Your Distance

In life, there are times when you have to deliver yourself to death’s doorstep.

As he ran towards the door of LRM, Ting Shuang thought about whether he’d treat him as Cycle when he saw him later on, or whether he’d treat him as… 

Thinking about Bai Changyi’s face, Ting Shuang’s legs started to turn jelly again.

He absolutely couldn’t figure it out. He had already known that Frost and Ting were the same person. Then why did he still chat with him every day and why did he want to eat with him?

Take you out for lunch.

Lunch.

Who could swallow this gruesome lunch?(1)

For some reason that sentence Zhu Wenjia said suddenly sounded in Ting Shuang’s mind: You’re looking for a man, not a father.

Now how different is it from meeting your father for a blind date?

710 metres was really a short distance, and the front entrance of the LRM department was already in front of his eyes.

There was no one at the door.

Ting Shuang began to pray that everything that happened this morning was an illusion; the distance of 3 metres was an hallucination, and Cycle taking him out for lunch was also an hallucination.

That’s right, they were hallucinations.

He would wait at the entrance of the LRM for five minutes, and if Bai Changyi didn’t arrive in 5 minutes he’d leave. No, two minutes, he’d leave after 2 minutes. After having this thought, he felt that he stood out too much standing at the front entrance, and scanned the surroundings for a few seconds before quickly moving behind a tree.

He was nervous.

Still no one came out of the door.

Ting Shuang subconsciously pulled the cigarette box out from his pocket.

“What are you doing.”

The voice from the phone call rang out from behind him.

Ting Shuang’s throat tightened, and he subconsciously shoved the cigarette box back into his pocket, slowly turning around—

Bai Changyi stood one metre away from him.

“Um…” Ting Shuang raised his hand and stiffly pointed at the door of the LRM office. “I was waiting… yeah…”

Bai Changyi said, “Get in the car.”

Ting Shuang turned his head to follow Bai Changyi’s gaze. A car was parked across the road.

Bai Changyi had been watching him from across the road all this time???

He was going to suffocate.

After crossing the road, Ting Shuang slowly pulled on the handle of the car’s back door. As soon as it opened, he heard Bai Changyi saying, “Sit in front.”

Ting Shuang climbed into the passenger seat as if he was climbing onto a guillotine, not knowing where to put his hands.

Bai Changyi said, “Seat belt.”

Ting Shuang quickly fastened his seat belt.

“What do you want to eat?”

What to eat …

His mind was utterly blank …

Fuck, he couldn’t even think of something to eat… It wasn’t as if he was asking you for your understanding of the course… Think of something to eat… Think… Think…

It was only a question about what he wanted to eat, so why was he scared of getting it wrong?

Bai Changyi waited for a while and didn’t get an answer. “Is there anything you don’t eat?”

Anything he didn’t eat…

This question was much easier.

Ting Shuang said, “I don’t eat animal skins and organs… I don’t eat red dates, tomatoes, hawthorns, bell peppers, bitter gourds…”

Stop stop stop, Ting Shuang, what are you saying???

He was probably asking about what kind of restaurant he didn’t eat at, right?

Just as Ting Shuang was about to remedy the situation, he heard Bai Changyi say, “Mm, I’ve remembered it.”

R-remembered it???

“You don’t have to remember, please don’t remember it…” The moment Ting Shuang’s words left his throat he felt so stupid he could die. He’d be better off shutting up, not saying anything, and shrinking quietly.

They drove out of school.

Outside the window the sky was clear for thousands of miles, yet in Ting Shuang’s heart wind was howling and a storm was raging.

Bai Changyi said, “If you want to listen to songs, set up the Bluetooth yourself.”

Ting Shuang didn’t understand. “… What blue tooth?”

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Bai Changyi said, “Use your phone and use Bluetooth to link to the car’s speakers.”

“Oh oh let me…” Ting Shuang thought that it was indeed inconvenient for Bai Changyi to use his phone while driving, so he picked up the phone placed between the driver’s seat and passenger seat, and prepared to help Bai Changyi set up his Bluetooth. “How do I set it up? I need the password…”

Bai Changyi glanced at Ting Shuang, “What are you doing?”

What am I doing?

Didn’t you tell me to set up the Bluetooth?

Ting Shuang said, “Setting up the Bluetooth.”

“I mean,” Bai Changyi said slowly and gently, as if educating a young kid, “If you want to listen to songs, then use your own phone to link to the car’s speakers by Bluetooth. Then play the song you want to listen to. Am I clear this time round?”

Ting Shuang’s face suddenly flushed red, and at his fastest speed, he returned Bai Changyi’s phone to its original position.

“Clear, clear…” Ting Shuang responded subconsciously, “Professor.”

After saying the word Professor, he clearly heard Bai Changyi chuckle. What are you laughing at, are you that amused by your student’s stupidity…

In order to ease his embarrassment, Ting Shuang immediately took out his phone, connected to the speaker by Bluetooth, and started searching for songs in the music player.

Would his tastes seem bad if he chose popular songs …

What if he seemed like he was pretending to be cool by playing songs few people knew…

Ting Shuang glanced at Bai Changyi’s side profile and chose Sinéad O’Connor‘s “A Perfect Indian”.

The song started playing, and Ting Shuang quietly observed Bai Changyi again. He couldn’t tell whether he liked or disliked it, only getting the feeling that he was driving intently.

However, with the ethereal singing voice and the quiet piano accompaniment filling the car, Ting Shuang didn’t feel so embarrassed anymore.

After 4 minutes and 22 seconds, “A Perfect Indian” ended.

The music player automatically played the next song.

Suddenly, an electronic beat that Ting Shuang had heard of before blasted from the car speaker. As soon as he went to check what song it was, loud moans sounded, one after another.

Ah~

Ah~~

Ah~~~

Ting Shuang saw the words on the screen—

Wei… Feng… Tang… Tang…(2)

And it was the male version.

Bai Changyi turned to look at Ting Shuang.

Ting Shuang did not dare look at Bai Changyi’s expression. He picked a random classical song to replace it, and changed the settings on the music player to loop a single song instead of random play.

“Um…” He lowered his head, explaining, “Cough, that was a Japanese song… Yeah… I thought it was a bit noisy… I changed it.”

Bai Changyi said, “It’s okay, play it if you like.”

Ting Shuang said, “No no no, I don’t like it.”

Bai Changyi said, “It’s alright.”

It’s alright???

What does ‘it’s alright’ mean?

Did Bai Changyi think that he liked “Wei Feng Tang Tang” but did not dare to admit it?

Ting Shuang tried to salvage the situation. “I really don’t like it… A few days ago my brother came to live at my house… He messed around with my phone…”

He was still trying to find ways to explain when Bai Changyi finished parking the car and said, “We’re here.”