Chapter 154: Liking Him
He was just about to say something when a sudden bang echoed from below—the unmistakable sound of a door being slammed shut, ringing loud and clear through the quiet villa.
Chu Yang had just swallowed his last spoonful of shaved ice and looked up at the sound. “Huh? What was that? Sounded like it came from downstairs… from Lin Xiao and Su Mubai’s floor?”
Setting his empty glass bowl on the table, he stood up. “Brother Jiang, I’ll head down and take a look. Hopefully those two aren’t getting into an argument.” With that, he slipped into his house slippers and hurried down the stairs.
Jiang Jue watched his retreating figure without trying to stop him, merely casting a deep, thoughtful look toward the doorway.
The moment Chu Yang reached the second-floor landing, he spotted Lin Xiao standing outside Su Mubai’s door like a guardian statue. Slumping against the wall, he looked utterly dejected, exactly like a large dog that had just been kicked out of the house by its owner.
“Lin Xiao?” Chu Yang walked over and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “What happened? Did Su Mubai kick you out?”
Lin Xiao looked up, rubbing his nose in sheepish embarrassment when he saw who it was. “Old Three… what are you doing down here?”
“I heard a slam and came to investigate.” Chu Yang sized him up, his tone laced with amusement. “Are you two actually fighting? Not bad, man. You only confessed your feelings a couple of days ago, and you’ve already managed to annoy him enough to lock the door in your face?”
Lin Xiao parted his lips, desperate to explain but having no idea where to even begin. How was he supposed to admit that he had gotten carried away kissing him and pushed things too far?
He stammered for a moment, completely unable to form a coherent sentence.
Seeing him at a loss for words, Chu Yang assumed it was just a typical petty misunderstanding. Driven by brotherly loyalty, he thumped his own chest reassuringly. “Alright, stop hovering out here in the hall. Head back to your room; I’ll talk to Su Mubai for you.”
Lin Xiao looked at Chu Yang’s confident leave-it-to-me expression, wanting to object but swallowing the words back down.
Having Old Three go in to talk to him… was that really a good idea? Especially given the state Su Mubai was in right now…
“What are you still standing around for? Go on, head inside!” Seeing him hesitate, Chu Yang urged him again.
Lin Xiao had no choice but to drag his feet back toward his own bedroom, looking over his shoulder every couple of steps with lingering longing before finally shutting his door.
Chu Yang cleared his throat, raised his knuckles, and knocked softly on Su Mubai’s door. “Su Mubai? You in there? It’s me, Chu Yang.”
After a short pause, the door unlocked and swung inward.
Su Mubai had already changed into his pajamas. His hair was still slightly damp, and his expression had settled back into its usual cool, distant composure. However, his slightly swollen lips and the faint crimson flush still clinging to his cheekbones told an entirely different story.
Chu Yang caught sight of those obvious marks in an instant, and the corners of his mouth twitched involuntarily.
This… this definitely doesn’t look like someone who got kicked out after a fight.
This is clearly a case of two people getting too heated, until one of them got shy and threw the other out!
Should he step inside, or should he turn on his heel and run?
Was it too late to pretend he had never come down?
Chu Yang cleared his throat with an awkward cough and bit the bullet anyway. “Uh… mind if I come in?”
Su Mubai glanced at him, stepping aside to make room without saying much. “Come in.”
Chu Yang walked inside, closing the door softly behind him.
The bedroom was pleasantly cool thanks to the air conditioning. Chu Yang took a seat on the sofa by the window, while Su Mubai pulled out a chair opposite him.
The untouched bowl of shaved ice still sat on the low coffee table; the crushed ice had already begun to melt, forming a shallow pool of sweet liquid at the bottom.
Though Chu Yang felt a brief flicker of awkwardness, he was naturally outgoing and never one to beat around the bush. Gathering his composure, his gaze drifted back to Su Mubai’s thoroughly kissed lips, a teasing grin breaking across his face. “So… you two are moving pretty fast, aren’t you?”
He genuinely hadn’t expected them to be at this stage already when they had barely sorted out their feelings a short while ago!
He had honestly thought they were having a fight, only to find out they had been getting a little too carried away!
