Chapter 52: Used to It

You Chong got up from on top of him, his tone sounding relatively calm. “What fell?”

Lin Hexi, also acting as if nothing had happened, turned to the side and stretched out his arm to pick something up from the floor. “My phone.”

After retrieving the phone, he pushed himself up from the sofa and went to the bathroom to get the hand soap for You Chong.

Recalling what Lin Hexi had mentioned earlier, You Chong paused outside the bathroom and asked, “You still haven’t showered?”

Lin Hexi’s tone was slightly exasperated. “I have an electric water heater here; I can’t shower when the power’s out.”

You Chong said, “You can shower at my place.”

Lin Hexi thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

After finding the hand soap, he went back to his bedroom, put on his shirt and pants, then fumbled through his wardrobe in the dark to pull out his pajamas and sleep pants, before following You Chong upstairs.

At You Chong’s place, there were emergency lights, making the interior as bright as day, completely unaffected by the power outage.

The Alaskan Malamute obediently sat on the sofa, waiting for its owner to return.

As usual, Lin Hexi first gave the fluffy dog’s head a couple of rubs before picking up his pajamas and towel to head into the bathroom for a shower.

There was a small light hanging in the bathroom as well. Lin Hexi turned on the shower to wet his body, then turned to the shelf to look for You Chong’s body wash.

The next second, out of the corner of his eye, he unintentionally glanced at the sink, and the hand reaching for the body wash paused in mid-air.

Lin Hexi walked from the shelf to the sink, picked up the full bottle of hand soap sitting there, and lowered his eyes to take a look, his expression showing a slight hint of surprise.

After a moment, he snapped out of it, placed the hand soap back down as if nothing had happened, and returned to the still-running shower. He squeezed out some body wash and lathered it over his body.

When he finished showering and started getting dressed, Lin Hexi realized that his sleep pants had been left outside on the sofa in the living room.

Using the light from the wall, he bent down and put on his underwear, then grabbed the robe from the rack and put it on. The hem of the robe fluttered down from above his chest, instantly covering his upper thighs and completely hiding his underwear.

Lin Hexi sensed that something was off. He raised his hand to wipe the fog off the mirror in front of the sink and looked up at his reflection.

The clothes in the mirror were not the familiar style of his pajamas but rather an oversized T-shirt.

The pattern on the T-shirt was both unfamiliar and familiar to him.

It was unfamiliar because he didn’t own such a shirt, yet familiar because he had worn this shirt once before.

Lin Hexi finally remembered—it was the shirt You Chong had lent him in the hotel that weekend when they went to watch the car races.

Clearly, he had casually stuffed it into a corner of his wardrobe, and now it had inexplicably resurfaced.

Lin Hexi tugged at the shirt he was wearing, then opened the door and walked towards the living room.

After taking just a few steps, he suddenly recalled the bottle of hand soap in the bathroom. Without showing any change in his expression, he quietly changed direction and walked towards the kitchen.

In the brightly lit kitchen, the dish soap was placed prominently on the counter.

He stood in front of the counter, and picked up the bottle of dish soap and gave it a shake.

The bottle felt quite full, and he could hear the liquid sloshing inside as he shook it.

Lin Hexi set the dish soap back down and turned to walk out.

You Chong coming downstairs to find him definitely wasn’t about borrowing something. If it were because he was afraid of the dark due to the power outage, that reason wouldn’t hold up either.

The only remaining possibility was that You Chong was worried that Lin Hexi might be afraid of the dark.

Lin Hexi silently curled the corners of his lips.

As he walked out of the kitchen, he bumped into You Chong coming his way.

“The power’s back on,” You Chong said, turning off the rechargeable lamp in the kitchen and flipping on the wall switch for the ceiling light. His gaze then fell on Lin Hexi’s clothes. Recognizing that Lin Hexi was wearing his shirt, You Chong raised his eyebrow. “You didn’t throw that shirt away?”

Lin Hexi replied with a cheerful smile, “Nope.”

“You’ve come to my place twice to shower, and both times you ended up wearing my clothes.” You Chong crossed his arms, scrutinizing Lin Hexi thoughtfully for a moment with a half-smiling expression. “Do you really like wearing my clothes?”

Clearly, the person in front of him hadn’t realized just how suggestive his question was.

Having learned from the previous times when You Chong had turned things around on him, Lin Hexi avoided following the conversation further in that direction. He shook his head and explained, “It was too dark in the wardrobe, so I grabbed the wrong clothes.”

The smile on You Chong’s face not only didn’t fade but seemed to deepen. “You even kept my clothes in your wardrobe?”

Lin Hexi suddenly paused, narrowing his eyes slightly as he looked at him.

After two seconds, Lin Hexi nodded earnestly. “Yeah, I really like them. Not only that, I have to hug them every night when I sleep, and even when I’m watching movies, I cuddle with them.”

“In that case,” You Chong’s deep, unfathomable eyes looked at him, “shouldn’t you reciprocate the favor?”

A hint of caution flickered in Lin Hexi’s eyes as he slowly asked, “How do you want to reciprocate?”

