After he finished speaking, Huo Ran couldn't help but stand up.
The slightly hot phone screen was pressed against his ear and sticky sweat oozed from his palms. Huo Ran felt that he had never been so nervous and at a loss.
He stood alone in front of the huge balcony window in the hotel room, looking out at the bright lights of thousands of homes.
I wonder which lamp Dr. Tao will be under at this moment.
Huo Ran, who was worried, didn't fall asleep until almost nine in the morning yesterday. When he woke up, it was almost dusk. In his dreams, he kept seeing a vague yet familiar figure.
As soon as he woke up, he picked up his phone. There were a long line of red dots on the pp message bar, but the person he was most looking forward to seeing was not there.
After a night of struggling with the strange and novel emotional world, Huo Ran temporarily confirmed his tendency to become gay.
It seems that because of his abruptness, Dr. Tao was angry and has ignored him until now.
At this point, Huo Ran had no intention of working at all. He canceled his plans to go to the game exhibition and stayed in his room listlessly dealing with a few emails. During this time, he checked his phone once every five minutes on average.
Huo Ran, who had always believed that his life was fulfilling and rich, felt for the first time that time was so unbearable. His heart felt like countless ants swaying and taking a walk.
After finishing the dinner brought by the waiter, Huo Ran gave up pretending to work and simply opened the game, playing Animal Island to pass the time.
Then he saw the beautiful bouquet of flowers at the door of the house.
There was also a brief message from Dr. Tao in the middle of the night.
[A Hedgehog: Network failure, suddenly disconnected.]
[A hedgehog: I brought you a gift, I apologize^-^]
[A hedgehog: The flowers you planted for me the day before yesterday have bloomed, so I picked the best ones and gave them to you.]
The brown bear in the center of the screen bent down to pick up the bouquet, held it in its furry arms, and smiled happily.
That was the game's default pickup expression, but it was exactly the same as Huo Ran outside of the game.
Huo Ran didn't know how to describe his mood. It was probably as if he had drunk a lot of soda. The slight and dense stimulation spread from his blood vessels to his heart, and his body was filled with bubbles.
It turned out that Dr. Tao really was offline and was not angry with him.
Huo Ran admired the scene of the brown bear holding flowers for a full ten minutes before he remembered to control his silly expression and immediately sent a message on pp.
[hr: Doctor Tao, I'm sorry, I just finished playing the game and heard your message.]
[hr: The flowers are beautiful. I want to build a garden in the future.]
[hr:Bear spinning in circles.gif]
But until eight o'clock in the evening, Dr. Tao had not responded.
His light gray system default avatar is grayer than usual and is offline.
Or according to the search engine results, he has gone invisible.
On this evening, Huo Ran learned more about the use of pp from the Internet than in all these years combined.
He knew that APP can be set to be invisible to a certain person, that Pat can be set to have a suffix, and that he can set special care for friends...
Huo Ran very naturally set up special care for Dr. Tao and even set up an online reminder with a coughing sound effect.
While waiting for Dr. Tao to show up, Huo Ran seriously did a series of childish things.
He called the people at the Animal Island production company and asked them to pay more attention to the players' network stability issues. The Animal Island producer on the other end of the phone looked confused and could only respond with a "yes".
Then Huo Ran wandered around the island, marked out a piece of land that could be used as a garden, and prepared to be a good flower farmer for the next few days.
When passing by the most beautiful fruit tree, Huo Ran stared at the wooden sign that he had put up on an impulse and felt that the words "No stealing" looked strange.
After thinking for a while, the clumsy brown bear took out another wooden sign from the warehouse, wrote "Welcome to Taste", and nailed it to the wooden stake with satisfaction.
When it was almost nine o'clock, Huo Ran, who was bored, was about to go to Hedgehog Island to enjoy the scenery, when coughing sounds suddenly came from his computer and mobile phone at the same time.
He noticed at a glance that Dr. Tao's default profile picture had become a little brighter.
Doctor Tao is offline.
Huo Ran immediately became nervous, picked up his phone, and waited for Dr. Tao's reply.
Ever since he got a new mobile phone, Huo Ran has become addicted to chatting on the phone.
Compared to the words typed on the keyboard on the wide computer screen, the dialog box held in the hand seems to have a more realistic one-on-one chat feel.
After several minutes of waiting, there was no movement in the dialog box, not even the status prompt of "input in progress".
This is unlike Dr. Tao's habit of replying to messages promptly whenever he has time.
