My Childhood Friend is Secretly in Love with Me - Chapter 10

In the backseat of a taxi, Zuo Yi was unconscious and dead drunk. His body swayed back and forth with the momentum of the car. If he had retained even one percent of his sobriety, he certainly would not have dared to look at Qi Yan’s face, which was currently as black as thunder.

Qi Yan wrapped an arm around Zuo Yi’s shoulder to steady him against his side and reminded the driver to slow down.

Once they reached their destination, Zuo Yi could no longer hold it back. He stumbled out of the car, grabbed onto a trash can, buried his head inside, and vomited. After he finished, he recovered just enough strength to manage a few shaky steps on his own.

Qi Yan threw Zuo Yi’s arm over his shoulder and lugged the drunkard back to his apartment. Upon entering, the sudden flare of the lights irritated Zuo Yi. He instinctively raised a hand to shield his eyes. Once they adjusted, he saw Qi Yan standing before him with his arms crossed, scrutinizing his face.

Without a doubt, Zuo Yi felt he was hallucinating.

Even if it was a hallucination, Qi Yan’s stern expression was terrifying. It was a level of seriousness Zuo Yi had never seen before. Slumping onto the sofa, Zuo Yi slapped his own face, trying to wake himself up.

However, the more he slapped himself, the closer that face seemed to get. It was like seeing a ghost.

“Go, go away,” Zuo Yi mumbled, waving his hands wildly in the air.

Qi Yan caught his flailing wrists in a firm grip and asked, “Who do you want to go away?”

“Qi Yan,” Zuo Yi answered unclearly.

Qi Yan’s eyes darkened as he stared at Zuo Yi’s flush, drunken face. He asked again, “Why do you want Qi Yan to go away?”

“He, he is in a relationship, but I, I am heartbroken. It is so unfair.” Zuo Yi opened his eyes as the pain in his wrists registered. Sure enough, Qi Yan’s face was still there. “Qi Yan is a bastard.”

“Who told you Qi Yan is in a relationship? And who broke your heart? Was it the one who confessed to you at the restaurant?” Qi Yan pressed him, step by step.

With his hands pinned, Zuo Yi could not break free. His eyes suddenly turned red with grievance. “The person I like does not like me. It hurts. It hurts so damn much. I feel like I am dying, and even now, you are still bullying me. You bastard.”

Qi Yan felt a sharp pang in his heart. He released Zuo Yi’s wrists, no longer wanting to pursue the questions. He sighed softly. “The bastard is taking you to the bedroom to sleep.”

Qi Yan carried Zuo Yi bridal-style into his bedroom. The room was simply decorated in gray and white tones, containing a double bed, a large wardrobe, and a floor lamp.

He stripped Zuo Yi of his shirt and pants, turned up the air conditioning, and tucked him in. Then, he went to the bathroom to wring out a hot towel to wipe Zuo Yi’s face and body. By the time he finished, it was nearly two in the morning. Qi Yan was restless and plagued by heavy thoughts; with no sleep in sight, he turned off the lamp and left the bedroom.

The next morning, Zuo Yi woke up in an unfamiliar room. He found himself stripped down to nothing but a pair of boxers. The other side of the double bed was empty. He had a vague memory of seeing Qi Yan in a “hallucination” the night before, with a face so dark it was chilling.

However, the most baffling part was that his clothes were gone!

Zuo Yi scratched his head in frustration. He did not even know if the owner of this room was male or female. How could he have just followed a stranger home?

He fumbled around the bed for his phone, hoping to call Li Zihao to find out what was going on before the room’s owner discovered he was awake, but he could not find it.

Just as he sat on the bed feeling helpless, the bedroom door opened.

Zuo Yi immediately yanked the quilt over himself, peeking through a gap to see who was entering. To his shock, it was Qi Yan.

It is fate. It is all fate, Zuo Yi screamed internally. Fine if he was in my hallucinations, but he actually brought me home?

Wait, hallucinations?

