I Only Want You chapter 12

Tiantian asked this question very seriously. He had cried himself to sleep in Yan Lan’s arms and woke up there as well. When he was sick and uncomfortable, Yan Lan would hold him, feed him, and comfort him to sleep.

In Tiantian’s view, Yan Lan wouldn’t leave him without reason. The only possibility was that his uncle bullied his teacher, and that’s why the teacher didn’t come to see him or help him with Lego.

Yan Lan looked at Tiantian’s pretending-to-be-serious little face, feeling both moved and amused. He used sign language to ask Tiantian: What if your uncle really bullied me? Would you play a prank on him again?

Tiantian nodded, using his small fingers to imitate a caterpillar, showing that he had completely grasped Xie Yun Zhi’s weakness. As long as Yan Lan nodded, he was ready to tease Xie Yun Zhi again.

Gently holding Tiantian’s small hand, Yan Lan smiled and shook his head.

Tiantian blinked his big blue eyes at him, and Yan Lan blinked back.

If there were a third person present, they might be puzzled by this scene because no one knew what they were conveying.

After blinking, Tiantian handed him the Lego instructions, and they continued to build the Titanic’s bow.

For dinner, Yan Lan stayed at Xie’s house. Auntie steamed a lot of Ro shrimp because Tiantian loved it, so Yan Lan peeled them one by one for him.

Dinner took almost an hour, and Yan Lan helped Auntie clean up and wash the dishes. When he finished, it was only 7:30. He glanced at his phone, which had been silent since the morning, and decided to send a text.

“I’m going back.”

After sending the message, just as he was about to put away his phone and say goodbye to Tiantian, a notification sound rang out. Surprisingly, Xie Yun Zhi replied to the message instantly.

“Wait for me a moment. I’m on my way back.”

Yan Lan’s heart stirred. He absentmindedly touched the back of his neck with his left hand, feeling a slight warmth in his cheeks. Nevertheless, he replied without revealing any emotion.

“How long is a moment?”

“Very soon.”

Staring at those two words, Yan Lan’s gaze was intense, as if trying to pierce through them. After a while, he put away his phone and went upstairs to find Tiantian.

After dinner, Tiantian returned to his room alone. He lay on the carpet, legs crossed comfortably, and was solemnly flipping through a pop-up book suitable for children under six. Even when Yan Lan walked over and sat down cross-legged, Tiantian didn’t look at him, completely engrossed in the pop-up castle.

Yan Lan reached out to hold his hand, but Tiantian evaded it, moving the opened pop-up book further away to keep a distance from Yan Lan.

Seeing this, Yan Lan raised a hand to cover Tiantian’s eyes, prompting Tiantian to finally turn his head and look at him, his eyes showing a bit of disdain as if he found Yan Lan too childish.

Yan Lan gestured in sign language, “I peeled so many shrimps for you just now. Why won’t you be nice to me?”

Tiantian changed from lying down to sitting, “Teacher won’t come tomorrow or the day after. You and Uncle didn’t bully each other, and I didn’t bully you. Why don’t you come? What about my ship?”

In the end, Tiantian pointed at the half-built ship’s bow and crossed his arms, giving Yan Lan a challenging look.

Yan Lan could only explain, “Teacher also has to go to class, study, and learn.”

Tiantian raised a small eyebrow, “Can’t you come after class?”

Looking at the half-built ship, Yan Lan suggested, “Come help you with Lego?”

Tiantian nodded.

After a few seconds of eye contact, Yan Lan said, “I promise I’ll come to play with you whenever I have time.”

Tiantian, still serious, asked, “When do you have time?”

Yan Lan was struggling with how to explain that his main issue was the inconvenience of coming over when he suddenly heard the sound of a car engine outside the window. He quickly walked to the window and looked out.

If someone had been present, they would probably be confused by this scene. Yan Lan and Tiantian stood quietly side by side, watching a black Bentley outside the ornate iron gate and the person who got out of the car.

Before long, the door to Tiantian’s room was knocked three times in a customary manner. Then, Xie Yun Zhi walked in. He first glanced at Tiantian, who was sitting on the floor, then shifted his gaze to Yan Lan, showing a faint smile. “Teacher Yan, I’ll take you back.”

Without showing any agreement, Yan Lan gave Tiantian a glance and gestured with his fingers.

Understanding, Xie Yun Zhi walked in. Tiantian, who had changed his posture from lying down to sitting, asked preemptively, “When will you take me home?”

On the day he had a fever and refused to take medicine, Xie Yun Zhi promised to take him home to coax him. Tiantian remembered, but several days had passed since he recovered, and Xie Yun Zhi hadn’t taken him home.

