Chapter 13

"Have you heard about what happened in the senior year? I heard that the teacher was going to resign, but the students persuaded him to stay."

My gossipy nature was burning brightly, and for the first time, I felt that disturbing my sleep was acceptable.

In just ten minutes, I had already learned the whole story from their few words.

The teacher and his partner were photographed by students or their parents when they went out together. The news spread like wildfire until the entire grade knew about it.

Judging from the teacher's words, he probably didn't intend to resign, nor did he do anything wrong; it was just that the parents made a big fuss.

So one morning, a teacher was carrying a box to pack his things, but he was so overwhelmed by the students' enthusiasm that he decided to stay on.

What a touching story of teacher-student relationship.

Just as I was hearing this, class started, and I was planning to take a nap during English class. But when the English teacher came in, she continued talking about this with us. I'm speechless.

Since this matter has already spread to our high school junior class, my brother couldn't possibly not know about it; their class is even more well-informed than ours.

The boys and girls in the front row chatted with the English teacher for almost half the class. Although the class was generally quite engaged, I just wanted to sleep. I need to savor that dreamlike experience.

And that message my brother sent me, honestly, he clearly cares about me so much but I'm pretending not to care, what a tsundere.

"Hey, hey, it's him, it's him!" Someone walked by outside the window, but luckily our classroom doors and windows were closed, so one of the male protagonists couldn't hear it.

I looked outside and sure enough, it was the same person I had seen before.

"Teacher, let me tell you a story. Once, her boyfriend drove her to work. He was incredibly handsome, and he even had blond hair!"

"Oh, really? Aren't they afraid of what people will say?"

"Isn't that what we're saying..."

I muttered something under my breath, and Qiu Jiajia, who was memorizing vocabulary, thought I was talking to her.

"That's different. We didn't have any ill intentions and didn't have any impact on them. Besides, society is more open now, so at least I don't think it's a big deal."

She put down her book and joined the discussion.

That seems to be true, but I still don't think homosexuality is a mainstream issue, and it's hard to imagine how that teacher protected himself for so many years.

I don't want to have a "cold war" with my brother anymore. It's so pointless. I need to talk to him and hear him call my name.

An overwhelming feeling made me see his face even in my dreams. We would hug each other like when we were children, or talk about forever.

The class went by incredibly fast. As soon as get out of class ended, I ran out of the classroom and bumped into the person in front of me, knocking him to the ground.

I rubbed my nose and looked closely, and realized something was wrong—it was my brother.

"Are you alright? Are you alright? Oh my god!" I grabbed his arm and pulled him up. How could he be so thin? Is there not a single muscle on his body?

"It's...nothing." Su Yu picked up his glasses, wiping them as he squinted to try and see where the large dog had attacked him from.

I'm stuck here, not knowing whether to move or not, but mainly I don't want to leave. Maybe we can chat for a bit?

He only recognized me and left, but after taking a couple of steps, he turned around and punched me in the back.

When I came out of the restroom, the slight pain in my back had completely disappeared, until I saw the two of them walking together again.

When did we become so close? You left me and immediately found someone new, Su Yu, you really are...

The preparatory bell rang, and the Chinese teacher walked in with two bodyguards standing beside her. I don't know what the three of them were talking about on the way, but it made my brother giggle. When he entered our classroom carrying a pile of test papers, he attracted the attention of some people.

"Wow, your brother's gotten even more handsome." Qiu Jiajia stared at my brother without blinking and gave me a warm comment.

What does "handsome" mean? Why don't you say my brother is handsome? I don't understand. Qiu Jiajia said, of course I don't understand.

Finally, he and Chen Tianmo sorted out the test papers, and he carried their class's stack back to their classroom.

"We'll be doing a test with the class next door this period. We won't write the essay, but we'll do the rest and hand it in after class."

"ah……………………"

As the outsiders' discussions subsided, the students began writing their exam papers amidst their complaints.

My brother bit his dry, cracked lips and grumbled inwardly about why my brother didn't even glance at me. But then he thought it was normal; with so many people below, how could he have time to find me when he was busy distributing test papers?

What did it mean when he smiled at Cowen?

The next period was still Chinese class. Chen Tianmo brought over the test papers that my brother's class had written, saying that the Chinese teacher wanted us to help them correct them and write our own names on them.

Okay, then following this method, I should be able to get my brother's exam paper.

No, I don't know whose exam paper this "ugly" is. I asked Qiu Jiajia whose exam paper it was, and she looked at it for a long time before realizing that the person hadn't written their name on it.

If you're already in high school and still not writing your name, you shouldn't write it for the college entrance exam either.

In the last two minutes, the teacher asked us to tally the scores.

She asked if anyone had scored above 83, and Qiu Jiajia looked at the test paper in her hand and raised her hand.

This exam paper is not simple. What's the point of this guy getting such a high score if he doesn't even write his name on it?

"What's your name?"

"Uh, his name is... well, it's Su Yu!"

What?

Is that my brother? I pretended not to care and tried to glance at my brother's test paper out of the corner of my eye. How could I not recognize him?

Seeing that my eyes were about to pop out of my head, Qiu Jiajia put the test paper directly on my desk.

"Go ahead and look, go ahead and do something so lewd."

The handwriting still looks nice, but it's not the same as before. Instead, it has a... a bit like Chen Tianmo's style?

My brother must have been hanging out with him for too long, that's why he's been influenced by him! This Chen Tianmo is really doing me a disservice.

Black Earth Brother carefully collected the test papers, and when he came over to ours, he even picked up my brother's paper and examined it closely! Disgusting! I need to disinfect my brother's test paper!

