After the initial trial period and adjustment, the aftermath of cohabitation also began to appear. Soon, Su Hui realized that although his home became cleaner, he could no longer find his daily belongings.
This feeling was bittersweet.
Although Su Hui’s things were usually messy, they had their own order, and everything was within his reach. However, after cleaning up, in the eyes of Lu Junchi, everything was organized, but in Su Hui’s eyes, everything had been moved around, and he was not used to it at all.
So, that night, their most frequent conversation became…
“Lu Junchi, where’s the package that I haven’t opened yet?”
Lu Junchi walked over and handed him a cardboard box.
Twenty minutes later, Su Hui said, “Lu Junchi, where’s my bathrobe?”
“Lu Junchi, where’s my water bottle?”
Lu Junchi got up from the couch, brought in the freshly laundered bathrobe, and poured a glass of warm water for Su Hui. He found that finding things for Su Hui was faster than telling him where they were.
Apart from Su Hui’s adjustment issues, Lu Junchi also discovered that he had greatly underestimated Su Hui’s destructive power. No matter how perfectly he tidied up, as soon as Su Hui passed by, everything was immediately in disarray.
Watching Su Hui go take a shower, Lu Junchi quickly took the opportunity to tidy up outside.
Just as he was halfway through cleaning up, a message from Lu Haochu came through: “Brother! Brother! Today I went to Teacher Su’s neighbor’s house and saw your car parked downstairs!! You said you were going to live with a colleague, is it him?!!”
Lu Junchi replied, “It’s due to work reasons. I’ll explain it to you later.”
Suddenly, Lu Haochu realized something and asked, “Wait, so if I come to deliver warmth in the future, do I have to wait for you to open the door for me?”
Lu Junchi thought to himself, “You’re overthinking it. I’ll just keep you out.”
He calmly replied, “Teacher Su will talk to the student council. Your task as students is to focus on your studies, so there’s no need to come over specially. I’ll tidy up the place.”
Lu Haochu said, “Okay, I have confidence in your cleaning skills, Brother. By the way, did you successfully recruit Teacher Su as a consultant? Did your plan work?”
“Mmm, it’s all taken care of,” replied Lu Junchi.
After sending the message, Lu Junchi was preparing to continue tidying up when he suddenly heard a cat meowing. He looked down and saw Aristotle struggling to climb out of a pile of clothes. He let out a long sigh.
Lu Haochu said, “Oh yeah, I’ll give you a heads up. It’s hard to wake Teacher Su up in the morning. His hearing isn’t good, and he often doesn’t hear his alarm. There was one time when he missed an entire class in the morning, and Director Liao was so angry that he called it a teaching catastrophe and said that teachers like him should be removed from the teaching team.”
Lu Junchi asked, “And then what happened? How was it handled?”
Lu Haochu coughed and said, “Well, actually, Teacher Su was sick that day, so he couldn’t get up in the morning. Later, when the college leaders found out about the situation, they rescheduled all his classes to the afternoon, so he wasn’t late anymore…”
“Thanks for the heads up. I’ll make sure to wake him up earlier,” said Lu Junchi.
Finally, Lu Junchi finished tidying up the place and exchanged a few more words with Lu Haochu before putting down his phone.
He then realized that the sound of running water behind him had stopped. He heard Teacher Su shout, “Lu Junchi, where’s my razor?”
Lu Junchi turned around and shouted back, “It’s in the mirror cabinet in the bathroom…”
After speaking, Lu Junchi suddenly stopped and slowly turned his head back. He had noticed something…
When Teacher Su was renovating the outside bathroom, he probably didn’t consider the possibility of having outsiders there, so the bathroom door had glass panels with some patterns on them. But in reality, they didn’t really cover anything, especially when viewed up close…
Lu Junchi stood in the dining room, only a little over two meters away from the outside bathroom. He could see Teacher Su’s every move through the glass panel, from his head down to slightly below his waist.
