Looking Over at the Guy Across the Way

Chen Xiao eyed the door of the young man across the way. 𝒇𝑟e𝙚𝑤𝙚𝐛𝗻𝐨ν𝚎𝘭.c𝐨m

A week ago, Chen Xiao had come home from work and found a couple of large boxes stacked up in front of the old residential building, clogging up the already-narrow staircase.

Looking at the big, tall boxes stacked in front of him, Chen Xiao had frowned, who would be so mindless? Not afraid it’ll be stolen and blocking everyone else’s path! He had bent down and wrapped his arms around the box, trying to move it away –

Fuck! I can’t move it!

He gave it a hateful kick with his foot, opening his mouth and yelling: “Whose box?! It flipped over! Everything fell out!!”

The only good thing about the old-fashioned residential building was that the whole building was just six floors, so floor by floor, the shout could probably be heard by half the residents.

Sure enough, there was the hurried sound of someone coming down the stairs from above.

“Ah, my box –”

Chen Xiao took a deep breath and prepared to start a lecture. He looked up and, yo – looks really good.

The person appeared to be 25 or 26 years old with short, dark hair that covered his ears slightly. The hair at the front of the head was very short, revealing a pair of black eyes under thick eyebrows.

At this time, the handsome guy was standing on the other side of the box, so the height difference of the two men could be clearly seen.

“Eh? My box isn’t –” The handsome guy looked at the box then looked at Chen Xiao, not yet figuring it out.

Chen Xiao’s eyes curved. He laughed: “Oh, I’ve already helped you pick it up, this box……is very heavy.”

The handsome guy didn’t think much about it, scratching his head in embarrassment and laughing: “Thank you so much.”

Well, the smile looked good and there were two tiger’s teeth, so cute.

“Never mind, but……let’s move these things away first, it’s not good to get in everyone else’s way.” Like me, for example.

“Ah, I’m sorry! I just ran to put something up, I thought I’d be back down soon. Let’s just take this pile up, since it got in your way.” The handsome guy scratched his head again, crouching down and taking the big box, straining, and hurriedly moved it to the other side.

Chen Xiao looked at the muscle that was exposed outside his short sleeves, licking his lips. He was very satisfied so he kept pretending to be a good person: “These things of yours, are you moving up stairs?”

“Exactly, I just moved here.” The handsome guy smiled shyly.

Oh – it’s a move, that’s better.

Chen Xiao’s eyes were shining with laughter: “I’ll help you move things up, since we’re neighbors in the same building. Besides, if you leave these things in this unsafe place, they’ll get in the way of other people. Besides, it’s tiring enough to run around on your own.”

He chattered away, not giving the other a chance to speak at all, crouching down and picking up a box to walk upstairs.

The handsome guy didn’t expect to meet such a warm-hearted person, so he was stunned for a while before he picked up the remaining two boxes and chased him up.

“That…..what, it’s very heavy, you’d might as well let me do it myself!”

“Not gonna. I’m strong, I was the long-distance race champion in college,” Chen Xian said casually while he thought, so heavy! But, no pain, no gain (can’t be reluctant to catch a wolf)!…..Fuck, Laozi’s hands are almost broken. “Which floor do you live on?”

“The sixth.”

Chen Xiao felt both happy and depressed: happy that this guy was his new neighbor, sad because fuck, going to the sixth floor?! No, no, no, if he wasn’t on the sixth floor, he wouldn’t be the right one for me.

Of course, in the end, the happiness overshadowed the misery. If you want to trap the little wolf, you always have to suffer some mental and physical trauma first.

Caught up in a happy fantasy, his hands were suddenly not sore and his feet weren’t heavy either. The whole person was crawling up in a buzz.

On the sixth floor, Chen Xiao put down the box and shook out his hands. He wiped the sweat from his face as he trembled and pretended he wasn’t even tired. After taking a look, he thought, if I had to go up one more floor, I think I would have come clean here.

The handsome guy was following behind and shot him a smile without any signs of being out of breath. He walked through the door that hadn’t been closed with the box in his arms.

How are you strong like a bull when you look so weak-willed……

Chen Xiao helplessly continued to carry the big box and stumble into the house. Because of this, his long-term inactive body had been overloaded, plus since he had just taken a break for a while, just taking a few steps now made him feel like his whole body had a shaky center of gravity and he fell back.

Done.

He cried out, hurriedly slapping out an empty hand to lean on the wall beside him. But in the next moment, his hand became light as the box was lifted away.

With a bang, he slammed to the floor and saw the handsome guy staring at him with the box in his arms.

Chen Xiao: “…..”

Handsome guy: “……”

Chen Xiao: “……well, don’t help me up just yet.”

Handsome guy: “……oh, oh, I’m sorry!”

The handsome guy hurriedly tossed the big box to the side. The heavy box hit the floor, making a muffled noise. He wrapped a hand around Chen Xiao’s waist, holding Chen Xiao’s hand with the other and lifted him up in a show of strength.

Chen Xiao’s eyes popped as he grabbed the other’s shoulders. While gasping, he smelled the mixture of soap and sweat from the other and suddenly found himself……hard.