A few days later, the homeroom teacher announced the final exam schedule, and the class once again entered a tense and suffocating period of exam preparation.

My brother and I have returned to our previous relationship, and I learned that he had always thought that it was just me ignoring him.

Why is it still like this? Did I go wrong somewhere?

It was a Saturday, and the head of our grade, for the first time ever, decided to show us a movie during evening self-study, saying it was to relieve our stress.

At first, no one believed it, thinking that someone must have gone crazy from studying to spread such a rumor.

During dinner time, someone brought a USB drive for us to copy movies, and we cheered and went to buy a bunch of snacks.

Unfortunately, the multimedia system in my brother's class broke down, so they split into two groups and went to the left and right classrooms to watch it.

At that time, all the lights in our classroom were off, and only the movie was playing on the big screen. When he came in carrying a stool, he looked at me first.

Seeing that there were still people next to me, I was thinking of carrying my stool to the back, and it was obvious who I was looking for.

I nudged Qiu Jiajia's arm, and she glanced at the door, then reluctantly got up to sit with her friend. She even thoughtfully told my brother to sit in her seat.

My godmother!

My brother saw how enthusiastic she was and didn't refuse. I looked up from the book, where I couldn't even see the words, and was stunned to see that it was my brother.

Wow, when did I ever sit next to my brother?! I'm so excited, it's unbelievable! I wish we could have been in the same class since we were little!

Su Yu, dressed in his school uniform, looked like a little rice ball, his arms propped up on the table, cupping his small face.

So cute! So cute! So cute!

"Can we watch a movie...?"

My brother was watching the movie and whispered to me, covering his mouth.

Hearing this, I felt like I'd been caught doing something wrong, so I quickly opened a bag of potato chips, only to remember halfway through that I couldn't eat them all by myself.

"Brother, do you want some?"

Su Yu turned to look at me and took his hand out from under the small blanket covering his legs.

Oh! It was the one I gave him!

Half of his hand was still inside his sleeve, and I could tell he must still be very cold. After thinking for a moment, I did the most impulsive thing I've ever done.

I put down the potato chips, and then took his hand and tucked it into my sleeve, wrapping my hand around his wrist.

I could clearly sense my brother's bewilderment and confusion. I didn't say anything, but just held his hand tightly.

He didn't say anything and gradually relaxed.

I didn't let him go until I had completely warmed his hands, and then I repeated the same action on his other hand.

Why is it so cold? It's not the temperature you'd expect from inside a small blanket.

All I could do was hold his hand, and he even unzipped my jacket and slipped his hand under my hoodie. That whole sequence of actions would have melted an ice cube.

During break time, the movie paused, the people in front turned on the lights, some went to the restroom, and some went to the supermarket to continue shopping. I wanted to see what my brother would do, and I wanted to go with him.

But he just sat there blankly, his face flushed.

"You...you don't have a fever, do you?" I asked him cautiously.

Su Yu turned her head like a robot, looking at me without saying a word.

He asked me if I wanted to throw out the trash, then picked up the snack bag from my table and pulled me away.

Don't we have any trash cans in our classroom?

As we descended the crowded stairwell, my right arm was completely wrapped around my brother's arm, like a human pendant.

It would be better if he were a little shorter, although I'm quite satisfied with him as he is now.

We walked that road very slowly, and by the time we finished throwing things away and came back, the bell was almost ringing.

During the second half of the evening self-study period, I sat quietly and watched the movie. Apart from discussing the plot with my brother, I didn't say anything else.

My brother didn't bring a water bottle. I just fed him so much dry food, I don't believe he's not thirsty.

The water glass was under the table. I deliberately made a big movement to take it out and opened the lid. Sure enough, my brother noticed. What will he do?

He took the cup just as I put it on the table.

He looked around first, then, as if he had finally found the place he was looking for, he unscrewed the lid, pursed his lips, and drank it down.

In the pale light of the movie, I saw his Adam's apple bobbing up and down with each swallow of water, and his handsome jawline casting a faint shadow on his fair and delicate neck.

That's when I noticed that he had his scarf tucked into his arms.

I am grateful that I am usually like a water buffalo, never letting the cup be full.

My brother drank quickly, and I saw water dripping from the corner of his mouth and sliding down his face.

Finally, he stuck out a tiny bit of his rosy tongue to lick the water from the corner of his mouth, then pulled a tissue from the corner of my desk to wipe his mouth.

Then it was thrown back.

With two minutes left before get out of class ended and only a little bit of the movie remaining, our homeroom teacher, after much pleading and cajoling from the students, allowed us to finish watching it before leaving school.

I'm still completely captivated by my brother's performance art of drinking water; it's so beautiful.

When the lights were turned on during the final scene, the glaring light reminded me of the night Xiaoxing took me to the bar—it was exactly the same.

But then Xiaoxing and I almost kissed.

My brother turned around and looked at me. His face, which had been whitened by the cold wind, was already melted by my warmth. I noticed that he was looking at me, so I returned the same look.

My brother asked his deskmate to take the stool back, and then picked up a small note that had been left on the table at some point.

He opened it and I leaned in, wanting to get close to him, but my brother didn't move away either.

I'm going back to the dorm now. You and your brother can sit here and relax.

Su Yu, don't make me look down on you (seriously)

Later, I didn't disappoint Qiu Jiajia. Since it was long past the time for the students on duty to check the route, no one bothered us when we dispersed back to the dormitory.

That night, my brother and I walked hand in hand, with our fingers intertwined.