Roommate Won't Spoil His Pretty Boyfriend? Fine, I'll Do It - Chapter 2

Bai Shijin tried to keep his emotions in check, but after trying, he found that when it came to Mu Nian, he couldn’t remain rational.

Turning his chin slightly, he asked, “Dating Qinfan? Did he force you?”

“?”

Mu Nian frowned, looking deeply surprised. “You, why would you have such an idea?”

“He doesn’t like you enough,” Bai Shijin blurted out.

“”

Mu Nian looked at the strange young man beside him and couldn’t help but chuckle at his words. “Classmate, what makes you say that?”

Bai Shijin knew he looked like a villain sowing discord and ruining someone else’s relationship right now, but even so, he still had to say it. “Love isn’t like that. It’s not complaints directed at you, it’s not standing by idly while you toil away, and it’s certainly not opening his mouth every other second to ask you for money. Does Mr. Mu really think that you and Ye Qinfan share a normal romantic relationship?”

“”

Mu Nian was momentarily stunned by these words, his lips parting slightly as he failed to understand why his boyfriend’s roommate would say such things to him.

Amused by Bai Shijin’s serious expression, he smiled. “Classmate, do you perhaps have some misunderstanding about Qinfan? Our relationship is actually quite good. Today, he was overjoyed because he wanted to move in with me, but I didn’t agree and told him to move back home instead, so he had some pent-up frustration in his heart. He isn’t usually like this.”

Hearing Mu Nian defend Ye Qinfan made Bai Shijin’s muscles tense up all over, his heart going numb.

Mu Nian continued, “Although this is our first time meeting, I can sense that you mean no harm. Thank you for telling me all this, but I will judge my own relationship.”

Mu Nian smiled gently, a smile as delicate as the rain that day, breathtakingly captivating.

In that very instant, Bai Shijin withered into mud.

So, he was the only one who remembered their encounter that day.

Mu Nian bid him farewell in a distant yet polite manner, leaving him with a back profile that had appeared in his dreams hundreds of times.

The last shred of hope in Bai Shijin’s heart vanished in a split second. He took the umbrella out of his backpack and called out to him.

“Mr. Mu, please wait a moment.”

Mu Nian paused his steps and quickly turned around.

The breath Bai Shijin exhaled trembled slightly, and his seemingly indifferent face, which was actually filled with lingering obsession, looked as though it had been stung by something.

He handed the dark oil-paper umbrella in his hand to Mu Nian and said, “Mr. Mu, today is not our first time meeting.”

Mu Nian shifted his gaze to stare at the somewhat familiar umbrella. When he looked back at Bai Shijin, fragments of memories welled up from the depths of his mind.

The weather that day had been gloomy. Mu Nian had gone to the school to deliver something to Ye Qinfan, and just as he stepped out of the school gates, thunder rumbled overhead, and in the span of a single moment, a torrential downpour burst forth.

Reacting quickly, he stripped off the heavy coat he was wearing, held it over his head, and looked around for a place to shelter from the rain.

The heavy rain had come too suddenly, and most passersby wore expressions of pure misfortune as they splashed through the puddles.

While all the other pedestrians were searching for shelter, Mu Nian spotted a young man wearing a very thin white silk shirt. The rain was beating down against his spine, clinging wetly to his body, revealing the alluring scenery beneath in vague outline.

As a born-and-bred gay man, Mu Nian first marveled at how great the guy’s physique was, and then found it rather strange.

Normal people were all looking for places to avoid the rain, but this guy alone was walking leisurely through the downpour at an unhurried pace.

He’s definitely still young, he thought. His mind is still stuck in that edgy, rebellious phase where standing in the rain is considered cool.

Unable to bear the thought of a fine young man catching a fever or cold the next day, Mu Nian acted out of kindness. He looped an arm around the youth’s shoulder, expanded his coat to cover both their heads, and said,

“Kid, standing in the rain isn’t cool at all. Run faster.”

“”

Bai Shijin had been inexplicably led by Mu Nian to a nearby bus stop sign. The boy beside him was half a head shorter, and from his angle, Mu Nian could see the temples glistening with droplets of water and a profile that rivaled any celebrity.

Right then and there, Bai Shijin lost his composure, his heartbeat racing far faster than usual.

Mu Nian shook out the rain-soaked clothes in his hand and muttered softly, “There goes another ruined piece.”

He dialed a call to have his assistant pick him up. After hanging up, he stared straight ahead and muttered to himself, “No matter how young or healthy you are, you shouldn’t be stupid enough to stand in the rain. You’ll understand once you reach my age.”

“…”

Bai Shijin let out a soft huff. This guy clearly didn’t look all that old himself, so why was he putting on such a senior, worldly-wise act?

The sound of the rain was too loud for Mu Nian to hear Bai Shijin’s light huff. He didn’t dare let his eyes wander carelessly; after all, if the boy’s back was soaked through like that, his front must be even more exposed.

At that thought, Mu Nian shifted his footing and stepped directly in front of Bai Shijin.

At first, Bai Shijin didn’t understand the sudden movement, but when he noticed a girl nearby who was also sheltering from the rain glance over and blush, he realized something was wrong.

Bai Shijin looked down and saw that the thin silk fabric became sheer when wet, and since he had been lost in math problems earlier, the rain had soaked him for quite a while.

His face burned scalding hot in an instant.

Lowering his gaze, what came into view was Mu Nian’s slender, fair neck.

Bai Shijin stared at Mu Nian’s short-cropped hair for a long time until that awkward heat finally faded away.

A black car pulled up, and the person standing in front of him got inside. As if his shield of modesty had vanished, Bai Shijin suddenly felt somewhat restrained.

He tugged at the clothes clinging tightly to his body when the car window suddenly rolled down.

Mu Nian smiled at him from inside the car and tossed him a handmade dark oil-paper umbrella. “I checked the weather forecast, and this rain is going to keep falling for a while. It’s getting dark soon, so hurry home.”

Before Bai Shijin could even squeeze out a “thank you,” all that remained in front of his face was the car’s exhaust fumes.

“”

He gazed after the departing black car, etching Mu Nian’s smile deep into his mind as the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

It was only upon seeing the umbrella he had crafted with his own hands that Mu Nian remembered that passing favor from a few months ago, a chance encounter that he had long since cast to the winds.

Still, it was something that had actually happened between them, and with a gentle touch, the memory was pulled right back to the surface.

“So it was you, the little kid who loves standing in the rain.”

“”

Hearing Mu Nian’s teasing tone left Bai Shijin feeling somewhat dazed, as if the two of them were still caught in the rain.

He asked, “You remember?”

Mu Nian scratched his head. “Sorry, I only had a flash of memory when you took out the umbrella. No wonder the look you gave me back in the dorms just now was so strange. Did you think it was a coincidence that you ran into me again?”

It wasn’t a coincidence; it’s because I love you.

Bai Shijin steadied his breathing and heartbeat. Before meeting Mu Nian, he had never imagined that the cliché trope of love at first sight found in TV shows and novels would ever happen to him.

Back then, he hadn’t even known that his pounding heart meant he was falling in love.

It was through the accumulation of endless longing, through the obsessive yearning triggered by seeing objects associated with him, and through repeating the exact same dream night after night that he had slowly come to realize it.

He loved Mu Nian.

It was the kind of love that made him want to get close, to touch, to stroke.

Bai Shijin finally found the reason why he had never felt anything for any girl at the age of twenty.

It was because he was a homosexual.

A freak who loved men.