Chapter 2: The Person I Hate Most

Chapter 2: The Person I Hate Most

After waiting a long time, the guy still didn't seem inclined to pick it up for him. Cheng Miao was starting to get pissed. He weighed his options—crawl over and grab it himself, or cover up and stand. Either way, he'd look like a total idiot.

Cheng Miao gritted his teeth and just stood up stark naked, saying screw it. He snorted coldly and hobbled into the bathroom, refusing to bend, only to realize, to his horror, that he'd forgotten to bring his clothes in again.

Cheng Miao stood there, completely naked, feeling utterly pathetic inside.

In his eighteen years of life, he'd never been this mortified. For a second, he had no idea what to do.

Problems had to be dealt with, so Cheng Miao tried to pull himself together.

As a man of dignity, he never asked for help twice. Worst case, he'd walk out naked and walk back in naked—they were all guys, after all.

Ha! The strong don't fear anything.

He took a deep breath, and just as he worked up the courage to head out, someone strolled over from outside.

A low, clear voice came through: "Open the door. Get your clothes!"

Cheng Miao froze. He slowly cracked the door open and stuck his hand out.

He felt the cotton fabric brush against his fingertips. He grabbed it quickly and pulled it in—it was his pajamas.

He'd hastily stuffed the pajamas into his suitcase before leaving, so they were easy to find. Sitting on top of the clothes was his little square towel.

So the guy had picked up the towel for him after all. He set the towel aside and went through the clothes a few more times, finally confirming there were no underwear.

Cheng Miao felt a mess of emotions. He threw the clothes on quickly. He didn't need the towel anymore—the shame and humiliation had already dried him off.

He plopped down on the toilet, pushing down the embarrassment, frustration, shame, and even a hint of resentment one by one.

Finally, he decided to walk out like nothing happened and say hi to his roommate.

They were all guys—no need to sweat the small stuff. Once he took the first step, the rest was easy.

He pushed the door open and saw the other guy making his bed, folding the striped sheets into sharp, neat corners.

The dorm was a triple—one loft bed with a desk underneath, and one regular bunk bed. He checked the label on the bed and saw his was the lower bunk of the regular bunk bed, which he'd be sharing with the other guy.

Just as the guy finished making the bed and Cheng Miao was about to say something, someone knocked on the door.

"Huh? Anyone there? Why's the door locked?"

Cheng Miao quickly replied, "Hold on, coming!"

He let out a slow sigh of relief, a bit confused about why the door was locked, but at least with one more person, the awkwardness would ease.

The door swung open, and a young guy leaned against the frame, grinning. "Four one night—did you order a service, sir?"

Cheng Miao was stunned, not quite processing what was happening. The guy reached out, touched his chin, and looked him up and down. "Don't be shy, handsome!"

Cheng Miao instinctively dodged and said, "Uh, hi. Who are you?"

"Yeah, this is 419, right? I'm your roommate. Name's Zhou Ren—Ren as in benevolence. What's your name, cutie?" he said as he walked into the dorm.

"Cheng Miao—Cheng from journey, Miao from three waters." Cheng Miao led Zhou Ren to his bed. "We've got a triple. This should be your bed. This is..."

He paused, looking up at the second roommate, who'd already made his bed and was now putting away his clothes.

After a long pause, "Lu Yu." The voice was cold, just two simple words.

Zhou Ren sized up Lu Yu with interest, saying with meaning, "So you're the legendary provincial top scorer who picked veterinary medicine of all majors! Your looks really live up to the hype."

Cheng Miao was shocked. As someone who'd barely scraped into a biology major in a "trap" field, he'd never been in the presence of a provincial top scorer.

"How do you know that?" Cheng Miao asked, confused.

"There's no one I can't dig up info on, no thing I don't know. They call me the know-it-all of No. 3 High School." Zhou Ren snapped his fingers with a flourish and grinned smugly.

Lu Yu kept organizing his clothes without another word.

The dorm was filled with Zhou Ren's nonstop chatter and Cheng Miao's occasional "uh-huh"s.

After organizing all morning, it was finally time to eat. The two got ready to head out for lunch.

"Brother Yu, wanna come with?"

Zhou Ren sincerely invited him, and Cheng Miao looked at him too, hoping for the dorm's first group meal.

Lu Yu said flatly, "You two go on ahead."

After a pause, he shot a cold glance at Cheng Miao's crotch, frowning like he was about to say something.

Under his scrutinizing gaze, Cheng Miao's heart clenched as he suddenly realized a terrifying problem—he still wasn't wearing underwear.

"Zhou Ren, wait up! I need to change."

He then scurried to the wardrobe, sneakily grabbed some clothes, and dashed straight to the bathroom.

"What's there to change? We're just eating downstairs. Pajamas are fine too."

After lunch, Lu Yu was nowhere to be seen. Zhou Ren's chatter successfully diluted the ups and downs of Cheng Miao's day.

By the time they lay down at night, Cheng Miao still hadn't had a chance to explain the morning incident to Lu Yu. He figured he'd wait until they got more familiar.

Yet nearly a year had passed, and Lu Yu remained that cold, distant person.

Even with the nagging Zhou Ren occasionally rambling on, Lu Yu spoke no more than ten words a day.

He never ate with them, never joined conversations, and came and went to classes alone. Apart from occasionally seeing him in the dorm, Lu Yu's presence was almost nonexistent.

At first, Cheng Miao had proactively tried to communicate with Lu Yu, but his responses were always cold and indifferent.

As time accumulated, the initial enthusiasm slowly faded into a faint distance, along with a hint of dissatisfaction.

Cheng Miao had also wondered why he felt this slight resentment.

Maybe it was because he had been seen completely naked at their first meeting, losing all face—a memory that still made Cheng Miao cringe to this day.

Or maybe it was because he, who had been loved by everyone since childhood, was for the first time kept at arm's length. Cheng Miao had a pair of peach-blossom eyes with slightly drooping corners, giving him a gentle, curved look.

He seemed innocent and harmless overall, with a mild temperament, and had always been well-liked—except he hit a snag with Lu Yu.

Though not everyone was obligated to be warm to him, it still stung a little.

Under such complicated circumstances, and without Zhou Ren's thick skin, Cheng Miao gradually stopped talking to Lu Yu almost entirely.

Even if they ran into each other on the way, they wouldn't greet each other. With a slight turn of the head, they would pass by each other in perfect, tacit agreement.