From a nobody online dating to a top love brain - Chapter 13

Yu Nan’s mind exploded with confusion; he was utterly at a loss.

“Here’s some ointment, put some on,” Bei Yuye said, picking up the ointment from the bedside table and handing it to his senior.

Yu Nan was too embarrassed to ask his junior if he knew where the bruises came from. He silently applied the ointment to his bruises.

There were also bruises on his back, but he couldn’t see them clearly. He lifted his shirt and asked, “Did I hit something on my back? I can’t see it.”

There was a purple bruise just below his left shoulder, which Bei Yuye hadn’t noticed last night. Feeling sorry for Nan Nan, he took the ointment from him, squeezed some out, and started applying it for him.

The moment his fingers touched Yu Nan’s skin, he recoiled sharply.

“Sorry, it tickles a bit,” he whispered. “Just tell me where, and I’ll do it myself.”

Bei Yuye pointed out the spot, and he awkwardly finished applying the ointment.

“Do you remember what happened last night?” Bei Yuye asked suddenly, catching him off guard.

Yu Nan’s mind went into overdrive. What had happened? He got drunk, took over someone else’s room, and ended up covered in bruises.

He stiffly shook his head, “I don’t remember.”

Bei Yuye felt even more wronged now—his neck was covered in bite marks, yet the person responsible didn’t remember a thing.

“Pei Yunchuan said you don’t want to meet in real life. Why is that?” Bei Yuye still wanted to know.

Yu Nan knew that Bei Bei wanted to meet in person, but they had different views on it. “No reason, I just don’t want to. If we meet, we’ll break up.”

He said this while sober, and Bei Yuye felt a sharp pang in his heart again. He was torturing himself first thing in the morning.

From now on, he decided, he wouldn’t ask such questions in the morning.

“Do you want to go have breakfast? I bought buns and soy milk,” he offered.

Yu Nan rubbed the bruises on his arm, wondering why there were so many of them.

He couldn’t help but ask, “Do you know how I got these bruises?”

“You got thirsty, went out to get some water, and fell. The chair fell on top of you, so you got bruised in several places,” Bei Yuye said, feeling sorry for him all over again.

Yu Nan regretted asking. How embarrassing. Trying to change the subject, he awkwardly said, “I want… buns.”

“No, soy milk,” he felt like his tongue was tied. He looked at Bei Yuye and carefully enunciated, “I want to eat the breakfast you bought.”

Bei Yuye smiled, “Let’s go, I just bought it. It’s still warm.”

“Senior, try this; these steamed dumplings are delicious.”

“And this century egg and lean pork congee is also really good, senior.”

Bei Yuye wanted to maintain the way things were between them, but he couldn’t hold back. When he went to buy breakfast, he wasn’t sure what Nan Nan liked, so he nearly bought out the entire breakfast shop and even ordered more takeout.

Yu Nan slowly ate the century egg and lean pork congee and picked up a crab roe bun.

At first, he thought there were only buns and soy milk, but to his surprise, the whole table was filled with all kinds of breakfast items. He didn’t dare ask, fearing this was just the young master’s usual routine.

He glanced at Bei Yuye, who was eating broccoli with eggs and sipping bitter coffee.

From the kitchen, the microwave beeped.

Bei Yuye got up to get the milk and handed it to him. “This will help you grow taller; I just warmed it up.”

Yu Nan accepted it, feeling overwhelmed. How did he deserve this?

“Hey, where’s Milk tea—no, Pei Yunchuan?” He asked.

He reached for another crab roe bun, realizing that the ones Bei Yuye bought were indeed delicious.

Bei Yuye looked puzzled. “Pei Yunchuan is still asleep. Milk tea?”

“We’re gaming buddies. We’ve known each other for six years, and I never expected him to be your friend. Isn’t that such a coincidence?” Yu Nan still found it unbelievable and excitedly shared with his junior.

A scene from a year ago suddenly flashed in Bei Yuye’s mind, and he tried to trace back to that moment.

Why did he add Nan Nan? On the morning he joined the game, Pei Yunchuan was playing next to him.

Pei Yunchuan was constantly on the mic, talking nonsense and enthusiastically rapping something like, “Yu Yu is naughty, Sister Kitty catches, catches, catches!”

Then, just before the cutscene, there was someone with the ID “Yu Yu is naughty” in front of him. Bei Yuye, brainwashed by Pei Yunchuan’s singing, immediately chose to add them as a friend.

Not long after, the two of them quickly became a couple in the game, even creating matching IDs with “Nan” and “Bei” in them.

Thinking back further, he realized that he hadn’t cared which server to choose at the time, but Pei Yunchuan insisted on picking this one because he had a friend in it.

Even now, the reason Nan Nan was at his place was because he had recognized Pei Yunchuan’s voice, but Nan Nan didn’t recognize his.

For Pei Yunchuan and Nan Nan, their meeting was a series of coincidences. But for him and Nan Nan, it seemed like a fated connection.

He silently cheered himself on. If Nan Nan discovered the truth on his own, it wouldn’t count as meeting in real life.

“Why such a big breakfast today?” Pei Yunchuan, hair sticking up like a chicken’s nest, appeared and dove towards the table.

Bei Yuye hadn’t expected him to wake up so early. Usually, he wouldn’t be up until noon. “Why are you up so early today?”

He had been hoping for a sweet breakfast alone with Nan Nan.