Huo Ran felt a little uneasy. Before he could think of a solution, he took action and made a voice call.
Before I had time to regret hanging up, the voice call was connected.
Huo Ran's mind went blank for a moment, and he wanted to speak but couldn't find the voice.
There was some noise on the other end of the line, with vague voices and laughter coming from the other end. Closer to home was a gentle breath that brushed his ears gently like a feather.
Huo Ran subconsciously asked: "... Hello, is this Doctor Tao?"
As soon as he said this, he could no longer sit still. Driven by a mysterious force, he stood up and paced to get rid of his panic.
What would Dr. Tao’s voice sound like
After a few seconds, the owner of the breath finally responded: "Who is Doctor Tao?"
His voice was clear and soft, but at this moment it carried a sense of uncertainty and confusion, and the ending tone was a little soft, as if he had lost his strength.
Such a familiar voice, very much like the masked boy I met yesterday.
This thought flashed through his mind, and Huo Ran quickly noticed that the person on the phone was not in a good state.
He calmed down and continued to ask anxiously: "Is this your butt?"
"Yes, it's mine." The other party thought for a moment and asked doubtfully, "I'm not a doctor... Who are you?"
A few high-pitched male voices were heard in the background noise.
"Brother Tao, did that person call the wrong number? Just hang up!"
"Are you stupid? That's a pp voice, how could you have typed it wrong..."
"Ah, so Brother Tao doesn't recognize people when he's drunk! How funny!"
The owner of the voice retorted a beat later: "I know you, you are Wang Heng, I am not drunk."
Immediately, everyone was excited and said, "Brother Tao looks so cute now! Can you record it?"
"You'd better be beaten tomorrow, hahahahaha."
"Brother Tao still remembered me even though he was drunk. Wow, I'm so touched. Come on! Another drink!"
"My goodness, Mr. Guo also knows how to do drunken boxing! Stay away from him!"
…
After listening for a while, Huo Ran was sure that there were a group of drunkards on the other end of the phone. He also determined from the repeated "Brother Tao" that the owner of the voice was Doctor Tao.
Dr. Tao must be having a drink with his colleagues.
He took note of what the drunken men across from him said, and then said to Dr. Tao very seriously, "I'm the friend you met online. My nickname is HR."
"HR?" Doctor Tao looked unconvinced. "Really? I don't have any impression of that."
Huo Ran's heart suddenly felt sad. After getting drunk, Dr. Tao still remembered his colleague's name, but had no impression of him.
"Really." Huo Ran tried hard to think about how to prove his identity to a drunkard. "I know you have a lot of cute emoticons. You've sent a lot to me. I saved them. But you never post updates..."
As they talked, the memories of the time they had spent together came flooding back to their minds. It seemed as if they had endless words to say, and even their voices became softer.
"You like surfing the Internet, browsing Sky Forum, and playing Animal Island, but I don't know what happened. You haven't been online for a long time, and the island has become deserted."
"I helped you to reclaim the wasteland, cut down the dead trees, and plant seeds in the garden. In the game, you were a hedgehog and built many houses of different styles. I liked the dark grey one best, with a huge skylight on the roof. I didn't know before that the roof could be modified. It was you who told me."
"You seem to know me very well." Doctor Tao said blankly, "I like that room the best too, because I can see the stars when I stay in it."
At this moment, the night sky seen from the low-hanging window is full of twinkling stars.
Huo Ran stood in front of the window, slowly placing his other hand on the glass. He felt a coolness on his fingertips, which overlapped with the distant evening stars.
"Look up at the sky now and you can see the stars." He whispered, "Don't drink, it's bad for your health. Is the party almost over?"
Dr. Tao completely believed what he said, let down his guard, and his voice became relaxed.
"It's over. I'm going home." Doctor Tao's voice was filled with a hint of joy. "I'm going outside to see the stars."
Huo Ran suddenly became nervous, "You are drunk, let your colleagues take you there."
"No, I'm not drunk." Dr. Tao firmly believed that he was not drunk, "I don't stagger when I walk."
Huo Ran's mind was working at high speed. "Then call a car and take you directly to the downstairs of your house. Let a colleague take you to the car, or I can call a car for you, okay?"
He didn't want to pry into Dr. Tao's real life, but he was really worried about his current condition.
"No, I'll walk there by myself. It's very close."
