The Cold War

Xu Yi had been silent for too long.

So long that Lu Xingyan thought he had already fallen asleep.

Unable to resist, he asked anyway… after all, the person was right in his arms, unable to escape.

But in such a heavy silence, Lu Xingyan couldn’t help feeling uneasy.

Just as he was about to say something else, he heard Xu Yi’s calm, indifferent voice: “I don’t want to have a late-night heart-to-heart with my roommate.”

If the surroundings weren’t so quiet, Lu Xingyan wouldn’t have caught the tremor in his tone.

Xu Yi had curled himself up in his shell, and even if Lu Xingyan wanted to get closer, he had no way to start.

With Xu Yi’s temperament… even if he directly said he liked him, the other would only think that he already knew his identity and was still toying with his feelings.

Lu Xingyan reached out, wanting to hold Xu Yi, but his hand was slapped away.

Lu Xingyan: …

So cold, baby.

“Don’t you care about my feelings?” Lu Xingyan tried hard to steer the conversation.

Xu Yi was silent for a few more seconds before saying, “So what do you plan to do?”

“I want… to settle the score with him face to face.” Lu Xingyan almost whispered it against Xu Yi’s ear.

His hand had somehow landed on Xu Yi’s waist, unconsciously tightening.

As if afraid the person would run away.

But Xu Yi had no reaction, only endless silence in response.

Lu Xingyan couldn’t sleep.

Even though they were already this intimate, was Xu Yi still unwilling to confess?

If he exposed it himself, Xu Yi would only avoid him for the rest of his life.

Lu Xingyan closed his eyes, his mind running through every way to coax him.

But probably because he hadn’t fully recovered, he soon felt very drowsy and drifted off into a blurry sleep.

When Lu Xingyan woke up, the bed beside him was empty.

He dazedly touched the sheets in front of him; they had no warmth left.

Because he had slept so deeply due to his cold, he hadn’t even noticed when Xu Yi got up.

Lu Xingyan sat up. No one was downstairs either.

On the balcony, Xu Yi’s sheets were still hanging out to dry.

Where did he go?

Lu Xingyan picked up his phone, intending to send a message to ask.

He suddenly noticed that Xu Yi’s main account had reverted to its WeChat nickname.

Lu Xingyan had a bad feeling.

He quickly opened the chat and sent an emoji.

A red exclamation mark.

If this account was blocked, what about the other one?

Lu Xingyan frowned and quickly clicked on Xiao Yi’s contact.

All of Lu Xingyan’s contact methods had been blocked.

He wanted to ask Li Yuan to help send a message, but didn’t know how to put it.

It wasn’t good to let a roommate know about this private matter.

Xu Yi might get even angrier.

Lu Xingyan kept thinking about this, unable to focus on anything.

He tried to get Li Yuan to ask for Xu Yi’s phone number, but that didn’t work either.

But today was the last day of the holiday. At least he could see him in class tomorrow.

Lu Xingyan could only think that way.

After all, chasing him to Xu Yi’s dorm would only make him more repulsed.

He had only known Xu Yi’s address because he had secretly had the driver escort him there.

For the next two days of the holiday, Lu Xingyan lived in a daze.

He logged into the game, and that avatar remained gray, whether it was the main account or the alt.

Maybe he was just invisible.

Lu Xingyan queued solo again and again, trying to run into him by chance.

Li Yuan called him to eat, but he didn’t want to go.

Lu Xingyan only felt empty inside.

Nothing was interesting.

He looked at his terrible match history.

Smiled bitterly to himself.

Indeed, feelings are the bane of a jungler.

It went on until the last day of the holiday.

Lu Xingyan finished a game and saw a notification pop up at the top of the screen.

“Your wife (Princess) is online!”

Lu Xingyan immediately sat up straight and almost instantly clicked invite.

“The other party is in a match.”

Lu Xingyan paused. At least he hadn’t unfriended him.

They hadn’t even broken up their in-game couple status.

Maybe… there was still a chance?

As he thought this, his hand had already opened the chat in the appointment interface.

Once the appointment was successful, they could chat.

He nervously gripped the mouse, not knowing if the other would accept.

“The other party has accepted your appointment.”

– Princess: ? Who are you

– Starfall: Xiao Yi, I’m sorry, I was wrong. Can you not ignore me? qvq

– Princess: Not the original owner. I just bought this account today.

Lu Xingyan stared at that line, all the ups and downs and hope crashing down.

He directly closed the game, leaned back in his chair, and stared blankly at the ceiling.

What should he do?

Would Xu Yi never come back to the dorm?

He couldn’t find him, so he stopped logging into the game.

Seeing him like this, Li Yuan couldn’t help worrying, “Yan-ge… you didn’t get dumped, did you?”

It was too obvious.

Even rich second-generations with no taste get dumped.

The song was nice too; maybe he had a better choice.

Li Yuan really didn’t know how to comfort him, so he could only pat Lu Xingyan on the shoulder. “Want to go drinking?”

“No.”

“?”

“Fine.”

Li Yuan dug out his dusty basketball. He used to love playing basketball in high school, but in college he got lazy and wanted to go the artistic route.

That’s why he joined the music club, though he eventually quit because he couldn’t stand the atmosphere.

The two went to the lighted basketball court, which had four courts. Lu Xingyan chose an empty one.

They just played casually.

“Yan-ge, I haven’t played in six months, go easy on me,” Li Yuan said modestly, but he actually thought he was pretty good at basketball.

Lu Xingyan’s face was expressionless. “Me neither.”

