A CERTAIN SOMEONE ( THE ON1Y ONE )

Chapter 066 - "Vacation"

"Why Are Your Ears Red Again?"

The first half of the sentence was meant for Sheng Wang.
Because he saw the silence that barely lasted for two seconds before Sheng Wang spoke to comfort him, because he saw the traces of avoidance and upset in Sheng Wang’s slightly lowered gaze; he always seemed to see all these. For every pause, for every unspoken word, for all the laughing and joking around despite not being exactly happy himself, he could see them all.
Therefore, he wanted to let Sheng Wang know that he had stopped splitting hairs over that. He merely despised Ji Huanyu, it had nothing to do with other people.

As for the second half……
For quite an extended period of time, he always thought that he was sufficiently objective and rational. He had always been on good terms with Zhao Xi and Lin Beiting, he had no problem getting along with Gao Tianyang and the rest too. He thought that he found the perfect balance beyond the boundary itself. That was, until Sheng Wang appeared, and that balance was knocked over.

He knew for quite a while now, he understood clearly that to him, Sheng Wang wasn’t the same as other people. He was setting himself up against himself, that’s all.
Occasionally, he would reflect. He would recall many people and many things, but he would always avoid that point. He would deliberately look past certain unplatonic or other feelings, like as long as he didn’t think about it, those things wouldn’t exist.
Until today, when they met Ji Huanyu at Wu Tong Wai, and heard Ji Huanyu say what he said, he suddenly came around to it. The other person wants to pull him into the darkness? He’ll emerge instead. The other person wants to nauseate him? There is no way he’s getting his way.
Ji Huanyu wanted to make him hesitate and unwilling to take a single step forward, he’ll make peace with himself instead. He refused to fight himself anymore.
He liked Sheng Wang, that’s all. He has fallen for him for a while now.

Due to Zhao Xi and Lin Beiting’s relationship, he understood better than the average people this particular route. He had witnessed the unions and separations along the way. His rational side told him: Don’t drag the other person in, he is very precious. He wanted the person to smile more often.
However—occasionally, in extremely rare moments—he couldn’t hold himself back.
He longed to speak of them to Sheng Wang, but at the same time, he wished that Sheng Wang couldn’t hear him either.

Meaningless noise filled the dorm. A wave of people happened to charge up towards them from the neighbouring dorm, Old Mao and Tong-zi tugged at Sheng Wang as they greeted him, saying that the training camp begins tomorrow, all the best for them, and bring some glory to Fuzhong.
He knew that Sheng Wang couldn't hear him.

He could stand on the road by himself, wishing for Sheng Wang to stop by the road, take a breather and leave. It’s best if he didn’t say hello to him at all; he wasn’t as unaffected as people imagined, he was afraid he couldn’t hold himself back.

*
The training was held in another city, a river separated them from Fuzhong.
According to Jing-jie, they picked an especially remote school, separated from the centre of the city by thousands of miles. It would be too troublesome to keep changing transport, so Fuzhong, in order to reduce all the troubles that came with transferring again and again on the journey, arranged for a private car for them. As the teacher in charge of the team in Fuzhong, Yang Jing was the one who would be bringing them there.
The place to board the bus was the same one where they usually waited for the school bus.

“I get a spare day away from marking scripts for once, and I still have to get up so early for cold wind in my face? The sun isn’t even up yet!” Yang Jing wore a thin woolen coat outside of her sweater and lacquered shirt, long enough to cover her ankles. As the wind blew, she stomped her feet, cursing Big Mouth Xu: older people could wake up early, they don’t even spare a thought for young people’s need for sleep when they arrange for transport.
After she cursed out Big Mouth Xu, she started scolding Sheng Wang instead, as Sheng Wang was wearing fewer layers than her.