Try Again chapter 19

No Underwear

Jiang Lin hadn’t expected him to agree, so he immediately took two steps forward, then stopped. Glancing at Ji Minglun’s wet T-shirt and hair, he said, “Why don’t you take a shower first? I’ll get you some clothes.”

Ji Minglun wanted to decline, but Jiang Lin had already turned toward the guest bedroom before he had a chance to respond. Plus—he looked down at his clothes—they were indeed too dirty from the rain to wear any longer.

Sighing, he turned and walked toward the bathroom, turning on the light.

Jiang Lin’s old apartment was located on the border between Huli and Siming districts. Though it was only around 70 square meters, it had a good layout with north-south exposure. The house had been bought by Jiang Lin’s grandfather. Jiang Lin had never met his grandparents, as they had passed away before he was born. His mother, wanting to honor their memory, never sold the apartment. After Jiang Lin’s parents’ relationship fell apart, he moved out of Jiang Jianchen’s villa and returned here to live on his own.

Ji Minglun took a look around the bathroom, noting that it was the same as before. The seven-square-meter space was divided into wet and dry areas by a frosted glass sliding door. Glancing at the shower shelf, he wasn’t expecting much, but his eyes suddenly locked onto something.

On the shelf was a black bottle, with a minimalist design that was all too familiar to him. He didn’t need to go closer to confirm what it was.

It turns out his guess from last time had been correct—Jiang Lin really was using this brand of shampoo, along with the matching body wash.

“Minglun.”

Jiang Lin’s voice came from behind. Ji Minglun turned to see him holding a set of blue-gray plaid pajamas and a clean towel. Jiang Lin, looking a bit awkward, said, “Your clothes have been in the closet for a long time and smell like mothballs. I’ll wash them for you and dry them quickly. Do you want to wear mine in the meantime?”

There was a noticeable difference in height and build between the two. Jiang Lin’s loose-fitting pajamas would only fit Ji Minglun just right.

“It’s fine,” Ji Minglun said as he grasped the hem of his T-shirt and lifted it over his head. “I’ll wear my own. Just leave them there.”

Jiang Lin watched as he took off his shirt. The bathroom light shone like snow on Ji Minglun’s wheat-colored skin. His chest and abdominal muscles were toned to perfection, and even the casual way he tossed his T-shirt into the laundry basket had a strength to it. Jiang Lin averted his gaze after just one glance, placing the pajamas on the drying rack before retreating and closing the door.

Ji Minglun didn’t notice Jiang Lin’s gaze. After the bathroom door closed, he turned to look at the large mirror on the wall.

He couldn’t even remember how many times he’d been shirtless in front of Jiang Lin before. It had never been awkward. But now, trying to go back to how things used to be was proving to be more difficult than he imagined.

Still, no matter how hard, it had to be done.

He stared at the reflection in the mirror. From the moment he stepped into the house, he had noticed Jiang Lin’s reactions. This guy was genuinely happy about their relationship returning to normal. Compared to the tension between them in recent days, Ji Minglun had to admit that the smiling Jiang Lin in front of him now was someone he found hard to resist.

Running his hand through his hair, Ji Minglun sighed again, stripped off his jeans and underwear, and started his shower.

On the other side of the door, Jiang Lin leaned against the wall, listening to the sound of the shower. His heart was still racing uncontrollably.

Ji Minglun must have noticed the shampoo. He blamed himself for not thinking about it earlier. But even if he had, there was no way to hide it. After all, those were the only products in his house.

Judging by Ji Minglun’s reaction earlier, he didn’t seem to mind.

Tilting his head back against the cool wall, Jiang Lin couldn’t stop his mind from replaying the scene of Ji Minglun undressing.

Reminding himself not to overthink it, he stood there for a while longer before heading back to the table. He had planned to have hotpot for one, but now that Ji Minglun was around, the prepared ingredients wouldn’t be enough. And he couldn’t use the electric stove again; it might blow the fuse.

Without the hotpot, he wasn’t sure what else he could make. He wasn’t good at stir-frying, so after rummaging through the kitchen cabinets, he figured a stew might be the way to go.