Su Hui is not short, with a thin and slender figure, and fair skin, and under the hazy light in the bathroom, the details are not clear, but the silhouette is visible, making it even more tempting to imagine…
At this moment, Su Hui had just finished showering and hadn’t put on any clothes. He didn’t realize that the glass around him was transparent. He searched for a while and took out a razor, shaved his beard, and then wiped his hair and body with a towel before turning around and putting on a bathrobe.
When he turned around, Lu Junchi could see some dark red burn marks on Su Hui’s back from his shoulder blades down. They looked like old injuries, but they didn’t appear grotesque or ugly on his back. Instead, they looked like strange and mysterious tattoos, making them seem like delicate and fragile works of art.
It wasn’t until the bathroom door made a soft sound that Lu Junchi realized he had been standing at the door for two minutes.
Su Hui opened the bathroom door and came out. Lu Junchi quickly averted his gaze. He then remembered that Su Hui couldn’t even see him looking at him due to his poor eyesight.
Su Hui then walked through the living room, wearing a white intersecting bathrobe that covered him securely, with a length almost to his knees, revealing only his neck, collarbone, and two long and straight legs.
This scene made Lu Junchi, a man with a *male sexual orientation, feel his heart rate increase. He quickly pretended to look at the documents and stared at his laptop.
TN: Your honor he’s GAY!
Lu Junchi had lived in a dormitory during his high school years and had also lived with roommates since going abroad. It was common to take showers or wear less clothing in the summer, but he had never felt embarrassed, let alone nervous around any of his roommates.
The same was true for the witness he had protected before. They had shared a room that was rented with government funds. Everyone was polite and kept to themselves, too nervous to even think about anything else.
Lu Junchi has always felt that communication on a spiritual level is more important in a relationship, even more so than physical intimacy. Otherwise, he would not have had a special relationship with that person…
But now, as he sits there, he dares not even look at Su Hui.
He silently repeats to himself that he’s just a good-looking roommate and that he’s not someone who judges people by their appearance.
Su Hui, however, is completely unaware that he’s being scrutinized. He opens the fridge and asks Lu Junchi, “Lu Junchi, where are the frozen dumplings I bought earlier?” He vaguely remembers there was still a pack left, but he can’t seem to find it now.
Lu Junchi clears his throat and says, “Your dumplings have expired for over six months now…” He had checked before and not only were they expired, but many of the dumplings had also dried up and cracked.
Su Hui was stunned for a moment. He hadn’t even realized that they had been in the fridge for that long.
“After showering, don’t stand in front of the fridge like that,” Lu Junchi said to Su Hui, who always coughs a few times for no reason. He was afraid that Su Hui might catch a cold. Finally calming down, Lu Junchi approached him and asked, “Are you hungry?”
Su Hui nodded and said, “I’m a little hungry after showering.”
Before, he lived his life like a zombie, going to and from classes every day. Now, Lu Junchi has forcibly dragged him back to the world of the living, and his senses have finally started to awaken.
Lu Junchi helped him rummage through the kitchen pantry and said, “There’s still some leftover chicken soup from lunch, and there are eight dumplings and some noodles.”
Su Hui replied, “Oh, then I’ll cook the wontons myself.”
Lu Junchi was afraid that with his eyesight not being so good, he would have difficulty doing things, so he took the initiative to say, “Let me make chicken soup wonton noodles for you.”
Su Hui looked up at him, smiled, and gladly accepted, “I only eat four, that’s enough. You can eat with me.”
Lu Junchi wanted to say that he never had a habit of eating supper, but he still grabbed a small handful of noodles after looking at Su Hui.
Su Hui achieved his goal and went back to the living room. The chicken soup dumpling noodles were quickly ready, with an egg nestled on top of Su Hui’s bowl. His bangs were a bit long and still damp, he lifted them with his hand and ate the dumplings, complementing Lu Junchi’s good cooking skills, especially the seasoning of the chicken soup, which he could tell had some extra ingredients.
