until the last minute

Chapter 8 Showdown

After Li Qing came, Zhou Yin made up a reason to his mother and went out with Li Qing.They went to the police station where the incident occurred and expressed their intention to come, but were told that the case was closed.The deceased committed suicide by jumping off a building, and the camera at the entrance of the rooftop clearly captured the whole process.

The police officers who received him showed little interest in Zhou Yin's words, and insisted that the case was closed, and the family members came to claim the body, so there was no doubt about the case.Although Zhou Yin repeatedly stated that he had contact with the deceased before his death, tried to clarify the irrationality of the whole incident, and even wanted to call the real intermediary to confront him, but his words were completely blocked back.

"People are dead, you don't care why he pretends to be someone else, maybe he just admitted it wrong."

Zhou Yin only felt that his fully charged fist seemed to hit the cotton, he stopped arguing, and let Li Qing leave the police station with his shoulders.

The return journey is still by bus. Before getting on the bus, Zhou Yin looked at the Ferris wheel in motion in the distance, the only gorgeous and colorful thing under the night sky.He thought that the playground was not far away, but after actually checking the map, he found that there was indeed a distance.

Li Qing got into the car with a bottle of mineral water in hand, he unscrewed the cap, and handed the bottle to Zhou Yin's mouth.Zhou Yin tilted his head, didn't dodge it, simply held Li Qing's hand, raised his head and drank half a bottle.

Li Qing sat down next to him, "It's okay, you go to sleep, I'll call you when you arrive."

"What about you?" Zhou Yin turned his face to look at him.

"I'm not sleepy, I'm afraid I'll sit and stand, I'll watch it, and you'll be fine if you sleep."

"Aren't you thirsty?" Zhou Yin noticed that Li Qing only bought one bottle of water, and he made a gesture to get out of the car to buy another bottle of water. Li Qing sat outside and stopped him with his arms, "Don't bother, drink as much as you want." ?"

Zhou Yin leaned over to stare at Li Qing, his eyes paused for a few seconds, and he murmured: "You are so strange, would you rather wrong yourself than treat others well?"

The lights in the car were turned off, and the flashing neon lights outside the car windows barely allowed them to see each other clearly.The corner of Li Qing's mouth twitched slightly, he smiled and said, "Who said that?"

He drank the remaining half bottle of mineral water, his lips completely covered the mouth of the bottle, and his Adam's apple rolled up and down when he swallowed.Zhou Yin didn't know if it was an illusion or because his vision was too dark, he seemed to have captured Li Qing's glance when he was drinking water, it was as light as a feather, and when he looked over, he still couldn't squint at Li Qing.

When the bus arrived at the stop, Zhou Yin nestled in the seat, his body was still a little limp after sleeping.Seeing the passengers get off one by one, he tugged at Li Qing who had already stood up, and asked hesitantly, "Can you take me in for a night?"

Li Qing didn't agree immediately, he stretched out his hand, Zhou Yin held his hand, and stood up with strength.

The aisle was very narrow, and the two walked one after the other, with their bodies close to each other, and the hands they were holding underneath were also secretly connected.Zhou Yin felt his palm was very hot, holding Li Qing's hand made him feel at ease.

After getting out of the car, he followed the crowd to the exit of the station. Li Qing saw the trash can and threw the mineral water bottle away.Zhou Yin followed him obediently. There were many people at the station, and if he was not careful, he would be scattered by the crowd.

Li Qing must also think so, so their hands are not separated now.

Zhou Yin said at the right time: "Where else are you going? If you don't take me in, then I have to go."

He waited for Li Qing to answer. With the past few days of getting along, he bet that he would not be rejected.Unexpectedly, Li Qing had obvious embarrassment on his face, he hesitated for a long time, but he refused, "Sorry, it's not convenient."

"Why? Is there someone there?" Zhou Yin only thought of this possibility.

Li Qing was noncommittal.

Zhou Yin grabbed the held hand, Li Qing let go of him, and his palm suddenly became empty.Ignoring the strangeness in his heart, Zhou Yin pressed and asked: "You said that you live alone."

Li Qing didn't look him in the eyes, and said vaguely: "It's not convenient tonight, sorry."

