Meng Xin’s face was on fire. He threw himself onto his bed as if fleeing from battle.
This maneuver was all too familiar. It took Bian Ting less than a second to decode the unspoken message behind it:
—I’m going to sleep. You’re not allowed to talk or make a sound!
Bian Ting walked over and tapped on the edge of Meng Xin’s bed, separated by the curtain. “How long are you sleeping this time?”
Meng Xin buried himself under his blanket and rolled around on his pillow in embarrassment. He shouted, “Twenty-four hours!”
“Alright. I’ll come find you at this time tomorrow.”
Meng Xin didn’t respond.
After a while, Huang Wenjie and Gao Yinghang returned to the dorm.
The room was completely dark when they walked in. Gao Yinghang was surprised. “Huh? Are they both out?”
Huang Wenjie looked confused. “I don’t think so. Should I ask in the group chat?”
Just as he said that, someone’s phone screen lit up in the room, casting a faint glow.
Gao Yinghang followed the light and asked curiously, “Wait, Bian Ting, you’re here? Why didn’t you turn on the light?”
“Bian Ting’s here,” he said, glancing at the silent bed. He lowered his voice. “Meng Xin’s sleeping.”
Huang Wenjie checked the time and mouthed, “Eight o’clock? Sleeping? Is he even a real college student?”
Everyone knew that sleeping until 8 PM was totally normal for a university student. But going to bed at 8 PM? That was weird.
Still, they chose to respect it. The dorm fell into a quiet hush, and even Gao Yinghang tiptoed to the bathroom to take a shower.
Feeling guilty, Meng Xin quickly texted Huang Wenjie and Gao Yinghang:
[I’m not actually asleep. You guys can turn on the light and talk. Just do whatever you want, don’t worry about me.]
The moment Huang Wenjie got the message, he immediately looked up at Meng Xin’s bed and yelled, “Meng Xin! If you’re awake, just say it! Why are you texting instead?”
Meng Xin didn’t know how to respond. So, he did the only thing he could think of—he flopped onto his bed and played dead.
But even with the blanket over his head, he still heard someone in the dorm chuckle softly.
The person said, “I’m going out for a bit.”
A moment later, the sound of the door opening and closing echoed through the room.
It took a while before Meng Xin finally peeked his head out from under the blanket.
He carefully lifted a corner of the bed curtain and confirmed that Bian Ting was indeed gone from the dorm.
Meng Xin let out a sigh of relief.
But that relief barely lasted a second before his phone vibrated. The screen lit up with a new message.
Bian Ting: [One kiss and you won’t even talk to me? Is my mouth poisonous or something?]
Meng Xin’s hand shook violently, and he let out an uncontrollable “ahhh!” Nearly flinging his phone across the room.
Huang Wenjie, startled by the noise, asked, “What happened? You okay?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Meng Xin blurted out a little lie. “My phone hit my face.”
“Man, that hurts! You gotta be more careful,” Huang Wenjie winced just thinking about it. “But as long as you’re good.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”
Meng Xin’s face was burning red. His mind felt like mush as he typed out a response to Bian Ting.
Meng Xin: [You’re not allowed to talk to me for the next 24 hours!!!]
Bian Ting: [Not even on WeChat?]
Meng Xin: [NO!!!!!!!!!!!]
Bian Ting: [Alright.]
And then, Bian Ting really stopped messaging him.
But just because Bian Ting wasn’t texting didn’t mean he had disappeared.
The dorm door wasn’t exactly soundproof, so Meng Xin soon overheard voices from the hallway.
It sounded like someone from the neighboring dorm had passed by and noticed Bian Ting standing outside.
“Bian Ting? What are you doing out here?”
“Got kicked out.”
“Whoa, who the hell has the guts to do that to you?”
“A little mute.”
“No way. With how much y’all in your dorm talk,” the guy said, confused. “Isn’t each one louder than the next?”
“Mm,” Bian Ting replied. “But this one just got poisoned mute by me today.”
Meng Xin couldn’t take it anymore. He grabbed his phone and shot off a message.
