Zhang Jing didn’t sleep that entire night.
Any time he closed his eyes, he would remember Ji Dongxun’s familiar yet distant eyes, slowly sucking his soul away.
Earlier when they walked out of the restaurant, Josh asked, “He’s your ex-boyfriend right?”
Suddenly, Zhang Jing didn’t want to share that experience with others, and for some reason he disliked the word “ex-boyfriend.” He tightened his grip on the helmet, and quietly responded “Mhm.”
At the red light, Josh turned around and said, “You told him that I am your boyfriend. I’m not sure what your intentions were, but I’m gonna take that seriously, okay?”
Zhang Jing pursed his lips since he didn’t know how to respond. He couldn’t respond with either “yes” or “no” since his relationship with Josh was in an awkward state. If they were either closer or more distant, he could answer directly; but under their current circumstances, answering is nothing but awkward.
He refused to nod, but saying “no” would make him look like a player.
Hence, he remained silent as a response and thought to himself, “Josh can interpret this in any way he wants, oh well.”
At midnight, Zhang Jing, lying on his bed and gazing at the moon, felt hopeless and desolate. It had only been a few days, but he already regretted friending Josh. Until now nothing had happened between them (they merely ate two meals and watched a movie), but Zhang Jing was already extremely annoyed.
He accepted Josh’s friend request just to find someone to control his tendency to embarrass himself. Obviously, this plan failed.
Through the past few days, he realized that a few sentences from Ji Dongxun were sufficient to shatter his heart into flakes.
The next day, Sunday, Josh asked to hang out again, but Zhang Jing replied that he’s going to a bar. Josh responded: [If you’re drunk, feel free to call me, and I’ll drop you home.]
Zhang Jing: [Thanks.]
Josh: [No need to thank me. You should get used to asking me for favors, hottie.] Zhang Jing didn’t know what to say, so he just sent an emoji.
To drink, he would go to Lin Zhou’s bar of course. For every meetup, they would choose this bar, so Lincoln and Doggo became friends with Lin Zhou as well. When he arrived, they were munching on pistachios while chatting with each other. As usual, Zhang Jing tossed his helmet to Lin Zhou. “Put this in the bar counter.”
Lin Zhou lifted his eyebrow and asked, “Did you even pay a storage fee?”
Zhang Jing hopped onto a chair. “How much do you want? I’ll just give it to you. Easy.”
“I can ask for as much as I want?”
Zhang Jing glanced at him and replied, “Stop, you’re so annoying.”
Hearing that response, he immediately laughed. “I was about to ask for you.”
Zhang Jing turned his head and smiled, “I knew it.”
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.
As Lin Zhou walked away with the helmet, he blew a kiss to Zhang Jing, who returned him a dirty look. Then he asked Doggo, “How come you haven’t gone out in so long?”
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Zhang Jing reached for Lincoln’s pack of cigarettes on the table. “Yeah yeah yeah, is that all you think about every day? Hey, you’re kinda old, why aren’t you married yet? I think the girl sitting behind you is ‘not bad,’ why don’t you do it with her?”
Doggo laughed angrily and threw the lighter to him. “Your mouth-”
Zhang Jing lit his cigarette. “What’s wrong with my mouth? Why did you have to include me in your discussion in the first place?”
Doggo and Lincoln were Zhang Jing’s roommates, and they were close ever since college. Chen Dongdong was the other roommate, but he married at a young age, so he rarely hung out with them.
Lincoln also has a girlfriend, but he’s the type to be lovey-dovey one day, and immediately break up the next day.
Lincoln opened a bottle of wine for Zhang Jing. “Jing, are you still single?”
They clinked their glasses, and he responded, “I don’t know how to explain my situation, but I guess I’m still single.”
“What does I- ‘I guess’ mean?’ Doggo mischievously asked. “Does that mean you like someone… but he doesn’t like you back yet?”
“Shut up.” After shushing Doggo, Lincoln turned back to Zhang Jing. “What happened?”
Zhang Jing blew out a smoke ring and explained, “My friend introduced me to a guy, but I feel nothing for him. However, I asked him to introduce me to someone, and he has no flaws. If I tell them that I’m not interested, they might think that I’m playing with his feelings, which would be really disrespectful.”
Doggo: “Damn.”
Lincoln asked, “Is he nice?”
Zhang Jing nodded, “Yeah.”
They’ve been best friends for many years, so Zhang Jing doesn’t hide anything from them. They were together during his darkest times; and during his most uncomposed instances, they comforted and drank with him until dawn. He means it when he calls them “brother.”
Doggo stuttered, “But- but if you don’t like him, you can’t just- just pretend that you do.”
Zhang Jing replied, “To be honest, I probably won’t like anyone for the rest of my life, but I can’t be single forever. I might as well find someone and call it a day. Sometimes I think like that, but other times I find him too annoying to deal with.”
Doggo is a straightforward person, unlike Lincoln who’s more reserved and implicit, so he said, “I heard Lincoln say that Ji- Ji… Dongxun is back.”
Zhang Jing lowered his head and looked at his reflection in the wine glass, “Mhm.”
Doggo was surprised. “You met him?”
“Yes, not intentionally. It was a coincidence.”
“So that’s why you- you asked your friend to find you… a boyfriend… Are you deranged?”
“Yeah, I think I am.”
Zhang Jing completely agreed with the adjective “deranged.”
That night they once again drank until they passed out; Zhang Jing collapsed on the table and rested his head on his arms. In his state of delirium, all he could think about was Ji Dongxun’s distant face. That pair of eyes directly staring at him. That was the only image in his mind, as if those eyes were branded onto his soul.
