Chapter 12: Completely Exposed
Pretending to sleep was useless in front of Lin Yan.
His smiling "Are you asleep?" was a death sentence for me.
I made up my mind to try everything, so I closed my eyes even tighter and decided to play dead till the end - as long as I didn't open my eyes, the embarrassment would not catch up with me!
A very light, breathy laugh came from above my head. I could feel his warm breath brushing my forehead, and then a warm and soft touch fell on my cheek, like a feather brushing, with indescribable intimacy and cherishment.
Then, his smiling, low voice entered my ears, with unprecedented frankness and tenderness:
"I like you so much..."
The alarm in my head instantly went off! All the blood rushed to my head!
He, he, he... How could he be so foul?! At this time! Saying such words?!
I felt like a lit firecracker, and I jumped up from the quilt with a "swoosh", my eyes wide as bells, and I almost shouted:
I was stunned after he yelled. Lin Yan was also obviously stunned. He propped himself up and looked at me puzzledly behind his glasses in the dim light, with a bit of interruption and confusion: "...What's wrong?"
It's over! My mind is blank!
Adrenaline was pumping like crazy, and I was like a tape recorder, my mouth flying in front, my brain chasing behind, and I babbled a bunch of incoherent words: "I, I can't do it... No! It's not that I can't do it! It's, it's you who can't do it...!"
The air froze for 0.1 second.
Then, the corners of Lin Yan's mouth couldn't help but rise up, the arc became bigger and bigger, and finally turned into a low, joyful laughter with chest resonance, which was particularly clear in the quiet room.
"Oh?" He said with a long, undisguised sarcasm, "I can't?"
He pronounced these three words slowly and heavily, like a small hook, instantly nailing me to the highest point of the pillar of shame!
My face was so hot I could fry an egg! I was so ashamed and angry that without thinking, I slammed the switch of the bedside table!
The room instantly fell into darkness, with only the faint blue light emitted by the air conditioner's indicator light.
In the darkness, I felt like a steamed shrimp, curled up in the quilt, and could only mumble in a low voice, trying to save a little of my pitiful self-esteem: "... I, I can do it, didn't you know a long time ago whether I can do it or not..." The voice was as small as the hum of a mosquito.
Lin Yan's laughter stopped.
After a moment of silence, I felt the mattress beside me sink again, bringing his clear, pleasant scent closer.
He stretched out his hand, and with gentle but irresistible movements, he pulled me out of the "cocoon" of self-deception in the quilt.
The faint blue light from the air conditioner outlined his approaching figure. His eyes, surprisingly bright in the dim light, stared at me intently, without a trace of teasing, only an inextricable tenderness and...longing.
"I know," his voice, as deep as a cello, brushed against my eardrums with a soothing magic, "I know everything."
The next second, a kiss with a refreshing breath came down, covering my lips precisely.
Unlike the gentle pecks before, this kiss was tentatively deep and full of unquestionable possessiveness, prying open my teeth and conquering me.
The darkness amplified all my senses: the warmth of our entangled lips and tongues, the burning touch of his palms, our intertwined breaths... It coursed through my body like an electric current, making me shiver involuntarily, but my arms subconsciously climbed up his neck.
The air is heating up as the mind is in a state of confusion and passion.
Just when I was almost drowning in this kiss and thought something might really happen tonight, Lin Yan restrained himself and stopped.
His forehead rested against mine, his breathing still a little unstable, his voice hoarse with suppressed tension:
"Today... forget it. You're too tired, and you have to go to the workshop tomorrow." He pecked my swollen lips lightly. "Let's wait for a good day. There's no rush."
An inexplicable feeling of loss and relief came over me.
I hummed, burying my head in the warmth of his neck. Listening to the equally intense heartbeat in his chest, I knew he was enduring a lot of hardship. Okay, it was true… I was exhausted, and I still had to fight the hammer and file tomorrow.
I accept this reason.
The week I stayed in the hotel completely refreshed my understanding of the word "love"!
Lin Yan's damn possessiveness and intimacy were completely unrestrained in the private space and were released unscrupulously.
Except for the "last step" he promised, everything else that should and should not be done, everything that can be thought of and cannot be thought of... basically everything was carried out.
From the good morning kiss upon waking up in the morning, to sleeping in each other's arms at night; from the playful entanglements in the misty bathroom, to the tenderness of me playing games in his arms while he reads at the desk; to those blushing and heart-pounding intimate touches in the dark, exploring each other's limits...
People in love are incredibly energetic!
While I was sighing with pain in my back, I couldn't help but indulge in it, and was willingly drawn and ignited by him.
I’m a little worried. If this trend continues, when I return to the dormitory after the internship, will my poor acting skills be able to hold up?
As it turned out, my worries were completely unnecessary.