“Reciprocation means,” You Chong suddenly stepped forward, lowering his gaze close to Lin Hexi’s ear, and said with a low and pleasant voice, “you should also give me one of your clothes, and I should also take your clothes,” he paused slightly, deliberately slowing down his speech, enunciating each word, “to do the same things you did with mine.”

Lin Hexi was momentarily dazed for a second.

When it came to deception, You Chong was completely different from him.

He was someone with a tarnished reputation, long stripped of any credibility, and his words always hovered between sincerity and jest.

You Chong, however, was the complete opposite—serious, proper, and meticulous, with no history of deceiving him. When he joked, it was always with genuine intent, even to the point of being deeply affectionate and tender, making it easy to blur the line between real and fake, drawing others into his allure.

Lin Hexi almost believed him.

Once he realized this, and saw You Chong, who had stepped back with a noticeable curve at the corner of his lips, Lin Hexi suddenly felt a complex and subtle mix of emotions, as if he were reaping what he had sown.

While his thoughts scattered, You Chong’s gaze had already drifted from Lin Hexi’s face down to his thighs.

With a chuckle, You Chong remarked, “Playing the no-pants trick on me again?”

Lin Hexi spoke honestly, “This time, I really am not wearing any pants.”

Clearly not believing him anymore, You Chong reached out to lift the hem of Lin Hexi’s T-shirt.

Lin Hexi couldn’t avoid it in time, and the hem fell into You Chong’s hand, swiftly pulled up by him.

The next second, You Chong’s gaze swept directly under the shirt to Lin Hexi’s bare legs, then froze slightly.

Not at all bothered by being seen, Lin Hexi quickly turned the tables and asked meaningfully, “Do you like what you see?”

After returning to his senses without a hint of expression, You Chong released the hem of his shirt and gave a neutral comment, “Not bad. It’s just—” A faint, teasing smile appeared in You Chong’s eyes as if he were throwing back a response to Lin Hexi’s earlier question, and he added with a hint of implication, “Still a bit smaller compared to mine.”

Lin Hexi’s face flushed slightly.

He thought silently to himself that he was truly reaping what he had sown.

After finding the pants he had left on the living room sofa and putting them on, Lin Hexi didn’t bother asking You Chong to return his bottle of hand soap. He left You Chong’s place, went back downstairs to his own home, and tidied up the shoe rack and shoes that had fallen at the entryway.

For the next two days, aside from going to school for classes, eating, and sleeping, he spent the rest of his time drawing.

On Tuesday evening, Lin Hexi was five minutes late for his elective class.

Before class, he had forgotten to ask You Chong or Yang Juan to save him a seat. As he reported in and entered the room, he had already prepared himself for the likelihood that there wouldn’t be any seats available. However, to his surprise, he noticed that there was still an empty seat in the middle of the classroom.

The seat was perfectly positioned right next to You Chong.

It was obvious who had saved the seat for him.

With a broad smile, Lin Hexi sat down beside You Chong and deliberately turned his head to Yang Juan, saying, “Thanks for saving me a seat.”

Yang Juan froze, about to explain.

But You Chong, sitting beside them, had already turned Lin Hexi’s face towards himself, his expression displeased as he reminded, “I’m the one you should be thanking.”

Lin Hexi’s smile deepened, his eyes curving slightly as he said, “Thank you, Brother Chong.”

You Chong’s gaze deepened, and he remained silent for a long time.

Lin Hexi deliberately nudged him with his elbow, his voice lowered on purpose and filled with a thick sense of amusement. “Did you hear me?”

You Chong glanced at him. “I heard you.”

Lin Hexi, not letting it go, pressed on, “You haven’t responded to me yet.”

You Chong’s expression remained indifferent. “No need to thank me.”

Unsatisfied with the answer, Lin Hexi propped his chin on one hand, with his eyes intently fixed on You Chong. “What else?”

You Chong’s expression turned impatient. “What else?”

“Big brother—” Lin Hexi deliberately drew out his tone. “What do you think?”

Without a second thought, You Chong refused, “I don’t have a shameless younger brother like you.”

Lin Hexi nodded knowingly and thought for a moment. “If you don’t want to call me ‘brother,’ you can call me something else.”

You Chong paused, then asked coolly, “Call you what?”

Instead of answering, Lin Hexi turned to pat Yang Juan and asked, “Do you have a big brother?”

Yang Juan nodded, “Yes, I do.”

Lin Hexi smiled with satisfaction. “How does your brother usually call you?”

Yang Juan thought for a moment, and his face turning a bit red. “He follows what my mom calls me.”

Lin Hexi, intrigued, pressed further, “And how does your mom call you?”

Yang Juan didn’t answer, but his face turned even redder.

Lin Hexi stared at him intently, not blinking.

Yang Juan, with a red face, spoke in a very small voice, “Juan Juan, baby.”

With a bright smile spreading across his lips, Lin Hexi turned his face and raised his eyebrow at You Chong with a sly grin.

Two months ago, You Chong, receiving such a hint from Lin Hexi, would have undoubtedly been furious.

But the You Chong of two months later was used to it. Now, he merely curved his lips slightly and replied in a low voice, “Keep dreaming.”