Meng Xin: [Get back in here!!!!!!]
—
Meng Xin buried himself under the blankets, furiously spamming SOS messages to Fan Da.
His heart still hadn’t calmed down. After sending a flood of “save me” texts, he followed up with several dramatic reaction stickers.
Fan Da: [Explain.]
Meng Xin: [You’ll never guess what I did today—ahhhhhhhhhh!!!]
Thinking about it, Meng Xin buried his face into his pillow and punched his blanket a few times with his free hand. But instead of saying what exactly had happened, he sent a whole screen full of gibberish.
Fan Da, relying on his incredible comprehension skills, somehow managed to extract a bit of meaning from all the nonsense.
Fan Da: [You’re this worked up… what happened between you and Bian Ting?]
Fan Da: [Did you confess to him?]
Meng Xin: [No.]
Fan Da: [Then… did you kiss him?]
The moment Meng Xin saw that word, he lost it and sent an entire screen full of “ahhhhhhhhhhh.”
Fan Da immediately followed up with a definitive statement:
Fan Da: [You kissed Bian Ting.]
Meng Xin: [AHHHHHHHHH WHAT DO I DO??? I’ve only been “gay” for like, a few days!!!]
He had just started processing being into guys, and now he had already kissed one?!
Fan Da: [Damn, this is a tough one. But don’t worry, I just looked it up for you. If you get pregnant, you can use the student health insurance.]
Meng Xin: [?]
Fan Da: [?]
Meng Xin: [Do you even know what you’re saying right now?]
Fan Da: [Oh, so you do know that kissing a guy won’t get you pregnant.]
Meng Xin: [.] (speechless)
Fan Da: [Dude, it’s just a kiss. What’s the big deal?]
Meng Xin: [Then what am I supposed to do now?!]
Fan Da sent three words:
Fan Da: [Make him yours.]
—
Bian Ting really didn’t say a single word to Meng Xin all day. But he did set an alarm.
Exactly 24 hours after the kiss, as soon as the alarm rang, he showed up by Meng Xin’s bed.
Meng Xin had gotten so paranoid that the moment he heard Bian Ting’s footsteps, he dove under his blanket. By the time Bian Ting returned to the dorm at 8 PM, the place was dead silent—like no one was there at all.
But Bian Ting knew Meng Xin was inside. He walked up and knocked on the edge of the bed.
Bian Ting: “Time’s up.”
Time was up… but Meng Xin still had no idea how to talk to him.
After thinking it over, he grabbed his phone.
He opened Bian Ting’s chat window.
Meng Xin: [Let’s just talk like this.]
Bian Ting stood beside the bed, with nothing but a thin curtain between them.
And yet, they had to use WeChat.
Bian Ting: [Was my poison that strong? You still can’t talk after 24 hours?]
Meng Xin: [I just wanna talk like this!!!]
Bian Ting: [Alright.]
Bian Ting: [Then let’s talk about yesterday’s question.]
Yesterday’s question…
Meng Xin fell silent.
Bian Ting: “If you don’t answer, I’m lifting the curtain.”
Meng Xin gripped his phone tightly.
Meng Xin: [DON’T YOU DARE!!!!!!!!]
Afraid that Bian Ting really would arrest him on the spot, he reluctantly typed out a reply.
Meng Xin: [I think… I probably know now.]
Bian Ting: [Know what?]
Meng Xin: [You know what!!!]
Bian Ting: [I don’t know.]
Bian Ting: [Know what?]
This guy was definitely doing it on purpose.
Meng Xin: [Bian Ting, are you asking just to mess with me?]
Bian Ting, completely unbothered, admitted it outright.
Bian Ting: [Yes.]
Then he asked again.
Bian Ting: [Know what?]
Meng Xin: [Well…]
Meng Xin: [Um…]
Meng Xin: [The thing… about liking…]
His answer wasn’t exactly clear, still a little vague and hesitant.
But Bian Ting decided not to push him any further.
