The next morning, Xie Heng got up early and finished washing up.
His eyes were slightly dark, but his expression was spirited.
He waited in the bedroom until 7:10, when a light “knock knock” came from the door.
Xie Heng quickly sat up on the edge of the bed.
“Heng Ge, are you awake?” Ji Mian’s voice was soft.
Xie Heng opened the door for him.
Seeing Xie Heng all tidied up, Ji Mian was a bit surprised. “You’re all washed up already?”
“Mm.”
“Then I’ll hurry.”
“It’s still early, no rush.”
“Oh…” Ji Mian looked up and met Xie Heng’s gaze, the next second, he found himself pulled tightly into Xie Heng’s arms.
They maintained this position for nearly ten minutes.
If it weren’t for the fact that they had to leave by 7:40 at the latest, they could have hugged all day without feeling bored.
Xie Heng wanted to encourage Ji Mian, skip the class, and just ditch it.
Just as he hesitated to speak, Ji Mian slipped out of his embrace and headed to the bathroom to wash up.
—
After more than a month, they sat together in class again.
Xie Heng hadn’t slept all night, while Ji Mian also hadn’t been able to sleep well, yet neither of them felt tired at all.
In the middle of class, Ji Mian felt someone grasping his right hand resting on his knee.
After a moment, he glanced down.
Xie Heng was tracing his hand, going from the wrist bone to the fingertips, examining each one.
With one hand tracing and the other taking notes, Ji Mian was impressed by his ability to multitask.
Not wanting to appear completely unstudious, Ji Mian said, “Heng Ge, I need to take notes too.”
Xie Heng: …
What notes are you taking?
He had sat next to Ji Mian for two years, and aside from the beginning of the school year when Ji Mian occasionally jotted down notes in advanced math, he hadn’t seen him take notes in any other class.
He thought about it but still let go of Ji Mian’s hand.
When Ji Mian pulled his hand back, the back of it was slightly red from Xie Heng’s grip.
After the last class ended, Xie Heng stayed put, waiting until the classroom emptied before turning to Ji Mian and asking, “Where are we going back tonight?”
Ji Mian thought for a moment. “The dormitory?”
“……” Xie Heng pressed his lips together, falling silent.
After a silence that lasted nearly half a minute, he finally asked, “Is it not okay to go to my place?”
Of course, it was fine. Ji Mian looked at him and thought.
But he was also a bit afraid, afraid that his life would be completely filled with Xie Heng.
“Is it uncomfortable to sleep? Or is washing up inconvenient?” Just as Xie Heng was about to say that Ji Mian could switch rooms with him, Ji Mian interrupted.
“No, Heng Ge. I’m afraid of bothering you.”
Xie Heng’s brow furrowed.
Ji Mian noticed the signs of him getting angry, so before Xie Heng could speak, he quickly said, “Then I’ll go back to the dorm to get some clothes tonight. Heng Ge, will you accompany me?”
The small flame of irritation that had yet to fully ignite in Xie Heng immediately went out. “Okay.”
He quickly finished packing, slung his bag over his shoulder, and said, “Let’s go.”
“?”
“Aren’t we going back to the dorm to get clothes?”
“Now?” Ji Mian paused for a moment. “But Heng Ge, aren’t you going to run on the playground?”
“Not running today.”
“Oh…”
---
On Friday, after two nights of not being able to sleep, he managed to get less than two hours of sleep on the third night, and Xie Heng began to realize that something was wrong.
In class, Ji Mian discovered that Xie Heng, who usually had excellent concentration, was frequently distracted and even openly dozed off after eleven.
In university, it was quite normal to see a bunch of students sleeping in class, but this particular class had a significant amount of credits and was quite challenging. Normally, even if Xie Heng didn’t pay attention, he would still be studying on his own.
Today wasn’t even an early class; they arrived at school just before ten. He shouldn’t be sleep-deprived…
Ji Mian furrowed his brows, not wanting to ask too many questions in the classroom.
Although there was no early class on Friday, they still had every scheduled lesson.
