Chapter 1: Secretly in love with this love, hidden for many years

“Is there pure friendship between men and women?”

The lights in the bar were dim. Yun Sui leaned on the sofa, as if he was sinking into it. His sleepy eyes opened slightly after hearing these words, and he subconsciously glanced to the side.

"Of course there is. Sui Sui and Lin Chi'an are just friends. We have been friends for so many years."

The playmate next to him retorted, using an example that everyone agreed with.

"I almost forgot, that's true."

"We've known each other for so many years and we're still friends."

Hearing everyone's subconscious exclamations, Yun Sui lowered his eyes.

In my peripheral vision, the boy sitting in the other corner of the sofa didn't move or say a word.

"Next question, continue."

The bar was filled with loud drum music and the voices of people chatting around him were getting louder, and Yun Sui's heart was beating wildly.

She patted the arm of the girl next to her.

"Qianqian, I'm going out for a while."

"Ah, what did you say?" It was too noisy around and Yu Qian couldn't hear clearly.

Yun Sui pointed outside, saw Yu Qian nod, picked up his phone and walked out.

When he pushed open the door, the bell hanging on the door rang. After Yun Sui let go of his hand, he didn't hear the second ring, so he turned around to look.

A person stands behind him.

The two of them were so close that she could smell the smell of cigarettes on him, mixed with the scent of laundry detergent.

It’s her favorite gardenia.

"Why did you come out too?"

Yun Sui looked up and saw the man with his head lowered, standing with his back to the light, and spoke softly.

"It's too noisy in there, and Zhao Lei is so stupid that he always loses."

The man yawned, crossed his arms over his chest, and leaned his head against the door next to him.

Yun Sui pursed his lips and smiled slightly.

"Yeah, that's stupid."

Turning to walk to the side, she saw an ice cream truck not far away.

"I want an Oreo and a mango." Yun Sui said to the clerk at the order counter with a smile.

"You think your allergy isn't serious enough?" The man's voice came from behind, lazy and casual.

"This is fine." Yun Sui shook his head, but still signaled the clerk to replace the mango with vanilla.

This area is full of bars, and even in the early morning, the lights are still on.

The summer night breeze was a little cool, blowing away the sticky feeling after coming out of the air-conditioned room.

Yun Sui turned around and saw the man leaning against the ice cream truck again with his eyes closed.

Wearing a black short-sleeved shirt, under the street light, his whiteness was even more prominent, the shadow of his nose bridge, his eyes hidden under the ends of his hair. After so many years, without the youthfulness of high school, Lin Chi'an became more attractive.

"Lin Chi'an."

Hearing the voice, Lin Chi'an slowly opened his eyes, just in time to see Yun Sui holding an ice cream in both hands and smiling at him.

My heart skipped a beat, but I suppressed it and didn't think about it any further.

There were a few chairs next to the ice cream truck. After Yun Sui sat down, Lin Chi'an also sat next to him.

"If you're sleepy, go back to sleep." Yun Sui said.

"I won't be sleepy when I get home." Lin Chi'an licked his ice cream. "Besides, you finally have some free time, so I have to come out and play with you."

Here we go again, this kind of word that can easily be misunderstood.

Yun Sui felt a sweet feeling in his heart, but it quickly dissipated.

"Is the project over?" Lin Chi'an asked.

"Well, we're entering the final stages of finishing. I finally don't have to be so busy anymore." Yun Sui stretched and regained some energy. He leaned his head against the back of the chair and tilted his head to look at Lin Chi'an. "How about you? How have you been lately?"

"That's it, good job."

"Oh." Yun Sui nodded gently, "How are you planning to celebrate your birthday this year?"

"Birthday? Isn't it still early?" Lin Chi'an narrowed his eyes, trying to recall how long it was left until his birthday.

"If you had told me earlier, I could have made preparations earlier. How old are you this year? Twenty-seven or twenty-eight?"

"Twenty-seven."

