Chapter 17: This must be a misunderstanding, right?
Chapter 17: This must be a misunderstanding, right?
Translator: DragonRider
Fat is the biggest killer of good looks.
When Rong Yi had a crush on Li Xiaoran, he was still the most popular player on their high school basketball team.
The athletic teenager had a unique charisma that had charmed at least one whole class of Omegas, of which Rong Yi was undoubtedly one of the activists.
This spectacular teen romance ended bleakly with one side confessing his love and the other expressing his horror with the line “I’m not gay”. After that, the one whose love confession failed was comforted by a gentle Alpha in the same class, which he mistakenly would be his new spring, but that was another story.
Today, having to face this dark history again, Rong Yi also felt a little bitter while sighing over how much the other person’s shape had changed.
Li Xiaoran’s response at that time did trigger some serious thinking as for whether or not he really had no choice but to find a gay Alpha as a partner. However, he had realised now that an Omega like himself couldn’t survive even in between.
Li Xiaoran, who had already put on weight even before his middle age, saw the change of expression on Rong Yi’s face, and was reassured that he hadn’t mistaken someone else for Rong Yi.
He stepped up to the two men quickly, with a subtle frown: “Haven’t seen you for some years. I didn’t realise you really…”
Rong Yi could guess what the second half of his sentence might have been.
‘With a look like yours, you really have turned out to be a homosexual in the end.’
In such circumstances, it was impossible to clarify for himself. Rong Yi furtively rubbed his hands on his side, then mimicked Li Xiaoran’s frown: “Have we met before? I’m sorry I really don’t have any recollection.”
Li Xiaoran was dumbfounded and then scoffed.
He turned his head to Zhou Li: “So, this is your Alpha?”
With his eyes wide open and his lips closed tightly, Zhou Li thought nervously for a little while before replying: “I only mentioned it was my boyfriend. I never said he was an Alpha. I…I don’t really like Alphas at all.”
“I heard back then that you got together with an Omega not long after I turned you down,” Li Xiaoran looked at Rong Yi. “I thought that was just a rumour…I didn’t realize you really don’t have restrictions of any kind.”
Rong Yi looked at him: “What are you trying to say here, Mister?”
Li Xiaoran looked at him and then looked at Zhou Li.
“This guy was a big-time playboy in our school,” he said. “He used his Omega status which meant he wouldn’t get pregnant with people of same gender and had had promiscuous relationships with god knows how many men. You’d better watch out.”
“…” Zhou Li glanced carefully at Rong Yi, and then swallowed some saliva. “Wow, I just fall for people like that. They have character.”
When he finally got out of Li Xiaoran’s sight, Rong Yi immediately covered his face: “There were many misunderstandings…”
“What do you mean you were rejected by him? You had even liked him in the past? Oh, my God!” Zhou Li grabbed him and shook him vigorously. “This is a misunderstanding too, right? This must be a misunderstanding, right?”
Rong Yi was embarrassed. After all this was the only thing that wasn’t a misunderstanding. It was true.
This fat man, now looking a little lewd, was once a handsome sunny teenager, and he was purely blinded by his adolescent hormones at that time. Rong Yi knew that was a far-fetched excuse, though. After all, even up till this day, he was still suffering from repeated, intermittent, impulsive blindness.
“It was almost ten years ago…” He was still covering his face. “Who hasn’t loved one or two assholes when they are young?”
When he put down his hands, Zhou Li’s expression was hard to describe.
“That kind of silly × that kind of stupid × oh well!” he said, “Your image in my mind is going to crumble!”
Rong Yi cleared his throat: “So, you see, it’s just so insensible to have love at first sight.”
…
There was a newly opened fish hotpot restaurant only about 10 minutes’ walk from Zhou Li’s company, and the online reviews were quite positive. They had booked a table beforehand. Now they were chatting as they walked towards the restaurant. The topic was inevitably taken towards the history that Li Xiaoran mentioned earlier.
“Tell me honestly,” Zhou Li said with a serious face.” Have you ever been in a relationship with an Omega?”
“No, I just like the kind of guy who looks really Alpha,” he said. “But many of my Omega friends have asked me to help out in similar ways.”
“Similar?”
“Just the kind of favour you asked me for today.”
There were several incidents that could have caused misunderstanding then.
He had a one-sided love for a very gentle Alpha, as warm as the spring breeze, in his class back then, and they then quickly became close friends. The alpha knew nothing about his feelings, but he knew Rong Yi was close to an Omega in the same class, so he asked him to pass a love letter for him.
With a broken heart, Rong Yi gave the love letter to his love rival, but in the process he caused quite a misunderstanding because he was too sad to remember to tell the Omega who was the author of this love letter. At one point, the Omega thought he had started dating Rong Yi.
The three people in this story all ended up quite unhappy.
One day after that, Rong Yi, feeling rather depressed, was sitting in a daze on the rooftop of the school building. There he met an unremarkable-looking Omega girl in the same class. She was standing on the edge of the rooftop looking down with a deadly gray face. Her appearance startled the already drowsing Rong Yi. After he finally dragged the girl back to safety, he listened to her crying and complaining for a long time. The girl muttered about her experiences of getting bullied in middle school because of her unattractive looks and her division into Omega. Just a few days ago, the most popular Omega in her class sent her an invitation to a reunion, saying that she could take her partner with her. Recalling all the humiliation she had received back then, she didn’t want to go to this reunion. However, she also feared that she would be mocked even more harshly if she wasn’t there, so the more she thought about this, the more upset she became and even began to doubt life. Hearing this, Rong Yi slapped himself on the thigh and said, ‘That’s pretty easy to solve. I’ll go with you.’
