OHD Chapter 44: Love

Chapter 44: Love

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

It was already five o’clock when they left He Ye’s place.

Zhou Kai stuffed his hands into his pockets, tilted his head to look at the sun, which was setting in the west, leaving only a few rays of afterglow. He couldn’t help but grin foolishly. He had actually been lying in bed with He Ye, being all lovey-dovey for over half an hour, and now he still felt a little unsatisfied, wanting to stay a little longer.

He sighed and looked up, thinking to himself that he was completely and utterly done for. He had actually become the kind of person who didn’t want to do anything else but fool around with his boyfriend all day. Considering he used to despise people like that the most, it was quite ironic that he had become one of them, and was even enjoying it. He was hopeless.

He Ye locked the door, walked over to Zhou Kai with his bicycle, and straddled the seat, gesturing for him to get on. Zhou Kai bowed his head, immediately forgetting all those messy thoughts, and sat on the back seat, clutching He Ye’s clothes and rubbing his forehead against He Ye’s back.

He Ye glanced back at Zhou Kai, looked thoughtfully at the house door, and asked, “Is it uncomfortable sitting like this? Should I get a cushion?”

Zhou Kai was stunned for a moment, then raised his head and bumped into He Ye’s back, blushing and mumbling, “Stop talking nonsense and hurry up.”

He Ye smiled and pedaled, slowly moving forward, saying, “How can that be nonsense? After all, it’s my responsibility, I have to pay attention.”

Zhou Kai grinned and stole a glance, but his mouth was fierce as he said, “Afterthought. You should have been gentler when you were doing it, don’t be like a wild beast who hasn’t eaten meat in years.”

When He Ye heard Zhou Kai’s analogy, he laughed and reached down to grab Zhou Kai’s hand, squeezing it in his palm. “There’s no way, the meat is too delicious, after eating it once, I can’t stop thinking about it, it’s driving me crazy.”

The bicycle turned onto the main road, Zhou Kai’s face was so hot that it felt like his hand was on fire. He glanced sideways at the pedestrians coming and going, not daring to respond to He Ye’s flirtatious words.

He Ye’s lips were always curved upwards, and he didn’t say anything else to make Zhou Kai blush. He rode the bicycle very slowly, slower than the people walking beside him.

Zhou Kai didn’t urge him on either. He enjoyed and cherished He Ye’s efforts to prolong this time they spent together, his heart felt as sweet as honey.

But every road has an end. And reality was still urging them forward, and they didn’t have much time to waste fooling around.

He Ye parked his bicycle outside the wall of Zhou Kai’s residential area. There was no one on the small path. Zhou Kai got off the bike and kissed He Ye on the cheek. Then, as if nothing had happened, he stood on the ground and jumped twice, saying very generously, “Alright, go to work. I’m going home too.”

He Ye reached out and rubbed the cheek that Zhou Kai had kissed, raising an eyebrow. “Isn’t this reward a little too casual?”

Zhou Kai snorted, staring at his lips and said, “This is a tip, the big reward is later.”

He Ye smacked his lips and nodded with a smile. “Okay, you said it.”

Zhou Kai hummed in agreement, shuffling his feet on the ground. He turned to look at the road He Ye had left and sighed, “I probably won’t be able to see you for a while. I have a ton of winter break homework to do, and I need to review and get back into the swing of things. Plus… my dad, he’s been watching me study pretty closely… so maybe after we meet this time, I won’t be able to see you until the first day of school.”

Hearing this, a strong sense of reluctance surged in He Ye’s heart, but there was nothing he could do. Zhou Kai had to study hard, and he had to work hard too. He said in a righteous tone, “The first day of school, so be it. It’s not like it’s that long.”

Zhou Kai bit his lip, let go, and looked at He Ye. “I won’t go to bed that early at night either. If you really miss me too much, just send me a message. If I see it, I’ll reply as soon as I have time.”

Those words made it clear who missed whom more, who was afraid of not sending messages, and who was afraid of not having time to reply.

He Ye couldn’t help but laugh, nodding in agreement. “Got it.” He tapped his left chest. “It’s in here.”

Zhou Kai hummed, still reluctant to leave. He Ye glanced at the time on his phone, knowing he had to go.

“Go back, I have to go.”

“Oh. Be careful on the road, and ride slowly.”

“Okay.”

“Remember to eat.”

“Okay.”

“… Okay, what? Do you want me to hit you?”

