Your Distance

Another hour passed, and Ting Shuang finally wrapped his head around all the questions he had as homework. Actually, he could have finished studying long ago, but there was one part he just couldn’t understand. And Ting Shuang, to save face, adamantly refused to ask Bai Changyi for help, insisting on thinking it through on his own. Thus, his study session dragged on until now.

After understanding the questions on his own, he straightened his spine, thinking that the professor on the sofa was nothing but a paper tiger(1).

Since he was a paper tiger, a certain unconscientious individual wanted to poke fun at him.

Ting Shuang walked over to the sofa and arrogantly took away the manga in Bai Changyi’s hands.

Bai Changyi raised his eyes, “What?”

Ting Shuang looked down at Bai Changyi and said, “I’ve finished studying.”

He was standing too close to Bai Changyi. His waistline was directly in front of Bai Changyi’s face, and he didn’t even realise it.

Bai Changyi’s gaze fell on his crotch area, his voice becoming deeper and deeper, “So?”

So?

“So–” Ting Shuang, who was originally still fuming, suddenly noticed the dark look in Bai Changyi’s eyes. In a moment, his mouth went dry.

As he stared at Bai Changyi’s glasses and the bridge of his nose from above, he couldn’t help but lick his lips, saying, “So… um… Would you like a cup of coffee… I said I’d treat you to some coffee… I forgot to pour some for you earlier on—”

Ting Shuang stopped breathing.

Bai Changyi’s hand had reached for the zipper on his jeans.

“You…” Ting Shuang’s throat bobbed and his breathing turned heavy.

What was he going to do…

Did he want to unzip it…

A zipper sound came from below, but it sounded different from what Ting Shuang had imagined. Something seemed to be off.

Bai Changyi said, “All done.”

All done?

What’s done?

Bai Changyi said, “I helped you zip it up.”

Zip it up?

Had his zipper been unzipped the whole time?

Heck.

Ting Shuang sprang three feet away, annoyed, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

Bai Changyi said, “I just saw it.”

Due to being overly embarrassed, Ting Shuang was still angry, “From when I came out of the washroom in the restaurant to when we finished eating and left for home, how many people would have seen it? You were always beside me, and yet you didn’t see it?”

Bai Changyi felt a little like laughing.

The kid didn’t pay attention to him, only continued pushing the blame to others.

Bai Changyi said, “Well, I’ll pay more attention in the future.”

Pay more attention in the future?

Pay more attention to what???

Ting Shuang looked down at his crotch, “W-where do you think you’re focusing your attention on?”

Bai Changyi gave a laugh. It felt a little like he was giving in.

With Bai Changyi’s attitude, Ting Shuang felt too embarrassed to continue making a fuss. Needless to say, he knew that he couldn’t blame Bai Changyi for not noticing. It was just because he still had a bit of discontent in his heart (from studying too long) that he complained, “You said that you’d pay attention to me… Yet you made me do an afternoon of self-study on our first date…”

“I asked what you wanted to do,” Bai Changyi reminded him, “And you said that you wanted to study.”

I wanted to study???

Would I have dared to say otherwise in front of you?

Ting Shuang resisted the urge to slap himself and said, “Then since I’ve finished studying now, we can do something else, right?”

Bai Changyi glanced at his watch, “I have a dinner appointment in the evening.”

“You’re leaving?” Ting Shuang was extremely disappointed, feeling as if he had wasted a whole afternoon.

Bai Changyi said, “Mm.”

Ting Shuang said, “Okay…”

He walked Bai Changyi to the door and couldn’t help but tug on his tie, “Mm… You really don’t want to try leaving your tie here?”

Bai Changyi’s lips curved, “Next time.”

“Okay…” Ting Shuang was about to open the door when the doorbell suddenly rang.

It was the doorbell of the main gate outside the building.

The intercom was on the wall right next to them, and Ting Shuang subconsciously picked it up, “Ja?”

“Ting Shuang, you’re at home, great! Did you not look at your phone? I sent you a message, but you didn’t reply, so I just came over. I thought I’d just leave the stuff at the gate if you weren’t home, but I feel like you wouldn’t have gone out considering it’s so close to dinnertime. Open the door for me, I’ll bring in the stuff for you. “

It was Song Xin’s voice.

Ting Shuang turned to look at the well-dressed Bai Changyi, and felt like the situation wasn’t looking too great.

If Song Xin saw Prof. Bai leaving his house…

Why did he suddenly feel like he had been caught in the midst of committing adultery?

Ting Shuang’s heartbeat suddenly quickened.

His guilty conscience was acting up.

“Hello? Can you hear me?” Song Xin continued, “Open the door for me, I have so many things in my hands, they’re so heavy I might die.”

Ting Shuang asked, “…What things?”

