A Certain Someone ( The On1y One ) Chapter 057 – [Address]

The Profile Picture of the Person He Was Talking to Didn’t Change, but the Personal Nickname Did. It Became: Ge.

The door to the bathroom closed with a click, the soon the rustling noises of clothing as well as water flowing came out.

Jiang Tian looked at that narrow tea-white louver door, the dilute coloured vapours spilling out from the blades at the bottom, creating an additional patch of moisture in front of the door.
His elongated eyes lightly blinked, and turned his view away from the door. He asked Shi Yu, “What happened to him?”

“What do you mean what happened?” Shi Yu played dumb. Jiang Tian was the one who initiated a conversation with him for once, the show of favour made him feel as if…no, he really was scared. He felt the guilt of being caught red handed.

When Jiang Tian walked in, he settled the bag on the table. Sheng Wang’s bag was next to his, the zip not even opened yet. He didn’t take anything out at all, as though he had never touched the bag the moment he came back.
He recalled the darkness in the dorm he returned to, and looked at Shi Yu questioningly. “What were the two of you doing?”
Shi Yu was stuffing his laptop under his pillow, upon hearing that, his hands shook and his laptop nearly fell onto the floor.

He gave Jiang Tian two forceful laughs, and spoke lightly while avoiding the crux of the issue. “Actually, we were watching a horror film before you came back. I rarely watch films in this genre, and Sheng Wang happened to come back. So I dragged him along to watch with him, boost my courage or something.”
“Trying to boost your courage with him.” Jiang Tian glanced at that closely shut louver door once again, and couldn’t help himself. “So the two of you can quiver together?”

“Of course not.” Shi Yu used the horror film to cover up the existence of ‘action film’, and gabbled non-stop, “Sheng Wang is really so bold, I was about to piss my freakin pants, but he didn’t even blink. He even helped to switch the volume on and off, and drag along the progress bar too. He even planned to go shower halfway through at one point.”

Jiang Tian paused, his expression finally revealing a trace of shock. He heard Shi Yu prattling non-stop like the sound of pouring beans, and finally asked, as if he was confirming something, “You said Sheng Wang is gutsy?”
“Yeah,” Shi Yu nodded, “he said he’d basically watched all of the horror and thriller films in the market, saying that when he was young and alone at home, he would watch them to boost his courage. Then he grew numb from watching too many.”

After all his non-stop babbling, he suddenly remembered that the person opposite him came from the same family as Sheng Wang. They were brothers, did he even need to need an outsider like him to introduce. Therefore, Shi Yu stopped the conversation, and said, “Oh yeah, Tian-ge would have definitely known about this already.”

Yet, Jiang Tian didn’t know; Sheng Wang never brought it up.

The late night with the false alarm flashed in his mind: the residence manager and security guards were discussing the thief that invaded the dorms, their voices indistinguishable and meaningless, and then gradually, the night became silent again.
He had his hand on the bed railing as he asked Sheng Wang if he would be scared. His clear bright eyes were clouded by the fog of drowsiness. He scooched over to make extra space on the bed, and patted it.

Something lightly pawed at Jiang Tian’s heart.

Shi Yu was keeping his laptop, pulling the bed curtains, and digging out his phone. He was busy. Jiang Tian stood by the table for a long time, and suddenly felt a little thirsty, and so he took out a bottle of water from the bag to drink.

*
That shower Sheng Wang took went on for a little too long, by the time he came out, it was as though his eyes were washed too, with an extra layer of water, gleaming crystal clear. He lowered his eyes as he dragged a towel to wipe his hair with, and nearly crashed into Jiang Tian, who was standing by the closet.

The two stilled for a brief second as they stood within each other’s reach, and both went a step back by himself. Sheng Wang blinked away the water droplets that clung onto his eyelashes, wiped his hair and said, “Why are you standing here? You scared me.”

