The light from the desk lamp spread across the table, illuminating the screen of the phone, which lay face up.
“Little Huo, why aren’t you in bed yet?” asked the dorm leader, startling Huo Youqing, who had been staring at his phone. Instinctively, he locked the screen before responding vaguely, “I’m just about to.”
He reached up and turned off the lamp. Five days had passed since that conversation with Gong Lang. Every day since then, the moment he opened his eyes, Gong Lang was outside his dorm room, ready to take him to class. After class, Gong Lang was waiting outside the classroom, and before bed, if Huo Youqing didn’t answer his calls, Gong Lang would send messages. If those went unanswered, Gong Lang would show up at the dorm.
Whenever Gong Lang came, he always brought food, so the other roommates never said anything. Often, Gong Lang wouldn’t leave until Huo Youqing was in bed.
Gong Lang had never acted like this before. While he had always been protective and spent a lot of time with him, his behavior had previously been within acceptable limits. Huo Youqing had even grown accustomed to it.
After all, he had been raised by his uncle after losing his parents at a young age. His uncle, worried that Huo Youqing might be bullied or led astray, had been both strict and indulgent with him.
So when Gong Lang, who was also controlling in a similar way, entered his life, it hadn’t seemed out of place to Huo Youqing. Over time, he got used to it and didn’t feel that anything was wrong. During his middle and high school years, he even thought that this was just what friendship was like.
Weren’t close friends supposed to stick together?
As for Gong Lang’s overly intimate actions in the eyes of others, Huo Youqing had been too oblivious to notice.
In high school, he had once seen two boys sitting very close, with one sitting on the other’s lap in the classroom, laughing loudly. He had been curious and looked, while his deskmate rolled their eyes and dismissed it as “straight guy antics, so boring.”
Boys could be quite wild when they played around, and Huo Youqing had seen his share of it.
Though he knew that some men liked other men, he had never thought that he, Gong Lang, or Qiu Wenfei could be one of them—until he experienced the timeline at 27.
Yet even that hadn’t made him fully realize Gong Lang’s strange behavior until their conversation five days ago. It was then that he became acutely aware of Gong Lang’s possessiveness.
Huo Youqing rarely felt possessive over anything. As a child, even when he had toys he liked, he was willing to share them with others, even if they weren’t returned. He knew his uncle would buy him another.
He understood that some people had a strong sense of ownership and disliked having their things touched or taken by others. But could friends really have such an excessive possessiveness? He now felt as if he were an object belonging to Gong Lang.
Gong Lang’s words during their conversation, as well as his behavior over the past five days, made Huo Youqing uneasy, but he wasn’t sure how to handle it.
He had tried to talk to Gong Lang again, but every time he brought it up, Gong Lang would cut him off. Over the past few days, Gong Lang had repeatedly told him to “be good” and “behave.”
Feeling trapped and frustrated, Huo Youqing’s mood darkened. So when he woke up to find himself back in the 27-year-old timeline, he couldn’t help but feel relieved.
The first thing he saw was a head of soft hair resting on the side of the bed. The person was asleep, facing him, their eyes tightly closed.
A summer breeze drifted in through the slightly open window, gently swaying the curtains. The hospital room was peaceful.
As Huo Youqing sat up, the person woke up, and Dai Yuan instantly opened his eyes. Still not fully awake, he stared blankly at Huo Youqing.
Meeting his gaze, and feeling in a good mood, Huo Youqing greeted him with a smile, “Good morning, and thank you for taking care of me.”
—
When they headed back to the skydiving base, Huo Youqing had learned his lesson and didn’t dare eat anything random. As he put on the skydiving gear and sat on the plane, he felt a bit nervous. He didn’t want anyone to see his anxiety, so he took a few deep breaths and looked out the window at the clouds.
Soon, he would be jumping from an altitude of over 4,000 meters. Since he was a complete beginner, he would have an instructor with him. What he didn’t expect was that his instructor would be Dai Yuan.
The originally scheduled coach couldn’t make it due to a family emergency.
“Mr. Dai, usually you come without needing the coach to accompany you. The coach just stands by and watches, so this time, it’s our mistake for not preparing a backup coach. We’re really sorry and willing to offer double compensation.”
The staff member, despite having rehearsed these lines many times, still felt his palms sweating as he spoke. He was really afraid the new customer might catch the flaw in his words.
Dai Yuan didn’t respond to the staff member but instead looked at Huo Youqing.
The person next to him visibly became unhappy upon hearing that the skydiving coach wasn’t coming. His lips pressed together, but he soon relaxed them, trying not to show his displeasure. He glanced casually around the area, as if nothing had happened.
Dai Yuan’s eyes flickered slightly. He restrained the urge to touch the other’s cheek and said, “Actually, I have a certification too. I’ve taken people skydiving before. If you trust me, we can jump together.”
Huo Youqing thought for about ten seconds and agreed.
He had never gone skydiving before, and if he missed this chance, who knows when the next one would come?
He couldn’t quite grasp the pattern of his time traveling. What if he fell asleep one day and never returned to this time at the age of 27? He might never have another opportunity to skydive in the near future.
His uncle’s family wouldn’t allow it, and neither would Gong Lang.
***
When the plane’s door opened, fierce winds rushed in, and Huo Youqing’s nervousness skyrocketed to the extreme, accompanied by a surge of adrenaline. His heart was racing, partly due to anxiety but also in anticipation of the thrilling experience ahead.
He heard Dai Yuan speaking to him.
“Trust me.”
Huo Youqing turned back. “Okay.”
Dai Yuan heard his response but seemed stunned for a moment. After a while, he smiled faintly—a smile with an unclear meaning.
