The night was deep and the world was still.
The silence next door was because its occupant had fallen back asleep. But here, the sudden silence of one person forced the other to follow suit.
"I’ll do it myself," his voice sounded a bit strained.
The persona he usually wrapped himself in—constructed from his acquired refinement, his academic background, and his billiard skills—seemed to fray in this smallest room on the east side of the apartment. A strange surge of emotion rose within him: a touch of melancholy, a lingering restlessness, and something else that defied words.
He peeled open a Band-Aid, gauged the length again, and finally crumpled the half-opened strip into a ball, tossing it into the wastebasket.
Better to use gauze, if only to keep the wound from being rubbed.
He opened the medical gauze and measured it against his leg, wrapping it once. It was too thin, so he added another layer. Once he finished wrapping, he realized he’d forgotten the scissors. She realized it at the same time.
"Wait, I’ll go get them," Yin Guo whispered. She grabbed her phone and crept out of the room.
Without turning on the lights, she used her phone’s flashlight to find a pair of scissors and hurried back. Lin Yiyang had already tied the gauze; he took the scissors and trimmed the ends. Once finished, he pointedly placed the scissors against the wall so Yin Guo wouldn't accidentally step on them.
"Are you tired? Want to talk for a bit?" he asked.
"I’m not tired." Yin Guo pulled over a square cushion, placed it on the floor, and sat before him with her arms wrapped around her knees.
Lin Yiyang’s legs were too long and the sofa was too low for him to stretch out comfortably, so he extended his legs past either side of her, resting his arms on his own knees. This left her sitting right between his legs, facing him directly.
"There aren't many people in my family. My parents are gone. I have a younger brother who got married last year."
"So early?" Her brother had to be younger than him; getting married last year was indeed early.
Lin Yiyang’s focus was on the first part of his sentence. Seeing that Yin Guo wasn't surprised, he guessed Meng Xiaodong must have mentioned something. He looked into her eyes and said, "My brother is several years younger than me. The year our parents died, he was adopted by a relative. That family had no children and raised him as their own. He’s doing well. When he got married, I offered him a sum of money, but he returned it all. He didn't want to trouble me."
"Then he treats you well."
He nodded. "So, while my family background is modest, I don't have many burdens or obligations to worry about."
Yin Guo gave a soft "mm."
This awkward self-introduction felt a bit off. It felt like a blind date, where people laid out their family backgrounds. They had shared a similar conversation on the subway once; her memory was sharp.
Sure enough, Lin Yiyang’s next words were: "If there’s anything you want to know, just ask."
But it was different from the subway car. After he spoke, he kept his eyes fixed on her.
She shook her head. "Nothing else. I don't have anything to ask."
A few seconds of silence followed.
He couldn't let himself keep staring at her, so he glanced around the bedroom. The white porcelain lamp belonged to the landlord, but the lotus-pink sheets and duvet... those were likely her own. Her silver laptop sat beneath the lamp.
Alright, time to go.
Lin Yiyang felt that if they stayed in the room together any longer, it would be an insult to the late-night atmosphere if nothing happened. He decisively braced his hands against the floor and stood up. Taking the scissors, gauze, and the pack of Band-Aids, he left her room. But just as he placed the items back in the plastic cabinet, the bedroom door behind him opened again.
He looked back.
Yin Guo pointed guiltily toward the bathroom and walked there silently. Even after she closed the door, she felt out of sorts. She had actually come to wash her face; she hadn't slept all night, and her skin felt oily. Washing up would make sleeping more comfortable. As she lathered the soap, she strained her ears to listen to the outside. He should be going to sleep now, right?
*Wait a bit longer. Two more minutes.*
She rubbed her hands together, rinsed them clean, and finally opened the door, switching off the light as she stepped out.
The moment she crossed the threshold, she saw him waiting for her outside the bathroom. She nearly screamed in fright, but thanks to years of psychological conditioning on the tournament floor, she suppressed the sound before it could escape her throat.
"You're still not sleeping?" She leaned against the doorframe, feeling that if she kept whispering like this, she could apply for a job in intelligence.
The man before her didn't speak. He stepped closer.
He leaned down, catching the scent of fragrance from her forehead—the smell of facial cleanser. She really had gone to wash her face in the middle of the night.
Yin Guo instinctively leaned back, pressing herself tighter against the doorframe.
He continued to look at her.
Nervously, Yin Guo pursed her lips. "Maybe... we should go to my room?"
"To do what?" he asked.
"We can talk a bit louder there," she whispered. "It's better than here."
Wu Wei’s room was right next to the bathroom. If he came out, she’d die of embarrassment.
Lin Yiyang didn't answer.
"Or if it's nothing urgent... we can talk tomorrow," she said softly. "It's not like you're leaving first thing in the morning."
