(1)

What to do when you run into your crush at a friend’s house?

Waiting online, urgent!

My crush dates back to half a year ago when I was still in the country.

At that time, I was looking for a cohabitation partner—oh no, a roommate, for when I moved to Australia, and I added a netizen.

His avatar looked pretty cool, a pine tree covered in snow under a streetlamp.

It was quite an abstinent avatar (hehe).

Since we were strangers, we mostly communicated via text, but he would occasionally send two voice messages for just a few seconds.

Surprisingly, I was enchanted.

May I ask why?

That deep, gentle voice, clear articulation, with a hint of breathiness that wasn’t overdone. The noisy background only made his magnetic voice more captivating.

The voice-con in me fell in love instantly—I confess.

There’s nothing shameful about it, after all, it’s just a crush.

In my mind, I’ve already pictured his looks, physique, height, abs, pecs, biceps…

The rest is unspeakable.

I’m very pure and innocent.

But in the end, we didn’t end up living together—I had to attend a language course first, while he scored a 7.5 in IELTS.

We weren’t on the same campus.

He found someone else to live with.

I can only say I was deeply disappointed.

(2)

The brother standing by the kitchen island, talking to others, had a voice exactly like my crush.

Also, come on, brother, you’re ridiculously handsome.

I was sitting on the living room sofa with Ma Jiaming, leaning together and staring in that direction.

I watched like a predator.

He sulked.

Ma Jiaming pouted, and when he spoke, it was as sour as if he had just eaten three boxes of the local specialty strawberries.

“From now on, anyone more handsome than me isn’t allowed into my circle of friends.”

See? You admitted he’s handsome too.

“Which school is he from?” I asked, sounding one-third casual, one-third indifferent, one-third pretending not to care.

Only the remaining one-tenth was nervousness and the only one that was real.

“He’s from our school,” Ma Jiaming smacked his lips. “From the Business School.”

Alright, it’s definitely him.

I affirmed in my heart, the same voice, the same school, the same college.

Who else could it be??

It could only be my crush.

(3)

He really was as handsome as I had imagined.

Swoosh swoosh.

I was so excited and a little high that I didn’t even noticed him approaching.

The sofa beside me sank, and I reflexively looked to the side.

It was his flawlessly handsome face.

He was smiling at me and talking to me.

Oh, he was talking to me!

I was so excited that I forgot to turn on my ears.

“What?” I asked, my voice trembling a little.

He handed me a can of Coke, chilled with beads of water on it.

“Hot? Your face is red.”

Great, now it wasn’t just red, it was on fire.

I took it.

“Thanks.”

One-third casual, one-third indifferent, one-third pretending not to care.

But the remaining one-tenth was an explosion.

That one-tenth was enough—I was about to blow up.

(4)

Ma Jiaming leaned over to look at him, initiating the essential ritual of international student meetups.

Household registration investigation.

“Where are you from?”

I lowered my head, leaned close to the can, and drank the Coke, eyes widening instantly.

Good question, Ma Jiaming.

Because I wanted to know too.

My crush said two words.

He was from Yumi Province.

Alright, case closed.

The legendary province of online dating and the hub of moaning ASMR creators truly lived up to its reputation.

My best girl friend also came from Yumi Province.

They had such good stuff over there, and they didn’t tell me?

Okay, from now on, I’ll never share those late-night anchor’s ASMR sleep aid channels with her again (smile.jpg).

Ma Jiaming, still not quite over his earlier bout of jealousy, suddenly blurted out something weird.

“Oh, Yumi Province ah?”

The tone was off, I could tell right away.

My heart skipped a beat.

I didn’t even bother drinking the Coke anymore and looked up at my crush.

I only saw that he looked just as taken aback, stunned for a moment, and then his expression darkened.

He stood up and looked at Ma Jiaming.

“Yeah, got a problem?”

My heart was hanging high, but my eyes were still sharp.

He must be a regular at the gym, wearing a black cotton T-shirt, his muscular arms stretched the sleeves taut.

He clenched his fist with such force that his entire arm tensed up, muscles bulging, veins prominently showing.

So sexy, so intimidating.

Ma Jiaming wouldn’t get beaten up, right?

Ma Jiaming must have thought the same—he shrank his neck, eyes wide open.

But my crush just gave him a short, mocking snort and turned to leave.

Ah!

I was furious. If he wasn’t going to hit him, I would.

I pounded on Ma Jiaming like he was a quail.

“What the are you doing, talking like that ah! Are you crazy!”

Ma Jiaming froze, on the verge of tears. “What did I even say…”

“You sounded like you were throwing regional shades ah! You left the capital, but did you have to bring that firecracker with you?!”