Chen Xiao: “……”

The handsome guy was apologetic: “You didn’t get hurt anywhere from the fall, did you?”

Chen Xiao made a complicated face as he pulled away: “…….”

“??”

He reached out his hand and patted the other on the shoulder: “……Then we’re neighbors, take care.”

The handsome guy couldn’t keep up with Chen Xiao’s jumping thoughts. He was stunned for a while staring at him with big eyes before saying: “You live on this floor too?!”

“Exactly. Then I’ll go back first, you can sort yourself out slowly. If there’s anything I can do to help, just call me.”

“Okay……thank you very much!” The handsome man watched Chen Xiao walk out with an extremely unnatural gait, could it have been an injury from the fall?

When Chen Xiao had just stepped over the threshold, his shoulder was gripped by a powerful hand.

“My name is Gu MengYang. ‘Gu’ from to take care, ‘Meng’ from MengZi (Confucian scholar), ‘Yang’ from sunshine. What about you?”

“Chen Xiao, ‘Xiao’ from…..zodiac.”

Gu MengYang grinned, saying: “Then take care, Chen Xiao.”

Smile…..smile, my ass! My eyes are going to be blinded by you! Chen Xiao gulped hard, waving at Gu MengYang and going back into his house with a grimace on his face.

—

The next day was Saturday. Chen Xiao had stayed up for a week to get to this day. Of course, he slept in and his phone’s alarm clock was off. As he was relishing a dream fantasy, he heard someone calling him. He turned around in his dream, but didn’t see anyone, and then shocked, he jumped out of bed.

He swayed all the way to the door, swearing, and opened the door to find the voice: “Who is it?!”

Then, he saw Gu MengYang, standing at the door, panicky with an innocent expression.

Both of them were a little embarrassed, standing face to face for a while without speaking.

It took Chen Xiao a lot of effort to wipe the vicious look from his face: “Ha, ha, ha, need something?”

Still a little embarrassed, Gu MengYang rigidly raised the bag in his hands into Chen Xiao’s line of sight.

That’s when Chen Xiao noticed Gu MengYang was holding a big bag of something, really heavy and really spherical, which was…..

“Watermelon?!”

“That’s right.” Gu MengYang laughed naturally. “I brought one for you since I went down to buy fruit this morning. Yesterday was a real trouble to you.”

At the sight of the other being so harmless but also a little shy, that smile ravaged him severely, even though he had just woken up, Chen Xiao went breathless.

“Why are you so polite, no need, no need.”

“No way, you have to take it,” Gu MengYang, with an earnest expression, handed over the watermelon with a little force.

Chen Xiao thought it over and didn’t push it away. He took the bag and, coincidentally, touched Gu MengYang’s hand. The brush of warm skin made him wish he wouldn’t let go.

“Well, thank you.”

Gu MengYang was happy to see Chen Xiao take the watermelon, saying: “No, I’m sorry to disturb your rest, so I’ll go back first.”

Chen Xiao watch Gu MengYang turned around and walk towards the opposite door. He didn’t forget to turn back and wave at him before closing the door. His heart was racing like never before. It was over. What is this illusion of overflowing material love…..

And then on Sunday, Chen Xiao, who usually slept until noon, actually woke up early. He propped up his ears and listened for a noise outside the door, maybe Gu MengYang will knock on the door today too? But he listened for a long time and didn’t hear anything, not even the sound of the door, only the noise of the ladies in the next unit. In the end, he couldn’t last any longer and he went back to sleep.

When he went out, Chen Xiao couldn’t help but take a second glance at that door. But in the end, the door didn’t move and he could only leave moodily. 𝗳𝘳𝒆𝘦𝑤𝐞𝚋𝗻𝚘𝘷𝘦𝙡.𝑐𝐨𝘮

When he came home and opened his door, the door behind Chen Xiao opened.

“Chen Xiao?”

He had his hand on the key and turned back so quickly that his neck made a “ka” sound.

“Ah? Need something?” he endured the pain, sending a “invite me to come in and sit down even if there’s nothing to talk about” look over.

“It’s nothing, just…..to ask you to eat a watermelon.” Gu MengYang probably thought it was a little odd to say, because he laughed with embarrassment when he finished.

What?! Eating watermelon?!

Chen Xiao felt like his head was about to fall off his neck as his jaw dropped. This was the first time he’d seen someone addicted to eating watermelon, can’t you just invite me for a cup of tea?!

Before he could answer, Gu MengYang just said “wait” and turned into his place. After a few moments, he walked up to Chen Xiao with a heavy bag.

“Here, I just bought it.”

“…….” Chen Xiao stared at the watermelon for a while, then finally reached out and took it, “Then, I won’t be polite.”

So when Gu MengYang came home from work Monday evening, the first thing he saw was a big watermelon on the floor in front of his door and a white note on the door “just bought it, you’re welcome!”

And at this point, Chen Xiao was gnawing at the watermelon, staring motionless through the peephole and watching Gu MengYang pick up the watermelon with a smile. He came towards his doorstep.

Hmmhmm, so you like to offer watermelon, then this Laozi will let you buy me watermelon for the rest of my life!