Half an hour later…

Li Yuan collapsed on the ground. “Yan-ge, I can’t do it anymore. Let’s go back.”

Playing ball really could distract him temporarily.

Letting out all the frustration inside.

Lu Xingyan pulled Li Yuan up. “Let’s go back and wash up.”

After showering, lying in bed felt a little better.

Lu Xingyan had slept very poorly last night, but thanks to the intense exercise, he fell asleep quickly today.

He set an alarm to reserve seats, got up early to buy breakfast and hold seats.

When Li Yuan was dragged into the classroom, he still wasn’t fully awake.

Every time someone came in, he glanced at them out of the corner of his eye.

Until a few minutes before class, a familiar figure entered.

Lu Xingyan immediately looked up. Their eyes met briefly, but Xu Yi, as if he hadn’t seen him, expressionlessly and coldly sat in the front few rows.

Lu Xingyan’s hand, which was about to raise, froze.

Xu Yi would rather sit in the front than be with him.

Lu Xingyan paused. Xu Yi had chosen the seat against the wall, the innermost one, and no one was next to him.

He picked up his things and walked to the front.

Li Yuan was absorbed in his novel and hadn’t noticed what was happening; he just instinctively got up and followed.

Lu Xingyan moved quickly, afraid that if he walked any slower, the other would run away.

But Xu Yi still noticed him and suddenly stood up, as if intending to leave his seat.

Lu Xingyan took a long stride, sidestepped in, and sat down.

The whole series of movements was fluid and natural, perfectly blocking Xu Yi inside.

Xu Yi bit his lip. If the other wouldn’t let him out, he really couldn’t leave, so he sat back down sulkily.

He didn’t know why Lu Xingyan had come specifically to block him.

Was it because of the money?

He seemed to have received about ten thousand yuan in bits and pieces.

Maybe he should return it all.

Xu Yi was a bit flustered. After all, Lu Xingyan seemed to really like his girlfriend.

And it turned out that girlfriend was the roommate he saw every day.

Xu Yi wasn’t straight, but he knew very well that no straight man could tolerate this situation.

Even though it hurt.

Xu Yi still took out his phone, calculated all the transfers, and sent them all back.

Lu Xingyan was still on his phone, posting for help.

#How to coax an avoidant partner.

#What to do when faced with cold violence.

The replies were roughly two types.

Give the other time to figure things out.

Hot violence.

Lu Xingyan clicked on the most upvoted “hot violence” one and asked what counted as hot violence.

Reply: Press relentlessly, don’t give the other time to think, only give them a choice between yes or no.

Reply: But this method might also cause aversion; the specific situation still depends on the other’s feelings for you.

Lu Xingyan had just read the first line when he got a message notification from his special follow.

He was a little excited. Had Xu Yi unblocked him?

Lu Xingyan quickly opened WeChat.

Xiao Yi: Transfer of 50000 yuan.

Lu Xingyan: ?

! The other person is no longer your contact. Please add them as a friend before…

Lu Xingyan was furious. Was he that eager to cut ties with him?

He suddenly remembered the “hot violence” mentioned in the post.

It seemed that patient coaxing was useless for someone like Xu Yi.

Refuse sweet wine, drink hard liquor; refuse soft, take hard.

Lu Xingyan turned his head and just saw Xu Yi drop his eyes nervously, looking like he wanted to be left alone.

“Am I a man-eater?” Lu Xingyan leaned in, his voice biting.

Xu Yi didn’t look up. He was very flustered.

He had already given up such a good friend.

This was the punishment he deserved for lying.

Why was the other still chasing after him?

Xu Yi wanted to cry. He was very sad.

For him, wasn’t he also losing both a lover and a friend?

But Xu Yi just adjusted his state, his tone indifferent and matter-of-fact. “Then what do you want from me?”

Lu Xingyan had always known Xu Yi could be infuriating.

But he didn’t expect him to be this infuriating.

It was even more infuriating than any time before.

The thought that Xu Yi didn’t care at all about their relationship, online or offline, and could cut it off without any regret, made him incredibly angry.

Xu Yi noticed that Lu Xingyan’s eyes were a little red.

Clearly, he was extremely angry.

Before he could react, the other suddenly reached out and pressed on the back of his neck. The warm palm made the sensitive skin there bristle.

Xu Yi felt like a rabbit caught by its natural predator, with no escape.

“What do I want?” Lu Xingyan gritted his teeth, looking at that beautiful face that caused him heartache yet looked so innocent. “What can I do to you?”

When he lowered his voice and finished saying this, Xu Yi quickly turned his head away, as if afraid of being hit, and closed his eyes.

His long, thick eyelashes were like a brush, gently brushing against Lu Xingyan’s heart.

Lu Xingyan’s anger subsided by half in an instant.

But when he realized that the other was actually afraid he would hit him, the anger came back immediately.

After all this time, wasn’t there any trust at all?

Lu Xingyan didn’t care if they were in the classroom anymore. His hand slid from the back of Xu Yi’s neck to the side of his face, his thumb and forefinger lifting his chin, his palm pressing against that small face.

Xu Yi was forced to look at Lu Xingyan.

His expression only made Xu Yi feel that this person had suddenly transformed from a stable-tempered, sunny big boy into someone moody and unpredictable.

He couldn’t help but bite his lip in fear, helplessly waiting for the other’s punishment.

Lu Xingyan’s lips brushed against his sensitive earlobe, speaking each word slowly.

“Of course, to make up for everything that should be done with a girlfriend.”