Peep

Jiang Hao’s sudden, reckless interruption made it impossible for Ji Ze to continue writing the love letter.

Moreover, the subject of his affections was seated right beside him, making it impossible to write anything without being seen.

Resigned, Ji Ze gathered his thoughts and began his homework.

However, Jiang Hao wasn’t content to let the matter rest.

He remained worried that Ji Ze might not give up, perhaps even writing a reply to the girl.

Tapping his chin thoughtfully, he decided it would be best to resolve the situation as soon as possible.

“Do you feel bad about Zhong Jiating?” Jiang Hao asked, covering Ji Ze’s homework with one hand, effectively seizing his attention.

Ji Ze frowned, surprised that Jiang Hao had remembered the name so quickly.

“I understand that, but accidents happen, and it wasn’t your fault.”

“That girl finally mustered the courage to write a letter, and now it’s gone.”

“What good would replying with an apology do?”

“It would only make her feel more embarrassed, and she might even think you’re dismissing her feelings, treating her with contempt.”

“If she overthinks it, she could become depressed, her grades might drop, and she might not get into a good university.”

“Wouldn’t that be terrible?”

“Why don’t you just keep this quiet?”

“Pretend you never saw the letter, and simply say you’re focusing on your studies and not considering such things right now, politely rejecting her.”

“Wouldn’t that be the best solution?”

“If you really can’t, I can even go talk to her for you.”

Jiang Hao, determined to prevent any intimate correspondence between Ji Ze and Zhong Jiating, exaggerated the potential consequences dramatically.

He painted the worst-case scenario, even contemplating how to stop Ji Ze from ever meeting her again.

Upon hearing this, Ji Ze immediately retorted, “No!”

“Don’t you dare go.”

“I’ll tell her myself.”

Jiang Hao’s face darkened.

He hadn’t expected such an immediate refusal.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, suppressing the irritation bubbling within him.

“You don’t want to reject her?”

Ji Ze looked at him with a complicated gaze.

He opened his mouth, as if to speak, but then closed it again, simply saying, “No, that’s not it.”

“Anyway, I’ll talk to her, and then I’ll tell you about it later.”

Jiang Hao’s hand, resting on the chair, clenched into a fist.

A cold sneer formed in his heart.

‘So, you don’t want me to know.’

‘You think I’m in the way, don’t you?’

Jiang, the student deeply immersed in the throes of love, found his imagination constantly evolving.

Jiang Hao, overwhelmed by extreme resentment and a constant surge of jealousy, couldn’t hold back any longer.

He stared at Ji Ze, took two deep breaths, then rummaged through his own drawer for something to eat.

He pulled out a packet of biscuits, forcefully tore open the packaging, and began to munch on them with furious determination.

The vicious way he bit into the biscuits made it seem less like he was enjoying a snack and more like he was venting his frustration.

The crisp crunching sounds were strangely unsettling yet comical.

Ji Ze had grown somewhat accustomed to Jiang Hao’s erratic behavior.

He merely glanced over before returning to his homework, perfectly ignoring his agitated deskmate who clearly needed comforting.

Jiang Hao instantly grew even more annoyed, feeling both angry and stifled.

As Ji Ze worked on a problem, a hand suddenly appeared before him, its fingers long and slender, its palm broad.

“What is it?”

Jiang Hao stared at him, seemingly casually saying, “You haven’t eaten that White Rabbit candy, have you?”

“I’m hungry.”

“Give it to me.”

Ji Ze paused for a moment, then retrieved the White Rabbit candy from his drawer and placed it in Jiang Hao’s hand, feeling a bit puzzled.

“Didn’t you say you don’t like sweets?”

Jiang Hao quickly tore open the wrapper and popped it into his mouth.

With a puffed cheek, he chewed and said, “Well, I’m hungry, aren’t I?”

…Alright.

The evening study session soon ended.

As students left the classroom, the building appeared from below as a grid of extinguishing lights.

