ASSHKHME Chapter 27

Chapter 27: An Eerie Peace

Chen Zhuo leaned against the display cabinet, lifted the beer can to his lips, and swallowed the liquid as his Adam’s apple bobbed.

After staring at Xie Yu intently for a moment, he commented, “Mm, handsome, and objectively so.”

With Xie Yu’s family background and looks, he had received countless compliments and was long immune to them.

But hearing Chen Zhuo say this, he couldn’t help but feel secretly pleased, as if only Chen Zhuo’s praise held any value.

Looking like he wanted to suppress a smile, but the corners of his mouth betrayed his will and kept rising, Xie Yu cleared his throat, “Ahem, you have good taste.”

Chen Zhuo chuckled softly, his lips, moistened by the beer, curving into a delicate arc, “So narcissistic.”

Xie Yu’s gaze landed on Chen Zhuo’s lips, as if he could still see the wound he had caused. Almost involuntarily, he said, “You’re actually quite, quite good-looking too.”

Chen Zhuo paused, looking up at him.

Xie Yu seemed to snap back to reality, taking a few steps back to widen the distance between them, and tapped his fist lightly against his nose, “Ahem, commercial flattery, you know?”

Chen Zhuo didn’t quite understand, and his gaze slowly shifted away, only to notice a grand piano by the French window. This time, he was genuinely surprised, sizing Xie Yu up and down, “Yours?”

Xie Yu crossed his arms, “What? Doesn’t seem like it? My mom forced me to learn when I was little, saying that when I grew up, I could put on a show, and even play it for the girls I liked.”

Chen Zhuo laughed, only saying, “Your aunt is quite farsighted.”

Xie Yu was a little disappointed. He thought Chen Zhuo might want to hear him play. “Ahem, do you want to try? I can teach you.”

Being in the same room again, it was inevitable that their thoughts would drift to that thunderstorm night when they had slept together.

Chen Zhuo silently repeated “suspension bridge effect” in his mind, the beer can in his hand being crushed into a dent. He changed the subject, “Xie Yu, why are you always coughing? Is it really tuberculosis?”

“…”

After a moment of silence, Xie Yu suddenly strode towards Chen Zhuo, held his shoulders, and lowered his head.

Chen Zhuo’s eyes widened slightly at his approaching movement. Anyone would think this was the prelude to a kiss. He frantically pushed against Xie Yu’s chest.

But before he could speak, Xie Yu had already “ha”-ed a breath at him, his voice fierce with the smell of alcohol, “To infect you!”

Chen Zhuo was speechless and amused, pushing him away, “Are you sick? Childish!”

Xie Yu “humphed” twice, turned and rummaged through the closet, throwing a set of pajamas and brand-new underwear at Chen Zhuo, “You wash here, I’ll wash in the small bathroom outside.”

Chen Zhuo picked up the briefs on his shoulder, hesitant, “Are these ones you’ve worn?”

Xie Yu scoffed, “You wish! They’re new, but they might be a little big.”

Chen Zhuo didn’t reply, glancing at him sideways, and tipped his head back to finish the beer.

After crushing the can, he threw it directly at Xie Yu, then turned and walked towards the bathroom, his movements smooth and seamless, not caring about Xie Yu’s well-being at all.

Xie Yu caught the “weapon” flying towards his forehead in mid-air, looked at the closed bathroom door, tossed the can in his hand a few times, and threw it into the trash can, “What a temper.”

Picking up his own change of clothes, Xie Yu wanted to go out when he suddenly remembered that the storage cabinet in the bathroom only contained his used bath towels and bathrobes, and there were no new ones.

Xie Yu went straight to the door, intending to knock and inform Chen Zhuo of the situation, when he heard the sound of water inside. He paused.

Hot water cascaded down, and the bathroom instantly filled with swirling steam.

Chen Zhuo closed his eyes and brushed his wet curly hair back, the water flowing down the curves of his body.

