“—Ji Dongxun!” Zhang Jing appeared with his hands in his pockets, his jacket zipped all the way to his chin, and with jeans plus sneakers. The sun shone directly on him, emphasizing his fine features. He grinned mischievously and ran a few steps to shoulder bump the person in front of him.
Ji Dongxun, looking at him, chuckled, “Where are you going?”
“To play basketball!” Zhang Jing bit on his zipper and asked as if his eyes had hooks, “Where are you gonna go? I called you this afternoon, but you didn’t answer?”
Ji Dongxun stretched his arm, placed it on Zhang Jing’s shoulder, and lightly pinched it. “I had class and forgot to bring my phone. Soo, you missed me?”
Zhang Jing shrugged, “So shameless.”
Ji Dongxun giggled and pulled Zhang Jing closer with that hand on his shoulder. He leaned even closer to him and whispered, “Then you didn’t miss me?”
Zhang Jing rotated his head away from his view, but a grin formed uncontrollably.
When the two were about to part, Ji Dongxun reminded him, “Baby don’t forget, today’s Friday. When my class is over, I’ll go straight to your basketball court, and let’s eat out.”
Instantaneously, grass grew on his heart, tickling and exciting him.
Ah it’s Friday.
Friday… cough. Tonight will definitely be another fervent night.
Zhang Jing’s feet almost left the ground as he walked.
……
Then he actually began flying. Suddenly the image shifted, and he elevated to the roof. He saw Ji Dongxun drawing on the rooftop, so he wanted to move closer to see his canvas. Yet no matter how hard he tried, he drifted farther and farther away, until he couldn’t see anything.
Panic spread rapidly throughout his heart. Zhang Jing extended his arms out to attempt to grip his man, but he could only heart-wrenchingly scream, “Ji Dongxun—”
At that moment, Zhang Jing literally yelled that.
When he woke up from that dream, he could still hear his scream reverberating with desperation, yearning, and agony.
He opened his eyes in the darkness and stared directly at the ceiling. His heart was still thumping excessively; the terror of being separated from his lover continued on.
Zhang Jing washed his face, and the past instances of misunderstanding flooded into his active memory once again. He firmly pressed on his temples, but his head still hurt horribly.
He trudged into the shower, turned on the faucet, and put his head under the running water. The violent cold water pacified him significantly; the roaring desires were also gradually suppressed.
He gazed at his image in the mirror: wet hair sticking to his face, water continuously dripping down. Handsome, and sexy, but very disordered.
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.
This was the old him around Ji Dongxun. Overflowing with love led to such a mess.
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He dreamed of him for two nights in a row—not a good sign. Zhang Jing thought of the man he met in the afternoon, the Mr. Ji you could meet only after passing three obstacles. He was completely different from the Ji Dongxun in his dreams, since the Ji Dongxun in his dreams were passionate, unrepressed, and cloying. Yet the person today definitely was not: He was taciturn, composed, and abstinent.
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Don’t think, don’t dream, don’t humiliate yourself.
……
On the next day, Zhang Jing woke up slightly late, and everyone else was already in the office when he showed up. As he walked inside, Ling Ling saw him and greeted, “Hey Jing, you dressed up so handsomely today. Do you have something planned?”
Zhang Jing slung his jacket over his shoulder and smiled, “Are you implying that I’m usually not handsome?”
“Handsome handsome handsome, you are the most handsome,” Ling Ling refilled her water and walked back to her seat. “Looking at you everyday raises my standards so much.”
Bai Qi asked him, “You woke up late?”
Bringing out another box of milk, Zhang Jing sat at his seat. “Yeah, I was so lonely last night that I couldn’t sleep.”
Bai Qi rummaged through his drawer and tossed a pack of crackers to him. “I already gave him your WeChat friend code. Did he not add you?”
He blinked his eyes, and inattentively replied, “Maybe he did; I didn’t pay attention.”
Bai Qi was accustomed to Zhang Jing’s indifferent attitude towards everything, so he didn’t respond. He had been acting this way these past few years as well: Complaining about his lack of love, yet never putting in effort to meet new people.
While everyone else worked diligently, Zhang Jing flumped onto his chair and began munching on the food. One bite for the crackers, another mouthful of the milk. As he chewed and swallowed, he felt like an idle landlord watching his hard working tenants.
Ever since middle school, Zhang Jing was dealing with stomach pain that becomes increasingly worse during cold days. Eating breakfast would mitigate the aches, but he either forgot to or was too lazy to do so. Hence, his colleagues would regularly prepare snacks, waiting to feed him. Once his hand pressed his stomach, some would search their drawers. The studio had quite a few employees, so surely at least one person could dig out food for him.
After Zhang Jing finished the pack of crackers and sucked the last sip of milk, he gathered the trash and brushed it into the trash can.
Then he casually turned to Bai Qi, “Oh, yesterday I told you to contact the new client about the contract. Have you contacted them yet?”
Bai Qi, still focused on his screen, answered, “No, I haven’t cuz I forgot. You can send them the contract, and introduce me to them later when we discuss the details.”
Zhang Jing pulled out a tissue paper to wipe the table. “Nah, I feel annoyed interacting with large companies. You can contact them when you’re free.”
“Alright,” Bai Qi agreed. “I’ll do that later.”
Zhang Jing asked everyone there, “Does anyone have extra tasks for me to do, such as scanning a document or editing a video?”
No one responded.