The countdown began.
“Three.”
“Two.”
“One.”
Without hesitation, Huo Youqing jumped out of the plane with Dai Yuan. The sensation of weightlessness overwhelmed him, and the wind poured into his body—through his ears, his nose… He felt as though he had captured the wind, or perhaps in that moment, he was experiencing true freedom.
An unprecedented sense of freedom.
He turned his head toward Dai Yuan, who was holding a camera, and smiled at the lens.
After landing, Huo Youqing sat on the ground in a daze for a moment before getting up. He looked at Dai Yuan, who asked if he was okay, and said, “Can we do it again?”
For the first time, he realized he enjoyed extreme sports.
Dai Yuan nodded but added, “I’ve also scheduled an afternoon sea dive.”
This time, Huo Youqing didn’t wait for an invitation. He was already interested. “A sea dive? Where? Is it fun?”
What was supposed to be a short trip suddenly extended, and by the time Huo Youqing received a call from his cousin, questioning him, he had already been spending nearly a month alone with Dai Yuan.
“Where have you gone, Youyou? Why didn’t I find you at home? I just ran into the property manager, and they said you left for a trip. When did you decide to travel?”
Huo Youqing had ordered milk before he left, and since he went on vacation, he asked the property manager to take it so it wouldn’t go to waste.
Hearing his cousin’s questioning tone, Huo Youqing, who had been indulging in fun for the past few weeks, felt like he was snapped back to reality. Deep down, he was still an 18-year-old college freshman, and faced with his cousin’s interrogation, he couldn’t help feeling guilty.
He didn’t dare tell his cousin that he was no longer in the country.
He was on international waters.
His cousin would never guess that he had gone to watch orcas.
During this time, Huo Youqing had experienced a life he had never imagined in his first 18 years. He never knew there could be so many thrilling and interesting things in the world.
Moreover, after spending time together, he discovered that Dai Yuan unexpectedly clicked with him. Everything Dai Yuan enjoyed, he found himself liking as well.
He had a strange feeling that a version of Dai Yuan who no longer called him “Master” and didn’t cling to him all the time was like a friend tailor-made for him by the gods.
***
Hiding in a corner, Huo Youqing endured his cousin’s interrogation. As expected, the moment his cousin found out he was on international waters, he got angry and demanded that Huo Youqing find the nearest country to dock in, so he could come and pick him up.
After the call ended, Huo Youqing leaned on the railing, staring at the endless sea, wondering how he would break the news to Dai Yuan.
He hadn’t seen any orcas yet, but his cousin was angry, so he had to go back and apologize. After all, he hadn’t informed his cousin before going off to have fun, and now asking Dai Yuan to dock the ship would be troublesome. He also didn’t want to ruin Dai Yuan’s mood.
Still hesitant about how to bring it up, Huo Youqing returned to his previous seat. Dai Yuan sat across from him. After this trip, Dai Yuan’s skin had tanned slightly, making him look less pale, but Huo Youqing was still as fair as ever, almost unnaturally so.
“Dai Yuan…”
“Was that a call from your family?” Dai Yuan spoke almost at the same time as Huo Youqing.
Huo Youqing paused. “Yes.”
Dai Yuan seemed to have already guessed what was on his mind. “After being out for so long, your family is bound to worry. I’ve been thinking it’s about time to send you back anyway. Tomorrow, we can dock in country R.”
“Would that be too much trouble for you? You haven’t even seen the orcas yet,” Huo Youqing said, feeling guilty.
Dai Yuan shook his head. “It’s no trouble. I was actually planning to buy some things in country R. Besides, I’m not planning to return yet. After buying what I need, I’ll head back to the ship and wait to see the orcas before going home.” His eyes showed anticipation, and his smile was more evident than usual. “If I see them, I’ll send you a video.”
By now, Dai Yuan no longer looked at him timidly. They interacted like normal friends.
Huo Youqing felt a bit more relaxed. “Alright, I’ll wait for your video.”
Tomorrow, the ship would dock, and that night, the crew prepared a romantic farewell party for Huo Youqing.
With music, wine, and lights, the deputy captain even played a saxophone tune for him. As expected, Huo Youqing got drunk. While being helped back to his room, he kept saying he wanted to drink more.
“No, you’ve had enough. You need to go to sleep,” the person supporting him said.
Huo Youqing was so drunk that he couldn’t tell who was holding him up. He heard the person say that and waved his hand, gesturing, “Not too much, just one drink.”
“One drink?” the person beside him raised their voice in surprise.
“Two drinks… Fine, I admit it, I had three. I can drink more, even five more wouldn’t be a problem,” Huo Youqing started to rant drunkenly. He tightened his arms around the person’s neck, his warm lips almost touching the other’s neck. “I want to drink more. Just one more sip, give me one more.”
His misty almond-shaped eyes stared at the person, and in his mind, he wondered why this person seemed so tall. The person he remembered wasn’t this tall.
It seemed like he had been this drunk before, someone had held him up, talking to him. He didn’t remember what the person said, only that he felt reluctant to let go.
So reluctant that when the person kissed him, he didn’t pull away.
His lips had been kissed.
It felt like a dream, yet also real.
Huo Youqing was lifted up, his back against a cold wall. He shook his head, barely able to make out the person in front of him—it was Dai Yuan.
Dai Yuan’s lips were almost touching his, and he asked softly, “Can I kiss you, Youyou?”
Huo Youqing froze, and after a while, he said in a hurt tone, “You already did.”
It seemed like there was a soft laugh by his ear.
“I want to keep kissing you. Is that okay?” The serpent of Eden emerged once again.
