UI CH 1

“Shen Ran, I’m heading out. Can you handle the rest of the stock?”

A coworker placed a clipboard with the inventory sheet on a shelf and spoke to Shen Ran, who was organizing the back of the warehouse.

In the dim corner, a tall, slim figure stood up. His expression was obscured by the convenience store’s baseball cap, but he responded with a simple, “Okay.”

The coworker put on a raincoat, grabbed his helmet, and left. As the glass door automatically shut, the store fell silent again. Not long after, Shen Ran pushed a cart out, opened a row of fridges next to the cash register, and began restocking the drinks.

A typhoon was expected to make landfall in the distant sea areas later that night. Though the impact on the city would be minimal, rain had already started, and most shops on the street had closed. The 24-hour convenience store had also decided to close early at 6 p.m.

Shen Ran spent an hour organizing the shelves. Just as he was finishing up, his phone rang.

Glancing at the screen, he answered, “Where are you?”

“I can’t make it,” Zheng Mingjin’s voice sounded urgent.
“My sister hurt her foot. I need to go to the hospital.”

“Is it serious? Do you need my help?”

“No, she said on the phone that she just twisted her ankle and is having trouble walking. I’ll go check on her. But will you be okay by yourself?”

Shen Ran’s lips curled up into a casual smile.
“What’s there to worry about? If you’re not coming, I’ll just head straight home.”

“Alright then,”
Zheng Mingjin sighed in relief, but he still didn’t forget to remind him,
“Stay safe. Don’t ride your bike in this typhoon. Take the bus home.”

“I got it. Go take care of your sister, and be careful on your way back.”

After hanging up, Shen Ran put his phone back on the table. Before he could even sigh, a WeChat notification popped up, displaying a newly received message at the top of his screen.

Senior: “Shen Ran, besides saying sorry, I really don’t know what else to say. Let’s end things here.”

The message only stayed at the top of his screen for two or three seconds before disappearing, but Shen Ran’s gaze remained frozen, as if time had stopped. Even as the screen went dark, his mind was filled with everything that had happened in recent days.

The most vivid image in his mind was the photo of Li Ting kissing another girl in the alley. As Li Ting’s boyfriend, he had been the last to know—he only found out because a classmate forwarded the photo to him from a small gossip group in their marketing class.

It was summer break, and there weren’t many students left on campus. However, in the information age, news traveled fast, especially in a place like a university, with countless big and small group chats. Once a rumor started spreading, it was impossible to contain.

As the campus beauty, Li Ting had always been the subject of attention and controversy. When she was caught on camera, her actions with the other girl left no room for misinterpretation.

Shen Ran could still vividly recall how he felt when he saw the photo.

He had been jogging around the track, sweat soaking his chest and back from the heat. But as soon as he saw the picture, his hands and feet turned cold. His mind went blank. His first thought was that his classmates were playing a prank on him. But his second thought—a bitter realization—was even more absurd.

So Li Ting did have those kinds of desires, just not with him, her supposed boyfriend.

No wonder in the two months they had dated, aside from holding hands, Li never allowed him to take things further. He had always thought she was just shy—until he saw that photo, followed by the short video clip his classmate sent him.

The video wasn’t as clear as the photo, but it was still obvious that the people in it were Li and the girl.

His girlfriend was pinned against the wall by another woman, showing no signs of being forced. Instead, she was kissing the girl with complete abandon…

Shen Ran turned around, opened the fridge door, and grabbed three cans of beer. He went to the cash register, entered his employee code, opened a can, and chugged it down in one go.

He had originally hoped that after avoiding him for a few days, Li would at least explain what had happened in person. Instead, all he got was a breakup apology text.

He opened the second can. Halfway through drinking it, he choked, clutching the nearby shelf as he coughed violently. Afterward, he picked up the can and continued drinking. When all three cans were empty, his stomach felt bloated from the carbonation, making him want to vomit. He slumped against the fridge door.

A flash of lightning streaked across the sky. After a while, there was no thunder. Passing cars splashed water from the puddles on the road, and the pant legs of pedestrians were wet.

Shen Ran stared at a flickering neon sign across the street for a long time. Finally, he picked up his phone and dialed Li’s number.

This time, he didn’t hear the voicemail prompt. The call rang a few times before it was answered. However, there was no sound on the other end. After a moment of silence, he was the first to speak.

“Senior, do you really have nothing else to say?”

