In the Same Boat

It was after four o’ clock in the afternoon when Qu Yiheng finally returned from his world to the human world. He put down his brush, looked at the work in front of him, and was in a good mood.

There was a sudden noise outside, which he couldn’t hear clearly, as if someone was arguing.

He put down his paintbrush, not intending to watch the commotion, but prepared to rest for a while.

Lying on the bed, he was suddenly startled and picked up his mobile phone to find that it was already past four twenty.

Yao Zhan’s class ended at 4.30, and he didn’t contact the other party all day.

He opened his WeChat and found that Yao Zhan had sent him two messages today, one in the morning asking him if he had taken his medication and one after one o’ clock asking him what he was doing.

Qu Yiheng was a bit annoyed, feeling like he had missed something.

He immediately replied to Yao Zhan: ‘Sorry, I was busy all day. Just now I saw WeChat.’

After sending this message, he felt that it was not enough and sent another one immediately: ‘Are you going to finish class soon?’

Yao Zhan was lost in thought when the phone on his desk suddenly vibrated and startled him.

When he looked at the phone, he was relieved that Qu Yiheng was not ignoring him.

Suddenly, he felt that the two of them were a bit like young teenagers in the dating stage, they were going back and forth, speculating on each other, which was quite interesting.

He didn’t reply right away, but he put it off until the end of class.

Yao Zhan had a new plan, so he walked out of the classroom before sending a message to Qu Yiheng, telling him that he had left class and asking where he was going to meet him.

Qu Yiheng hesitated for a long time and finally said, as if giving up on himself: ‘Then why don’t you come to my house?’

Yao Zhan got his way. He was waiting for Qu Yiheng’s words.

Qu Yiheng sent him an address and told Yao Zhan to let him know when he arrived so that he could go downstairs to pick him up.

Yao Zhan, who had been agitated all day, finally felt more comfortable because of this, and when he walked out the door, he had the illusion that the sky was even bluer than it was just now.

After sending Yao Zhan a message, Qu Yiheng began to clean up the house, covering up the unfinished paintings with clothes, replacing the bed sheets and covers with clean ones, and stuffing all the messy things in the room into boxes and hiding them away.

The living room and the rest of the house were not his concern. With Dou Yucong around, he was the only one in the house that was in disarray.

He was so busy that he was sweating. He asked Yao Zhan where he was when he had finished cleaning up, and Yao Zhan replied that it would be another ten minutes or so.

Since Yao Zhan replied that he had about ten minutes to go, he had time to take a quick shower.

Qu Yiheng fumbled for a change of underwear and ran into the bathroom.

He had taken a shower in a hurry, just to cool off his sweat and apply a layer of body wash to make himself look and smell clean and fresh.

As he wiped his body, Qu Yiheng thought he was being funny, dating a fuckbuddy like he was in love, not only bringing his fuckbuddy home, but also cleaning up his house and himself for him.

If Dou Yucong had seen this, he would have laughed at him again.

He froze for a moment as he thought of Dou Yucong.

Qu Yiheng hurriedly rushes out of the bathroom and picks up his mobile phone to ask Dou Yucong what time he will be back.

Dou Yucong usually gets off work at 6:30 and arrives home at almost 8:00, which is enough time for him to have dinner with Yao Zhan and then go out to find a place to drink and have sex.

That’s right, he didn’t plan to do it at home because he was afraid that Dou Yucong would see him.

After all, it wasn’t the same as before, he wasn’t living alone, there was a big living person at home, and bringing someone back for sex was not good at all.

When he didn’t hear back from Dou Yucong, he wondered if he should call him…….

The door to the house opened just at that moment.

He looked at the door and found that Dou Yucong had entered with Yao Zhan.

“Brother, I ran into him downstairs and brought him up here for you.” As soon as Dou Yucong came in after changing his shoes, he saw his brother standing there with his hair damp and his face slightly red, so he knew without asking that he had just taken a shower.

Yao Zhan followed him in and said with a smile, “Shouldn’t I have told you before coming up?”

Qu Yiheng was really embarrassed, he didn’t even dare to look the two men in the eyes.

Dou Yucong said, “Hey, I left my stuff in the car, I’ll go back and get it.”

He turned around and put his shoes back on and said to Qu Yiheng before he left the house, “Brother, you should entertain your guests well!”

The door closed, but the two men in the room were still standing there, neither of them moving first.

Yao Zhan could see how embarrassed he was, and he was a little embarrassed himself. He had originally intended to contact Qu Yiheng, but he had not expected to meet Dou Yucong downstairs and the other party asked him to come up straight away. He didn’t think much about it, but now he realised, it was indeed abrupt.

Normally, Yao Zhan is not such a person who does not know how to understand the depths of the world, but this time he is a bit muddled.

“Well, you sit first.” Qu Yiheng felt that he needed to calm down, “I’ll go to the bathroom and come out right away.”

He turned around and went into the bathroom, where it was still steaming hot and the mirror was still foggy.

He lifted his hand and wiped his mirror, looked at himself inside and took a deep breath.

The phone rang suddenly. The caller was Dou Yucong.

Dou Yucong said, “Are you angry, brother?”

“Why would I be angry?”

“Ah, I’m glad you are not.” Dou Yucong said, “I’m going to leave, you guys talk, I won’t be back tonight.”

“Where are you going if you’re not coming back?”

“I’ll just find a place to hang out.”

After a moment’s silence, Qu Yiheng decided to come clean, “It’s not what you think, we’ll talk about it some other time. After you get your things from the car, go to the supermarket and buy some groceries back, you have to cook tonight.”

On the other side of the phone, Dou Yucong smiled, “Is that okay?”

“It’s nothing bad.” Qu Yiheng said, “It’s not really what you think.”

When Dou Yucheng didn’t say anything, Qu Yiheng said again, “We’re not like that, so come back soon and cook.”

The phone hung up and Qu Yiheng let out a long breath.

He and Yao Zhan were indeed not in that kind of relationship, not a relationship of lovers.