If the person in front of him was Gao Tianyang or someone else, Jiang Tian probably couldn’t resist it and ask, “Aren’t you quite brave? Even you can get scared?”
However, he didn’t bring it up. He only took the clothes and towel neatly folded and stacked in the closet, and said, “I’m going to shower.”
“Oh.” Sheng Wang sidestepped, making way for him.

There was still hot steam in the bathroom, the scent of body wash had yet to fade, like a mark left behind by the previous person. Boys were plenty rough with each other, they wouldn’t be fussy over so many things like this. Still, Sheng Wang, for some mysterious reason, opened his mouth. “How about you wait a bit? It’s pretty warm inside.”

Jiang Tian shot a questioning gaze.
A towel hung on Sheng Wang’s head, the half damp hair messily fell down from his forehead, covering his eyes. He waved and said, “Whatever, it’s nothing. Go ahead.”

Jiang Tian entered the bathroom. After so much turmoil, Shi Yu had finally settled down, and was reading a book for the first time ever. Who knew if the words actually entered his mind.

Sheng Wang pulled open a chair and sat by the table, his back hunched over and his head down as he dried his hair. A moment later, he looked up, and Shi Yu had already put down his book, playing on his phone instead. He was happily chatting away with someone on WeChat, an uncontrollable smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He couldn’t even feel the gaze of other people on him.

He looked at Shi Yu for a while, and suddenly recalled the time Big Mouth Xu confiscated his phone outside the sports ground. Big Mouth asked if he was in love. Back then, he was so confused, he didn’t understand how Big Mouth came to such a strange conclusion just like that. Now……he roughly understood.

“Who are you chatting with that got you smiling so hard?” Sheng Wang asked, trying to sound offhand.
“Huh?” Shi Yu looked up, the dumb grin on his face finally toned down a little. “Who else, He Shi, duh.”
He knew it.
The hand drying his hair stopped, a moment later he removed the towel and gripped it in his hand.

Shi Yu didn’t discover his strange state at all.
When people are engaged in romantic endeavours in this age, one one hand, they would be a little furtive, try to cover things up. On the other, they also wanted to brag. He replied to He Shi’s message, and then aimlessly went through his chat records again. He finally couldn’t resist and told Sheng Wang, “I’ve discovered that, no matter how fierce those girls can get usually, they are all quite cute when you date them.”

Sheng Wang nodded, but his heart wasn’t in it. He had no interest as to whether the person Shi Yu was mentioning was cute or not.

Shi Yu didn’t mind whether he was sincerely listening to him, a nod was good enough. He gabbled aboutHe Shi: how she had dimples when she smiled, the way the sun shone on her hair made the colours look amazing, although she may be competitive she would be so so cute as long as she didn’t get wound up by the smallest details, etc etc. He also spoke heavy praises of her pale skin, good looks, and legs that went on for days.

Sheng Wang’s eyes were lowered, his mind wandering. The parts in front went in one ear and out the other, the last part came true the clearest instead.
He heard Shi Yu’s praises, but what came to his mind was Jiang Tian—
After Jiang Tian played basketball, he always liked to push his slightly damp fringe backwards, and then take the clothes hanging by the railing, drape it over his shoulders. His fingers were slender, and his legs were long too. His skin was a cold white.

Sheng Wang blinked, and pushed these random thoughts out of his mind. He asked Shi Yu, out of the blue, “How did you know you like her?”

“Huh?” Shi Yu was stumped by that question.
“Pale skin, good looks, long legs. So many girls have these features, how did you know it is He Shi that you like?” Sheng Wang said.
Shi Yu had never met a question like this, he was a little confused for the time being.
He really put some serious thought into it, and attempted to answer. “I don’t really look at other girls though? That time, during the sports carnival, I got first place for both sprint and level 3 jumps, an entire group of people from my class all came over to give me towels and bottles of water. There were so many girls, but all I saw was her. When I received the bottle from her, I accidentally scratched her. I was so nervous, my palms were full of sweat. And I still wa—I still want to kiss—”

“—Whatever, whatever, these are all bullshit.” His face was as red as a baboon’s butt, as though it wasn’t him who took out porn just now. “There’s no need for questions like this at all, whether you like someone or not, you know best.”