After dating for two months, Shen Ran still hadn’t broken his old habit of calling Li Ting, who was a year ahead of him, “Senior.”

Only when he spoke did he realize his voice had become much hoarser. After he asked his question, the other end of the phone remained silent until his patience was nearly exhausted. Then, he finally heard a soft sob.

“I’m sorry. I really don’t know what to say.”

A mental image of Li Ting looking at him with tears in her eyes flashed before him. Shen Ran raised his left hand to pinch his brow, trying to dispel this untimely illusion.

“So it’s true? Since you like girls, then what am I to you?”

Li Ting’s sobbing grew harder to suppress, and soon he heard her guilty voice say,
“I know I’m wrong, but when I agreed to date you, I genuinely wanted a fresh start. I just didn’t expect her to…”

Shen Ran’s voice turned cold.
“Didn’t expect her to what?”

Li Ting’s voice choked up, and the silence fell between them again. The longer Shen Ran waited, the more suffocating it felt. He grabbed another beer from the fridge and started drinking again. During this time, Li Ting’s crying came through in broken sobs until she finally spoke again:

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”

“Shen Ran, I don’t know how to make it up to you. I really…”

The cold liquid soothed his insides, dampening the flames of anger burning in his chest. Shen Ran tried to keep his tone as non-aggressive as possible.

“If you don’t want to talk, I won’t force you. Let’s just end it here. A breakup is a breakup.”

Not wanting to hear another word from Li Ting, he hung up just in time. By the time he finished the beer in his hand, his head felt heavy, and his feet unsteady.

Ever since finding out that Li Ting liked girls, Shen Ran had been unable to eat or sleep properly. Today, he had only eaten a zongzi in the morning. Now his stomach felt hollow. He sat in the chair to rest for a while. Taking advantage of his remaining clarity, he paid for the beer he drank earlier and tidied up before leaving.

The rain outside had lessened significantly. The water droplets falling from the canopy above weren’t as dense as before. Shen Ran let out a breath, glancing at the blue-and-white mountain bike parked in the alley next to him.

The weather had been fine when he left home this morning, so he’d forgotten to bring his raincoat. Now that he’d been drinking, he thought it would be safer to open his umbrella and walk to the bus stop across the street.

While waiting for the bus, his eyes followed the clouds rolling in from the horizon, his thoughts drifting back to a small incident before he and Li Ting started dating.

That, too, had been a rainy day with dark clouds overhead. Li Ting had been trapped at the library entrance without an umbrella. Coincidentally, he had walked downstairs right behind her.
Unlike others who approached her to ask if she needed to share an umbrella, he simply hooked the handle of his umbrella onto her arm, took a few quick steps down the stairs, and dashed into the rain.

Li Ting had called after him, “Hey, classmate!”

When he looked back, she seemed a bit anxious. She opened the umbrella and started to walk toward him. He didn’t stop. Instead, he gave her a light smile and turned to run away.

Back then, he already had a crush on Li Ting. However, since he had never pursued a girl before, he didn’t know how to act around her. It was just a spur-of-the-moment decision to hand her the umbrella.

He thought that would be the end of it. Unexpectedly, Li Ting found him later, not only returning the umbrella but also treating him to bubble tea.

The sound of the bus horn snapped him out of his thoughts. Shen Ran put away his umbrella, boarded the bus, and chose a seat by the window.

The sky had darkened considerably. Neon lights from signboards glowed everywhere, casting colors on the wet streets. Many shops along the street were closing up, but quite a few restaurants and eateries were still open.

When the bus turned onto Zhongshan Road, he saw the sign for a bubble tea shop, causing his brows to twitch slightly before he quickly closed his eyes.

Perhaps it was the alcohol or the swaying of the bus, but his head felt even dizzier than before. He had no desire to return to his empty rented room.

After leaning against the bus window for a while, he heard the bus’s announcement. He looked outside and noticed a bar next to the bus stop was still open.

In that moment, he couldn’t quite grasp what he was thinking. He got off the bus, walked into the dimly lit bar, and let the darkness swallow him.

Although a typhoon was expected later in the night, the bar was still bustling with patrons. Shen Ran walked to the bar and ordered a bottle of Jack Daniel’s pre-mixed cocktail. He was nearly finished with it when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

He pinched the bridge of his nose before turning his head, immediately catching a faint, bittersweet scent of cocoa. Through the haze of smoke, a voice whispered into his ear,
“Hey, handsome, are you alone?”