"Not young anymore." Speaking of this, Yun Sui suddenly thought of something. After sitting up straight, he said, "My parents are actually urging me to get married. They used to say it was up to me."

"Pfft." Lin Chi'an laughed out loud, "It's time to be urged to get married."

"Are you still laughing?"

"What's the big deal? My dad even asked me to go on a blind date. He said it was a neighbor's relative and he asked me to meet him."

Lin Chi'an was still saying something in his sight, but Yun Sui could no longer hear him.

His ears were buzzing and his heart was beating even faster than when he was in the bar just now. After Lin Chi'an finished speaking, Yun Sui sighed softly in his heart.

"fine."

So he stood up.

"Let's go. We've been out for too long. They are still waiting inside." Yun Sui straightened his clothes and walked forward without looking at Lin Chi'an behind him.

Question asked by Zhao Lei.

Is there pure friendship between men and women?

What attracted her was not the answer to the question, but Lin Chi'an's reaction.

Apparently he thought so.

Then she pretended to have it.

“Ring, ring, ring—”

Yun Sui stretched out his hand with difficulty and turned off the phone that was ringing next to him.

Without the sound of the alarm clock, the world returned to peace. Yun Sui buried his head in the pillow, closed his eyes, and lost consciousness again.

Yesterday, a few of them drank until two or three in the morning. Although she was very sleepy, she couldn't stand her bad mood and wanted to drown her sorrows in alcohol, so she ended up drinking too much. She no longer remembered when she returned home or who sent her home.

She rubbed her head and looked at her phone. It was almost noon.

The result of a hangover is that you feel completely listless, so you start to give up on yourself, ignoring your empty stomach and just leaning on the bed to play with your phone.

【Qianqian: Suisui, are you up? 】

【Qianqian: Shall we go shopping this afternoon? 】

The phone displayed the message. Yun Sui saw the last message and probably guessed what Yu Qian was thinking, so he sent a message in tacit understanding.

[Yun Sui: Why don’t we just not go?]

[Qianqian: I think so too. It’s too hot outside. Let’s go later when it cools down.]

Yun Sui agreed with her and replied "OK".

She was half asleep, and if Yu Qian didn't look for her, she would have forgotten their appointment today.

Yun Sui slowly got out of bed and walked towards the sink, not hearing the sound of the door opening.

"Yun Sui, my mother made some soup and asked me to bring you some."

Lin Chi'an changed his shoes, put the thermos box in his hand on the dining table, and waited for a few seconds, but no one responded.

"Yun Sui?"

He glanced at the closed bedroom door, paused for a few seconds, then turned and walked towards the kitchen.

Yun Sui took a shower in the bathroom and washed his hair. The gardenia scent of the shower gel removed the remaining smell of alcohol on his body.

She rolled up her bath towel and went to the living room to get a hair dryer. Suddenly, she smelled the fragrance of food, which made her hungry.

Just as I was wondering, I turned around and saw the shoes placed at the door, and at this time the sliding door of the kitchen was also opened.

Lin Chi'an stood there with a bowl of noodles in his hand. From his angle, he could just see Yun Sui wrapped in a bath towel.

After looking at each other for a few seconds, Yun Sui looked away.

"When did you come?" Yun Sui said.

"Just arrived."

Lin Chi'an's gaze fell on her fair shoulders. He could see drops of water running down her neck, and red marks on her shoulders, probably from rubbing herself in the shower.

"My mom asked me to bring you some soup. I guessed you didn't eat, so I borrowed your kitchen to cook some noodles." Lin Chi'an said, "You drank too much yesterday, so eat something light today."

"Oh... okay..." Yun Sui quickly walked to the sofa and took the hair dryer. "Wait a minute, I'll go change my clothes."

"Um."

Pushing open the bedroom door, Yun Sui looked at himself in front of the floor-length mirror.

The exposed skin is fair, the legs are slender and straight, and the collarbone is absolutely beautiful.