Song Xin said, “Didn’t I borrow your pot to cook hot pot the last time I had a friend over? I’m here to return the pot. My friend gave me many local specialties, so I might as well bring you two bags of them. Stop asking questions and open the door for me, and you’ll know when you see everything later.”

Ting Shuang was about to tell Song Xin to put everything at the front gate, but he didn’t expect that someone would leave the building just at that moment, and helped Song Xin open the door.

Song Xin said, “Ah, the door’s open. Ting Shuang, I’m going up.”

He was coming up???

Heck.

“Quick, go into the bathroom.” As soon as Ting Shuang turned off the intercom, he tried to hide Bai Changyi, as if he was something unsightly.

“Wait.” Bai Changyi had never been treated like this, “Why do I need to hide?”

There was a knock at the door.

“That’s my classmate. He’s taking your class too. If he sees this, I don’t know how I’d explain it.” It was a tight situation. Ting Shuang pushed Bai Changyi into the bathroom while explaining, “Don’t come out.”

Ting Shuang roughly scanned through the living room, and confirmed that nothing seemed to be amiss before opening the door for Song Xin.

“Why did you take so long?” Song Xin took off his shoes and walked in, suddenly noticing the leather shoes outside the door. “Oh? Ting Shuang, you have guests over?”

Ting Shuang explained, “I bought them. I was thinking that I might need a pair when going for internship interviews.”

Song Xin didn’t think much about why the shoe size of the leather shoes was larger than that of the sneakers beside them. He put the pot down and started introducing the local specialties to Ting Shuang.

Ting Shuang nodded energetically, hoping that Song Xin would leave quickly.

Song Xin talked for a long time before remembering something, “Have you done Robotik‘s homework? There’s a lot that I don’t understand.”

Ting Shuang said, “Oh I did it, I’ll pass it to you.”

Song Xin followed behind Ting Shuang, complaining, “The homework’s just too fucking hard, the professor is really fucking– Oof– Ting Shuang, why did you stomp on me?”

Why did I stomp on you?

Big brother just saved your life, you should be grateful.

“Oh sorry, I didn’t notice.” Ting Shuang stepped away and handed Song Xin his finished homework. “Take it home and look at it.”

“Wow, when did you get so fucking good?” Song Xin sat down at his desk, “Let me look at it, if there’s anything I don’t understand I can ask you.”

Ting Shuang knew that it would take at least a few hours to understand the homework, and Song Xin was unlikely to leave anytime soon.

What about Bai Changyi…

Furthermore, what if Song Xin wanted to use the washroom…

Ting Shuang regretted not hiding Bai Changyi in the bedroom.

What to do……

“Um… You can look through it first, I’ll put away the stuff you brought.” Ting Shuang said calmly.

Song Xin didn’t even turn back to answer, “Oh, sure.”

Ting Shuang opened the door quietly, picked up Bai Changyi’s leather shoes, hid them behind his back, and walked towards the washroom.

One step.

Two steps.

“Hey Ting Shuang, explain this part to me—” Song Xin shouted.

Ting Shuang halted his steps, replying as if there was nothing going on, “I, I um, need to use the washroom. Wait for a bit.”

Song Xin responded, “Then I’ll look at something else first.”

Ting Shuang slipped into the bathroom with great difficulty, feeling as if his heart was about to jump out of his chest.

He put the leather shoes on the ground and said angrily, “He probably won’t want to leave for a while…” Before he finished speaking, he realised that Bai Changyi’s gaze had fallen on the shelf next to the shower—

On it was a masturbation cup.

Ting Shuang’s body temperature was already high because of his nerves, but now his face was practically boiling.

The washroom of his rented flat was not big in the first place, and both he and Bai Changyi occupied a lot of space. Now that they were crowded together, hearts beating fast and their temperatures rising, Ting Shuang felt that something he couldn’t see had started to grow.

The atmosphere was heated.

Everything was painted in an ambiguous light.

The breaths of two people mingling.

His throat was tight, and he felt breathless.

Ting Shuang couldn’t help but step forward so that he was pressed against Bai Changyi’s chest.

Bai Changyi glanced at his leather shoes, then looked down at Ting Shuang, “You want me to climb out the window?”

Outside the window was a garden connected to the yard, where one could leave directly.

Ting Shuang said with difficulty, “Mm…”

To Professor Bai, someone whose name was well-known, it was already a huge insult that he had to hide in a washroom. And now, he couldn’t escape the fate of climbing out through a window. How different was he from an unfaithful husband now?

Question, what did Professor Bai do?

He just watched a student do his homework for the entire afternoon…

Bai Changyi said, “Did I do any unsightly things that would warrant climbing out by the window?”

Ting Shuang tiptoed and kissed Bai Changyi’s lips, “Now you have.”