Chapter 104: Early Morning
The next day, when Yu Fan woke up, he still felt a bit confused.
He stared at the unfamiliar ceiling and listened to the sound of a TV commercial nearby. His head hurt, and he held it in pain.
He drank too much last night.
He wasn’t really someone who could drink a lot, but after spending time with friends, he had gotten used to the idea of having barbecue with alcohol. Last night, in order to take advantage of the stingy Li Mu, he accidentally drank too much.
Trying hard to remember what happened, Yu Fan vaguely recalled that Li Mu was squatting nearby, holding a phone and asking him some questions, but he couldn’t remember what the questions were.
After that, he seemed to take a shower while feeling half-asleep, and then…
Propping himself up with one arm on the sofa, he sat up. The air conditioner blanket slid off, revealing his slightly tan skin.
Yu Fan instinctively looked to his side and immediately felt a bit disappointed.
Normally, in dramas, when the main character gets drunk, he wakes up to find a girl next to him.
So why was he sleeping on the sofa?
Guess he’s not the main character after all.
He tried to remember more and slowly recalled that after the shower, he probably walked out of the bathroom naked.
Well, it wasn’t a big deal. He was used to sleeping naked at home anyway, and Li Mu had already seen everything before.
They were both guys. Even though being completely naked felt a bit embarrassing, to be honest, those private parts had probably been seen plenty of times in public restrooms.
Still, being seen again… it kind of felt like a loss...
Yu Fan stood up and pushed down the mirror on the table.
Even though his head hurt, he hadn’t forgotten there was a girl in the apartment.
He looked around the living room but didn’t see the clothes he had changed out of. So he wrapped the air conditioner blanket around his lower body and casually walked toward the bathroom.
After searching for a while, he finally saw his clothes hanging on the balcony. He quietly peeked around the sides of the balcony to make sure no one was looking before quickly walking over and touching them.
Still wet.
He must’ve thrown up last night, so Li Mu probably washed his clothes.
Otherwise, with Li Mu’s personality, he would never go out of his way to do something like that.
But the problem was, most of Li Mu’s clothes didn’t fit him. He couldn’t just hide naked in Li Mu’s home all day waiting for his clothes to dry, right?
Yu Fan felt like his headache was getting worse.
Because he passed out early from drinking, the sky outside was still dark. It was probably just past 6 a.m.
The small town was slowly coming alive. Standing on the balcony, he could faintly hear cars on the street below.
But then, he also faintly heard soft sobbing, like someone crying quietly.
He tilted his head, curious, trying to listen more closely. He realized the sound wasn’t coming from either side of the balcony, but from behind him.
Barefoot, he walked silently across the tile floor, following the crying sound. He ended up in front of Li Mu’s closed bedroom door.
Yu Fan stood there awkwardly, not sure what to do.
Why was Li Mu crying?
Did he think about his family and get sad?
Or maybe he was bullied when he went out yesterday afternoon?
He stood in front of the door, listening to the crying for a few minutes, then nervously swallowed and forced himself to knock on the door.
He wasn’t good at comforting people with sweet words. Right now, it felt like he was about to go into battle, and his brain was already rehearsing different ways to make someone feel better.
The crying inside the room suddenly stopped. A moment later, the door opened, and Li Mu’s cold, expressionless face appeared.
His eyes were red, his eyelashes were slightly trembling, and there were still traces of tears. His face was a little flushed, looking both pitiful and delicate.
“Um…”
“You’re up early?” he asked, walking past Yu Fan and heading straight to the kitchen. “What time is it?”
Yu Fan was caught off guard by how calm Li Mu was. He answered without thinking, “Six-thirty.”
Li Mu boiled a pot of water and turned around to ask Yu Fan, who had followed him into the kitchen, “Want some breakfast?”
“Sure.”
“Then I’ll go buy some later.” Li Mu leaned back against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed, waiting for the water to boil. He explained, “You threw up all over yourself last night, so I washed your clothes. Your underwear is soaking in water, you can wash it yourself.”
Yu Fan scratched his head awkwardly and replied with a quiet “Okay.”
After a short pause, seeing that Li Mu wasn’t saying anything else, Yu Fan carefully asked, “What happened?”
“Nothing.” Li Mu tilted his head and looked at Yu Fan. “You really have nothing better to do than worry about me?”
“We’re brothers, right~”
“Then remember to drive me to school tomorrow morning.”
Li Mu didn’t hold back at all. He picked up the kettle, which had automatically turned off after the water boiled, and poured himself a cup. Holding the cup with both hands, he puffed out his cheeks and blew on the water.
He liked drinking hot water, just cool enough to sip. When he took a light sip, he could feel the warmth flowing down his throat.
Though sometimes it did burn him.
Yu Fan went off to wash his underwear. Since there weren’t any new and unopened ones in Li Mu’s home, he’d probably have to stay wrapped in the air conditioner blanket all day.
After drinking some water, Li Mu finally perked up a bit and went to wash his face.
He hadn’t slept well last night. The stress from mentally adjusting to becoming a girl had caused nightmares, and early in the morning, he woke up from one and cried for no clear reason.
Thankfully, having Yu Fan around made him feel a little better.
“Li Mu, where’s breakfast?”
Yu Fan’s voice came from behind, urging him. Li Mu turned his head and reminded him, “Wrap yourself tighter. If that thing falls off, it’ll feel like a ridiculous drama scene.”
Yu Fan froze for a second. He felt like Li Mu was teasing him, so he blushed and quickly tightened his towel.
He sighed and asked, “Don’t you have a dryer or something?”
“You planning to buy one for me?”
Li Mu had finished drying his face. Now, the pitiful look from earlier was gone, replaced with a mischievous grin. He joked, “Yours isn’t that big anyway.”
"That's nonsense, it can wrap around my waist." For some reason, even though he knew Li Mu was also a guy, Yu Fan still felt shy looking at his face. He hurried into the bathroom, closed the door, and shouted, “Go buy breakfast!”
“I’m heading out then.”
In this small city, there weren’t many delivery drivers out working at 6 a.m. So even though a few breakfast shops showed up on the app, Li Mu had no plans to order delivery.
He left the house without even closing the door and went downstairs to get food.
A short while later, Yu Fan came out of the bathroom, still mumbling to himself, “Why do I feel like I'm starting to see Li Mu as a girl?”
He glanced at the new toothbrush, cup, and towel placed by the sink and realized Li Mu was becoming more thoughtful.
The last time he stayed over, he couldn’t even wash up for a whole day.
He slowly walked into the living room, but suddenly looked up, and made direct eye contact with Ren Tianyou, who had just walked in.
“You…” Ren Tianyou’s eyes widened in surprise.
“I…” Yu Fan looked down, confused, and realized what he was wearing…