BTMDY Chapter 29

That old post was the first clue.

 

Anyone with half a brain could’ve picked up on what it meant.

 

The reason Shi Yuan acted like nothing happened was because he’d been hit too hard — completely shaken, thoughts thrown into chaos.

 

From the moment Lin Wangye barged into his world, everything had been flipped on its head.

 

He looked so harmless, all soft edges and innocent eyes.

 

But behind every move he made, there was this sharp, unmissable kind of intent — like he was charging straight at you with a smile.

 

And the worst part? All those amazing things about him, the little quirks and habits, his words, his tone, even the unconscious stuff — they were all just right. So right that they struck straight through Shi Yuan’s defenses without warning.

 

Fate had never been kind to him — he’d been broken and bruised since the start.

 

But then, as if trying to make up for it, life handed him this beautiful, tailor-made gift wrapped up in shiny paper and laced with sugar-coated explosives.

 

How was he supposed to stand a chance against that?

 

Truth is, he never even tried to guard himself. Not once.

 

He didn’t even want to guess what the boy was really thinking.

 

Even though that ‘year after year’ message had practically screamed its meaning out loud, Shi Yuan still clung to the illusion, not daring to break the spell.

 

Some things — once opened — can never be shut again.

 

And once that door cracked, all those hidden, buried thoughts would come flooding out.

 

On the surface, the two of them still kept up the whole ‘just friends’ act. But Lin Wangye had started to sense something else stirring quietly underneath.

 

After all, Shi Yuan used to meet his eyes without flinching — calm and steady.

 

But lately? He kept looking away first, like one more second would give everything away.

 

So Lin Wangye thought about it over and over these past few days, trying to figure out why. He figured maybe Shi Yuan hadn’t really caught on to the meaning behind that post, so he pretended not to notice anything.

 

Maybe that face-squishing move was a test.

 

But even if it wasn’t, the wall of friendship between them had already been smashed in that moment.

 

Everything was teetering right on the edge, the air charged with tension. Lin Wangye was just about to push things over, rip the curtain down, and finally make his move.

 

But of course, right then—just his luck—his dad had to show up again.

 

Lin Wangye was annoyed. He turned his head and snapped without much patience, “Come in!”

 

As soon as that grumpy voice came from inside, Lin Shen twisted the doorknob and walked in.

 

By then, Shi Yuan had already fixed his expression. He calmly watched Lin Shen head straight for the bed and stop right next to Lin Wangye. Then, Lin Shen reached out, touched Lin Wangye’s forehead, pressed his own forehead against it for a moment, and frowned in confusion.

 

“I saw you running out the school gates. I had to ask a teacher before I found out you took a leave. But your temperature’s fine — not hot at all. So why are you saying you’ve got a headache?”

 

Lin Wangye saw through him instantly and called him out without mercy.

 

“You just didn’t want to go to class, did you?”

 

“Ahaha!” Lin Shen grinned wide. “Can’t believe you caught that!”

 

Then, with their height difference just right — one standing, one sitting — Lin Shen naturally rested his palm on top of Lin Wangye’s head and started ruffling his hair like it was the most normal thing in the world.

 

And shockingly, Lin Wangye didn’t even try to stop him.

 

Shi Yuan had never in his life been more aware of just how ‘not’ noble he was.

 

That greedy urge to claim, to possess — even he found it terrifying.

 

Being the only actual patient in the room, he figured he had the highest authority, so he calmly glanced at the stool by the wall and said, easy as anything, “Have a seat.”

 

Lin Shen didn’t think much of it. He turned around, dragged the chair over, and flopped into it.

 

Now that he was seated a little farther away, it wasn’t so easy for him to get handsy, and the air around Shi Yuan instantly felt less tense. He grabbed an orange from the nightstand, lowered his head, and began peeling it while glancing at Lin Wangye.

 

“Are you feeling sick?”

 

“No, no,” Lin Wangye rushed to explain, “I had to make something up for the teacher, right?”

 

Shi Yuan lowered his eyes and gave a soft smile. “Good.”

 

Watching the two of them talk from the side, Lin Shen couldn’t help feeling like something was… off. For some reason, the chair was uncomfortable no matter how he sat in it.

 

He shifted his weight, crossed one leg over the other, rubbed his chin, and stared at Shi Yuan for a while. Then he asked, seriously, “Brother, do you know how to cast love spells or something? Can you teach me?”