Being expensive was definitely justified. The water stream was gentle and soothing on his body, a thousand times better than the unstable water pressure in the dormitories, where bathing was difficult when the water flow was small, and you felt like your skull would be pierced when the water flow was large.

Chen Zhuo hummed a song, not knowing that Xie Yu had stood at the door for two minutes before leaving.

Chen Zhuo, who came out after washing for half an hour, was covered in dampness, and bumped into Xie Yu, who was returning from outside.

Chen Zhuo had already changed into Xie Yu’s pajamas, which were a little loose on him, revealing his collarbones.

His hair had been half-dried with a hair dryer and was curlier than usual, and his face was flushed white and red from the steam.

Chen Zhuo looked at Xie Yu, who usually only took ten minutes to finish a shower, “I only found one set of bath towels, and there were no spare towels, so I used your bath towel and towel. If you mind, you can throw them away.”

Xie Yu looked Chen Zhuo up and down without batting an eye. The faint citrus scent seemed to be mixed with the scent of his shower gel. He scratched his palm and said nonchalantly, “I’m not a germaphobe, just use them.”

Hearing him say this, Chen Zhuo didn’t say anything more.

Picking up his phone, he saw calls from Zhao Jiashu and Li Ang, and realized that he had forgotten to tell them that they had gone out.

Chen Zhuo “Tsk” in annoyance, “Damn it, I didn’t say hi to Little Tree and Li Zi. It’s nine o’clock, I guess the dormitory people have finished checking the rooms, won’t they record us both for not returning overnight? Will the counselor contact our parents again?”

Xie Yu kicked off his slippers and got into bed, comforting him, “Don’t worry, I called them back. Oh, right, our classmate Zhao Jiashu has gloriously become a reserve for the dormitory people. We can go through the back door in the future.”

Chen Zhuo breathed a sigh of relief, “That’s good.”

Xie Yu said seemingly unintentionally, “Are you very afraid of the counselor contacting Xu Qingyou? Aren’t you two on good terms? He’s not that much older, why are you afraid of him?”

Chen Zhuo lay on the bed and chatted with him, “How do I put it? We’re on very good terms. We grew up together. Qingyou-ge treats me like his own brother, but…”

Xie Yu curiously asked, “But what?”

Chen Zhuo glanced at Xie Yu sideways. He wasn’t sure how much Xie Yu knew about his affairs, but as long as Xie Yu asked his mother, he would definitely know. So he didn’t intend to hide anything.

“After all, we’re not related by blood. The Xu family has been kind enough to take care of me for the past ten years, I can’t always cause him trouble.”

Chen Zhuo chuckled softly, the laughter a bit lonely and desolate, “After all, I’m an adult, and I should learn to be responsible for myself.”

Xie Yu couldn’t see Chen Zhuo’s expression, but he always felt that he was sad.

So he placed his palm on the top of his hair and gently rubbed it a few times, a very gentle gesture of comfort.

Chen Zhuo’s hair ends swayed slightly, and for a moment, he didn’t know what to do.

He should refuse, but he really liked Xie Yu’s dry, warm palm.

Silence seemed to equate to permission.

After a long while, Chen Zhuo shook off Xie Yu’s hand, glared at him, “Are you petting a dog? You messed up my hairstyle.”

Xie Yu laughed twice.

It was strange. They usually lived under the same roof, and when they were in the dormitory, they would be at each other’s throats and couldn’t help but bicker.

But out of the dormitory, in a closed space with only the two of them, there was an eerie peace.

Chen Zhuo didn’t want to define this eerie peace as ambiguous.

Because there was no thunder outside at this time, he was very rational and sober.

The saying “Homophobia is deep closet” didn’t have scientific data to support it, it was just something he used to disgust Xie Yu.

Teasing him to find some fun was okay, but falling for him was unnecessary.

Xie Yu was straight.

There would be no good ending to liking a straight man.

His miserable life didn’t need another addition.