If this was Qi Yan’s room, then that terrifyingly stern face from last night was real!

Realizing this, Zuo Yi closed his eyes and fell back onto the bed, wishing he could just die of embarrassment.

“Since you are awake, get up and wash up. Breakfast is ready,” Qi Yan said, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed.

Zuo Yi did not want to see anyone, least of all Qi Yan. It was too humiliating. He pulled the quilt over his head, sealing himself in to play dead.

“That quilt is not thick enough to suffocate you,” Qi Yan reminded him.

Zuo Yi decided to go for broke. He whipped the quilt off and looked at Qi Yan with an expression of “I will do what must be done.” He said, “My clothes are gone. I cannot get up.”

Qi Yan walked into the room, opened his wardrobe, and tossed a white T-shirt and black sweatpants onto the bed. “I washed your clothes. You will have to wear mine.”

“My phone is gone. I still cannot get up!” Zuo Yi remained stubborn. He did not dare go out and face Qi Yan’s interrogation.

“The phone is in the living room,” Qi Yan replied, sounding amused.

“I, why are you here?” Zuo Yi asked, pretending not to know.

Qi Yan sat on the edge of the bed and answered patiently, “This is my home. If I am not here, who would be?”

“Then I,”

Zuo Yi wanted to continue stalling, but Qi Yan stood up, lifted Zuo Yi’s arms, and pulled the T-shirt over his head. Then, he moved to pull back the quilt. “Do you need me to help you with the pants, too?”

“No, no, no! No need! I will do it myself! Get out!” Zuo Yi clutched the quilt in a panic. He currently had a morning erection; if Qi Yan saw that, he would never be able to show his face in Jingxi again. He would have to fly back to Jiangcheng that very night.

Qi Yan understood immediately. He let go with a smile. “Hurry up. The noodles are going to get soggy.”

Zuo Yi took a full fifteen minutes to wash up and head out. The tomato and egg noodles on the table were already soggy, but Qi Yan brought over a fresh, steaming bowl. “Eat this one. I will throw the soggy one away.”

Zuo Yi shielded the bowl with his arms, refusing to let him take it. These noodles were made specifically for him, and since it had been a long time since he had eaten Qi Yan’s cooking, he was not going to let them go to waste.

“Soggy noodles are fine. I am hungry enough to eat ten bowls.” Seeing Qi Yan’s confused look, Zuo Yi added, “Every grain is the result of hard work. We cannot waste it.”

Qi Yan sat opposite Zuo Yi, propping his head on one hand as he watched him bolt down two bowls of noodles. “Full?”

Zuo Yi let out a satisfied burp. It was the same taste as always, though he was now a bit overly stuffed.

“It was okay. We athletes burn a lot of energy.”

Seeing Zuo Yi’s stubbornness, Qi Yan found it funny. In his mind, he dubbed Zuo Yi a “Master of Duplicity.”

“Last night, you,”

Qi Yan started to say something, but Zuo Yi hurriedly interrupted him. “I blacked out yesterday. Do not ask anything, because I do not remember. Do not say anything, because I will not listen.”

Qi Yan shrugged. “Fine.”

Just then, Zuo Yi’s phone on the coffee table rang. Qi Yan walked over to pick it up. The caller ID read: Jingjing.

“It is that roommate who confessed to you at the restaurant.” Qi Yan emphasized the word “confessed” as he handed over the phone.

Zuo Yi froze, a chill running down his neck. He stole a glance at Qi Yan, who seemed to be in a bad mood. Perhaps Zuo Yi had overstayed his welcome.

“Put it on speaker,” Qi Yan said coldly.

Zuo Yi had been afraid of Qi Yan’s actual anger since childhood. Even though it happened rarely, he did not dare to be defiant. He obediently answered the call and turned on the speaker. “Hello.”

Guo Jingjing’s anxious voice came through. “Yi-ge, where are you? Why did you not come back to the dorm last night? Li Zihao is already back.”

