Lovely Allergen

Chapter 43: Obscure Clues

Noticing that Song Yu didn't immediately reject his request, Yue Zhishi shifted slightly closer again. "You don't need to do anything. I'll be fine just by sticking next to you, I won't sleep on your arm."

Song Yu abruptly found everything a bit funny, and yet he couldn't really laugh. He already couldn't tell — was he deliberately, wishfully finding Yue Zhishi childish, or had he truly yet to grow up?

He couldn't help but stretch out a hand. He stroked down Yue Zhishi's hair, pausing at the side of his face, and then very gently covered his ear.

But no matter what, Song Yu didn't want to further confuse or deceive Yue Zhishi, so he repeated it one more time.

"No matter what example you bring out, I'm not dating anyone. That's the truth."

Yue Zhishi's eyes were closed, and he looked very meek and very obedient. "Then will you tell me if you started dating someone?"

"Would you want to know?" The words left Song Yu's mouth without him thinking about them, and after he asked, he felt a bit of regret.

Yue Zhishi didn't know if he wanted to know or not. He didn't want to be enveloped away, knowing nothing at all, but he might also not feel well if he knew. He didn't want to share his gege with other people.

Their breaths mingled in the space between them as they shared the same pillow. Song Yu waited for Yue Zhishi's answer in this tranquil and yet torturous atmosphere, and the answer he was given was Yue Zhishi's change in conversation.

"My desk mate is a girl. She has an older brother too." Yue Zhishi especially pointed out, "Blood brother."

"She was complaining to me a while ago, saying her brother was never at home anymore after he started dating. He used to take her to Happy Valley during school breaks or to eat at many delicious places, but now he deliberately stays away from her. He's worried his girlfriend might not be happy."

Yue Zhishi looked like he didn't have enough air as he spoke, inhaling a long, long breath with his eyes closed. His voice was dull. "Her brother got married this year and moved out to have his own family. It's been very hard for her to see him afterwards. I told her, you can go look for him." His eyelashes faintly trembled. "But she said she has, and that when she was in her brother's new home, she was very much like an outsider, like a guest. Honestly, from another point of view, that is actually very normal. No one would be willing for their loved one to share their heart with someone else. So my desk mate said that too — that she only needed to get used to it."

Song Yu silently listened to him speak, thinking of a younger Yue Zhishi. During that time, he was truly as simple as a child with his childish interests and amusements, cute and earnest, sensitive to nothing. But now, a similar topic once again appeared, and Yue Zhishi could no longer use the tone he used before to tell his story.

"We'll probably be like that in the future." Lightning flashed, reflecting onto Yue Zhishi's face and making it look pale and wan. Thunder crashed, and he seemed to come to his senses and said, denying his own words, "Even blood siblings are like that, so we'll be even more distant in the future. Since I'm not your true younger brother."

He didn't know if it was his imagination, but Song Yu kept feeling like Yue Zhishi was about to cry. His heart wrenched, and the resistance he held towards his own sinful selfishness ended up losing to his empathic concern for Yue Zhishi. He pulled Yue Zhishi into his arms, abandoning everything. "We won't."

Yue Zhishi didn't really believe him. "You're the one who said that it was very easy for people to lose one another. Nowadays, I believe this more and more." He closed his eyes, his chin supported on Song Yu's shoulder socket. It sounded like he was talking to himself when he asked, "Why aren't we real brothers?"