"Forget it, pretend I didn't say it." Zhou Yin couldn't hide his disappointment on his face. He turned around and didn't look at Li Qing anymore. When he was about to leave, his arm was pulled. Li Qing said, "Next time, can you?"

Zhou Yin looked back at Li Qing, his hand was pulled by him, and his heart was pulled like a marionette.He didn't speak, just looked into Li Qing's eyes.

He recalled the first time he saw these eyes, they were so hot and bright after being tempered in the fire, they could deter approaching enemies with their eyes, and they could also tear apart the most chaotic night.

That should belong to the doomed prisoner, not the current Li Qing.

Zhou Yin didn't go to school the next day, and the reason for asking for leave was a cold and a fever.He had a fever in the middle of the night, struggling to wake up from a nightmare in a daze, his throat was dry and smoky, and his cheeks were as hot as a fire.

In the dream, he repeated the process of escaping from the elevator, rushing from the fourteenth floor to the first floor again and again, fearing that if he was too slow, he would be taken to the rooftop.The roof was empty and the walls were small. He seemed to have felt the wind, which made the white shirts of the people on the edge of the roof bulge.

The more it expands, the closer it is to bursting.Like a balloon, it exploded with a bang.He didn't witness how the balloon was smashed to pieces, but only saw the end - the bulging white shirt shriveled quickly and blood oozes out.

In the dream, he ran down from the fourteenth floor, and every time he opened the door, he saw a corpse.

The next morning, his mother came in to wake him up. Zhou Yin was so delirious with a fever that he even talked nonsense.He begged his mother, could he leave here, he would die, he would die, Zhou Yin repeated this sentence repeatedly.

A few days later, when he returned to school, he encountered a big break when he didn't have to do exercises. He took the medicine and became groggy, lying on the table and drowsy.Not long after, the deskmate woke him up and pointed to the window, "Someone is looking for you, and I have been waiting for you for a long time."

Zhou Yin rubbed his eyes, Li Qing was standing by the window, his eyes seemed to light up when he looked over, he raised his arm to wave to him, then he seemed to realize that it was too ostentatious, so he suppressed his arm.

Zhou Yin stared at it for a few seconds, then got up and walked out of the seat.There were people coming and going in the corridor, as many chatting classmates gathered in front of the railings and by the windows, there were so many good-natured eyes, this is really not a good place to talk.

He moved to the back door, Li Qing stepped forward, leaned forward and asked, "You're back, are you feeling better?"

"How do you know I'm sick?"

"Listen to Ruan Wei."

"You two are so familiar?" Zhou Yin raised his eyelids and looked at Li Qing calmly.

Li Qing shook his head, "No, she asked me to help her carry things, by the way."

Zhou Yin groaned, lowered his head, and the toe of his shoe rubbed against the floor.The season turned into autumn, and the weather was still hot. Zhou Yin put on a long-sleeved jacket ahead of time. He shrunk his neck and hid his hands in the sleeves.

"Is it cold?" Li Qing pinched the back of his neck, Zhou Yin raised his head suddenly in shock, Li Qing said to him: "Cold sweat, this is a normal phenomenon, drink more water."

The touched skin turned from cold sweating to hot itching, Zhou Yin pursed his lips without saying a word, turned around to go back to the classroom, Li Qing suddenly called his name: "Zhou Yin."

"Can I borrow your school uniform jacket to wear for a class? I will wear something different from them in the next public class."

Zhou Yin glanced at what Li Qing was wearing, it was still the school uniform from the previous school, which was incompatible with other people's.Li Qing took the initiative to explain: "I went to the school office to ask, and there is no size that suits me at the moment."

Without further ado, Zhou Yin took off his coat and handed it over, watching Li Qing pick it up before entering the classroom.

There were still a few minutes before class, Zhou Yin sat in a daze in his seat.As soon as the preparatory bell rang, a classmate came in with the teacher, and then a canvas bag was thrown from a long distance, almost hitting the classmate at the front desk.

"It's not for you, it's for the guy behind you, the handsome guy who's new to the class next door." The mocking words instantly drew everyone's attention to Zhou Yin. He lowered his eyes and threw the bag at the front desk to vent his anger. When it came to him, it was almost like spitting on him in front of his face.