 

“Huh?” Shi Yuan looked up, puzzled. “What makes you say that?”

 

“We’ve been in this hospital together for what, two weeks? I’ve been counting on my fingers. This punk comes to see me twice a day — once when he gets here, once when he leaves. Total time? Never more than twenty minutes a day. The rest of the time? He’s here with you. One time he even forgot to bring me food — I almost starved to death!”

 

The more Lin Shen spoke, the more annoyed he got. He threw a glare at Lin Wangye, then fixed his gaze back on Shi Yuan. All of a sudden, he smacked his thigh and raised his voice.

 

“Why?! I demand a good explanation!”

 

“Hmm…”

 

The question was clearly aimed at Shi Yuan, but honestly, only Lin Wangye could answer it.

 

Shi Yuan gave it a shot, but when he came up empty, he turned his eyes to Lin Wangye.

 

Lin Wangye, head down and fiddling with his fingers, muttered, “I told you… I’m paying for your sins.”

 

“What sins did I commit?” Lin Shen, for once, was quick on the uptake — brain surprisingly sharp. “Did I kill someone? Burn something down? If I broke the law, let the law judge me. But Xiao Lin, you didn’t used to treat me this coldly.”

 

And with that, he came to his own conclusion and announced, “You’ve been cursed. This weekend, you’re coming with me to Jintai Temple. I’m getting that demon out of you.”

 

Lin Wangye straightened up, chest puffed, ready to fight back.

 

“You’re the one who’s cursed! Can’t I just get someone to tutor me in math? Can you handle it? Here—solve this composite logarithmic function for me, right now. No mistakes allowed!”

 

After a few seconds of heavy silence, Lin Shen slowly turned to look at Shi Yuan.

 

“Brother… I can’t do composite logarithmic functions. But maybe teach me that love spell thing instead?”

 

Shi Yuan couldn’t help it — he laughed, shaking his head with a smile. “I swear, I don’t know how to cast spells.”

 

“I was just kidding,” Lin Shen said, laughing out loud. “So… how’ve you been feeling the past couple days?”

 

Shi Yuan broke off a piece of the orange he’d peeled and tasted it. Then he split it in half and passed one to Lin Wangye before replying to Lin Shen, “Recovery’s been good. I can walk now. But the doctor doesn’t want me moving around too much — he told me to rest for another week.”

 

“That’s good. You’ll be back to normal in no time.”

 

Lin Shen nodded seriously… then without a hint of shame, reached over and plucked a piece of that orange right out of Lin Wangye’s hand and popped it in his mouth.

 

“Pretty sweet,” he said after chewing.

 

The orange, by the way, was one Lin Wangye had brought.

 

Technically, Lin Shen hadn’t done anything rude — he didn’t just grab something off someone else’s nightstand or act like a freeloader.

 

But honestly, it would’ve been less offensive if he had just grabbed it from the table.

 

Taking it straight from Lin Wangye’s hand? That was basically a slap to Shi Yuan’s self-control.

 

Because from the second Lin Shen stepped into that hospital room, he’d been tap-dancing all over Shi Yuan’s mental minefield.

 

The strange thing? No one noticed — no one but Shi Yuan himself.

 

Lin Shen was just vibing, blissfully unaware.

 

Lin Wangye, on the other hand, was oblivious to his father’s actions that went beyond friendship. His sense of identity was so firmly set that he couldn’t even raise an eyebrow at any of it.

 

Other than Lin Wangye himself, no one really knew what exactly was going on between the two of them. Shi Yuan couldn’t help overthinking things, wondering if all those little intimate gestures from Lin Wangye were just… how he normally was with people. Maybe the kid just didn’t have a strong sense of personal boundaries.

 

At the very least, up to now, Shi Yuan still wasn’t the only special one.

 

They had just been talking about treating Lin Wangye’s younger sister, and since Lin Shen happened to show up, Lin Wangye had wanted to bring it up with him while they were all here.

 

But the moment he thought it through, he realized — no way could he talk about this in front of Shi Yuan.

 

Because right now, his dad wasn’t the all-powerful Chairman Lin who used to rule the business world with an iron fist. He was just a guy still arguing with his father. Under these circumstances, asking for money would be like trying to squeeze water from a rock.

 

Better to talk to Lin Shen in private first.

