Chapter 22: CH 22

The next day, Lin Yuyan went to the amusement park and joined Zhuo Hang in the hot weather, a good 38 degrees.

There were a few of Zhuo Hang’s friends and the third-year senior sister the other had successfully made an appointment with. All of them were wearing swimsuits as they profusely sweated under the scorching rays of the sun.

Among them was a boy named Xu Ze, who was a fair and tidy guy. He had a good relationship with Lin Yuyan, and they had talked a few times before.

It was a bit of a shock for him to see the other today. Normally, Xu Ze wouldn’t go out in sunny weather like this.

Holding an umbrella to shield himself from the sun, he greeted Lin Yuyan.

Lin Yuyan smiled at him and before he even opened his mouth, he was pulled under the other’s umbrella.

Xu Ze: “Don’t stand under the sun, you’ll get as dark as Zhuo Hang, just stand here for a while.”

Lin Yuyan smiled and said, “It’ll be fine for a small while.”

Xu Ze dragged a large bag, full of skin care products and sunscreen inside. He knew he was here to play in the pool, but the people who didn’t know him would probably think he was going on a long trip.

He pulled out a bottle of sunscreen and smeared it on the back of his hand before giving some to Lin Yuyan, “It’s alright, although we’re all guys, we’re still allowed to take care of ourselves.”

For some reason, some people think it’s appalling or unmanly for a guy to take care of themselves the way Xu Ze did. But Lin Yuyan thought it was fine, after all, it’s natural for people to take care of themselves, there’s no reason for it to be a bad thing just because you’re a guy and there’s no need to have a disagreement over this topic. It’s not like there’s a law that says every boy has to grow up into a tall, strong, and… rough man.

Xu Ze also liked Lin Yuyan very much, he joined him every time he went out to play, and this time was no exception. Zhuo Hang always said that he was attached to him. One time, Xu Ze glanced at him and said that it was rare to meet someone similar to him amongst the vast sea of people roaming about, so of course, they would have a good relationship.

Lin Yuyan also agreed to that, because just like him, Xu Ze also liked to draw and had no talent for it just like him.

It was full of people in the park, and the swimming pool was also filled. They looked like dumplings swimming in soup, they couldn’t squeeze through at all. Xu Ze thought it was dirty, so he took Lin Yuyan to sit in a nearby cafe to escape the summer heat. It was a bit pricey so there weren’t a lot of people. You could see people running around in swimsuits near the pool through the window. Zhuo Hang was chatting in the pool with his senior sister, it wasn’t clear what they were talking about, but judging by the way he was talking eloquently, he must’ve read through the whole architectural illustration book.

“Ah…”

Xu Ze laid on the window and looked out it for a long time before letting out a long sigh. Lin Yuyan asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Sure enough, I shouldn’t have come.” Xu Ze sucked the straw of his iced coffee and took a sip before saying,  “In this kind of place, I can’t see those beauties at all.”

Beauties? Lin Yuyan blinked: “You, what are you looking for?”

He regretted asking. What could people miss in a swimsuit?  After a dry cough, he picked up the coffee and wanted to change the subject, but Xu Ze glared at him and said softly, “Looking for a man.”

Lin Yuyan sprayed out his iced coffee and wiped his mouth in a hurry. He hurriedly apologized to Xu Ze, who asked him, “Why did you react so badly?”

Lin Yuyan shook his head quickly, horrified, he never expected that Xu Ze would actually like men, “Why did you react so badly?”

In fact, it wasn’t uncommon to like men. In many places abroad, same-sex marriage was legal. Lin Yuyan had never discriminated against this kind of relationship, but he was a little surprised to learn that his friend would be like this too.

After calming down a little, he found that Xu Ze was squinting at him.

Lin Yuyan hurriedly waved his hand: “I definitely didn’t mean to discriminate against you.”

After listening to him, Xu Ze was stunned for a few seconds, the corners of his mouth twitched, and he muttered: “No way…”

Lin Yuyan asked, “What?”

Xu Ze was silent for a long time, looked at him from beginning to end, and then said: “It’s nothing.” Then he asked casually, “Do you have someone you like?”

