On Monday, Ji Wenzhen woke up very early. Just after five in the morning, while the sky was still dim, he carefully dragged his suitcase, trying not to disturb the sleeping Xiao Xing.
As he placed his hand on the doorknob, a familiar voice came from behind, asking, “Are you leaving?”
“Mm.” Ji Wenzhen put down his hand and turned to look at the boy behind him.
Bo Xinghang had stayed up late working on assignments and had only managed a few hours of sleep. Five in the morning was far too early for him, and he looked clearly sleep-deprived. He leaned on the table with one hand, the other rubbing his messy hair, his eyes still heavy with sleep.
He asked, “Why didn’t you wake me up?”
Looking at Bo Xinghang’s hand, Ji Wenzhen suddenly remembered the strength with which they had held hands yesterday, their fingers tightly intertwined, as if their bond was engraved in his bones.
Ji Wenzhen walked over, took hold of the restless hand, and carefully smoothed down the boy’s unruly hair. His voice was gentle. “It’s still too early. You can sleep a bit more.”
Not satisfied with this explanation, Bo Xinghang protested, “But I wanted to see you off.” His voice, still soft and tinged with sleep, sounded especially endearing. “Were you really going to sneak away without waking me?”
Ji Wenzhen laughed and pinched the back of his neck. “I didn’t want you to worry.”
“Then you should also worry about the days I’ll spend without you.” Bo Xinghang wrapped his arms around Ji Wenzhen’s neck and looked up at him. “Why don’t I ask for the day off and go with you to the airport?”
“Don’t be silly.” Ji Wenzhen tapped his head as a punishment.
Realizing he might have been too rough, Ji Wenzhen gently rubbed the spot he had tapped. Seeing Bo Xinghang still looking up at him, his Adam’s apple bobbed, and he leaned in to give him a long, deep kiss.
When the kiss ended, Ji Wenzhen held the now slightly weakened boy in his arms and wiped the moisture from his lips. Bo Xinghang obediently rested against his chest, but Ji Wenzhen knew he had to leave soon. He finally spoke, “Xiao Xing.”
Bo Xinghang lowered his long eyelashes. “Hmm?”
“…”
Ji Wenzhen had intended to say he was leaving, but looking at the person in his arms, the words that came out instead were, “Could you have breakfast with me?”
Bo Xinghang’s eyes immediately lit up. “Really? Won’t you be late?”
Ji Wenzhen nodded, then smiled helplessly. “Really.”
He realized he had no resolve whatsoever when it came to Xiao Xing. Any plan he had would crumble with just one look from the boy.
In a few minutes, Ji Wenzhen quickly made sandwiches and fed Bo Xinghang until he was full, absentmindedly rubbing his stomach. Just then, the hospital called.
Ji Wenzhen didn’t stop what he was doing. After a few seconds, Bo Xinghang asked, “Aren’t you going to answer?”
“…I just want to spend a little more time with you.”
Hearing such affectionate words in Ji Wenzhen’s usual cool tone made Bo Xinghang’s face heat up. Despite this, he sensibly pushed Ji Wenzhen’s hand away and whispered, “Go ahead, answer it. Just make sure to text me when you arrive.”
“Okay.” Ji Wenzhen nodded, then added, “But don’t check your phone during class.”
Feeling slightly guilty for having his thoughts exposed, Bo Xinghang’s eyes dropped to Ji Wenzhen’s fingertips as he mumbled, “Would I really do that?”
Ji Wenzhen didn’t press further, just ruffled Bo Xinghang’s hair. “I’ll take the call.”
“…Hmm, okay.”
Once Ji Wenzhen left for his business trip, most of the little joys in Bo Xinghang’s life were stripped away, leaving him with nothing to distract himself from his thoughts except burying his head in his studies.
This puppy love had an impact on him.
Maybe… it just made him more obsessed with studying.
Bo Xinghang put down his pen and flexed his sore wrist, letting his thoughts wander.
Doctor Ji had left that morning, traveling from the north to the distant south. The message Bo Xinghang sent before class hadn’t been answered yet. Ji Wenzhen must not have arrived.
He stared at his phone, feeling a bit lost.
When had he become so clingy? He had lived alone for so many years, but now he couldn’t stand even a short two-week separation.
A week ago, he would have thought this kind of dependence was excessive and would burden the other person. But since Doctor Ji had said those words, he suddenly didn’t mind it as much.
The cool guy, trying to ignore the heat in his ears, thought to himself: Being pampered when you act cute… what’s so bad about that?
Suddenly, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Lost in thought, Bo Xinghang was startled and stood up reflexively.
The chair scraped loudly against the floor—a grating noise that cut through the lunchtime chatter, making everyone turn their heads to look at him.
Their casual glances made him feel as if all his thoughts had been laid bare, with countless eyes staring at him. Bo Xinghang’s throat felt parched from the tension.
When he spoke, he furrowed his brow and said in a gruff tone, “What are you staring at? Go study.”
When Bo Xinghang lashed out at everyone without any apparent reason, they were all bewildered. However, given his past reputation as the school bully and his current trend toward being a top student… no one dared to talk back.
Only Xu Yi wasn’t afraid of him. He poked Bo Xinghang with the same hand he had used to tap his shoulder earlier. “Hang-ge, who’s gotten on your nerves this time? Why are you so angry?”
Bo Xinghang opened his mouth, wanting to say he wasn’t mad, but he couldn’t explain the real reason either. Just as he hesitated over what to say, his phone lit up.
In an instant, Bo Xinghang forgot to respond and picked up his phone to reply to Doctor Ji’s message.
