From a nobody online dating to a top love brain - Chapter 2

The other party still hadn’t noticed his return. Bei Yuye quietly closed the door and placed his things on the table.

Yu Nan glanced over and was startled to see a figure beside him, realizing belatedly that someone was already in the bunk bed.

The screams from the boiling kettle in his headphones pulled his thoughts back to the game.

Kan Jian: “I swear by Milk Tea, I’ve been single for ten years! Please don’t let me down when I’m fast!”

Milk Tea: “I’ll kill you! Swordman! I’ll clear the six realms before you!”

Yu Nan, seeing their health bars, sighed inwardly, “Just let me heal you both!”

Another three hours passed.

He saw the completion screen and quietly took a deep breath, “You guys are great, let’s not meet again in the next life.”

In his dream, everything existed: “I told you, when we gather together, we’re just a mess!”

Milk Tea: “Tired, loved, signing off.”

Yu Nan noticed it wasn’t late yet and said he was also leaving.

The other two roommates said they wouldn’t be back tonight in the group chat, prompting another sigh from him.

Those two roommates loved to play, so the dormitory often had only him. Now there was a new junior, which made him a little uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, the bathroom door opened, releasing bursts of steam.

Bei Yuye came out wearing a white T-shirt and black shorts, using a towel to dry his wet hair.

Without drying himself completely, he put on his clothes, the white T-shirt faintly outlining his abs.

Yu Nan silently turned away, feeling guilty. He tidied up his clothes and prepared to take a shower, sending a message to Beibei: “The new roommate is tall and muscular, and seems to have abs.”

Bei Yuye, sitting and drying his hair, paused for a moment upon hearing this, then went back into the bathroom.

After Yu Nan finished tidying up, he cursed himself for being beaten to the bathroom again by him.

His phone “dinged,” and opening it, he found a series of photos from Bei Yuye.

Beibei: “Baby, I have abs too. I’ve been working on my chest muscles according to your preferences this summer.”

Tears welled up in Yu Nan’s eyes. Of course, he knew he had abs; he had seen them clearly during video calls before.

But as he zoomed in on the photos again, he noticed a colorful tattoo on Bei Yuye’s lower abdomen.

Zooming in further, he saw that the tattoo combined hearts and bows, forming the letter “N.”

They had just video called the day before yesterday, and there was no tattoo then.

Yu Nan asked: “Did you get this tattoo yesterday?”

Beibei: “Isn’t it cute?”

A shy puppy expression appeared in Yu Nan’s mind.

He didn’t know Bei Yuye’s appearance, but looking at the puppy expression on the screen, he could imagine a vague picture of a shy boy.

Beibei: “It’s the initials of your username.”

Beibei: “I thought about getting something cooler, but every time I think of you, I decided to make it cute and colorful.”

Yu Nan’s heart raced. Long-distance relationships were indeed intense.

*Kacha* 

The bathroom door opened, and Yu Nan quickly grabbed his clothes and slipped inside.

He took off his clothes and paused when he saw himself in the mirror. He touched the side of his abdomen where Bei Yuye’s tattoo was located.

This online relationship was getting serious.

He patted his blushing face, reminding himself not to get too carried away.

He looked at the photos Bei Yu ye sent again before sighing about being away from home.

After he finished showering and came out, there was no one downstairs; the freshman had already climbed into bed.

He sat in a chair with a hair dryer, flipping through his phone messages.

He saw that there were over 99+ messages in the “Happy Fairy Seven Immortals” group chat and clicked in.

He found everyone still discussing the dungeon they had just completed, blaming each other.

He piped up: “Are you all this free? My boyfriend sent me another abs photo.”

He also sent a laughing expression.

There were seven people in the group, three women and four men. Fortunately, they had known about his sexual orientation for years and had adapted.

Kan Jian: “Just an online relationship.”

Milk Tea: “Maybe it’s photoshopped.”

Dreams are everything: “Still better than you two oily guys.”

