Chapter 63: Accept Me (Part One)

Wen Xiao had a habit of drawing the curtains halfway before going to sleep, and the morning sunlight streamed into the room through the uncovered half of the window.

The single dormitory was quite large. After accommodating a bed, there was still a considerable amount of space left for a wardrobe, a desk, a safe, and other items.

Right beside the bed, Wen Xiao had specially laid out a sky-blue circular rug.

The person lying in bed fluttered his eyelashes slightly, and then opened a pair of eyes still hazy with sleep.

Wen Xiao was naturally quite sensitive to light, and his biological clock also generally woke him up at this time.

If it were a gloomy, rainy day outside, he would sleep a little longer. He blinked his eyes gently, only to find that he seemed to have forgotten something.

When he saw several arms draped across his body, he snapped awake instantly.

The reason he hadn't noticed it immediately was because he had been pressed down for so long that he had grown used to the weight on his body.

If not for the arms resting over him, he would have completely forgotten that he had tacitly allowed Song Jingbai and Huo Zhanyan to sleep on makeshift pallets in his dorm last night.

Wen Xiao closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then forcefully shoved away the arm pressing against his chest, sitting up straight in bed.

Because of this sudden movement, and since the bed wasn't very large to begin with, Huo Zhanyan, who had been miserably curled up at the edge of the mattress, directly rolled right off and hit the floor, sitting up with a yelp.

Even with his eyes wide open, he still looked like he hadn't fully woken up.

Wen Xiao raised a foot and gave Huo Zhanyan's shoulder a gentle nudge. Since Wen Xiao was sitting on the bed and Huo Zhanyan was on the floor, Wen Xiao looked down at him from a condescending angle.

"Awake?" Wen Xiao said.

Originally, when he made that suggestion, he only wanted to make them back down from difficulty. Yet for some reason, the two of them seemed to be competing in secret, and were even willing to sleep on the floor.

When had Song Jingbai and Huo Zhanyan ever suffered such grievances? If word got out, no one would believe it.

Moreover, the two of them certainly hadn't behaved themselves on the floor either; somewhere in the middle of the night, they had crawled up onto his bed.

Although the bed provided in the single dormitory was larger than an average single bed and could comfortably fit two people, squeezing three people onto it was a considerable stretch.

Especially since the other two were tall guys standing well over one hundred and eighty centimeters.

Wen Xiao turned his gaze to Song Jingbai. The loud thud of Huo Zhanyan falling off the bed hadn't even woken Song Jingbai up, which was somewhat unlike him.

He remembered that Song Jingbai was a very light sleeper.

Wen Xiao lowered his gaze to study him for a few moments. Song Jingbai looked very quiet when his eyes were closed.

His nose bridge was high and straight, making his facial features appear even deeper and more three-dimensional, yet without any aggressive edge. Every detail was just right, like a masterpiece meticulously sculpted by a creator.

Unawares, Wen Xiao's gaze drifted to the tear mole beneath the corner of Song Jingbai's left eye.

Although small, when you looked at his eyes, you would notice it at the same time, as if it had naturally grown right alongside that pair of fox-like eyes.

Tear moles were often called beauty marks; could Song Jingbai really be a fox spirit in disguise?

Just as this thought crossed Wen Xiao's mind, he saw those eyes snap open, revealing a meaningful smile directed right at him.

"Xiao Xiao, do you like what you see?"

Over on the floor, Huo Zhanyan had also woken up. Hearing Song Jingbai say that, he let out a scoff. "Song Jingbai, it's early in the morning and you're already being vain?"

Wen Xiao gave a soft cough, checked the time, crossed his arms, leaned back against the headboard, and prepared to call them to account.

"You two, aren't you going to explain?"

Song Jingbai's tone was entirely natural. "The floor was too cold; I was afraid of catching a cold. If I got sick, I'd have to make you take care of me."

Huo Zhanyan scratched his hair and said with a frown, "I meant to get down before you woke up so you wouldn't notice, but I overslept."

Knowing that Huo Zhanyan disdained lying, his blunt honesty nevertheless made Wen Xiao reach for the nearby pillow and hurl it straight at his head.

"Alright, you've had your fun, don't keep finding excuses to freeload here anymore." Wen Xiao pointed toward the door and said to the two of them, "You know how doors work, right? Hurry back, and make sure nobody sees you..."

After Wen Xiao turned around, Huo Zhanyan stood up immediately and shot Song Jingbai a glare. Acting as if he hadn't seen it at all, Song Jingbai merely chuckled and said, "Aren't you leaving?"

"If you're not leaving, why should I?" Huo Zhanyan sneered.

While carrying his clothes toward the bathroom, Wen Xiao rubbed the back of his neck.

On second thought, it seemed that for a very long time, his surroundings had always been this lively and never quiet.

Though he complained about it being annoying, in truth, he didn't dislike it all that much.

Standing in front of the full-length mirror, Wen Xiao pressed a hand against it and sighed softly, then couldn't help but smile, feeling both exasperated and helpless.

His life had never been quiet, and long ago, he had ceased to be all by himself.

When Wen Xiao finished changing his clothes and came out, he found the two of them each occupying a chair, neither having left yet, though the atmosphere between them was rather subtle.

"You two still haven't left?" Wen Xiao frowned.

