SBS chapter 6

Click. Bai Yue shut the door with a snap.

He had just returned home and was pulling open the collar of his shirt with one hand. As soon as the properly buttoned shirt loosened and his hair grew slightly messier than it had been during the day, that refined, gentlemanly aura faded, replaced by a bit of casual laziness.

He walked barefoot across the floor, tossing his phone aside on speaker, and grabbed a cold beer from the fridge.

It was Zheng Yang on the line, talking about the computer competition he was about to enter.

But after they finished talking about the competition, Zheng Yang paused awkwardly before asking, “By the way, you took Ye Xi to the hospital this afternoon. He wasn’t seriously hurt, was he?”

Bai Yue drank half the bottle in one go and couldn’t help but chuckle at that.

He said, “If you’re so worried, why not ask Ye Xi yourself?”

Zheng Yang instantly exploded.

“Who’s worried about him?” he snapped. “I just can’t stand how you make a big deal out of everything. A little scrape and you run to the hospital. I was just asking in passing.”

“Heh.”

Bai Yue gave another small laugh.

“You obviously don’t hate Ye Xi that much,” he said. “Why keep pretending like this? Aren’t you being childish?”

Zheng Yang fumed: “Stop making stuff up, Bai Yue. Who says I don’t hate him? It’s all your fault. You’re always telling me to treat him better. Seriously, whose friend are you? Since we were kids, you’ve always taken his side, never mine… Today too. The moment you saw Ye Xi, you rushed to him. People would think he’s your real brother.”

The more he spoke, the angrier he became. Bai Yue always took Ye Xi’s side, year after year, never changing.

Bai Yue lowered his eyes, too lazy to argue.

So what if I take Ye Xi’s side? he thought. In nine out of ten of their fights, Zheng Yang was the one who started it.

He didn’t just want to help Ye Xi. If it weren’t for the need to maintain the Zheng family’s reputation, he might’ve done even more.

“It’s not that hard to be nice to Ye Xi,” he said softly. “You know perfectly well he’s always been obedient. And I’ve said it before: if you don’t want this little brother, give him to me. I’ll take him.”

He’d be more than happy to.

Zheng Yang snorted from the other end: “In your dreams.”

Still, after sulking for a moment, he gritted his teeth and reminded, “You still haven’t answered my question.”

Bai Yue chuckled. “Ye Xi’s fine. No concussion. The doctor said it’s just a surface abrasion, but he should be monitored for two days.”

There was a pause on the line.

“I told you…” Zheng Yang muttered. “There’s nothing wrong with him. That kid’s tough. He never held back when he used to beat me up. Strong as hell.”

With that, he clearly lost interest in talking about Ye Xi and changed the subject.

“Forget that annoying brat. Xie Yao’s birthday is coming up. Are you going to her party?” Zheng Yang’s tone relaxed a little. “She called me again today, begged me to drag you there. I think she still hasn’t given up on you—probably plans to confess at her birthday.”

Xie Yao was one of Zheng Yang’s friends—a pretty good girl, though it was unclear why she had such terrible taste, obsessing over Bai Yue. She’d pestered him repeatedly to help her set things up.

But Bai Yue only replied with two words: “Not going.”

Zheng Yang clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Knew it.”

He hadn’t really expected much. Bai Yue had turned Xie Yao down more than once.

“Zhong Chuan and those guys are even betting on whether you’ll show up and get confessed to by Xie Yao. I told them no way. See? I know you best,” Zheng Yang said, half-joking, half-mocking. “Someone like you, so frigid—who would you even like?”

Bai Yue raised an eyebrow. “Who are you calling frigid?”

“You.”

Zheng Yang answered firmly.

“Come on,” he laughed. “I’ve known you for so long, and I’ve never seen you react normally to anything romantic.”

Bai Yue scoffed softly, not bothering to respond. “You done? I’m hanging up.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

Zheng Yang was annoyed too—his phone was being bombarded by Xie Yao, constantly asking if Bai Yue would attend, and he didn’t know how to respond.