Sheng Wang’s elbows were propped against his knees, the towel loosely dangling between his fingers. After he was done listening, he was quiet for a moment. With an “oh”, he never spoke again.
He went to wash the towel and hung it at the balcony, minding his own business, and then climbed up to the upper bunk.

“You’re sleeping this early?” Shi Yu still felt like continuing somewhat, however, his audience had already fled.
“We have exams tomorrow morning, my good guy,” Sheng Wang thoughtlessly answered, and then turned to face the wall, curling up in his blanket.

Yet a few more moments later, the door to the bathroom made a noise. Jiang Tian was done showering and came out.
He heard footsteps coming next to the bed and stopping. Jiang Tian asked in a low voice, “Asleep?”

Shi Yu answered from the opposite side of the room. “He’s probably asleep, he said to sleep and rise early for exams tomorrow morning.”
Jiang Tian stood for a while, and the bed moved very lightly next. He probably sat by the side of the bed. Moments later, Qiu Wenbin came back after he was done revising. They lowered their voices, said a few words, and the signal for lights out began to sound.

The upper third of November was already the end of autumn, heavy beads of dew formed in the late night. The frosty chill pervaded in the darkness, seeping in from the cracks of the windowsill.
Around midnight, a few rolls of thunder rumbled in the sky, the torrent came pouring down without any warning. The rain fell into the balcony, and crashed against the window pane in pits and patters. A moment it was hurried, the next it slowed down, clattering and murmuring.

Sheng Wang finally turned over ever so slightly, and laid completely on his back.
The streetlights downstairs managed to shine in all the way to the heights, forming a blurry blob of light on the glass, curtained by the pouring rain.

He stared at that blob for a while, felt around for his phone by the pillow and turned on the screen: 3.14am. Seven in the morning, tomorrow, Fuzhong had arranged for school buses to send all of them to Nangao’s exam venue. He had less than four hours for rest, but sleep completely escaped him.

He stuffed in his earpiece, planning to find some relaxing music to listen to. Yet, he found a new message in WeChat that he did not notice.
Jiang Tian: You’re really asleep?

Sheng Wang was startled on instinct, and stuck his head out to look at the lower bunk. He saw Jiang Tian lying on his side, a hand resting on his neck out of habit. His elbow blocked out more than half of his face, his eyes and brows sunken within the shadows.
Perhaps it was an illusion created by the shadows, but he seemed to be frowning in his sleep too. He didn’t really seem to be happy.

Sheng Wang watched on his stomach for a while before he retracted his gaze.
He lied on the bed, facing upwards as he swiped through the chat records. He finally noticed the time the message was sent: 11.20pm. It was around lights out, all and any commotion would be obfuscated by the signal for lights out, not startling someone who would be already asleep.

Sheng Wang stared at the time, and thought that perhaps this is the reason.
The person sleeping in the lower bunk looked as though he was cold and emotionless, but he paid more attention than anyone else. And yet, he was also the sensitive type, he could always discover these miniscule, trivial details.
It must be because he has been lonely for too long, and Jiang Tian was the one who came too close to him. That’s why it was like that.
He didn’t have any experience, this was the only plausible reason to him.

Shi Yu was right, there was no need to ask questions like this. He knew whether he liked someone himself the best.
He should have understood a long time ago……
He likes Jiang Tian.

But, that can’t do, you’re my Ge. Sheng Wang internally said.
Sheng Wang spaced out at his phone screen for eons, and finally managed to tap into Jiang Tian’s personal info page. He changed the name he had used for a very long time.

When he backed out, WeChat was already refreshed. That cat named “Leader” was still at the topmost of the screen, lying on the grey-white wall on its belly. It quietly looked down at him, all the way across the bygone years.
The profile picture of the person he was talking to didn’t change, but the personal nickname did. It became: Ge.

TO BE CONTINUED.