What Are Your Tastes? chapter 40

Not My Type

Mo Ziyang’s interest was piqued. He pulled up a chair and sat down beside Zhou Yanchuan’s desk.

“Yanchuan,” he said excitedly, “I never thought I’d see you in such a dilemma!”

“What are you saying… get lost!” Zhou Yanchuan waved his hand irritably. “If you’re here to watch the drama, you better leave.”

“I’m not just here to watch,” Mo Ziyang said with a wide grin, his curiosity in full swing. “The fact that you’re troubled by this means that friend is pretty important to you, right?”

“No shit.”

“Then why don’t you give it a try?”

“Try—” Zhou Yanchuan caught his meaning and gasped, “Don’t joke around.”

“I’m serious. I’ve never seen you have an important female friend before,” Mo Ziyang said nonchalantly. “What’s wrong with trying? Lovers also start off as friends, getting along well at first…”

Not a female friend.

Zhou Yanchuan found it hard to say.

Accepting a man’s affection was simply out of the question. Whether it was real or not, just the thought of it made him break out in a cold sweat.

But Lu Yunchu wasn’t just some passerby. Their relationship was so good that Zhou Yanchuan didn’t want to see him upset because of him.

Such a convoluted mindset, no wonder Mo Ziyang said he was being “coy”.

“Stop talking, I can’t explain it,” Zhou Yanchuan interrupted  Mo Ziyang’s enthusiastic speech dejectedly, “Anyway, for some reasons… it’s really impossible.”

Mo Ziyang suddenly lost interest and didn’t feel right to continue “preaching.” He regained some seriousness: “Did your friend say she likes you or show any clear signs of pursuing you?”

“Not really,” Zhou Yanchuan recalled the past few days. Except for those overly ambiguous drawings, Lu Yunchu’s other actions were within the bounds of friendship. And he had seen those drawings secretly, not knowing what mindset Lu Yunchu had when drawing them. “It’s just a feeling I got.”

“Although your intuition is pretty sharp, there’s always a chance of being wrong,” Mo Ziyang said impatiently. “Either confront it directly and ask clearly, or—”

“Or what?”

“Or pretend you don’t know anything and interact naturally. After all, she hasn’t expressed anything.”

“Natural is impossible now,” Zhou Yanchuan said, rubbing his forehead and muttering. “He should already know I’m distancing myself from him.”

Lu Yunchu was very meticulous; he must have noticed something odd the day before yesterday.

“Huh?” Mo Ziyang pouted. “You’re just guessing. What if she didn’t have that intention, and you inexplicably distanced yourself from her? That’s a bit…”

This was what troubled Zhou Yanchuan the most: if he confronted Lu Yunchu, it would be awkward for both of them; if he didn’t, his current attitude was already telling Lu Yunchu that he was avoiding him.

What if he misunderstood? What would Lu Yunchu think? He always said he didn’t mind his orientation, but now he was avoiding him?

“I think it’s better to clarify things,” Mo Ziyang muttered to himself. “Friends should be honest with each other, right?”

Without even Mo Ziyang pointing it out, Zhou Yanchuan had already made up his mind. He hated being hesitant and indecisive. Since Lu Yunchu had noticed, he had to ask him directly as soon as possible.

Returning home from work, he didn’t know Lu Yunchu was also contemplating the same issue.

“You were looking for me?” Lu Yunchu asked, opening the security door and seeing Zhou Yanchuan seemingly about to knock.

“Yeah,” Zhou Yanchuan saw that he seemed about to go out. “Were you going out?”

“I… I was just about to look for you.”

“You were going to—”

“You have something to say to me, don’t you?” Lu Yunchu tried to look him in the eye. “Then go ahead and say it first.”

He wasn’t sure if Zhou Yanchuan had seen the sketchbook, and in this situation, it might be wiser to hand over the initiative.

However, they were still standing at the door. Lu Yunchu changed into slippers and turned to say, “If you don’t mind, let’s talk inside.”

“Okay.” The tension Zhou Yanchuan felt before knocking seemed to dissipate easily with Lu Yunchu’s few words.

He felt they had returned to their tacit friendship and wanted to convey his thoughts honestly.

“Lu Yunchu, I want to apologize first,” he cautiously observed Lu Yunchu’s reaction, whose expression remained calm. “The day you were sick… I peeked at one of your sketchbooks.”

Lu Yunchu feigned ignorance, “Which one?”

“The one on the dresser… it fell open, and I… took a look.”

Lu Yunchu remained largely unreactive, having anticipated this outcome and prepared a response.

“I’ve drawn so many,” he said lightly. “Which ones did you see?”

Perhaps he seemed too nonchalant, making it hard for Zhou Yanchuan to judge if he really didn’t know or was just pretending.

“Portraits, all of them…”

All of them of me. He found it hard to say.

“Oh—” Lu Yunchu suddenly seemed to understand, dragging out the sound and then laughing, “All of them were of you?”

“Mm.” Zhou Yanchuan nodded, a blush spreading in his heart. Judging by Lu Yunchu’s reaction, could it be that he was overthinking things?

“So… you thought I liked you?”

Zhou Yanchuan remained completely silent. If the other person didn’t mean it that way, then his behavior would seem too presumptuous.

“Look how scared you are,” Lu Yunchu laughed again, his tone not too serious. “If I really liked you, would you be terribly troubled?”

“It’s not that…” Zhou Yanchuan felt a bit relaxed yet also a bit tense. Relaxed because he seemed to have misunderstood, and tense because no matter how he explained, it wouldn’t sound right. He carefully said, “I’m not good at handling these kinds of issues, and it’s not about whether you are a man or a woman, or your orientation.”

“You are my friend, and I truly don’t mind your orientation. That will never change. But if—I’m just saying if…”

“Alright, there’s no need for the ‘if’ you’re worried about.” Lu Yunchu picked up a notebook from the sofa, the very one Zhou Yanchuan had seen before, and opened it casually. “I like drawing, and I might sketch any suitable subjects for practice.”

Zhou Yanchuan understood something. “So, it was purely for practice?”

“Yes,” Lu Yunchu closed the notebook again. “You might not know, but your appearance is very suitable for drawing practice.”

“Huh?” Zhou Yanchuan didn’t understand art and didn’t know the difference between portraits.

“I’ve actually drawn many people. For example, back in college, Ruowei and I used to draw portraits of each other all the time, but we ended up with a stack and didn’t know where to put them.”

This statement was only half true. He and Ning Ruowei had indeed drawn each other’s portraits, but it was at her suggestion, and they had only drawn a few. It was nothing like drawing Zhou Yanchuan, which filled almost an entire notebook.

“So you actually don’t like me?” Zhou Yanchuan realized he had made a huge mistake and wished he could bury his head in the sand like an ostrich.

“Don’t overthink it,” Lu Yunchu said. “You’re not my type anyway.”

Zhou Yanchuan breathed a sigh of relief and asked cheerfully, “Are we still friends?”

“Of course.”

Lu Yunchu did not lie with that statement.

You’re not my type, but I still like you.

He didn’t want to say something insincere, nor did he want Zhou Yanchuan to feel any estrangement.

He liked how relaxed and carefree Zhou Yanchuan could be in front of him.

So he played with words and twisted the concept.