Pei Yunchuan pulled out a chair and sat down, pointing at Yu Nan. “I dreamed about your online boyfriend.”

Yu Nan nearly choked on his congee, wiping the corners of his mouth. “My boyfriend?”

Pei Yunchuan nodded solemnly and said gravely, “He slapped me, called me a deadbeat, and asked why I was stopping you two from being together.”

He even mimicked the slapping motion, his head turning back and forth. “Just like this, smack, smack, smack.”

Bei Yuye looked at him with a forced smile. Slander—blatant slander. Yesterday, he had only asked why they couldn’t meet in real life.

Yu Nan was laughing uncontrollably.

Pei Yunchuan changed his tone. “Nan Nan, you better think this through. Anyone who slaps me like that is not a good guy.”

Yu Nan’s laughter gradually faded until he could no longer laugh. He looked at him in confusion.

The junior knew he was in an online relationship, but didn’t know that his partner was a guy.

Furious, he grabbed a bun and stuffed it into Milk tea’s mouth. “If you don’t know how to talk, then don’t say anything!”

He felt like his life had always been pretty mundane until he met Milk tea yesterday. Since then, every moment had been so exciting, maybe even too exciting.

Yu Nan forced an awkward smile at his junior. “Hahaha, what did you hear?”

Bei Yuye avoided his gaze, lowering his head to nibble on his corn. “I didn’t hear anything.”

Yu Nan felt like crying but had no tears. There was no way he hadn’t heard. Softening his tone, he pleaded, “Don’t say anything about this either, okay?”

Bei Yuye nodded, still nibbling on his corn. “Okay, I won’t say anything.”

Yu Nan felt utterly defeated. What a mess! How did everything get spilled like this?

First, the online relationship, and now even his sexual orientation.

Pei Yunchuan finally swallowed the bun. “I almost choked to death.”

Yu Nan couldn’t finish his breakfast. He sent a big crying emoji in the group chat.

Frustrated, he typed: *I give up. I would’ve been better off not recognizing Milk tea.*

Yu Nan: *Yesterday, I accidentally let slip about my online relationship, and this morning, my partner being a guy got exposed.*

Pei Yunchuan saw the message and pointed at Bei Yuye. “He’s in an online relationship too, and his partner’s also a guy. You two are even now, both in the same boat.”

Yu Nan and Bei Yuye exchanged a glance and fell into silence.

“I’ve had too much beef; it’s getting a bit greasy,” Pei Yunchuan said, picking at the beef from his noodles. The noodles had gone soft from sitting too long.

He didn’t know what was up with Bei Yuye today, buying so much food.

Bei Yuye pushed his plate toward him. “If it’s too greasy, eat some broccoli.”

Pei Yunchuan pushed the plate back. “I don’t want it.”

Yu Nan suddenly remembered he hadn’t messaged Bei Bei last night. Fridays were supposed to be their happy day.

He searched for Bei Bei and found that late last night, he had sent him a short video, just over ten seconds long, which made him panic.

Nan Nan: *Why did I send you a video last night?*

A video quickly came through in response, also just over ten seconds, showing the screen recording from the moment the video call was received.

The screen was pitch black, and all that could be heard was the phrase “drink water.” Yu Nan breathed a sigh of relief.

Nan Nan: *Do you always record videos?*

Bei Bei: *I just want to keep a record because I really love you.*

Halfway through eating, Pei Yunchuan decided to stir things up again. He sent everyone a screenshot. “This is our plan for the near future.”

Yu Nan opened the image and saw the plan starting this afternoon.

Afternoon: Watch a movie and chat together.

Evening: Watch a movie and chat together.

Late Night: Have a midnight snack and chat together.

It got even more extreme—there were plans for an anime convention this day, another convention that day, Halloween at an amusement park with cosplay, all stretched out over a long period, including an in-person meetup for their game group next year.

Pei Yunchuan scratched his nose. “Uh, brother Ye, don’t look at the last one. That meetup doesn’t include you.”

Bei Yuye was genuinely puzzled. “You never seemed to like participating in this stuff before?”

Pei Yunchuan, with a grand air, replied, “Life is about trying new things, don’t you agree?”

Life is about trying new things, which is why the three of them were now huddled on the same couch, discussing which movie to watch.

“Let’s watch something mildly scary,” Yu Nan suggested because he really loved watching horror, but was too scared to watch alone.

Of course, Bei Yuye agreed with Nan Nan. “I’m up for it.”

Pei Yunchuan started searching for movies, realizing he hadn’t seen most of the popular ones. He asked brother Yu, “Which ones have you seen? I haven’t seen most of these.”

Yu Nan laughed sheepishly. “I haven’t dared to watch any of the really famous ones. I mostly watch bad movies.”

Because he was really scared, he clutched a pillow to his chest.

“What about old ones, like ‘The Grudge’?” Bei Yuye suggested after searching.

Yu Nan had only watched the beginning of that movie before chickening out, so he nodded.

Bei Yuye set up the screen and pulled the curtains, noticing Nan Nan curled up with the pillow in his arms, which made his heart melt—except for the eyesore that was Pei Yunchuan.

The room grew dim, and even the tones of the movie playing on the TV were dark.

He rarely watched horror movies either. He wanted to maintain his strong image in Nan Nan’s mind, but he just couldn’t do it.

He carefully scooted closer to him, feeling a bit scared himself.

The oppressive atmosphere of the movie was completely undone by Pei Yunchuan’s constant screams.