What a pity, Lin Chi'an didn't react at all.

At least I'll blush the first time.

She still remembered him saying it seriously.

"Don't appear in front of men like this again."

Yun Sui changed his clothes, blew his hair dryer a few times, and went out.

Lin Chi'an put the noodles on the table in the living room. Yun Sui walked over and sat on the blanket on the floor with his legs half crossed.

Lin Chi'an was sitting on the sofa, holding his phone as if he was playing a game.

"The teacher's skills are getting better and better. I will go to see her after the project is over." Yun Sui said.

The chicken soup is rich and sweet, and the noodles are cooked very soft, just the way she likes it.

"Just praise her. Shouldn't you also praise me for cooking noodles for you?" Lin Chi'an said.

"Yes, your cooking skills are not bad." Yun Sui also agreed with him and said, "Why don't you come to my house and be a chef? Three meals a day will be provided."

"Then you have to eat noodles for all three meals." Lin Chi'an said leisurely.

Yun Sui thought about it and decided that it was inappropriate.

She picked up the remote control and found a TV series to watch.

As I was looking, I unexpectedly saw an acquaintance.

Lin Chi'an didn't stop his hands and looked up at Yun Sui who was sitting there. His hair was not dried yet and he was sitting facing the air conditioner.

"you..."

"you..."

They both spoke at the same time.

Lin Chi'an paused, "What for?"

Yun Sui pointed at the person on TV and asked, "Is this my senior?"

"What senior sister?" When Lin Chi'an heard her words, he looked at the TV carefully again, but still couldn't remember.

"That's the one you pursued in high school." Yun Sui's voice gradually became smaller, his hands picking up noodles slowly, his eyes lowered.

She swallowed the noodles in her mouth, and her heart felt as sour as if it had been touched by a lemon. She knew that she didn't like this feeling, but it was like self-abuse. She asked Lin Chi'an, but she didn't understand what was going on in her mind.

"It's her."

The woman on TV looked a little different from what he remembered. Only after hearing Yun Sui's explanation did Lin Chi'an remember her.

“It’s getting better and better.”

Lin Chi'an was just stating the facts.

Yun Sui resumed her hand movements upon hearing this. She knew that mentioning such things to Lin Chi'an was self-abuse, so she continued to pick up noodles with her chopsticks.

"That's for sure."

Lin Chi'an shifted his gaze from the TV to Yun Sui, looking at her still wet hair.

“Tsk.”

Very light.

Yun Sui noticed that the person behind him stood up, and then the ends of his hair were wrapped in a towel.

"Even a hair dryer can't dry your hair. And you're sitting in the air conditioner vent, thinking your head isn't hurting enough."

I felt my scalp being gently pulled, and I could smell the scent coming from Lin Chi'an.

Fortunately, I am now at the air-conditioning vent, blowing away the throbbing in my heart.

"There's nothing I can do. I'm younger." Yun Sui said softly.

"Yes, yes, yes." Lin Chi'an stopped what he was doing. "I have something else to do later. I'll be leaving first."

"Yes." Yun Sui nodded. "There are several thermal boxes in the kitchen. I've cleaned them. You can take them all to the teacher."

"Give it to me after you finish the chicken soup."

Lin Chi'an picked up the phone on the sofa and opened the door. "Or you can bring it to my mom next time you visit her."

After saying that, he walked out.

Yun Sui watched the door close and silence returned.

After she fainted at home due to a fever, Lin Chi'an asked for the password to her home. Later, Lin Chi'an's mother, who was also her high school class teacher, always asked him to bring her food. After coming to her house many times, they became familiar with each other.

Familiarity blurs the concept of a single man and a single woman, just like the feelings between two people.

Yun Sui walked to the balcony and watched the familiar car appear and then leave.

He touched the towel wrapped around his hair.

She knew that Lin Chi'an didn't like her, but there was nothing she could do, she liked him.

She hid this love for many years.