My Underachieving Seatmate Doesn't Need Any Comforting

After entering the cinema and finding their seats, Qiao Shao looked at He Shen. “These seats ...”

They were in the innermost corner of the last row. What good were these seats for watching the movie?

He Shen held his hand in the dark, “They’re good for watching me.”

Qiao Shao’s face turned hot, and he said, “How can I see clearly when it’s so dark?”

He Shen lowered his voice and said, “Come closer.”

Qiao Shao: “............”

Why hasn’t he learned his lesson to stop digging pits for himself!

Surprisingly, the movie was quite interesting. Although it was called First Love at Seventeen, it was a story about a twenty-seven year old adult.

From a young and immature seventeen year old to the mature and indifferent twenty-seven year old, only the initial pounding from age of seventeen remained in his heart.

Qiao Shao looked a little melancholy: “Ten years is really a long time.”

No one could tell what would happen in ten years. Right now, he and He Shen were holding hands and snuggling together but in ten years, would they be like the couple in the movie, each with their own separate lives?

He Shen said, “We will always be together.”

Qiao Shao turned to look at him.

He Shen was also watching him: “I won’t ever give you the chance to leave, nor will I ever give you any reason to dislike me.”

Qiao Shao understood the meaning behind his words. To fall in love takes only but a moment but to maintain that love takes a lifetime. Feelings, when they come, come like a violent and raging fire, burning very vigorously. But if you don’t add fuel to the fire, it will die into ice-cold ashes. Staying together closely would be what would add fuel to that fire.

Qiao Shao smiled. “Then I also have to work hard so that you will always like– ...”

He Shen interrupted his words. “You and I are different.”

Qiao Shao: “Huh?”

He Shen kissed the hollow of his palm, looked up at him and said, “I only have you.”

Qiao Shao’s throbbed.

He Shen whispered, “Every feeling of happiness I have ever experienced uptil now, were all given to me by you.”

These were words of love, but these words also made him feel choked up.

Qiao Shao said, “Don’t say that.”

He Shen didn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable, so he didn’t say anything. He changed the topic and asked, “What do you want to eat for lunch?”

The choked up feeling in Qiao Shao’s heart had yet to fade. He said, “Something sweet.”

He Shen: “Huh?”

Qiao Shao said, “Let’s go eat at a dessert buffet.”

He Shen said, dignified, “Then how can that be lunch?”

Qiao Shao looked at him. “You’re not gonna eat?”

He Shen: “...”

Qiao Shao smiled. “Today’s Valentine’s Day, we should do what makes us happy!”

He Shen’s heart slammed against his chest. There was another hidden meaning in Qiao Shao’s statement. Eating sweets is what makes He Shen happy, but he said ‘we should do what makes us happy’. So wouldn’t that mean that what makes He Shen happy, makes Qiao Shao happy?

He Shen had not eaten anything yet but his chest was already overflowing with syrup.

Qiao Shao heard about the dessert buffet from Wei Jiayu. It was said that there were hundreds of snacks laid out and you could sample them at your leisure.

Today, on this special holiday, there were a lot of people in the store. Qiao Shao regretted it a bit when they got there. “There are a lot of couples.”

He Shen said, “Should we go somewhere else?”

Qiao Shao thought for a while. “What are we afraid of, we’re a couple too!” After that, he took his hand.

At school, they had to hide it but outside, there weren’t going to hide!

The corners of He Shen’s eyes were all smiles, and his voice was low and gentle. “En, we’re also a couple.”

What was great about the dessert buffet was that it wasn’t all desserts. You could also order some regular Western dishes.

Although the meat quality wasn’t that good and the cooking was average, the two had a great time. Happiness was a complicated thing. It was enough just to smile together with someone you like.

After lunch, they went to the amusement park.

He Shen booked a premier tour in advance, so they could go at any time and they didn’t need to line up.

Qiao Shao said, “I heard that Pirates of the Caribbean is fun?”

He Shen hasn’t been here yet and said, “We’ll go on it a few times if you like.”

Qiao Shao’s eyes were bright. “Are you afraid of heights?”

He Shen said, “I’m alright.”

