Confession
Looking through the lens of time, he couldn't see the surprise on Lu Yu's face, let alone hear their conversation.
He could only see—
The boy who just sang "The Only One" to him on the stage.
The boy who just said to him, "There is always a star coming for you."
At this moment, he was standing in a scene carefully decorated with star balloons and confession banners, holding a star handed to him by another girl in his hand, with a surprised smile on his face.
Shi Guang felt that all the blood in his body had solidified at that moment.
He could no longer hear anything, only a buzzing sound in his ears.
It turns out that the phrase "the stars come for you" is true.
But that star is not him.
It turned out that everything tonight, the song, the stage, the starry sky, were just a grand and gorgeous prelude to give another girl a surprise.
And I, the me who helped design the PPT with the starry sky background, the me who was so moved by his song in the audience, was like a clown, a complete and self-indulgent fool.
The immense shame and pain of being fooled in public instantly overwhelmed him like a tsunami.
On the other side, Lu Yu was confused by this sudden "surprise", but alarm bells were ringing in his heart.
"Ranran? What are you doing?" He looked at Lin Yueran and the group of smiling friends behind her, trying hard to maintain composure.
"Celebrate for you!" Lin Yueran stuffed the giant star balloon into his hand again, and said proudly like a child seeking credit, "So, is my number one fan club impressive enough? We put in a lot of effort to get you the best spot backstage!"
Lu Yu's gaze passed over them, anxiously scanning every corner of the backstage, but he could no longer catch sight of that familiar figure. A surge of inexplicable panic followed within him.
He stuffed the balloon back to Lin Yueran's friend without hesitation, and said in an urgent tone: "Thank you for your kindness, I appreciate it. But I have something very, very important to do right now, and I have to go see my roommate. Some other day, some other day I'll treat you to dinner!"
After saying that, he no longer paid attention to the stunned reactions of Lin Yueran and the others. Like a cheetah rushing out of a cage, he pushed through the crowd and walked quickly to the side of the stage, where he had been all along.
There was no one there.
There was only a discarded black headphone cable, like a broken snake, lying alone on the cold concrete floor.
He immediately took out his cell phone and called Shi Guang.
"Sorry, the user you dialed is powered off..."
The cold system notification sound was like a bucket of cold water, pouring down from head to toe. An ominous premonition quickly gripped his heart.
He couldn't figure out what went wrong, but he had a beast-like intuition that told him he had to find him immediately.
Dormitory? Library? Or...
In Lu Yu's mind, it was like a flash of lightning, and a place flashed by in an instant.
He broke into a run, sprinting out of the bustling auditorium and into the cool night. The clamor and revelry of the party were quickly left behind. The entire world seemed to have become a silent film, and all he could hear was his own pounding heartbeat and his heavy breathing from his frantic run.
He ran past the tree-lined avenues hung with colorful lights and the empty basketball court, with only one thought in his mind: go to that place, he must be there.
Late at night, the East District Activity Center building was empty and silent, like a giant beast lurking in the darkness. Lu Yu rushed up to the third floor in one breath, relying on the memory etched into his muscles, and stumbled to a stop at the door of rehearsal room 302, where they had spent nearly a week together day and night.
The door was ajar.
A faint ice-blue light was shining through the narrow crack in the door, like a silent invitation, or a desperate trap.
Lu Yu's heartbeat almost stopped. He held his breath and gently pushed open the door with his trembling hands.
The room was dark. A large floor-to-ceiling mirror reflected the pale moonlight outside, making the space seem even more empty and desolate. A lit laptop sat on the floor in the middle of the room, providing the only source of light.
On the computer screen, the beautiful starry sky they had created together played silently over and over again. A shooting star, trailing a dazzling tail, streaked across the sky with resolute force, then fell. Then, everything returned to endless silence, waiting for the next fall.
It goes on and on, like a grand and lonely self-sacrifice.
In the farthest corner of the room, in the shadows of the thick curtains, a thin figure was huddled with his knees hugged. He buried his face between his knees, shrinking himself into the smallest ball possible, as if he wanted to hide himself and disappear completely from this world.
He didn't look at the computer or the door. He was like a fatally wounded little animal licking its wounds and waiting to die alone. A heartbreaking loneliness emanated from his whole body.
Lu Yu walked over slowly, step by step. Each step was like stepping on broken glass, making a subtle but harsh sound.
"Time..."
His voice, hoarse and trembling in the empty room, was filled with pleading that he himself was not aware of.
The figure in the corner trembled violently when he heard the sound, but still did not look up, but just buried himself deeper.
