“Is your hand okay?”
“The doctor said I should move it a bit.”
Qiu Ye carefully lifted his right arm with his left hand, propped it up on the computer desk, and wiggled the five fingers of his left hand.
He placed his fingers on the keyboard and tapped them a few times, making a crisp clicking sound.
He looked delighted.
“Now I can play Monster Hunter! I almost forgot how to play.”
This was a private double room in an internet cafe near the hospital.
It was actually Bai Yao’s first time in an internet cafe.
The decor was nice, and the esports atmosphere was great, but there were pitifully few customers.
When he went to pay for the session, he discovered it actually cost 10 dollars an hour.
The price was so high it made his heart ache.
No wonder nobody was there!
The computer specs seemed decent, though.
At the very least, it could run almost any game smoothly.
“I’m going to order food first.”
“Instant noodles with a sausage. I want the braised beef flavor.”
Qiu Ye leaned over to look at the ordering interface on Bai Yao’s screen.
“And a bottle of cola?”
“Hmm… I’m tired of instant noodles.”
Logically, Qiu Ye was the one who loved eating more and sought out good food, but after eating instant noodles for nearly one week, he wasn’t sick of them yet?
“It’s cheap,” Qiu Ye added.
“Then how about the chicken leg rice? 15 dollars is a pretty good deal.”
Bai Yao rested his chin on one hand, conflicted.
After considering it for a long time, he finally ordered a large portion of yellow braised chicken and two bowls of rice.
Since he was the one paying, if Qiu Ye had a problem with it, he could buy his own.
After ordering the food, Bai Yao stretched.
“What should we play?”
“Let me see.”
The space in the private room wasn’t large, but it offered good privacy.
A partition door blocked the view of outsiders, making one feel much more relaxed.
Bai Yao slumped against the sofa chair without any regard for his image.
He looked at the class and dormitory groups on his phone with some concern.
After all, he had skipped class to come out, and he was afraid of being caught by his counselor.
He still possessed the mindset of a primary or middle school student, viewing his counselor as he would a Homeroom Teacher.
He was terrified of making a mistake and having his parents called, or even getting his palms smacked.
“This net cafe has so few games,” Qiu Ye complained.
“Steam is taking forever to update.”
Since he didn’t play Counter-Strike or DOTA, he didn’t have to worry about his skins being stolen when logging into Steam at an internet cafe.
He looked around and turned to ask, “Delta Force?”
“I don’t know how to play that,” Bai Yao grumbled.
“I’ve seen livestreams, but I couldn’t understand it. FPS games are too hard.”
“Valorant?”
“I only played for a few days before National Day… What was the name of that character who can revive?”
“Then what are we playing?” Qiu Ye asked, feeling a headache coming on.
“When I was in the dorm, I wanted to play games so badly. Why does it suddenly feel like nothing is fun now that we’re at the net cafe?”
“It really does…”
Bai Yao let out a yawn.
“I’m also feeling a bit sleepy.”
The sofa chair was very comfortable—at least much more so than the small chairs at school.
Otherwise, Chen Zhilong wouldn’t have gone out of his way to buy an esports chair.
As he sat there, drowsiness began to wash over him.
Since they had spent money to go online rather than sleep, he opened a webpage and randomly found a sci-fi movie that looked interesting.
Compared to the small screen of a laptop, the experience of watching a popcorn flick on the 30-some-inch screen of the net cafe was infinitely better.
Qiu Ye leaned over.
“Move over a bit. Let’s watch together.”
“You’re not playing games?”
“I’ll wait until after lunch.”
Bai Yao shifted his seat to the side, but Qiu Ye’s shoulder still ended up pressed against his.
From feeling uncomfortable just having an arm around his shoulder to sleeping soundly together last night, he had already become immune to this level of physical contact.
As soon as he got close, Qiu Ye smelled that faint, delicate fragrance again.
He lowered his head and glanced at Bai Yao.
Following the line of that fair neck, he could easily see the curve of his collarbone.
There was a light knock on the door, and it was pushed open.
Qiu Ye took the yellow braised chicken, opened the packaging and plastic container, and placed it between them.
Then, he helped Bai Yao open his rice.
