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She was exceptionally pleased with Big Stutterer. Before leaving, she whispered some words to him, probably telling him to cherish me.

After that, we found opportunities to introduce each other to our informed friends.

Big Stutterer didn’t have many friends, and most were from our circle.

However, about six months into our relationship, one day Big Stutterer suddenly said that a childhood friend wanted to join us for dinner.

Childhood friend, straight man, PhD student.

These three keywords made me feel threatened.

I thought I would have to interrogate him thoroughly, but surprisingly, Big Stutterer just laid it all out.

This was probably a tragic story of a gay falling in love with his straight childhood friend.

They had been neighbors since birth, and due to his speech difficulties, for a long time, Big Stutterer had only this straight childhood friend.

The straight childhood friend had the aura of a little scholar, deeply immersed in reading, and wore glasses from a young age.

I’ve mentioned before that Big Stutterer actually loved to talk, but when he was younger, no one wanted to listen to him.

His parents weren’t very willing to hear his slow, unnutritious chatter when they were busy.

Only this childhood friend was different.

He wouldn’t talk to Big Stutterer, but he didn’t mind listening to him.

The little scholar had a special ability to completely ignore everything around him when he was reading.

This led to many funny situations.

So, rather than saying that the straight childhood friend was willing to listen to Big Stutterer, it was more accurate to say that he didn’t mind having the little stutterer chatter beside him.

At first, Big Stutterer would stop and ask for his opinion, but later, realizing he wasn’t really listening, he didn’t get angry. Instead, he became bolder in talking.

He wasn’t afraid at all that he would spill secrets!

In middle school, when Big Stutterer recognized his true sexual orientation, he developed unusual feelings for this straight childhood friend.

At that time, Big Stutterer was quite bold; he thought the other person wasn’t listening, so he confessed his feelings.

Right after he finished speaking, the straight childhood friend turned around in confusion and asked, “What did you say?”

Big Stutterer was extremely nervous: “Y-you… you… how… can… you… hear… me?”

The straight childhood friend was even more confused: “I’m not deaf.”

In fact, he occasionally heard Big Stutterer speaking, such as when he was cleaning his glasses.

Little Big Stutterer went through social death like this; he couldn’t recall what secrets he shouldn’t have said in front of his childhood friend.

Fortunately, he was clever enough to muddle through the confession and coming out situation.

The childhood friend, absorbed in his books and unaware of the world, probably didn’t even know that there were such things as gay people.

Big Stutterer’s first crush died after he entered high school.

Because he fell in love early!

I was so angry that he had a boyfriend so soon!

I didn’t want to listen anymore, and I made Big Stutterer kneel on durian peels for three hours (just kidding).

On the day of dinner, I dressed especially well.

Big Stutterer was laughing to himself: “I’ve… never seen you… like this.”

I gave him a roll of my eyes.

After meeting that straight PhD friend, I realized that my effort to dress up was completely pointless.

Because this friend matched my stereotype of a PhD student almost perfectly: thin, wearing thick glasses, and exuding a bookish vibe.

He wasn’t tall and couldn’t be called handsome; his attire was appropriate but lacked highlights.

I had expected him to be the kind of warm, jade-like beauty often depicted in novels.

His wife, however, had a gentle and graceful demeanor.

I finally understood why Big Stutterer’s first love faded so quickly.

Later, the straight friend told me privately: “Chen Sen told me last week that he likes men and has a boyfriend he wants to be with for the long haul. I thought I had to come back and meet you. You’re even better than I imagined, and you’re very suitable for Chen Sen.”

He took out a cigarette and fumbled around for a lighter but couldn’t find one, so he put the cigarette back and continued: “Chen Sen always thought I didn’t know he was gay. Actually, I knew since middle school. He must have told you about it, right? He thought he had fooled me, but I’ve read so many books. How could I not have read any novels about homosexuality? But since he didn’t mention it to me again, I didn’t press the issue.”

I had been waiting for him to say something, and now I realized that what I was waiting for was you. Without you, who knows when he would have told me?

In the end, he wished us happiness.

Big Stutterer and I saw them off at the airport, hugged each other, and agreed to visit them during the holidays.

On the way home, I pinched Big Stutterer’s waist.

He winced: “What… are you doing?”

I whispered in his ear: “You big idiot.”

Big Stutterer was confused for a while, thinking I was jealous about him hugging his straight friend.

Isn’t he a big idiot?

He has guarded a transparent closet for more than ten years, yet he’s been clear about it all along.

Fortunately, he’s a decent straight guy.

Thank goodness he’s a straight guy.

---

A new security guard came to our community.

Before this, I had only seen young, handsome security guards like this on Douyin and in Twitter posts.

I didn’t expect it to happen in reality.

The security guy was serious about his work and had a friendly attitude, quickly winning the hearts of many elderly residents.

If it weren’t for the fact that he hadn’t reached the legal age for marriage, he would probably have had a lot of matchmaking opportunities.

I bet he wouldn’t want them.

Because the moment our eyes met, my gaydar went off.

Although reading people’s sexual orientation at a glance isn’t very reliable, I only gossiped about it privately with Big Stutterer, who agreed with my view.

I asked Big Stutterer if he thought the security guy was good-looking.

Big Stutterer cunningly replied: “N-no… you’re… good-looking.”

I found him greasy.

The security guy was indeed very enthusiastic. Although he was quite young, he was good at interacting with people.

I suspected he was here to experience life.

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