This story had a happy ending. Rong Yi made a real effort to perform at her classmates’ reunion party. Not only did he attract a lot of envy for her, but also attracted a pleasant surprise.
This Omega girl used to have a Beta friend in middle school who got on well with her and often helped her out. At the party, this Beta girl sneaked out of the room, squatted down in the hallway and started crying. The Omega girl went out to find her and then tried to hint subtly, “That’s not my Alpha, we’re just friends. Don’t get me wrong.” They soon found their happy ending.
While Rong Yi felt happy for the girl, deep down in his heart he started to feel sad again for himself who was still all alone.
Then, another Omega in the neighbouring class bet a thousand yuan, saying that he would definitely succeed in dating Rong Yi if he confessed his love to him. This helped Rong Yi, who was a little bit short of money at the time, to earn 500 Yuan happily.
After a peaceful break-up with this partner, he then forged a deep friendship with another Omega in the neighbouring class because they were both obsessed with an Alpha singer. Two Omega guys went to another city to see a concert and toured around together, but when they got back, there were all sorts of rumours about them.
By the time Rong Yi finished his rough-and-tumble experiences, the two had already nearly finished eating the hotpot.
Zhou Li was overwhelmed with emotions after hearing this.
“I think you’re amazing, especially that middle one… that…”He had emptied quite a few cans of beer and his tongue was a bit twisted, “Ah, but no wonder it had been as scandalous as this. You didn’t even realize that?”
Rong Yi was embarrassed:”…I wasn’t that wise then.”
“But, with rich experience like that, you still fell for that stupid ×! It’s incredible!” The slightly drunk Zhou Li smacked on the table vigorously “What’s good about him? The dirty old scumbag! Even his jokes are usually so low and vulgar!”
“He was…a little handsome in those years…I was not the only one who liked him…” Rong Yi poked at the oil dish with chopsticks.
“Don’t you think it’s particularly disgusting when he looks at you with that lewd squint?” Zhou Li started to become rude, “All Alphas are low and filthy!”
Rong Yi couldn’t answer.
He hadn’t been seen examined by any Alpha’s squinting eyes in his life, and it was hard to put himself in Zhou Li’s shoes. He started to imagine in his mind, and thought it might not be bad at all if that guy was good-looking enough.
“When we’re old, if you and I both are still single, let’s keep each other company for the rest of our lives,” Zhou Li waved his chopsticks at Rong Yi, “We’ll grow flowers and play chess together! Isn’t that good!”
Having drunk quite some alcohol himself, Rong Yi supported his head on his elbows. “I still wish I could have my children and grandchildren by then, and I had an elderly and yet still incredibly handsome husband.”
Zhou Li was angry: “Useless! “He then collapsed on the table.” “I envy you…No annoying things; live whatever way you like …”
“I envy you, too,” Rong Yi Sighed, “If I were half as cute as you, I surely would have got a child who was old enough to buy soy sauce from the shops for me…”
Having said that, he began to picture things in his mind again.
Li Xiaoran is clearly fond of Zhou Li. Well, if I looked like this, then I’m sure that Li Xiaoran would have accepted my confession back then. If we had gone all the way to the temple of marriage…wouldn’t I have got a fat-headed husband by now?
Rong Yi was all of sudden frightened at this thought.
He felt that it might be necessary to learn about the parents of his love interest before falling in love and confessing impulsively. If there was a tendency of becoming bald-headed or overweight, then he should think twice.
After he had been pondering in his dizziness for a while, he suddenly realized that Zhou Li seemed to have slumped on the table for a bit long.
…
Zhou Li liked to drink generously, but he was not very alcohol-tolerant.
Fortunately it was good-quality alcohol, which didn’t turn him into a senseless drunk. But he was so fast asleep that Rong Yi was so close to lifting him up and shaking him violently.
Rong Yi wanted to escort him home, but he didn’t know his address. After hesitation, remembering that he had consulted Chen Keyao before, I decided to take him home and let him stay over for one night.
Zhou Li was small and light in weight. Rong Yi got out of the taxi and carried him in his arms all the way up. He was struggling at the door to find a way to spare his hands to get the keys out.
Rong Yi actually didn’t drink much less than Zhou Li, and he was now so slow and confused to think clearly. He stood at the door for ages without thinking of ringing a doorbell. He was just wondering if he should just carry Zhou Li on his shoulder like a sack, when suddenly the door opened itself.
Chen Keyao, who was going to go out, was shocked to see them.
“…What is going on?” He looked down at Zhou Li in Rong Yi’s arms, “You’ve really brought someone back?”
He kept blocking the doorway without moving. Rong Yi, who had carried another human being all the way upstairs and stopped the door for a long time already, was very upset.
“Get out of the way,” he tried to squeeze through. “My arms are sore.”
Chen Keyao stepped back with a frown and watched him rush into his room, following after a moment of hesitation.
Rong Yi had Zhou Li settled in bed and was just about to shake his sore arms, when Chen Keyao, leaning against the door frame, suddenly said.
“Well…” he looked rather troubled, “I thought you were talking nonsense to my dad. So is it true?”
The author’s notes:
Yao Yao, yáoyao (softly)
NOT
Yao Yao