Between Us : Chapter 31: I Lied to You

That Christmas Eve, a light snow fell, melting as soon as it hit the ground, stopping by the evening study break.

It was chilly outside. Xu Jue, huddled in his jacket, went to the mailroom to pick up a package. When he got back, he found a pile of food on his desk—thousand-paper-crane candies, chocolates, handmade cookies, Christmas cards—so much that the homework papers underneath were completely hidden.

This strange scene had happened once last year, so Xu Jue was not surprised. He opened his bag and swept everything inside, casually tossing the package in too.

Qiu Yuanfei clicked his tongue twice. Xu Jue kicked his foot, which was resting on the crossbar of his chair. “Move it.”

“I counted for you. You were gone ten minutes, and six girls from other classes put gifts on your desk. The perks of sitting by the window.” Qiu Yuanfei pulled his foot back, muttering, “When I sat by the window before, all I ever did was pass gifts along for other people.”

“Only from other classes?” Xu Jue joked. “What about our class?”

The group leader passed by while handing out homework and said, “Our class has called it quits this year.”

“This is cutting your losses,” Wei Xiaoduo said. “Your sticky note is right there for everyone to see. Who doesn’t know you’ve got a CQ in your heart? But I’m different. Xu Jue, happy Christmas Eve!”

As she spoke, she pulled out a small cake and placed it on the corner of Xu Jue’s desk. Qiu Yuanfei shouted, “Wei Xiaoduo, you’re being such a… sweet little thing!”

Wei Xiaoduo placed another box on Qiu Yuanfei’s desk corner. “What about now?”

He hadn’t expected to get anything. Qiu Yuanfei’s face turned red and he couldn’t get a word out. After she turned away, he rubbed the packaging and said softly, “Sweet thing…”

Xu Jue smiled. The class bell rang, and he put the cake in his bag too. When he flipped the box over, a note was stuck to the bottom. It read: Thank you for shielding me from embarrassment.

It was about that fight from before.

The bell had been ringing for a while, but the classroom was still noisy and rowdy. It only fell silent when Bai Suzhen’s high heels clicked against the front door.

“You,” Bai Suzhen pointed at the boy who had been shouting the loudest just now, “go up and sing a Christmas song for everyone.”

Everyone wanted to laugh but didn’t dare, afraid they would be next. After the boy finished singing and slunk back down, Bai Suzhen brought in two baskets of Red Fuji apples from outside and had the front row hand them out. “Children, eat these apples and let me have a peaceful Christmas, will you? Those of you who want to hold hands and walk around the playground tonight, hold it in until you graduate. Those who want to visit other classes to give gifts tomorrow, wait until after school. Behave yourselves and follow the rules.”

Xu Jue kept working on his math problems, unmoved. He thought it was a good thing that the person he wanted to give a gift to, the person he wanted to hold hands with, was not within the boundaries the teacher had set.

Someone suddenly patted his shoulder. Xu Jue turned his head and was met with Bai Suzhen’s usual stern face.

Xu Jue was startled. He thought word had even reached the homeroom teacher about him being Chen Qian’s sweet little thing, and he was rapidly thinking up a reasonable excuse when Bai Suzhen said, “Go to the chemistry teacher’s office. He needs to talk to you.”

That trip took a whole class period. When he returned from the office, the classroom was empty. Only the students on duty remained, closing the doors and windows.

Xu Jue stuffed the several bound stacks of papers into his bag. His phone buzzed with a message from Chen Qian, saying he had gotten off work early today and didn’t need to be picked up.

After sending the reply, Chen Qian flipped through the photos Yu Huo had printed for him one by one. Yu Huo was holding one too, saying, “They look so good.”

“Don’t go praising other men behind Fang the Big Star’s back,” Chen Qian said with a smile. His gaze fell on the person in the photos like a light mist. They were good. He had chosen the angle, he had captured the light and shadow, he had pressed the shutter. They were his exclusive works.

Yu Huo’s face turned red as he argued, “I’m praising your composition!”

“Not bad, I guess. But mainly, the face is outstanding. Nothing to nitpick.” Chen Qian wouldn’t let others praise him, but he himself was showing off without restraint. “Do you have a permanent marker? Lend me one.”

There were nine photos. Chen Qian lay on the table, like a student doing homework in the old days, pressing down on his brows, holding the pen, and carefully writing a perhaps sentimental but absolutely sincere blessing on the back of each one.

When he finished, he took them to the laminating machine, sealing the nine scenes along with the ink and handwriting forever.

When he got home, he ran right into Xu Jue, who had just finished showering and was coming out of the bathroom shirtless. Besides the clean scent of body wash, there was also a sweet, mellow fragrance in the air, a bit like the smell he had noticed at Ruan Yu’s villa that day.

“Did you buy sugar-roasted chestnuts?” Chen Qian took off his coat, hooking the back of the collar with one hand while pulling out the tips from his pocket with the other.

He had a fistful of colorful bills. He tilted his head up, looking for an extra hook on the coat rack.

Xu Jue slowed down as he dried his hair. The damp cloth draped around his neck felt uncomfortable. He watched Chen Qian carefully clutching that larger-than-usual wad of cash, and he felt uncomfortable too.

“I bought a bag. Already shelled them too.” Twenty-seven chestnuts. He shelled one and glanced at his watch. Every time he unlocked his phone, he saw Chen Qian’s message saying “no need to pick me up,” and he felt more devoted than the Lady of Mount Tu.

At that moment, that fistful of cash Chen Qian was holding could buy countless bags of hot, steaming sugar-roasted chestnuts, enough to pelt Xu Jue awake one by one.