The dormitory, in turn, became lively.

Ji Ze brought the letter paper back to the dorm.

While Jiang Hao was showering, he pondered how to write a love letter to him.

He initially sat at his desk, but finding his feet too cold, he eventually climbed onto his bed and wrote while lying prone.

He slowly became engrossed in his writing, so much so that he didn’t even notice Jiang Hao enter from the balcony immediately.

The moment he caught Jiang Hao’s gaze, he quickly slammed a textbook over the letter paper, stuffing it under his pillow, and feigned a calm expression.

Jiang Hao merely glanced at him without exposing his secret, simply saying, “It’s almost lights out.”

“Still reading?”

Ji Ze calmly hummed in affirmation, putting on an act.

“After all, it’s our final year.”

“Every minute counts.”

“Oh—” Jiang Hao deliberately drew out the sound, his tone full of hidden meaning, making Ji Ze’s heart flutter with unease.

‘Something I wrote in a moment of impulse.’

Ji Ze secretly peeked at the corner of the letter paper peeking out from under his pillow.

He had known before he even started writing how unreliable it would be to rewrite a letter, and had already decided to abandon the idea.

Yet, even with that thought, he couldn’t resist picking up the pen.

This time, it wasn’t to salvage anything; it was simply because he wanted to write.

Ji Ze planned to tear and destroy it after he finished, just for his own eyes.

There was no harm in that.

However, he hadn’t anticipated that Jiang Hao would finish showering before he was done writing.

Without a word, Jiang Hao climbed into bed beside him.

As the lights-out bell rang, the dorm plunged into darkness.

Ji Ze was a little bewildered.

He wanted to tear up the letter, which would require him to cross over Jiang Hao twice.

But he absolutely didn’t want to, let alone risk being discovered.

He hesitated, weighing his options for a moment, then asked, “Jiang Hao, don’t you need to go to the bathroom?”

“No.”

Ji Ze pressed, “It’s really cold in the bathroom, you know.”

“I’m sure,” Jiang Hao replied leisurely, turning to look at him, a faint smile playing on his lips, teasing.

“Or is it you who wants to go to the bathroom?”

“Afraid to go alone?”

“I don’t mind accompanying you.”

“How could that be?”

To prove his point, he quickly lay down, feigning readiness for sleep.

The letter under his pillow, pressed beneath him as he slept, was likely safe.

He would find an opportunity to destroy it tomorrow.

Ji Ze closed his eyes, vaguely thinking this.

After a dozen classes a day, he was already exhausted and fell asleep not long after.

At that moment, Jiang Hao opened his eyes and turned to look at Ji Ze.

In the soft, dim light, Ji Ze slept soundly, his skin fair, his features delicate and beautiful.

His eyelashes were long and curled, and his pale pink lips were slightly parted as he breathed deeply.

He looked serene and lovely, like someone from a painting.

Jiang Hao curved his lips into a smile, secretly poking Ji Ze’s cheek.

He whispered, “What have you been hiding from me?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t secretly take a look?”

His palm gently rested on Ji Ze’s head, carefully supporting the back of his skull.

His other hand seized the opportunity to reach under the pillow, feeling a piece of paper.

This was it.

Jiang Hao’s eyes lit up, and he began to pull it out.

However, the sleeping Ji Ze suddenly let out a low hum and turned his head, his face directly facing Jiang Hao.

It startled Jiang Hao so much that his heart nearly stopped beating.

Doing something sneaky always made one feel guilty!

Yet, Ji Ze was only vaguely aware and hadn’t truly woken up.

Perhaps feeling that his ‘pillow’ had suddenly become less soft, he mumbled softly, unconsciously rubbing against Jiang Hao’s palm.

Jiang Hao almost couldn’t hold back, his hand trembling violently.

He gritted his teeth, incredibly grateful that he was strong enough to remain as steady as a mountain in that moment.

