Early the next morning, Lin Murun was awakened by the sound of cat claws scratching at the door. He squinted and reached for his phone on the nightstand to check the time.
Six o'clock sharp.
The air conditioning in the room was set to a comfortable warmth. He huddled in the blankets, which were filled with the scent of laundry detergent, for a few moments before rubbing his eyes and sitting up.
The sound of footsteps came from outside the door. "Runrun, are you awake?" Si Bin knocked softly.
"I'm up," Lin Murun replied, his voice still thick with the faint nasality of someone who had just woken.
Si Bin gently pushed the door open and walked in. Xiao Bai, who had been crouching at the door, darted through the gap and jumped straight into Lin Murun’s covers.
"Good morning." Si Bin walked to the bedside and leaned down to ruffle Lin Murun’s messy morning hair.
"Mm... morning." Lin Murun lowered his eyelashes, catching the refreshing scent of mint toothpaste lingering on Si Bin.
"I ordered takeout. Let's eat breakfast before heading to school." Si Bin handed him a sweater. "Change first so you don't catch a cold."
"Okay." Lin Murun wasn't fully conscious yet. He reached out dazed to take the sweater, only to be caught off guard by a kiss from Si Bin.
It was a fleeting kiss, light as a dragonfly skimming the water, carrying both a sense of testing the waters and the irrepressible affection of a young man's heart.
Si Bin’s breath brushed against the corner of Lin Murun’s eye, and he intimately nudged his boyfriend’s cheek with the bridge of his tall nose.
Lin Murun froze, his sleepiness vanishing instantly.
Pressing against Lin Murun’s flushing ear, Si Bin let out a soft chuckle.
"You..." Lin Murun’s face turned red as he shrank back into the blankets.
"Hurry up and get out of bed," Si Bin said with a smile, straightening his back.
Lin Murun turned his head, looking as if he wanted to say something but hesitated. After a moment, he shifted under the covers and said in a muffled voice, "Why don't you go downstairs first? I'll come out to wash up in a bit."
Si Bin looked at the way he was clutching the blanket and suddenly realized.
"Let me help you." He reached a warm hand into the covers.
Lin Murun reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, his fur standing on end. He grabbed Si Bin’s mischievous hand and stammered, "Wait... wait a second, I can do it myself."
Seeing the redness at the corners of the boy's eyes, Si Bin laughed out loud. "Alright, next time then."
With that, he scooped up Xiao Bai from the bed and left the room, considerately closing the door behind him.
By the time Lin Murun finished washing up and was fully dressed, the sky outside was still dark.
Si Bin pushed breakfast toward him, his expression as calm as if nothing had happened.
"It's still early. You can take your time."
Lin Murun lowered his gaze. As he bowed his head to drink the soy milk, he caught the glint of a smile in Si Bin’s eyes from the corner of his vision.
"You're smiling strangely," he said, putting down his bowl.
"Am I?" Si Bin touched his own cheek and asked with mock seriousness.
Lin Murun lowered his head in silence and continued drinking his soy milk, though the tips of his ears remained red.
"I'll stop teasing you." Si Bin laughed and reached across the table to tidy Lin Murun’s soft hair. "It's just a normal physiological reaction. No need to be shy."
Lin Murun nearly choked on his soy milk.
At 6:50 AM, the two changed their shoes and headed out.
There was no light on the horizon yet, only the faint shimmer of stars hidden behind drifting clouds. The cold outdoor air dispersed the warmth they had brought from the air-conditioned house. Lin Murun buried the lower half of his face in his scarf, looking at the neighborhood streetlights through the hazy mist on his glasses.
"It's so quiet," Lin Murun whispered to Si Bin.
"Yeah. It'll be lively once we get to the school gate," Si Bin said, gently taking Lin Murun’s hand.
As they passed the pond in the residential complex, they saw the moon, which had yet to fade from the sky, reflected in the still water. Perhaps startled by the footsteps of passersby, a koi fish in the pond flicked its long tail and dove to the bottom, the resulting ripples carrying a brilliant luster that scattered the moonlight across the water.
The two youths walked forward side-by-side in the cold winter morning. The complex was silent, with only the shadows cast by the streetlights silently stretching out.
Once they stepped off the gravel path, they saw students rushing for early self-study. Some were hurrying with bread in their mouths, while others walked in small groups, chatting. No one noticed Si Bin and Lin Murun’s fingers interlocked beneath their oversized school uniforms.