Su Mubai instinctively raised a hand to touch his lips. The warmth that had just faded from his cheeks flared up instantly, and he shot Chu Yang a stern glare. “Stop talking nonsense.”
“I’m not talking nonsense,” Chu Yang said, dropping the playful smirk as his expression turned serious. “Su Mubai, I’m not here to pry into your personal business, but as your friend, there are a few things I need to hear from you directly.”
“Go ahead.”
“Are you serious about Lin Xiao?” Chu Yang looked him straight in the eye. “I know Lin Xiao well. His feelings for you are genuine.”
“But a relationship takes two people. If this is just a passing impulse, or if you haven’t thought it all the way through, you’re only going to end up hurting each other down the line.”
Su Mubai fell silent for a moment. When he finally spoke, his voice was calm and steady, without a hint of hesitation: “My feelings for him have never been an impulse.”
Hearing that, Chu Yang let out a quiet breath of relief. “That’s good to hear. Honestly, I could tell for a while that Lin Xiao treated you differently, but I never looked at it through that lens, so I didn’t think much of it.”
Pausing, he continued, “Think about the past few months. Back when he was wrestling with the whole Lin Weiwei situation, he spent every single night drinking alone. Whenever we asked what was wrong, he kept his mouth shut, looking completely miserable and torn up inside.”
“I knew all along that something was eating away at him!”
“I used to think it was about Lin Weiwei, but now I get it—all that pain and conflict was because of you!”
“So what about you, Su Mubai?” Chu Yang’s eyes locked onto him with genuine care. “Aside from Brother Jiang, you and Lin Xiao are the brothers I’m closest to in this world.”
“Are you completely sure you want to take this step and become lovers?”
“I really don’t want to see you two have a falling out over romantic problems and end up not even being able to stay friends.”
Looking at the sincere worry in Chu Yang’s eyes, Su Mubai knew his concern came entirely from a place of deep brotherly affection.
He let out a quiet sigh, picked up the bowl of shaved ice from the table, and took a small spoonful. The icy sweetness slid down his throat, bringing a measure of calm to his racing thoughts.
“I like him,” Su Mubai said, setting the bowl down, his voice clear and remarkably steady. “I’ve liked him for a very long time. Ever since our sophomore year of college.”
Chu Yang’s eyes snapped wide. “Wait, what?!”
Sophomore year?! That was years ago!
All this time, he had been worried that Lin Xiao was the one suffering through a painful, one-sided crush!
Who would have guessed the reality was the exact opposite? It turned out Su Mubai had been secretly harboring feelings for Lin Xiao for all these years!
Watching Chu Yang’s stunned expression, the corners of Su Mubai’s lips curved upward in a faint, fleeting smile before settling back into a calm line.
It felt as though he were finally laying bare that long-buried, bittersweet secret—not just to Chu Yang, but to himself as well.
“Yes, I’ve loved him for a long time,” he murmured softly, his tone tinged with the distant warmth of old memories. “He was always so bright, so full of passionate energy, like a ball of fire. Before I even realized what was happening… he had burned his way straight into my heart.”
“But I never dared to say a single word. He was so undeniably straight, surrounded by girls wherever he went. Whenever he looked at me, it was always just as a brother, a buddy.”
“I was terrified that if I confessed, he would find it repulsive, that he’d look at me like some kind of freak. I was scared to death that we wouldn’t even be able to remain friends.”
“So all I could do was watch him celebrate or hurt over other girls, while I hid away where no one could see me, burying everything deep inside… suffering in complete silence.” Though Su Mubai’s voice remained even, the faint tremor beneath his words carried years of tightly restrained heartache.
Right then, Chu Yang, true to his habit of stirring things up, decided this emotional moment called for something stronger than words.
With a flick of his mind, he reached into his spatial storage and materialized a bottle of strong liquor along with two small glass tumblers, setting them down on the low table with a solid thud. Uncorking the bottle, he filled both glasses to the brim.
“Alright, Su Mubai,” Chu Yang said, sliding one of the glasses right in front of him with a grin. “Take your time and tell me everything from the start. I’m all ears.”
Daily Life of Being Turned Gay by the Male Lead After Transmigrating into an Apocalypse
