Your Distance

Over the next two days, Bai Laoban went through a hard time.

The kid seemed to have entered a rebellious phase.

Specifically, his actions included: being extremely picky over the food made by Bai Changyi; dismissing Bai Changyi’s works; expressing doubts about Bai Changyi’s looks; and not cooperating during sex.

The first three could be understood as casual behaviour, but the last one——

Something was definitely wrong.

“Ting, just what is going on.” Bai Changyi asked after being pushed away by Ting Shuang for no reason in the middle of a kiss one night.

Ting Shuang’s jeans were unbearably tight, but he insisted, “What do you mean what’s going on? I just don’t feel like it.”

Bai Changyi was a little irritated, “What exactly is the problem? Tell me.”

As for what exactly the problem was, Ting Shuang didn’t want to say it.

After the house viewing on Tuesday, Jonas had decided on the spot that he wanted to rent Ting Shuang’s apartment, and the landlady had no objections. As soon as he thought of the scene that day, Ting Shuang got a bad taste in his mouth. At that time, Jonas was not the only one looking at the house, his boyfriend was also there. The two of them weren’t shy at all. They were both acting sweetly, and while they looked around, they also discussed how they would renovate the place after moving in. They even smiled at each other from time to time, the perfect picture of a couple preparing to cohabitate.

Ting Shuang had been dealt a fatal blow.

He didn’t plan to tell Bai Changyi about this at all. He wanted to solve it quietly.

After all, even if the house was gone, he could look for another. But if he lost what little self-esteem he had left… he wouldn’t know how to get it back.

In this matter, he rationally knew that Bai Changyi did nothing wrong, but emotionally it was not easy for him to get over it, so he could only express his dissatisfaction in other ways.

This was what “seizing any opportunity to use as a pretext for expressing your own views” meant.

“Your technique has deteriorated, and I don’t feel comfortable.” Standing in front of Bai Changyi, Ting Shuang said stiffly.

If other men heard this, they would definitely feel like they’d been struck by lightning, and their dignity would have suffered.

But now, it was Bai Changyi who was hearing this.

Poor technique?

Impossible.

Not comfortable?

Nonexistent.

When Bai Changyi looked at Ting Shuang, three words appeared in his mind: Stirring up trouble.

Ting Shuang had a past record of doing this sort of thing. Be it making a fuss out of nothing or throwing tantrums out of nowhere around Bai Changyi, no one could do it better than him.

“Is that really the reason?” Bai Changyi raised his eyes and asked.

The look in his eyes made Ting Shuang’s hair stand.

Currently, Bai Changyi was sitting on the sofa while Ting Shuang was standing up. Ting Shuang was clearly looking down at him, but suddenly he felt like he’d been called to the office for questioning by a teacher.

“… Mm,” After a long while, Ting Shuang only managed to squeeze out one sound.

Bai Changyi looked at Ting Shuang for a while, “Okay, then we’ll go with what you said.”

“… What I said?” Ting Shuang said.

“Tell me, in what way are you uncomfortable.” Bai Changyi said.

In what way was he uncomfortable…

He couldn’t answer.

Ting Shuang didn’t look Bai Changyi in the eye, nor did he speak. He maintained his uncooperative stance.

Bai Changyi waited for a few minutes, and decided to change the question, “Then how did I make you uncomfortable?”

How did he make him uncomfortable……

He couldn’t answer that either.

Ting Shuang stood in the same spot for a long time, until his feet started to hurt.

“Why(1) do I have to answer your question?” Ting Shuang felt extremely unsteady.

Why?

Why did he always have to stand in this kind of position?

It was always Bai Changyi who got the final say, and it was always Bai Changyi in control. He’d just bounce over happily when he was called over, and just leave silently when chased away.

All of a sudden, his anger burst through the roof, “Can’t I be unwilling to answer? What right do you have to question me like this?”

“Ting, I’m trying to solve the problem.” Bai Changyi lowered his voice, “If you don’t want to talk right now, we can also discuss it another time.”

Bai Changyi’s tone was very restrained, and it was usually easier for him to calm down the other party like that, but that kind of composure that seemed completely unaffected by emotions angered Ting Shuang even more.

Why was Bai Changyi able to do everything so skillfully and easily?

“Sure, let’s talk, why not? You asked how you made me uncomfortable. Sure, I’ll tell you. You make me uncomfortable in every way.” Ting Shuang became more and more angry. The past two days during which he’d pretended to be fine had suffocated him, “I’m uncomfortable right now, and I’ve been uncomfortable for the past few days. As long as I’m with you, I feel uncomfortable.”

There was no way to continue this conversation.

Ting Shuang was still venting his emotions. The anger had gotten to his head, and his mouth’s filter had disappeared, so only all the nasty things came out of it.

Bai Changyi only listened quietly without interrupting.

Ting Shuang only realised what he’d said when he’d slowly calmed down and stopped talking after venting out most of his emotions.

He couldn’t guess Bai Changyi’s emotions from his face, but he didn’t seem angry.

“Just now, I…” Ting Shuang wanted to say that he hadn’t thought through whatever he said just now, but he couldn’t swallow his pride.

Bai Changyi waited for a minute. Seeing that Ting Shuang still had no intention of continuing his sentence, he said, “Can we talk about the specifics of the problem now?”

After a long time, Ting Shuang muttered, “… There is no problem.”