Qiao Shao said with a mischievous smile. “Then we’ll have to go on a few rounds on the roller coaster.” Actually, they only went on it once because it was too cold!

Naturally, they had a great time that afternoon, except for one thing.

Qiao Shao said, “My face is distorted in that photo. That has to be thrown out!”

He Shen snuck it into his coat like it was a precious treasure. “It’s mine.”

Qiao Shao couldn’t snatch it back. He just hated why this amusement park need to capture “wonderful moments”!

At night, Da Qiao called, “I won’t be back tonight. You two eat out.”

Qiao Shao blinked. “You ...”

Qiao Zongmin said, “Why? You want me to accompany you for the holiday?”

Oh, Da Qiao, is this a character reversal? How come you’re being so generous?

Qiao Shao said, “No, we’ll take care of it.”

Qiao Zongmin snorted. “You must be home before ten o’clock.”

Qiao Shao was surprised. “Why so late?”

Qiao Zongmin took back what he said, “Make that eight o’clock.”

Qiao Shao: “..................” What was he doing blabbing like this!

Later, father and the son made a compromise. They would head back by 9:30 and they’ll consider that as being back by 10.

Qiao Shao hung up the phone and told He Shen the good news.

He Shen cautiously said, “I hope he doesn’t find out we skipped class.”

Qiao Shao cleared his throat and said, “We must never let him know.”

If Da Qiao knew, forget going home by 10, he’d be carried back home and lectured for a very long while.

Since they weren’t in a hurry to go back, they watched the light show together.

In front of a beautiful dreamlike castle, Qiao Shao and He Shen stood with their fingers intertwined. It was as if they were in a fairy tale.

This is their first Valentine’s day, though uneventful, beautiful and full of happiness.

***

The final exam for the second year of high school was Qiao Shao’s last exam at East High. He got third place in the class. His total score was only two points less than Chen Su’s, five points less than Liang Zhu’s, and compared to He Shen ... En, this person should never be included in any test rankings!

In Liang Zhu’s words, the gap between him and He Shen was not the five points in Chinese, the one point in mathematics and the three points in Sciences. The gap lay in the fact that the perfect score was capped at 750 and He Shen would never be able to score an 850.

With the upper limit capped, you shouldn’t speculate about the gap between yourself and the god of learning!

Song Yixu looked at class rankings and said, “Chen Su, you’re being a third party like this.”

Chen Su shot him a glance.

Song Yixu took out his mobile phone, opened a game interface, and showed Chen Su. “Look! See? The in thing right now is for couples to fight for the top two spots.”

Qiao Shao was very curious. He also looked over and said, “What?”

Then he saw the top two on the game leaderboard. The first one was called ‘bow my head to kiss no. 2’, the second was called ‘lift my head to kiss no. 1’, even their avatars were matching ...

Song Yixu said, “See, Chen Su? Your name at no. 2 looks like an eyesore!”

Chen Su: “.........”

Qiao Shao said, “What nonsense! It’s just the class rank sheet!”

Song Yixu: “But you two are a pair.”

Qiao Shao lowered his voice and said, “Keep it quiet.”

Song Yixu covered his mouth and said, “Is there anyone in our class who still doesn’t know about you two?”

Qiao Shao: “............”

Chen Su thought for a moment and said, “Old Tang doesn’t know.”

Qiao Shao: “..................”

All right, it’s possible only the class teacher doesn’t know......

That evening, He Shen brought another good news. “Lou Xiao has reached the finals.”

Qiao Shao was even happier than when he saw his test results. “That’s great!”

During this past six months, he has been following the matches closely. Although they’ve never gone to watch a live match, Lou Xiao couldn’t stop them from watching the live broadcasts; especially with this fan Wei Blue Hair around, Qiao Shao was often schooled about the e-sports circle.

He knew the cruelty of e-sports industry and the hardships endured by the players. He also knew of how this band of teenagers were on a journey to pursue their dreams, hot blood racing through their veins!

Qiao Shao longed to be able to pursue what he wanted to do. Staking your everything and doing your utmost best was so cool!