Lin Yuyan said, “No.”

“Never?”

Lin Yuyan raised his head to think about it, and said with certainty, “No.”

“It shouldn’t be.” Xu Ze said, “I have met many people since I was a child, and there are always people who have a crush on someone they admire, right?”

“Does it count if it’s a painter you like?”

Xu Ze said bluntly, “Do you want to be with him? Want to bed him?”

“No, no, I don’t want to, I just, I just like his paintings.”

Xu Ze felt like he was going to have a headache as he said, “Then you like their paintings, not the person himself.”

Lin Yuyan was confused, “Then…it doesn’t seem like it.”

Xu Ze thought for a while before asking, “Do you have anyone you’re paying special attention to?”

Lin Yuyan was stunned, does Gu Yaoyang count?

Xu Ze noticed the difference and immediately asked, “Male or female?”

Lin Yuyan felt that there was nothing wrong, and told him, “It’s a boy.”

Xu Ze snapped his fingers, sure enough. He ordered another cup of coffee for him and asked him, “Do you know how I found out I like men?”

Lin Yuyan, “Don’t you just naturally know it?”

“Of course not, it takes time to find out about it.” Xu Ze wanted to help this idiot friend of his and explained, “I was just like you at that time. I wasn’t interested in any girls and all my friends had crushes, but I didn’t”

Lin Yuyan said, “It could also be that…I haven’t met someone I liked yet?”

“Of course, that’s also a possibility, but the most unfathomable thing is that for some reason I can’t have any kind of relationship with girls.” Then he asked Lin Yuyan to look out the window. “What about you? Do you feel like you have the drive to look at those long legs and plump chest?”

Lin Yuyan didn’t move but blushed as he stared outside.

He felt that it was very rude of him to stare at others so blatantly, so he quickly looked away and shook his head.

Xu Ze looked at him and said meaningfully, “This is very abnormal.” He sent a few pictures to Lin Yuyan, all of them were pictures of naked and muscular men, and asked excitedly, “What do you think?”

Lin Yuyan honestly commented, “Their bodies are in good shape.”

“Is there nothing else?”

Lin Yuyan looked at it for a few more seconds, “um.”

Eh? Xu Ze was puzzled. Could it be that he guessed wrong? But it shouldn’t be. Obviously when they first met, he sensed the same kind of ambiance in Lin Yuyan.

For a whole afternoon, the two of them discussed this issue in the coffee shop. Xu Ze sent Lin Yuyan countless large-scale photos of men, and his stock was almost drained, but he felt nothing about them except saying that they had good bodies.

When he left the amusement park, it was past five o’clock, and Lin Yuyan had dinner with his friends before returning home.

He fell onto the bed and thought of Gu Yaoyang. He wanted to know what he was doing, so he typed a text message and sent it.

A few seconds later, a video call came from the other side.

“Just came back?” Gu Yaoyang asked casually, knowing that he had gone to the pool.

“Yeah.” Lin Yuyan saw that there were many cabinets behind the other, and asked, “Are you in the dressing room?”

Gu Yaoyang said yes. His hair was wet and he was sweating a lot. He pushed his wet hair to the back, revealing his clean forehead to the camera.

Although he didn’t know what he was doing, it seems like he had just finished training. The black vest on his body was clinging to his body, his sweat beads flowed down the side of his face into his neck socket, and then slowly seeped into his skin.

Only at this time did he realize that his shoulders were wide but his waist was narrow, and there were obvious muscle lines hidden under his close-fitting clothes, which made him look particularly good-looking

Lin Yuyan swallowed inexplicably and stared at him motionless.

Maybe he thought this video was inconvenient, so Gu Yaoyang found a chair casually, put his phone on it, bent his long legs, sat on the bench in the locker room, and removed the protective bandages on his hands round by round.

After he finished dismantling one, he looked up at the video call again, only to see the person in the video call gone.

After waiting for a long time, there was a sound of dawdling footsteps on the opposite side, and he asked, “Where are you going?”

Lin Yuyan’s mouth was a little wet. He held a glass in his hand, and said with a blushing face, “Drinking water…yeah- just a little bit thirsty.”