Why Does First Love Feel This Sweet? - Chapter 9

Chapter: 9 The Sound Through the Glass

The long bath was finally over.

Rong Yu wanted to help dry him off, but seeing that Sheng Yi wouldn’t stand up, he reached out to touch his forehead. “Are you unwell?”

Sheng Yi awkwardly arched his lean, boyish back, using a towel to shield a certain part of his body that had severely misread the situation. He was lost. He desperately wanted to ask: Sheng Xiao Yi, have you mistaken who this person is?

Since they were both male, Rong Yu quickly discovered exactly what was making Sheng Yi “uncomfortable.”

Rong Yu’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. His gaze dropped, lingering for a second. “You…”

“Get out first!” Sheng Yi felt like he was going to explode from shame. He turned his face red, feigning calm. “I’ll dry myself.”

Rong Yu quickly retracted his surprise. He stood up and draped a bath towel over Sheng Yi’s back, acting as if he had noticed nothing. “I’ll wait for you outside,” he said naturally.

At the door, Rong Yu turned back, his voice taking on the cool, professional tone of a doctor. “Don’t overthink it. This is a sign that your sexual function is beginning to recover. After a three-year coma, it’s normal to be hypersensitive during the early stages of recovery.”

“…”

Sheng Yi had no rebuttal.

For the past month, things in “that department” had indeed been off. Despite being awake for weeks, he hadn’t experienced a single instance of a normal morning physiological reaction. Men care about these things. In fact, every morning upon waking, Sheng Yi would lift the covers to check in on “Sheng Xiao Yi,” hoping he’d regained some spirit.

But the issue was too private. Even with Rong Yu, he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

Rong Yu, who checked his temperature every morning, had likely noticed long ago. Perhaps fearing he would wound Sheng Yi’s pride, he had never initiated a “consultation.”

As the bathroom door closed, Sheng Yi’s tense spine finally relaxed. He moved the towel away, questioning his entire life.

Forty-five minutes passed. Sheng Yi leaned against the damp tiles of the bathroom wall, exhausted and breathing slightly hard. He was stunned.

This isn’t right… Did Sheng Xiao Yi secretly upgrade while he was asleep for three years?

Footsteps approached outside the door. Through the frosted glass, Rong Yu’s low voice drifted in. “Are you finished?”

“…Ah.” Sheng Yi’s voice was hoarse. Hearing Rong Yu’s deep tone caused the heat in his face to flare up again. “Almost… almost.”

Having answered instinctively, Sheng Yi squeezed his eyes shut in shame. He was so red he could have been squeezed for tomato juice.

The outside went quiet for a long while. Rong Yu seemed to be hesitating. In the silence, the man’s voice sounded even deeper and more magnetic.

“Do you need help?” he asked slowly, his tone perfectly natural.

Sheng Yi had heard this phrase countless times over the past month, but this time, it nearly caused his heart to burst. An indescribable sensation, like a tiny electric current, surged from the tips of his hair to his toes. His entire body felt scalding.

Just by hearing that voice, his difficult-to-soothe distress found a strange form of salvation.

After a brief internal struggle, Sheng Yi was defeated by his physical discomfort. He realized with stark clarity what it meant to dig a hole for himself.

Sheng Yi kept his eyes tightly shut, composing himself for a moment before making a request that he tried—and failed—to make sound normal: “…Xiao Yu, can you stay outside and keep me company for a bit?”

Rong Yu looked at the blurry silhouette leaning against the wall inside. He leaned against the wall next to the door and folded his arms.

Lowering his long lashes, he let out a soft, “Mhm.”

A few seconds later, the boy inside asked uneasily, “Xiao Yu, are you still there?”

“I’m here.”

Listening to the intermittent breathing through the thin glass door, Rong Yu realized what the person inside wanted. He kept his gaze downcast and asked calmly, “What were you thinking about just now?”

“…Huh?”

The surroundings were too quiet. Rong Yu’s voice was melodic and substantial, piercing through the cool glass and vibrating into the hot, humid air of the bathroom.

“Why the sudden shyness?”

Sheng Yi bit his lip, unable to answer. His head was swimming; his brain felt sluggish. Moreover, he truly couldn’t figure out what was happening to him.

Receiving no reply, Rong Yu continued his slow questioning from outside. “Why didn’t you reply to my message?”

“I…” Sheng Yi’s breathing grew unstable.

“And why are you avoiding me?”

“…”

The voice outside was calm to the point of being cold, yet the crisp quality of that coldness carried an unspeakable sexiness. It was completely different from the infinitely gentle Rong Yu he knew.

That indifferent voice hit Sheng Yi like an electric shock, triggering an inexplicable sensation. The thundering sound of his own heartbeat echoed in his ears.

“Hang-hang, you said you would listen to me.”

Sheng Yi’s scalp tingled. He was panicking; the empty space around him offered no sense of security. He could only call out helplessly to the person outside the door. “Xiao Yu.”

“Yes.” Rong Yu’s voice softened instantly, as if the person who had just spoken with that punishing tone wasn’t him. He offered back a sense of safety, like a comfort. “I’m here.”

Sheng Yi’s rhythm was now entirely controlled by that voice.

A dizzying, white, scalding light enveloped him. His wet lashes blurred the light into a hazy shadow before his eyes. The condensation on the glass door gathered into droplets, sliding down slowly.

As exhaustion and the aftershock washed over him, Sheng Yi’s consciousness began to fade. On the other side of the thin glass, the man’s voice—pressed very low—sounded slightly raspy.

“It’s okay,” he said slowly.

The final words were so low and husky they were almost a murmur to himself; Sheng Yi could no longer hear them clearly.

“I can wait.”

“As long as you can still come back, you can do whatever you want to me.”

Sheng Yi vaguely heard Rong Yu say “it’s okay.” It felt like receiving permission.

Sheng Yi’s breath hitched for a moment before gradually settling. His limp, burning body lost all strength, sliding slowly down the damp wall.

He had consumed too much energy today; he was too tired to even keep his eyes open. At the last moment of consciousness, through the slits of his eyelashes, he saw the bathroom door push open.

The man stepped onto the wet floor tiles, leaned down, and gently picked him up.