Bian Ting likes someone.
Meng Xin couldn’t quite put a finger on what he was feeling. It wasn’t sadness, but it wasn’t exactly joy either.
…Technically speaking, he should be happy for his bro.
“Is that true?” Meng Xin asked slowly. “Or was that just an excuse to reject him?”
“It’s true,” Bian Ting replied.
Meng Xin momentarily forgot to react. After a beat of silence, he finally managed an “Oh.”
He belatedly realized he should probably express some kind of happiness, so he quickly added a smile. “That’s great, Bian Ting.”
Bian Ting watched him closely, observing the bright grin on his face.
Meng Xin didn’t look any different than usual. He even patted Bian Ting on the shoulder like always. “I can’t believe you actually like someone!”
Bian Ting gave a small nod but sighed silently in his heart.
—
Meng Xin couldn’t sleep again.
His mind kept circling back to what Bian Ting had said earlier.
Bian Ting likes someone.
What kind of person did he like?
Bian Ting once mentioned that he liked cute people.
Was that person very cute?
Meng Xin felt a little unsettled.
If Bian Ting already liked someone, would he have a boyfriend soon?
After all, Bian Ting was so outstanding—who would turn him down?
A brother having a girlfriend and a brother having a boyfriend were two completely different things.
Plenty of his friends had gotten girlfriends before, but Meng Xin never minded. Even after dating, his bros could still play games together, go out for basketball, and grab hot pot rice noodles. Their friendships didn’t change just because one of them got a girlfriend.
But a boyfriend was different.
The things brothers could do, boyfriends could do too—sometimes even more.
If a brother had a boyfriend, that meant he now had an even closer and more important “brother.” And the original brother would end up… replaced.
That thought left Meng Xin feeling even more down.
This kind of subtle teenage turmoil wasn’t something he could share with Bian Ting himself, so he turned to his meal buddy—one of the only two gay friends he had.
Meng Xin sighed and texted: [Sigh.]
Fan Da replied almost instantly: [What did Bian Ting do this time?]
Meng Xin: [How do you know I was going to talk about Bian Ting? What if I wanted to say something else?]
Fan Da: [Alright, then what did you want to say?]
Meng Xin: [I was just thinking.]
Meng Xin: [If you guys—gay people—fall for someone, will you still remember your straight bros?]
Fan Da took one second to translate that into plain Chinese: [So at the end of the day, you just don’t want Bian Ting to date.]
Meng Xin shot back quickly: [No way! What does this have to do with Bian Ting? I was asking you!]
He repeated his question: [If you liked someone, would you forget about me?]
Fan Da: [Yes.]
Meng Xin: [.]
Meng Xin: [You’re so cold. You didn’t even bother to sugarcoat it.]
Fan Da: [I can be less cold. V me 50 bucks to unlock the “gentle version.” Payment first, service later.]
Meng Xin: [.] Never mind then.
Fan Da sent over a smug emoji and teased: [Bian Ting’s not cold. Why don’t you ask him?]
Then, in one simple sentence, he shattered Meng Xin’s concerns: [Relax, straight guys can ask gay guys who they like.]
—
Meng Xin was too curious.
After holding it in for a long time, he finally couldn’t resist anymore.
He started with a polite greeting: [Are you asleep?]
Bian Ting replied instantly: [No.]
Meng Xin shot up from bed like a spring.
Bundling himself in his blanket, he sat cross-legged and started typing: [Can I ask you a question?]
Bian Ting: [Go ahead.]
Meng Xin typed something out, then deleted it, then typed again. After much deliberation, he finally sent: [Are you going to start buying hot pot rice noodles for someone else now?]
As soon as he sent it, he felt like this question sounded off. Why did it make him seem like some jealous, scheming third party? He was a righteous, upstanding bro, okay?!
He quickly revised his wording: [I mean, will you still bring me hot pot rice noodles in the future?]
Bian Ting had someone he liked now. What if, from now on, he only bought noodles for that person and completely forgot about his straight bro?!
Bian Ting was silent for a moment.
Then, after a long pause, he sent just one word: [Yes.]
Meng Xin let out a small sigh of relief.
Good, good. This meant that his position in Bian Ting’s heart was still secure—for now.