Qiao Shao asked, “Can we book tickets?”

He Shen said, “Lao Lou has complimentary tickets.”

Qiao Shao said. “We have to go!”

He Shen nodded with a smile.

The finals were being held out of the city. It would take two hours to get there by plane and they definitely wouldn’t be able to make it back the same day.

Qiao Shao discussed their itinerary with Qiao Zongmin. Qiao Zongmin raised his eyelids to look at him. “You two are going to stay overnight?”

Qiao Shao said, “We’re going to have our classmates with us ...”

Qiao Zongmin glanced at He Shen and said, “I’ll have someone book your rooms for you.”

Qiao Shao let out a sigh of relief. “Okay!”

As long as they could go and watch the game, everything else was trivial.

On the day of the game, Qiao Shao and the others met Lou Xiao at the venue.

Even though they’ve been seeing him in the live broadcasts for the past six months, seeing him in person still felt different.

Lou Xiao hadn’t changed much. He was still tall with slender limbs, drooping eyelids and a cold look that deterred people from getting close.

The only difference was that he now wears a pair of glasses. The ‘Mi’ character on the side of the frames was very low-key. Only when the light hits will it reflect a flash.

Wei Jiayu commented, “The glasses Shen Ge sent look so cool!” It was also expensive enough. These frames were worth six figures. It was like he was holding a small sports car on the bridge of his nose.

Qiao Shao also thought it looked really good. “With glasses on, Lou Xiao looks a lot more serious.” It smoothed out his edges and made him look a bit more composed.

Wei Jiayu hurriedly caught him up on the gossip. “Fans have said that he is a 100% beast!”

Qiao Shao: “???

Was this a compliment? Or did this come from the legendary black fans!

They went backstage to meet Lou Xiao. Lou Xiao was in good condition and he was even very happy to see them.

Qiao Shao cheered for him and wished him the best.

Lou Xiao looked at him and looked away quietly ...

Qiao Shao knew what he was struggling with. Although they hadn’t been able to invite him to the birthday party during the New Year, with Wei Jiayu, this big blabbermouth, Lou Xiao had been informed about everything.

Just like how Wei Jiayu will blurt out ‘little poor ghost’ from time to time, Lou Xiao also couldn’t adapt so quickly to the fact that this little shorty in front of him was the young master of the Qiao family.

He Shen patted him on the shoulder and said, “Do your best.”

Lou Xiao let out a breath. “En.”

From this sound, they could tell he was still nervous.

This was his first season, the first step into his life, and the starting point for him to chase his dream. It would be a lie to say that he wasn’t nervous.

Because he could sense this, Qiao Shao also started to get nervous. After sitting in the audience seats, they didn’t say a word throughout the entire thing.

After following the matches for half a year, Qiao Shao could now understand the match. Lou Xiao’s team had been taking on damage. He was so nervous, he didn’t even dare breathe. Only when they had recovered some lost ground, he couldn’t help but let out a cry.

Wei Jiayu’s reactions were even more exaggerated. He was shouting so hard that his voice had already gone hoarse.

The atmosphere in the audience seats was very lively. It was as if everyone had been transported into the battle on the screen. The back and forth between the characters pulled at the nerves of everyone present.

There was applause, there were exclamations, there were shouts ... It was the inexhaustible youthful blood that fueled the excitement of the audience.

At the last moment, the huge ‘WIN’ appeared over Lou Xiao’s team.

Qiao Shao stood up. “They won!”

He Shen held his hand. “En.”

Qiao Shao turned around and gave him a big hug.

Amidst the surrounding bustle, He Shen whispered something against his ear.

Qiao Shao’s eyes suddenly went wide, his face flushed red. “Ah?”

He Shen repeated, “The suite Sir reserved for us only has one bed.”

The author has something to say: This is the last chapter in my outline book. I originally wanted to end it at this point, and then catch the tail end of National Day to go out for some fun!

But ... the word count tells me that I’m still 10,000 words short.

Ah, ah, ah, there are still 10,000 words left. Ahhhhh, I have to write three more chapters

So ... see you tomorrow, baobei [Puts on an air of forced cheer]