Your Distance

39 - Habits

Older people also had some other habits.

For example, putting the toilet seat down.

One morning, Ting Shuang hurriedly jumped out of bed in a haze. He rushed to the bathroom, taking his thing out before even fully opening his eyes. He was about to release everything before he realised that he had almost urinated on the toilet seat. He cursed, quickly putting the toilet seat up before shouting out the door, “Bai Laoban, why do you always put the toilet seat down? Isn’t it troublesome to always put it back up?”

Bai Changyi walked to the bathroom door, “I’ve always had a female partner by my side. Putting the toilet seat down was basic etiquette.”

Ting Shuang turned his head as he released, dissatisfied, “You will never have a female partner by your side again in the future. Your male partner is telling you: Putting the toilet seat down is a bad habit. It’s a terrible habit, so quickly change it.”

Bai Changyi hugged Ting Shuang’s waist from behind. He didn’t say anything, just glanced down and let out a low chuckle.

He was laughing again!

Ting Shuang’s face flushed, “It’s a bad habit, I didn’t say anything wrong. It’s not me… that um… it’s not that I have problems aiming… or that I can’t regulate that, or keep it in, or am bad at… It’s just, there’s only the two of us at home, wouldn’t it be much more convenient to leave the toilet seat up…”

Fuck.

Bai Changyi was still laughing.

Laughing at what?

He made it seem like Ting Shuang had problems and needed to see the andrologist.

However, ever since that morning, the toilet seats in the toilets at home remained straight up all year round.

Older people also had another habit: putting things back in their original positions.

Ting Shuang did not have this habit.

Before cohabiting, incidents that happened usually went like this–

On a day where he needed to go to school, Ting Shuang would realise that he couldn’t find his phone/key/student card/experiment report/pen/razor…

After cohabiting, the incidents became extremely terrifying——

On a day where he needed to go to school, the great Professor Bai would realise that he couldn’t find his glasses.

On the headboard, only the wooden holder for his spectacles remained.

Before going to bed last night, the glasses were still placed safely on them.

Since the kid moved in, the occasional thing would go missing from its original place in the house, then reappear in another strange place. Every time Bai Changyi saw it, he simply put them back in place, and didn’t say anything to Ting Shuang.

But this time, not saying anything was impossible.

Bai Changyi’s gaze shifted from the spectacle holder to the sleeping Ting Shuang’s face, “Ting.”

Ting Shuang struggled, half asleep and half awake, “Let me sleep for a while longer… I don’t want to skip class… I know whose class I have today… I was chasing a show last night and slept too late…”

Bai Changyi said, “Ting, where are my glasses.”

Ting Shuang shrank into the quilt, face full of resistance, “Salute… What kind of salute… I don’t want to salute…”(1)