Try Again chapter 37
Sleeping with You
Swallowing the last bit of bread in the bag, Jiang Lin took a sip of milk, and the straw made a “sizzle” sound as it ran out.
He had only written the beginning of the topic on the screen and wanted to go get another bottle of milk, but when he stood up, his head felt a bit dizzy, so he sat back down.
The phone screen next to his computer lit up, and Lu Zhe sent a video call invitation.
He pressed the answer button, and in the video, a handsome guy was waving a fan. The summer sunlight filtered through the branches, casting dappled shadows on him. As the wind blew, the fine golden shadows danced gently on his body, creating a serene and beautiful illustration-like scene.
Thinking of the pleasant summer vacation time after returning, Jiang Lin felt a pang of envy and asked, “Where are you now?”
“By the pond near my grandma’s house,” Lu Zhe switched the camera to show Jiang Lin the surrounding environment and then switched back, looking at him on the screen, “You don’t look well. Are you sick?”
Jiang Lin’s voice was a bit hoarse, and he didn’t look too good. After hearing this, he chuckled and leaned back in his chair. “Just a mild fever.”
“Did you catch a chill that day?”
“No, it only started last night.”
“How come you suddenly have a fever?”
Jiang Lin raised his left hand to show Lu Zhe, who then asked, “What’s up with this eczema? It’s gotten a lot worse than before. Did you go to the hospital?”
“Yesterday, I saw the doctor, and he said I must have come into contact with something dirty, which caused a severe allergic reaction,” Jiang Lin puffed out his cheeks and sighed, “I can’t remember what I touched, but I’ll just take the medicine and observe for now; the fever should also be related to this.”
“Then keep an eye on your temperature. If it doesn’t go down after a couple of days, you’ll need to go to the hospital.”
“Mm.”
“By the way, has Ji Minglun contacted you?”
Hearing that name, Jiang Lin tilted his head back. Lu Zhe watched as his eyelashes fluttered like two small fans before he lowered his head to look at him: “No.”
“Still turned off?”
“Should be.”
“What do you mean ‘should be’?” Lu Zhe asked suspiciously, “Haven’t you tried calling again?”
After a moment of silence, Jiang Lin said, “I can’t bring myself to.”
This time, the person on the other side of the screen fell silent.
Lu Zhe already knew what had happened that day at the Fantawild Adventure park. He said, “If you don’t want to call, then don’t. He’ll come looking for you when he figures things out.”
Thinking about the remaining time of summer vacation, his temples began to throb again. After finishing the video call with Lu Zhe, Jiang Lin got up and went to the kitchen, intending to make a cup of coffee to perk himself up. As he reached to fill the kettle with water, he habitually leaned to look out the window. However, when he did, he froze, nearly dropping the kettle into the sink.
Turning off the running water, he felt a little lost and leaned out again to look outside.
The car parked downstairs had been there for who knows how long; even though he couldn’t see the license plate from this angle, just the shape and that eye-catching aurora blue color were enough to guess it was Ji Minglun’s car.
Ji Minglun was here.
He had come to find him?!
With his fingers resting on the edge of the sink, Jiang Lin continued to stare at the car. After a while, he still didn’t see anyone get out. Could it be that Ji Minglun had already climbed upstairs?
As this thought crossed his mind, the doorbell rang from behind him. He quickly walked to the entrance, looked through the peephole to see who was outside, and opened the door. It wasn’t until then that he realized he hadn’t thought about how to greet him, but Ji Minglun had already come in, pulling him by the arm as soon as the door closed.
Suddenly colliding into another chest, he felt arms wrap around his waist, trapping him. Ji Minglun’s breath descended upon him like a tightly woven net, the heavy sound of breathing tickling his ears, making him shrink back involuntarily, but he was hugged even tighter.
Lost in thought for a moment while staring at the reddish-brown wooden door, Jiang Lin felt his eyes warm and raised his hands to wrap around Ji Minglun’s neck.
Their chests pressed together conveyed each other’s rapid breaths, making him wonder if Ji Minglun was panting because he had run up the stairs.
Ji Minglun was holding him like this; was he no longer angry?
“What were you trying to say on WeChat?”
“Tell me now.”
The person hugging him spoke, his deep, hoarse voice penetrating deep into Jiang Lin’s ears, making his already erratic heartbeat quicken even more.
The words he had been so eager to tell the other person lingered at the tip of his tongue, as if stuck on something and unable to come out.