The teacher on the podium is sorting out the lesson plans, turning a deaf ear to the commotion and whispering in the classroom.

Zhou Yin sat blankly, and it was difficult for others to give advice publicly or privately, and it was difficult for him to have any influence on him anymore. All he thought about was whether it was worth it.If the contents of the canvas bag were not enough to repay the inexplicable malice he had endured, how could he ask Li Qing for it back.

After the official class, Zhou Yin slowly took out the things in the canvas bag, a dark blue school uniform jacket, Li Qing's previous school uniform, it seems that he wanted to exchange this with his own.

Zhou Yin curled his lips, took out his pocket, and accidentally touched a hard object.Open your palms, it is still the familiar fruit hard candy.

There is also a post-it note in the pocket, with a line on it, "The coat is clean, you need to put it on, get well soon."

After reading Zhou Yin, he crumpled the post-it note into a ball and held it tightly in his palm.The deskmate took advantage of the teacher's writing on the blackboard, turned his head to stare at him angrily, and reprimanded: "You said he is not your boyfriend, so what's going on now?"

"Really not." Zhou Yin said.

It's a pity that no one will believe him in this situation.

He hugged Li Qing's school uniform jacket and didn't let it go, he didn't dare to wear it, and he couldn't dismiss it aside.He could only hold it, with a post-it note hidden in his hand, and the fruit candy that he had tasted once and knew was too sweet.He's going to stand still with these things.

There was no agreement on when to return it, so Zhou Yin went to the vacant laboratory at noon as usual.A quarter after one o'clock, the door of the laboratory was opened, and Li Qing walked in.

This is the quietest time of the day, no human voices can be heard.The laboratory building is far away from the teaching building, so it is more secluded here.The curtains were drawn before Li Qing came in, and the windows were closed all year round. When Li Qing closed the door, this place would be more secretive and safe. It was the only secret place in the huge campus that could escape the scrutiny of others.

Without turning on the light, Li Qing walked up to him step by step.The darkness became the deepest obstacle for each other at this time, and they couldn't see anything clearly. Li Qing raised his hand and touched his face, as if to confirm that he was here.

"Is the door locked?" Zhou Yin asked.

Maybe Li Qing smiled, maybe he didn't, Zhou Yin could feel the warm breath falling on his face, together with the heat source from his whole body, it was too strong to be ignored.

"You came to see me again, aren't you afraid of other people's gossip?"

"What gossip can I say?"

"Don't tell me you don't know anything."

"I know," Li Qing said, "They said that you kissed your senior brother in the alley behind the school, and you were photographed."

"You know it and dare to approach me."

Li Qing was silent, and after about half a minute, he suddenly said: "Let's show the cards, it's no fun going around in circles."

Pulling Zhou Yin into his arms without warning, Li Qing whispered in his ear, can I hug you?This was obviously an announcement rather than a consultation, because without permission, he gently hugged Zhou Yin.

Zhou Yin pressed his chin against his shoulder and whispered: "Why?"

"You kissed me that night. You thought I was asleep, but I wasn't. Did you kiss other people like me?" Li Qing's voice was very low and deep, and the hand clasped his shoulder was still exerting force. He hugged his shoulders with such force that it seemed to crush his whole body.

Zhou Yin didn't answer, he was hugged cooperatively, but he didn't reach out to hug back.

Li Qing continued: "Do you like me?"

"Do not."

"Do you like me a little bit?"

"No."

"You're telling the truth?" Li Qing suddenly turned Zhou Yin's face fiercely, pinching the back of his neck with his right hand, forcing him to face himself, "How dare you say that you didn't lie or lie to me."

"Why should I lie to you?" Zhou Yin answered frankly.In the unbreakable darkness, he suspected that Li Qing's eyes were intertwined with pain and bewilderment, and Li Qing showed eyes like those of a doomsday prisoner.

But there was no way and no chance to confirm, Li Qing's fierceness lasted only for a moment, and soon he let go of Zhou Yin, no longer hugging, just lowered his head slightly, and kissed him without hesitation.

Zhou Yin closed his eyes, he thought, he did not lie, he never lied to others, the only one he would lie to was himself.