Catching Zhou Kai’s fist, He Ye pulled it to his mouth and gave it a loud kiss, then let go and looked at Zhou Kai’s flushed face. “You know it perfectly well. I really have to go, go back. Be good, if you miss me, send me a message, I’ll reply when I’m free.”

Zhou Kai hid his clenched fist in his pocket, his eyes darting around, and finally he sighed and stepped aside, saying, “Ride slowly.”

“Okay, go back.”

He Ye rode the bike forward and looked back at the corner, seeing Zhou Kai still standing there, he waved. Zhou Kai waved back and shouted, “Watch out for the road.”

Jogging to the road, Zhou Kai watched He Ye ride away and then look back to see if he was still there, so he quickly turned around and walked towards the apartment complex gate.

His steps were light, his mood was pleasant, and the corners of his lips were curved upwards.

Looking at the sky, the ground, the people, the cars, the flowers, the trees, and the buildings…

“Everything is so beautiful, so colorful.”

If someone had been standing beside Zhou Kai at that moment, they would have certainly retorted, “Huh? It’s the middle of winter, everything is gray and gloomy. The flowers and trees are just bare branches, where are the colors?”

Humph, it’s different when you’re in love. Everything looks different.

He Ye got up especially early that first day of the new semester. After washing up, he put his tuition fee in his pocket, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and went out.

The old lady at the street stall where He Ye often bought breakfast saw him and asked, “One soy milk and one bun?”

He Ye fumbled in his pocket, counted out the money for two servings, and smiled. “Two soy milk and two buns.”

The old lady took the money and was stunned for a moment when she saw the fleeting smile on He Ye’s lips. When he looked at her, she immediately smiled and handed him the food, even slipping an extra boiled egg into the bag.

He Ye declined, took the bag, and took the egg out to put it back.

The old lady shook her head and said, “You child, it’s just an egg, it’s not like it’s something precious.” She took the egg and tried to give it back to He Ye.

In the end, He Ye didn’t take it. He carried the bag, nodded to the old lady and her husband, and rode away.

The old lady’s husband looked at He Ye and asked, “What’s wrong? You usually don’t want to talk to him much, why did you give him an egg for free today?”

The old lady smiled and sighed. “You see, he usually has a cold face and his words are always cold. So I was a little afraid of him. But just now, you know, that young man smiled at me, and I felt a little sorry for him.”

The old lady’s husband didn’t believe it. He turned to look in the direction where He Ye had left and said, “He smiled? Are you just imagining things because of your old eyes?”

“I’m not mistaken, he really smiled. Believe it or not.”

The old lady waved her hand. A customer came, so she didn’t say anything more to her husband.

He Ye was really early. When he arrived at the school, only the dormitory building was relatively lively, while the teaching building was quiet.

He Ye pushed open the classroom door and went straight to Zhou Kai’s seat from the previous semester. He tied the bag containing the soy milk and buns and put it in the drawer.

After putting it away, He Ye turned to leave, but after a few steps, he turned back and took out his winter school uniform jacket from his backpack. He rolled it up and stuffed it into Zhou Kai’s drawer, covering the bag.

Returning to his own seat, He Ye sat down and took out an animation design book he had borrowed from the library last semester. He flipped through it, eating, watching, and studying.

After locking his bike, Zhou Kai turned around and jogged. As he ran, he ruffled his hair and muttered to himself, cursing himself for being stupid. How could he have set his phone’s alarm to such a low volume? It was like a mosquito humming, no wonder he couldn’t wake up.

He had told He Ye to arrive at the school early, but he ended up oversleeping himself. It was infuriating.

As Zhou Kai ran up the last few steps of the stairs, he started to slow down. His heart was pounding rapidly from the running and the excitement.

He put his hand on his chest and coughed softly to clear his throat. He was a little too excited, and the mixture of anticipation and nervousness was quite complex.

Zhou Kai wondered how he should react when he saw He Ye in class. Usually, they rarely interacted in class, and even when they did, it seemed like they were just arguing from the perspective of their classmates. If he suddenly became so close to He Ye, wouldn’t it shock the class president and the sports committee representative?

A wry smile appeared on his face. He thought it would be quite interesting.

But when Zhou Kai walked into the classroom with his heart pounding faster and faster, and saw He Ye who looked up at him for a moment before lowering his head to continue reading, exuding an air of coldness and indifference, Zhou Kai’s excitement instantly calmed down.

Standing at the door, Zhou Kai stared at He Ye, his lips pursed in a slight pout. He hadn’t expected this. After a while, He Ye simply laid his head on the desk, covering it with his hand, as if he was about to take a nap.

“Damn it!”