He placed the larger pot into the sink and washed it clean. Then, he filled it halfway with water and set it on the gas stove, pouring the hotpot base in to cook. After that, he added the washed mushrooms, various types of meatballs, seafood, and other ingredients in turn. By the time Ji Minglun opened the bathroom door, the contents of the pot were already boiling.

He tasted the flavor with a spoon and, turning his head, noticed Ji Minglun looked a bit uncomfortable. “Why didn’t you bring my underwear?”

Jiang Lin put the spoon down. “All your underwear is in the washing machine. The smell of mothballs was too strong, so I threw them all in to wash.”

Ji Minglun looked like he had something to say but held back. Jiang Lin thought he would get angry, but instead, Ji Minglun relaxed his brow and walked toward the living room.

Jiang Lin’s gaze followed him. When Ji Minglun reached the door to his bedroom, he muttered, “I’ll go to the balcony.”

Jiang Lin agreed, and only then did Ji Minglun step inside. This courteous behavior slightly dampened Jiang Lin’s previously good mood.

Ji Minglun opened the sliding glass door to the balcony. The sound of the washing machine came from the corner. Jiang Lin’s balcony was enclosed, so neither wind nor rain could get in. He glanced at the doghouse covered with a waterproof cloth by the wall. As he returned to the guest bedroom, he heard Jiang Lin calling him to eat.

The house was air-conditioned, and the smell of the hotpot filled the entire living room. Since he hadn’t closed the bedroom door when he went in, the tempting aroma also drifted into the room, filling his lungs.

After waking up at noon, Ji Minglun hadn’t eaten because Deng Feng called him to the café to help clean up. Afterward, Deng Feng gave him two small cakes as a reward, but by now, he was already starving. Remembering the small cakes, he suddenly recalled the cheese cream cake in the back seat of the car, meant for Jiang Lin.

In his haste earlier, he’d forgotten to bring it up. He walked into the living room and said to Jiang Lin, who was setting the table, “Can you hand me an umbrella? I need to grab something from the car.”

Jiang Lin asked, “What do you need to get?”

“The cake from the café won’t last for three days,” Ji Minglun explained. “Deng Feng divided it up, and one portion is for you.”

Jiang Lin remembered that Deng Feng had mentioned at noon that the leftover cakes from the café would be distributed. So, was Ji Minglun here not because of his message?

Seeing him hesitate, Ji Minglun thought Jiang Lin didn’t want the cake and reminded him, “It’s cheese cream, the flavor you like.”

Because of that, Jiang Lin put down his chopsticks and said, “I’ll go get it. You just took a shower, and if you go out, you’ll get wet again.”

“It’s fine. I’ll use the umbrella.”

“I’ll go,” Jiang Lin grabbed a napkin and walked toward the entrance. “You sit down and start eating. The wide noodles are already soft; if you don’t take them out soon, they’ll stick together.”

Ji Minglun’s car keys were on top of the shoe cabinet. After changing his shoes, Jiang Lin grabbed an umbrella from the drawer and headed out.

After hearing the door close, Ji Minglun looked at the pot on the table.

Jiang Lin had thrown everything into the pot—meat, vegetables, and seafood—using the tomato-flavored hotpot base they both liked.

Although the food looked tempting, Ji Minglun didn’t sit down. Instead, he knelt on the redwood sofa, pulled back the curtains, and looked out the window.

After a while, Jiang Lin appeared downstairs, holding an umbrella. The wind was so strong that after a few steps, the umbrella had flipped inside out twice. Jiang Lin had no choice but to close it and run to the car through the rain, grabbing two bags of cake from the back seat.

As he locked the car and started walking back, something heavy suddenly fell a short distance behind him.

Startled, Jiang Lin turned around to see a palm leaf had fallen from a nearby tree. He looked up and, by chance, met Ji Minglun’s gaze from the window above.

Ji Minglun shouted, “Hurry up and come back!”

Jiang Lin nodded and ran, clutching the cake. Once his figure disappeared under the canopy below, Ji Minglun looked at the thick palm branch and felt a sense of relief. He thought maybe they should have waited longer or just skipped retrieving the cake altogether.

He opened the door, and after a moment, Jiang Lin came running up the stairs, out of breath, handing the bags to Ji Minglun. Seeing Jiang Lin’s wet hair and casual clothes, Ji Minglun stepped aside to let him in and asked, “Are you hurt?”