The two intentionally slowed their pace, walking quietly behind the crowd. Lin Murun moved his fingers, feeling the calluses on Si Bin’s hand from long hours of holding a pen.
Si Bin scratched Lin Murun’s palm and gripped his cool fingertips.
After exiting the complex, they quietly let go of each other's hands but continued to walk side-by-side, staying very close, appearing as nothing more than good friends.
The closer they got to the school, the more students appeared on the road. The small shops by the school gate had long since opened for business. Owners wove through the students carrying bowls and steamer baskets, and private cars dropping off students created a bottleneck at the entrance. It was noisy and bustling, full of the vibrant energy of daily life.
"Runrun," Si Bin said softly. "Let's go to university in the same city, okay?"
"Okay," Lin Murun replied. "Where do you want to go?"
"Anywhere except H City or N City," Si Bin answered with a smile. "If we leave the places we know, we can hold hands in the street without worrying about being seen by family, teachers, or classmates."
"Then how about S City?" Lin Murun thought for a moment. "S University is a Double First Class school. It's not too far from H City, but we won't have many acquaintances there. If we get homesick, it's just a high-speed train ride away."
"S City is a good place. There are many other good schools besides S University." Si Bin politely acknowledged a classmate who greeted him before continuing, "My mom has a riverside apartment in S City. We can bring the cats there and have a housekeeper look after them during the week. On weekends, we can stay there, look at the view across the river and the busy traffic on the streets, just like we are now."
Lin Murun looked up at Si Bin and laughed. "So you already had it all planned out. You were just waiting for me to bring it up."
"What I was thinking was spoken by you—that shows we're on the same wavelength," Si Bin replied with a low laugh.
"Hey! Brother Bin! Top Student Lin!" Yu Wenbo’s voice rang out from behind them.
Yu Wenbo ran up quickly. Taking advantage of his height, he threw his arms around both their shoulders, squeezing himself between them. "What a coincidence! To run into you guys at the school gate..." After saying this, he realized something was off. He looked at Lin Murun and asked, "Doesn't Top Student Lin live on campus? Why are you two showing up at the gate together?"
"He stayed at my house last night," Si Bin said, looking back with a cold gaze. "Also, if you had any sense of observation at all, you wouldn't have shoved yourself between us."
Yu Wenbo walked a couple of steps with them before the realization finally hit him. He hurriedly withdrew his arm from Lin Murun’s shoulder and circled around to Si Bin’s side, hooking his arm around Si Bin’s neck and whispering, "You guys... progressed that fast? Is that really okay? You're both minors."
"What are you thinking?" Si Bin raised an eyebrow. He reached out and naturally pulled Lin Murun close by the shoulder, saying to Yu Wenbo, "We were applying medicine to the cats and doing practice papers all night."
Seeing Lin Murun look toward him, Yu Wenbo’s heart skipped a beat. Thinking their relationship was still the same and that he had accidentally exposed Si Bin’s unrequited love, he hurriedly laughed it off and clumsily changed the subject.
"Oh, right, I haven't had the chance to tell you yet." Seeing Yu Wenbo constantly winking at him, Si Bin suppressed a smile and patted Lin Murun’s shoulder. "Let me introduce you. This is my boyfriend."
"Holy shit!" Yu Wenbo’s shout attracted the attention of the surrounding students. He quickly covered his mouth and pretended to clear his throat. Once the others looked away, he patted Si Bin’s shoulder and whispered, "Brother Bin, you've been holding it in for almost a whole semester. You finally made it clear? Congratulations, congratulations!"
"Holding it in for a semester?" Lin Murun looked up at Si Bin.
Si Bin’s hand on Lin Murun’s shoulder flinched. He shot Yu Wenbo a look, signaling him to shut up.
Yu Wenbo received the "death glare" but failed to control his mouth. He shifted positions and whispered to Lin Murun, "Yeah, Top Student Lin. I saw it ages ago. Brother Bin has liked you since the start of the school year, but he was afraid you wouldn't like him back. He held it in for so long and didn't dare say a word. Even during the Arts Festival—he didn't care about collective honor at all, but the moment I mentioned your name, he agreed to join the poetry recitation. And then there was that thing on the Confession Wall..."
"Your sister is up ahead." Meeting Lin Murun’s searching gaze, Si Bin patted Yu Wenbo with reddened ears and cleared his throat. "I think she saw you."
Sure enough, Yu Qianyi and Li Menglai were looking their way from a short distance away. Yu Qianyi raised her arm and waved at the three of them with a smile.
Yu Wenbo took the hint. "I'm off!" he said, running toward the two girls.
