Translator: Drea
Co-TL: MadMadamMims
After returning to their room, Nie Chuan carefully folded Reece’s blanket, put it in the closet, and began packing his own things.
He had clearly been looking forward to sleeping in until he woke up on his own over the holiday but, inexplicably, he felt empty.
Dragging his suitcase, he got onto the bus going back downtown. With sunlight streaming on his face, he felt comfortably warm. Nie Chuan propped his chin up while in a daze. He obviously wasn’t sleepwalking, yet he had almost sat on the wrong bus.
As he rushed off that bus, Nie Chuan inwardly exclaimed over what a close call that was. Too dangerous. If Reece had known, he definitely would have been ridiculed!
Having finally returned home with great difficulty, Nie Chuan unexpectedly ran into Celine downstairs.
“Hey, Allen, long time no see.” Celine smiled faintly and waved naturally at Nie Chuan.
As soon as he saw her, the scene of her kissing Reece bubbled forth into Nie Chuan’s mind. His mood seemed to shift and he felt inexplicably uncomfortable.
“Yeah! Haha! I’ll help you move your suitcase upstairs.”
Even though there was no possibility between himself and Celine, Nie Chuan still had this bit of gentlemanly demeanor.
“Thank you!”
Celine followed behind Nie Chuan who helped deliver her suitcase to the door.
When Nie Chuan turned to leave, Celine suddenly asked, “Are you dating Lily?”
“Why are you asking all of a sudden? I only had a meal with Lily.”
“Probably because Lily is very picky about her boyfriends. Someone saw her drive to your dorm to eat out with you, so I asked.” Celine smiled.
Of course, unlike before, Nie Chuan would no longer think that Celine was jealous and smiled. Just when he was about to leave, Celine stopped him again.
“Hey, Allen, do you know what Reece said to me when he sent me the flowers that day?”
Nie Chuan’s footsteps stopped. Honestly speaking, he had always been very curious about this matter.
“Oh? What did he say?”
“He said that you’re the one he liked. He wanted me to not let you have unnecessary expectations anymore.”
To Nie Chuan, this sentence was like an immense undersea earthquake, triggering a tsunami that was enough to destroy heaven and earth.
“What did…… you say??” Nie Chuan asked.
Did he mishear?
“Even though I’ve only been silently watching Reece up until now, one thing I’m certain is that he absolutely wouldn’t yield who he likes to another.”
“Even if it breaks, he would definitely be the one to break it himself. If you want to be with Lily to escape Reece or you want to cover up your relationship with him then please don’t. Lily is also my friend.” Celine’s expression was very serious.
Nie Chuan’s brain crashed.
Celine looked at Nie Chuan’s half-open mouth with his completely dumbfounded expression and frowned.
“What? Aren’t you and Reece together? His quality of life has always been very high and he also pays attention to privacy but he actually moved into a double bedroom with you. Don’t tell me you guys aren’t together.”
Celine’s expression seemed to be saying: It’s already so obvious.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Tbe…… rjs la jujlc?” Rlf Jtejc qlcmtfv tlr atlut, atf qjlc wjvf tlw mfgajlc atja tf kjr lc gfjilas!
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Nie Chuan abruptly came to, his face and neck reddening. “Hey—— Celine! This joke isn’t funny at all! How could you say something like that without any rhyme or reason!”
“Because I envy you.” Celine put her smile away and she said a little seriously, “I like Reece so much, I’ve been watching him ever since high school. But he’s never given me more than a glance, he’s probably forgotten my name by now yet you can occupy all his time so easily. Previously you guys played basketball together and now you live together; the Reece that I don’t know, you’ve seen it all. Haven’t you noticed that Reece spends more time and energy on you than on anyone else?”
“I know, of course I know.”
Every time he becomes aware of it, he would always want to do something for Reece.
However, Reece’s life was too perfect. So much so that Nie Chuan felt there was no way he could “add icing on the cake” except for one —— to become an excellent point guard, help the team enter the finals, and make Reece’s dream of winning the league come true.
“So, I would often comfort myself by thinking he doesn’t like me not because I’m not good enough, but because he doesn’t like girls. In the whole school, the person who talks to him the most and spends the most time with him is you. He must really like you.”
Nie Chuan’s heart trembled again.
He must really like you.
He must really like you.
Really like you……
Reece’s embrace, the warmth of his lips, from the soft tip of his tongue to the strength of his kiss…… even though he wasn’t at his side right now, it was all still so clear.
