Chapter 22

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Chapter 22, Happiness

A lot of people came and went from the school entrance, students of all sorts walked past the two of them. However, the way Nie Haixia was dressed was completely out of place compared to the others.

His phone suddenly rang, but Ye Zi froze in place for a long time before he finally picked up.

Hare’s voice emerged from the other end of the phone. “Ah Zi, why did you leave? I bought lunch back.”

Ye Zi did not say anything. There were chills over his body and his fingers were shaking.

Not hearing a response, Hare continued to ask, “Hello? Can you hear me? Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Ye Zi’s voice was trembling slightly. “She…She’s not dead…”

“Who?”

“Nie Haixia. I saw her. She…”

Ye Zi’s voice halted abruptly. His eyes went wide in disbelief.

Nie Haixia was just standing in the crowd a moment ago, but now there’s no sign of her at all!

Ye Zi couldn’t even bother with his phone anymore. He went straight to the guard at the entrance to ask if he had seen a girl. A girl with a bright red umbrella and a white dress. The guard shook his head and said, “You see the devil or something, kid? I’ve been standing here the whole time and I didn’t see nobody with a red umbrella. Tell you what, not many people even use plain red umbrellas these days. It’d be quite obvious if someone like that did show up.”

…

When Hare rushed over, Ye Zi was sitting on the bench with his head down, hair in a mess. A warm breeze was flowing through the leaves as they left mottled shadows under the sunlight.

Hare stepped in front of him, caught Ye Zi’s hand, and rubbed it gently. “What happened?”

Ye Zi murmured, “I saw Haixia. She was holding a red umbrella and standing behind me. I was the only one who saw her…And it’s not just her, I saw that old woman earlier today as well…Even though I watched her die with my own eyes…Ah, that’s right. I saw Jiang Wei’s figure across the road as well a long time ago…What on earth is going on? Are they spirits? Are they here for revenge?”

“They’re not spirits, they’re already dead. They can’t hurt you. It’s just a hallucination.”

Ye Zi’s brows creased into a deep frown. “Why am I seeing these things? Am I…sick?”

Hare frowned. His eyes were slightly red. In the next instant, he swept Ye Zi into his arms, not caring about their surroundings. “Why don’t we go to the hospital this afternoon? You’ll be fine, everything’s going to be fine.”

※ ※ ※

Both of them took leave from school and went to the hospital that afternoon to get Ye Zi’s eyes and ears checked, but the tests came out fine. In order to keep the secret between the two of them, they did not visit the psychiatric department directly. Instead, Hare brought Ye Zi to another psychiatrist, one of his family’s private doctors who can keep a secret. After dinner, Hare brought him to the private clinic where Ye Zi and the doctor talked in the room for more than two hours.

When it was over, the psychiatrist told Ye Zi not to worry. His condition wasn’t serious and it wasn’t schizophrenia anything, but the hallucinations were caused by and overload of anxiety from his recent continuous encounters with stressful events. As for the tinnitus and dizziness, that was just anaemia and his weak constitution. What he needs now is to relax, get some rest, and to put his mind on different things.

It was blue hour by the time Ye Zi came out. The layers of buildings had become black silhouettes under the bluish hue of the night sky. Dark grey clouds twisted in the sky and a smooth pink shade could be seen above the horizon. The orange street lights spread out across the avenue, lining up all the way to the winding hills in the distance before fading out.

As a warm breeze blew over, the two men breathed sighs of relief.

“Are you all right, Ah Zi?” Hare asked.

Ye Zi looked at the fading haze of colors in the sky and said, “I’ll be honest, what happened today really scared me. I thought I had some sort of serious illness, but thank god…”

“Can you still walk?”

Ye Zi froze for a moment. Only then did he feel the pain emanating from his lower body. It stung and felt sore. It was definitely swollen down there.

His face turned red in an instant and he was covered in unease. After struggling with his embarrassment for some time, he muttered a curse, “You bastard, this is your fault!”

Hare’s face was also a little red. “I’m sorry…I went overboard yesterday. Today as well, I don’t think I cleaned up well enough. I didn’t put on any medicine either. I’ll do it for you tonight, okay?”

Ye Zi felt so ashamed that he covered Hare’s mouth. “Shut up! What if someone hears…Ah…”

Accidentally, he let out a soft yelp.

He could vividly remember everything that happened last night, and all at once, Ye Zi’s body suddenly felt sensitive. So, it took only one small lick on the palm from Hare and his lower half went numb while his heart was beating rapidly.

But Hare didn’t do anything else that was out of place.

He put his slightly cool hands over the back of Ye Zi’s hand and looked at Ye Zi with lashes fluttered down. His eyes were deep and dark, his cheeks slightly red, and there was a tone of amusement in his voice. “Ah Zi, do you know how happy I feel right now?”

Ye Zi raised a brow. “How much?”

“I never thought I could kiss the palm of your hand like this. I never thought I could bond with you, just like last night…Frankly, I don’t think I have any regrets left even if I die in the next moment.”

“…Cut the corny stuff.”

“I’ll carry you on my back.”

“Oh…Huh?”

“I’ll carry you, Ah Zi. We’re still some ways from home and there aren’t any cabs around, so just let me carry you.”

“But what if people see…”

Hare chuckled. “If you bury your head on my back then no one will see.”

On that night, Hare carried Ye Zi on his back. From dusk, he carried him on his back until night fell. From unfamiliar suburbs, carried back to familiar streets.

In the cool night breeze, Hare requested for the first time that they live together.

