Chasing Happiness

Chapter 5 : Tension Between Us

It is almost time for the holidays. Since the school had a lot of international students their winter break started the day before Christmas Eve. They then returned for a few weeks in January for final exams and then they returned home for lunar new year. It was a weird calendar but it was nice to have a break right before finals.

They were in the last week of classes before the break, so they spent a lot of time attending review sessions so they could study over the vacation. Xie Yuchen is sitting in the library, going over some notes when someone sits next to hom. He looks up to see one of the international students. She has long curly blonde hair. He thinks she was from a European country but he never spoke to her. He looks back down at his notes but she taps him. He looks up at her and removes one of the headphones.

"Yes?" he asks.

"Do you have an extra pen I can use?" she asks. He nods his head and reaches into his bag to take out a pen. When he gives it to her she stares at him for a bit.

"Is your roommate Hei Yan Jing?" she asks. He raises an eyebrow at that question.

"Yes", he says bluntly.

"Oh that was rude of me", she says. "Some of my friends were talking about him and showed me a picture of you two".

Since the two of them have started to hang out more outside of work, Hei Yan Jing has been posting more pictures of them onto his Weibo. Which he didn't mind since they were best friends at his point. But he was still dealing with people being weird around him. He was not sure why Hei Yan Jing was even a celebrity at the school, and it was getting quite annoying. He wants to assume because of his looks and personality, the people who met him become enraptured in his charm.

He doesn't respond to her and he puts his headphones back on. He goes back to working when twenty minutes later someone else sits next to him. He does not look up this time but a hand removes the headphones from his head. He turns his head quickly to see Hei Yan Jing smiling at him. He wears a beige cashmere sweater with a black trenchcoat. With black slacks and dress shoes. Xie Yuchen removes the headphones fully and looks the man up and down.

"Why are you so dressed up?" Xie Yuchen says. He places his headphones on the desk and touches Hei Yan Jing's jacket.

"I had a presentation in class today", Hei Yan Jing explains. "I needed to be dressed up", he yawns and leans his head onto the desk. Xie Yuchen laughs and brushes some hair away from the man's face, He freezes when he realizes that he did that in public and the girl was still seated behind him. He pulls his hand back and places it on his lap. Hei Yan Jing had closed his eyes and he looked ready to fall asleep.

"Is this why you weren't home last night?" Xie Yuchen asks. He touches the man's knee to wake him up.

"Yes, I needed to be with my group. We stayed in the library all night until sunrise. I returned after you left for class to shower and get dressed. I have not slept in many hours", Hei Yan Jing says. "You don't have class today, why are you here?"

Xie Yuchen blinks slowly and looks at Hei Yan Jing. "I am studying", he finally says. He was suddenly distracted by the man's lips. They were pinker than usual, and supple. He wanted to reach and touch them.

"Come back to the room and study, we should order food tonight", Hei Yan Jing says. "It is a Friday so we can sleep late tomorrow and then spend the rest of the day studying".

"You need rest, do not focus on studying", Xie Yuchen says. He starts to pack up his bag, slinging it over his back. He reaches his hand out to help Hei Yan Jing up. The older man takes it and allows himself to be pulled up. Their hands linger in one another before they both remove it.