“I’m sorry to have said so much to you but when I think about it, I’m jealous of you because you can stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the court and fight alongside Reece. You know when to pass to him, you know which position to run to, and you understand how to create opportunities to score for the whole team. I envy that kind of you because you’re within Reece’s world. I wish you a happy holiday.”
Celine gently waved, Nie Chuan nodded.
He turned and blankly went downstairs.
Celine’s “you’re in Reece’s world” lingered in his mind like a curse, unable to be dispersed for a long time.
Reece’s world wasn’t open to just anyone. There are only a few who could even stand outside the walls and peer through the cracks.
He suddenly really wanted to see Reece. He really missed the smell of Reece’s aftershave in the air, the way he quirked his eyebrows, and he even missed the various jokes Reece made to embarrass him a little.
He was probably the only one who had ever seen that side of Reece ba.
“Oh, Ah Chuan? Why aren’t you coming up yet?”
His mother’s voice sounded from above. When Nie Chuan raised his head, he realized that he had somehow gone back downstairs? Out-of-body experiences truly were incredible.
That night, Nie Chuan ate a large bowl of noodles before returning to his room.
His phone vibrated continuously. It was Mao Xian calling. Lost in thought, Nie Chuan didn’t have any intention of picking up.
Texts from Mao Xian came one after the other: Ah Chuan! Quickly get online! Still not coming to save me! I’m about to die!
Nie Chuan hurriedly went online, only to find that it was practically impossible for him to save Mao Xian at his level.
Nie Chuan suddenly thought of how his account in the game and Reece’s were linked and immediately went online to check.
The system showed that the last time Reece’s ID logged in was the last time he took Nie Chuan playing.
Nie Chuan immediately felt disappointment.
While Mao Xian was still spamming system messages, Nie Chuan transferred Reece’s most powerful equipment over to Mao Xian.
Mao Xian: WTF! WTF! WTF! Ah Chuan, you’re so rich!
Nie Chuan: I don’t want to play today, you play by yourself ba.
As for what Mao Xian wrote, Nie Chuan turned a blind eye. He picked up his phone and thought for a while before finally sending a text to Reece: Has the urgent matter at home been resolved?
Then, Nie Chuan began staring at his phone attentively.
A minute passed.
Two minutes passed.
……
Ten minutes passed, there still wasn’t a hint of a reply.
Nie Chuan really wanted to call Reece but worried that Reece was in the middle of dealing with family matters and didn’t have time to talk to him. With no other option, he reluctantly put the phone aside.
He did thirty push-ups then took a look at his phone. Reece didn’t reply.
He set up a book on the mat and did ten minutes of heel lifts. There was still no new message on his phone.
So long as he stops, Celine’s words would begin replaying in his mind again.
He kept wondering: Just what the hell did Reece say to Celine that day?
What Reece told Nie Chuan at that time was that he told Celine he had someone he liked.
But what Celine said was that Reece actually liked Nie Chuan.
The more Nie Chuan thought about it the more he was on the verge of a breakdown. He roughly pulled at his hair.
In the end, do they want him to have a nice holiday or what?
Even if he knew that Celine had deliberately made the joke because she was a little envious of him becoming Reece’s roommate and it seemed that the domestic Internet had also popularized jokingly calling two very close friends “good friends,” Nie Chuan still couldn’t help thinking: What if it was true?
If it wasn’t true then how could Reece kiss him so calmly? He could even…… even stick his tongue in?
Although according to Reece, it doesn’t even count as a kiss if you don’t stick your tongue in…… But the problem is that to use that kind of kiss to play with him, Reece is paying too much in blood ba?
For a whole night, Nie Chuan sat foolishly in bed, not sleepy in the least.
It wasn’t until the middle of the night when his phone finally vibrated: I’ll resolve my family matters. Sleep well and brush your teeth.
Nie Chuan looked at the text message and exhaled.
Reece was so busy that he didn’t see his messages until this late? It seems that his family matters were really troublesome ah!
Nie Chuan: Don’t worry, I’ll brush my teeth well! I hope your family matters get resolved as soon as possible. I really miss our time playing basketball together.
Less than ten seconds after sending it out, Reece’s text message came back: I miss you too. It’s late, go to sleep, don’t stay up all night playing games.
That “I miss you too” had an explosive effect.
Nie Chuan stared blankly for several seconds then almost used his head to smash the screen.
