The night not only concealed Jiang Lin's nervous expression, but also covered his hot cheeks and earlobes. While Ji Minglun couldn't see clearly, he quietly raised his eyes and looked up, hoping to hear Ji Minglun's agreement.
The curtains were drawn by the French windows, and the sound of wind and rain outside was much quieter than last night. After a brief blur, the laptop screen resumed display, and the light illuminated each other's faces. Jiang Lin immediately lowered his head, but Ji Minglun still saw the eager expectation in his eyes.
Staring at Ji Minglun's instep, Jiang Lin waited for a while but received no answer, and he realized that this proposal put Ji Minglun in an awkward position.
Standing up by supporting himself on the floor, he picked up the plate and beer can, and walked outside, bypassing Ji Minglun.
Arriving in the kitchen, he dumped the cheesecake, which he had only taken two bites of, into the trash can and turned on the tap to rinse the dishes. His emotions plummeted with the flow of water, and soon he felt so uncomfortable that even breathing began to burn, but he still had to pretend that nothing was wrong. After cleaning up, he leaned against the sink for a while, and when he wanted to wash up, he found Ji Minglun carrying the pillows and blankets on the sofa and walking towards the second bedroom.
He froze where he was, watching the man pull the **'s pillow to the side outside, put his pillow inside, and then shake out his blanket and spread it out.
Jiang Lin went into the bathroom and closed the door. He leaned against it and was unable to come back to his senses for a long time.
His mood was like a roller coaster, rising from the bottom to the top. While brushing his teeth, he kept glancing at the person in the mirror. After washing his face, his smile couldn't disappear, so he had to stay for a while before coming out.
Ji Minglun had turned off the lights and lay down, leaving a small bedside lamp on for him.
He turned his cell phone to silent mode and closed the door quietly. In fact, he himself didn't know why he was so careful. Ji Minglun closed his eyes but he certainly wouldn't fall asleep so quickly.
When he reached the carpet, he took off his slippers and placed them next to Ji Minglun's pair. He walked along the carpet to the bed, turned off the bedside lamp as he did in the past, then stepped over Ji Minglun along the edge of the bed and lay down inside.
Ji Minglun was lying flat on his back, covered with a thin air-conditioning blanket, and he didn't move at all the time. He didn't react after Jiang Lin lay down, as if he was really asleep.
Guessing that he did this to avoid embarrassment and discomfort, Jiang Lin's mood calmed down again. Listening to the rustling sound of rain outside the window, he knew that the typhoon would almost be over tomorrow morning, and Ji Minglun would be leaving then.
Although they still had interactions in the store, he was reluctant to leave when he thought about the day and two nights they had spent together, and even had the absurd idea that he didn't want the typhoon to end.
After lying on the bed for more than an hour, Jiang Lin had been concentrating on listening to Ji Minglun's breathing. From the normal frequency to slowly becoming long, and then to a slight snoring. Guessing that Ji Minglun should be asleep, Jiang Lin finally turned over and faced him, secretly watching Ji Minglun sleeping.
They grew up together and have slept in the same bed countless times since kindergarten. He has seen Ji Minglun sleeping countless times, but never has he stared at him as intently as he did tonight, unwilling to close his eyes for a long time.
The moonlight flowed slowly on the ground near the window, and his gaze lingered on the eyebrows and eyes of the person in front of him. It was an appearance that was so familiar that it couldn't be more familiar, but because of his different state of mind, the feeling it gave him was completely different.
If he had been as aware as he is now a year ago, perhaps they would have lost control on the night Ji Minglun confessed his love.
Unfortunately, he was a step too late and missed the opportunity. Now Ji Minglun had let him go, and even had no reaction when they slept in the same bed. He even pretended to sleep in advance to avoid unnecessary contact.
The fingers placed at his side moved, and Ji Minglun's hand was a few inches away. He stared at Ji Minglun's profile and quietly reached out his hand, first putting his thumb on Ji Minglun's little finger, then stretched out his index finger and hooked the end of the little finger.
