PTGWD Extra 4: Mad Love

[if1]

[Mad Love]

1.

Fang Xingzhou walked out of the counselor’s office, having just received a strange task.

It was November—not the season for new students nor the beginning of the semester—yet somehow, a transfer student had been assigned to his class, and even more bizarrely, to his dorm room. The department had asked him to handle the reception.

His department was the most competitive major in a top 3 university—only the best entrance scores could get someone in.

Clutching the hastily printed freshman guide the counselor had given him, Fang Xingzhou tightened his scarf, already sensing trouble with this new roommate. He frowned as he walked to the school gate and dialed the number provided.

The call was answered almost immediately, but after he introduced himself, the other side said nothing.

Fang Xingzhou frowned deeper.

…A rude little princeling, he thought.

Holding onto his patience, he repeated coolly, “Hello? Is this Student Lu?”

All he could hear was heavy breathing through the speaker—each exhale oddly direct, making him feel a bit unsettled.

Fang Xingzhou waited a few more seconds and was about to hang up when he finally heard a sound.

The voice was beautiful, even mesmerizing, but the way it spoke was strange—like a foreigner just learning Chinese, or maybe a child learning to speak, stammering and trembling as if overwhelmed by emotion.

“Hel…lo, Senior… I… am Lu… Long time no see…”

Long time no see?

What a strange person.

His lips formed a cold line. “Student Lu, where are you right now? I’m already at the school gate.”

The other side let out two inexplicable chuckles, then fell silent again. Finally, Fang Xingzhou heard a low, complicated murmur: “Mm.”

Fang Xingzhou: “…”

Out of patience, he hung up and turned to head back to the dorm.

As he turned, he caught sight of a tall figure standing under the parasol tree not far away.

The person’s face and frame were mostly hidden by shadows, but a pair of extremely clear, light-colored eyes stared straight at him.

Somehow, just that accidental glance made Fang Xingzhou’s heart pound wildly. His breath tightened, limbs turned numb—as if struck by an invisible current.

…Who is that?

He couldn’t move, and the figure beneath the tree didn’t either.

They locked eyes for a long, long time.

The other finally seemed to muster courage, visibly inhaled, then pushed a suitcase step by step out from the shadow, walking toward Fang Xingzhou.

The weather was beautiful today—the last clear blue sky and sunshine before winter truly set in.

As he walked forward, sunlight slowly climbed up his body. Fang Xingzhou’s pupils shrank. He held his breath. And in the moment the shadows fully retreated, he saw a face too beautiful to be described in words.

…A face so shockingly beautiful, every feature and every inch of skin seemed alive—as if they each had their own will and could, at any moment, break apart from inner conflict, revealing the blood and flesh beneath the skin.

Strange. Fang Xingzhou snapped himself out of it.

Why would he even think such a thing?

He inhaled deeply. The face was definitely unfamiliar—yet for some reason, it felt achingly familiar, like something out of a forgotten dream.

His heart pounded like thunder. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead. He was stunned at the terrifying flutter he felt toward a complete stranger.

His mind went blank—until the man stopped just in front of him.

Those pale eyes burned into him. The gaze felt like a tangible tongue, licking over his cheeks, his lips, and the skin hidden beneath his clothes—again and again.

Strangely, Fang Xingzhou didn’t feel offended—because he, too, was rudely staring back.

After a long silence, the man finally spoke.

“…Senior.” His words were unclear, but his tone was eager. “I’m Lu Jianchuan. “

Lu Jianchuan…

So that was the new roommate.

The name even sounded like a perfect match to Fang Xingzhou’s—a poetic couplet.

2.

There were already three students living in the dorm. With the addition of Lu Jianchuan, it was now full.

Fang Xingzhou tried his best to suppress the abnormal waves in his heart and brought Lu Jianchuan back to the dorm. The other two roommates—Li Zheng and An Mingzhe—just so happened to be out.

He couldn’t stand being alone with Lu Jianchuan any longer, afraid he would keep getting stranger and stranger, so he made up an excuse and all but fled.

He buried himself in textbooks at the library all afternoon.

The campus had a strong academic atmosphere; the library was always packed. Since Fang Xingzhou arrived late, he only found a seat in the farthest corner, enclosed by glass and bookshelves, creating a narrow, hidden space.

However.

All afternoon, he felt someone watching him.

A gaze thick, sticky, and scalding, one that never blinked or looked away.

He almost never got distracted while studying, but he couldn’t absorb a single word in those four hours. He kept glancing back again and again, as if countless eyes were hidden in the bookshelves, silently spying on him.

By nightfall, he was thoroughly exhausted. With a grim face, he packed up his things and went to the cafeteria for dinner.

He couldn’t stop his thoughts. Even as he sat down with his tray, his mind was full of those pale-colored eyes.

That eye had separated from Lu Jianchuan’s perfect face, gained a will of its own, and was now rolling wild in his brain, endlessly multiplying until it overwhelmed his entire imagination.

Fang Xingzhou let out a long breath and shoved a piece of meat into his mouth, trying to force his mind to stop wandering.

The very next second.

The imagined eye appeared right in front of him.

Silently, like a magician’s sudden reveal, it made his hair stand on end. His chopsticks clattered to the floor.

His roommate—who had appeared out of nowhere—smiled beautifully, bent down, picked up the chopsticks, and carefully wiped them clean on the sleeve of an obviously expensive coat before handing them back to Fang Xingzhou.

Their skin touched for the briefest moment, and a strange current struck them both. Goosebumps rose on Fang Xingzhou’s arm, and he clearly saw the same happen on the back of Lu Jianchuan’s hand.

