You fill my lungs and take away the air [Global Examination]

Chapter 14: On the outside waiting

Wen Yuan took the fastest shower he had ever taken in his entire life, running his towel through his wet hair as he started re-boiling the tea in the teapot. This would definitely leave the tea over-infused, since it had already been steeped perfectly, but that was before he had to go out and look for 154, and the tea was now cold...

Wen Yuan couldn't help but glance down at this hand, where he had grabbed 154's, feeling the phantom chill that emanated from the shorter man's hand creeping up his spine.

154's hands had been so cold the last time Wen Yuan had touched them...

Worst case, Wen Yuan could just make a new batch of tea for 154, and take the current batch for himself, since he didn't want to waste his tea leaves... though he was quite certain that 154 wouldn't actually mind too much anyways.

Making sure the tea was sufficiently reheated, Wen Yuan pulled on a fresh t-shirt and sweatpants, before going over to 154's room, testing the doorknob.

Much to his surprise, it was unlocked, and Wen Yuan couldn't help it as he tilted his head slightly in confusion.

154 always locked his door, especially during large-scale examinations, due to the sheer number of invigilators who they weren't familiar with. The only times he didn't was when it was only him, Wen Yuan, and Qin Jiu invigilating, and even then, he usually only forgot when he was busy with paperwork, or was just tired.

But considering 154's condition...

He pushed the door open, immediately honing in on the sounds of a running shower coming from the bathroom, and he yelled, "Hey, 154, I'm coming in!"

He quickly went back to bring the tea over, setting it on 154's desk gently, before looking around the younger's room.

The layout of the room was, naturally, the same as Wen Yuan's, with the desk, a bed, a larger table in the corner, a borderline empty bookshelf that most people ended up using to put things other than books most of the time... but unlike his own room, which had his clothes and belongings strewn all over the place, everything was all neat and uncluttered, with 154's bag sitting by the desk and bed, and everything else being borderline untouched.

If Wen Yuan didn't know better, he'd think that the room was unlived in, or it was a hotel room that had yet to receive its guests for the day.

But he did know better, and he knew that 154 always had been a bit of a neat freak, liking to keep everything tidy and organized so he didn't have to waste time looking for things later.

Wen Yuan casually plopped himself down on 154's bed, grabbing the book that was sitting on his desk, flipping through it idly. It was one of those typical cheesy romance novels, and definitely the last thing that Wen Yuan would expect 154 to be reading... but, to be fair, it was far more likely that 154 had just swiped whatever he could find off the bookshelf and was reading anything just to keep himself busy.

Though, just reading the synopsis gave Wen Yuan a weird feeling of familiarity... and Wen Yuan checked the title of the book again. He couldn't really place it within his memory, which wasn't all that surprising, considering they were missing...

But perhaps, he had read something similar in his youth, back when he was still in middle school; it was a cheesy romance novel, after all, and even if the characters and details may be different, most stories of this genre follow the same typical story beats, all following the same overarching plot... even if he hadn't read the exact same story, it should still give off a similar vibe.

A sharp yet muffled cough caught Wen Yuan's attention, and he turned his head in the direction of the bathroom, wondering if it was just his imagination... and was immediately proven wrong as he heard more muted coughs ringing out.