But Jiang Lin knew Ji Minglun wanted to hear it, and he wanted to say it too; he wanted Ji Minglun to know right away.
“I,” he opened his mouth and tried a few times, and by the time his face turned red, he finally managed to say it completely.
“The person I like is you.”
Although the last two words came out softer, the arms around his waist tightened even more because of this sentence. He felt uncomfortable but didn’t want to push him away; instead, he leaned even closer to him.
Until Ji Minglun took a deep breath, turned his face to whisper in Jiang Lin’s ear, “I feel like I’m dreaming. Why am I hugging you so tightly and still don’t feel it’s real?”
Jiang Lin understood this feeling; not just Ji Minglun, even he felt as if he was in a dream, feeling soft underfoot despite standing on solid ground, unable to maintain his balance.
However—
“If you hold me any tighter, I won’t be able to breathe.”
To prevent Ji Minglun from squeezing any harder, Jiang Lin had to remind him. With a loosening of the arm around his waist, Ji Minglun let him go. The two faced each other again, and Jiang Lin was the first to falter, shifting his gaze away and saying, “Why didn’t you say anything before coming?”
“Your face is so red,” Ji Minglun said.
Jiang Lin paused for a moment and then turned to look at Ji Minglun. Noticing the amusement in his eyes made him feel a little shy. He turned and grabbed Ji Minglun’s slippers from the shoe cabinet and placed them on the ground. Just as he was about to tell Ji Minglun to change shoes, his fingers were caught.
Studying the back of his hand, Ji Minglun frowned, “Why is your eczema so severe?”
The warmth from another person’s palm transmitted through his fingertips, and staring at the hand being held, Jiang Lin felt a little dazed again.
Not hearing a response, Ji Minglun looked up at him, noticing that his face had turned even redder. He asked again, “Your voice sounds off; do you have a fever?”
The other hand that wasn’t holding his extended over, and Ji Minglun pressed the back of his hand against Jiang Lin’s forehead. Noticing that the temperature change wasn’t significant, he pulled him into the guest room. There, he found the computer on the desk still running; besides a bag of bread and some milk, there were also three empty cans of Red Bull.
Jiang Lin’s attention was still on the hand being held, and he hadn’t regained his composure until he heard Ji Minglun ask, “Did you drink this much Red Bull at once?”
Raising his gaze, he collided with the familiar expression of concern in Ji Minglun’s eyes, and he couldn’t help but confess, “I haven’t been sleeping well these past few nights, so I feel sleepy during the day.”
“How can your body handle that?” Ji Minglun lifted their connected hands again and asked once more, “What’s up with your eczema? Have you been to the hospital?”
“I’ve seen a doctor,” feeling embarrassed to look at their hands in front of Ji Minglun, Jiang Lin glanced aside and said, “The doctor said it’s just a severe allergy, and some medicine will help.”
His eczema was worse than ever, with all ten slender fingers swollen to varying degrees. Ji Minglun wasn’t fooled by his words. He went to the living room to get an electronic thermometer and measured his temperature, finding it was 37.9 degrees Celsius. He then didn’t allow Jiang Lin to touch the computer anymore. Upon learning that Jiang Lin hadn’t eaten lunch, Ji Minglun told him to lie down on the bed, covered him with the blanket, and was just about to go cook when Jiang Lin grabbed his wrist.
“Minglun, you’re not misunderstanding me again, right?”
Jiang Lin was concerned about this matter in his heart. Although Ji Minglun was no longer angry now, he still wanted to clarify things that were left unsaid.
The person with their back to him was silent for a moment, then crouched down at the bedside to meet his gaze: “I’ll go cook some noodles first. We can talk slowly after you finish eating.”
Their eyes intertwined, and Jiang Lin suddenly felt a wave of shyness, releasing his hand and saying, “Okay.”
In the kitchen, Ji Minglun opened the fridge. The vegetables inside weren’t very fresh, and there wasn’t much food waste in the trash can. Earlier, he only saw the packaging of some bread on the table, so he guessed Jiang Lin hadn’t been eating well again.
After taking out and washing all the usable ingredients, Ji Minglun cooked a pot of hearty noodle soup. Just as he was about to get a bowl, he bumped into a hand.
Jiang Lin handed him two white porcelain bowls. He took one and, after serving it, gave it to Jiang Lin before filling his own bowl. By the time he came out with chopsticks, Jiang Lin was already sitting by the table.
After handing Jiang Lin a pair of chopsticks, Ji Minglun sat down beside him and said, “Eat up; be careful, it’s hot.”
