My Little One

Somehow, he’d managed to fall asleep during what should have been a very exciting moment, yet couldn’t sleep once he was relaxing in his own bed.

The little one tossed and turned before finally getting up and staring at his “Boyfriend Chasing Plan.” It was past 3 am by the time he finally fell into a fitful sleep, and when he woke, it was already nearly 9. Doctor Yan was long gone.

The little one walked into the kitchen planning to make porridge for himself, but found a plate sitting on the table, covered by another plate.

Stuck to the plate on top was a note that read “if it’s cold, then warm it up before you eat.” The little one carefully lifted the top plate and found two sandwiches that’d been cut into triangles.

The corners of his lips unconsciously rose. Hadn’t Doctor Yan said for him to take care of himself? The little one returned to his room and carefully tucked the note into his notebook. Then, he took a picture of the triangle sandwiches. Unsatisfied, he took more from every angle possible. Only then did he grudgingly put them into the microwave.

While eating, the little one sent the pictures to Yin Xu. His friend was likely busy and didn’t respond.

However, when the two met for lunch at school, the little one saw the hickeys on Yin Xu’s neck and naturally understood what his friend had been busy with in the morning.

Sigh. The little one was somewhat jealous.

His stay in Doctor Yan’s house carried on in much the same way; Doctor Yan really was busy, typically taking on two night shifts, one outpatient shift, and two surgery shifts in a week. However, Yan Yixi would come straight home after his morning shifts and the two were able to see each other every day.

Lin Xiangdong knew that being a doctor was time consuming, but hadn’t realized just how busy they could get. He found that despite Doctor Yan’s original claims of being too busy, he had stopped accompanying his friend to the bar and started coming home immediately after work. Furthermore, if he happened to cook, he always made enough for the little one.

Doctor Yan was really too amazing, so amazing that… it was a little tiring.

The little one wanted to help out too. His first idea was to learn to cook. But, even though he’d lived by himself ever since he was small, the little one’s cute appearance charmed all the adults around him to help raise him. When he grew up, he wasn’t a particularly picky eater, and was fine with eating anything. In summary, despite being an independent child, Lin Xiangdon’g cooking skill was essentially zero.

So, he turned to Yin Xu for help. Even though Yin Xu couldn’t cook, his boyfriend could!

Tonight, Lin Xiangdong had made sure to confirm that Doctor Yan would be coming home for dinner. The little one was going to give Doctor Yan a surprise!

Afraid of messing up, he started practicing at lunchtime.

Yin Xu’s boyfriend ran a restaurant and definitely wouldn’t have had time to personally teach Lin Xiangdong, but he did personally prepare some recipes for the little one.

After the pot is hot, add about two tablespoons of oil.

“What does it mean by hot? How much is a tablespoon?” Although Yin Xu had already warned his boyfriend that Lin Xiangdong was a little slow and although said boyfriend had done his best to make the instructions as detailed as possible, it was unfortunate that Lin Xiangdong was truly… a little too slow.

The little one debated whether to continue asking for help or to try it himself first. Eventually, he opted to give it a go. After all, real knowledge can only be gained through practice.

En, he could do it.

Summoning up his courage, the little one started.

The result? Obviously a mess. He hadn’t dried the pot, and the oil burst everywhere. The little one habitually wore short sleeved shirts at home, and the back of his pale hand rapidly turned red.

Yan Yixi returned to a very obedient and very contrite Lin Xiangdong. The little one had burned a pot, broken two plates, and wasted a fair amount of food.

Yan Yixi silently held the little one’s wrist and applied burn cream to the back of his hand.

“I’m sorry Gege. Tomorrow I’ll go and buy a new pot and plates; what sort do you like? Or maybe I should buy what you had before? Don’t be angry, okay?” Lin Xiangdong was upset, thinking himself very useless.

A pitiful tone of distress colored his last sentence.

Yan Yixi put away the cream, lifted his head, and saw that the little one’s eyes had turned red.

“Don’t force yourself to do something you can’t. Doesn’t injuring yourself hurt?” He asked helplessly.

“It’s not that,” The little one lowered his head. “I just wanted to help you so you don’t feel as tired.”

Yan Yixi realized that he was still holding the little one’s wrist; the touch suddenly burned.

“No need.” He let go of Lin Xiangdong’s hand.

Lin Xiangdong blinked, his eyes welling up.

The next moment, he suddenly felt a warm hand pat his head.

“I can take care of you. Be a good boy, all right?”

 

“Calm down, calm down, calm down, you”

Despite Yin Xu’s protests, the little one was still bursting with excitement.

“What do you think? Is he starting to become interested in me?” He whispered, as if afraid the neighbors might hear.

“Well, I think you might have a shot.”

Which person is immune to our Dongdong’s cuteness? Yin Xu thought to himself.

“But you can’t rush things; don’t jump to a confession in a situation like this! Take it slow and let his feelings naturally develop.”

“Okay.” The little one listened carefully to his successful friend’s advice.

“Then I’ll just continue following the plan?”

Having failed the step “learn to cook — win over the target’s stomach,” Lin Xiangdong finally felt a little skeptical about his plan.

“Perhaps there is never a ‘plan’ when it comes to love as love itself is spontaneous,” Yin Xu said sagely.

“You should forget about the plan and let your feelings guide you.”

Despite Yin Xu’s words, the little one still felt nervous in the face of Yan Yixi. Lin Xiangdong still thought carefully about each and every word he said and deliberated on each and every action he took.

He never realized that his original self was already cute enough; there was no need to do anything extra.