Lu Yu slowly squatted down in front of him, not trying to touch him, but keeping his eyes level with his. He looked at Shi Guang's soft, slightly trembling black hair and called out softly again:
"Shi Guang, I have been looking for you for a long time."
The answer he received was a suffocating silence.
After a long time, an extremely suppressed voice came muffled from the shadow.
"What do you want from me?"
There was no question in that voice, only a desolate emptiness.
"Is your surprise party over?"
Lu Yu's heart was deeply hurt by these words. He knew that Shi Guang had seen everything and had drawn the cruelest conclusion in his own way.
"That wasn't my surprise party," he explained eagerly, his voice a little incoherent due to panic. "That girl was my childhood friend. They came to give me a celebration... which I had no idea about beforehand. I swear I knew nothing about it!"
"celebrate?"
Time finally slowly raised its head.
There were no tears on his face, but in his eyes, which were always like a clear spring, there was now a look more heartbreaking than tears, ashes that had burned out all the warmth and hope.
He looked at Lu Yu and made an arc of almost extreme self-mockery.
"Yeah, celebrate. Celebrate your successful performance, celebrate your confession...it was perfect."
"Time is not what you think! That song..."
"What's wrong with that song?!" Shi Guang suddenly interrupted him, the long-suppressed emotions finally erupting at this moment. His voice suddenly became sharp, like a knife tempered with ice. "Every note of that song, every line of code in that starry sky, was polished by me with you all night long! Lu Yu, what do you think I am?! A useful tool to help you prepare confession props?!"
His chest was heaving violently and his eyes were frighteningly red.
"Lu Yu, do you think it's fun to play tricks on me? Watching me act like a fool, my heart beating faster because of your words, and being at a loss for what to do because of your hug, do you think it's fun?! Don't you feel a sense of accomplishment?!"
"No! No!" Lu Yu looked at the despair and pain in his eyes and panicked. He no longer cared about reason or logic. He just wanted to pull this person out of the abyss of pain, no matter the cost.
He stretched out his hand, wanting to touch Shi Guang's trembling shoulders.
"Don't touch me!"
Shi Guang suddenly waved his hand away and shrank back as if he had been electrocuted. His eyes looked as if he had seen the dirtiest thing in the world.
"Time, listen carefully."
"I didn't sing that song for Lin Yueran, nor for Senior Meng Wei, nor for anyone in the audience who was screaming for me."
He knelt down and took a step forward, getting closer to him, close enough to clearly see the ashes in his eyes.
"That song, from the first note to the last word, from the moment I decided to sing it, was sung for you alone."
"That phrase 'give it to one person', that person is you."
"The 'only' I'm talking about is you."
"And the phrase 'a star comes for you'. That star, from beginning to end, can only be you."
"I like you, time."
"It's not a love born of brotherly affection, nor a love born of sympathy or guilt. It's a love that makes me want to walk openly with you in the sunshine, to fall in love with you, and to spend my whole life with you."
He looked at Shi Guang's eyes, which were slightly widened with shock, and there was a hint of desperate pleading in his voice.
"So, are you willing?"
"Are you willing to accept this stupid and foolish star of mine, which comes for you and shines only for you?"
In the empty rehearsal room, the only thing left was Lu Yu's sincere and almost humble confession.
Shi Guang stared at him in a daze. This sudden confession had shaken him to his core. He stared into Lu Yu's eyes, filled with affection, nervousness, and anticipation. In those eyes, he clearly reflected his own face, filled with astonishment and embarrassment.
At this moment, all his anger, grievances, humiliation and despair seemed to be completely shattered and turned into dust by the words "I like you".
Turns out...it wasn't a misunderstanding.
It turns out... he is not a fool.
It turns out...it's all true.
Tears finally broke free from the shackles of reason and burst out from those dead eyes.
This time, it was not because of pain, but because of an ecstasy that almost completely overwhelmed him.
He looked at the young man in front of him who came for him as if he was proposing to him devoutly, and saw the uneasiness and caution in his eyes.
He couldn't bear it anymore.
He suddenly rushed out from that cold corner, like a real shooting star, with a resolute and indomitable momentum, and threw himself into Lu Yu's arms. He tightly used up all his strength to hug this warm universe that he had lost and regained.
Then, he raised his head, closed his eyes, and fiercely pressed his clumsy and eager kiss, mixed with the salty taste of tears, on Lu Yu's hot lips.
There are no techniques, no rules, just a most primitive collision of souls.
Like a lonely planet that has wandered for billions of light years, it finally found the star it is willing to fall into.
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