Why reply with “I miss you too” ! What do you mean you “also” ah! What I said was obviously I miss playing basketball with you, not I miss you!
Your answer is too ambiguous, do you understand! You’re lucky you’re still a top student!
Did you know that someone joked about us just now ah! If you’re like this then you’re only going to make my imagination run wild and make it even harder to go to sleep!
Now, the words that kept reverberating in Nie Chuan’s mind changed from Celine’s “He likes you” to Reece’s “I miss you too.”
Even if he didn’t hear Reece say it with his own ears, Nie Chuan could imagine for himself the tone of Reece’s voice.
The kind of slightly cold voice that didn’t contain any excessive fluctuations, but could pull Nie Chuan’s nerves taut.
Sleep, sleep! Don’t think anymore!
Nie Chuan pulled the blanket up and fell asleep.
At this time, in a hospital, Reece leaned against the wall outside the ward, scrolling through the photos in his phone.
The black-haired boy in the picture was looking at a road sign very seriously.
Reece gently slid his finger over his face, closed his eyes and kissed him.
At this time, Reece’s older sister, Vivian, came over with coffee. She bumped Reece’s shoulder with a helpless smile, “I seem to have discovered your little secret.”
“There has never been a secret between us.”
“Can’t you let me take a look at the first person you’ve liked?”
“How are you certain he’s the first person I’ve liked?”
“I’m your sister. My understanding of you is at least much better than that father of ours lying in a hospital bed and causing an uproar even though he wasn’t seriously hurt. Ever since you were little, you’d get interested in many things. Drawing, piano, or programming, but you usually lose interest quickly. Honestly speaking, you liking basketball so much was completely beyond my expectations. I always felt this kind of team sport wasn’t for you, but you really do like it because as soon you stand on the basketball court, you become very focused. Your face when you like something, I know it very well. Your expression just now was so serious that it scared me a little. He’s from the East, right?”
“Mm.”
“Asians are usually very traditional, so it may be difficult for them to accept your feelings.”
“That’s why I’ve been restraining myself up until now.” Reece smiled self-deprecatingly.
“Restraint?” Vivian smiled, “You’re usually quick to act, which means you don’t care that much. The more you endure, the more you must get something.”
Reece lowered his eyes and whispered, “Yes…… I must have him.”
“This is exactly what I was worried about. You’re always so sure of what you want, but you can’t control other people’s thoughts.”
“So I’m waiting.”
“What are you waiting for?” Vivian asked.
“Waiting for him to realize that it has to be me. So he had better realize it before I lose my patience. Otherwise, I’ll hurt him.”
“If you know you’re going to hurt him and, in turn, hurt yourself then it may be time to let go.”
“I can’t, I can’t do that.” Reece turned away, no longer willing to discuss this matter with Vivian.
Drea: *gulp*
MadMadamMims: 😨
I felt chill in my backs reading Reece and Vivians convo
Ahhhh Celine thank you for your words ahhh finally little Nie will be enlighten soon~~
Thanks for the chapter>-<
it looks like i was right, reese was actually at a family emergency along with trying to keep his distance. this author truly knows me <3 when they’re apart reece is such a sap. and lmao celine dropping those truths on nie chuan…she’s only an exposition character but i hope she gets a good epilogue or something. dare i hope she gets together with lily?
so muc happened in this chapter emotionally, i love it. thanks for the update
😬😬😬😬😬😬😬 Reece…bro…
I hope NC holiday is enlightening.
Thanks for the chapter!!!
Everyone worrying about the ending sentences but honestly everyone have no fear!! It’s almost always sugar! Nothing drastic happens! Don’t panic!
That said NC slowly catching a clue 👁👁 maybe he’ll get over his idol-worship pedestal that keeps making him label Reece as out of his league? Hopefully!?
👁👁
Thanks for the chapter! 🙂
I actually like Celine here. I can see how it looks like Nie Chuan might be leading Lily on, and I respect Celine for looking out for her friend. Plus, she gives Nie Chuan such a big hint. Reece is a little scary there at the end. He should listen to Vivian. Luckily for Reece, I’m pretty sure Nie Chuan will like him back. Thanks for the update!
“Yes…… I must have him.”
Oof. He’s determimed to make NX his sugar baby lololol
Thank you for the hardwork!
XDDDDD
Damm…
His yandere side showed up
glup
Thx for the chappy
(≡^∇^≡)
Nie Chuan stop being so dense I beg you!! 😭🪓