| BYSG | Can I Use Your Phone | 58
After returning to the dormitory, Cheng Mofei instinctively glanced at Shen Yu, who was sitting in his seat, and saw that he was on a video call with someone.
Cheng Mofei casually walked past him from behind.
On the phone screen was a boy around their age, wearing glasses and smiling as he chatted with Shen Yu. His eyes squinted into slits, revealing two prominent tiger teeth.
Shen Yu was wearing earphones, so Cheng Mofei couldn't hear the other person's voice.
"Mm, my mom still remembers you. She said she used to hold you when we were little, and you’d stop crying as soon as she did."
"You can come over anytime if you're free."
"It might snow in Yancheng in a while. If it does, I'll let you know and send you some pictures."
With just a few words, Cheng Mofei was able to confirm the identity of the person on the other end—Shen Yu’s childhood friend. If he remembered correctly, the boy’s name was Fang Xiang.
Most likely, this was the person Shen Yu liked.
Cheng Mofei unconsciously narrowed his eyes slightly.
But before he could continue observing, the person on the other end suddenly said something and hung up the call.
"Mm, bye-bye, good night." Shen Yu held his phone, instinctively turning his head to glance at Cheng Mofei. He smiled and said, "You're back."
"Mm." Cheng Mofei's expression remained unchanged, but he sneered inwardly.
Could it be that the guy saw him in Shen Yu’s facetime and didn’t want to continue the conversation?
Shen Yu lowered his head and started texting the person again. Cheng Mofei couldn't get close enough to peek, and he was still feeling sticky with sweat, which was uncomfortable.
So, he simply went straight to the bathroom to take a shower.
On the phone screen, Fang Xiang sent Shen Yu a message: [Your roommate is way too handsome. How are you holding up?]
Since they had grown up together, Fang Xiang naturally knew about Shen Yu’s sexual orientation.
However, Shen Yu had always been focused on studying. He had never shown interest in anyone or been involved in any romantic entanglements, so Fang Xiang never had the chance to discuss such topics with him.
Now that they were finally adults and in college, where they could date freely, Fang Xiang, with his lively personality, naturally attracted many girls who enjoyed being around him.
Though he wasn’t in a rush to get into a relationship himself, he was a little anxious for Shen Yu.
After all, Shen Yu liked boys, and Fang Xiang was quite curious about what kind of boyfriend he would have in the future.
Shen Yu was so outstanding, his boyfriend would definitely be exceptional too.
Shen Yu smiled and replied: [Stop teasing me.]
[Didn’t you say there was a dorm inspection? Go get ready.]
Fang Xiang simply responded with an “ok” and disappeared from the chat.
Earlier today, when Shen Yu visited his mother, he had mentioned Fang Xiang.
Since Fang Xiang’s family had lived next door, his mother naturally remembered him.
Back when he reconciled with his mother, Shen Yu had immediately shared the news with Fang Xiang, explaining everything in detail. He didn’t want Fang Xiang to continue holding onto the same misunderstandings that he once had.
It was his first time visiting his mother’s home, where he met her current husband and his half-sister. Naturally, he wanted to share the experience with his childhood best friend.
In the future, when Fang Xiang came to visit him, he would also take him to his mother’s place as a guest.
…
The weekend passed, and another long and exhausting five-day began.
For Shen Yu, however, it wasn’t much of a change, since he worked part-time on weekends, the days of the week didn’t make much difference to him.
By late November, the weather had turned even colder.
With the autumn-winter schedule, the midday break was short, and never getting enough sleep made people irritable, especially Cheng Mofei, whose mood hadn’t been great to begin with.
That afternoon, all four of them had classes. As soon as their alarm for the last-minute nap rang, they got up one after another, heading to the bathroom to splash their faces with cold water to wake up.
When getting out of bed, Cheng Mofei casually placed his phone on Shen Yu’s desk.