Still, his palm itched terribly, and so did his heart.

He desperately wanted to hug Ji Ze and thoroughly rub and caress him.

Finally, after much effort, he managed to put Ji Ze back on the pillow.

Jiang Hao let out a silent sigh of relief, having successfully retrieved the letter paper.

He carefully turned onto his side, facing the direction of the balcony, and read the words on the paper by the faint light—

‘I never thought about what kind of person I would fall for, but you seem very different.’

Upon reading just the first sentence, Jiang Hao’s eyes instantly widened.

He stared back at the sleeping Ji Ze in disbelief.

He had actually written a love letter!

Jiang Hao felt like he was about to explode with anger!

Jiang Hao clenched his fist and took two deep breaths to calm himself, trying hard to self-suggest that no matter what, he had to finish reading it first.

His gaze fell back onto the letter paper.

‘You smile a lot; your smile is so warm, and your eyes seem to hold light, making them incredibly beautiful.’

‘I truly envy your lively and outgoing personality.’

‘You get along with everyone, standing confidently in the center of a crowd, chatting and laughing freely.’

‘My health isn’t great, and I’m not proactive in interacting with people, always causing trouble for others.’

‘Yet, your attitude towards me is so natural.’

‘You always take the initiative to talk to me, joke around, and play.’

‘This feeling is truly wonderful.’

‘When our eyes meet, my heart beats so fast, and I even impulsively did something rather shameful.’

‘In that moment, I realized I probably like you.’

‘I really, really want to keep watching your smile, listening to you talk, and being close to you.’

‘I selfishly hope that your presence will be everywhere in my future life, but that’s probably impossible.’

‘Thank you for being a ray of light that illuminated my world.’

‘Although you probably don’t know anything, and it’s impossible for you to like me.’

The letter wasn’t long, nor did it specify who it was written to; it simply used ‘you’ and ‘I’ throughout.

It was a confession from the writer to another person.

Every character was elegant and neat, revealing the writer’s seriousness and care.

Jiang Hao was intimately familiar with Ji Ze’s handwriting; he saw it every day, sometimes even secretly imitating it, writing Ji Ze’s name.

Usually, seeing it would lift his spirits, but today was different.

Jiang Hao felt a fire raging in his heart, accompanied by a throbbing pain that he couldn’t control, from inside out.

Jiang Hao gritted his teeth, his entire body tensed.

His heart pounded wildly in his chest, his fists clenched tightly, the veins on the back of his hands bulging, and his knuckles turning white.

He almost lost control of his impulse to shake Ji Ze awake and demand to know who the letter was for, which girl he liked.

Jiang Hao’s back was ramrod straight, like a stiff pole, yet he trembled imperceptibly.

‘Is the person mentioned in the letter really that good?’

‘A ray of light, even!’

‘Dammit, I can do those things too!’

‘Why don’t you like me?’

‘Are you blind?’

‘Do you not see anything I do?’

Jiang Hao felt both furious and wronged.

What made him any worse than that unknown girl?

He was handsome, had a good personality, smiled often, and liked Ji Ze tremendously.

He would surely cherish him and treat him well!

So why didn’t Ji Ze like him?

Was it just because they both had ‘that’ downstairs?!

…

But that was precisely it—the most crucial point.

Ji Ze would never accept a boy liking him.

Slowly, he bent over, trembling, clutching the thin piece of paper in his hand.

He buried his head in his arms, a low whimper escaping his throat, like a wounded young beast.

Jiang Hao cursed himself softly, “Why are you crying?”

“He hasn’t even given the letter away yet.”

“You’re a man, a true man; there’s nothing to cry about for such a small thing.”

“Be more ambitious, Jiang Hao!”

He closed his eyes, then opened them, taking a deep look at Ji Ze beside him.

Jiang Hao’s pillow was pressed tightly against Ji Ze’s, who was fast asleep, utterly unaware of anything.