HS Chapter 47

Ineffective threats are like children playing house.

He finally let go in frustration, then he heard Yan Chen whisper by his ear, “Do you want a gift?”

Still sulking, he mumbled no.

Yan Chen said cheerfully, “Alright, you have the right to refuse.”

Ye Wenyu thought that was the end of it. But soon he realized the bulging bag Yan Chen had brought back was filled entirely with gifts…for him.

He said “you have the right to refuse”, but then took out all the gifts and let him slowly pick and choose. In the end, whether he liked it or not, everything ended up on his desk.

There was all kinds of stuff, just a bunch of amusing little trinkets. It felt like Yan Chen had spent all his limited free time on the trip picking them out just for him.

Every time he saw something interesting, his first thought was to buy it for Ye Wenyu.

Thinking of this scene was too distracting. Just looking at the little trinkets a bit too long, and Ye Wenyu’s mind would be filled with the picture of Yan Chen in a busy, crowded marketplace, picking gifts with full concentration…

Alright, he really couldn’t stay in the dorm anymore until exams were over.

November turned to December, winter was just around the corner, and the temperature dropped sharply. The pressure of exams and the common cold started spreading at the same time. Many people caught it more than once, including Ye Wenyu.

He was fine when he left the dorm in the morning, but by lunchtime, he already felt a bit dizzy.

He thought it was just from sitting too long and didn’t take it seriously. But in the afternoon, he got worse. There was dizziness, fatigue, and cold sweat formed on his forehead.

He couldn’t keep reading anymore, so he packed up his things and got ready to head back to the dorm. If he remembered correctly, there was still a lot of cold medicine left from what Yan Chen had bought him last time.

It wasn’t mealtime, so students were either in class or in their dorms. There were few people on the way. Ye Wenyu left the library and walked through the tree-lined path. His temples were pounding painfully, and his pace slowed with every step.

He only heard a bit of liveliness after passing the basketball court.

Looking up from afar, he immediately saw Yan Chen, who was breaking through the defense and preparing to shoot.

It seemed like a small match. The PE teacher sat on a tall ladder acting as referee, and a student nearby was flipping the scoreboard to track points.

Omnipotent Classmate Yan was also very good at basketball. He moved skillfully, shot accurately, and even managed to avoid physical contact with others as much as possible.

Everyone wore identical black training uniforms, but he still stood out at first glance.

The only downside was that as Ye Wenyu walked closer and closer, now already at the edge of the court, Yan Chen still hadn’t noticed him.

In fact, not noticing someone off-court during a game was very normal. But Ye Wenyu still felt a block in his chest, and his steps involuntarily slowed down more and more.

Yan Chen passed the ball around the court again, still not seeing him.

His temples suddenly throbbed, and he closed his eyes while pressing his hand against them, not noticing that he stepped on a small piece of gravel and slipped a little.

He quickly steadied himself, and the dazed fog in his mind cleared with it.

What was he even thinking…

It wasn’t like the other party had nothing else to do, how could he keep his eyes on him at every moment?

Caring about whether Yan Chen saw him or not, caring whether Yan Chen’s tone was too flat when talking to him…every little abnormality could affect his mood.

When did he become this dramatic?

His brows furrowed. He forced himself to shake off these unpleasant emotions and quickened his pace away from the court.

There was no one in the dorm and the water dispenser was still boiling water. Ye Wenyu poured a cup and left it on the desk to cool, then found some medicine. Since the water would take a while, he rested his head on the desk and closed his eyes.

He didn’t expect that once his eyes closed, his eyelids would grow so heavy he couldn’t open them again.

His body alternated between hot and cold, and he dozed in and out of muddled, chaotic dreams that felt disjointed and impossible to remember.

He vaguely heard someone talking to him, then someone carrying him out. Through barely opened eyes, he hazily saw Yan Chen, but didn’t know whether it was a dream or not.

Later, he was laid down somewhere soft. His back was no longer cold, and as his body relaxed, he quickly fell asleep again. This time, there were no more dreams. The rest was much more peaceful than it had been in the dorm.

By evening, the sun had dropped toward the horizon.

Ye Wenyu opened his eyes. The dizziness was gone, but he still felt weak and listless.

His right hand was stiff. There was an IV needle stuck in the back of it so he couldn’t move.

“Awake?” It was Yan Chen’s voice.

Ye Wenyu blinked for a moment before his vision gradually came into focus. His gaze shifted from the blinding white ceiling to Yan Chen’s face. The faint scent of disinfectant at the tip of his nose quietly confirmed he was in a hospital.

Yan Chen touched his forehead to check his temperature and asked in a low voice, “Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?”

Ye Wenyu’s head sank into the soft pillow. He shook his head slightly.

Yan Chen patted his face. “Once this last bit finishes, I’ll take you to eat. What do you want? But just to be clear, you can’t have anything too spicy, you can only eat something light…”

Ye Wenyu hooked his fingers around Yan Chen’s sleeve.

Yan Chen paused mid-sentence, then gently held his hand in return. “What’s wrong?”

Ye Wenyu: “You didn’t see me just now.”

Since Ye Wenyu had been asleep all afternoon on the IV, Yan Chen naturally assumed “just now” meant during his nap. “Did you have a nightmare?”

Ye Wenyu: “When you were playing basketball, I was standing right next to the court. You didn’t see me.”

When people are sick and vulnerable, emotions always take over reason. Even if it comes off as unreasonable, it is hard for one to notice that they are being unreasonable.

Only then did Yan Chen realize that by “just now”, he meant earlier that afternoon. “Were you just coming from the library? I saw you coming from that direction, holding two books.”

Ye Wenyu nodded subconsciously. Then he realized what Yan Chen’s words implied, and his eyes widened slightly. “How did you…”

Yan Chen gently squeezed his hand. “You were walking really slowly. You even tripped on a little rock when I was shooting the ninth ball.”

“…”

The unexplainable grievance building up in Ye Wenyu’s chest suddenly vanished. “…You saw me?”

Yan Chen: “Yeah, I saw you the moment you came out of the tree-lined path.”

He hadn’t made any special effort to look, he’d just been so aware that it was practically instinct. Even if it was only a glimpse from the corner of his eye.

Ye Wenyu’s emotions were like a mash of crushed and fermented wine dregs. Suddenly, the insecure, wandering self who had been overthinking everything felt both childish and ridiculous.

But just when he tried to smile, the stinging in his nose overwhelmed him again and he couldn’t smile at all.

“Why did you see me?” He looked into Yan Chen’s eyes, his voice still hoarse and fragile from being sick. “Weren’t you playing a match?”

“A match is a match. You are you. The two don’t conflict.”

Yan Chen paused briefly, then smiled. “Wenyu, I probably have auto-focus when it comes to you.”

Ye Wenyu: “What?”

Yan Chen: “No matter where you are, no matter what I’m doing, as long as you’re anywhere within my line of sight, I’ll see you first.”

Ye Wenyu froze.

Yan Chen suddenly remembered that time in the park when he picked up a stray cat.

It was very docile, lying belly-up in his arms and staring up at him without moving. Big round eyes, clean pupils…exactly like how Ye Wenyu looked now.

So obedient, and a little silly.

Yan Chen’s hand itched. He wanted to touch the corner of Ye Wenyu’s eye, but his hand was caught midway, and then he was pulled closer by the neck.

Until their foreheads touched.

Ye Wenyu wrapped his arms around Yan Chen’s neck and closed his eyes, hiding all the surging emotion beneath his lids.

Every little move the other party made could easily stir up his feelings so he desperately wanted an equal response.

He probably understood what Yan Chen was really waiting for.