“I drank too much yesterday and stayed over at a friend’s house. I will be back at school soon,” Zuo Yi replied.

Guo Jingjing asked again, “A hangover feels terrible. Do you need me to come pick you up?”

“No need. I have training this afternoon. We will talk when I get back to the dorm.” With that, Zuo Yi decisively hung up.

“A boyfriend checking in?” Qi Yan asked.

Zuo Yi was startled. He thought he was finished. Qi Yan already thought he was gay because of that confession in the restaurant, and they had already argued about it once. He could not let this misunderstanding grow.

“No, it is just a normal roommate’s concern. I am 100 percent straight, do not get the wrong idea.” Zuo Yi clarified thoroughly, even clarifying his true sexual orientation in the process.

Qi Yan raised an eyebrow. “Oh.”

So the one who broke his heart is someone else. This kid has not been in Jingxi for long, but he is already a heartbreaker for both men and women. He certainly gets around.

Zuo Yi noticed Qi Yan’s face getting darker and more serious than a high school math teacher’s. He could not stay there any longer. “I have to get back to school. Thanks for last night.”

“Mhm.”

Zuo Yi grabbed his phone and bolted. Once he was downstairs, his heart was still pounding. He really could not be alone with Qi Yan right now; his heart beat so hard it felt like a disease. Whenever he spoke to him, his mouth and tongue seemed to work independently, and his mind felt trapped, always following Qi Yan’s lead. It made him feel very easy to manipulate.

After their argument, he had intended to hide his feelings away, ideally for a lifetime. But when facing Qi Yan alone, he simply could not hide them. It was a terrifying feeling. Zuo Yi had to admit that his erection this morning only happened after he saw Qi Yan. A virgin who had remained pure for nineteen years almost cried in his childhood friend’s bedroom. It was frustrating, truly frustrating.

“Argh!” Zuo Yi vented his frustration on a stone pillar by the roadside.

While in the ride-share car, Zuo Yi’s phone dinged. He received a text from an unknown number. After checking it, his vision went dark. “Drink less in the future.” He was certain this was a warning from Qi Yan. Thinking of all the embarrassing things he must have done last night, he felt too ashamed to reply and simply saved the number in silence.

Taking advantage of his free time over the weekend, Zuo Yi increased the intensity of his underwater training. There was less than a week until the National Day holiday. When he returned to Jiangcheng, he would only be able to focus on land-based physical training. To prepare for the school team trials after the holiday, he pushed his usual daily underwater total of 5,800m to an average of nearly 10,000m on the weekend.

On Sunday morning, training ended, leaving him with half a day to rest. Just as he returned to the dorm to catch up on sleep, Ding Wenxiao’s call came in like a relentless death knell.

Zuo Yi slumped on the bed and pulled out his phone to answer. “Sister Xiao, what are your orders?”

On the phone, Ding Wenxiao hesitated. “Xiao Yi, I think something has happened to Brother Yan.”

Zuo Yi rubbed his temples, trying to stay awake. “What is going on?”

“This morning, I accompanied Wang Jiayi to the Third Hospital for a gastroscopy. I saw Brother Yan and Sister Guan Guan. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, so I followed them all the way to the inpatient department for gynecological oncology,” Ding Wenxiao explained.

Zuo Yi was jolted awake and sat up on the bed.

Gynecological oncology?

“Xiao Yi?”

“I am listening.”

“I am worried that if Sister Guan Guan is sick, Brother Yan will,”

Zuo Yi interrupted. “Do not worry yet. This involves Sister Guan Guan’s privacy. Let us wait for Zihao to come back so I can try to get some information.”

“Okay. Let me know when you have news. I will be waiting.”

The phone call left Zuo Yi’s heart in his throat, his exhaustion completely gone. He could not help but recall the day of their argument; Qi Yan had never denied being short on money; he just was not willing to accept Zuo Yi’s help.

He had to find out exactly what was happening. No matter how big or small the problem was, he could not let Qi Yan carry it alone.

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