Yin Guo waited for his response, but Lin Yiyang fell silent. In the darkness, he traced the bridge of her nose with his eyes, moving down to the lips that kept trying to find something to say.
His breath brushed against her lips, rhythmic and steady.
Suddenly, a phone rang inside Wu Wei’s bedroom.
Yin Guo’s heart leaped into her throat. She tried to push Lin Yiyang away, but he leaned in and kissed her instead. At first, it was just a press of lips, but it quickly evolved into something more.
Every second, she feared Wu Wei would burst out of his room, leaving her no time to truly process this sudden kiss. Not until Lin Yiyang found his rhythm, catching the tip of her tongue and gently sucking on it for a moment.
Both of them stopped simultaneously.
"Yeah, I'm sleeping. No shit, don't you know we have a time difference?" Wu Wei complained sleepily.
"Aren't we waiting for Dun Cuo? Right," the voice inside the room continued.
...
The sound seemed to drift closer and then further away.
It wasn't that someone had walked out; rather, it felt as if Yin Guo’s eardrums were coated in a layer of water, vibrating and making all external sounds feel surreal.
Lin Yiyang’s right hand supported the back of her head, his thumb instinctively stroking her soft, long hair as they gazed at each other. Yin Guo felt like she was about to have a heart attack. She bit her lower lip, staring at him in disbelief. Her legs were weak, her scalp felt numb, and her entire body felt utterly off, as if she were deprived of oxygen.
Lin Yiyang turned his head slightly, sensing her erratic breathing. "Go inside," he whispered.
Yin Guo finally understood. She released her grip on his tracksuit jacket and hurried across the living room, nearly colliding with a high stool by the bar. It wasn't until she was back in her bedroom with the door locked that she realized the joints of her right hand were aching.
She hadn't realized just how much strength she’d used to grip his clothes.
Lin Yiyang stood where he was, running a hand through his hair. He glanced at the small alarm clock on the bar; the digital display read 3:17 AM.
Wu Wei’s bedroom door opened. He was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open. Seeing Lin Yiyang by the bathroom, he let out a yawn. "I knew you were out here. Grab me a bottle of iced coffee. Once Zongzong starts scolding someone, it lasts at least three hours."
As he spoke, Wu Wei turned back and flopped onto the bed. "Alright, keep scolding, I'm listening."
Lin Yiyang paced half a circle around the living room, finding nothing to do. He stared at Yin Guo’s bedroom door for a while before following Wu Wei’s request, taking two cans of iced coffee back to the bedroom.
He tossed one can onto the bed, leaned back against the sofa, and cracked his own open with a sharp *pop*. He tilted his head back and took a sip.
The liquid was bitter, flowing from his mouth down his throat, washing away the lingering taste of her on his tongue. He pulled out his phone and thought for a moment, guessing she was probably just as unable to sleep as he was.
Wu Wei put his phone on speaker and tossed it onto the floor between them. Among their closest circle of friends back then, there was only one girl: Lin Lin. Everyone called her Zongzong. She was currently launching into a long-winded tirade against Lin Yiyang. Wu Wei crouched beside Lin Yiyang, gave him a look, and whispered in his ear, "Since she's scolding you, might as well listen together."
Lin Yiyang didn't say a word. He crossed his legs and leaned back against the sofa. "Turn the volume down."
He tilted his head and pointed toward the door, indicating that someone else was sleeping.
Lin Lin must have heard him, because she let out a curse on the other end, calling Lin Yiyang ungrateful.
Among the men and women in the billiard club back then, Lin Lin had been the most beautiful, but her temper was tougher than any man's. She was the same age as Lin Yiyang, though they had different teachers. When Lin Yiyang first joined, he was in the second grade, eight years old. He officially entered professional tournaments at thirteen. During the interval, he had only signed up for a youth division once and performed poorly. After that, he trained behind closed doors until he won a professional championship at thirteen.
Before that, no one in the circuit thought much of him; he was a nobody.
Once, when Lin Yiyang was playing at an outside pool hall, Wu Wei—the little "four-eyes"—got bullied. Lin Yiyang didn't say a word; he just stepped in and fought five or six guys at once, coming back covered in bruises. At the time, only Lin Lin was eating lunch at the club. Hearing the coach say Lin Yiyang had gone to get a tetanus shot, she didn't say a word, dropped her chopsticks, and rode out on her white bicycle. She picked up a brick from a construction site along the way, walked in, and started swinging. The guys were bewildered—a beautiful girl had walked in and started pummeling anyone who looked injured. They’d just been beaten by Lin Yiyang, only to run into a lunatic.
That time, it was Meng Xiaodong who had to pull her out, and he ended up getting hit too because she thought he was with the thugs.
Later, when people asked Lin Lin if she knew she was hitting a gang of thugs and if she was scared, she uttered a famous line: "The ruthless fear the reckless, and the reckless fear those who don't value their lives." She didn't care for her own life; she feared no one.