After dinner, they had to attend another evening class, and it wasn’t until the 9 PM bell rang that the economics students could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, there were no classes scheduled for the weekend afterward. However, some students who had chosen several elective courses to boost their GPAs were having a tougher time since most electives were scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. Their rest days were spoiled, and they left the classroom with slightly melancholic steps.
By the end of November, the night air was already quite cold. The school grounds had few people left, except for a few students trickling out of the library and classrooms.
As they walked down a deserted path, Ji Mian asked Xie Heng to lower his head.
Xie Heng complied.
Using the light from the streetlamp, Ji Mian pulled down on his lower eyelid.
Xie Heng’s eyes were shot with many red blood vessels, which looked a bit alarming.
“Heng Ge, you haven’t been sleeping well these past two days?”
Xie Heng replied, “...a little.”
“Is it because I’m staying at your place that it’s affecting your rest?” Ji Mian released his grip. “I’ll go back to the dorm tonight, Heng Ge. You should take a good rest this weekend.”
“Don’t, don’t…” Xie Heng hurriedly grabbed Ji Mian’s hand, his tone obviously tense. “It has nothing to do with you.”
“…”
“If you weren’t here, I’d be thinking about you so much that I wouldn’t be able to sleep.”
Hearing this, Ji Mian felt a bit flustered. “Then… what should we do?”
Xie Heng said, “I’ll be able to sleep tonight.”
As he spoke, he tightened his grip on Ji Mian’s hand, afraid he might run away.
Ji Mian muttered softly, “Okay.”
When they got back, Ji Mian placed his backpack in the guest room. After a short while, Xie Heng knocked on the door to come in.
Two days ago, Ji Mian had brought some clothes and daily necessities from the dorm. In the guest room, his clothes hung in what was originally an empty wardrobe, and some of Ji Mian’s things were now scattered around.
But Xie Heng still felt it wasn’t enough and wished Ji Mian would move his entire dorm setup over.
“Why move so much? It’ll be a hassle to move it back later.”
“Move it back? Why would we move it back?”
“Well, I have to go back to live there eventually. I can’t stay here every day.” Ji Mian joked, “Wenbo and the others must be missing me.”
“If they miss you, are you going back?”
“…”
Xie Heng continued, “But I miss you too.”
Ji Mian smiled and leaned in to kiss him.
While being kissed, Xie Heng felt a pang of discomfort in his heart.
He embraced Ji Mian and kissed for a few minutes. After they parted, he softly said, “How about not going back?”
Ji Mian was silent for a long time before finally lifting his gaze to meet Xie Heng's.
“Okay.”
In that moment, Xie Heng suddenly felt that his request was quite cruel to this person.
The system's voice came through softly: [Don't get too deep.]
Ji Mian: [Mm.]
[……]
The system didn’t speak again, trusting that its host knew what was in his heart.
Both he and Ji Mian understood that he couldn’t go through a second withdrawal reaction.
---
Because of the evening class, the two of them returned quite late. By the time they washed up and changed into their pajamas, it was nearly ten o'clock.
Ji Mian was mindful of Xie Heng's lack of sleep and didn’t get too affectionate with him. As soon as it was ten-thirty, he immediately encouraged Xie Heng to hurry up and rest.
He stepped into the guest room, poking his head out, and said, “Goodnight, Heng Ge.”
“…”
Ji Mian initially planned to close the door upon hearing Xie Heng's “goodnight,” but after waiting several seconds, he still didn’t hear it.
He blinked and called, “Heng Ge?”
“Or…,” Xie Heng looked at him, “why don’t you just stop staying in the guest room?”
Ji Mian was momentarily taken aback.
Xie Heng continued, “If you need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, you’d have to come knock on my door.”
Ji Mian found those words oddly familiar. After a moment of recollection, he remembered that he had said something similar before.
He couldn’t help but laugh. “What if that affects your rest?”
“It won’t.”
Ji Mian looked at him for a few seconds, then turned and went back into the guest room.