Rain is quietly falling: “If you can talk, then talk more @Dreams are everything.”

Milk Tea: “Crying, laughing, tired, don’t wait until my heart breaks to know my worth.”

Yu Nan couldn’t help but laugh and replied, “I hope we can last a year; it’s quite intense.”

Rain is quietly falling: “Will you meet in person then?”

Yu Nan: “I don’t agree!!!”

Yu Nan: “We haven’t even met in person yet. I don’t agree with turning an online relationship into real life after two months!”

He had no intention of meeting in person yet. Although they were in an online relationship, he firmly believed that online relationships were unreliable. But meeting Kan Jian and the others in person was something he could consider; they had been talking about meeting up for a while now.

Despite knowing each other for many years, they were still young when they played together six years ago, with everyone in middle school and one in elementary school.

The only elementary school student back then, Kan Jian, sent a message again: “Wait for me, I’m almost legal.”

After six years of playing passionately, they returned as minors.

Milk Tea: “Got it, minors.”

Rain is quietly falling: “Got it, minors.”

Dreams are everything: “Got it, minors.”

Yu Nan also copied: Got it, underage.

Two more people chimed in.

Kitty: Got it, underage.

Doggo: Got it, underage.

Milk Tea: If you’re underage, don’t you have to go to class at 6:30 tomorrow?

Then another round of copying ensued.

Watch the sword: I’m going to sleep.

Yu Nan touched his hair, feeling that he had talked enough, tidied up the electronics, and climbed into bed.

It still felt a bit awkward facing each other, as they could see each other with just a glance.

But he didn’t want to change direction either; it felt unsafe to look at his phone in any other direction.

He opened a DJ website link and searched for comics to read. A beautiful night started with a sweet little story.

He was used to sharing comics with Beibei, so he didn’t hesitate to send the sweetest parts to him. “So sweet.”

Beibei: I think so too.

He was very pleased with Beibei’s constant responses and continued reading the comic.

Beibei: Did you play games tonight, baby?

Yu Nan recalled the fear of being dominated by the dungeon today: I was a bit tired today, so I didn’t play.

Beibei: Okay, baby, keep an eye on the messages.

He sent a kissing emoji in response.

The two beds shared a ladder, so any movement on one bed could be felt on the other.

The bed creaked, and Yu Nan saw his junior sit up from his lying position and put a laptop on his lap.

Familiar game music filled the room, and he couldn’t help but glance at his junior a few times.

In the last of those glances, he met his junior’s eyes.

He quickly lowered his head. He knew it; facing each other like this was not a good idea.

“I’ll put on headphones in a bit,” Bei Yuye said.

The deep, mellow voice sounded familiar to him but he quickly dismissed it; all good voices sounded similar.

He smiled awkwardly and waved his hand: “No problem, I was just curious because I heard familiar game music.”

Bei Yuye had seen Yu Nan playing a game earlier today, the same type of MMO game: “Do you play too, senior?”

In a lifetime of regrets, Yu Nan regretted mentioning hearing the familiar game music just a moment ago.

He feared his junior would want to add him to play games together.

He waved his hand more vigorously: “I only played for a few months when the server first opened, but I don’t play anymore.”

Bei Yuye nodded and didn’t pay it any more attention.

Yu Nan quietly rejoiced, thankful that he had played a different game downstairs today.

The small episode over, he turned over and continued reading his comic. The more he read, the more energized he felt. He looked at the time, it was only one in the morning, still early. He found another short comic to read.

Bei Yuye was playing on his partner’s game account. His partner was too tired to log in today, so after finishing his own tasks, he logged into his partner’s account.

He was currently helping his partner clear a dungeon. They had randomly joined a cross-server team, and someone in the team wasn’t familiar with the mechanics, and there was no one to give instructions.

He glanced at Yu Nan, whose phone screen was still glowing in the dark, and after a few seconds of thought, he asked: “Senior, can I turn on my microphone for the meeting?”

