Chapter 39: An Kexin
“Su Peng! Help, help, help, help! They’re coming to catch me again!”
“I’m coming, I’m coming!”
“I counter-killed them! Three against one and I still won! Can you even play?”
“Chase them down and finish them off!”
In the dorm room, An Han was completely focused on his game, mumbling nonstop as he played. But suddenly, his character froze and wouldn’t move.
He looked up in confusion. “Did the internet disconnect?”
A long “beep” sound followed, and the air conditioner stopped running too.
Su Peng corrected him, “It’s a power outage.”
Since it was National Day, not many students were staying in the dorms. But the moment the power went out, they could still hear complaints and groans echoing from all directions in the building.
The two looked at each other in silence. Although the laptop could still run on battery, losing the internet connection was a real disaster.
Frustrated, An Han pulled out his phone, ready to message their counselor, Ren Chi, to ask what was going on. But before he could, he saw a notice already posted in the class group chat.
“Power maintenance today at noon. Electricity will be restored around 3 p.m.”
He read the message out loud, then sighed heavily. “Half my life is gone!”
“What’s wrong now?”
“There’s no air conditioning anymore~”
Su Peng couldn’t help laughing. He casually picked up a small notebook from the desk and handed it over. “Fan yourself, then.”
He had taken his own laptop back to his room earlier, but when he returned to An Han’s dorm, he found that An Han had already pulled a bamboo mat from the wardrobe and was spreading it on the floor.
“What are you doing?”
“Making a bed on the floor. Gonna take a nap. When I wake up, the power should be back.”
“You might as well go to an internet café.”
“Too lazy. And those places are full of smoke.”
Even though internet cafés were more regulated these days, there were still plenty of people smoking inside.
An Han clearly had no intention of going anywhere. He lay down comfortably on the bamboo mat, resting his cheek against the cool surface, enjoying the last bit of cold air left in the room.
“When the cool air’s gone, remember to open both doors so the air can flow,” he said lazily.
Su Peng sat on a chair nearby, crossing one leg over the other, and gave him a look. “Open them yourself. I’m heading out soon.”
“You’re not even gonna stay with me?”
An Han yawned, his voice growing drowsy as he lay flat on the mat.
With the lingering chill from the air conditioner, he soon drifted into a half-asleep, half-awake state. In the haze, he vaguely felt Su Peng’s gaze looking down at him from above, and then a light blanket being gently placed over him.
He’s actually taking care of me?
That thought barely formed before he completely fell asleep.
……………………………
“Su Peng, what time is it?”
Still half-asleep, An Han asked the air as soon as he woke up, eyes closed.
After a long pause with no answer, he finally opened his eyes. Looking around, he realized the room was empty.
Both the front and back doors of the dorm were open, letting in a gentle breeze that carried away some of the heat. Still, An Han was covered in sweat from his nap.
He sat up, straightened his back, stretched his arms, and yawned lazily.
“Wonder where Su Peng went.”
Mumbling to himself, he got up from the mat, picked up his phone from the desk, and checked the time.
There was still about half an hour left before the power was supposed to come back.
He didn’t want to go out right away. Whenever he put on a jacket outside, he always got so hot he questioned life.
But the thing is, the temperature outside wasn’t much different from the dorm. Instead of sitting around doing nothing, it was better to go out and walk a bit.
An Han put on his jacket and was about to leave when he suddenly realized that lately he hadn’t really tried to hide his little “bun” from Su Peng.
He paused for a moment, then gave a helpless smile. “I just hope he doesn’t think I’m some kind of weird creature.”
Like someone who needs a “support” or something...
Maybe Su Peng is just blind and never noticed?
An Han muttered to himself. He was starting to understand why Su Peng sometimes avoided him.
If he were in Su Peng’s place and a friendly, feminine-looking guy stuck close to him, he might... end up being into both genders!
In the afternoon, the campus was quiet for the National Day holiday, which helped An Han relax a little.
He went to the school supermarket to buy some snacks and daily stuff.
That jerk Chen Junjie had used up his shampoo!
The double-floor school supermarket was big, you could find almost everything there. An Han wandered the aisles looking for what he needed, but after a short walk his steps stopped.
This shelf was full of sanitary pads.
“One day I might need these too,” he thought, feeling a sudden wave of sadness.
He sighed quietly and was about to leave when a girl came into the same area.
“An Han?”
He actually ran into someone he knew?
He tightened his jacket and turned to look.
An Kexin?
“Kexin!” he said with a smile, then suddenly leaned in like a gossip. “Kexin, I heard you’ve been getting close to Su Peng lately?”
“Huh?” An Kexin stepped back two steps, startled and flustered. “No, no, that’s not true.”
“But he went to the movies with you.”
An Kexin’s face started to turn red. She replied softly, “He just wanted to watch it, that’s all.”
“He said he had a good impression of you,” An Han teased, winking.
“Really...?”
Because they shared the same family name, An Han remembered her name and face better than other girls in the class. She was his only female friend in class.
An Kexin was shy and quickly went beet-red, looking down and nervously saying, “But Su Peng stood me up this morning.”
Even a slightly chubby girl was more fun to tease than mocking a roommate, and much cuter.
“He went back to my dorm to play games with me.”
Why did An Han suddenly feel like he was being the other woman? And playing the third wheel at that?
He quickly pushed that weird thought away and changed the subject. “Has Su Peng talked about me to you recently?”
“You?” An Kexin glanced up, thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah. He said you’ve been acting stranger lately.”
When she said that, she looked An Han over. She realized they hadn’t talked much in a week, but he seemed different now.
Looking better?
An Han noticed her look and stuck his hands on his hips like he owned it. “Am I a lot more handsome than before?!”
“Huh?”
“A bit chubbier, right? Not so skinny anymore. My face looks fuller!”
“Seems like it...”
“So I am more handsome than before, right?”
An Kexin was a little confused but still nodded, “Yeah, more handsome than before.”
“Told you!”
“But Su Peng still says you’re too girly.”
An Han froze for a moment, turned his head, and muttered, “Su Peng dares to call me girly in front of others! I’ll beat him up someday!”
“You’re so full of yourself. How could you be better than him?”
This girl can’t stay! Who tells the truth like that when they meet someone?!