Xie Yun Zhi lowered his eyes, with emotions difficult to decipher. “I’ve been very busy. I didn’t have time to take you back.”

Tiantian continued to inquire, “Then when won’t you be busy?”

Xie Yun Zhi ignored him and turned to Yan Lan. “Let’s go, Teacher Yan.”

Yan Lan gave him a disapproving look, then bent down, picked up Tiantian, and walked towards the corner of the room, where they could have a private sign language conversation hidden from Xie Yun Zhi’s view.

After a while, when Tiantian walked back, his mood seemed noticeably calmer.

Xie Yun Zhi still had a puzzled expression on his face as Yan Lan had already walked away. He had no choice but to turn around and follow, conveniently closing the bedroom door.

Yan Lan hadn’t gone far; he stood in the corridor with warm yellow light falling on him, creating a cozy glow. Concerned, he asked Xie Yun Zhi, “Have you eaten?”

“I already did… What did you say to Tiantian just now?”

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Yan Lan’s eyes. “I told him I would keep an eye on you. If I found you were not busy, I would secretly tell him.”

Xie Yun Zhi raised an eyebrow. “How are you planning to find out?”

Yan Lan looked at him helplessly. “Don’t lie to kids. If you say you’ll do something, you have to do it.”

After a few seconds of silence, Xie Yun Zhi said, “Let’s go. I’ll take you back to school.”

Yan Lan didn’t refuse and went downstairs with him.

The black Bentley was parked outside, the engine still running. Apparently, Xie Yun Zhi hadn’t intended to stay inside for too long. In fact, he might not have planned to come over at all. He probably came because Yan Lan was there, and he decided to give him a ride back.

On the way to the art academy, Yan Lan lowered his head and replied to Yang Xiaole’s WeChat message.

Xie Yun Zhi noticed and reminded him, “It’s better not to use your phone while in the car. It’s not good for your eyes.”

Yan Lan silently turned off the screen.

Xie Yun Zhi glanced at him again. “Roommate?”

Yan Lan nodded.

When the car stopped at a traffic light at a crossroads, Xie Yun Zhi suddenly sighed softly. “Yan Lan, do you really like me?”

This was the first time he called him by his name instead of the polite and somewhat distant “Teacher Yan.”

Yan Lan’s heart quickened, but he turned to look at him with a puzzled and questioning expression.

Seemingly oblivious to his gaze, Xie Yun Zhi lowered his head to adjust the cufflinks adorned with gemstones. “…Doesn’t seem like it. For example, the way you treat Tiantian seems more like affection, while your attitude toward me is more like that of a student’s parent.”

He went on to ask in a perplexed tone, “Do you really like me?”

In his view, Yan Lan’s indifference, except for that one day, and the occasional softening of his attitude toward Tiantian were the only variations. Otherwise, he was consistently indifferent.

If that incident hadn’t happened that day, he might never have realized the depth of Yan Lan’s feelings for him. Even now that he knew, he often doubted because of Yan Lan’s attitude.

Throughout his student life, Xie Yun Zhi had only encountered women he had a crush on, with relationships hovering between ambiguous friends and potential lovers. There was always something missing, preventing him from taking that final step. The result was that at Christmas dances, the girls would end up in the arms of others, while he would focus on meetings and shootings, showing no signs of sadness or loss due to the departure of the girls from his life. He was like a person with only one goal in life – being a director.

His dedication to his career exceeded his focus on relationships. Therefore, he didn’t possess the so-called romanticism of an artist. Furthermore, after taking over Venus, his mindset had completely shifted to that of a businessman.

He couldn’t see what he couldn’t see and straightforwardly admitted it, treating the assessment of project risks with utmost seriousness.

Yan Lan quietly turned his face away, leaving one reddened ear exposed to Xie Yun Zhi, causing him to unconsciously turn his head to look.

The relationship between the two of them was indeed quite complicated. One clung stubbornly to a first meeting that the other had long forgotten, claiming it was a favor but, in reality, the affection had taken root deep within. The other was pushed forward, beginning from being informed that he had forgotten something important, and then, on a night he thought was a dream, unexpectedly accepting the fact that he had always been liked by this seemingly mute and icy beauty.

It was something anyone would find hard to ignore.

Yan Lan was exceptionally good-looking, and his beauty was something even people of the same gender wouldn’t reject. Coupled with his distant and indifferent demeanor, Xie Yun Zhi was curious, yet reluctant.

In the end, it all boiled down to possessiveness.

He had genuinely possessed Yan Lan, maybe even without realizing it himself. Subconsciously, he had already regarded Yan Lan as his own, and this subconscious awareness made him unconsciously vigilant that Yan Lan might be taken away by someone else before he had figured out his feelings for him. Xie Yun Zhi was afraid Yan Lan would be taken away before he was ready.

