A Certain Someone ( The On1y One ) Chapter 075 – Surprise

Me and the You I Like.

Jiang Tian’s eyes rested on his own fingers—which was being fiddled around with—and was silent for quite a while too.
“Why are you asking this?” His gaze shifted up to meet Sheng Wang.

“I don’t know.” Sheng Wang’s head rested against the wall, his chin slightly raised. His gaze thus slid down naturally, watching the dust drift about in the air. He reached out to grab at them, all he caught was thin air.

“It just feels a little floaty, neither up nor down, nothing concrete at all.” His hand lazily drifted down, resting on his knees. “Seems a little dramatic now that I’m saying it, after all—”
We’ve already kissed.

He stopped for a few seconds, and skipped what they both already knew. He pursed his slightly dry lips. “Either way……kinda odd, don’t you think?”
A few while later, Jiang Tian finally looked away from him.

Although Sheng Wang was being quite ambiguous, Jiang Tian did know what he was getting at. He knew it well, he had always understood it clearly. He just didn’t expect Sheng Wang to ask.
More accurately, he did not expect Sheng Wang to ask this early.

He thought they were in tacit agreement on this issue, already reaching a silent consensus—just like the many instances from before. Still, he knew at the same time that this so-called “silent consensus” was utterly impossible to keep up in the long run, it would inevitably be broken. It was set in stone that someone would break the silence first.
After all, nothing can stay hidden in the dark for long; it either erupts, or quietly withers away.

Therefore, this question may be sudden, but completely logical at the same time. Jiang Tian actually did already come up with an answer a long time ago. He had already rehearsed this multiple times in his subconscious. When Sheng Wang brings this question up, he would say: wait a little longer.

Wait for this training camp to be over, wait until we leave this confined school, wait for us to leave this utopia…or this Neverland. Wait until we are surrounded by people once more, filled with clamour that we (do not) want to hear. If you still want to ask this, I can tell you the answer.

If you don’t want to ask, that’s fine too. As long as there isn’t a grandiose, serious beginning, there is no need for a deliberate end. The way out will always be there for you; no barrier, no concerns. Nobody would be embarrassed, I don’t even need to lay the steps for you.

This is the most rational approach, wrapped up by impulsiveness.
But the sun was too bright, the person next to him was made too cozy by it. As long as he saw Sheng Wang’s eyes, filled with light, saw the way he fidgeted in anticipation but also apprehensive, Jiang Tian couldn’t bring himself to say something like “wait a little longer”.

All his subconscious preparation was messed up. When he came back to himself, he asked Sheng Wang, “Are you unhappy?”

“No,” Sheng Wang shook his head, “I’m quite happy.”
He paused, and completely threw his dignity away as he added, “Especially happy.”
Then he heard Jiang Tian say, “That’s good.”

Sheng Wang’s mind went blank for an instant, and suddenly understood where that floaty, untethered feeling came from.
It was this line. It was the way he said “That’s good”.

He was actually worried about this without knowing.
Jiang Tian was made of sharp angles and an even sharper personality, sometimes giving people an illusion that he was just as impulsive as any other youths in certain conditions. However, Sheng Wang knew that that wasn’t being impulsive—it’s pride.

Sheng Wang knew very well how cool-headed Jiang Tian was as a person. Even with someone like Ji Huanyu along with an incident like that right before him, he could amalgamate all his trauma within the smallest area. He could reconcile with himself and the people around him, so the conclusion was obvious.
He was full of pride, but never impulsive—let alone the matters of the heart.

Therefore, for the past few days, between bouts of elation, Sheng Wang would occasionally think: how did they suddenly end up like this? Of course, he knew why for himself, but he didn’t know about Jiang Tian.

Was it the way he was so unconcealing? Sometimes, he was too obvious in his anticipation, sometimes too obvious in his disappointment. His sudden advancement, his abrupt retreats, all got himself busy as a beaver. Therefore his Ge couldn’t bear to watch anymore, and came over to help him out.

It was also just that subconsciously, he was even more worried that the tension and the intimacy wasn’t because of a temptation he could no longer resist; but that he ran too near, too hastily towards him, that Jiang Tian was afraid to disappoint him and make him look bad.
If it was really like that, then he was truly putting him on the spot.

