TT Chapter 31. Scattered Like Falling Leaves

When Pei Yiyao stepped out of the shower, Chen Ting was already in bed. A lump was curled under the blanket, round and raised like a fat-headed fish. Pei Yiyao lightened his steps so he wouldn’t disturb him, and, worried he might get cold, he turned the room temperature up a few degrees.

After that, he quietly sat down at the hotel room’s built-in desk and opened the computer to do some reading online.

The entire time, he never went near the bed. Judging by the way he settled in, it looked like he didn’t plan on sleeping at all.

The room was quiet. The only sound came from the occasional click of a mouse. On a normal night, this wouldn’t be an issue. After all, the dorms at school had terrible soundproofing, and Bai Yu even talked in his sleep. But tonight, Chen Ting couldn’t fall asleep.

After his third failed attempt at drifting off, he quietly lifted the edge of the blanket and peeked over at Pei Yiyao.

He felt a little dazed now.

Just an hour ago, he had been panicking over the idea of sharing a hotel room. But now, he found himself wondering if Pei Yiyao even liked him that much. No matter how cool he was, Pei Yiyao was still a young guy, full of hormones. Even Chen Ting had just been stuck thinking about dirty stuff, how could Pei Yiyao be completely unaffected?

Since they entered this room, Pei Yiyao hadn’t even come close to the bed once.

But when he thought about how Pei Yiyao usually behaved, Chen Ting started to suspect it was deliberate. Maybe he was keeping his distance because he was afraid that getting too close would lead to something he couldn’t hold back.

He tossed the idea back and forth in his head for ages. And after a lot of messy overthinking, he decided this explanation was the most likely.

He might seem like someone who only just realized he was into guys, but once he bent, he bent with full commitment. Ever since getting together with Pei Yiyao, he had been quietly gathering all kinds of “educational materials.” His theoretical knowledge was already well-stocked—emotionally and physically.

Not jumping into bed right away means he loves you more. That’s what all the novels said.

There were plenty of dirty jokes online too. Sometimes Chen Ting found them unbearably embarrassing and over-the-top, but other times he thought they were genuinely funny. The one that stuck with him the most was the phrase “scattered all over the floor.” It sounded so tragic.

Wait a minute.
Chen Ting suddenly froze.

Could that be what Pei Yiyao was worried about too?

The thought startled him. He widened his eyes and stared at Pei Yiyao, studying his back and the bit of toned forearm exposed outside his sleeve. No matter how he looked at it, that didn’t seem likely.

No way. Absolutely not. Ting Ting couldn’t top even if he tried.

With that comforting conclusion, Chen Ting ducked back under the covers and tried to sleep again. Fourth attempt. Still failed.

Just then, Pei Yiyao’s voice came through the quiet room. “What’s wrong? Can’t sleep?”

“Yeah.” Chen Ting poked his head out from the blanket. “I can’t fall asleep.”

Pei Yiyao shifted his gaze slightly, then stood up and turned on the television. He picked up the remote from the nightstand and handed it to Chen Ting. “Watch something for a bit.”

Chen Ting took the remote. “I won’t bother you?”

“You won’t.”

“Oh.”
Chen Ting started flipping through the channels and finally landed on a variety show. But his eyes kept drifting toward Pei Yiyao.

He wasn’t even sure why, but there was a bit of disappointment growing in his chest.

He knew Pei Yiyao loved studying. But he hadn’t realized he loved it this much. It had been a while now, and the guy hadn’t even looked his way. He was probably stuck on some tricky passage again, brow furrowed, cold as ever.

Laughter suddenly burst from the TV. The guests were doubled over laughing, loud and chaotic. Chen Ting sat there stone-faced. If Pei Yiyao wasn’t going to look at him, then he wasn’t going to look at Pei Yiyao either. Forget it.

What he didn’t know was that Pei Yiyao could actually see him in the reflection of the computer screen. He saw the way Chen Ting had curled up under the blanket, looking small and a little sulky. His own brow furrowed without realizing it.

Pei Yiyao finally closed the laptop and walked over to the bed.

