TAM 18

In the afternoon class, Mo Yao suddenly felt restless. When he entered the classroom, he went straight to the empty seat beside Zhang Ziyu and Chen Xinyong and sat down. He looked toward Si Yuan from the corner of his eye.

Si Yuan really sat on the other side near the front.

He had intended not to sit with Si Yuan, yet when Si Yuan actually went away on his own, Mo Yao somehow felt uncomfortable.

“Hey,” Zhang Ziyu called beside him.

“What?” Mo Yao’s eyes were still fixed on Si Yuan’s back.

“What’s going on between you and Si Yuan lately? You two got close all of a sudden.”

“Did we?” Mo Yao didn’t answer directly.

Chen Xinyong suddenly muttered in a mocking tone, “The young master’s trying out the poor student life?”

Mo Yao turned to look at him. “Who’s the young master? You?”

Class hadn’t started yet, but the room was already full of students. It was a combined lecture for two classes, and everyone spoke in low voices.

Chen Xinyong said, “Aren’t you our dorm’s young master? You do whatever you want, talk to whoever you want, and now you’re looking down on us?”

Zhang Ziyu tried to smooth things over. “Stop saying nonsense.”

“You’re insane,” Mo Yao said with a frown. “I’ll be friends with whoever I want, what’s it got to do with you? We’re not in elementary school. Besides, Si Yuan never said a single bad word about you, so stop picking fights out of nowhere.”

After that, he picked up his book, stood up, and walked toward Si Yuan’s side.

There was a half-full bottle of water on Si Yuan’s desk. He leaned against his chair, looking down at his open textbook.

Mo Yao reached the empty seat beside him but immediately regretted it. He thought he should find another seat. Just as he was about to leave, Si Yuan looked up. “Why aren’t you sitting?”

Mo Yao had no choice but to sit down.

Neither of them spoke. Mo Yao still couldn’t stop thinking about when Si Yuan had ruffled his hair. He couldn’t exactly ask, Why did you touch me? The words sounded wrong.

He propped his head with one hand and looked at the teacher preparing on the podium. With the other hand, he spun his pen between his fingers, trying to calm the restless feeling inside.

Si Yuan leaned back in his chair. His posture was relaxed, one arm resting on the armrest.

Mo Yao kept dropping his pen from between his fingers. Each time it hit the desk, it made a light sound.

Si Yuan suddenly reached out and took the pen from him.

“What are you doing?” Mo Yao sat upright.

“Too noisy,” Si Yuan said. “The teacher’s looking at you.”

Mo Yao straightened up, leaned back in his chair, and raised his head to look at the screen.

Si Yuan’s elbow brushed against his arm. Mo Yao became aware of it and shifted his arm slightly, then folded his arms after a moment.

When class ended, Si Yuan packed up his things and stood. He said to Mo Yao, “I’m going to work.”

Mo Yao looked up at him. “Oh.”

“I’ll help you find the cat later.” Si Yuan said it simply and walked out quickly.

Mo Yao grabbed his book and chased after him. “What’s with you lately? Why are you being so nice?”

Si Yuan walked fast and reached the stairs. He stopped there to answer, and the hallway behind them filled with students blocked by their pause.

“The black cat’s mine,” Si Yuan whispered near Mo Yao’s ear, then turned to go downstairs.

“Wait,” Mo Yao grabbed him. “What did you say? When did you start keeping it?”

“I started when you did.” Si Yuan shook off his hand and went down quickly.

Mo Yao ran after him and shouted, “Explain it clearly!”

Si Yuan said, “I’ll be late.” His tone was calm, but his steps were fast. He jogged down the stairs, unlocked his bike, and climbed on.

Mo Yao caught up right as he pushed off and jumped onto the back seat, wrapping his arms around Si Yuan’s waist. “Don’t go!”

Si Yuan had already ridden out.

By then, most students were leaving the building. They saw Mo Yao on the back seat of Si Yuan’s bicycle as they left together.

Several girls from the next class whispered, “Is that Si Yuan?”

Wu Jingyan held her books, frowned, and said nothing.

Si Yuan rode through the campus paths. Mo Yao asked, “Where are you going?”

“Back to the dorm,” Si Yuan said.

“I thought you were going to work.”

“I’m dropping my stuff off first.”

“Alright…”

After returning to the dorm, Si Yuan put his things down and said, “Stop following me.”