After washing up, he picked up a phone, slipped it into his coat pocket, and headed out the door.
Their dormitory wasn’t too far from the academic building, and to maximize their sleep, they had set their alarm just fifteen minutes before class.
The trade-off for extra sleep was having to sprint to avoid being late.
After reaching the classroom and sitting down, Cheng Mofei absentmindedly pulled the phone from his pocket. The moment he saw a chemistry-related class schedule on the lock screen, a delayed realization hit him.
He had grabbed the wrong phone.
This wasn’t his, it was Shen Yu’s.
Not long ago, he had gotten his own phone screen replaced, and after spending time adjusting to its old familiar feel, he still found it slightly “foreign” every time he picked it up.
When he grabbed Shen Yu’s phone earlier, he had experienced that same fleeting sense of unfamiliarity, but he had ignored it, assuming he was still adjusting.
He hadn’t expected the unfamiliarity to be real this time.
Cheng Mofei unlocked the phone and saw a missed call on the lock screen, saved under the contact name "Brother Fei."
Immediately, he realized that Shen Yu must have used his own phone to call this one.
Unfortunately, since the phone was on silent mode, he hadn’t noticed the call.
He still remembered Shen Yu’s lock screen password. Without hesitation, he entered it and called back.
There was only a minute left before class started, but the classroom was still noisy with students chatting, making a phone call blend in unnoticed.
The call was answered quickly, and sure enough, it was Shen Yu’s voice on the other end. "Hello? Brother Fei, you took the wrong phone."
Cheng Mofei hummed in acknowledgment. "I just realized. Where are you now?"
"I’m already at the chemistry building. Let’s just switch back when we get to the dorm later."
Right. Shen Yu’s afternoon classes were in the chemistry building, which was separate from the main academic building and quite a distance away.
"Alright," Cheng Mofei paused for a second before adding, "You can use my phone however you like. Everything in there is open for you to see."
Shen Yu hummed.
As the class bell suddenly rang, the classroom gradually quieted down, and the two of them quickly ended the call.
Cheng Mofei gripped the phone that wasn’t his, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. A bold thought had already crept into his mind.
A thought that was rude, intrusive—one that, if discovered, would make Shen Yu despise him.
He wanted to take a look at Shen Yu’s childhood friend’s WeChat profile, his Moments, and maybe even… their recent chat history.
Just now, he had deliberately said, "You can use my phone however you like. Everything in there is open for you to see."
They were good brothers. He had given Shen Yu that kind of access, so naturally, Shen Yu should grant him the same. That would be fair.
Though, admittedly, it was a bit of moral coercion.
But Shen Yu hadn’t warned him not to snoop through his phone after hearing those words, had he?
A war waged in Cheng Mofei’s mind, two opposing voices clashing and tangling until his thoughts were a complete mess.
Testing the waters, he hesitantly opened Shen Yu’s WeChat.
At the top of the list, three conversations were pinned.
One was him—"Brother Fei."
One was Shen Yu’s mother—"Mom."
And one was Fang Xiang—"Xiangzi."
A best friend, a mother, and… the person he liked.
If only Fang Xiang weren’t there, he would be so much happier.
Suppressing the urge to immediately tap on Fang Xiang’s chat, Cheng Mofei first opened his own conversation with Shen Yu.
As he browsed through Shen Yu’s sticker collection, he noticed that every single one of them had been “stolen” from him, it was various hamster emojis he had sent before.
The mere thought of Shen Yu using his hamster stickers while chatting with that guy made his chest feel uncomfortably tight. He almost wished he could set some kind of restriction and make the stickers usable only when talking to him.
Irritated yet stubborn, Cheng Mofei quickly picked a “peeking hamster” and sent it over.
Almost immediately, Shen Yu replied with a "reading hamster" along with a short message:
【Pay attention in class.】
Cheng Mofei replied with a "praying hamster" and typed:
【This class is just filler. Can I play with your phone? [sad]】
The “typing…” indicator immediately appeared on the screen.