For example, in one rare instance when Lin Xiangdong woke up early (but only because he had a morning class), Doctor Yan still hadn’t left for work. The little one had stretched, his clothes moving to reveal a pale and skinny waist. But upon realizing that Yan Yixi was still home, the little one had felt extremely stupid, ears turning red and mouth only managing a quiet “Good morning Gege.” The little one had wanted to escape to the bathroom, but was stopped by Yan Yixi who told him to wash up and eat so that Yan Yixi could take him to school.

“I’m very fast!!!” The little one had yelled without looking back.

Another time, Doctor Yan was in charge of a surgery rather late into the night. Before starting, he had texted the little one, telling him there was no need to wait up for him for dinner and to sleep first if he felt tired. After completing the surgery, Doctor Yan ordered takeout for his team. It was nearly 11 when he got home, and he’d thought that the little one would already be sleeping. But upon opening the door, he found the living room lit up — the little one had heard Doctor Yan entering and greeted him with a sweet “You’re back?”

Doctor Yan gained independence early on. But even when he did live at home, his parents were also very busy doctors and he rarely received such greetings. But ever since the little rascal moved in, “You’re back?” and “Bye-bye Gege” became quite common, along with those messages that could’ve been sent through WeChat but were painstakingly written on sticky notes.

The little one was still young; perhaps in the future his feelings might change. But for now, he was very sweet.

 

“Hey, hey! Over here!”

Yan Yixi spotted Tang Qi and walked to sit beside him.

“What was so important that we needed to meet in person?” He asked.

“What’s with you these days?” Tang Qi sighed, rather annoyed.

“Why’s it so hard to invite you out for a drink? You’ve shown up only once out of the ten times I’ve invited you over these last two months. Really, what’s going on? Have you actually been bewitched by that little one at home?”

“Be serious.” Yan Yixi didn’t bother arguing.

The waiter conveniently brought over Yan Yixi’s juice. Yan Yixi took a sip.

“What’s the matter?” He asked when Tang Qi still didn’t speak. The usually happy-go-lucky1 Tang Qi now wore an strange expression of defeat.

Tang Qi suddenly downed his entire cup in a single gulp. In his haste, he choked on the alcohol, leaving his face a mess of tears.

“F***, even the wine’s looking down on me.” He roughly wiped his eyes.

Yan Yixi fell into a rare silence. He had a rough idea of the situation.

“Hey, come with me to the wedding next week?” Tang Qi suddenly laughed after wiping his tears away.

“Depends on the day. I have a lot of operations scheduled next week.” Yan Yixi handed him a napkin.

“Depends on the day? Are we friends or not?” Tang Qi hit Yan Yixi’s shoulder.

“Are you f***ing heartless?”

Seeing his friend cry, Yan Yixi could only helplessly say:

“I understand, you little young master. I’ll be there.”

Tang Qi drank a lot that night; it was probably the first time he got drunk. Yan Yixi helped him out the door. While waiting for the car, Tang Qi leaned on Yan Yixi’s shoulder and cried.

“Why doesn’t he like me? Yixi, we were also childhood sweethearts2. Why couldn’t he have picked me? Yixi, those that like someone who likes them back are so lucky… My heart hurts so much… Yixi… it would’ve been better if I didn’t like him…”

Yan Yixi didn’t know how to comfort the sobbing drunkard. In the end, he settled for patting his friend on the head.

“You deserve better.” Yixi said.

But Tang Qi only cried louder, saying that then it wouldn’t be him.

After the Tang family’s chauffeur picked Tang Qi up, Yan Yixi drove himself home. His phone suddenly rang while he was stopped at a red light — it was the little one. Yan Yixi picked up.

He didn’t have a chance to speak before the other’s faint crying tone shocked him.

“Gege, the power went out… I’m a little scared… Can you come back and keep me company?”

After living together for two months, Yan Yixi knew that the little one had some degree of night blindness3 and was also afraid of the dark.

“My bad, I forgot to tell you that the power would be going out tonight. I’m on my way; I’ll be home shortly.” He hurried to comfort Lin Xiangdong, feeling a little worried himself.

“No worries, I’ll wait for you. How long will it take, Gege?” The little one seemed to be trying to keep himself from crying.

Despite the little one’s best efforts, his words still gave away his fear.

“Very soon; maybe five minutes?” Yan Yixi didn’t dare to hang up. He kept talking with the little one while furiously willing his car to go faster. Luckily enough, it was already dark out and the roads were clear. Yan Yixi successfully made it home in five minutes.

The signal in the elevator was bad and their call became choppy. Yan Yixi restlessly fiddled with the keys in his hand, but his words were very calm.

“Alright, I’m almost there, I just need to exit the elevator.”

“Okay.”

“I’m here.” Yan Yixi opened the door with his fingerprint and the lights in the hallway illuminated the doorway.

Wordlessly, the little one flew from the living room into Yan Yixi’s arms.

“Gege, you’re back.”

Instead of his usual cheerfulness, the little one’s eyes were still watering.

“I’m sorry, I forgot about the electricity bill.” Yan Yixi held the boy tightly, rubbing his back.

The little one only shook his head, still crying.

“Good boy,” Yan Yixi sighed; they couldn’t stay like this in the hallway. He unlocked his phone with one hand to pay the bill.

What sort of cliche setup was this? The signal went down as soon as he called, otherwise he would have been able to pay the bill and solve the entire situation. Look how scared the little one was!

1

happy-go-lucky (游戏人间): an idiom that literally means to live life as a game

2

childhood sweethearts (竹马竹马): play on the phrase 青梅竹马, which refers two a girl and boy pair of childhood sweethearts. The words refer to the toys the children play with, 青梅 being flowers that the girl might pick and 竹马 being the wooden horses boys might ride.

3

night blindness (nyctalopia): I didn’t know this was a thing, but it basically means that you can’t see well/everything is blurry in low light (more so than for normal people).