Because when we dragged our luggage and pushed open the door of the dormitory after a week's absence, we were not greeted with "Welcome back", but with the fourth brother holding a lollipop, a look of anticipation on his face, and a blunt sentence:
"Hey, you're back? Tell me the truth, are you two... together?"
My heart stopped and my scalp went numb. I immediately denied it reflexively, my voice rising an octave: "No! What nonsense are you talking about! Who is with him?"
The fourth brother exchanged a look with another brother that said "as expected", and then burst into earth-shaking laughter.
"Hahaha, Chen Rui! Do you know that your acting skills are terrible?" The fourth brother laughed so hard that he slapped his thigh.
"That's right! You can't even pretend!" Another brother clutched his stomach. "We both knew it a long time ago! From the way you two always 'held' him to go to the bathroom, to you drinking his milk tea, to him washing your cup until it was all messed up! And that time you yelled 'bite my neck' in the middle of the night! Lin Yan, your ridiculous 'mutant mite' story! Hahahaha! It's full of loopholes! You two, stop acting, it's too fake!"
Me: “…” I was petrified on the spot.
His face turned red and white, and he was so embarrassed that he dug his toes into the ground frantically, wishing he could dig a hole right there and crawl into it!
Holy shit! I was actually the clown?! These bastards were just watching a monkey show?!
Just when I was so ashamed and angry that I wanted to pounce on someone and bite them, a hand pressed firmly on my shoulder.
Lin Yan took half a step forward and blocked me behind him.
He pushed his glasses up, his expression still calm, but his tone was unusually clear and serious, with a strange solemnity:
"I made him gay. Don't blame him."
He looked directly at the two roommates who were laughing so hard they were falling over, "The responsibility is mine."
As soon as these words were spoken, the laughter in the dormitory instantly died down a lot.
The fourth brother and the other brother were stunned for a moment, as if they didn't expect Lin Yan to be so direct and protective of himself and take all the "responsibility" on himself.
"Hey! Brother Yan!" The fourth brother was the first to react. He waved his hands, his face less mischievous and more sincere. "Look at you! Why are you so serious? We were just joking!"
"That's right!" another brother quickly chimed in, "What era is this now? If you two want to be together, just be together! It's none of our business! You make us seem so feudal and low-class!"
The fourth one nodded vigorously: "Yes, yes! The reason we have been holding back and not exposing you is that we feel..."
He suppressed a laugh, his shoulders shrugging. "I just think the way you two are sneaking around and trying to hide things is so fucking funny! It's like watching a sitcom! Hahaha!"
Me: “…” A surge of blood rushed to my head! I pointed at them angrily and said, “You two! You’re so mean! Are you guys treating us like monkeys?!”
"What else?" The fourth brother said matter-of-factly, smirking and nodding towards the bathroom. "If I expose you early on, wouldn't you two be too embarrassed to even kiss in the bathroom? Where can we watch a free live broadcast of 'underground love'?"
"Fuck!" I was completely speechless and choked up. I felt like I had never been so socially dead in my life! Lin Yan's hand on my shoulder tightened. Although there was still no expression on his face, I could clearly feel that his body stiffened for a moment.
Obviously, Master Lin did not expect that the lies he carefully wove had already become transparent comedy material in the eyes of his roommates.
That night, after lights out in the dormitory, Lin Yan and I squeezed into his single bed (this guy has become even more unscrupulous since being exposed). Thinking back to what Lao Si and the others had said, and all the kisses in the bathroom and the lies we'd told each other over the past six months, I couldn't help but bury my face in the crook of Lin Yan's neck and laugh out loud.
As I laughed, I felt a little sad and depressed.
Lin Yan's fingers gently stroked the back of my neck from time to time. In the darkness, his voice was very soft, with a hint of tentativeness:
"How about..." He paused, "How about we move out?"
I looked up, vaguely meeting his gaze in the darkness. Moving out? Leaving this dorm filled with memories of social demise and its "audience"?
Almost instantly, I nodded.
"Okay!" His tone was firm.
This is so true!
To continue staying in this dormitory filled with “eyewitnesses” and “comedic memories”, facing those two roommates with smiles full of meaning every day, is not only embarrassing, it is a public execution!
Now that it has been made public (even though it was forced), why not just do it openly... and go somewhere else to hang out!
Lin Yan didn't seem to expect that I would agree so readily. He was stunned for a moment, then tightened his arms around me and gave me a gentle kiss on the top of my head.
"Yeah." His voice was filled with laughter and relief. "Leave the house-hunting to me."
I nestled back into his arms with peace of mind, and the frustration and embarrassment in my heart were replaced by a new, somewhat excited expectation.
Staying away from the "audience" and having a space that belongs only to the two of us... sounds pretty good, right?
At least, next time I want to bite his neck, I won’t have to run to the bathroom anymore!
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