Pouting, Zhou Kai looked away and walked back to his seat. As soon as he sat down, the class president came over and asked him how his New Year’s was, how many red envelopes he received, and if he had finished all the holiday homework.

Zhou Kai was listless and answered the class president’s questions half-heartedly, his mind full of thoughts: Why wasn’t He Ye paying attention to him? Where was the He Ye, who was so clingy last night and asked for one more kisses before going to sleep? Damn it, who could tell him who that person was lying on the desk?

Slumping his shoulders, Zhou Kai rubbed his face and stuffed his backpack into his desk. Halfway in, his hand touched something. He felt it carefully and realized it was a piece of clothing. Bending down, he looked inside.

Sure enough, it was clothes, and it was a school uniform! Zhou Kai quickly reached in and touched something else, grabbed it, and took it out to look. It was food!

Staring at the soy milk and bun in his hand, Zhou Kai’s heart, which had calmed down, started to race again, even faster than before, making him want to shout out loud.

“Damn it… you sneaky snake… you scared me.”

He banged his forehead on the desk and hugged the clothes and food to his chest, laughing foolishly.

The class president was puzzled. Seeing him laughing, he reached out and pushed him. “What are you doing? What are you holding?”

Zhou Kai quickly stuffed the things He Ye had given him back into the desk, straightened up, blushed, and blinked, saying, “Nothing.” Changing the subject, he said, “By the way, didn’t you say the sports committee representative is dating someone? Who is it?”

As soon as the class president heard about dating, he was immediately distracted and started chattering about the sports committee representative and the girl. Then he patted Zhou Kai on the shoulder and said, “As fellow single dogs, we should express our strongest protest against the traitor, the sports committee representative.”

Zhou Kai looked up at the class president, rubbed his nose, and suppressed his laughter.

“Well, how should I say it, you’re kind of a traitor too. What’s that, your girlfriend is sitting right behind you, maybe she’s staring at you, should you take your hand away?”

The class president didn’t know that not only did he pat Zhou Kai on the shoulder, but he also wanted to hug him, expressing the misery of being single together.

Zhou Kai quickly pushed the class president away, glancing at the gaze shooting from behind, his back tensed. He quickly retracted his hand and said directly, “Let’s talk, class president, please respect yourself.”

The class president looked at Zhou Kai resentfully and sighed, “Kai, you’ve changed. You’re not the understanding, gentle, and studious study committee member you used to be.”

Zhou Kai laughed.

The class president waved his hand and returned to his seat.

The bell for morning study rang, and everyone went back to their seats very consciously. Even though the head teacher and other teachers hadn’t arrived yet, everyone was still orderly, reading aloud when they should, and doing their homework when they should.

Except for one person.

Seeing He Ye’s figure disappear at the front door, Zhou Kai took the school uniform from his drawer, wrapped it around his hand, and quickly sneaked out of the classroom through the front door.

As soon as he stepped into the boys’ bathroom, the door behind him was closed. As soon as he turned around and opened his mouth to speak, He Ye hugged him and kissed him passionately.

Finally separating, Zhou Kai was a little out of breath, kicked He Ye’s foot, and quickly turned to look at the toilet cubicles.

He Ye ran his hand over his face, gave him a few more kisses, and said, “I’ve checked, no one’s there.”

Zhou Kai licked his moist lips, raised an eyebrow, and looked at He Ye who was smiling, asking, “What was that about? I thought you were going to turn your back on your boyfriend? I almost hit you, you know?”

He Ye chuckled and admitted his mistake, “I dare not. I just think it was pretty good before, we don’t need to scare them, let’s just sneak around.”

Zhou Kai pouted, “It’s like you’re having an affair, are you looking for excitement?”

He Ye kissed him and said, “It is kind of exciting.”

Zhou Kai handed the clothes to He Ye and asked, “How early did you come? Aren’t you afraid of scaring them by giving me food?”

He Ye said, “No one will be scared, there’s no one.”

Zhou Kai felt guilty and scratched his face, saying, “I overslept, sorry, I made you get up early.”

Hearing footsteps approaching from outside, He Ye let go of Zhou Kai and stepped back, kissing him one more time before whispering, “It’s okay, I’m happy to wait.”

The covered bathroom door was pushed open, and a classmate from another class came in. When he saw Zhou Kai, he smiled, but when he saw He Ye, his smile froze.

He Ye didn’t look at him, turned around, and walked out of the bathroom. Zhou Kai watched him leave, smiled, and raised his hand to greet the person who came in, “Hi.”

Exciting? Well, it was pretty exciting.