 

Given how many charity foundations his dad had set up over the years, there was no doubt he’d help out once he knew what it was for.

 

So for now, Lin Wangye kept his mouth shut.

 

Originally, Lin Shen really had come from school because he was worried about him. But once he saw the kid was fine, there was no way he was going back.

 

But staying in the hospital was really boring.

 

As soon as Shi Yuan picked up the book on his pillow and started tutoring Lin Wangye in math again, Lin Shen started getting a headache just from listening. The TV kept looping the same few crappy channels — nothing good was on.

 

He tried to tough it out for 20 minutes, but eventually he’d had enough and escaped to the nearest internet cafe to play games.

 

Lin Wangye, on the other hand, was genuinely trying to improve his math.

 

And sometimes the whole ‘interest is the best teacher’ thing works in reverse too — once he got into the zone, he was all in.

 

Shi Yuan had the academic chops, no doubt about that. He taught with patience and clarity, especially when Lin Wangye just couldn’t wrap his head around something. He was way more patient than Fu Xuexue — breaking things down bit by bit until it finally clicked.

 

The problem was, Lin Wangye had no natural feel for math. And on top of that, he was a little too clever for his own good — always trying to cut corners, which usually just led to mistakes.

 

But even then, Shi Yuan never got mad. He’d gently point out what went wrong and explain why the shortcut didn’t work, walking him through exactly which step had tripped him up.

 

When you’re fully focused on something, time flies.

 

By the time Lin Wangye finally got the example problem right and understood the formula Shi Yuan had been hammering on all morning, the clock had already struck one.

 

The afternoon classes were Chinese and geography — stuff Lin Wangye actually needed to attend.

 

And honestly, he was so sick of hospital food by now.

 

He went out and grabbed two takeout rice bowls, and after eating his fill, it was about time to head back to school. Lying facedown on the hospital bed, he groaned and dragged out the words like a kid who didn’t want to get up:

 

“Ughhh… I don’t wanna go to class… eating makes me sleepy…”

 

“Hm… well, if you’re really that sleepy, then just skip it.”

 

Shi Yuan didn’t even hesitate. His voice was gentle, soft like a lullaby. “Sleep in, and I’ll help you catch up on those two classes later.”

 

As soon as he said that, Lin Wangye turned his head and buried his face in the blanket. “See? This is how you spoil people rotten.”

 

Shi Yuan chuckled low in his throat and reached over to ruffle his hair.

 

“Alright, I’m going now!” Lin Wangye sat up, gave his face a hard rub to shake off the sleepiness, then sprang to his feet with renewed energy. He got dressed and added with a grin, “I’ll come back tonight!”

 

Shi Yuan waved with a smile. “Go on, hardworking little puppy.”

 

Lin Wangye zipped his jacket all the way up, then wrapped his scarf tightly around his neck until he looked like a marshmallow. Just as he reached into his pocket, his hand froze mid-motion. He stepped over to the bed, leaned forward, and propped himself up on the mattress.

 

Shi Yuan was reclining against the headboard.

 

And just like that, the distance between them shrank. In an instant, Shi Yuan could smell the faint, clean scent of Lin Wangye’s shampoo.

 

Maybe it was coincidence, but his face stopped just ten centimeters in front of Shi Yuan’s. At this distance, if he’d been wearing glasses, Shi Yuan probably would’ve seen the fine fuzz on Lin Wangye’s skin.

 

His breath caught. His pulse skipped and then surged, heart pounding so hard it felt like it might leap straight out of his throat.

 

That sentence from earlier echoed in his head, loud and vivid—

 

‘As for you, a kiss would be fine too.’

 

That page had already been forcibly turned, and flipping it back now would feel way too deliberate. Lin Wangye clearly knew that. He didn’t linger—he straightened up just as quickly and held up his phone in front of Shi Yuan’s face.

 

“It fell between the pillows.”

 

Only then did Shi Yuan realize Lin Wangye had been reaching for his phone the whole time. His heart sank with a dull weight, a quiet wave of disappointment rippling through his chest.

 

Not that any of that showed on his face. He smiled easily and said, “Go on then, be careful on the way.”

 

Lin Wangye stuffed his phone into his pocket, spun around, and called out crisply, “I’m off!”

 

“Wait,” Shi Yuan suddenly called after him.

 

“Hm?” Lin Wangye turned around again, tilting his head. “What is it?”