Xie Heng was still puzzled when Ji Mian reemerged, holding his blanket and pillow.
Here's the translation of your text into accurate English, preserving the original meaning and details:
---
“Ge, help me open the door.”
Xie Heng hadn’t expected Ji Mian to agree so quickly, and his ears immediately turned completely red. It seemed that whatever request he made, Ji Mian always agreed very easily.
“I’ll do it.” He took the blanket from Ji Mian’s hands, his heart racing with excitement.
Soon, there was an extra blanket on the master bedroom bed, nestled closely against Xie Heng’s.
Xie Heng knew he was doing something beyond his limits.
He lay down and heard Ji Mian's even breathing beside him, unable to fall asleep at all.
Even though Xie Heng had a strong constitution, he couldn’t help but think about the consequences if he didn’t manage to fall asleep tonight.
His body was too exhausted to think about those messy thoughts; he was simply too excited with Ji Mian sleeping next to him.
After an unknown amount of time, he heard a soft rustling sound beside him.
Though he kept his eyes closed, Xie Heng could still sense that Ji Mian had turned over and was looking at him.
Worried that Ji Mian might notice he couldn’t fall asleep and would want to return to the guest room, he pretended to be asleep.
After a few minutes, he could no longer maintain the act. He opened his eyes with a sigh.
He turned onto his side and, as expected, found Ji Mian’s slightly glowing eyes staring back at him in the dark.
Xie Heng couldn’t help but smile.
“Can’t sleep?” he asked.
Ji Mian shifted closer to him, his head almost brushing against Xie Heng’s. “...Mm.”
Xie Heng tried hard to restrain himself for half a minute but ultimately couldn’t resist. He slipped his arm under Ji Mian’s blanket, wrapped it around his waist, and pulled him into his own blanket.
He tightly held Ji Mian in his embrace, not daring to kiss him for fear that his nerves would become too excited—he really wanted to sleep tonight.
At first, his heart raced, but as time passed and he held Ji Mian tighter, it gradually calmed down.
It felt as if some emptiness within him was being filled, providing a sense of stability.
Having just showered, Ji Mian’s hair smelled of shampoo, and Xie Heng leaned down to gently kiss the top of Ji Mian’s head before slowly closing his eyes.
—
Xie Heng couldn’t remember exactly when he fell asleep, but it was much earlier than in the past few days.
The next morning, the glaring sunlight streamed directly onto his eyelids, waking him up.
Ji Mian was already awake, staring at the buttons of Xie Heng’s pajamas, seemingly lost in thought.
Sensing Xie Heng's arm moving, he lifted his head and found that Xie Heng was also awake.
“It’s still early, Ge. You can sleep a bit longer,” Ji Mian said, noticing a beam of light shining directly into Xie Heng’s eyes. “Is it too bright?”
“A bit.”
Upon hearing this, Ji Mian immediately got up to draw the curtains.
Xie Heng felt the space beside him become empty.
Xie Heng: “…”
Ji Mian pulled down the sheer curtains and also drew the blackout curtains that were closer to the head of the bed.
The light in the room immediately softened significantly.
After closing the curtains, Ji Mian climbed back into bed, snuggling into Xie Heng’s arms again, turning to face away from him, and continuing to act like a human pillow.
“Ge, you sleep; I’ll play on my phone for a while.”
Xie Heng was momentarily stunned and took a long time to come back to his senses after Ji Mian’s series of actions. When he finally reacted, it felt like he had been immersed in a jar of honey and was about to melt from sweetness.
After several nights of poor sleep, Xie Heng was genuinely a bit tired.
He hugged Ji Mian’s waist, buried his face in the back of Ji Mian’s beautiful neck, and began to drift off to sleep.
The light in the room was just right—soft and warm.
This was a life Xie Heng had never imagined over the past ten years, holding someone and spending an entire weekend doing nothing.
In the warm winter bed, he rubbed his nose against Ji Mian’s neck, inhaling the gentle fragrance emanating from his skin.
…So happy.
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