Yu Nan, wearing headphones and listening to music while reading, didn’t hear him at first. It wasn’t until Bei Yuye called out again that he was pulled out of his sweet comic.

“No problem, you can turn it on. I’m not asleep yet,” he said, then lay down again, happily continuing to read his comic.

He was engrossed in his reading, and when the plot took an unexpected turn, he didn’t suspect anything; it was just a little twist in their love story, and it was quite touching.

When he reached the part where the lovers separated, his emotions were clearly visible. He wiped away a tear, thinking it was just a small hurdle, and quickly scrolled to the next chapter, only to find that it was the final chapter.

In disbelief, he returned to the comic’s comment section, where everyone was talking about how touching it was, describing the love story as bittersweet.

He checked more comments, and sure enough, many were asking why the couple didn’t end up together.

He silently cursed himself for not reading all the comments beforehand; the top few comments had praised the emotional depth of the storyline, misleading him.

Feeling a pang in his heart, he sniffled, took out some tissues, and wiped away his tears.

He turned on his phone’s flashlight and climbed down to get some water, still upset by the storyline.

Why didn’t they end up together? They loved each other so much. He grabbed a few more tissues to wipe his tears.

Bei Yuye, having finally finished his game, took off his headphones and heard the sound of sniffling and crying. He glanced at his senior, who was on the floor.

Yu Nan’s phone rang—it was a group call from Milk Tea. He answered it.

Milk Tea’s voice came through intermittently: “Let me see… who… who… is still awake.”

Just as he was about to speak, he noticed that Bei Yuye had already turned off his computer. The dormitory was eerily quiet, so he asked: “Can I turn on my mic for a while?”

Bei Yuye replied, “No problem, I’m still awake.”

Mengmeng also joined the call, “Someone needs to fix his bad habit of drunkenly starting group calls.”

Yu Nan agreed, “Our ears are ears too.”

“Suddenly miss you… where are you!” Milk Tea sang passionately.

Mengmeng: “Here he goes again with his tea karaoke, terrible but we love it.”

“We were so sweet… so beautiful… so trusting…”

The terrible singing broke Yu Nan out of his sad mood.

He teased: “Tonight, Tea Total’s persona is a deeply affectionate CEO singing ‘Suddenly Miss You’ after being dumped.”

Kitty: “Who upset him now? This is terrible.”

“The air… suddenly quiet!”

Another awful high note made Yu Nan take off one earbud and rub his ear.

He started climbing back into bed.

They chatted for another hour, with Milk Tea’s terrible singing in the background.

“Pei Yunchuan, shut up already.”

“We only met a day ago, we’re not that close yet!”

“Someone gag him, oh my god, he bites!”

The sounds from Milk Tea’s end suddenly became chaotic.

They remembered that Milk Tea was a freshman and had just moved into his dorm today.

Doggo: “What’s his name again?”

Kitty: “Something Yunchuan, right?”

Mengmeng: “What’s the full name?”

Yu Nan: “Pei Yunchuan loses his online name.”

Yu Nan laughed, minimized the voice chat, and typed in the group chat.

Yu Nan: Pei Pei, go to sleep. @Milk Tea

A series of copied messages followed.

They listened to the noise from Milk Tea’s dorm and his mischievous laughter, silently praying for his smooth dorm life. Finally, they said goodnight and left the voice chat.

Before sleeping, Yu Nan didn’t forget to message Beibei.

Yu Nan: Baby, I’m going to sleep!

Beibei: Goodnight!

Bei Yuye looked at the chat background he had chosen earlier, feeling more and more dissatisfied, so he went to his gallery to pick a new picture.

Finally, he decided to use his tattoo design as the background; at least it had some connection to Nannan.

He was about to sleep when a new message popped up—it was a voice message.

Bei Yuye converted it to text first and saw: The most fearful thing is a friend’s sudden concern.

He put on his headphones and played the voice message. The terrible singing came through.

He immediately blocked the sender.