“No, I was fast enough.” Jiang Lin placed the umbrella in the bathroom and washed his hands, splashing water on his face as well.

Ji Minglun took the cakes to the kitchen and put them, packaging and all, on the top shelf. When Jiang Lin came out and saw that the table hadn’t been touched and the pot was still covered, he asked Ji Minglun why he hadn’t eaten yet.

“Go take a quick shower,” Ji Minglun said, closing the fridge and looking back at him. “We’ll eat together afterward.”

Jiang Lin, who usually took his time in the shower, was done in just a few minutes this time. His hair still dripping, Ji Minglun was about to remind him to dry off properly, but Jiang Lin had already sat down at the table, lifting the pot lid. “Let’s eat.”

Knowing he must be hungry too, Ji Minglun said nothing more, sat across from him, and they both started pulling food from the pot.

Jiang Lin was indeed very hungry. In the late afternoon, he hadn’t been able to focus on his paper because of hunger. It had been over three hours now, but luckily, Ji Minglun was also eating quickly. They hardly spoke, both focused on their meal, until Jiang Lin finally set his chopsticks down, leaned back in his chair, and let out a satisfied burp, rubbing his stomach.

Ji Minglun was nearly done as well, so he stood up to clean the table. Jiang Lin’s gaze followed him as he placed the dishes in the sink. Just as he turned on the faucet, a flash of lightning streaked across the window.

Jiang Lin’s fingers, resting on the table, tensed, but after waiting a moment without hearing any thunder, he walked over to the sofa and pulled back the curtains to look outside.

Even in the dim night, the heavy rain was clearly visible. He turned on the TV, and sure enough, the news was reporting that a typhoon was approaching and causing flooding in many areas of the city.

The typhoon had made landfall near Taiwan, which had a significant impact on Xiamen, given its proximity to Taiwan. As Jiang Lin watched the news and listened to the sound of Ji Minglun washing dishes in the background, he felt oddly calm.

This scene was all too familiar to him in the past. Whenever a typhoon hit, he either stayed at Ji Minglun’s house or Ji Minglun would stay with him for a couple of days. This habit started after his mother passed away. Although Ji Minglun never mentioned it, he knew Ji Minglun didn’t want him to face such nights alone, remembering painful memories.

The clock on the wall pointed to 9:30. He glanced toward the kitchen, where Ji Minglun was still tidying up by the sink. As he looked at Ji Minglun in his pajamas, his mind once again drifted to the problem of how they would sleep tonight.

The master bedroom was his mother’s room, and since her death, it had remained locked, only opened for cleaning. The other room was his own. In the past, when Ji Minglun stayed over, they always shared the bed. Back then, he didn’t have feelings for Ji Minglun, so sharing a bed didn’t feel awkward. But now, things were different.

Ji Minglun probably wouldn’t want to sleep with him anymore, and he couldn’t let Ji Minglun sleep on that hard, uneven Chinese-style sofa either.

Entering the room, Jiang Lin found a blanket from the top of the cabinet and took a pillow from the bed. Just as he returned to set them on the sofa, Ji Minglun finished washing the dishes and came out.

“Why don’t you sleep on the bed tonight, and I’ll take the sofa,” Jiang Lin offered.

“No need, I’ll sleep on the sofa,” Ji Minglun replied.

“Don’t be polite with me. The sofa is uncomfortable, and it was me who troubled you to come over and help. I can’t let you sleep on the sofa.”

Jiang Lin insisted, although deep down, he wished Ji Minglun would just say, “Let’s sleep together,” but he knew Ji Minglun wouldn’t. Just as Ji Minglun was about to speak, the phone on the coffee table rang.

The screen showed a call from Jiang Jianchen. Jiang Lin didn’t want to answer, so he hung up. A moment later, Ji Minglun’s phone lit up.

“It’s your dad,” Ji Minglun said.

Jiang Lin frowned, took the phone, and pressed the hang-up button. As he was about to return it, he noticed an unread message on the lock screen.

The sender was “Deng Yi,” and the message read: “I’ve decided what birthday gift I want.”

Author’s note:

Jiang Lin’s inner thoughts: Can I sleep with him in the next chapter?

Minglun’s inner thoughts: Can I hold him while sleeping in the next chapter?