Ma Jiaming clutched his head. “I didn’t mean it that way… We’re the Four Provinces of Mountains and Rivers—we’re a band ah! Why would I throw shade1The above two paragraphs had some kind of a wordplay. First was “throwing regional shades” then the meaning shifted to “hooking up”. He was essentially clarifying that he wasn’t trying to throw shade but the way he phrased it ended up sounding like he was denying a sexual implication. at him?”

I was losing it.

What to do?

Was my crush was going to die by Ma Jiaming’s big mouth? (smile.jpg)

(5)

What to do?

It was almost ten o’clock, and a few friends were already picking up their car keys to head home.

What to do?

If I didn’t clear things up today, never mind turning my crush into something real.

I might not even be able to take off this big hat of throwing regional shades.

I was wronged ah…

Ma Jiaming!

I swear I’ll beat you up again tomorrow!

I watched as my crush found his car keys on the shoe rack and bid farewell to the friend who hosted the party.

I mustered up my courage, then more courage, and once again gathered it.

“Li Qingze.”

Who was calling my name?

Huh? He knew my name?

My crush walked up to me, his eyes bright, looking straight at me.

He called my name again, making me realize that I wasn’t dreaming.

“Li Qingze, I saw your friend left. Do you need me to give you a ride home?”

(6)

I walked behind him.

We both got into the elevator, which was surrounded by glass on all sides. When I looked up, I met his gaze directly.

I hurriedly looked away uncomfortably.

It was a bit too obvious, I was wearing a quick-dry outdoor jacket.

There was a sound of rustling.

“Haven’t introduced myself yet. My name’s Yan Han.”

He spoke.

His voice was just as pleasant as the voice messages I bookmarked on WeChat.

“I know.” I squeezed out those words, but it didn’t feel natural enough. I cleared my throat and spoke again.

“I know!”

Great, my bel canto2Italian for beautiful singing. was practically out.

I was impressed with myself.

I got into his car which was a dark blue Volkswagen SUV; stylish just like him.

There were a few books on the front passenger seat. I opened the door, hesitating for a moment about whether I should sit in the back.

Noticing it, he quickly apologized and moved the books to the back seat.

I was pleased.

So the front passenger seat was reserved for me after all.

He turned on the music in the car, and Jay Chou’s “Romantic Cellphone” started playing.

Nice taste.

“By the way,” I thought it was necessary to explain, “earlier, Ma Jiaming didn’t mean it that way. He just doesn’t think before he speaks.”

I was afraid that he wouldn’t believe me, so I turned around and seriously explained to him.

“He’s just an idiot, but he definitely didn’t mean it that way.”

“Okay, I know.”

He freed one hand and patted my arm.

“It’s fine.”

He patted my arm, but I was too focused on talking to notice.

“Just don’t be upset.”

That was what I really wanted to say.

Don’t be upset.

He was taken aback for a moment and turned to look at me. “I’m not upset.”

I let out a sigh of relief.

“That’s good.”

(7)

He pulled up in front of my apartment building. As I got out of the car, he took out his phone.

“Let’s add each other on WeChat?”

“Oh.”

I obediently pulled up my QR code for him to scan.

After scanning, Yan Han frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

His frown was so handsome it made my liver tremble.

“I already have your WeChat.”

…

My god, how could I forget about this?

“Oh, really? When did we add each other? Hehehehe…”

“I forgot. I don’t have the chat history on my side anymore.”

Yan Han looked at me with an apologetic face.

I turned my phone up so he couldn’t see, sliding my finger over the screen, from the moment we became friends to the last message where he sent me an apologetic sticker. I had saved all the chat history.

I even switched phones once, but I still transferred the chat logs over.

I felt a little sad, but just a little.

“I don’t remember either.”

I lied to him.

Yan Han operated his phone with one hand, and suddenly, I heard a ding dong on my side.

[Hello, I’m Yan Han.]

“Then let’s get to know each other again.” He said to me with a smile.

(8)

How could he be so smooth?

This kind of person was born to be my husband.

Translator’s Note:

Would you believe I just read this two nights ago on my phone and when I went to check it on the browser, I was surprised that the latest update was on the 29th! :blobrofl:

I’m too excited to share it with you guys and it’s really a very short story that you can read in one sitting! So, if you’re impatient (like me!), you can read the raws here. Let’s give the author more view counts, since all the chapters are free and it’s an easy read!^^

Anyway, I really enjoyed reading it as it was so sweet and cute! >< I couldn’t wait for you to find it, too!