“Why are you so hot?”

Lin Yuyan heard Gu Yaoyang’s voice and slowly opened his eyes. He was rendered speechless for a while. This was the first time he saw Gu Yaoyang wearing a concerned expression. He was frowning at him as his eyes furrowed with worry.

“I..”

“Are you uncomfortable?” Seeing him awake, Gu Yaoyang touched his forehead with his hand again as his expression became more solemn.

Lin Yuyan was stunned before he gently shook his head and whispered, “I’m fine.”

Gu Yaoyang obviously didn’t believe him. Lin Yuyan watched as he took out his phone and prepared to call a cab. He asked, “What are you doing?”

Gu Yaoyang replied, “Your temperature is too high, you’ll have to go to the hospital.” It was so cold outside, he definitely couldn’t carry the other to the hospital; otherwise, he’ll only worsen his condition with how cold the weather is.

‘There’s no need.” Lin Yuyan immediately said, “I’ll just lie down for a while.”

“No.” Gu Yaoyang was stubborn and didn’t even give him the chance to refuse.

“Really, I’m fine, I don’t need to go to the hospital.”

Gu Yaoyang glanced at him and motioned him to lie down. Seeing that he was almost finished dialing the phone number, he immediately sat up and grabbed his fingers as he said, “Please. I really don’t want to go to the hospital, it’s not that serious.”

He looked pitiful as he said that, and he seemed to really hate going to the hospital. Gu Yaoyang looked down at him for a few seconds until Lin Yuyan avoided his gaze. His eyes slightly trembled in panic as he asked, “Why do you not want to go?”

Lin Yuyan answered, “I- I’m afraid of pain. I don’t want to get an injection..” After speaking, he covered his mouth and coughed twice before saying, “Please. It’s really just a small problem. As long as you stay home with me, I’ll be fine in no time.”

Gu Yaoyang affirmed his words, “Will you really be okay?”

Lin Yuyan nodded as he guiltily said, “Yeah.”

“Then I’ll go get a towel.” After saying that, he ordered him to lie down and carefully covered him with the quilt before going to the bathroom.

Lin Yuyan instantly breathed a sigh of relief and moved the warm water bag under the quilt to the pillow. He opened his phone to text a message to Meng Hu, they exchanged their contact information earlier to make it easier for them to communicate. Meng Hu repeatedly told him to keep this secret, and to not let the coach come back in the middle of the plan. If the coach knew about their plan to get a day off, it’s guaranteed they’d suffer in the near future.

Lin Yuyan was worried, but he agreed to do so because he thought that Gu Yaoyang would never come back. He didn’t know how to act at all, he didn’t prepare for this, and he didn’t dare to appear too sickly in case Gu Yaoyang would really send him straight to the hospital.

As he thought about this, Gu Yaoyang opened the door and came in. He sat beside his bed before he gently placed a warm towel on his forehead.

Lin Yuyan was afraid he’d return to the club, so he grabbed his hand again and said, “You- Could you please stay with me for a while?”

Gu Yaoyang nodded in agreement without saying anything else. He sat a bit awkwardly in the room. Lin Yuyan thought for a bit before lifting the corners of his quilt to make room for him, “You- you can sit here, I won’t infect you.”

Gu Yaoynag did as he was asked. He took off his shoes and leaned on the bed with him.

The two were silent for a while and the atmosphere became slightly awkward. Lin Yuyan couldn’t act sick, so he tried to remember how he acted when he was sick last time. He thought about it long and hard before letting out a sigh.

Gu Yaoyang asked, “What?”

Lin Yuyan: “Do you often get sick?”

Gu Yaoyang was bored and answered as he turned the lights on, “No.” He had lived in a harsh environment since he was a child. Weakness was deadly, so he couldn’t allow himself to be frail.

Lin Yuyan replied, “I was often sick when I was a child. There was a period of time when I’d fall sick on purpose. I endured the discomfort from the sickness and the pain from the medicine injections. The medicine was particularly bitter, and the syringe needles were also pretty painful.”

Gu Yaoyang asked, “Why?”

“Because of my parents.” Lin Yuyan grinned and said, “You know their jobs, they’re busy all the time. I was brought up by a nanny and servants when I was young, and I rarely saw them.”

“I realized that whenever I was sick, my mother would suddenly appear for me, and my father would take some time off from his busy schedule to look after me.” Lin Yuyan’s fingers twitched as he continued, “I only wanted to have their attention. So when the weather’s cold, I’d deliberately take off a few clothes to get sick. But in the end, I’m still pretty timid, being afraid of this and that. Even if I wanted to make myself sick, I don’t have the courage to take a cold shower to make myself look more pitiful.”

