Chapter 57: Only Us

When Wen Xiao came out of the library, he was just thinking about how to tell Huo Zhanyan to head back on his own when he noticed that Huo Zhanyan had been absentminded the entire way.

He patted Huo Zhanyan on the shoulder. “What’s wrong? Losing yourself in the library?”

Huo Zhanyan blurted out, “No…”

He glanced sideways at Wen Xiao, thinking to himself that his soul had probably been stolen by him.

“I have something to do, I’ll head off first.” Wen Xiao grabbed his backpack and looked once more at Huo Zhanyan.

He had thought Huo Zhanyan would insist on following him, but to his surprise, Huo Zhanyan only nodded slightly, his gaze drifting as if he wasn’t fully present.

After Wen Xiao had walked some distance, he realized Huo Zhanyan was still standing there watching him, showing no intention to leave. Wen Xiao couldn’t help but turn back and tap his head.

“Stop staring. Go do whatever you need to do. Don’t think I don’t know you weren’t doing anything in the library just now.” No sooner had Wen Xiao said this than he felt himself being pulled into an embrace.

Huo Zhanyan bent slightly, arms wide, wrapping Wen Xiao tightly. He whispered in his ear with a hint of danger in his tone, “Xiao Xiao, aren’t you reluctant to leave me? Well, I’m reluctant too.”

Reluctant to hurt you.

Huo Zhanyan struggled to suppress the restless energy coursing through him, as if a monster long sealed inside was about to burst free. He wasn’t sure what would happen if it escaped, but it might harm Wen Xiao.

“I’m not reluctant to leave you. Can you stop being so narcissistic?” Wen Xiao patted his shoulder, noticing curious classmates nearby glancing over. He quickly pushed Huo Zhanyan away.

“I was just thinking you standing here looks like a…” Wen Xiao almost said “waiting stone,” but felt the metaphor was odd and changed it abruptly, “like a block of wood. People might think I’m bullying you.”

Huo Zhanyan tugged Wen Xiao’s hand to his chest, flashing a roguish smile with white teeth. “Well, I’m giving you permission to bully me.”

Usually, Xiao Xiao could tease him at will, but at certain times, it was his turn to tease Xiao Xiao.

He wondered if Xiao Xiao would cry if teased too harshly.

Some thought flitted through Huo Zhanyan’s mind, causing heat to rise and sweat to form on his forehead.

He let go of Wen Xiao’s hand, deciding to return to the dorm and take a cold shower to calm down.

Once back in his room, Huo Zhanyan undressed and rushed into the bathroom.

Only when the icy water poured over him did the fire simmer slightly; the water warming as it ran down his body as if heated.

Standing in the shower, the young man was tall and strong, broad shoulders tapering perfectly to a narrow waist, his abdomen marked by eight sculpted muscles still glistening with droplets.

Could he be gay?

The thought suddenly crossed Huo Zhanyan’s mind, prompting him to pull out his phone and search: “What does it mean to have a reaction to a friend?”

The first result was a health website’s Q&A where a doctor explained that feeling attracted to the same sex is normal and doesn’t require special treatment, though psychological factors or inflammation like prostatitis or urethritis might be involved, necessitating different treatments.

“Nonsense!” Huo Zhanyan frowned and skipped that entry, grumbling as he scrolled further.

The top comment on a popular forum said, “That’s a psychological issue. You probably don’t have any friends of the opposite sex. Try finding one, and you’ll see they’re better than same-sex friends.”

“Have I never met the opposite sex? Like I need you to tell me that,” Huo Zhanyan snorted, raising an eyebrow, and moved on.

Another doctor claimed it was an abnormal condition that could affect health and required timely correction.

“Screw that psychological illness!” Huo Zhanyan’s frown deepened, his anger rising bit by bit.

Finally, he swiped to clear all the search results and issued his own diagnosis.

“I’m gay,” he decided firmly, feeling his own judgment far outweighed the chaotic answers online.

First, he was gay. Second, it wasn’t a disease. Third, he only liked Wen Xiao.

Feeling a cold shower wasn’t enough, Huo Zhanyan called the school’s stable office immediately. As soon as the call connected, he said, “Prepare the saddle for the king. I’m coming right away.”