“You eat too,” Jiang Lin replied.
Ji Minglun picked up a mouthful of noodles, blew on it, and sent it into his mouth. When he chewed, he looked up to find Jiang Lin holding his chopsticks, not moving, his attention focused entirely on his face.
After swallowing, he asked, “What’s up?”
Jiang Lin shook his head, poking at the noodles in his bowl. With a smile, he said, “I just remembered that the last time we ate together like this was in Xi’an.”
This made Ji Minglun recall that night they went to De Fa Chang for a late-night snack. Later, Jiang Lin got drunk and hurt his toes, and Ji Minglun had to carry him back. At that time, Jiang Lin had asked a question.
He picked up some crispy fried pork belly strips and placed them in Jiang Lin’s bowl, saying, “That night, you were so drunk, how could you hold back from saying anything?”
Putting down his chopsticks, Jiang Lin looked at him and said, “Actually, there were several times I almost couldn’t hold back, but I didn’t dare to say anything. I didn’t know if you still liked me.”
Ji Minglun also put down his chopsticks: “Then why didn’t you ask me?”
Leaning back against the chair, Jiang Lin lowered his chin, his delicate eyelashes blocking the emotions in his eyes: “Because I was scared.”
“Scared of what?”
“Scared that if I asked, we wouldn’t even be able to be friends anymore,” Jiang Lin fiddled with the soft fabric of his pajamas, “scared that this time, it would be you who never wanted to see me again.”
“So a year ago, you ran away because you never wanted to see me again?”
Ji Minglun intentionally misinterpreted Jiang Lin’s meaning, and Jiang Lin indeed got anxious, straightening his back and saying, “No, I was just too flustered back then. I didn’t know what was happening; I just…”
In his haste, both hands came up to the table, and Ji Minglun grasped his left hand, sighing: “It’s also my fault. I made a mistake that time; I didn’t prepare you mentally.”
His fingertips were wrapped in the warmth of Ji Minglun’s palm. This intimate touch had an indescribable soothing effect, causing his body to relax unconsciously. After a moment, Jiang Lin said, “Minglun, do you really still like…”
“Yes,” Ji Minglun cut him off, “that’s why when I heard you might be interested in Deng Feng, I couldn’t face it.”
—Couldn’t face you, and couldn’t face myself.
Jiang Lin moved his lips, and after a while, Ji Minglun heard him say, “I’m sorry; I should have cleared things up with you sooner.”
As he caressed Jiang Lin’s fingers, Ji Minglun asked, “Did you catch a cold after falling into the pool that day?”
“No,” Jiang Lin smiled, “It was too hot; it actually felt quite cool.”
Although his tone seemed indifferent, thinking about how he hadn’t pulled him up that day made Ji Minglun feel guilty: “I was wrong for not pulling you up that day.”
Jiang Lin laughed again: “You were so angry yet still called Shen Ran to help me, so I didn’t feel bad. Besides, it was just an accident.”
“I clarified things with Deng Yi that day. If she continues to be willful and doesn’t keep her distance, I won’t have to associate with her brother anymore.”
Not wanting to discuss Deng Yi further, Ji Minglun released Jiang Lin’s hand and handed him chopsticks: “Alright, let’s talk about other things later; let’s eat the noodles first, or they’ll get soggy.”
After dinner, Ji Minglun washed the dishes and came out with a cup of warm water for Jiang Lin. He noticed Jiang Lin took three kinds of medicine, so he picked up the instructions for these medicines to read carefully.
After eating his fill, Jiang Lin began to feel sleepy and couldn’t hold back a yawn. Ji Minglun told him to lie down, and he said, “I’ll sleep after you leave.”
“Sleep now,” Ji Minglun continued to read the instructions, “I’m not leaving; I’ll stay here with you.”
The person beside him suddenly fell silent. When Ji Minglun turned to look at him, Jiang Lin asked quietly, “Do you want to take a nap too?”
Ji Minglun didn’t say anything, his dark pupils staring straight into Jiang Lin’s eyes. Although he didn’t say anything, it inexplicably made Jiang Lin feel nervous.
Thinking Ji Minglun hadn’t adjusted to the change in their relationship, Jiang Lin wanted to give him an out. Before he could find the right words, Ji Minglun’s hand reached over, taking his hand again.
“Okay,” leaning slightly forward, Ji Minglun whispered in his ear, “I’ll stay here and sleep with you.”