It was such a tiny action, but he did it very carefully, fearing that Ji Minglun would wake up and find out, and then leave.
But the person he held actually fell asleep, and didn't even notice that he was holding her whole hand. It wasn't until he couldn't bear it anymore and fell asleep that the two hands slowly loosened.
It drizzled all night, and the next morning, Ji Minglun woke up naturally.
He didn't sleep well the night before yesterday. After lying down last night, even though Jiang Lin was next to him, he forced himself not to think too much and focus on falling asleep. Unexpectedly, he really fell asleep, but looking at the posture when he woke up, his mood became complicated again.
It was obviously not winter, but Jiang Lin rolled into his arms again, with one leg on his thigh and the sensitive part pressed against him, giving him plenty of room for imagination.
Turning his head to look at the face on his shoulder, he really had the urge to press Jiang Lin under him and kiss him again. He wanted to make Jiang Lin realize that he still had that kind of thought, and let Jiang Lin know the limits and keep a distance.
Unfortunately, no matter how much I think about it, the kiss from a year ago still has aftereffects. I still feel pain when I think of him now, but the pain is different from that time. Now it is a swollen pain.
The right hand that was not pressed down reached down, gently lifted Jiang Lin's left leg and put it down. When Ji Minglun got up, he couldn't help but look at Jiang Lin's place.
The last time I saw Jiang Lin without any clothes was in junior high school. I don’t know what Jiang Lin looks like now.
Realizing that he was imagining the worst thing, Ji Minglun wanted to slap himself. He got off the bed quietly, walked out of the bedroom quickly, closed the door and went into the bathroom.
After receiving several splashes of cold water on his face, he looked at his disheveled self in the mirror, thought about it and decided to take off his pajamas and stand under the shower.
Unable to vent his anger at Jiang Lin's house, he could only use cold water to put out the fire. Unfortunately, the impulse that had been aroused for two consecutive mornings was not so easy to eliminate. He got goose bumps from the cold water before he finally calmed down and sneezed to turn off the water.
When I came out, a figure at the door suddenly appeared in my sight.
It was unknown when Jiang Lin got up, or how long he had been standing at the door. Ji Minglun felt guilty for a moment, but luckily he hadn't done anything.
Jiang Lin asked: "Why do you take a shower right after getting up?"
"I'm sweating."
Ji Minglun made up an excuse and bypassed Jiang Lin to go into the kitchen to pour water. After drinking a cup of hot water, he finally heard the sound of the bathroom door closing.
Heaving a sigh of relief, Ji Minglun walked into the living room and looked at the wall clock.
It was already past nine o'clock, and the tops of the phoenix trees were still swaying in the wind, but the rain had stopped.
He went to the balcony to collect the almost dry **, and found a set of T-shirt and sweatpants that he had left in the closet. After changing into them, Ji Minglun took his phone and wallet, walked to the bathroom door and said, "I'm leaving first."
As soon as he finished speaking, the closed door was opened. Jiang Lin's electric toothbrush was still in his mouth, and his upper lip was covered with a circle of toothpaste foam.
Ji Minglun said: "No need to send it off, just keep brushing."
After returning to the sink and spitting out the toothpaste, Jiang Lin rinsed his mouth and said, "Why are you leaving without eating breakfast?"
"Well, I have some things to do. It will be too late if I don't leave now."
With his heels stuffed into his sneakers, Ji Minglun straightened up to open the door. Jiang Lin said again: "Minglun, thank you for these two days."
Holding the door handle, Ji Minglun turned around and raised his lips to him: "Let's go."
Without waiting for Jiang Lin to say goodbye, Ji Minglun walked out of the house. Jiang Lin leaned on the door frame and watched him walk down the stairs. He didn't even look up when he turned the corner and just left.