After silently watching Yan Lan’s reddened ear for a while, Xie Yun Zhi said, “Although I’m busy with work, I still have time to reply to messages.”

Yan Lan nodded without looking back.

“Do you have classes tomorrow?”

Yan Lan shook his head.

Xie Yun Zhi stared at the fair skin behind his neck. “If I have time tomorrow to take Tiantian home, would you like to come along?”

Yan Lan was taken aback at this unexpected proposal. “Isn’t that inappropriate? How can I go with you and Tiantian?”

“It’s okay. If it’s just me and Tiantian, he might feel uncomfortable being alone with me. If you’re there, the atmosphere should be more relaxed. I don’t want him to dislike me even more.”

Yan Lan sighed softly. “You can be gentler with him. Even though you’re busy, he’s just a child. He might be scared if you’re too serious. I’ve been teaching him for so many days. To make Tiantian take his studies seriously, I never showed too much closeness during class. But later, when I played Lego with him, held him, treated him as a child who needed my care, he started to value me more.”

Xie Yun Zhi finished watching the long sign language explanation in silence.

Looking at him, Yan Lan said, “Did you tell him that you didn’t bully his dad?”

Xie Yun Zhi shook his head.

Yan Lan said, “You need to explain to him, tell him the reason you had an argument, and how seriously you were hurt at that time. He should still remember.”

Xie Yun Zhi nodded, “Will you accompany us tomorrow?”

Yan Lan hesitated for a moment and nodded.

“Shall I come to pick you up?”

Yan Lan didn’t directly refuse, “Is it convenient?”

“It’s convenient. I’ll pick up Tiantian first and then come to get you.”

Unconsciously, the gate of the Academy of Fine Arts had already appeared in their field of vision. Yan Lan picked up his canvas bag, pushed open the car door, ready to get off, and Xie Yun Zhi said, “Good night.”

Yan Lan turned around, looked at him, and a smile appeared on his face. He returned a sign of goodnight and then closed the car door and left.

Yan Lan only had one class on Sunday, from nine in the morning until noon.

At the end of the class, Yang Xiaole was so annoyed that he almost couldn’t walk. Taking advantage of his small frame and light weight, he practically hung half of his body on Yan Lan. From his voice to his expression, everything was full of grievances.

“I won’t be okay. I can’t get over it.”

That day at ten in the morning was the ticket sales for the October concert of the band “Roaming the Ocean.” Bian Xianyang, who had helped Yang Xiaole sneak into the hotel, was the lead singer of the band.

Yan Lan didn’t know much about the entertainment industry, and he was not familiar with this band at all. However, judging from Yang Xiaole’s mobilization of everyone he knew last night to help him snatch tickets, and the complete failure this morning, it seemed that this band was exceptionally popular.

For a concert with a capacity of tens of thousands, the tickets were sold out in seconds.

Yan Lan didn’t know how to comfort him. He took out his phone and typed: Do you want to check if there are scalped tickets?

Yang Xiaole shook his head, “Scalped tickets are too expensive. They are middlemen who want to make money. Ah, maybe i’m really not fated to see it… Forget about me. Did Xie Yun Zhi contact you?”

Yan Lan nodded and showed him the text messages.

[Morning, I’ll finish work and pick up Tiantian. Can you text me after your class?] [Sure.]

At 11:50 AM

[Class is over.] [I’m on my way. Don’t eat at the canteen; I’ll take you and Tiantian out to eat.]

Yang Xiaole squinted as he read, “Have you noticed that he has a bit of a controlling nature towards you?”

Yan Lan nodded, opened the notes app, and typed: Yes, he hinted last night that I could send him more text messages.

Yang Xiaole rubbed his chin in thought, “Is it his inherent personality, or is it because of his work?”

Yan Lan: It’s a bit of both. He studied directing before, so it might be related to that.

“What do you think?”

Yan Lan: If it’s only towards me, then I’m fine with it.

Yang Xiaole’s mind started churning with mischief, “Why not give it a try?”

Yan Lan looked puzzled.

“Just from the text messages, I don’t feel that he likes you, but I have a feeling. When he said he needed time to consider, it might be because he feels possessive of you. Otherwise, it can’t explain why, even though you confessed first and he later admitted that you could pursue him, he’s always the one taking the initiative to contact you and arrange to meet. If you don’t make a move, he takes the lead. It looks more like he’s pursuing you now.”

After contemplating for a moment, Yan Lan asked, “What do you mean by giving it a try?”

Yang Xiaole grinned mischievously, “He should be arriving soon, right? If he shows jealousy, doesn’t that prove what I just said was right?”