“Gradually, they stopped coming back and felt that it’s normal for a little kid to get a cold or fever now and then. So they left me to the nanny and let them take care of me.”

“Afterwards, I didn’t like getting sick anymore, because no one comes to see me when I am sick. Although my aunt is really good to me and was very meticulous when she took care of me, she doesn’t really care about me. It was just her job.”

He glanced at Gu Yaoyang again. His eyes were a little red as he said, “Thank you for today. It’s been a while since I’ve had somebody taking care of me of their own volition.”

Gu Yaoyang was silent for a few seconds before he rubbed his hair and put his arms around his shoulders, letting him lean against his arms.

He laughed as he said, “So, turns out the squeamish sack is a pitiful worm?”

Lin Yuyan retorted, “I’m not pitiful, I’m just..”

Gu Yaoyang asked, “Just what?

“It’s just that.. I suddenly had this thought, this.. feeling.” He added, “Besides, I’m rarely sick now and my health is pretty good.”

Gu Yaoyang reminded him, “Then why is your temperature so hot today?”

Lin Yuyan thought for a moment before sitting up. Remembering that he was acting sick, he hurriedly coughed a few times before weakly saying, “Maybe the temperature here is too different from home, so.. I got sick by accident.”

“Oh.” Gu Yaoyang patted his shoulder lightly before continuing, “So that’s why.”

After that, they continued to chat. Gu Yaoyang didn’t tease him as he’d usually do, it’s as if he really felt bad that he got sick. Even his voice was softer than usual, making Lin Yuyan feel soft in his heart as he listened to the other’s voice and fell asleep.

He also had a dream in which somebody played a lullaby on the gramophone as they quietly coaxed him to sleep.

Lin Yuyan only opened his eyes at around 3 o’clock in the afternoon. After sitting in a trance for a while, he realized that he was alone in bed. It’s been so long, he didn’t know if Gu Yaoyang left for the club. He should call Meng Hu first, but if Gu Yaoyang really left, he probably won’t be able to answer his phone.

Lin Yuyan secretly opened the door and looked around on the second floor. He took two steps and looked down. Gu Yaoyang was sitting on the sofa and flipping through his mobile phone. There weren’t any signs of him going out.

He breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to go back to his room silently. As he stepped into his room and was about to continue to pretend to be sick, he suddenly heard Gu Yaoyang’s voice lazily ask, “Are you going back to sleep?”

Lin Yuyan’s body tensed before he coughed twice and limped downstairs. He suddenly remembered that he was supposed to pretend to be sick, not crippled. He went back to looking listless as he asked, “What are you doing?”

Gu Yaoyang said, “Looking for recipes.”

Lin Yuyan sat next to him and looked at him: “Do you want to make soup?”

Gu Yaoyang replied, “Yeah.”

Lin Yuyan asked, “For me to drink?”

Gu Yaoyang replied with another, “Yeah.”

Lin Yuyan softly said, “Thank you.” Afraid that he was not behaving like a sick patient, he coughed hard, but he coughed too hard and made his throat uncomfortable. It was painful and itchy, making him unable to stop hammering his chest as his face flushed with how hard he was coughing.

Gu Yaoyang looked a little disgusted as he helped him get a glass of water. He handed the water to him and said, “Don’t cough so hard. Does your throat hurt?”

Lin Yuyan hurriedly held the cup to moisten his throat, blinked, and said, “No, it doesn’t hurt. “

Gu Yaoyang flicked his forehead before continuing to swipe his phone and flipped a page: “Are you going to have a fever tomorrow?”

“Ah..”

“If you are, then remember to adjust the temperature. If a normal person had the same temperature as you, they would have begun to lose consciousness.”

Lin Yuyan was stunned for a few seconds, and then said a little embarrassedly: “You, when did you find out.. I was pretending?”

Gu Yaoyang gave him a look, “When you sat up, the water bag leaked out.”

“Oh..” Lin Yuyan moved his fingers and clenched his fist lightly, his thumb was exposed for a while before it was clenched into his fist again. He didn’t have the expected shock or embarrassment after being exposed, instead, he asked, “Then.. were you acting with me today?”

No wonder the cooling towel was warm, so he had discovered it long ago..

“Then, then..why didn’t you expose me?” Lin Yuyan looked at his side profile, and his eyes fell on the blue ear stud on his ear, which he seemed to wear all the time and never took off.

“Because I like it.”

“Huh?”

“Because I like you.” So I want to watch you fool around.

Gu Yaoyang didn’t raise his eyes, he was still studying the recipe; he had said this many times.

The first time Lin Yuyan didn’t take it to heart, the second time he was drunk, and he couldn’t remember clearly, but he had some vague impressions.

But no matter which time, Lin Yuyan thought it was fake, until this time. He really fell silent and stared at him for a long time.