Before that incident, no one knew the club had two rising stars: Lin Yiyang and Lin Lin.
Afterward, everyone knew that Dongxincheng had the "Double Lins"—one male, one female, both beautiful, and both absolute terrors.
...
Listening to the woman's voice over the phone, Lin Yiyang couldn't help but smile. All the old friends he’d seen or heard from this time were exactly the same as they’d been in the past.
Wu Wei lowered the volume, sat on the floor by the sofa, and hugged his knees while drinking his iced coffee and listening.
Lin Yiyang looked at his phone screen.
Lin: Did the noise wake you?
Yin Guo replied almost instantly.
Red Fish: I can't really hear it clearly.
Lin: :)
Red Fish: Still not sleeping?
Lin: Waiting for dawn.
Red Fish: Why?
Why? Because he couldn't sleep.
Given how wired his brain was, he was definitely going to be up until dawn. He’d probably sleep like the dead on the train tomorrow. Choosing to start a relationship during his busiest time was truly a challenge to his physical limits.
Yin Guo lay prone on her bed, the only light in the room coming from the phone screen.
Lin Yiyang didn't reply immediately.
She tapped on his profile picture and found the contact name, thinking about changing it. What should she change it to? In the end, she decided against it.
Xiao Guo: Didn't get my message?
Lin: Got it.
Xiao Guo: Then why didn't you reply?
Lin: Reply to what? Why I'm waiting for dawn?
Xiao Guo: Mm.
Lin: Can't sleep.
Three words followed quickly.
Lin: Because of you.
Yin Guo pressed her chin into the soft, lotus-pink duvet, staring at those last two lines. Finally, she buried her face in the covers. Her mind was on a loop, replaying the feeling of the kiss outside the bathroom. She had been so nervous the whole time, afraid of being seen, afraid of being heard... the entire experience had been overwhelmingly intense.
She couldn't think about it anymore.
All night long, she was in this bedroom, and he was in the one just across the living room.
Neither of them slept. Yin Guo managed to doze off for about ten minutes before dawn, then woke up again.
She was tired, and her thoughts were fragmented, but she couldn't fall into a deep sleep. No wonder Zheng Yi said that at the start of a romance, you could go without food or sleep, as if you were on stimulants. She believed it now.
As soon as the sky began to brighten, at 6:20 AM, another message arrived.
Lin: If you're awake, you can come out. I'm in the living room.
Yin Guo scrambled up, pulled open her nightstand drawer, and checked herself in the mirror. It wasn't too bad; she looked a bit haggard from lack of sleep, but her hair wasn't a total mess.
When she stepped out, the living room was no longer like the night before; it was filled with morning light.
Lin Yiyang was brewing coffee, still trying to wake himself up. When he saw her appear, his gaze shifted toward her.
He beckoned her over to the bar. Men generally handled all-nighters better than women; aside from a slight redness in his eyes, he looked much the same as he had the night before, just a bit disheveled. His posture was casual, half-leaning against the bar.
"Sleep well?" he asked, his voice raspy.
"Mm," she lied.
Lin Yiyang pointed to a bag of beans nearby. "Try this. It'll be ready soon."
Yin Guo recognized the packaging; it was from the same shop where she’d helped Zheng Yi buy coffee beans. But they hadn't had any in the house yesterday. She leaned against his arm and picked up the bag to look at it; it looked like it had just been opened. "When did you buy this?"
"Yesterday. I took a bit of a detour before coming back," he said.
From the train station to that shop and then to the apartment—that was more than just a "bit" of a detour.
It was just like the time he was going to Flushing to play for money but detoured to New York University just to have coffee with her. He’d gone a long way out of his way. Yin Guo cradled the bag of beans.
*Glug, glug.* The brown liquid began to foam.
The coffee had brewed until the crema was overflowing. He turned down the heat, planning to let it simmer for another thirty seconds. He noticed Yin Guo was still holding the bag of beans and looking at him. He leaned down and pulled open the bottom drawer to show her.
There were several more bags inside, all different flavors, bought for her to try. "If it's not too much trouble, you can try them yourself usually."
Yin Guo felt even more moved, biting her lip as she looked at him.
Lin Yiyang glanced at his watch, calculating when to turn off the heat. "Don't keep staring at me."
Even as he told her not to look, he turned his head to gaze at her, whispering, "I'm already being very restrained."
*Restrained from kissing you the moment you walked over.*
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 林霖 | Lin Lin | A female friend/former club mate of Lin Yiyang. |
| 总总 | Zongzong | Lin Lin's nickname. |
| 东新城 | Dongxincheng | The name of the billiard club/district where Lin Yiyang and Lin Lin trained. |
| 顿挫 | Dun Cuo | Likely a nickname or professional name for someone in their circle. |
| 双林 | Double Lins | A moniker referring to Lin Yiyang and Lin Lin. |