Click. Silence.

Bai Yue tossed the phone aside and slumped back on the sofa.

There was still half a bottle of beer left. He picked it up and slowly drank it. The cold liquid flowed down his throat, but it did nothing to put out the fire of his restlessness.

He remembered Zheng Yang mocking him just now—calling him “frigid.”

He let out a sudden laugh.

If only I really were, he thought.

Zheng Yang always joked that he was pure-hearted and ascetic, a perfect candidate for monkhood.

But if Zheng Yang ever found out who he harbored impure thoughts about, he’d probably stop laughing.

Bai Yue’s eyes darkened as they fell on a photo frame in front of him.

He sat there for a while, then reached out and opened a side cabinet next to the sofa. It was made of black walnut, solid and elegant. The bottom drawer was especially hard to open—you had to set the dials to the right combination.

Bai Yue didn’t usually entertain guests in this apartment. Naturally, no one else would come snooping around.

Click. The brass lock clicked into place. The drawer opened.

Inside lay a small, wooden-colored calfskin gift box. It had fine grain, a brass trim around the edges, delicately crafted. It was custom-made from one of his favorite shops.

But inside wasn’t any expensive jewelry or personal keepsake.

It was a simple school tie.

Dark blue silk. Nothing special. At the bottom was an embroidered abbreviation of a school name.

It belonged to a student uniform—worn with the fall semester shirt. Its owner had always worn it carelessly, the knot skewed, hanging crooked. If the dean saw it, he’d definitely deduct points for improper appearance.

Bai Yue picked up the tie. The cool silk wrapped around his pale hand like a seductive snake, coiling tightly around his fingers, hissing at him—mocking his shamelessness, his filth, his greed.

If Ye Xi were here, he would surely recognize this as the tie he’d lost before summer break.

Back then, he’d casually left it on a bench by the soccer field before going to play. When he came back, it was gone.

He just assumed someone had taken it by mistake. Didn’t think twice. Bought a new one immediately.

But now, here it was—in Bai Yue’s possession.

Bai Yue stared at the tie. The smooth, cool silk reminded him of its owner—slippery, hard to grasp, just like water.

It made him restless.

Yet, like someone emotionally unstable, he pressed the deep blue fabric against his cheek.

He thought of Ye Xi sitting next to him earlier that evening, like a green leaf brushing across his fingertips in spring. He wore a white shirt, his face glowing under the lights with an ivory sheen. He seemed a little scared of him, always avoiding his gaze, quietly eating, his soft red lips parting and closing, pink tongue curling around cherry jam, licking his lip without even realizing.

Across the table, Bai Yue had watched, his heart pounding so loudly it annoyed even himself.

He closed his eyes.

If Zheng Yang knew what kind of thoughts he had about Ye Xi, he’d probably storm over and fight him to the death.

He wasn’t frigid at all.

He was a volcano in suppression. The reason he seemed so cold was because he had poured all his desire into one person.

But even he couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment those feelings toward Ye Xi—his best friend’s little brother—became so intense and dangerous.

He’d visited the Zheng family countless times. At first, his attention to Ye Xi was just polite.

In his memory, Ye Xi was a kid from an unfortunate background, but not an unpleasant one.

But at some point, he had begun to notice Ye Xi’s every move.

Ye Xi was always quiet, hiding in corners, more inconspicuous than a potted plant.

He wore white shirts, revealing his pale wrists and slender fingers. Hidden behind black short hair were slightly pointed, delicate ears. He sat in the dappled sunlight of spring, wisteria cascading behind him—pure and lovely.

He gave off no seductive signals at all—pure, harmless, even somewhat distant. But it was that very innocence that stirred countless secret longings in Bai Yue’s heart.

He must be insane.

Bai Yue leaned back and closed his eyes.

The tie wrapped around his wrist like a heavy shackle, keeping him from acting recklessly—yet also like a kiss from Medusa, tempting him into committing a sin worthy of exile.