The male high school’s stable in Slantert housed 56 horses, including indoor and outdoor equestrian arenas — indoor measuring 50 by 70 meters, outdoor 70 by 100 meters — fully equipped for professional training.

“The King” was the horse the Huo family had raised since childhood, a name he himself had given, believing only such a title befitted it.

To keep it separate from the others, The King had its own private stable at Slantert.

Huo Zhanyan threw on his shirt, skipped the jacket, put on a black vest, and headed out.

He desperately needed some external stimulus—whether horseback riding or surfing—to release his overflowing energy.

Descending the dorm steps, he noticed a boy lurking suspiciously near the entrance.

The boy wore a black baseball cap and a mask, his small frame standing out among the tall boys.

A dorm supervisor noticed and called out, “Hey, are you living in this building?”

The masked boy nodded but, catching sight of Huo Zhanyan at the gate, immediately turned to run.

The supervisor pressed on, “Are you feeling unwell wearing that mask?”

But the boy ignored her and barely took two steps before someone grabbed his wrist, pulling him aside.

The supervisor saw Huo Zhanyan lead the boy away. She had only asked out of concern that the boy might be an outsider sneaking in, hence the additional questions.

“Who was that kid? Looks like a middle schooler,” a colleague asked.

The dorm supervisor shook her head. “I don’t know him – he wore a mask – but Huo Zhanyan took him away, so they probably know each other. There have been a lot of new faces in the dorm these past few days, likely freshmen. It’s normal we don’t know them.”

Hearing it was someone Huo Zhanyan knew, her colleague fell silent.

After all, when it came to Huo Zhanyan, they preferred to turn a blind eye. Everyone had heard that even the principal wouldn’t dare defy him—they didn’t want to provoke trouble.

“As long as it’s not a girl sneaking in, we’ll pretend we didn’t see anything,” a colleague joked.

Huo Zhanyan dragged the boy into a secluded spot, the boy’s feeble resistance no match for him, practically being pulled along.

They reached a small garden behind the dorms.

Standing between the fence and a tree, Huo Zhanyan blocked the boy’s form from view.

He sneered and yanked off the boy’s black baseball cap. The boy’s ponytail slipped free.

Seeing Huo Zhanyan so forcefully remove her hat, she stood on tiptoe to grab it back but was too short. She pulled off her mask and glared angrily.

“Huo Zhanyan, give me back my hat!”

“Huo Ya, this is a boys’ school. You’re already in middle school and still don’t know if you’re a boy or a girl?” Huo Zhanyan was irritated by his younger sister, and with thoughts of Wen Xiao clouding his mind, his annoyance grew.

“That’s none of your business,” Huo Ya shot him a glare.

Huo Zhanyan sneered and turned to leave. “Whatever. Go on out. I’ll tell Dad you snuck into the boys’ school again.”

Slantert Boys’ High School was on an island to the north, while the elementary and middle schools were on a southern island connected by a strip of land.

With the right connections, sneaking over wasn’t a problem.

Huo Zhanyan took a step but was pulled back by Huo Ya.

“No, you can’t go until you give me back my hat! Today’s just my bad luck running into you!”

Hearing that, Huo Zhanyan stopped and glanced at her with a dangerous look. “If you don’t want to see me, who are you hoping to see here?”

Huo Ya tensed and shouted back, “Who I come to see is none of your business!”

Normally, Huo Zhanyan would have taught her a lesson by now, but today he just looked at her and, too annoyed to argue, started to leave.

Huo Ya, seeing he wasn’t angry but rather listless, thought the sun was rising from the west.

She knew her brother well—impulsive, temperamental, arrogant, self-righteous, and hating defiance. Such a person was destined to end up alone.

“Huo Zhanyan, have you started dating early?” Huo Ya squinted, staring at his retreating back, sensing a shift in his mood.

Huo Zhanyan stopped but said nothing, causing Huo Ya to widen her eyes and cover her mouth with both hands.

If she had said that before, he would have come over to punish her.

Growing up, she was always the one disciplined by Huo Zhanyan; she would complain to their mother, who would then reprimand Huo Zhanyan.

Another more direct way was to complain to Wen Xiao—more effective than going to their mother.

Huo Zhanyan turned back and stood over Huo Ya, looking down at the little figure, sneering, “How can you tell?”

“Is it because of Wen Xiao?” Huo Ya asked again.