After many days, Chen Qian was wearing that thin black shirt again, the one as flimsy as a sheet of rice paper. Xu Jue traced Chen Qian’s lean back with his bare gaze, like carefully observing a plaster statue in front of an easel.

He walked closer. Chen Qian was still fussing with his coat: “Why didn’t you leave me a spot?”

His hand was suddenly empty. Xu Jue had snatched the coat away. Chen Qian watched as that arm rose up, brushing past his ear, and hung the coat on the very top of the rack. “Isn’t this spot good enough?”

Before Chen Qian could answer, Xu Jue asked again, “Didn’t you say you were getting off work early tonight?”

The tone was both accusatory and pitiful. Chen Qian turned around and indeed met a pair of eyes that matched the tone perfectly.

The still-dripping bangs made those thick eyelashes look wet. Chen Qian blew out a breath, sweeping those annoying strands of hair aside, wanting to see if there was any other emotion in Xu Jue’s eyes. “You think I lied to you?”

More than that. Xu Jue tugged at the pearl on Chen Qian’s collar. “You also promised me you wouldn’t wear this shirt.”

“When did I promi—” A tickling sensation hit his waist. Chen Qian couldn’t help stepping back, his back bumping against the coat rack behind him.

He felt a chill across his chest. Xu Jue’s hand, reaching into his shirt, roughly ripped off his pair of nipple covers and threw them on the floor. “And you’re wearing these!”

The flower-shaped silicone pieces bounced twice on the ground. Chen Qian’s spine was pressed against Xu Jue’s school jacket hanging on the coat rack, while Xu Jue’s figure loomed over him from the front. He felt surrounded by the other person’s presence from both sides.

He was amazed to discover that Xu Jue had progressed from accidentally pulling open his collar and turning red with his eyes darting away, to now touching his waist and ripping off covers without blinking an eye, all in less than two months. He didn’t even learn English this fast.

“Then do you think,” Chen Qian pressed his fingertip against Xu Jue’s chest, tracing lightly down the center line, “it would be better if I didn’t wear them?”

Xu Jue couldn’t handle this. The abdominal palpation during elementary school physical exams wasn’t this ticklish. Wherever Chen Qian’s fingertip touched, it planted sparks that burned all the way down. He turned back into that person who couldn’t string a sentence together, like he was taking an oral English exam. “Neither is good.”

That slightly cool fingertip stopped at his waistband. Chen Qian stared into his eyes. “Xu Jue, have you noticed your courage has grown?”

Without giving him time to answer, Chen Qian’s fingers wrapped around the drawstring of his pants. Like how Xu Jue had tied an apron for him, he now tied the drawstring for the other person: “Have you thought about why you’re changing like this?”

Eye contact would expose his feelings, so Xu Jue’s gaze moved from Chen Qian’s eyes, down to his nose bridge, past a pair of lips, and finally settled on that small lip stud.

Of course he knew. But he couldn’t say it outright. Chen Qian had just gone through the pain of a breakup. His unprepared confession would seem like he was taking advantage of the situation. Without time to let the feelings settle, this affection would seem cheap and rushed. Not being a hundred percent sure of the other person’s equal feelings would lead to a mistake.

Because Chen Qian was too precious to him. He wanted to give himself time to prove himself, and give Chen Qian time to move on from the previous relationship. He wouldn’t allow a single thing to go wrong.

As if he didn’t need to wait for an answer, Chen Qian suddenly lowered his head. Both hands pulled on those two thin straps. Just as Xu Jue had tied an apron for him, he now tied the drawstring for the other person: “I did get off work early tonight. But if you don’t believe me, then I don’t dare to easily promise to pick you up from school tomorrow. After all, the Elk will definitely be packed with business tomorrow. I’m not sure whether you are more important, or thousands in tips are more important.”

His fingers curled slightly. His hands pulled away from the waistband. Chen Qian turned and went back to his room, not even changing his clothes, just sitting on the edge of the bed in a daze for a long time.

Until his stomach growled with hunger. He remembered the bag of shelled sugar-roasted chestnuts Xu Jue had prepared for him. But he had just said harsh words, and now he was coveting the other person’s food. That was pretty spineless. He might as well cook some noodles instead.

When he got up, Chen Qian knocked over a pile of clothes at the foot of the bed. Xu Jue had probably folded them and put them there.

He shook out and refolded the toppled pieces. His fingertips pinched a long T-shirt, feeling a bit speechless. What planet had this person’s mind wandered off to, that he could mix his own clothes into Chen Qian’s pile?

The study door was half open. Chen Qian knocked once and pushed it open. Before he could see clearly, Xu Jue quickly shoved whatever he was holding under the blanket.

“…If you were switching off your phone instead, I would have thought you were watching porn.” Chen Qian placed Xu Jue’s clothes on his lap, noticing a pile of colorful cards and snacks on the bed. “You’re this popular at school?”

“Can’t let a pretty face go to waste,” Xu Jue found a box and swept all the snacks into it. “Didn’t you say so yourself? I’ve got good character and good grades. Who wouldn’t like someone who’s top of the class in both?”

Those cards, clearly picked by girls, were also tossed into the box. Chen Qian’s gaze followed his movements. “Did that girl with the really pretty eyes send one?”

None of the cards were signed, and Xu Jue didn’t have the patience to guess one by one. He simply answered, “No.”

Chen Qian smiled and stopped fussing over the cards.

He was about to go back to his room when the back of his hand was suddenly touched. Chen Qian turned around. Xu Jue handed him the bag of roasted chestnuts: “Still want them? I only ate a few.”

After Chen Qian took the paper bag, Xu Jue added, “It’s fine if you can’t pick me up. Making money comes first.”