Dr. Tao insisted, "I pass this road every day after get off work. The bus only takes two stops. Turn left at the intersection and keep going straight, and you will reach the downtown area. This is how I go home every day."
His words became light and vague after he was drunk, but Huo Ran could hear an almost inaudible loneliness in his voice.
"Do you go home alone every day?"
The noise around him faded away, and Dr. Tao seemed to walk out of the restaurant amid the noisy farewells of his colleagues.
"Yeah, I'm alone on weekends, too." His voice became clear again, echoing in the quiet streets, "I'm used to being alone."
Huo Ran was speechless for a moment. He felt a pricking sensation in his heart and answered almost reflexively.
"I'll walk you home."
Doctor Tao was stunned for a moment, "But you were on the phone."
"I can keep talking to you until you get home safely."
Doctor Tao seemed to think about his intention and emphasized, "Then don't try to persuade me. I won't change my job for the time being."
Huo Ran was stunned for a while before he realized what he meant. He said with a smile, "I'm not a human being. This is the abbreviation of my name."
"Oh." Doctor Tao's voice became muffled as he thought of something, "I don't like this abbreviation."
Huo Ran asked curiously: "What?"
Doctor Tao did not answer. His breathing was sometimes light and sometimes heavy. Occasionally, the sound of a car passing by could be heard through the phone.
Huo Ran didn't care about the details and quickly warned: "Don't walk on the road, walk on the sidewalk and be careful of vehicles."
"Okay."
"Are you dizzy? If so, take the car."
“No.”
"Does your stomach feel uncomfortable? Do you feel like vomiting?"
"Nope."
"How far are we from home? You're not sleepy now, are you? Don't be sleepy. Just hold on a little longer and we'll be home."
"quickly."
Huo Ran chattered on for a long time, and Dr. Tao on the other end of the phone responded in a cooperative manner, seeming to be very obedient.
During the question and answer, a smile gradually filled Huo Ran's eyes.
Even though he didn't know what Dr. Tao looked like, he felt that Dr. Tao must be very cute now.
He was a little jealous of those colleagues who could drink and eat with Dr. Tao.
The atmosphere was just right, so Huo Ran asked the question that had been bothering him before: "Doctor Tao, do you remember me now?"
"I remember." Doctor Tao said confidently, but then he raised an objection, "My last name is Tao, but I'm not a doctor, so why do people call me Doctor Tao?"
If the previous denial might be due to the person being drunk and unconscious, then listening to Dr. Tao's serious voice at this moment, Huo Ran couldn't help but feel puzzled.
Isn’t Dr. Tao a doctor
… Then how should he call Dr. Tao from now on
Huo Ran asked carefully: "Then what should I call you?"
Doctor Tao said softly, "My name is Tao Zhiyue."
The clear voice said its first name a little embarrassedly, with a very affectionate pronunciation, and Huo Ran's heart trembled slightly.
"Is it the end of the story?"
Still a beat slower to retort: "No, it's the zhi of cicadas and the yue of climbing mountains and crossing ridges."
Tao Zhiyue.
Huo Ran quietly memorized this word, and felt an inexplicable joy in his heart, "It sounds good."
"My mother gave me this name." Tao Zhiyue said softly, "I like this name very much."
Huo Ran wanted to tell Tao Zhiyue his name, but he heard some disappointed words from him.
"You're not going to ask me anymore?"
"what?"
"Ask me if I paid attention to the car, if I felt uncomfortable, when I would get home..."
By the end, his voice was almost a whisper, and the last sentence was drowned out by his rapid breathing.
"I miss mom and dad."
Huo Ran was stunned. He heard that voice, filled with longing and sadness.
Thinking back to what Tao Zhiyue had said before, he seemed to understand something.
So he said he was used to being alone.
Huo Ran calmed himself down, suppressed the waves in his heart, and continued asking.
"Do you need to take a shower when you get home?"
“… I need to wash it. It smells so good.”
"Don't take a shower. It's easy to fall down when you take a shower after drinking. Just hold on for today and take a shower tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay."
"If you wake up with a headache tomorrow, take a day off and rest at home."
"You can have a day off tomorrow, with pay."
Tao Zhiyue's tone gradually returned to normal, and when he talked about paid leave, his voice rose at the end, and there was even a hint of pride in his voice.
Huo Ran couldn't control the corners of his mouth that were raised, and his voice was tinged with laughter, "That's great."
Tao Zhiyue on the other end of the phone also laughed softly, embarrassedly, "I seem to be drunk... I'm sorry."
