from his brother. Although the lab was busy, the sophomores only handled routine auxiliary work. The core research was led by the supervisor and graduate students; the undergraduates participated mostly to learn. They could easily find time to step out for a call or handle personal business.

“Hello?” Ji Han said as he walked out of the lab.

“Brother, are you free?” Ji Yan asked over the phone.

Ji Han replied sarcastically, “Yes, I am free. Your brother stayed on campus just to be idle, have nothing to do, and slack off.”

“That is perfect then.”

“…”

“Brother, I missed you. I wanted to chat with you.”

“?”

Zhuo Yu’ang received another message.

Ji: [Gege, Sun Yilong from the basketball team got hit while playing last week. Did you know he dislocated his hip?]

Seeing Ji Han return from outside, Zhuo Yu’ang did not reply to Ji Yan immediately. Instead, he asked the brother, “What were you doing?”

“A call from my brother,” Ji Han said, unknowingly selling out his sibling as he pulled out his chair to sit. “He asked if I was used to university life yet. It totally confused me. It has been two years; how could I not be used to it? How long would it take me to adjust?”

“That was all you talked about?”

“He also asked if there was any news at school. He said it had been a long time since he chatted with his big brother and wanted to bond.”

Zhuo Yu’ang’s Adam’s apple moved as a low chuckle escaped him.

Ji Han was puzzled. “What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing. I just think your brother is quite interesting,” Zhuo Yu’ang replied. His gaze returned to the phone screen, a lingering smile visible in the curve of his eyes.

Presumably, because he kept killing the conversation, the younger brother was forced to find common topics to break the ice. He intentionally kept his reply simple, using just two words: [I know.]

Ji: [You play ball often too, so I am very worried. Gege, you must be careful in the future!]

Ji: [I am so afraid that you might get hurt too!]

Zhuo: [Are you cursing me?]

Ji: [No! I like you so, so much. How could I curse you? Last time you got injured, I do not know how long I cried in the dormitory. I did not even go to class!]

Whether Zhuo Yu’ang had actually been injured or when that “last time” might have been, Ji Yan had no idea. However, based on the information provided by Guo Jia, this man liked sports. People who played sports were bound to get injured occasionally.

Zhuo: [Mm.]

Leaning lazily against his backrest, Zhuo Yu’ang held his phone up and watched the other party switch back and forth between “typing” and pausing. His eyes were full of playful mischief toward the younger brother.

Ji Yan’s expression remained blank, but he wrung his brain to squeeze out a single aggrieved sentence: [Gege, you are being so cold to me!]

He sounded exhausted. The next second, Zhuo replied.

Zhuo: [Can passion cure your sore throat?]

“Heh,” Ji Yan’s mouth twitched. He slammed his phone onto the dining table. With his hands stuffed in his pockets, he stood up coolly. “Maybe I should just ask him out and beat him up.”

Guo Jia and Chen Zhansen immediately pinned him down from both sides.

Guo Jia said, “We are not elementary schoolers anymore. Why fight? If you hit him too hard, you will end up in the police station. It is not worth it.”

Chen Zhansen nodded frantically. “Right, right! This is a civilized society. Violence does not solve problems.”

“What is wrong?” Guo Ying asked as she brought over some drinks.

Guo Jia said gloomily, “The scumbag is hard to bait.”

Guo Ying sat down across from them and reached out. “Let me see the chat history.”

“Here,” Ji Yan handed her the phone.

The scumbag’s WeChat avatar was a starry sky. To call it a starry sky was not entirely accurate, as there were only a few scattered points of light in the pitch-black night. Compared to those few stars, the mottled shadows of trees in the background were more prominent.

“It is his avatar,” Guo Ying confirmed. Since the avatar was correct, she did not check the ID. She tapped and scrolled through the screen, letting out a sarcastic laugh. “It is also his chatting style. At first, he acts aloof and indifferent, occasionally stinging you with a few words. But look at this.”

The three heads leaned in. Guo Ying put down the phone and pointed at several replies. “He occasionally refers to himself as ‘Gege’ when talking to you. What does that represent?”

Ji Yan was somewhat bewildered. “What does it represent?”

Guo Ying said, “It means he is somewhat interested in Tiantian. If he were not interested, why would he call himself Gege in front of you? If he were truly uninterested, wouldn’t he just block you and be done with it?”

Bang! Guo Jia slapped the table and pointed at Guo Ying. “As expected of my sister, a woman of experience!”

Guo Ying kicked him hard under the table. “If you cannot speak properly, then shut up.”

It was past three in the afternoon. Chen Zhansen had an appointment to play basketball with some classmates. Guo Jia was not in the mood, so he walked his sister home first.

The two walked toward the bus stop one after the other. Guo Jia was the one trailing behind. Since he had leaked his sister’s business and asked his best friend to pretend to be a girl to bait a scumbag, he felt very guilty. He walked carefully, stepping exactly into his sister’s shadow.

Once they boarded the bus, his bottom had barely touched the seat next to Guo Ying when he stood up abruptly, thinking it would be better to sit in the back.

A moment later, a voice came from behind Guo Ying’s head. Even in broad daylight, it sounded eerie, light, and ethereal: “Sister, are you angry?”

“You are so annoying!” Guo Ying turned around suddenly, grabbed Guo Jia’s hair, and pulled.

The passengers in the bus all looked at the siblings. Guo Jia, however, felt relieved. If she was able to hit him, it meant her mood was okay.

After accompanying his sister home and seeing her start to study English vocabulary, he returned to the coffee shop. When he arrived, Ji Yan was making pour-over coffee.

“Young master,” Guo Jia sat on a high stool at the counter and tilted his chin up. “Get me a cup of coffee.”

“All right.” Ji Yan stood behind the coffee machine with his head down. His movements were very skilled. He first weighed the coffee beans, then ground them into powder. He expertly extracted the coffee liquid, his white arms under his black T-shirt appearing particularly striking.

Guo Jia did not even see how he reached out before a glass was in his hand. A perfectly round ice ball was placed in the glass, the coffee liquid was poured in, and the drink was pushed to Guo Jia’s hand. “Iced Americano.”

“Wow!” Guo Jia clapped. “If I did not know better, I would think you were at a bar. You look so cool.”

Ji Yan said, “If I am going to help in my sister’s shop, I have to learn a few tricks.”

“Did you learn from Brother Shan?”

“Of course.”

Someone walked in carrying things from outside. It was the person they were talking about, the barista hired by Ji Yanyan. The two greeted Shan Juncheng, and he nodded to them in response.

Ding. A notification arrived. Their eyes shot toward the phone on the counter instantly.

Guo Jia was anxious. “Quick, look!”

After checking, Ji Yan’s face darkened. While Guo Jia was away earlier, he had sent another message to the scumbag asking what he was doing. The scumbag had only replied over an hour later. Once again, he had saved himself words.

Zhuo: [Busy.]

“Heh,” Ji Yan let out a cold laugh.

Guo Jia shivered. He heard Ji Yan say, “The time I have spent flirting with this scumbag is not enough, so he is acting aloof. But if time is not enough, do you know what can make up for it?”

Guo Jia shook his head and immediately asked, “What?”

Ji Yan replied, “Photos.”

At Nanhuai University, Ji Han was eating dinner when a string of messages hit his phone.

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!

Little Brother: [Brother, edit a few more photos for me.]

His thumb swiped across the screen as he counted: one, two, three, four, five.

“Cough, cough, cough!” Ji Han choked on the mouthful of rice he was swallowing. Is this a few photos? This is more than a dozen!

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