A soft towel glided over the water droplets rolling down his chiseled abs. A broad hand reached for the phone, but there were no new messages on the screen.
Long fingers with prominent knuckles swiped across the display. His scorching gaze lingered on those photos as Lu Quan lowered his eyes with a low chuckle, his fingers moving to type out a message.
【L】: Is Zhizhi shy?
The moment he hit send, a glaring red exclamation mark appeared in front of him.
His smile froze on his lips. In the quiet bathroom, the sound of his heartbeat was unmistakable. His chest tightened as if squeezed in a vise, and a sharp sting shot through his limbs.
He gripped the phone so tightly it might crack. Closing his eyes, he forced himself to calm down. What had he just done? Had he scared Zhizhi?
It looked like he’d have to hide it even better from now on.
That red exclamation mark made his eyes burn red, endless darkness surging in their depths.
Zhizhi was so timid. Just two sentences over the phone, and he was already shy enough to cry.
Those red eyes would surely be adorable.
An itch suddenly rose in his throat. He was so thirsty, aching to lick away Zhizhi’s tears.
He tapped to re-add him as a friend.
–Zhizhi, I was wrong. Don’t delete me. (Pitiful expression)
No matter how he looked at it, it seemed like the big bad wolf luring in a little rabbit.
He raked his wet hair back from his face, revealing his sharp brows and piercing eyes. His palm swept across the fogged-up mirror, and the corner of his mouth curved up slightly, veins bulging faintly on the back of his hand.
“Baby, you can’t escape me.”
Liang Zhixia spent the entire afternoon feeling restless. He was starting to regret deleting L so quickly.
L might have been annoying, but he’d spent more time with Liang Zhixia than anyone else lately.
Every day, L shared funny bits from his life and was the first to pick up on Liang Zhixia’s moods.
But most importantly of all—and he’d just done the math—he’d prepaid for three months of L’s company, and barely a month had passed. He’d lost so much money!!!
He should have taken that two thousand yuan as a cancellation fee.
In the cafeteria,
Jiang Ling set down his chopsticks and narrowed his eyes at the person across from him. “Xia Xia, you’ve been acting weird all afternoon.”
Liang Zhixia feigned composure. “Have I?”
Fan Li, gnawing on a rib, mumbled through a full mouth, “You have! You kept staring at your phone. The instructor glanced at you several times, but you had your head down and didn’t notice.”
“…”
No wonder he’d felt eyes on him.
Fan Li swallowed his bite of meat and wiped his mouth. “We’re friends now. If you’ve got troubles, you can tell us.”
Liang Zhixia hesitated inwardly. Should he spill the whole thing?
In the end, he decided to invent a fictional friend.
“It’s like this. I have a friend…”
Jiang Ling stifled a laugh and quickly clamped his mouth shut, his expression turning innocently earnest. “Go on.”
“My friend met someone online. At first, it was just a paid arrangement, but now things feel… off. That guy might have feelings for my friend, but my friend just sees him as a buddy.”
He paused, then added, “Or maybe the guy doesn’t have feelings for my friend at all. Maybe he’s just… messed up.”
Jiang Ling got it. He pondered for a moment. “So… your friend really only sees him as a friend?”
“…Yeah.”
“That’s easy, then.” Jiang Ling gathered his shoulder-length hair into a ponytail with calm assurance. “Just treat his messages like nonsense and don’t reply. Or tell him straight up how it is.”
Liang Zhixia licked his lips. “But… my friend deleted him at noon.”
Fan Li perked up with interest. “And then? Did he come crawling back to your… friend?”
Liang Zhixia remembered the friend request he’d seen earlier and nodded. “He did.”
Jiang Ling shrugged. “Then don’t add him back. Otherwise, he’ll think your friend is into him, and it’ll be a pain to shake him off later.”
Liang Zhixia nodded thoughtfully.
Maybe Jiang Ling was right. Habits could be broken.
He resolutely rejected L’s friend request.
But L was persistent. Every time he rejected it, another one popped up.
In the end, he stopped bothering with it altogether—neither accepting nor rejecting. He’d just pretend L didn’t exist.
Eventually, L would get the hint.
After all, L’s little notebook was full of other “big brothers,” “big sisters,” “little brothers,” and “little sisters.” One night, and he’d forget about his former client.
Chat buddies’ words weren’t to be trusted anyway.
There was a little cat sticker sprawled on its back on the top of the bed curtain the school provided. Lying in bed, Liang Zhixia stared at it, his mind wandering.
His fingers drifted to his phone. Unable to resist, he checked WeChat. No red notification dot.
L really hadn’t sent another friend request.
Just as he’d expected, but a hollow ache settled in his chest. At this time of night, L would usually send a goodnight message.
Tonight… no, from now on, there wouldn’t be any more.
…
Withdrawal felt even stronger than he’d imagined.
It was one in the morning, and he still wasn’t asleep.
He stood barefoot on the floor and yanked open the curtains. Soft moonlight poured in, casting a silvery glow across the room. Everything was quiet. The bed next to his was empty—Lu Quan hadn’t come back.
The endless darkness of the night seemed to swallow him whole. His heartbeat thudded slowly and clearly in his ears.
He flicked on the balcony light and looked up at the few scattered stars in the sky. Settling onto a chair by the low tea table with his tablet in hand,
he decided to draw since sleep wouldn’t come.
Meanwhile, his roommate sat in a car parked by the roadside. His brows furrowed as he repeatedly unlocked his phone to check for a friend approval notification.
Long, pale fingers rested on the open car window, a cigarette pinched between them. The faint minty smoke wafted past his nose.
Xu Cheng, out of breath, handed over the bag. Frowning in confusion, he asked, “The doctor said no drinking for you. Why’d you have me buy all this booze?”
Lu Quan ruthlessly flicked the cigarette to the ground. Xu Cheng picked it up and tossed it in a nearby trash bin, only to look up and see Lu Quan cracking open a bottle.
Xu Cheng leaned over the car window, trying to peer at what his good buddy kept staring at on his phone.
“By the way, did you catch him yet?”
Lu Quan slowly raised his head, his gaze icy as it fixed on Xu Cheng.
“He deleted me.”
Xu Cheng choked on his own saliva, wishing he could take back the question.
Leaning against the car door with his arms crossed, he muttered, “But didn’t you say he likes you a ton? That he can’t live without you?”
Lu Quan flexed his stiff fingers. His gaze was cooler than the night air as his thumb gently rubbed the phone. The corner of his mouth twitched in a wry half-smile, almost to himself. “Zhizhi is so kind-hearted and soft. If I tell her I’m in the hospital, will she approve my friend request again?”
Xu Cheng gaped at him in stunned silence. Now he understood why he’d been sent to buy all that alcohol.
It was for a pity play.
If word got out that the Finance Department’s genius school heartthrob was using tactics like this, jaws would hit the floor.
Love-struck fool with issues to boot.