Now it was Huo Ran's turn to refuse to admit that he was drunk.
"No, I'm sorry, you're very good like this."
The time when he was struggling with his sexual orientation over a pile of articles in the early morning seemed like a long time ago, and Huo Ran could no longer remember what he was thinking at that time.
He just felt that everything was good now.
Huo Ran stood in front of the window for a long time, unwilling to look away.
Tao Zhiyue might be walking slowly on a street within his sight, heading towards home under the light of the street lamps.
They had clearly never met before, but Huo Ran felt that he had clearly witnessed this scene.
The thin and tall figure was shrouded in the warm yellow light, leaving a long oblique shadow on the asphalt road.
"Did you drink a lot today?"
Tao Zhiyue recalled carefully, "Well... not a lot, I just forgot how much I drank."
Huo Ran couldn't help but be curious, "Can I ask you, why are you drinking today?"
He intuitively felt that Tao Zhiyue was not someone who liked to drink.
Tao Zhiyue was silent for a while, and when Huo Ran began to reflect on whether he had said something wrong and wanted to withdraw the question anxiously, he answered in a low voice.
"I fell in love with someone I shouldn't have."
Huo Ranlian's breathing paused for a moment.
The fact that "Dr. Tao fell in love with someone he likes", which I had tried so hard to forget, came back to my mind again.
It turned out that Tao Zhiyue drank a lot of wine because of that person.
Feeling suddenly bitter inside, Huo Ran had no idea what to say next.
He was silent for a while and heard Tao Zhiyue mumbling to himself in annoyance.
"I know he's straight and we've never met, so why can't I control myself from liking him?"
Tao Zhiyue forgot about Huo Ran on the other end of the phone and fell into his own world.
"He told me yesterday that he fell in love with a girl, and it was love at first sight."
"I should wish him the best. He is already middle-aged and has never been in a relationship. It should be a happy thing for him to finally find someone he likes."
"I just can't be happy."
As Huo Ran listened, disbelief gradually appeared in his eyes.
Why does this description sound so familiar
…Except for middle age.
Huo Ran suppressed the throbbing in his heart and pretended to be calm, "Why do people think he is a middle-aged man?"
Tao Zhiyue was unaware of his excitement and quickly explained, "Because he doesn't use the Internet and doesn't understand any buzzwords... He even uses a very old-fashioned landscape photo as his profile picture."
The only sound in the whole world was the rumbling heartbeat.
Huo Ran clenched his phone tightly, as if trying to hold on to a fleeting illusion.
Even his voice trembled.
"Then...what buzzwords have you heard of him?"
Tao Zhiyue always answered every question: "Well, let me think about it."
"Green tea, connotation, Amway..." He paused, "No, Amway is something he learned by himself. As a middle-aged man, I envy his learning ability and the speed at which he accepts new things..."
Huo Ran subconsciously ignored the part after the middle-aged man.
His mood suddenly became cheerful.
Even when drunk, Tao Zhiyue still remembered every little thing related to him.
"And then there was that orange smell..." As he was talking, Tao Zhiyue, whose brain reaction was very slow, got stuck again, "Oh, it seems that the orange smell was not from him, but from someone else."
Hearing this, Huo Ran felt his whole body stiffen, but his blood was as hot as if it was boiling.
Orange smell, War of the Roses, boys wearing masks…
He spotted the man at a glance amid the crowded crowd of strangers.
The world is so strange, I just happened to meet him.
The blood suddenly rose to the top of his head and Huo Ran could no longer remain calm.
Tao Zhiyue was still mumbling to himself, his voice was very confused: "How could someone remember it wrong? It's so strange, they are obviously not from the same generation..."
Huo Ran knew that it was not a fair thing to do to get information from the other party when he was drunk, but he really couldn't contain his excitement.
"Is it a game exhibition? The Northern Shanxi Game Exhibition."
His deep voice was filled with anticipation and excitement; the imprints of his fingers on the glass window turned white with strength, and a humid white mist spread in front of him.
"Yes, I was really lucky yesterday and was chosen as a lucky audience member." Tao Zhiyue smiled, "The game is fun and the room is nice too."
"I went there again today. There were so many people queuing up and taking pictures. They were all pink flowers. The little Lolita I made had pink hair."
"I wanted to take a picture, but I held back. I walked around this afternoon but didn't see him."
Drunkness eroded his rationality, Tao Zhiyue's speech began to become incoherent, and his voice became distant.
