Brick by Brick (Bxb)

Chapter 11: Sleepless Night

She...what?!

Terry's mind reeled as he tried to find the words to respond. He certainly wasn't expecting such a swift confession from her this soon and was completely unprepared to deal with the sudden news.

"Then...did you accept?" Terry swallowed and tried to sound nonchalant about the whole situation.

"Nope. Didn't even get the chance to respond. She took off the instant she confessed," Ming Kai was still troubled by what he should do.

Chen Yu Lin really was a peerless beauty with brains to match. Someone like him didn't deserve to deprive her of true happiness, therefore he wanted to clear things up immediately. But as things stood, he would have to do it tomorrow.

"This is definitely gonna be awkward..."

"But are YOU interested?" Terry couldn't help himself from asking.

"I'm...not. Does that make me weird?"

"Like duh! Girls like her are pretty much unattainable. People can only dream of talking to her. Colour me impressed! She actually confessed her feelings to you. If anybody finds out that you intend to reject her, dying would be the last of your worries."

"...Are you really not going to date her?"

Ming Kai turned around and said nothing. He simply went straight to bed. He should have expected that sort of reaction.

Who in their right mind would waste such an opportunity? He was right about Terry after all. All that excessive touching was nothing more than casual skinship.

Perhaps it would be wiser to accept Chen Yu Lin's confession and live out his life pretending to be a normal guy; date girls just like normal guys would. He was simply too tired to carry on this kind of lifestyle any longer.

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The evening sun was already beginning to set, marking the end of another day. Terry was lost in thought, his undone assignments lay scattered around the table. Ming Kai should have been back a long time ago, and they would usually head out to have dinner together before leaving for Judo training.

Strangely enough, Ming Kai didn't seem to even reply his messages or return his call. He had no idea what happened to him, nor where he disappeared to for that matter.

Terry arrived in the multipurpose hall for Judo practice, and there was still no sign of Ming Kai anywhere.

Terry consoled himself, reasoning that Ming Kai might just be caught up with assignments and deadlines. After all, it was nearing the end of the semester, which also marks the approach of the final examinations.

But this was the first time that he didn't even receive a courtesy text from him. Terry didn't know whether to be pissed or anxious about this.

"Where is Ming Kai today? Is he busy preparing for the finals or something?" asked one of the club members.

"No idea. He hasn't contacted me at all. You might be right about that," Terry replied.

Even though he said that, Terry wasn't entirely convinced himself. No matter how busy Ming Kai was, he would never fail to notify him of his absence. This time however, he hasn't even heard a single word the entire day. Since he wasn't sure when Ming Kai would return, Terry hid the access card to his room underneath one of his shoes and dropped Ming Kai a text.

Terry woke up the next morning. The room was still empty. He opened his door and check the shoe rack. His access card was still where he left it, meaning that Ming Kai did not return to the dorms at all.

A feeling of dread came over him as Terry quickly retrieved his phone from the bench top and dialed his number. What greeted him was a standard voicemail.

Terry didn't want to be overly paranoid about the situation, but he couldn't suppress the feeling of worry as he rushed out to the elevator.

"Woah!"

The two voices echoed in unison. Terry immediately entered the elevator once the doors opened, nearly crashing face first into the person who was trying to exit the lift.

"Where have you been the whole night!?" he asked in an exasperated voice.

"I stayed over at a friend's dorm, but my phone ran out of power, so I didn't manage to tell you about it. Worried?" The corners of Ming Kai's mouth twitched into a cheeky grin.

As a matter of fact he was! Terry woke up multiple times throughout the night to check if Ming Kai had returned. Those intermittent periods of sleep left him exhausted the next morning, his puffy eye bags were clear evidence of that.

"Of course! Thanks to you I didn't sleep a wink last night. It wasn't like you to not inform me. So...you have another friend who stays in campus?" There were several dormitories in the university, but most are located quite far away from each other. The building that Terry stayed in was recently constructed. It was fitted with one of the best facilities on campus. He had actually never been to other dorms before and was curious of the living conditions there.

Ming Kai walked toward Terry's room and took off his shoes. As he did, he said something that made Terry dumbstruck.

"Don't take this the wrong way, okay? I...was with Yu Lin last night." 

That sentence came like a thunderclap. There he was waiting all night for this guy to return, only to find out he had spent the night in some girl's room. Under normal circumstances, this would not have affected him in the least.

However, things were different when it came to Ming Kai. Furthermore, didn't Ming Kai mention that he wasn't interested? Then why did he stay the night in her room, no less? Any rational part of Terry was thrown out the window as he strode over to Ming Kai and grabbed him by the shoulder, shoving him with his back against the wall.

"What's your problem!?" 

Alarmed, Ming Kai smacked away the hands clutching his shoulders, but they quickly returned with a stronger grip.

"Didn't you say that you weren't interested in her?" Terry was subconsciously raising his voice at him and he didn't know why.

Was Terry assuming that they did something obscene together? Or did he actually have feelings for Chen Yu Lin? If it was the latter, then things would become really troublesome. 

Ming Kai gave his decision a lot of thought the night before, and decided to try dating Chen Yu Lin, even if he didn't actually like her romantically. Who knows, perhaps he might learn to like her in time.

After that, they proceeded with project discussions in her room, as it was more convenient for some of his group members staying in the same dormitory as her. However, the discussion ran late into the night and Ming Kai took up the offer to stay the night. Other than that, he did nothing indecent.

Ming Kai opened his mouth to explain, only to be interrupted by a sudden flash of movement.

In an instant, their lips met. Ming Kai didn't even have time to react to the sudden development.

Feelings of euphoria overcame him as he felt his brain lighting up like fireworks. His breathing became erratic, and his knees began to buckle. It was with great mental effort that he managed to shove Terry away, panting as he tried to catch his breath.

Ming Kai lifted his head and their eyes met. In that moment, he saw Terry's face contort with pain, the kind of emotional pain that anyone would feel when they were rejected. Ming Kai opened his mouth to say something, but before he could utter a word, Terry swiftly turned tail and left.

"I'm sorry," was all Ming Kai could hear before the doors slammed shut.

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End of Chapter