He’s hoarding all the happiness and excitement for himself; that was too tyrannical, and also unfair too.
This ought to be equally divided between two people.

Sheng Wang was deep in thought for a while, and made a small smile. “Then did you do those things to make me happy?”
“What things?” Jiang Tian said.
“Quite many, actually.” Sheng Wang counted them one by one, his tone a little lazy, like this was just a casual conversation, one that neither of them were too personally involved in. “Watch me bullshit my way through changing your alias, celebrating my birthday in advance with me, tolerating me trying to make you drink, searching photographs all over the place for an album, and also—”

The hand he rested on his knee seemed to be playing around jokingly, for every count he curled a finger. At the last finger, he stopped for a while before finally saying, “And kissing too.”

The room was quiet for a long time, so long that Sheng Wang couldn’t help but to look at Jiang Tian. Jiang Tian finally spoke.

Perhaps he was playing along with his casual chat too, Jiang Tian also started counting on his fingers.
He said, “Yes for the alias, yes for the birthday, yes for the drinking, yes for the photo. No for the last one.”

Sheng Wang nodded ever so slightly, and his tongue darted to lick his dry lower lip.
He actually got nervous quite rarely; no matter what scenario, how many people were standing or sitting before him, he would hardly ever get nervous. Only when he was standing before Jiang Tian alone, that smugness and pride that he was naturally born with would temporarily disappear.

“Why for the last one then?”

He waited for the answer, his thumb subconsciously rubbing the knuckles on his pointer finger, until the patch of skin there was red and flushed from rubbing. He finally heard Jiang Tian say, his voice hoarse, “Impulsiveness.”
“Lack of resolve.”
“Couldn’t resist.”

Sheng Wang’s fingers, pressing on his knuckles, stopped. A good while later, he finally relaxed; like the giant load of joy he had been keeping to himself, hugging and waiting, finally had half of it claimed by the other person. Therefore, the load was finally off his arms, and he could feel unadulterated happiness at last.

He asked Jiang Tian, “Will you get impulsive too?”
Jiang Tian: “Yes.”

“When?” Sheng Wang asked again.
“A lot of times,” Jiang Tian said. “When my willpower is weak.”

Sheng Wang let out an “oh”, and suddenly said, “Then, is your willpower strong now?”
Jiang Tian looked at him, and away again. A moment later, he said, “No.”

“Then…let me ask you a question.”
“Ask.”

“Publicly, I keep telling everyone you are my Ge.” Sheng Wang hesitated a few seconds, and turned towards him. “Privately, can it be something else?”
“Define privately.”
“When the doors are closed.” Due to the way his voice was lowered, Sheng Wang’s voice was a little husky too, “When nobody else is around us.”

“What do you want to change it into?” Jiang Tian asked.
“What can I change it into?”

Perhaps it was because of that definite “weak willpower” just now, Sheng Wang seemed to have suddenly lost any qualms—he became absolutely unrestrained. His hand lifted his chin as he thought, and turned to ask, “How about ‘boyfriend’?”

The back of Jiang Tian’s head rested against the wall, his half lowered eyes blinked flittingly. He was about to open his mouth, but Sheng Wang added once more, “If you say no, Imma use my mouth. I’ll kiss you until you say yes.”

Jiang Tian’s gaze swept from the end of his eyes, suddenly dropping before he looked away. “Then, it’s a no.”
A lit matchstick dropped into the pool of gasoline in Sheng Wang’s brain, and suddenly a blazing fire roared, his ears became flushed from the heat. He blinked, turned his head and kissed him.

Jiang Tian had a lot of self-control; he allowed Sheng Wang to awkwardly press his lips against his, raw and inexperienced. Until the other person tentatively licked the gap between his lips, then he tilted his head and moved away.

Sheng Wang narrowed his eyes, and saw Jiang Tian’s Adam’s apple bob.
A moment later, Jiang Tian finally turned back. “You really want to get infected?”

“You’re the one who said no,” Sheng Wang still yearned for more—the bare contact wasn’t intimate enough for him.
“It’s a yes now,” Jiang Tian said.