Mo Yao wanted to block the door but knew Si Yuan’s job was important. He stood aside but said, “Then explain what you meant first.”

“I meant what you think I meant. If you still don’t get it, I’ll tell you tonight.” Si Yuan said while walking out and disappeared down the hall.

So what exactly did he mean by what he said?

After dinner, Mo Yao didn’t want to go back to the dorm. He wandered around campus.

He walked to the gate of the girls’ dorm and saw stray cats begging for food and female students who stopped to feed them. Among those cats, none were the two he was looking for.

Mo Yao crouched on the steps across from the dorm entrance. There were two boys beside him, both waiting for their girlfriends.

Si Yuan had said the black cat was his, that he had started keeping it when Mo Yao did. But Mo Yao hadn’t actually been raising any cats, because he was the cat himself. How could Si Yuan know when Mo Yao had started keeping it? Unless Si Yuan knew that the cat was Mo Yao?

If Si Yuan knew that Mo Yao was that fat cat, then what did he mean by that?

At that thought, a shiver ran down Mo Yao’s back. Every hair on his arms stood up.

Then he noticed a girl feeding a cat.

Dinner hours had already passed. There were few people left outside the dorm feeding strays. A short-haired girl appeared. Before she came close, she set down a small pet cage a few meters away, then walked over with a can of cat food in her hand.

The cat was used to being fed and wasn’t afraid of people. It came closer when she crouched and placed the can on the ground.

The girl petted its back once, twice, then suddenly grabbed it by the scruff, trying to lift it up.

But the cat was fat and strong. It screeched and struggled violently.

The girl stepped back, afraid of being scratched, and let go. The cat landed on the ground and ran into the bushes.

Mo Yao stood up and walked toward the dorm gate. He shouted, “Hey!” He wanted to stop the girl and ask what she was doing.

The girl clearly heard him. She turned her head to look at Mo Yao, picked up the cage beside her, and left quickly.

Mo Yao wasn’t reckless enough to rush into the girls’ dorm. He stopped at the gate and looked at the cage. He remembered the trap cage with canned food he had seen that night.

Was someone really catching stray cats on campus? What were they catching them for?

Mo Yao returned to the dorm.

Zhang Ziyu had gone to study with his girlfriend. Chen Xinyong was alone. He heard Mo Yao come in but didn’t look up.

Mo Yao didn’t want to talk to him. He sat on his bed and picked up his phone. He sent a message in the class group asking if anyone had seen a short-haired girl catching cats near the girls’ dorm.

No one replied.

Chen Xinyong clearly saw the message too. He looked up at Mo Yao but kept whatever he wanted to say to himself.

Mo Yao placed one foot on the bed and the other on the floor. He rested his chin on his bent knee, feeling anxious.

Then Li Yahan sent him a message. It was a link to a social media post.

Mo Yao opened it. The post said someone had been abusing cats at school. The poster had seen a dead cat in a trash bin and thought it might be one of the campus strays. A photo was attached, taken close to the bin. The image was censored, but from the outline it was clearly a cat, stained with blood, lying inside.

Li Yahan sent another message. “It looks like our school.”

The post didn’t name any school, but the trash bin in the photo was the same color and shape as those on their campus. The poster’s IP location showed the same province. Someone in the comments asked if it was XX University, and the poster didn’t answer. That XX University was their school.

Li Yahan said, “I didn’t see anyone catching cats, but could it be some kind of cat abuse?”

Mo Yao took a deep breath.

That night, Si Yuan returned again just before the dorm curfew.

Everyone was still awake. But because of the argument between Mo Yao and Chen Xinyong earlier, the atmosphere was awkward. When Zhang Ziyu came back, he tried to start a conversation to ease the mood, he failed, and eventually went to his bed to talk with his girlfriend over voice call.

Si Yuan came in, locked the door, and went straight to the bathroom.

Mo Yao quickly climbed out of bed and followed.

Si Yuan was about to take a shower. At the bathroom door, he had just pulled his T-shirt over his head when Mo Yao rammed into his chest and shoved him inside. He reached back and closed the door.

Zhang Ziyu and Chen Xinyong both stuck their heads out from their beds. They looked at each other, equally stunned.

Si Yuan’s back hit the wall. He grabbed the shirt tangled around his head and pulled it off. His hair was ruffled. He looked at Mo Yao. “What are you doing?”

Mo Yao stood almost pressed against him. He lifted his head slightly, his eyes fierce. “Was it you?”