Watching his smooth motions, Xu Yi was speechless. “Hang-ge, you can’t just abandon your friends for love.”
The only person who could make Hang-ge react like this had to be that sister-in-law he kept so carefully hidden away.
As soon as Xu Yi said it, a name popped into his head. After observing the interactions between Hang-ge and Doctor Ji over the past few encounters, he couldn’t help but think of him.
He even felt that, apart from their gender, Hang-ge and Doctor Ji seemed… quite a good match.
Damn. Xu Yi shuddered, horrified by his own thoughts. Looking at Hang-ge, who had no idea what was going on, Xu Yi felt a deep sense of guilt.
His Hang-ge already had a girlfriend. If he knew his close friend was thinking this way, he’d probably want to kill him.
So Xu Yi decided not to bother Hang-ge any further. He patted his shoulder and said he was going back to studying.
Without looking up, Bo Xinghang waved him off with a “bye-bye.”
Seeing the precarious state of their friendship, Xu Yi sighed.
After school, without Doctor Ji’s car to pick him up, Bo Xinghang felt a bit out of sorts. He stood at the school gate for over ten seconds before realizing what was happening. Staring at his feet, he finally walked to the bus stop.
He returned to Doctor Ji’s apartment first, tidied up his things a bit, and grabbed a few books he had been studying, tossing them into his backpack. After filling it up, he picked up the shirt that had been lying by his pillow.
The shirt was neatly folded, and he was careful not to mess it up when he picked it up. Since his bag was too full, he found a shopping bag and placed the shirt inside, making it look like a newly purchased, expensive item.
Bo Xinghang chuckled at himself.
Originally, he had planned to stay in Doctor Ji’s house alone after he left. But with Doctor Ji gone, the apartment felt empty. Everywhere he went, he could feel Doctor Ji’s presence, a sensation that was both painful and comforting.
But after a day at school, his thoughts had changed. He had overestimated his self-control. Being in a space filled with Doctor Ji’s presence only made him miss him more, to the point where he couldn’t bear it.
Bo Xinghang took a deep breath, locked the door, and decided to go home.
He hadn’t been home in nearly a week, but nothing in the neighborhood had changed.
The street was bustling at ten o’clock as usual. The sign at Xiao Li’s barbershop had been worn down for months without being fixed. Across the street, the barbecue restaurant was busy, and the owner’s child was crying again.
Her voice was piercing. Bo Xinghang had once been woken up by her crying in the middle of the night and couldn’t sleep for the rest of it.
Everything was as it always was. Having lived here for many years, he barely glanced around before heading upstairs.
The hallway light seemed to be broken. He stomped a few times, but nothing happened. When he reached the elevator, he found out the power was out. This old building had its fair share of problems, big and small. Bo Xinghang clicked his tongue and turned to take the stairs.
It was one thing to lose power during the day, but at night, the entire stairwell was shrouded in darkness, with no light penetrating it, as if nothing could be reached.
After a few steps, Bo Xinghang started to get annoyed.
His irritation peaked when he reached the front door. The door was tightly shut, but a row of beer bottles lined up beside it stabbed at his eyes like needles.
Standing in the doorway, Bo Xinghang could faintly make out a figure on the sofa by the light of the moon. He couldn’t tell what expression the person had. After hesitating for a couple of seconds, he calmly asked, “Why are you back?”
The woman moved slightly, her phone screen lighting up. Bo Xinghang finally saw her expression, but it felt unfamiliar.
Her raspy voice pierced the air as she demanded loudly, “How dare you ask me that? If I didn’t come back, would you just keep fooling around outside?”
Fooling around?
A thread of reason suddenly snapped. Bo Xinghang clenched the bag containing the shirt with one hand, fighting to keep his emotions in check as he carefully placed the shirt on the floor.
Stay calm, stay calm. Bo Xinghang repeated to himself over and over, his lips pressed into a thin line, his chest heaving, his red eyes fixed on the woman.
He had promised Doctor Ji he would behave and wait patiently for his return.
The woman couldn’t see Bo Xinghang’s expression, but she instinctively shrank back. No matter how sharp her words were, she was still facing a grown man over 1.8 meters tall and still growing.
She didn’t want to admit that she was scared by his silence. Gritting her teeth, she snapped, “What, are you going to hit me? Did I say something wrong? I’ve been home for three days and haven’t seen a trace of you. Now that I’m saying something, you’re acting guilty, aren’t you?”
Bo Xinghang glared at her, his voice low and dangerous, almost spitting fire as he asked, “What did you say?!”
“What’s wrong with what I said…” The woman stood up from the sofa, took two steps back, and raised her phone. “I’m warning you, if you take one more step, I’ll call the police! …A son beats up his mom? I’ll report you for domestic violence!”
She still remembered she was a mother.
Bo Xinghang’s anger dissipated as he looked at the woman, who was now on guard. He even found it a little funny.
Domestic violence? Did this place still count as a home?
Bo Xinghang regretted his outburst. After everything that had happened, he had long since moved from disappointment to indifference toward his mother. The reason he was so angry this time was that her words had dragged Doctor Ji into it.
But he couldn’t afford to lose his cool. The college entrance exams were approaching, and Doctor Ji was far away in the south. He needed to stay clear-headed and calm. Other people’s mocking words weren’t worth his attention.
After a few seconds of silence, Bo Xinghang bent down, picked up the bag, and walked straight into his room.
Author’s note:
551If you say this in Chinese it sounds like crying Why does he become such a pitiful little thing without Doctor Ji around?