He sent a crying emoji, captioned: [Bro, I love you.]
But right after sending it, he hesitated.
Would sending this kind of message to a gay guy be crossing some sort of boundary? Especially now that Bian Ting had a crush on someone?
Quickly, he retracted the message.
Then, he edited the caption from “Bro, I love you” to “Bro, I appreciate you” and resent it.
Thankfully, Bian Ting didn’t seem to notice anything off and didn’t comment on it.
Meng Xin: [Can I ask you a few more questions?]
Bian Ting: [Go ahead.]
Meng Xin: [Just curious… Who do you like?]
Before Bian Ting could respond, Meng Xin bombarded him with follow-ups:
[A college classmate? Someone from our school? Same year as us? Same major? A classmate? Do I know them? Have you ever mentioned them to me?]
Meng Xin: [Are they really cute?]
Bian Ting: [Why are you so curious?]
Meng Xin: [Because I care about you.]
Meng Xin: [You’re my best bro!!!]
Bian Ting: [You really want to know?]
Meng Xin: [Yes, yes!]
Bian Ting: [Not telling you.]
Meng Xin: [Ahhh!!!]
Meng Xin pulled out his ultimate weapon: [Pretty please?]
But tonight, even that didn’t work. Bian Ting remained unmoved and even said: [Straight guys aren’t allowed to be curious about this.]
Meng Xin: [Why?]
Bian Ting: [You’ll turn gay.]
Meng Xin: [.]
Bian Ting: [Still curious?]
Meng Xin felt like Bian Ting had him in a chokehold. With a heart full of sorrow, he reluctantly typed a single word: [No.]
Meng Xin: [Alright, then… How is he as a person?]
Bian Ting: [He’s great.]
Meng Xin lowered his eyes and stared at those three words.
For Bian Ting, saying “he’s great” was probably the highest compliment possible.
Was he really that great? Meng Xin thought sourly.
Meng Xin: [Can I ask you one more question?]
Bian Ting: [Go ahead.]
Meng Xin finally asked the most crucial question—the one he wanted to know the most: [Are you going to confess and date him?]
Bian Ting: [No.]
Bian Ting: [He doesn’t know.]
Bian Ting: [And he doesn’t like me.]
Meng Xin: [Huh?]
Meng Xin: [You’re crushing on someone?!]
Bian Ting: [Mm.]
Meng Xin suddenly felt like he might’ve accidentally touched on something painful. He paused, unsure of what to say.
Feeling guilty, he typed: [Sorry, Bian Ting. I didn’t mean to. QAQ]
Bian Ting: [It’s fine.]
—
Meng Xin lay in bed, sulking.
Who the hell was this guy? How could he not like Bian Ting?
If he didn’t like Bian Ting, was he even human?!
Bian Ting—his closest bro, the school’s most handsome, outstanding, and disciplined guy—reduced to having a secret crush?
And Bian Ting even said, “He’s great.”
But no—he wasn’t great at all!
If he didn’t like Bian Ting, then he was not a good person!
—
That day, Bian Ting was supposed to have dinner with Zhang Yiming. As usual, he asked Meng Xin if he wanted to come.
Meng Xin always said no because he wasn’t that close to Zhang Yiming.
Bian Ting wasn’t expecting anything different this time, but to his surprise, Meng Xin suddenly said yes.
So Bian Ting messaged Zhang Yiming to let him know that Meng Xin was coming too.
He didn’t try to hide his phone, so Meng Xin caught a glimpse of their chat. He didn’t read the messages in detail, but he could tell that Bian Ting texted Zhang Yiming regularly.
A thought suddenly popped into Meng Xin’s mind.
Could Zhang Yiming be the person Bian Ting liked?
Meng Xin thought about it for a moment. It wasn’t entirely impossible.
If it was Zhang Yiming…
As he was pondering, Zhang Yiming replied to Bian Ting’s message: [OK, finally, I get to meet a certain someone~]
The tone was casual and familiar.
Meng Xin couldn’t help but ask, “Have you guys always been this close?”
Bian Ting replied, “Not bad. We’ve known each other for a while.”
Meng Xin followed up, “Is he the one you like?”