He was silent for a few seconds, then said as calmly as he could, “Thank you.”

Lu Jianchuan simply smiled at him, again using that thick gaze—like he could absorb delicious nutrients straight from Fang Xingzhou’s face.

A long silence stretched out. Eventually, Fang Xingzhou couldn’t take it anymore and asked, “Don’t have a meal card? I can treat you.”

Lu Jianchuan gently shook his head.

Fang Xingzhou glanced at his watch.

“It’s six-thirty,” he added. “Aren’t you hungry?”

Lu Jianchuan shook his head again, then took some time to find his words.

“Very hungry… senior,” he finally said. His voice still awkward and strange, “I smelled your scent… it’s delicious… makes me very hungry.”

Fang Xingzhou: “……”

Stunned, he didn’t speak for a full thirty seconds—just stared at the strange and beautiful boy before him.

Under his gaze, Lu Jianchuan’s ears gradually turned red. He looked away nervously toward the window, seemingly checking his own reflection to see how he looked.

“Do I look… strange now?” His eyes crept back, peeking upward through long, curled lashes, watching Fang Xingzhou’s expression carefully, like he wasn’t used to human eyes. “…Not good-looking?”

Fang Xingzhou didn’t blink. He studied every flicker of expression on his face—then slowly smiled.

Most of the time, he was overly calm, rarely emotional, and had never felt a clear flutter toward anyone. But when he heard that bizarre, borderline offensive remark from his new roommate just now, he didn’t feel disgust—he heard his heart thundering in his chest.

He took another bite, chewed slowly, savoring the physical changes in his body. Only when the boy across from him looked like he might freeze up completely did he speak again: “Are you homosexual?”

Lu Jianchuan blinked.

“…Hm?” His limited vocabulary didn’t seem to include that word. “Homosexual?”

Fang Xingzhou rephrased: “Do you like men?”

This time, Lu Jianchuan understood.

His ears turned even redder. He stared at Fang Xingzhou’s plump, slightly greasy lips, his Adam’s apple bobbing subtly as he nodded once, firmly: “Yes.”

Fang Xingzhou: “Don’t describe another guy as ‘delicious.’ It sounds like you’re planning to sleep with me tonight.”

Lu Jianchuan froze.

The red on his ears spread to his whole face. He stared blankly at Fang Xingzhou, his lips twitching, seemingly wanting to explain, but unable to find the right human words. Only a stream of incomprehensible syllables came from his throat—urgent, but useless.

Fang Xingzhou smiled again.

He finished dinner, gave Lu Jianchuan a deep look, and left with his tray.

Lu Jianchuan sat like a sculpture, obsessively watching Fang Xingzhou’s departing figure. Only after he had completely vanished from view did he cautiously lean down—and lick the chopsticks Fang Xingzhou had left behind.

Delicious.

A dazzling smile bloomed across his face.

3.

That night, Fang Xingzhou didn’t return to the dorm.

Within five minutes of parting from Lu Jianchuan, he experienced a strange and frenzied desire like never before. His body no longer felt like his own. Even walking down the street, he felt unbearably overwhelmed.

He spent the night in a hotel near campus, releasing again and again in a self-destructive loop, finally cooling himself down with cold water. When he checked his phone, he saw a new member had joined the dorm group chat—blank avatar, blank name, politely saying hello, nothing like the bizarre and rude version from earlier.

Fang Xingzhou stared at it for a while, then closed his eyes.

His heart was still thumping restlessly. His mind swirled with that man’s voice and expressions, and even the tip of his nose seemed haunted by that strange and intoxicating scent.

Who is he?

Had they met before?

You couldn’t just transfer into a top-tier university with money alone. And clearly, no one in Fang Xingzhou’s circle had that kind of pull.

Thinking of this, Fang Xingzhou’s lips curled into a mocking smile. Once again, he used his palm to control himself, observing his body’s reactions with detached coldness, as if trying to reason out the science behind it. But all he got was a damp, messy chaos.

Eventually, he fell into a restless sleep.

Even in his dreams, the man he had just met wouldn’t leave him alone.

He dreamed of Lu Jianchuan pressing his face against the hotel window on the 19th floor, staring at him intensely. Then like a ghost, he passed through the glass, floated beside him, crawled over him—sniffing with his nose, tasting with his tongue, and finally using his teeth to undo his belt, straightening out the day’s chaos bit by bit with his mouth…

Fang Xingzhou jolted awake.

Morning had come.

He went to class as usual, though his mind was anything but calm.

There was no sign of Lu Jianchuan in his major class. His roommates, Li Zheng and An Mingzhe, sat on either side of him, chatting excitedly about the new guy—how good-looking he was, where he might be from, what high-end brands he wore. They finally told Fang Xingzhou that due to academic paperwork, the new roommate wouldn’t start classes until next week.

Fang Xingzhou let out a small breath of relief, nodded, opened his textbook, and looked toward the board.

Then suddenly, something caught his eye. He abruptly turned away and looked toward the trees outside the classroom.

Autumn had come. The plane trees were covered in golden leaves, and when the wind blew, they rustled down in flurries.

And amidst this dizzying field of gold—pale eyes were hidden among them, like some chameleon-like wild beast.

Maybe it was the lack of sleep, but Fang Xingzhou felt like even the gaze itself was golden—intense, pure, scorching.

Hit with dizziness, he had to close his eyes for a moment to recover before daring to look back at the trees.

This time, he saw clearly.

No beast. No floating eyes.

Lu Jianchuan stood behind the tree, wearing a bright yellow cap. He had clearly noticed Fang Xingzhou’s gaze—and responded with a radiant, dazzling smile.