Yu Qianyi seemed to want to wait for Lin Murun and Si Bin, but she was half-pushed and half-pulled away by Yu Wenbo. The young girl looked back repeatedly in confusion, not understanding Yu Wenbo’s well-intentioned efforts.
Once Yu Wenbo was gone, Si Bin heard Lin Murun ask softly, "Is what he said true?"
"Not entirely..." Si Bin cleared his throat nervously. He looked at Lin Murun and organized his thoughts. "But I have indeed liked you for quite a long time."
"Since the start of the school year?" Lin Murun asked. "I remember our first meeting was on that street by the vocational school. It was raining, and you helped me out."
"Actually... our first meeting was during the summer break before tenth grade." Si Bin let go of Lin Murun’s shoulder and rubbed his nose, his voice low. "That day, I went to the music school to find Gao Yuan. As soon as I pushed open the door to the recital room, I saw you inside playing the violin."
"I didn't even react at the time. I just thought you were so beautiful. I stood at the door like an idiot holding a disposable paper cup, unable to say a word for the longest time."
Lin Murun recalled for a moment and then realized. "So that person that day was you."
"Yeah, it was me." Si Bin smiled sheepishly. "Back then, I specifically went to the cafe near Xingyue Music School and got a private room. Every day at noon, I’d look up and see you in the recital room."
"No wonder Gao Yuan said you don't like drinking coffee." A smile flickered in Lin Murun’s eyes.
"Yeah." Si Bin lowered his lashes and looked at Lin Murun, saying softly, "My interest wasn't really in the coffee."
"But why didn't you just come find me then?" Lin Murun asked. "If I hadn't transferred to No. 1 High, we might have just passed each other by forever."
"I heard from Gao Yuan that you weren't from H City. I was afraid of bothering you. After all..." After all, not everyone could accept a confession from someone of the same gender.
Si Bin didn't finish the sentence, but Lin Murun understood his meaning.
"When I saw you at the vocational school gate that day, I was actually incredibly happy. I thought that after the summer break ended, we would never see each other again," Si Bin said warmly. "Fortunately, you appeared again."
Recalling the scene from that day, Lin Murun said to Si Bin, "But you acted like you didn't know me at all."
"I was afraid of scaring you." Si Bin smiled. "A stranger from the same school suddenly showing you extreme care might have made you uncomfortable."
"That rainy night, I felt the joy of regaining something lost for the first time." Si Bin reached out and gently brushed the tips of Lin Murun’s hair. He didn't dare make too large a gesture, fearing the gaze of other students.
Si Bin had thought he was already accustomed to loss and quiet goodbyes.
In his early childhood, his mother was busy with her career abroad year-round and rarely appeared in his life. In his later childhood, he watched his parents tear each other apart during their divorce, and saw Shen Xingzhi severely wounded by rumors after coming out. In his youth, his father started a new family and proactively cut ties with him. When they met again recently, the handsome and elegant father of Si Bin’s memories was already suffering from terminal cancer with little time left, leaving behind a wife and daughter he could no longer support, as well as a string of troubles involving property division.
Growing up, Si Bin never lacked friends, but he rarely had close ones. Born into a wealthy but broken family, he was more mature than his peers. He had instinctively learned how to find a balance within various complex relationships, maintaining frequent contact with all sorts of friends with ease while remaining soberly aware that these people were merely passersby in his life.
When Lin Murun appeared, Si Bin thought it was nothing more than an accidental encounter followed by a common parting—until that youth stepped into his sight once more on that early autumn rainy night.
*I'm glad you aren't just a passerby.*
Si Bin looked at Lin Murun beside him, his eyes filled with an unspeakable depth of affection. When Lin Murun looked up, he happened to meet Si Bin’s gaze. Looking into those dark eyes, he suddenly thought of the moonlight in the pond that had been stirred up that morning.
*I'm glad you came.*
Lin Murun heard Si Bin whisper.
***
Glossary:
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
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双一流 | Double First Class | A Chinese government initiative to develop elite universities.
星月琴行 | Xingyue Music School | Literally "Star Moon Music Store/School."
醉翁之意不在酒 | The drinker's heart is not in the wine | A Chinese idiom meaning one has an ulterior motive.
出柜 | Coming out | Referring to revealing one's sexual orientation.
过客 | Passerby / Transient guest | Someone who passes through one's life briefly.
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Everyone in School No. 1 Knows My Boyfriend | Chapter 54 | Not a Mere Passerby | Novela.app | Novela.app