After walking back to the car, Ji Minglun fastened his seat belt and started the car, driving away almost without stopping. He didn't look through the rearview mirror until he turned out of the gate of the community, and then he leaned his head against the headrest and breathed a sigh of relief.
When he came here, he never thought that he would stay for so long, and he never expected that the relationship with Jiang Lin would ease to this extent. The most important thing was that he overestimated himself.
On the way back, he finished the remaining cigarettes. When he was almost at the community, he saw a man walking on the sidewalk carrying three heavy bags, so he drove over, lowered the window and asked, "Why are you carrying so many things by yourself?"
Turning back and seeing it was him, Su Yan said with a gloomy face, "Give me a ride, the driver just now stalled at the intersection, it really killed me."
Ji Minglun unlocked the car door. Su Yan stuffed his things into the back seat, sat in the passenger seat and shook his hands.
Seeing Su Yan's slender fingers red and swollen from being squeezed, Ji Minglun thought of Jiang Lin's hands. He wondered if the recurring eczema would be a problem.
"You came back so early in the morning. Were you not at home last night?"
Ji Minglun was interrupted by Su Yan's voice and drove forward: "Yeah, I was at a friend's place last night."
Su Yan tilted his head to look at him, and seeing his serious expression, he knew that it was not what he thought. He fastened his seat belt and said, "Stop at the express cabinet for a while. I'll get a package."
Remembering that he also had a parcel to pick up, Ji Minglun sent the pickup code to Su Yan. When Su Yan picked it up for him, he found out that it was the bracelet he had sent for repair before.
The courier box was printed with the brand's logo. Su Yan asked, "What is this?"
After putting the express box behind the central control armrest, Ji Minglun released the handbrake and drove to the basement: "The lock of the previous bracelet was broken, so I sent it back for repair."
"Is that the one your sister gave me?"
This sentence reminded Ji Minglun of when he first met Su Yan, Su Yan was willing to talk to him because he liked this bracelet.
The bracelet was a birthday gift from Jiang Lin two years ago, and he never took it off after wearing it. Later, Jiang Lin went to Los Angeles, and a few months later, he ran into Su Yan, who looked a bit like Jiang Lin in both appearance and temperament. At that time, Su Yan fell in love with his bracelet at first sight and asked where he bought it. He didn't want to mention Jiang Lin, so he lied and said that his sister gave it to him.
"Um."
Without further explanation on this issue, Ji Minglun drove the car into the basement and parked it, and helped Su Yan carry the supermarket bags from the back seat. When he asked Ji Gan why he didn't accompany him to the supermarket while sitting in the elevator, Su Yan said that Ji Gan worked overtime all night yesterday and wanted him to sleep a little longer.
This reminded Ji Minglun of how he and Jiang Lin used to get along in the same way.
At that time, they were just good friends, but the boundary between good friends and lovers is blurred, and many times it is just the difference between taking a step forward and taking a step back.
After placing the things at the door of Su Yan's house, Ji Minglun turned and walked into his own house. While taking off his shoes at the entrance, he opened the top right cabinet door and took out a black drawstring bag from it.
After untying the knot at the drawstring, there were two pairs of slippers with cartoon patterns inside. The black one had a Labrador printed on it, and the brown one had a Corgi printed on it.
These are the slippers that Jiang Lin used at home before he went to Los Angeles. The black pair is his. I remember that when I bought them, there were several dog patterns. Jiang Lin chose a Labrador for him, saying that the dog looks like him, with a good temper and is clingy.
After putting the two pairs of slippers back, Ji Minglun walked to the coffee table and unpacked the package. The repaired bracelet lay quietly on the black velvet cloth. The lock had been replaced. It looked the same as before, but only he knew that this bracelet was different from before.
Just like his relationship with Jiang Lin, even if it was slowly repaired, it was still mixed with secrets that could not be revealed.
He still has love and desire for his best friend.
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Today is a double update, there is one more chapter later~