Chapter 3

       Xi Feng was stunned when he heard the words.

       The colleague looked at his expression and said, “You really don’t know? I remember they told you about it before.”

       Xi Feng looked bewildered, “I don’t remember…” When he said that, he did have a vague impression of someone gossiping to him about who was gay in the company. But he just joined the company not long ago. He was not able to match the name with the person, and forgot it after listening. It is only now when he listens to this colleague that he suddenly reacted to the fact that the person they were talking about at the time was actually He Yunsheng.

       Thinking of this, Xi Feng’s brows became furrowed.

       The colleague said softly, “You don’t know, eh? It seems that he has been hiding it from you, eh? He doesn’t have any idea about you, right? Did not take advantage of you either?”

       Xi Feng’s mind felt a little messy and rumbling like a train. Not only was he surprised, but there was also a little emotion that can probably be described as embarrassment. He didn’t expect He Yunsheng to be gay. He just felt comfortable getting along with each other, but if both of them got so close, probably everyone in the company would think he was also gay.

       Xi Feng felt a little irritated again thinking about it.

       In front of his colleagues, he was embarrassed to show too much emotion, and said, “There’s nothing between us, we are just ordinary friends.” After that, he turned and left.

       When he calmed down alone, Xi Feng felt more uncomfortable the more he thought about it.

       Recalling carefully, He Yunsheng is sometimes too peculiar about something, unlike a man. He knew that He Yunsheng had a habit of cleanliness, and everything had to be clean and tidy. One time he accidentally got vegetable soup on his hands. At that time, Xi Feng handed him some tissues, but he must go to the bathroom to clean it.

       At that time, Xi Feng felt that He Yunsheng was not brusque enough, not like a man should be.

       Now that he think about it, it’s probably because He Yunsheng is a homosexual.

       Xi Feng frowned. As soon as he thought of his close relationship with He Yunsheng, and the fact that the whole company was watching. He wondered what was being said about him behind his back, and his heart burst with anger. He couldn’t help but blame He Yunsheng for not telling him at the beginning, but he knew it was unreasonable. He had never asked He Yunsheng if he liked women, and He Yunsheng had no reason to take the initiative to mention his sexuality to him.

       He called He Yunsheng yesterday and made an appointment with him to have dinner today, but now Xi Feng is not sure if he should go.

       Before eating at noon, He Yunsheng unexpectedly appeared in Xi Feng’s office.

       He brought Xi Feng some raisins that his friend had sent from his hometown. The reason was because Xi Feng had eaten them last time and found them to taste good, so Xi Feng took the initiative to ask him.

       Xi Feng is a simple person. He thinks he and He Yunsheng are friends, so he didn’t care much about paying back.

       He Yunsheng also heard him mention it, and took the initiative to send him some raisins today.

       He Yunsheng has also been here usually.

       Xi Feng’s colleagues in a large office will secretly pay attention to them, but they will not blatantly watch, so Xi Feng himself never noticed.

       But today, he clearly felt the gaze of the people around him, and even noticed that a young female colleague was whispering and laughing.

       Xi Feng was a little annoyed at once, but it is hard to say whether it was because of He Yunsheng or because of the attitude of the colleagues around him.

       He Yunsheng didn’t talk much, and he planned to leave after putting things down for him. It’s just that he noticed that Xi Feng’s face was a little stiff, and when he put the things down, Xi Feng’s “thank you” sounded very awkward.

       He didn’t understand what was going on, and subconsciously wanted to ask, but he noticed that someone around them was secretly watching and he didn’t ask in the end.

       He Yunsheng is different from Xi Feng. He is very sensitive to other people’s attitudes.

　　He has been cautious for many years, but finally his sexual orientation was known because three years ago when he broke up with his ex-boyfriend. He was stalked by the ex and was dragged on the street to kiss him, and as a result, his colleagues in the company saw it.

　　After that, the word got around and the whole company knew about it.

       From then on, everyone’s attitude towards him was subtly different, and He Yunsheng was aware of it. Male colleagues, in particular, avoided him in the beginning, as if they would be infected with a virus called homosexuality if they spoke to him.

       He Yunsheng was quite depressed for a while, but after he figured things out, he just went his own way and tried not to interact too closely with others.

　　Xi Feng was the one who took the initiative to approach him over the years.

　　At first, He Yunsheng wondered if Xi Feng was gay, but when Xi Feng mentioned his relationship problems, he realized that he was thinking too much. No matter how he looked at it, Xi Feng is a straight man.

　　He Yunsheng is into men, but it doesn’t mean that he likes any man when he sees one. He can also make friends normally and develop social relations normally. If his sexual orientation were not discovered by people in the company, he would be a mature and decent middle-aged man in front of everyone. Not a gay man that everyone avoids when they see.

　　Everyone has a misconception about homosexuality, He Yunsheng knows it, but can’t do anything about it.