【Go ahead, I have to focus on class now.】
Cheng Mofei let out a breath of relief.
Shen Yu already knew he was in his WeChat and had even personally given him permission to use his phone.
The guilt pressing on his heart eased—just a little.
After sending a quick "Got it.", he wasted no time opening Fang Xiang’s chat.
The first thing that greeted him was their conversation from this morning:
Fang Xiang: 【WTF… I just found a bug in my breakfast. I’m gonna puke [vomit].】
Shen Yu: 【Are you okay? Did you actually eat it? Make sure to talk to the shop owner.】
Fang Xiang: 【I almost ate it. I’m going to complain right now. Damn this southern climate, it's already November, why are there still cockroaches? I’m losing it.】
Shen Yu: 【I’ve never even seen a cockroach up north.】
Fang Xiang: 【So jealous. If I’d known, I would’ve chosen a university in the north too. Maybe I’ll apply for grad school there in my senior year.】
Shen Yu: 【That’d be great! Apply to Yanda University, maybe we could even be roommates.】
Shen Yu: 【[Hamster cheering you on]】
Fang Xiang: 【If you help me study, maybe I’ll actually have a shot.】
Shen Yu: 【No problem. I’ll call you all day to keep you on track. We can study for grad school together.】
Cheng Mofei: “……”
Roommates? Calling all day?
Shen Yu was really that good to this guy. Every word carried the intention of wanting to stay by his side.
What else could this be, if not liking?
Cheng Mofei quickly scrolled up and suddenly stopped in front of a chat message, his expression darkening completely.
It was right after the video call on Sunday night.
Fang Xiang: [Your roommate is way too handsome. How are you holding up?]
Shen Yu: [Stop teasing me.]
As expected, Fang Xiang knew about Shen Yu’s sexual orientation.
But what did that comment mean? It was infuriating.
What did he mean by "your roommate is too handsome, how can you handle it?"
Was he testing Shen Yu?
Was it possible that Fang Xiang felt uneasy about Cheng Mofei for this reason?
— He probably sees himself as a rival because his relationship with Shen Yu is too good.
It was absurd.
Is every male friend who gets a little closer to Shen Yu viewed as a love rival?
Even if that were the case, he shouldn’t have acted so sarcastic toward Shen Yu, nor should he have tested him like that.
They’re not even together yet, and there’s already this lack of trust, what will happen if they get together?
Won’t he be paranoid every day, making Shen Yu suffer?
Cheng Mofei quickly came up with a bunch of inspiration quotes in his mind, ready to deliver them to Shen Yu later.
A man who’s overly suspicious is no good.
Cheng Mofei didn’t look further into the chat records, mostly because it bothered him too much. He absentmindedly clicked on Fang Xiang’s WeChat profile.
The profile picture was a very common "internet guy" style, one he’d seen used in some of the school’s club group chats.
Fang Xiang’s Moments were set to show only the last three days’ posts, there was nothing to see.
The background of the Moments was a landscape photo.
There was hardly any useful information to gather.
No matter how he looked at it, this person couldn’t be a good match for Shen Yu, nor could he be a good friend.
Cheng Mofei quickly pressed a few buttons to exit and returned to the chat interface.
This time, he paused for a moment, raised his finger, and clicked on Shen Yu’s profile picture. He opened the Moments from the contact card.
He had actually seen Shen Yu’s Moments before, but it was always empty so there was nothing there at all. Even the background was just a blank space.
One possibility was that Shen Yu had never posted anything in his Moments. Another was that he had restricted the visibility.
Sure enough, as soon as Cheng Mofei clicked in, he saw a single text post visible only to Shen Yu himself.
【When will the person I’ve liked for so many years finally be with me?】
Cheng Mofei’s heart dropped.
Does he like him… this much?
0 Comments
Post a Comment