“It feels like it’s not enough food.”
“It’s fine. I don’t eat much.”
Bai Yao picked up his meal box, picked up a piece of fried tofu that had soaked up the sauce, and pressed it against the rice to squeeze the juice out before shoving it into his mouth.
With half a bowl of rice and a few pieces of chicken and vegetables, Bai Yao was 80% full.
He pushed the vast majority of the leftovers to Qiu Ye and continued watching his movie.
A few minutes after finishing his meal, sleepiness surged over him…
Bai Yao hadn’t actually slept well last night.
After all, it was his first time sleeping with Qiu Ye, and he was always worried that something might happen.
Qiu Ye finished his own meal, then picked up Bai Yao’s half-bowl of rice, poured the yellow braised chicken sauce over it, and finished it in a few bites.
His appetite was much larger than Bai Yao’s, and he was still a bit hungry after lunch.
He gulped down a can of cola, only feeling full with the help of the carbonated drink.
‘Does he really not mind my saliva at all? Are we close enough to the point where he can eat my leftovers?’
Bai Yao wondered to himself.
He certainly couldn’t accept eating Qiu Ye’s saliva.
He figured that Qiu Ye was simply thick-skinned and didn’t care about such things.
He let out a yawn and continued watching the movie in a daze.
“How about playing DOTA? I heard it’s pretty fun.”
Qiu Ye asked as he tidied up the trash and set it aside.
However, when he turned his head, he saw that Bai Yao was already leaning against the sofa chair with his head drooping.
A trace of saliva even hung from the corner of his slightly parted lips.
“Bai Yao?”
“Huh? Oh! What’s wrong?”
Bai Yao suddenly lifted his head.
“How did you fall asleep?” Qiu Ye let out a yawn.
Seeing how sleepy Bai Yao was, he, who hadn’t slept much all night, also felt drowsiness taking over.
“This costs 10 dollars an hour, you know.”
“I wasn’t sleeping. I’m watching the movie.”
Bai Yao didn’t feel like he had fallen asleep at all, even though the scenes on the screen didn’t seem to connect with his memory.
He rubbed the corners of his eyes.
“What did you just say?”
“Do you want to play DOTA? I’ve seen a lot of people playing it on livestreams lately.”
“Hmm… Sure, I guess?”
Bai Yao clicked on the game icon and found that it still needed to update.
“By the time I finish the movie, it’ll probably be done.”
The internet cafe mainly hosted popular games.
While less popular games were downloaded, their versions were outdated, and even more niche games had to be downloaded manually.
Bai Yao had assumed the net cafe would have every game imaginable.
He waited for the update while watching the movie.
His brain felt heavy and groggy.
His head tilted, and his entire body slumped to the side, leaning against Qiu Ye’s shoulder.
“…”
Qiu Ye turned his head to look at Bai Yao sleeping on his shoulder.
He lowered his head guiltily, his nose twitching slightly.
‘Brother, you smell so good…’
‘How can a man have this kind of scent?’
His heart was racing with questions, but he didn’t dare wake Bai Yao up.
He kept his body stiff and didn’t move.
But whether it was because sleepiness was contagious or because he hadn’t slept well last night, it didn’t take long for Qiu Ye to let out a massive yawn.
His head kept drooping until it rested on top of Bai Yao’s.
Now, he could even feel the silky texture of Bai Yao’s hair.
It was so smooth it made him want to nuzzle it a few times.
This position was actually quite uncomfortable.
But feeling Bai Yao’s body temperature, his soft skin, and smelling that delicate fragrance, his brain felt as if it had been numbed.
His body turned lazy, like someone staying in bed during winter, hiding in a warm and cozy blanket and refusing to get up.
The two of them leaned against the sofa chair, snuggling against each other as their consciousness gradually sank into darkness.
Bai Yao dreamed of the scene from early this morning once again…
It felt as if he were being embraced by someone, as if he were being wrapped up and protected.
But this time, he didn’t feel that anything was wrong.
In his dazed state, he wanted to burrow deeper, instinctively moving closer to the source that made him feel safe.
It was quite comfortable.
He wanted to sleep until the world ended.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.