Bian Ting: 【And then?】
The chat interface repeatedly displayed “The other person is typing…”—clearly, the person just beyond the curtain was typing and deleting, typing and deleting, completely torn.
After a long while, Meng Xin finally sent a new message.
Meng Xin: 【And then…】
Meng Xin: 【Maybe, possibly, perhaps, probably…】
Meng Xin: 【We…】
Meng Xin: 【Could…】
Meng Xin: 【Try it…】
Meng Xin: 【…Right?】
He sent each message one word at a time, like popping beans, pausing for over ten seconds between each one. A sentence that could’ve been typed in seconds took him a full minute. And Bian Ting waited the whole minute.
Alright, after all that effort to bring a secret crush to light, now they were officially in an online relationship.
Bian Ting asked, “What do you mean by ‘try it’?”
And then he reiterated, “Meng Xin, come out and say it.”
Not only did Meng Xin refuse to come out, but he also pulled the blanket over his head, terrified that Bian Ting might lift the bed curtain at any moment and drag him out.
Hiding under the blanket, he sent: 【No way, talking to you makes me nervous.】
Bian Ting: “Nervous about what?”
Meng Xin: 【How should I know!!! I’ve never been in a relationship before! I’m just nervous!!!】
Bian Ting suddenly asked, “So we’re already dating now?”
Meng Xin: “……”
He let out a silent scream in his head and immediately hit “recall message.”
The message was gone, but Bian Ting’s memory wasn’t going anywhere.
Bian Ting: “So… we’re dating?”
Meng Xin: 【.】
Did this guy have to be this sharp?
And yet, Bian Ting still added, “What does the period mean? I don’t understand.”
Then, he repeated, “Speak.”
Meng Xin rolled around on his bed in frustration.
Finally, he typed out a message with great effort: 【I ALREADY SAID TALKING TO YOU MAKES ME NERVOUS!!!】
Bian Ting: “We’ve known each other forever. Just talk to me like before. There’s nothing to be nervous about.”
Meng Xin: 【Easy for you to say! I just went through an intense mental battle!】
Meng Xin: 【Besides, we’ve already kissed! How are we supposed to go back to how things were?!!!】
Easy fix. Bian Ting casually asked, “I’m bringing you food. What do you want to eat?”
Silence from behind the curtain.
Then, finally: 【Little pot rice noodles.】
It was a ruthless move—but a highly effective one.
Meng Xin hadn’t eaten all evening. He was starving. There was no way he could resist.
Bian Ting: “Alright, I’ll be back in twenty minutes.”
Bian Ting said twenty minutes, and it was exactly twenty minutes—down to the millisecond.
By the time he returned, Meng Xin had moved from his bed to his desk.
But he still didn’t speak, nor did he look at Bian Ting. He stared straight ahead, as motionless as a steadfast soldier.
Silently, Bian Ting placed the takeout container of little pot rice noodles on his desk.
For once, Meng Xin didn’t immediately tear into the packaging with reverence.
Bian Ting glanced at him in confusion.
To have the food so close yet remain unmoved—this was an immense test of willpower for Meng Xin.
Raising his hand, Meng Xin made a stopping gesture, signaling Bian Ting not to move.
Slowly, he took out two sheets of paper and placed them on the desk without a word.
Then, he pulled out a pen and solemnly handed it to Bian Ting.
Bian Ting didn’t look closely at first, but the scene felt very familiar.
“Meng Xin, if I force you into a wedding night right now, are you going to cut ties with me?” Bian Ting laughed. “And after cutting ties, would you then become my boyfriend?”
“…”
Can’t blame Bian Ting for misunderstanding—this was already the third time Meng Xin had presented him with two sheets of paper for signing. The first two times had been burned into his memory; both had been official breakup agreements.
“…It’s not that.” Meng Xin couldn’t bring himself to say it outright and urged, “Just look at it carefully!”
Hearing that, Bian Ting lowered his head to read.
No wonder Meng Xin was so anxious—this time, those papers weren’t a breakup contract.
Three bold words were written on them:
— Relationship Agreement.
Leave a Reply