　　So for Xi Feng’s active approach, he tried to accept it slowly after resisting it at the beginning. In a sense, he is an ordinary single middle-aged man, he also needs to have friends, although most of the time he is listening to Xi Feng, but occasionally he can confide a little bit of his helplessness to Xi Feng, of course, only about work.

　　He Yunsheng left after giving the raisins to Xi Feng.

　　Xi Feng sat in his seat, looking at the carefully packed raisins sent by He Yunsheng and felt complicated.

　　The colleague from before wandered over again and said, “Manager He is giving you something?”

　　Xi Feng looked up at the smile on his face and felt that it smacked of mockery. He held back his temper, put the things away in the cabinet, and said, “It’s nothing.”

　　That afternoon, the company’s public mailbox received an email, and people in the same office as Xi Feng clicked on it and found that it turned out to be a photo.

　　It was a female colleague who covered her mouth in surprise when she saw the photo and said, “Isn’t this Xi Feng and Manager He?”

　　The whole office raised their heads, and some curious people stood up and walked over to the female colleague’s side to get a closer look, while saying amusedly, “Yes, it looks like they just came out of the hotel?”

　　Xi Feng stood up all of a sudden, walked straight behind the colleague, and even pushed away two people watching the excitement, staring at the photos on the computer screen.

　　That photo was indeed of him and He Yunsheng with the hotel door in the background. He seems to be drunk, and He Yunsheng was supporting him. It looked like he was going to help him in. It should have only been a back view, but because He Yunsheng seemed to be talking to the hotel doorman at the time, he turned around and revealed the sides of the two of them.

　　When Xi Feng looked at this hotel, he immediately remembered that this was the time when he was drunk and unconscious. He Yunsheng left him in the hotel for one night. It was already a few months ago. He didn’t expect someone to take a picture of it. And after so long since the picture was taken, when the relationship between him and He Yunsheng became close, that person suddenly sent the picture to the company mailbox for all the colleagues to see.

　　Everyone in the office was watching him. He opened his mouth and finally explained, “This is the time we went to dinner. I was drunk and you all seem to forget about me. Manager He sent me to the hotel for one night.”

　　He knew that the more he explained, the more people would think he was covering things up, but he couldn’t say nothing at all.

　　Despite this, a male colleague with a nasty mouth said, “Are you drunk? Did he do anything to you?”

　　The people around all suppressed a low laugh.

　　Xi Feng’s face turned pale, and he turned away with a cold snort.

　　A female colleague hit the man with her elbow, and whispered to him to stop talking nonsense. The others saw that Xi Feng was not looking good, and so they dispersed.

　　In just one afternoon, the picture spread throughout the company, and almost everyone knew about it.

　　He Yunsheng was naturally not an exception.

　　He himself was in the limelight, so he was used to all kinds of gossip and could face it calmly, but when he saw the photo, he suddenly became worried about Xi Feng.

　　At the dinner that night, Xi Feng did not miss his appointment.

　　Sitting down at the small restaurant, He Yunsheng just wanted to ask Xi Feng if he knew about the photo, but he found that Xi Feng’s face was a little gloomy.

　　After being slightly stunned, he asked, “Did anyone say something when they saw the photo?”

　　Xi Feng raised his head to look at He Yunsheng, and asked in a deep voice, “Do you like men?”

　　His tone sounded so impolite that He Yunsheng was taken aback, and he replied with equal displeasure, “I like men. I thought you should know that.”

　　Xi Feng frowned, and he said, “I didn’t know, and if I had known, I would have kept my distance from you.”

　　At that moment, He Yunsheng felt like he was slapped in the face, and a burst of anger suddenly surged up, but his self restraint prevented him from propagating his anger, but his expression became deadpan, “What do you mean?”

　　Xi Feng was very upset. He said, “You like men, shouldn’t you keep your distance? I don’t know this, but you yourself have always known it, right?”

　　He was still angry about the photo, and angry about the way his colleagues throughout the company looked at him. When reporting to the department head this afternoon, Xi Feng was teased by the other party. At that time, his face was red, but he had to hold back from expressing his anger, and was suffocated to the extreme.

　　So now, he almost inevitably vented his emotions to He Yunsheng. If He Yunsheng explained his sexuality to him before, then he would keep a certain distance from He Yunsheng.

　　He Yunsheng’s back was straight, and the noise in the small restaurant became distant at this moment. He took a deep breath to calm himself, and asked, “Because I like men, I should keep a distance from all men, right?”

　　Xi Feng said, “Shouldn’t you? If it were a woman who ate with me after work every day, what do you think people would think? Wouldn’t they misunderstand?”

　　He Yunsheng looked at him, and finally said coldly, “I think the one who misunderstood is yourself!”

　　After saying that, he stood up and said to Xi Feng before leaving, “I won’t harass you anymore.”

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The author has something to say:

Oh dear..

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Notes:
Why does he seems to have an amnesia??? Wasn’t he the one who keep asking He Yunsheng out????

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