I woke up, and it was afternoon again. The very first thing I did upon getting up was reach for my phone. It was an instinct, bypassing any conscious thought, and I knew exactly what that ant.
To my disappointnt, there were no new ssages.
Bored out of my mind, I had no choice but to get up, wash up, eat sothing to fill my stomach. Then I sat by the window, replaying everything that had happened recently.
It all started with finding Teacher Qin's diary. Then, watching it all unfold, I witnessed how the school's universally famous ice queen, Teacher Qin, was transford into his submissive bitch.
As for , from a once happy and perfect family, I ended up in a detention center in just half a month. My parents divorced. My feelings for Chen Le went from hatred to indifference, and even to a strange sense of anticipation.
And finally, there was Mom. Her son was detained, she was being threatened by a student, her husband betrayed her, and then ca the divorce. In just a few short days, the cumulative impact of these events on her was imnse.
But just as she was on the verge of a ntal breakdown, the very student who had been threatening her began to unconditionally help, care for, and comfort her. This gave Mom a unique sense of security, sothing neither I nor my father had ever been able to provide.
It inevitably reminded Mom of her own father, who had passed away many years ago. When she was little, no matter what grievance she suffered, her father would always give her the most ticulous care, comfort, and love. She never imagined that after all these years since her father's passing, another man would give her that sa feeling. Mom was also realizing that this young man, was gradually finding his way into her heart.
In the deep quiet of the night, Mom would sotis wonder if she was being promiscuous. Freshly divorced, her son in a detention center, and yet she had let a young man into her heart. And he was her student, no less. Was she a fickle and loose woman? No, it wasn't like that, she would deny it. And truly, she wasn't that kind of person. But looking at the man sleeping on a makeshift bed on the floor beside her, she couldn't help but worry about him. Was he cold? Was the floor too hard?
Night fell again, and with it ca a ssage from Chen Le.
"Your mom's afraid I'll be cold and uncomfortable sleeping on the floor. She told to go sleep in your room."
Seeing this ssage, I fell into thought. He had truly entered her heart. So I replied, "Go ahead and sleep there then. I'm not ho anyway."
This was the first ti I had replied to a ssage on this phone since entering the detention center. After he gave this phone, he had sent nearly a hundred ssages, about Mom, about Dad, about Teacher Qin, and so many videos. Whether I wanted to see them or not, whether they made angry, I never replied. But today felt different. It was as if I had decided to let it all go, and I replied to him.
"Nah, I think I'll sleep next to her. That way, I'll feel at ease, and so will she."
In his words, Mom had gone from "your mom" to "she," as if she already belonged to him.
What felt even stranger was that after I replied, he didn't react the way I had imagined. I thought he'd be surprised, wondering why I was suddenly replying after ignoring him for so long. But he didn't say anything like that. There was no "Oh? You're replying to now? You weren't before, were you?" Nothing of the sort.
His actual response made it feel as if nothing had ever happened between us. It was so normal, so mundane, that I didn't even know how to reply. He really was mature, not like a child at all.
Ti ticked by, second by second. I didn't reply, and he didn't send another ssage. I fell asleep. Then, for three whole days, he didn't send any more ssages. I figured he must still be sleeping on the floor in my mom's room. If anything had happened, he definitely would have sent a ssage.
It was already nine at night. I was thinking that there probably wouldn't be any ssage today either, when the phone rang. I excitedly picked it up. It was from Chen Le.
"She's truly delicious."
I didn't need to guess to know that this "she" was my mom.
It seed my mom hadn't escaped her fate after all.
Along with the ssage was a video. I fell into a deep thought. Although I wanted to open it imdiately, right this second, did I really want to watch a video of my mom cheating with soone else? No, wait, Mom and Dad were already divorced. Or, putting it that way, did I really want to see, was I actually willing to see, a video of my mom having sex with my best friend?
After a brief mont of hesitation, I surrendered to my desire. I opened the video. It was the familiar scene of my mom's bedroom. Mom was lying in bed, and Chen Le had already laid out his bedding on the floor beside it.
"Xiao Le, I told you, the weather's been a bit cold these past few days with the rain. You should go ho. You really don't have to stay here and keep company."
"It's fine, Auntie Lin. I'm young, my body's strong, and I run hot. Don't worry about . Besides, I really wouldn't be able to relax if I wasn't here watching over you."
It was a simple, innocent conversation, but I knew this was just the calm before the storm.
"I'm really fine now. If you insist, you can just go sleep in Xiao Wen's room."
"Auntie Lin, really, it's unnecessary. I'm perfectly fine. Look, if you don't believe ."
As he spoke, Chen Le even pounded his chest twice with his fist. Seeing Chen Le so insistent on staying, Mom didn't say anything more. She just felt a warmth in her heart and could only let him stay.
"Alright then. But I'm really fine now. Today is the last day I'm letting you sleep here. You're going back ho tomorrow."