Despite being drunk, Doggo continued uttering, “My- my little Jingjing, if you still think about Ji- Ji Dongxun, you don’t have to… restrain yourself.”
“Even- even though he did just- just leave without a word, like a bi- b*tch.”
Zhang Jing murmured, “I don’t think about him…”
“Bull…shit.”
Doggo pulled Zhang Jing’s hair to lift his head and proceeded to lean his own face onto Zhang Jing’s. “Are you still- still taking the medication?”
Zhang Jing slapped Doggo’s hand off his face and shook his head. “Not anymore. Move your stupid face away, you startled me.”
Hearing that, Doggo moved so close that their noses were almost touching. He was so close to Zhang Jing that he nearly crossed his eyes looking at him. “Jing- Jingjing… you’re okay now? You don’t have to lie- lie to us because of embarrassment!”
“Bruh, why would I?” Zhang Jing pushed his face away. “‘Jing Jing Jing Jing Jing’ is all I hear. Stay away from me!”
Lincoln and Doggo have opposite personalities: a drunk Doggo rambles nonstop, but a drunk Lincoln talks even less than usual. Thus, he lightly patted the resting Zhang Jing on the back and only commented, “Jing, take care of yourself.”
Zhang Jing sunk his head into his arms again.
“Yo, you’re drunk again?”
Lin Zhou walked over, served a fruit plate, and nudged Zhang Jing. “You good? Can you even walk home?”
Zhang Jing mumbled, “I can.”
While trying to balance the fruit plate on Zhang Jing’s head, Lin Zhou replied, “Are you out of your mind? Next time when you come to my bar, can you stop riding your motorcycle here? Bruh, you act as if you can ride home when you’re sloshed. You always end up making me guard it.”
“You don’t have to. You can go home,” Zhang Jing answered.
Lin Zhou took the plate off his head and slid it onto the table. He snorted, “I’m actually so sick of looking after you.”
Lincoln told him, “Lin, no need to worry about him. I’ll call a taxi for him later.”
Lin Zhou looked at Zhang Jing with a frown, then nodded. After all, Zhang Jing isn’t his boyfriend.
For some reason Zhang Jing had a terrible headache—he felt like someone was slamming his head with a wooden club. He firmly pressed on his temples to feel more conscious, but the pain continued in waves.
Lincoln and Doggo were both under 175 centimeters, so Zhang Jing was too tall for them to carry. Fortunately, he was conscious enough to walk independently, not wobbling nor walking in circles.
When they reached his neighborhood, Zhang Jing said to them, “No need to walk me home; it’s difficult to find a taxi this late. Just leave, I’ll be alright on my own.”
Doggo responded, “No- No way.”
Zhang Jing opened the door and got out of the car readily. “Hurry up and leave. Oh don’t vomit in the car. Thank you, driver.”
Then the driver immediately made a U-turn and drove away. The blowing wind did ease his headache; but internally, his mind was chaotic while his stomach was churning.
Finding a small garden, he sat down on a long bench to enjoy the wind. His headache was disappearing, yet his body felt increasingly cold.
He rested his elbows on his knees, and propped his head up with his hand. After what felt like forever, he slowly drifted into sleep. In a daze, he suddenly smiled and began to think that he didn’t drink alcohol. Instead, he drank Ji Dongxun. Why else would Ji Dongxun dominate his mind every time he’s drunk?
Argh.
— ”Why are you not going home?”
In this tranquil environment, a sudden and unexpected voice frightened Zhang Jing so much that his eyes shot open. He looked up and squinted to identify the person—too blurry. But he did recognize that pair of deep and bottomless eyes.
He said, “Ji Dongxun?”
He also said, “It’s you again. Why are you so annoying…”
The person in front of him let out a sigh, reached for his hand, squatted, and said in a low voice, “Let’s go home.”
Feeling that overfamiliar touch on his hand made his heart tremble. He hurriedly tightened his grip and squeezed the hand. “Stop appearing. You left me, so don’t come back again. I don’t want to see you, otherwise I could never live a normal life.”
Despite saying that, he pulled the person’s hand to his cheeks, to feel its warmth and to leave a kiss on the palm. “Ji Dongxun, please don’t show yourself again.”
After a long pause, the person squatting in front of him patted his head and said with a hoarse voice, “Your hands are freezing; you should go home.”
“Okay,” Zhang Jing focused his eyes on him and firmly squeezed his hand. “Pat my head again, and then please go.”
That person remained silent for a long time.
At last, he patted Zhang Jing’s head, rubbing his thumb gently on his forehead, tender and caring. He leaned forward and kissed Zhang Jing on the forehead.
His rough voice said, “Go home, alright?”
When his lips touched his forehead, Zhang Jing’s eyes began watering. He pressed his chest with his left hand—pain.
He said—
“Ji Dongxun, don’t show up again.”
Why are they so pitiful and so sweet at the same time. Now I wonder if that’s just an illusion or he did really showed up.
Thanks for the chapter 💕
Zhang Jing is so pitiful 😭 he’s like a kicked puppy that’s afraid of human touch but want it more 😭😭
Oh no, this is so heart wrenching! What on earth happened that these two split up?
Why is he so pitiful and cute at the same time? 🥺
Wonder whats going through Ji Dongxun’s mind. Why was his voice hoarse? Did he feel like crying?
Thansk for the chapter ♡♡♡♡♡
Oh man, I really like 不问三九’s works and I want to like this too… But the protagonist’s personality so far is really annoying. Why is he so wishy-washy?