 

Shi Yuan waved him over. “Come here.”

 

And, just like always, Lin Wangye was perfectly obedient. Not a second of hesitation — he walked right back and stood in front of him like a good kid.

 

Shi Yuan sat up in bed and reached out to tug at Lin Wangye’s scarf. Lin Wangye quickly figured out what he was trying to do and bent down without the slightest resistance.

 

“This thing’s tight and uncomfortable.”

 

As he spoke, Shi Yuan gently unraveled the haphazardly knotted scarf wrapped around his neck. With careful hands, he looped it back around and tied a neat, beautiful knot. Then he smoothed out every wrinkle and gave it a light pat.

 

“All done. Off you go,” he said.

 

But Lin Wangye didn’t leave right away. Still bent over, he looked at Shi Yuan and leaned in just a little, their distance shrinking again. His eyes blinked lightly a few times, as if to tease.

 

“Your eyes are really pretty.”

 

Then, while Shi Yuan was still frozen from the unexpected compliment, Lin Wangye picked up the black-rimmed glasses from beside the pillow and gently placed them on his face.

 

Without another word, he turned and left the room without looking back.

 

*

 

Afternoon classes ran all the way till six. Now that Lin Shen had been discharged, he had no reason to return to the hospital—he headed straight for the internet cafe instead. And for reasons unknown—perhaps to catch ‘Focus Report’ and ‘Evening News’ on time—Lu Chengxuan, having done it once, now followed every time.

 

Naturally, after school, the only one still rushing to the affiliated hospital was Lin Wangye.

 

But what he hadn’t expected was that when he arrived at Room 520 full of excitement, the room was completely empty.

 

Shi Yuan was gone.

 

Lin Wangye’s mind buzzed with white noise. He stood frozen outside the locked hospital room door for a long while, unable to process what he was seeing. When he finally snapped out of it, he immediately reached for his phone—only to realize it was dead.

 

No wonder he hadn’t gotten any message or call—it had powered off.

 

He knew Uncle Shi would never leave without telling him.

 

Lin Wangye let out a huge breath of relief, then spun on his heel and rushed toward Qingshen Internet Cafe. The moment he spotted Lin Shen, he grabbed his shoulders and shook him hard. “Let me borrow your phone—I need to make a call.”

 

Lin Shen was inexplicably watching ‘Focus Report’, and Lin Wangye’s sudden outburst startled him so much he jumped. He fumbled around for his phone but couldn’t find it anywhere.

 

The private room was dimly lit, and the table was a mess of snacks. If it had really fallen between the cushions or something, it’d be a pain to find.

 

Seeing how panicked Lin Wangye was, Lu Chengxuan handed over his own phone without a word.

 

Without even a ‘thanks,’ Lin Wangye took it and dialed Shi Yuan’s number. It rang for a long time before the call finally connected.

 

The calm voice on the other end, distorted slightly by the phone’s speaker, came through:

 

“Hello? Who’s this?”

 

“It’s me!” Lin Wangye’s heart, which had been hanging by a thread, finally dropped back into place. He spoke quickly, the anxiety still lingering in his tone. “Why did you get discharged? I couldn’t find you and freaked out—where are you now?”

 

On the other end of the line, Shi Yuan seemed to breathe a sigh of relief too.

 

He spoke gently, voice calm and soothing. “The hospital fees were being paid by the property management office in my neighborhood. When the doctor said I could continue recovering at home, they talked to me, and I went back. I did try to call you, but your phone was off.”

 

“Oh, I see… It’s fine as long as you’re okay,” Lin Wangye replied, clearly relieved.

 

“I’m alright. Don’t worry.”

 

As those words fell, both ends of the call fell into a long, mutual silence. Lin Shen and Lu Chengxuan even tore their eyes away from the monitor, watching Lin Wangye closely from the couch to catch his expression.

 

After a long pause, Lin Wangye finally spoke in a soft voice: “Can I come see you?”

 

“My place is a bit far,” Shi Yuan said. “And it’s freezing out. Don’t come. I’ll be back at school soon.”

 

“We’ll see each other next week, okay?”

 

*

 

Lin Shen: So I am part of the love triangle huh (smiling politely)

 

*

 

Author’s Note: There’s no way they’ll wait until next week.

 

They can’t even wait a second longer (puts on sunglasses, and lights a cigarette).

 

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