“Oh, then let us celebrate.” Sheng Wang grinned as he got his way, and then licked his lower lip, wreaking havoc in him again. After peppering many messy kisses, Jiang Tian was finally bothered enough that he couldn’t stand it anymore.

He slightly backed away, his right hand glided down Sheng Wang’s cheek and lower jaw, turning Sheng Wang’s head to the side with his thumb hooked onto his chin. He kissed the side of the other person’s neck.
Full of self restraint, but lost to temptation.

Sheng Wang grabbed his hair, neither too tightly or too loosely. Even his breathing quivered.

He knew that this way, he wouldn’t get infected. But……
Fuck.

*
When young people are deliriously caught up in love, all and any willpower are just there for show. The final result was Jiang Tian’s fever completely subsiding that night, but unfortunately converting to the even draggier cold. As for Sheng Wang, after sneezing three times in a row in the second morning, he joined the army of people who caught a cold. What a martyr he was.
The good news was now that the milk was already spilt, he didn’t need to be worried about getting infected anymore. The bad news was now that they both have a sore throat as well as cough, their performance in public speaking was very much affected.

Despite the scoring panel knowing their original standard very well, and also that getting sick was a factor beyond their control and they ought to consider that when scoring them, the final outcome was still what it was. They couldn’t turn a blind eye and tolerate all their issues. Therefore, as Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian’s cold appeared on and off over a week, their PK scores also went up and down.

In this period of time, Bian Chen was the one who felt the most conflicted. He managed to harvest PK scores 7 times within 10 days, and as he felt thrilled and happy over it, he also felt like he was taking an unfair advantage of their suffering.
It was Sheng Wang who was quite at peace instead. He said to him, “With every gain comes a loss, that’s how it ought to be. It’s a good reminder for me to work even harder for the formal competition.”
The second half of the sentence made an incredible amount of sense; the “with every gain comes a loss” and “ought to be” was beyond Bian Chen’s comprehension. They were more like the mystical arts at this point. In any case, he couldn’t tell what Sheng Wang’s “gain” was, or why he said it was “ought to be”.

Time flew by, the training camp had reached its end. The venue for the formal competition wasn’t set in this school. The training camp teachers arranged their journey, and all 40 students had to head to the north.

Before they set off, Sheng Wang finally found the time to go to the top of the street behind the hill. That store was completely new after closing for a few days to undergo renovation. He printed that photo in his phone out, and made two copies.

He gave one to Jiang Tian, and slotted the other one into his photo album.
He just turned 17; there were 18 photographs altogether, and the last one was an accident as well as the biggest surprise at the same time.

Every page was made with stiff paper sprinkled with gold, a transparent film on top and below. He slipped the picture featuring the two of them between the transparent film, and some ideas sprouted within him.

He asked Jiang Tian, “Did you handwrite the year on the upper right corner?”
“It’s printed.” Jiang Tian said, “It wouldn’t be easy to write on this type of paper.”
“Sure.” Sheng Wang asked again, “What if I want to write something though?”
Jiang Tian thought, and said, “Write it on the back then.”
“If I write it on the back, it can’t be seen anymore after I put it inside though,” Sheng Wang said.

“What do you want to write?”
Sheng Wang stilled with Jiang Tian’s question, and laughed. “Oh yeah, my brain shortwired. It isn’t meant for other people’s eyes in the first place anyway.”

He grabbed a pen and turned the photograph over, watching the outline of the silhouettes printed as they faced the light. He wrote behind himself: Me.
And then he wrote the remaining words behind Jiang Tian’s back: The you I like.
Me and the you I like.

Jiang Tian stood right next to him, watching him earnestly write down these words. He abruptly felt that his previous inner conflict, the back and forths, those so-called rationality, were all too foolish. So foolish that he wasn’t being himself at all, so might as well be a little more unbridled.

I like you too much; therefore, I teeter by the edge of the abyss, I carefully tread on thin ice.
So much so that I nearly forgot—I’m seventeen. At this age, the whole world is mine. No need to hesitate, no need for any considerations.
I am unstoppable, I am invincible.

TO BE CONTINUED.