Apartment 4F

5: How one decides to be gay

Dylan was stunned.

After her proclamation about his sexuality and swearing on her ancestors never to divulge his "secret", she had grabbed her clothes and bolted out of the confined space, without giving him a chance to correct her.

He could only stare after her in confounded amazement.

Why the hell did she think he was gay??

Okay, so he could be a little handsy at times with his male friends (especially Xi Zi), but that was just him playing around and being clingy (only-child syndrome) - nobody had ever accused him of being gay before.

Dylan couldn't help but find this whole situation mildly amusing. He decided, then and there, that Shen Yue was the most interesting girl he had ever met.

Her misconception about his sexual orientation had also given him an idea.

He headed back to his room and picked up his phone. In the short span of time that he had gone to help Yue with the cockroach problem, he had almost 80 new WeChat messages, and 29 missed calls; 14 of the calls were from Sun Qian, a cheerleader he had made the mistake of kissing on a freshman dare.

He decided to start with her, and pressed her name on his phone screen.

"No," Dylan said into his phone, the second she picked up.

"I haven't even said anything!?"

"Whatever you are going to say, or ask, I know the answer is no. It's like I'm psychic."

"Wang He Di."

"Sun Qian. For the hundredth time, it is not going to work between us - I'm not interested in you in the way you want me to be."

"You haven't even tried to be interested."

Tired of where their repetitive conversation was going, he decided to put his new plan into action.

"It's not you, okay. I'm just not interested in women in general." He let those last words sink in, hoping she'd get the hint.

She didn't.

"Maybe you haven't found the right woman."

By this point, Dylan was a tad confused. Didn't this mean she wasn't the right woman? He concluded that subtlety wasn't going to work; he was going to have to be a lot more direct.

"Sun Qian. I'm gay."

"What."

"I'm gay," he repeated, even though he was certain she had heard him the first time.

In the pensive silence that ensued, he could almost hear the wheels turning in Sun Qian's head, working in overdrive to process this new conundrum he had introduced. He played a game with himself guessing how she would possibly respond, but she still managed to floor him in the end.

"... Are you going to sophomore prom with Cheng Xiao?"

...

What the fa- ?

Dylan couldn't keep the incredulity out of his voice. "Why would I be going to prom with Cheng Xiao??"

"Because you're the basketball captain, and she's cheer captain," Sun Qian answered matter-of-factly, as though she had not understood a single thing he had earlier said. Also, wasn't Cheng Xiao with Yibo? What the -

"Sorry but I may be missing something here... is Cheng Xiao actually secretly a man hiding a penis under that short cheerleading skirt? Because I fail to see..."

The line disconnected, and he stared at his phone in disbelief.

Amazing. Unbelievable.

This was the first time Sun Qian had ever hung up on him first. If he had known, he would have pretended to be gay much sooner.

Pleased with the outcome, he continued down the list.

__________

Forty minutes later, Dylan realised this would take much longer than he had expected. Some of the girls were genuinely sweet; he felt a tinge of guilt for deceiving them.

"I'm sorry... It's not you, it's me," he tried to reassure his classmate, Dong Xin, who was also known as Claire.

"It's okay, Dylan," Claire replied, sniffling, "in fact, because of you, I have been inspired to campaign for the rights of homosexuals, in China, and all over the world...!"

"Urm... oh- okay... ?"

"Everyone deserves the freedom to love, especially you, Dylan..."

By the time he had gotten to the last few, he had run out of patience and energy. The calls became a lot more succinct.

"Dylannnnnnnnn! You finally called back!"

"I'm gay."

"Huh?"

"Bye now."

He collapsed onto his bed, tossing his phone onto the bedside table. After waking up from a much deserved nap, Dylan checked his phone again.

Zero calls. Zero new messages.

Smiling to himself, he leaned back against the headrest, crossing his arms behind his head.

Peace, at last.

__________

Author's Note:

Guys, of course he is not gay haha. I mean that in real life also - I don't know how else to explain except that his vibe feels... straight? If not then I think it's quite funny how there are so many (thirsty) fanfics about him ahah.

1. I am a DiYue/ Dyshen shipper.
2. I am hashtag basic. I can only think of this type of hashtag basic plots, where he is not really gay. Making him really gay is whole new dimension of complex in terms of the plot resolution, since I need to make him end up with Yue (see point 1).
3. Notice this story is marked as mature... Which means at some point I am going to struggle to write a "mature scene"... if you have somehow read my previous story, you would know I already can't and keep using the same words/ description over and over again, unlike the other pro DiYue writers/lemonistas out there (I'm sure you all know who they are - I see you fanning yourselves in their comment sections haha). Now, did anyone really expect me to write a "mature scene" between Di and Xi Zi??? (Hahaha 😳 who is the top and who is the bottom 🧐🤔)

"Jokes" aside, I must thank you once again for reading, for all your heartening comments in the previous chapters (and to those who left super nice messages on twitter, that I don't know how to properly reply because I don't really understand twitter) - thank you so much.

P.s. for those who are thinking, why is she here again (she's everywhere really haha), I promise that here her (fleeting) role is more slapstick/ comedic than irritating.

Okay, till next time!

✌🏽Asian Fangirl