In the end, Yi Zhongshen assisted Bo Xiyun into the hotel.
When they reached the room and Bo Xiyun was seated on the sofa with Yi Zhongshen supporting him, Yi Zhongshen spoke softly again.
"I'm sorry."
It was as if he was apologizing for every time he had touched Bo Xiyun.
Soon, a glass of plain water and two cups of prepared drinks were placed on the table. One was for relieving motion sickness, and the other was a cold prevention medicine.
The three glasses were arranged side by side, emitting a faint white steam together.
Bo Xiyun stared at the rising steam for a moment before speaking softly.
"I'm sorry too."
His voice was weak, as if he had just managed to escape from the dizziness.
The person sitting across from him looked at him.
Bo Xiyun continued, "I forgot to cancel the meal order at the restaurant for tonight."
Yi Zhongshen remained silent.
After a while, he finally spoke, "Next time, I won't go there."
His voice was very low.
"You rest assured, have a good meal."
Bo Xiyun lowered his gaze and looked at the books on the coffee table. He picked up those booklets and moved them closer to himself.
Yi Zhongshen watched him, and his curled fingers unconsciously clenched.
After a moment of pause, perhaps suppressing his emotions, Yi Zhongshen spoke, "Your belongings have been packed up. They will be sent to your room later."
When Bo Xiyun was helped up by Yi Zhongshen just now, they neither went to Bo Xiyun's room nor Yi Zhongshen's room; instead, they came to Gu Sheng's room.
Then, when they left the hospital in the early morning, although Bo Xiyun returned to the hotel, Yi Zhongshen wasn't there, so he didn't enter Yi Zhongshen's room without permission.
Therefore, Bo Xiyun's things were still left there.
The books on the coffee table that Bo Xiyun was holding now were his competition books and draft notebooks.
Yi Zhongshen closed his eyes slightly and said, "I got the spare room key from the front desk."
It was the key that Bo Xiyun had handed over to the front desk early in the morning.
His voice became hoarser.
"Your spare room key is also at the front desk. You can get it later."
Bo Xiyun kept his gaze lowered, looking at the books in front of him.
All of Bo Xiyun's belongings, including his pillow and pajamas, were placed in Gu Sheng's room, presumably for Gu Sheng to help deliver them to him.
As Bo Xiyun's gaze fell on the draft he had been staring at for a long time, he noticed that there were some additional markings and annotations that didn't belong to him. These markings were not there yesterday.
They were new.
They were added today by Yi Zhongshen, providing insights and optimizations to his problem-solving approach.
Bo Xiyun wondered.
Wasn't Yi Zhongshen busy today?
In fact, he was busy every day.
Yet, he still accompanied Bo Xiyun throughout the day—during morning exercises, evening self-study, in the car, and at the hotel.
After a brief silence in the room, Yi Zhongshen was about to speak, but Bo Xiyun asked first.
"Is your arm okay?"
Yi Zhongshen pursed his lips and replied, "It's fine."
Bo Xiyun calmly said, "I speculated earlier that you might be sensitive to a certain hormone I have or have a clear preference for it, which is why it can be used for treatment. If you have time, you can do a comprehensive medical examination to see if there's any deficiency in a certain aspect. Perhaps that could be cured."
He added, "It's just a train of thought, for your reference."
Bo Xiyun remained calm, resembling a genuine doctor facing a patient.
Yi Zhongshen looked at him, the pale-faced youth with a slight redness around his eyes, a hint of wateriness from the recent coughing, appearing so fragile and delicate.
Yet, he was the one who seemed more composed and resolute than anyone else.
Yi Zhongshen's chest slightly fluctuated, almost imperceptibly.
"Alright."
Once Bo Xiyun settled down and lowered his head to drink the prepared medicine in his hands, Yi Zhongshen spoke again.
"I'm sorry."
This was his most subdued and sincere apology.
"I'm sorry for what happened last night."
Bo Xiyun kept his gaze down, sipping the bitter medicine, and the rising steam dampened his curled long eyelashes.
In truth, there was nothing surprising about it.
He had already guessed early on.
Yi Zhongshen remembered everything that happened after he got drunk.
Bo Xiyun slowly set down the water cup in his hand and asked in a soft voice, "Was it a misunderstanding?"
After thinking for a moment, he continued, "When you're drunk, you may not be in clear consciousness, and you might mistake someone for someone else and do something unexpected."
Yi Zhongshen remained silent, looking at him, and finally uttered only one sentence.
"I'm really sorry."
Bo Xiyun didn't understand.
He couldn't comprehend why Yi Zhongshen would kiss him.
The intense emotions that flowed from last night's kiss were genuine, and even the most oblivious person wouldn't be able to ignore them.
It had scalded Bo Xiyun, making him sober.
However, this created a striking and puzzling contradiction with Bo Xiyun's previous reasonable inference that "Yi Zhongshen doesn't like him."
Bo Xiyun asked, "When we were preparing for the competition in Team B City, there was a time when Xu Xinyi came to find me alone in the self-study building. You were also there at the time. Did you hear what she said?"
Yi Zhongshen's jaw muscles tensed, and he answered in a low voice, "I heard."
He heard Bo Xiyun saying that he preferred to be alone.
Bo Xiyun frowned, finding it even more difficult to understand.
He didn't get it, "Then why? If you heard, why didn't you approach me?"
Yi Zhongshen seemed to not understand, "For what?"
"For example, today, after the incident, you could have chosen to be busy and not come, stay away from me for a while. Let me realize that I feel uncomfortable when I can't see you. This way, I would worry about you, miss you, and use that to force myself to figure out my true feelings for you," Bo Xiyun explained as if teaching him.
The warm-toned ceiling light gently enveloped the room, but Yi Zhongshen's expression seemed to grow even paler.
He whispered, "I can't stay too far away from you."
"The Bai family has been acting frequently lately, and I don't know what Bai Gelei wants to do. Your body hasn't fully recovered, and you need someone to take care of you. If you experience something like the dizziness from earlier while traveling again..."
Yi Zhongshen paused for a moment before continuing with an even more hoarse voice, "I hope I can be there for you promptly."
Bo Xiyun fell silent for a moment.
Yi Zhongshen's neck muscles tensed, and he spoke in a voice so hoarse it was almost a whisper, "If you dislike me, I won't appear before you."
"But I won't," Yi Zhongshen's voice was soft but firm, "I won't deliberately stay away from you, test you, or pressure you into making a decision."
Bo Xiyun knew that Yi Zhongshen was being genuine.
Yi Zhongshen wouldn't lie to him.
Just like earlier when Bo Xiyun asked if the kiss from last night was a misunderstanding, if Yi Zhongshen had claimed that it was, they could have moved past this incident.
But he didn't.
Bo Xiyun murmured his question, "Why?"
Why did Yi Zhongshen, who clearly understood his thoughts and knew about his habit of distancing himself from pursuers, not use any tactics or shortcuts?
No urging, no pressure, no manipulation.
Even with such an extreme level of composure, he faced Bo Xiyun with this awkward, tense, and pale demeanor.
Suddenly, Bo Xiyun thought of Xu Xinyi's attitude during dinner.
Perhaps he was even more special.
Perhaps he loved in silence, with burning emotions hidden beneath his icy exterior, a silent flame of intense passion.
Even if that love would never be reciprocated.
That's why he acted without any plans, without any calculations, and exposed his sincere and vulnerable heart, offering his weaknesses and vulnerabilities completely.
It overturned all of Bo Xiyun's previous assumptions and speculations, allowing him to finally understand clearly.
"I like you."
"I don't want you to feel sad or hurt."
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Tn: now that's just sad...*sigh*