It was a woman’s voice. Soon, a finger traced circles on his chest. He grabbed her hand and pulled it away, prompting her to chuckle.

“Let me buy you a drink. Whatever’s bothering you, just get drunk and sleep it off—everything will feel better.”

She moved away from his ear and faced him directly. Shen Ran couldn’t make out her features clearly, but he could feel the heat of her breath growing closer to his lips. His sluggish brain finally realized what was about to happen.

The image of Li Ting passionately kissing that girl flashed through his mind again. He shoved the woman away forcefully and walked straight toward the exit without looking back.

As he neared the door, he stumbled over a raised threshold. Steadying himself against the frame, he shook his head before stepping outside.

The street was now completely dark, and he thought about how he had become the butt of his classmates’ jokes over the past few days.

Though being ridiculed was hard to bear, what he couldn’t wrap his head around was Li Ting’s behavior.

If she liked girls, then why did she agree to date him? Could the attraction to the same sex really be that strong?!

Leaning against the wall, Shen Ran took a few deep breaths, then pulled out his phone from his pocket and called his senior, Ji Minglun.

Ji Minglun seemed to be in a situation where he couldn’t talk freely. After a moment, he finally asked what was up.

By then, Shen Ran had already calmed his breathing, and his tone sounded normal. When he asked where the nearest gay bar was, Ji Minglun questioned his intentions. Shen Ran said it was nothing, he just wanted to see what it was like.

Ji Minglun had heard about what happened with Li Ting. He wanted to offer some advice, but Shen Ran clearly didn’t want to discuss it. When Ji Minglun learned that Shen Ran had friends with him, he told him the address and cautioned him not to do anything reckless.

After hanging up, Shen Ran walked to the curb, hailed a taxi, and gave the driver the address.

Unexpected Intimacy by Lin Guangxi [Completed], Page 3

The two locations weren’t far apart, but when he got off the car, the rain had intensified. He had left his umbrella at the previous bar and had no choice but to walk through the rain to the corridor. He brushed the water droplets off his bangs, stared at the heavy door handle for a moment, and then pulled the door open with force.

The ambiance of this gay bar was similar to the last bar he visited—slow, rhythmic music, dim lighting, and a somewhat decadent, grunge décor. The only difference was that almost all the patrons here were men.

When Shen Ran entered, he noticed a few eyes on him from the bar. He ignored those glances, scanning the room before choosing an empty table near the aisle.

A waiter approached and asked him what he wanted to drink. He ordered a bottle of pre-mixed Jack Daniel’s. While waiting for his drink, he leaned back in his chair, continuing to observe his surroundings.

Almost every table had at least two men, and their postures were quite suggestive. Some had their arms around each other, others sat on each other’s laps, flirting face-to-face. He even caught a glimpse of two men passionately kissing.

The scene stunned him, and he completely forgot to look away. He stared unblinkingly at the couple until the waiter set his drink on the table, snapping him back to reality.

He grabbed the bottle and gulped it down as if he were extremely thirsty. Still not satisfied, he ordered another bottle.

This time, while waiting, he avoided looking around and focused on his phone. But everything he looked at had double vision, and his head felt heavier by the minute.

Someone approached and sat in the chair beside him, asking if he was interested in having a drink together.

He was already too drunk to concentrate, but his subconscious still worked—there was no way he would really hook up with another man.

Seeing him wave off the offer, the person didn’t insist and left decisively.

He sat for a while longer, intending to sober up before leaving. However, the aftereffects of the alcohol hit him harder, and his legs felt weak even on his way to the bathroom.

When he came out, he walked along the wall for support. Just as he reached the corner, he bumped into someone. That person cursed at first but, upon seeing his face, leaned in with a suggestive tone, asking his name and slipping a hand around his waist.

Feeling fingers brushing his waist, he frowned and tried to pull away. Before he could react, the pressure on his waist disappeared, followed by the sound of the man gasping in pain.

Shen Ran closed his eyes tightly and regained some clarity. In his restored vision, he saw a figure in a black shirt standing in front of him. The man, slightly taller than him, twisted the finger of the greasy guy into an exaggerated angle. Amidst the man’s pained curses, the black-shirted man turned to look at Shen Ran.

Maybe it was the flickering lights of the bar, but through the gold-rimmed round glasses, he saw a pair of beautiful eyes. The gaze was cold and distant, yet seemed to blend with the vivid, shimmering light.