To My Youth [BL]

[6] Drawings

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦.

Three weeks passed like the fallen leaves drifting along with the wind. The birds approached the trees to seek shelter as the rain drenched the ground.

The droplets pattered against the window, slowly drizzling down the glass and allowing the fresh scent of wet dirt and leaves to rise from the outside air into their classroom.

Their physics presentation went smoothly. In the end, the assignment was a product of the two top students, with the other two adding a few sparkles here and there.

Still, it shocked the students of Class A that Zhang Yongyin and Gu Xiao actually contributed to this assignment.

It was clear who worked on what slide, but the teacher was still moved that Zhang Yongyin and Gu Xiao indeed researched and wrote a speech. Perhaps Mr. Shen's decision to separate them and put the top students as their deskmates truly paid off.

As days passed, Gu Xiao found himself teasing Lan Yuning more and more that some people thought they had become the best of friends.

Yet, when they clearly focused on the conversation between the two, it was simply Gu Xiao being the loud mouth he was, and chattering non-stop while Lan Yuning just listened. Maybe he wasn't even listening most of the time.

The sound of the clock still resonated in the students' ears despite the harshness of the rain, and soon, the bell rang and signalled the second break. Most of the students remained in their seats, continuing to write in their books, while some took a few seconds to rub their eyes from fatigue.

However, Gu Xiao's head was already planted in his textbook as though he was absorbing the words in the books in some strange way by sleeping. It was mainly on these rainy days that his eyelids were the heaviest, and all he wanted to do was wrap himself in a thick blanket and sleep.

It was the desire to sleep and not do anything at all.

Gu Xiao shifted his head towards Lan Yuning, who was still answering the short passages to the English comprehension.

To think that he was once like Lan Yuning, someone so academically intelligent and hard-working shocked him.

However, there was something else that made him confused. Why he was paying so much attention to this studious boy?

Usually, when break came, Gu Xiao would always go to the cafeteria or go to the clubroom. Yet now, he would just sit silently in his seat, pretending to sleep. Sometimes, he even found himself studying a little, which was extremely out of the character he was currently trying to act out.

Glancing at Lan Yuning, Gu Xiao started doodling something on a piece of paper.

And after a minute, he called, "Student President."

Gu Xiao slid a piece of paper to Lan Yuning with a large grin. It was a poorly drawn face of a boy.

The expression on the boy's face made it look like he hated everyone and everything, but what concerned Lan Yuning was the crooked grin that appeared extremely out of place.

"This is you!" Gu Xiao laughed, tapping on his doodle with his pencil.

A rushed of bewilderment passed Lan Yuning as he had to blink twice to confirm that his eyes weren't tricking him.

Lan Yuning had to lean in closer to examine this drawing was indeed of his face.

"Why am I smiling like that...?"

"Why not? I think it looks pretty good. Fine then, I'll make you look happier."

Gu Xiao, too, leaned in closer to enlarge the smile on top of the previous grin by thickening the lines, making the boy look like he simply applied a thick amount of black lipstick around his mouth.

"There, you look much better now—"

When Gu Xiao shifted his head slightly to take a short glimpse of Lan Yuning, he didn't realise how close their faces were since they both were leaning in.

Gu Xiao's muscles tensed because of the proximity, but it was strange as he was rarely self-aware regarding how close he should be with others.

The colour and shape of Lan Yuning's eyes, the tiny flutters of his languid lashes, the plumpness of his cheeks. They were all so remarkably fine that it all drew him in.

The way his heart skipped reminded him of when he was alone with Lan Yuning in his bedroom, though he didn't know why he was feeling like this. Perhaps after that night, he started being more aware of Lan Yuning, but why?

Noticing that he was staying silent and not moving, Lan Yuning turned his head around and quietly froze in his spot when he met Gu Xiao's eyes that looked so deeply into his own, as if peering at some unusual object.

Now that he saw the clarity of his expression, the loud thumps of his unsettledness drowned the short skips of Gu Xiao's heart out.

Gu Xiao realised he had never had the occasion to look into his Lan Yuning's eyes like this, that nervousness overrode him.

Had Gu Xiao not been well-versed in keeping his expressions in check, Lan Yuning would've discovered how unsettled he was right now.

He diverted his stares somewhere else. Anywhere except Lan Yuning's table.

"Student President."

The seriousness of his tone surprised Lan Yuning that it touched his heart with a secret warmth.

"This might sound strange, but have we met before?"

Lan Yuning's brows slightly raised, as though that question provoked a boiling clot inside his stomach to churn up his chest, but Gu Xiao didn't know why he reacted like that.

"What do you mean?"

Perhaps Lan Yuning had stuttered during that response, but Gu Xiao's mind was too distracted to notice that the boy's composure was on the verge of breaking down.

"I feel like I have seen you before somewhere. Not in school, but in a different place."

Before he could answer, Song Anwen called out to him from the classroom door.

Without sparing a single second, Lan Yuning bolted up from his seat and hurriedly walked out of the room to avoid confrontation.

✎✎✎

"What's wrong?" Lan Yuning asked, slightly out of breath.

"He Rong just contacted me," Song Anwen informed.

The flustered beats of Lan Yuning's heart immediately transitioned to loud, painful beatings knocking against his ribcage.

His finger twitched, and his eyes clouded in an unfathomable dullness. Just hearing that name forced a rush of unpleasant memories of shame and regret to corrode within his head. 

"He said he has something to ask you, but you are not picking up his calls or texts."

"What did you say?"

"I told him to stop being a bother, but I doubt he will give up."