"What's this, Auntie Lin? Are you trying to kick out?"
"It's not that! It's just not right for you to sleep on the floor every day. And I'm really okay now."
Then, Mom added,
"Hurry up and get to sleep. Good night."
Mom gave Chen Le a tender, affectionate glance and even wished him good night before turning off the light. Good night. A woman saying good night to a man. I don't need to explain what that ans, do I?
After the lights went out, it was pitch black. Only the moonlight allowed to see two figures, one on the bed and one on the floor. The video then automatically started to fast-forward. I saw the two figures tossing and turning, obviously unable to sleep.
Perhaps because the fast-forward speed was high, Mom was relatively still, but Chen Le kept tossing and turning, occasionally coughing a couple of tis. When the video stopped fast-forwarding, I could clearly hear Chen Le coughing. At that mont, Mom turned on the light, poked her head out from under the covers, looked at Chen Le, and said,
"Are you really okay? You've been coughing. Did you catch a cold from sleeping on the floor?"
"Auntie Lin, it's nothing, really. My throat is just a little itchy."
"I saw you tossing and turning. Is it uncomfortable sleeping on the floor?"
"No, no, Auntie Lin. I've been sleeping here for almost half a month. I'm used to it, really."
And so they went back and forth. It was supposed to be Chen Le taking care of Mom out of concern, but now it had turned into Mom taking care of Chen Le.
"Don't you lie to Auntie Lin. Tell , are you feeling unwell from the cold?"
Mom said, her voice tinged with a hint of anger. She sounded a bit like she was scolding a student at school. Hearing her tone, Chen Le silently lowered his head, rubbed his nose with his index finger, and said,
"Auntie Lin, it's a little, but you don't need to worry. I'm really fine."
"You're already chilled and you're still saying you're fine? Pack up your things from the floor and go sleep in Xiao Wen's room."
"Ah, Auntie Lin, really, it's not necessary. Besides wanting to keep you company, Xiao Wen and I... you know. If he found out I slept in his room, he'd tear to pieces."
In reality, Chen Le just wanted to stay in Mom's room. Not to ntion, even if he did sleep in my room, there was nothing I could do to him. And next door was his tender paradise, his human bed. That slut Teacher Qin was probably waiting for him every night, her ass in the air. For him to co and grace her with his presence.
Hearing Chen Le insist he was fine and unwilling to go to my room, Mom fell silent for a mont. She seed to want to say sothing but couldn't bring herself to speak. A faint blush, however, had crept onto her cheeks.
After a long while, Mom finally spoke, "N-no. If you... if you can't, then you should just... get... up..."
Mom couldn't even finish her sentence from embarrassnt. With only her forehead still exposed, she had already buried her entire face in the covers. Although she hadn't finished her sentence, the aning was obvious. Seeing her reaction, Chen Le couldn't hide his excitent. His body even started to tremble.
After composing himself, Chen Le sat on the edge of the bed, pulled the covers down from her face, and looked at her shy and blushing face. He deliberately asked, "Auntie Lin, what did you say? I didn't quite catch that. Why is your face so red too? Are you catching a cold as well?"
Seeing Chen Le's feigned ignorance mixed with excitent, Mom knew he was asking on purpose. Her face turned an even deeper shade of red as she said, "If you didn't hear it, then forget it."
After speaking, she tried to pull the covers back over her blushing face, but the covers were held down firmly by Chen Le. Mom tugged on them again, but they wouldn't budge. She gave up and turned her face to the other side to avoid his gaze. Seeing that Mom wasn't going to say anything more, Chen Le deliberately asked again, "Auntie, did you just tell to get up on the bed and sleep?"
Chen Le waited a mont, and when Mom still didn't answer, he asked again, and then pressed, "Is that it, Auntie Lin? Is it?"
At this, Mom finally reacted, nodding shyly.
With that, Chen Le had no need to pretend anymore. He leaped onto the bed in one smooth motion and pulled the covers over himself in a single, fluid action.
But the suddenness of his movent startled Mom. She quickly sat up, grabbed the covers to shield herself, and said, "Wh-what... how did you just... get up here like that?"
"Huh? What else? Didn't you tell to co up, Auntie Lin?"
"It's not that!"
"Then what is it?"
"I told you to co up and sleep, I ant for you to bring your own blanket up. How did you end up in my covers?"
But really, once he was on the bed, did it make any difference whether they shared a blanket or not? Mom was destined to be unable to escape Chen Le's grasp tonight.
"Oh, is that how it is."
Chen Le said, his face falling like a deflated balloon, full of disappointnt and unhappiness, completely devoid of his earlier excitent. Of course, I knew he was faking it, he was putting on an act for Mom. And just as I expected, seeing Chen Le's dejected look, a hint of disappointnt appeared on Mom's own face as she said, "If... if you don't want to... get your blanket, then forget it. Just... sleep like this."
*****
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