“Huh? You’re not reading anymore?” Chen Ting blinked in surprise.

“I wasn’t planning to read anyway.” Pei Yiyao leaned in, placing one hand beside Chen Ting and quietly cornering him against the headboard. “Still not tired?”

“That’s none of your business…” Chen Ting muttered under his breath. Then he gave him a little shove. “Go back to your studying.”

But with that push, his hand slipped and caught the edge of Pei Yiyao’s bathrobe, pulling it open. Beneath the half-loosened robe was a broad chest, and just below that, the same set of abs Chen Ting had once seen in a photo.

He jerked his hand back like he’d been burned, but Pei Yiyao caught his wrist.

“Were you upset I didn’t talk to you?” Pei Yiyao’s gaze locked on him, intense as always, but tonight it felt even more pressing. It carried something deeper, something Chen Ting couldn’t quite name.

“No.” Chen Ting denied it instantly.

Pei Yiyao ignored that. “I just didn’t want to scare you.”

After all, this was the same Ting Ting who had once cried from a kiss. Pei Yiyao figured he could hold himself back.

But Chen Ting wasn’t about to back down. “How exactly are you going to scare me?”

Pei Yiyao leaned in closer, so close he was nearly on top of him. His eyes never wavered. “Want to find out?”

“Actually… not really…”

“But I want to kiss you.”

“You…”

“I want to kiss you.”

Pei Yiyao repeated himself, each time in a lower voice, his breath growing warmer against Chen Ting’s face. Chen Ting’s cheeks were burning. He grumbled inwardly. Why did he have to say it twice? But then he remembered it had been his own rule that any kisses required permission.

Ahhhh, damn it.

He lifted his head and planted a quick peck on Pei Yiyao’s lips. “There. You’ve been kissed!”

Pei Yiyao froze, caught off guard by the move.

But in that moment, Chen Ting felt like he had undergone a full-blown spiritual awakening. He had always been someone who did what he said, so what if it was a kiss? No big deal. This kind of thing was nothing for Ting-ge.

Life was short, after all. Eat well, love freely, kiss when you want.

But in the next second, whatever noble awakening he had just experienced was completely swallowed by Pei Yiyao’s mouth.

“Mm—”
Chen Ting could barely breathe under the force of the kiss. His brain scrambled for oxygen, switching to breathing through his nose in a panic. He instinctively grabbed onto Pei Yiyao’s shoulder, not realizing that gesture only pulled him in closer.

At some point, the blanket and most of his clothes had mysteriously vanished.

But he managed to hold onto his underwear.

“Don’t move.”
Pei Yiyao’s voice dropped, low and hoarse, full of warning.

Chen Ting froze on the spot. He had felt the shift in Pei Yiyao’s body, and there was no way he was moving now. But this whole mess had been half his doing, and as the older one here, he had to take responsibility.

“I—I’ll help you…”

Half an hour later, Chen Ting was lying sprawled on the bed like a discarded shell. He buried his face in the pillow, completely undone, thinking about how he had somehow reached out and touched the guy’s abs at the very end. The memory alone made his whole body flush with shame.

Pei Yiyao didn’t care one bit whether he was embarrassed. He scooped him up and carried him toward the bathroom. Chen Ting, now officially a “wasted Ting,” didn’t resist at all. He let him carry him off like cargo, resigned to his fate.

Pei Yiyao didn’t care whether Chen Ting was embarrassed or not. He simply scooped him up and carried him straight to the bathroom. Chen Ting, already in a state of total resignation, let him do it without the slightest resistance.

And as for why he had to go too, well, that was because little Ting Ting had also been acting up.

By the time the room finally quieted down, it was nearly three in the morning. Chen Ting was exhausted at last, eyelids drooping as he leaned against Pei Yiyao, though he still hadn’t forgotten about his part-time job the next day.

“Make sure you wake me up. I can’t keep calling in sick…”

“I will.”

Pei Yiyao pulled him closer so he could sleep more comfortably. Chen Ting, by now having reached full spiritual ascension and then some, no longer struggled. He curled up in Pei Yiyao’s arms and didn’t move again.