"Xiao Xiao, do you want me to leave that badly?" Song Jingbai sighed. "If not for Huo Zhanyan, I could have spent the whole morning alone with you."

"In your dreams." Huo Zhanyan leaned back in his chair with his legs crossed, scoffing at him with a look of utter disdain.

Wen Xiao was still trying to tie his shirt's bow tie, pondering for a long time before deciding to try a different knot-tying method.

If he wasn't familiar with one kind of knot, he could just switch to another; he didn't have to stubbornly stick to just one way.

Before he could loosen the half-tied knot in his hands, someone stepped close to him. Slender fingers brushed lightly against the side of his neck, making Wen Xiao shiver slightly.

The other person's fingers were a bit cool, and wrapped in bandages, making Wen Xiao almost reluctant to let him touch him.

Before he could speak, those slender fingers pressed against his tie, deftly tying a Windsor knot, and then neatly smoothed down the edges and folds.

"Xiao Xiao, you still haven't learned how to tie this kind of knot."

"I know how," Wen Xiao corrected him earnestly. "I just don't tie it very well. Not knowing how was from ages ago."

"No matter how much time passes, I'll always remember," Song Jingbai said.

Wen Xiao glanced at him and couldn't help muttering, "Is remembering my dark history something to be so proud of?"

Song Jingbai let out a low laugh and said nothing.

This isn't your dark history; it's our shared memory.

"Good morning, Xiao Xiao."

Morning light filtered through the window, falling upon the wooden floor indoors, banishing the chill of dawn and bathing the room in a warm tone.

Song Jingbai felt as though he was already secretly gratifying certain desires—sharing a two-person dinner with him, tying his necktie, and being the very first to say good morning to him.

It felt as though they truly shared some unspoken relationship.

Within this unbroken, secret intimacy, he found temporary satisfaction, though one step was still missing.

A morning kiss.

Huo Zhanyan stared at the two of them, feeling inexplicably annoyed. "So what if he doesn't know how to tie a tie? Song Jingbai, you're really annoying."

Song Jingbai didn't even look at Huo Zhanyan. "Someone who never wears a necktie has no right to say that."

"What business is it of yours whether I wear a necktie or not?" Huo Zhanyan glared at Song Jingbai.

"Don't flatter yourself, nobody cares," Song Jingbai replied.

Knowing that Song Jingbai was like this behind closed doors—utterly hypocritical—Huo Zhanyan felt a bit bored and pulled open the nearby drawer.

"Huo Zhanyan!" Seeing this, Wen Xiao called out immediately, but Huo Zhanyan had already taken out the two purple cards.

Huo Zhanyan had only intended to take a casual look, but the moment he saw the words written on the cards, his expression darkened instantly.

"Who wrote this?" Huo Zhanyan felt a blazing fury upon reading the text.

Things like *You are mine*, and *I want to kiss your unclad body*...

He hadn't even kissed him yet!

Song Jingbai also saw the writing on the cards, and the smile in his eyes faded a fraction, though he didn't react as violently as Huo Zhanyan.

Wen Xiao snatched the cards right back from Huo Zhanyan's hand, put them back into the drawer, and said in a deep voice, "This is my own business, I can handle it myself."

"How are you going to handle it? Xiao Xiao, are you planning to go find this pervert by yourself?"

Huo Zhanyan furrowed his brows tightly, softening his tone slightly as he looked at Wen Xiao, suppressing the anger in his heart. "No, I'm going with you."

Wen Xiao found this somewhat amusing. He leaned against the wall, glanced at the two of them, and couldn't help saying, "You two, this is a school. Since we're at school, what could possibly happen?"

Suddenly, the door outside was rapped twice. Wen Xiao walked over and opened it, only to find a familiar figure standing outside.

"Teacher?" Wen Xiao blinked in surprise, wondering why Wen Xulai had suddenly come to see him.

Wen Xulai wasn't wearing a suit today; he wore simply a white shirt. Seeing Wen Xiao, he smiled and asked, "May I come in and sit for a moment?"

Wen Xiao paused for a moment. Remembering that Song Jingbai and Huo Zhanyan were still inside, his hand resting on the doorframe didn't move.

Wen Xulai's expression shifted slightly as he probed with a tentative question, "Is there someone else inside?"

"Yeah." Wen Xiao thought for a second and nodded.

Since there seemed to be no point in hiding it, he stepped aside to let Wen Xulai see the scene inside the dormitory.

Huo Zhanyan was leaning back in his chair looking like he had just woken up, still in his pajamas with his red hair a total mess.

Song Jingbai happened to look over in this direction and smiled at Wen Xulai, saying, "Teacher, are you looking for Xiao Xiao for something?"

After seeing the surveillance footage last night, Wen Xulai had spent the whole way back thinking about it, mentally prepared for the fact that Song Jingbai had spent the night in Wen Xiao's dorm. Yet when he came over early in the morning, he discovered there was another guy named Huo Zhanyan inside as well.

He gave a vague nod as a wild, absurd thought took root in his mind.

Surely the three of them didn't squeeze onto a single bed and sleep together all night, did they?

Although he considered himself fairly familiar with these boys, he still couldn't picture three tall, growing teenagers squeezing together on a small cot.

Wen Xulai's gaze swept back and forth among the three of them, and he blurted out, "Did the three of you sleep together last night?"

"No," Wen Xiao denied.