Huo Ran instantly came back to his senses from his passionate fantasy, his eyes filled with genuine worry: "Are you feeling unwell?"
Tao Zhiyue on the other end of the line took a while to answer.
"My face is so hot, and the wind is so hot tonight." Tao Zhiyue murmured, "I think I am really allergic to alcohol."
"But it doesn't matter. Someone gave me a box of loratadine yesterday. I put it in the cupboard and you can take it when you get home."
Speaking of this, Tao Zhiyue's voice was hinted with a quiet smile.
Huo Ran clearly remembered that when he took the medicine box from his hand, his ears were red and there was a flash of surprise in his bright and clear eyes.
On the smooth and cool cardboard box, their hands touched briefly.
The burning heat lingered on the fingertips, and the skin felt a soft electric current.
It turns out they were so close.
It was difficult for Huo Ran to describe the emotions surging in his heart at this moment.
He felt lucky to meet someone among so many people. He thought life was so wonderful. But he also felt a sense of regret after he suddenly realized the truth.
If he also goes to the game show today, can I meet him again
What will they talk about when they see him again
His thoughts were churning, but in the end, Huo Ran suppressed all his complex and unspeakable emotions, and his voice was filled with pure tenderness.
"If you have an allergy again in the future, remember to tell me immediately."
Tao Zhiyue seemed unable to understand what he meant, "What?"
"Next time, I will give you the medicine as soon as possible." Huo Ran said softly, "I won't forget again."
"… Thank you."
Tao Zhiyue was a little touched, "You are such a good person."
Although he had not been online much before, Huo Ran still knew some of the common jokes in daily life.
He laughed and said, "Is this a good guy card?"
"Well... no." Tao Zhiyue's voice drifted again, and he seemed to shake his head, "This is not a confession."
When Huo Ran heard the word "confession", his rapid heartbeat accelerated again.
He tried hard to suppress the indescribable impulse in his heart, "Yes, it's not a confession."
“I don’t like the term ‘nice guy card’.”
Tao Zhiyue's tone was rarely a little stubborn, "A good person is a good person, and that's not an excuse to reject them. I like all good people, and they should be cherished."
"You're right, you're a very good person too." Huo Ran responded solemnly.
"…" Tao Zhiyue paused for a moment and said hesitantly, "I passed by a window with a mirror, and I blushed."
Then he lied to himself and said, "No, everyone must take medicine today."
Huo Ran felt as if his heart was melted by the high temperature, breaking into pieces, seeping into every crevice in his body and affecting every nerve.
He could hardly hold back the urge to rush out.
He really wanted to see Tao Zhiyue who was wandering alone on the street at this time.
But he also clearly understood the other party's sensitivity and caution.
After thinking for a long time, Huo Ran asked cautiously: "Will you go to the game exhibition tomorrow?"
Tao Zhiyue thought for a moment: "Tomorrow... I'll go to bed tomorrow. I don't want to go. I'm so tired. I want to be lazy."
"Okay, then be lazy."
It was not until he experienced this kind of mood that Huo Ran finally believed that there really was a person who could express cuteness in every word he said.
The phone was silent for a while, leaving only the faint sound of breathing and the sound of a car passing by.
They listened quietly to each other's breathing.
Suddenly, Tao Zhiyue exclaimed loudly: "There are so many stars tonight."
"I was just talking to you and forgot about the stars."
His voice became distant again. Huo Ran felt that he must have raised his head and stared at the stars in the sky.
"So beautiful, so twinkling, better than the game."
Hearing this, Huo Ran also raised his head, glanced at the lights of half the city that were lit all night, and looked up at the quiet sky.
They were looking at the same starry sky.
The night sky is full of stars, and in the watery moonlight, beautiful evening stars twinkle, and suddenly fall into the turbulent sea of heart.
Huo Ran felt as if time and space were out of place. He returned to that small wooden house. In front of the mirror sat a chubby brown hedgehog with its spikes glowing silvery white. A brown bear with smooth fur pushed the door open and walked in, as if it belonged here.
Then they looked up together at the vast world outside the skylight.
Huo Ran remembered what he had said to Tao Zhiyue that day.
[Dr. Tao, hedgehogs can also be hugged.]
During the game that day, he hid behind the brown bear. He didn't want to scare Dr. Tao, so he just used his broad bear paws to gently pat the hedgehog's thorny back.
And at this moment, Huo Ran really wanted to hug the real him.