“No.” Bian Ting barely frowned, showing just the right amount of non-malicious disdain.
Meng Xin was very familiar with that expression—it was the same look he himself gave when his friends jokingly said, “Bro, I love you.”
Feeling relieved, Meng Xin responded, “Oh.”
—
Zhang Yiming was naturally sociable, completely unbothered by awkwardness. As soon as they met, he nodded at Meng Xin. “Hey, bro, I’m Zhang Yiming.”
Meng Xin already knew who he was—Bian Ting had mentioned him before as a high school friend.
He greeted him back. “Meng Xin.”
Oddly enough, even though they’d never met before, Zhang Yiming seemed very familiar with him.
“Oh, I know.” Zhang Yiming wiggled his eyebrows mischievously and said in a weird tone, “A certain someone, hmm~”
Meng Xin was confused. “Huh? What are you talking about?”
“Cough, cough, I mean—HOLY SHIT! Bian Ting!!!”
Bian Ting kicked him in the butt without mercy.
Meng Xin was even more confused. “What happened?”
“He talks too much,” Bian Ting said. “Ignore him.”
Zhang Yiming clutched his backside and sneered. “… Heh.”
Meng Xin was still curious. “How did you know I was Meng Xin?”
“Bian Ting talks about you all the time.” Zhang Yiming gave him a meaningful smirk. “I’ve heard so much about you, Meng Xin.”
That reminded Meng Xin of something. Twice before, he had overheard Bian Ting talking about him—to Zhang Yiming, no less.
“Oh, I heard it last time,” Meng Xin pouted. “He told you I could only be a friend, not boyfriend material.”
“Ahaha, so you did hear that.” Zhang Yiming looked a little awkward for once. He quickly tried to backtrack. “But we weren’t really saying anything bad! Just, you know, that you’re very straight.”
Meng Xin waved it off. “I know, Bian Ting already told me.”
If they had actually been trash-talking him, he would’ve cut ties with Bian Ting ages ago.
—
During dinner, Meng Xin learned that Zhang Yiming was also gay.
At this point, he had become completely desensitized to how many gay people were at their school. It wasn’t even surprising anymore.
“You figured it out in high school?” Meng Xin asked.
“Nah, I’ve been gay since birth,” Zhang Yiming said proudly.
“What about Bian Ting?”
“Bian Ting? Oh, he’s different.” Zhang Yiming propped his chin on his hand and smirked at Meng Xin. “He had a sudden awakening one day.”
—
When Bian Ting went to the restroom, Meng Xin seized the chance to ask Zhang Yiming:
“You know Bian Ting likes someone?”
“Of course!” Zhang Yiming gave him a surprised look. “You know too?”
So Zhang Yiming also knew.
And judging by his reaction, he had known before Meng Xin did.
A strange feeling crept up inside Meng Xin.
Curiosity got the best of him. He asked, “Then do you know what kind of person Bian Ting likes?”
“Huh?” Zhang Yiming looked even more surprised. “You don’t know?”
Meng Xin frowned. “Am I supposed to?”
“…Wow.” Zhang Yiming shook his head. “So you really don’t know.”
“The person he likes—”
Zhang Yiming sighed heavily, as if burdened with an unspeakable sorrow. “—is a super straight guy.”
Meng Xin asked, “Like, really straight?”
Zhang Yiming nodded solemnly. “Painfully straight.”
His expression was so grave that it looked almost… tragic.
Meng Xin asked, “How straight are we talking?”
Zhang Yiming thought for a moment and said, “Put it this way… he’s just like you.”
“……”
“……”
Meng Xin had enough self-awareness to admit, “Uh… okay, yeah. That’s pretty straight.”
“Right?” Zhang Yiming said. “You get it now.”
Bian Ting actually had feelings for someone as straight as him?
Meng Xin suddenly felt a little bad for Bian Ting. “That’s gotta suck for him.”
“Yeah, it sucks.” Zhang Yiming shrugged. “But what can you do? Falling for straight guys is the fate of all gays.”
They both fell into a shared silence.
“……”
“……”
Zhang Yiming sighed. “Ugh, damn straight guys.”
Meng Xin echoed, “Yeah, damn straight guys.”
Leave a Reply