Before long, his steady breathing signaled that he had already fallen asleep.

Pei Yiyao lowered his head and pressed a kiss to his cheek. His fingers gently combed through Chen Ting’s hair, and after a while, he drifted off too.

After that night in the hotel, their relationship didn’t exactly leap forward overnight, but it did get a whole lot stickier. Neither of them was particularly clingy by nature, but the closeness in their gestures was impossible to ignore.

Yang Shulin became even more suspicious. Then again, he couldn’t tell if it was just the side effect of reading too many fanfics.

The girls in the group chat had gotten even bolder. It wasn’t just stories anymore. There were drawings too. The more subtle ones simply borrowed the two of them as prototypes for new fiction.

Well, what could you do? N University was full of top students, and among them were plenty of talented artists and writers. They were all very discreet about it, though, keeping everything confined to their own little circle, never posting anything publicly. Every time Yang Shulin opened the chat, it felt like joining a covert underground meeting.

Eventually, he almost forgot why he had joined the group in the first place, until one day, he spotted a very familiar new ID.

Big Tang Jie.

He really wanted to ask what on earth had happened to Tang Yin. How had she gone from chasing after Pei Yiyao to becoming a full-blown CP fan? That was a massive shift, and she didn’t even bother using an alternate account.

Right after that, someone else asked the very same question.

Gou Fugui: Are you Tang Yin?

Big Tang Jie: Yeah, that’s me.

Gou Fugui: Weren’t you into Pei Yiyao?

Big Tang Jie: Someone like Five-kuai is obviously doomed to die single. What other future does he have if he’s not into guys? I’m just showing some alumni love, okay?”

Big Tang Jie: The other day someone even tried spreading rumors that I still had feelings for five-kuai. If I find out who it was, I’ll kill them.

Givenchy Baby Lamb: …

From then on, “Five-Kuai” became the group’s nickname for Pei Yiyao.

But after watching for a while, Yang Shulin started to suspect that Tang Yin wasn’t a true CP fan. She was really just a Chen Ting fan. When it came to Five-Kuai, she was way more critical.

Big Tang Jie: My Ting is so cute. If Five-Kuai ever treats him badly, I’ll break his legs.

Thanks to her, though, Yang Shulin had a much clearer view of what was really going on between Chen Ting and Pei Yiyao. A lot of things he used to think were completely normal now looked suspicious once the girls explained it their way.

Like the time Chen Ting’s bike broke down. He could have just gotten a ride with Yang Shulin, who lived nearby. But Pei Yiyao had insisted on doing it instead, even though they didn’t live in the same direction at all.

Chen Ting noticed the shift in Yang Shulin’s attitude, too. He figured it was finally time to come out to his roommates. So he picked a sunny, windless, perfectly auspicious day and invited everyone out for a meal.

The moment Yang Shulin saw how serious he was, especially after hearing Pei Yiyao would be there, he instantly guessed what the dinner was about. Just because his reaction time was slow didn’t mean he was stupid. This was clearly a coming-out dinner.

Yang Shulin suddenly grabbed Chen Ting and asked, “So… are you paying for this meal, or is Pei Yiyao?”

Chen Ting didn’t even hesitate. “I invited you. Of course I’m paying.”

Yang Shulin nodded, then shook his head. According to the unwritten rules of college life, when a roommate gets into a relationship, the boyfriend is supposed to treat the rest of the dorm to a meal. At the very least, he should buy them milk tea, just a little gesture so everyone gets properly introduced.

But both Chen Ting and Pei Yiyao were guys.

“So is Pei Yiyao going to treat his roommates too?” Yang Shulin asked again.

“We haven’t talked about it yet.” Chen Ting looked exasperated and amused all at once.

At that moment, Yang Shulin had the air of a worried old father who wanted to take care of everything himself. “Ting Ting, just be straight with me. You two are really…?”

Chen Ting nodded. “Yeah.”

“Ai…” Yang Shulin clutched at his chest. The cabbage had officially been stolen by a pig. He felt devastated. And tragic.