Mei, with his big-framed glasses, gripped a pencil and roughly sketched out an outline on the paper. After finishing, he raised his head. “Jing, if you’re really bored, can you replenish my cup with coffee?”
“Sure.” Zhang Jing carried out coffee beans and the coffee machine from the cupboard. One of his hands leaned against the table while the other one slowly ground the beans.
The coffee task was completed, so Zhang Jing had nothing to do again. He reached for his phone, scrolled through Weibo, and suddenly remembered what Bai Qi told him. He clicked on WeChat and did in fact see a friend request from yesterday.
He clicked “Accept.”
Shortly afterwards, that person sent him a message. After talking for a few sentences, he noticed that the guy was rather straightforward: He asked whether Zhang Jing was interested in a relationship and scheduled a dinner at six o’clock tonight. Then the conversation ended.
Zhang Jing enlarged his profile picture—he looks okay.
“Bai Qi, who did you introduce me to again?”
Bai Qi turned to look at him. “My high school classmate. Why? You added each other?”
“What type of person is he? He asked me out for dinner, but I don’t want to go. If you tell me he’s untrustworthy, I’ll just not go.”
Bai Qi understood that he didn’t want to go on the date, but he lacked an excuse. So Bai Qi chuckled, “He’s pretty nice, and he has accomplished a lot at a young age. Why would I ever introduce him to you if he’s ‘untrustworthy’?”
Hearing this, Zhang Jing frowned because he couldn’t formulate an excuse. Thus, he ended up attending the dinner date.
It was a restaurant specializing in traditional home recipes. Zhang Jing rode there strenuously, took off his helmet outside the entrance, and casually parked his motorcycle. The moment he raised his head, he noticed someone staring at him.
He squinted his eyes—he is indeed the person on WeChat.
He walked over with the helmet carried in his arms and waved.
The person smiled back, “Zhang Jing?”
“Mhm.”
The person said, “Nice vehicle, it suits you”
Zhang Jing responded with a faint smile, “I agree.”
That person was Josh, Bai Qi’s high school classmate and currently a manager at a company. Although he wasn’t ugly, he wasn’t handsome either. He was also slightly shorter than Zhang Jing. Additionally, he spoke respectfully but not overly formal.
Zhang Jing felt indifferent about him—neither like nor dislike. In fact, he treated everyone else similarly with indifference.
“I’ve never liked girls ever since I was a child, and I dislike socializing because it’s boring for me. I used to live with my boyfriend, but he married someone else. And I’ve been single ever since.”
Josh said to Zhang Jing, “You look like my type. The moment you arrived, your face immediately caught my attention. Do you want to try a relationship? I just explained my situation, it’s fairly straightforward. What do you think?”
This was Zhang Jing’s first time experiencing a blind date, and he didn’t know how to respond to Josh’s frankness. Zhang Jing gulped his water, “Uh… I… Actually I haven’t thought about that.”
“But you came today. Doesn’t that suggest you want a relationship?” Josh smiled at him, “Why don’t we be together and see how it goes?”
Josh continued to smile and poured a cup of tea for him, “I’ve always been a very straightforward person, sorry if I startled you.”
Zhang Jing shook his head, “I wasn’t startled, not to that extent. I’m just unaccustomed to it.”
This was a comfortable dinner, and they conversed about a lot, even though Josh spoke for the majority while Zhang Jing listened. As they were about to leave, Josh placed his hand on Zhang Jing’s waist, but he instinctively frowned and dodged the touch.
After avoiding it, he sensed the awkward vibe, so he added, “Sorry, I’m not used to physical touch.”
Josh responded smiling, “Don’t worry, I don’t have an ulterior motive.”
When they walked out of the restaurant, Zhang Jing asked, “How did you come here?”
Josh glanced at his motorcycle. “I drove here, but I really want to ride your motorcycle. It looks so cool! I can find a chauffeur for my car.”
Zhang Jing had no intentions of riding with him. Besides that one time when he sent Mei home, no one else had ever ridden on this. So he replied, “There’s only one helmet…”
Josh understood his implication. “I guess I’ll drive home then. Be careful on the road, and let’s talk more over WeChat later.”
Zhang Jing nodded, “Sure. Thanks for the meal.”
Josh tilted his head, “Of course. Next time it’s your turn?”
“Okay.”
Zhang Jing buckled his helmet and hopped on his motorcycle. He desperately wanted to leave and breathe in the fast-moving fresh air. When Josh touched him, he felt extremely uncomfortable.
He doesn’t know since when, but he abhors physical touch from others. If someone moved close, he would feel utterly disgusted and irritated. So although he always talked about having one night stands, he could not endure it at all.
He just couldn’t touch anyone, and others couldn’t touch him either—their touch is disgusting. Even if he were to have a one night stand, before anything happens, he would probably puke all over their face.
Zhang Jing often believed that he would be single forever and would probably live with his right hand for the rest of his life.
Oh, boy. I bet it’s different if it was Mr. jin. 😆
I really feel bad for him though.
Thanks for the constant updates, Izzy. 💕
It would definitely be different with Mr Ji
Thanks for the chapter
Thank you for the update.😘
This seems really interesting!! Thank you for the translation 💜
Wait JDX married someone else or was that Josh talking?
Thanks for the chapter <333333
That was Josh talking loll
Angst intensifies… Thank you for the chapter 💙
Judging from how he wanted to ask Mr. Ji ‘when did you come back?’, the guy probably left for overseas while they were young. Why can’t long-distance relationships ever work in most novels read? :’))))