He said, “The doctor says you’re anemic and your body is lethargic. Your diet is also unbalanced. Why don’t you move in with me? I’ll cook for you every day, I’ll go exercising with you and we can relax together. You’ll definitely get better soon.”

Ye Zi leaned on his back and put on a sweet smile in secret, yet he still spoke in a proud tone. “Tsk…Have you ever seen a kid take care of an adult?”

Hare was discontent. “I’m not a kid anymore. I’m eighteen.”

“You’re a senior high school student, how are you going to find the time to take care of someone? Speaking of which, isn’t it going to be a problem for your grades if you keep missing your studies like this?”

Hare smiled. “I’ll be fine.”

Ye Zi didn’t believe him. “What place did you rank on the most recent exam?”

“Third.”

“Third?!?!”

Only then did Ye Zi remembered what those girls were gossiping about back then. They said that Hare had really good grades and would come out on the top three every test. Ye Zi didn’t believe it at all back then. He figured that if he had to ask him to tutor him, then how good could he be…?

Ye Zi had an unkindly expression. “You liar!”

Hare was puzzled. “?”

“If your grades are so good, then why did you ask me to tutor you still?!”

Hare smiled innocently. “I like the way you read out your lectures…”

But before Hare could finish speaking, his voice came to an abrupt halt. That was because a certain someone on his back had left a string of bite marks on his shoulder, and he didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry about it.

※ ※ ※

It was impossible for him to say that he didn’t want them to live together, but his situation really doesn’t allow it before graduating.

Senior year in university comes with a lot of work. He had to write papers like his life depended on it and constantly revising them with lecturers. Working out the format alone took several days. From October onwards, practically every student was busy looking for a job, and who knows how many resumes he sent out and how many cover letters he wrote. At his busiest, when he was studying for his finals, he was constantly revising his papers and there were so many books he had to read. He even had to take his level 6 English exams. For insurance, he also had to prepare for the civil service exams and think about whether he wants to take the postgraduate entrance examination and etcetera.

Speaking of October, there was another big event coming up, which is the birth of a new daughter for Ye Zi’s mother. She was given a nice name, called Liu Ruoyan. Childdren were very little when they were just borrn. Lying next to Han Yao, she had a red and frowny face and her eyes had not opened yet. Ye Zi would run over to the hospital whenever he was free to chat with his mother and to play with the little baby.

No matter what, Hare was still a senior high school student. He was most definitely busy.

However, no matter how busy they were, the two would definitely talk on the phone each day and text each other constantly. Whenever they had a bit of free time, they wouldn’t be able to help running over to each other. As long as the two were together, even a single word, even if they were merely standing together, or even just looking at each other filled them with enough happiness to put a smile on their faces.

If they did not see each other for three days, then Ye Zi would definitely miss Hare plenty. When that happens, he would keep on looking at his phone. Even when he was doing work on his computer, he would still keep QQ open. He wouldn’t help himself from looking down when he was relaxing on the balcony, looking left and right at the canteen, or going to the school gates to look during the evening.

Sometimes it felt quite amazing, because Hare would always appear when he really, really wanted to see him, just like magic. Take for example, one time he had been thinking about Hare for the whole afternoon, and his phone rang after that. When he ran to the balcony and looked down, sure enough, he saw Hare standing right below, dmiling in the dappled sunlight and calling out his name.

There was another time when he failed a job interview with a large company. He really wanted to see Hare, and just as he send Hare a text saying “I want to see you”, it didn’t take long before he saw Hare running over to him, panting for breath…

Of course, Hare wasn’t the only one looking for Ye Zi now, Ye Zi would go to Hare’s school to see him too. He never had to ask anyone. Ye Zi could easily find Hare just by going to Year 3 Class 1.

When he went, Hare was doing a worksheet in the classroom.

Hare pressed against the window and watched him carefully.

Hare was sitting by the window in the back row, left hand holding up his jaw while he wrote on the paper with his right. His fair cheeks were shapely and handsome, and he could see his light hair laying on the sides of his face and the back of his neck.

After the bell rang, he handed in his paper and stood up. Immediately, students began surrounding him, and girls approached him with questions.

But after taking his phone out and taking a look, he immediately stood up and strode out of the classroom, only to be surprised by the sight of Ye Zi who was leaning against the wall.

“Ah Zi…Why are you…”

Ye Zi smiled. “I want to see you. What? Am I not welcome?”

“No! Of course you’re welcome!”

As he spoke, Hare took Ye Zi’s wrist, passed through the crowd, and headed upstairs.

Ye Zi asked, confused, “Huh, where are we going? You guys haven’t finished your self-study yet, right?”

“To the rooftop. No one’s there. It’s self-study next class so it’s fine even if I skip.”

“Can you skip self-study? You can’t do that even if you have good grades, can you? Your teacher will cry…”

“I’m so happy that you came to see me that I could cry too.”

“Hey buddy, isn’t that an exaggeration…Mph!”

Before they could reach the rooftop, Hare caught his shoulders and buried his head down towards his lips for a kiss.

In the middle of their kiss, Ye Zi chuffed, “Hey, no need to rush, kiddo…”

“I’m not a kid…”

But Hare swallowed down the rest of his words.

The two men kissed on the stairwell, all the way until they arrived at the rooftop. Ye Zi slid along the wall and fell to the ground as Hare unbuttoned his shirt and laid kisses down his jaw.

At moments like these, it seemed like the millions of street lights and bustle of the crowds in this bright and noisy city disappeared.

As if the two of them were the only ones left in the world.

As if they had become two stars, burning and twinkling until the end of time.

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