After finishing the egg, Su Hui ate two more dumplings and took a bite of the noodles. He was surprised and asked, “Why are the noodles you cooked so delicious?”
The noodles were fully cooked, not too hard, and had a good chewy texture, not soft and sticky like the ones he usually cooked. Whenever he cooked noodles, they were either half-cooked or overcooked and if left for a while, they would stick together into a lump with the soup. But the noodles Lu Junchi cooked were still distinct even after soaking in the soup for a while.
“Because I cooked the noodles separately and rinsed them with cold water,” Lu Junchi turned his head towards Su Hui. His hair was long, covering his forehead and eyebrows most of the time, but now that it was lifted up, Lu Junchi noticed Su Hui’s fair skin, which had become even whiter after showering. He could even see some blue veins near his temples. Up close, Su Hui’s eyebrows were beautiful, adding a touch of masculinity to his otherwise delicate features. Normally his hair covered his face, making him appear gentle and aloof, but now that his forehead was exposed, he looked more youthful.
Even if Su Hui’s eyesight was not good, he noticed that Lu Junchi was looking at him. He turned his head and asked, “What’s wrong? Is there something on my face?”
Lu Junchi grabbed a tissue from the side and gently wiped away the water droplets on Su Hui’s forehead. “Water was about to drip down.”
Su Hui said thanks and took the tissue to wipe his hair.
TN:
Lu Junchi having a gay panic hahaha. A little filler chapter on the wonders of cohabitation. Having a roommate after being used to solitude is a culture shock. I speak from experience.
Also, Su Hui is like how I am with my mom. Whenever I can’t find something I run to her and she finds it in seconds(it’s usually right in front of me but for some reason, I can’t see it) and she gives me this disgusted look that all mothers are naturally born with, I’m sure y’all have been subjected to it, the bombastic side eye, criminal offensive side eye, like she’s wondering whether her daughter is an idiot. *Sigh*
Certified member of the IIO(International Introverts Organization), PhD holder in Overthinking and Ghosting, Spokesperson for BOBAH(Benefits of Being a Homebody), Founder of SFA(Salted Fish Association), Brand Ambassador for Couch Potato fall line Pajama set.
Same reaction!! i was also like “O.O so he IS aware of his orientation”. Bc i’m used to MLs of this genre thinking they’re straight until their MC appears. Perhaps it’s bc of that mysterious past between him and Poet…
the author have repeatedly described the MC’s fairness and his bangs. i think sometimes its good to let the reader remember / recollect information like this.
I admire people who cohabitate by choice. I could never. As a mysophobe and an introvert, it’s almost torturous to have other people in my “safe space”. I constantly have to clean everything they touch and be on alert so that they don’t move things around.
Right? It’s weird having people in you space. Like I can’t truly be free. And the constant need to accommodate each other and the irritating habits they or you may have. I had a lot of fights with my roommate but I also made an incredible friend.
Same reaction!! i was also like “O.O so he IS aware of his orientation”. Bc i’m used to MLs of this genre thinking they’re straight until their MC appears. Perhaps it’s bc of that mysterious past between him and Poet…
the author have repeatedly described the MC’s fairness and his bangs. i think sometimes its good to let the reader remember / recollect information like this.
CN Authors have a thing for reiterating the character’s features/beauty every 3 sentences haha
I admire people who cohabitate by choice. I could never. As a mysophobe and an introvert, it’s almost torturous to have other people in my “safe space”. I constantly have to clean everything they touch and be on alert so that they don’t move things around.
See you get me! You need to change aspects of yourself to accommodate the other person.
bruh i have two roommates and honestly I’m still not that used to it even though it’s been a whole year since….
Right? It’s weird having people in you space. Like I can’t truly be free. And the constant need to accommodate each other and the irritating habits they or you may have. I had a lot of fights with my roommate but I also made an incredible friend.
Thank you so much for your hard work!
You’re welcome 😊.