In his silence, Gu Fei wondered how important a sense of security could be to someone. That need for security, buried deep within one’s heart, or never even perceived—how much impact did that have on a person?
With a sigh, he opened his arms, and his mother threw herself into his embrace, sobbing quietly.
Gu Fei patted her back. “Hey, don’t cry. Go clean yourself up, and don’t go out with that guy again.” She didn’t answer. “If you don’t break it off with him,” Gu Fei said, “then don’t complain about me beating up all of your boyfriends and scaring them away.”
She pushed him away, glared at him for a few seconds, then turned to go into the bathroom.
Gu Fei hadn’t washed up yet. He went back to his room and sat down at his desk, and he almost didn’t have the energy to get back up again. He could barely move the one and a half steps it would take to go from here to the bed once he finished editing the photos, never mind standing up to go brush his teeth.
He sat staring at the same photo for at least five minutes before he remembered what he was meant to be doing. As he grabbed the mouse, he was suddenly filled with admiration for Jiang Cheng.
No matter where he was or what was happening, Jiang Cheng could always get into study mode in no time. Even after a day like today, Gu Fei was certain that right now, Jiang Cheng’s mind was filled with nothing but the books and notes laid out before him.
He was so damn cool.
Gu Fei chuckled to himself and clicked his mouse. His desktop wallpaper appeared, showing Jiang Cheng’s smug-as-all-hell face. Gu Fei tilted his head, leaned his forehead on one finger, and stared at that face.
He switched his wallpaper about once a week. At this rate, his private collection of Jiang Cheng portraits had enough to last him until the university entrance exams next year.
He stared at the photo for a little while longer, then grabbed his mouse and got to work. These photos were due tomorrow. Ever since he’d started going to Jiang Cheng’s place all the time to keep him company while he studied, he was always leaving his photo editing until the last minute.
He had to finish these photos tonight. Before, he might have skipped half or even a whole day’s class tomorrow to stay home and work slowly through them. But he had to go to school tomorrow. If he skipped, it couldn’t be tomorrow. If he didn’t show up to school tomorrow, Jiang Cheng would definitely think it was because of the “composition by Gu Fei” thing.
At one a.m., he picked up his phone to send Jiang Cheng a message. In that same moment, his phone buzzed with an incoming text from Jiang Cheng.
- checking to see if you left a single nerve up for me
Gu Fei grinned as he replied.
- I’m still awake, all my nerves are here for you.
- still up at this hour?
- Working on photos, I’ll sleep soon. Are you done studying?
- mm, you got time to video chat?
Gu Fei sent a video request over, and Jiang Cheng quickly accepted.
When Jiang Cheng’s face popped up on the screen, all Gu Fei’s emotions, left in shambles by his mom, suddenly calmed again. Jiang Cheng really was a cure-all. He was a sleep aid, aphrodisiac, tranquilizer, stimulant…
All your emotional needs can be straightened out with a single Jiang Cheng!
Gu Fei leaned back in his chair and smiled. “Are you going to sleep soon?”
“Yeah. I’m planning to fall asleep to an English recording,” said Jiang Cheng.
“You can still fall asleep that way?”
“Sure, it has about the same effect as hypnosis. I usually fall asleep halfway through.” Jiang Cheng yawned. “How much longer until you’re done with the photos?”
Gu Fei stared at Jiang Cheng’s neck. “Half an hour.”
Jiang Cheng was leaning against the chair with his head tilted back. The line of his neck was very…stimulating.
“Go on, then. Are you…” Jiang Cheng hesitated before continuing. “…going to school tomorrow?”
“Yup.” Gu Fei nodded. “But you’re gonna have to call me when you get up. I probably won’t be able to wake up on my own.”
“All right.” Jiang Cheng was immediately grinning. “I’ll wait for you at breakfast.”
“Your treat?” asked Gu Fei.
“My treat,” Jiang Cheng said with a nod.
“All righty then.” Gu Fei glanced at the time. “You should get to sleep.”
“Wait, hold on.” Jiang Cheng sat up straight. “Um…I want to see you.”
“…We’ve been talking this whole time, and you couldn’t see me?” Gu Fei was a little surprised. He glanced down at his phone—his face was very clear on the tiny window in the corner.
“Your collarbone,” said Jiang Cheng.
“Oh.” Gu Fei abruptly started laughing, and once he started, he couldn’t stop. He pulled off his shirt in a single motion. “Are the collarbones enough? I have other parts. If you want, you can buy one and get the rest free.”
Jiang Cheng giggled and didn’t answer.
Gu Fei aimed the camera at himself, sweeping it from his face to his neck to his collarbones before he continued south. When he reached his belly, he asked, “More?”
“…No,” Jiang Cheng decided. “It’ll affect my sleep if you keep going. I still have to recite English in my dre—”
Before Jiang Cheng finished his sentence, Gu Fei quickly tugged open his pants and pointed his camera down. “Fei Junior, come say hi to Cheng-ge.”
“Fuck your great uncle, Gu Fei!” Jiang Cheng yelled from the other end. “You shameless dog-fucker!”
Gu Fei moved the phone camera back up, unable to stop cackling. “Hey, you can insult me, but don’t insult my boyfriend too. Doesn’t it hurt your conscience?”
“…Hurts my conscience, your ass!” Jiang Cheng threw himself back on the pillow and pointed at his camera. “You’re distracting me from my studies, you know that?”
“Really?” Gu Fei said. “Maybe I should interview you tomorrow morning and see if you dreamed of English or me.”
He always worked more efficiently when his mood was lifted, but Gu Fei had spent so many days hanging out with his boyfriend that he’d left a little too much to the last minute. By the time he finished, it was already past three.
It usually took Gu Fei about half an hour to fall asleep. This time, though, he closed his eyes and lost consciousness as soon as his head hit the pillow, like he’d been knocked out cold.
He was not one to dream of English, but tonight he didn’t even get to dream of Jiang Cheng before he was woken up by a phone call.
“Shit,” Gu Fei cursed and rolled over. If he didn’t have any dreams, he always felt like the whole night’s sleep was for nothing—like he’d only just closed his eyes and had to open them immediately after.
The phone call was from Jiang Cheng. Gu Fei picked up. Before he could say anything, Jiang Cheng’s voice carried over the line: “Gu Fei, are you up?”
“Yup.” Gu Fei sat up. Despite still feeling a little groggy and not entirely awake, he could tell that Jiang Cheng’s voice lacked the cheerfulness he usually had when he called him in the mornings. “What’s wrong?”
“Li Hui is outside, and he’s not alone,” said Jiang Cheng. “I don’t know how he found where I live. He probably doesn’t know which floor I’m on, so he hasn’t come up yet, but he’s downstairs right now.”
“I’m coming over right away.” Gu Fei jumped out of bed. “How did you figure out he was outside?”
“He just called me.” Jiang Cheng sounded agitated. “I already told him I don’t want anything of Li Baoguo’s. None of that has anything to do with me anymore. Why won’t he leave me alone?”
“Did he say why he’s looking for you?” Gu Fei asked as he ran into his bathroom. He had no time to brush his teeth, so he gargled some mouthwash from the huge case his mom had bought under the influence of one of the boyfriends she’d met on the path to find her teenage self.
“He asked me for Li Baoguo’s savings account,” said Jiang Cheng. “Don’t come. I’m going downstairs now. I fucking hate dumbasses like this who just don’t know when to stop.”
“Wait for me.” Gu Fei didn’t even bother to wash his face. He raced out the door without a shirt on.