“If there isn’t a problem,” Bai Changyi said, “Then what are we doing tonight.”

Ting Shuang didn’t speak.

He too didn’t know what they were doing that night. If he wanted to pretend everything was okay, then he should have done so thoroughly, and not show any sign of dissatisfaction. If he really couldn’t hold it back anymore, then he should have let go of that useless self-esteem of his, and just tell Bai Changyi about it.

But he couldn’t do both of those things.

Finally, he saw a trace of fatigue in Bai Changyi’s eyes.

“Ting, I’m going on a business trip tomorrow.” Bai Changyi glanced at his watch and stood up, “I’m staying at a hotel tonight.”

Bai Changyi’s fatigue stabbed Ting Shuang hard.

All of a sudden, something someone had said slithered into his ear like a snake.

“Ting Shuang, this temper of yours, who can manage it? I’m used to it, but is he? Can he manage it? He might be able to manage it today, but what about two months later?”

The snake flicked its tongue, repeating the sentence.

Ting Shuang stood dazed by the sofa, listening to the sound of the door as it opened and closed. Then he curled up on the floor alone.

Bai Changyi stood at the gate of the courtyard. He was just about to call for a taxi when a call showed up on the screen: Elena.

Bai Changyi picked up the call, “I’ll call you back when I get a taxi.”

“Guess who happens to be driving right now?” Elena laughed. “I’ll pick you up, where are you?”

“At the front door of my house.”

“Five minutes.”

She had the same habit as Bai Changyi – they always reported the time they estimated they would take, then arrived on time.

“Where am I sending you to?” The window rolled down. She was a beauty of Bai Changyi’s age, with golden brown curly hair, an ample bosom under her singlet, a thin waist, and a large tattoo on her beautifully sculpted arm extending up to her shoulder and collarbone.

“I don’t know.” Bai Changyi sat in the passenger seat, “Just find any hotel.”

“My god, are you homeless now? I remember your house being pre-marital property,” Elena glanced at the house, in which the lights were still on. She then queued a song that had a beat so loud it could shake one’s heart out. “Didn’t you just give away all your post-marital property to your ex-wife?”

“We seem to have agreed not to talk about each other’s ex-wives,” Bai Changyi said.

“Pay attention to your choice of words, I don’t have an ex-wife.” Elena stepped on the gas pedal.

“You know what I’m talking about, you are registered life partners(2).” Bai Changyi said.

“OK, we are registered life partners. If I die, she even has the rights to all my inheritance. Damn German law, I just wanted to prove our relationship when we were in love, not share my wealth when we’re no longer in love.” Elena uttered multiple curses at a very fast rate, which looked extremely funny.

She recalled the purpose of her call and asked Bai Changyi, “What’s been up with you lately? If you want me to find a new player, you should at least tell me three months in advance.”

They were supposed to play an hour of tennis every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at dawn. This habit has been sustained for several years, but ever since a few weeks ago, Bai Changyi was often absent for no reason. In the past two weeks, he’d even straight-up told her that he had no time the entire week.

Elena tried to find a few new tennis players, but their levels weren’t high enough. If you did a comparison, the one on the passenger seat right now was indeed the best tennis player.

All would be good if he stopped being absent.

“Sorry,” Bai Changyi said, “It’s not very convenient these days.”

“Not very convenient? I know when is convenient. If I remember correctly, we start at 6am… Wait.” Elena glanced at Bai Changyi, “Have you recently been dating someone? Or are you going out with multiple people at the same time?”

“Just one.” Bai Changyi said.

“You decided on one so soon?” Elena couldn’t believe it. Just how long had it been? She suddenly thought of the light that was on in Bai Changyi’s house just now, “He’s not living in your house right now, is he?”

Bai Changyi remained silent.

Which meant affirmation.

“Dear god, you can’t have started cohabitating already, right?” Elena didn’t dare believe it.

“How is that possible?” Bai Changyi said, “He is a young boy in his twenties. Think about when we were in our twenties, who would be willing to live with someone?”

Elena nodded understandingly, “When I was in my twenties, I didn’t even know whose bed I would wake up in every morning.”

“What’s more,” Bai Changyi didn’t continue with the second part of the sentence: What’s more, the kid already felt uncomfortable staying with him now.

“I can’t believe he doesn’t complain about your being old.” Elena joked.

“He complains about my age every day,” Bai Changyi also smiled. It was his usual self-deprecating humor, “I just can’t tell him that in a few years, I’ll be forty years old. I want to settle down, so please live with me. I am willing to come back from work and see you and your classmates drinking and dancing in the living room, throwing pillows around and shooting each other with water guns.”

Elena laughed hard, but as she laughed and looked over at Bai Changyi, she realised that Bai Changyi’s smile had already disappeared.

“What you said just now, it’s not true, right?” Elena turned off the stereo, and all of a sudden the car was silent. “Do you really want to cohabitate so quickly?”

“Before you mentioned it, I never considered it.” Bai Changyi turned to look out the window.

Properly cohabitating meant a lot of things in reality.

For example, from now on, two names would be written on the house plate and the mailbox, and Bai Changyi’s friends would know this relationship, including many of the university’s professors. Also, Ting Shuang’s classmates and friends might also be students of Bai Changyi.

It was a huge step, second only to registering as life partners and marriage. Bai Changyi could not afford to be rash.

It was still too early. Right now, it was impossible for them to even bring each other into their respective social circles.