BFILWY CH 40

Chapter 40: Swimming

On a typical afternoon, the pool wasn’t crowded. Only a few people were leisurely swimming, and a few older women were gathered in the sauna area chatting.

When the two young men, with their athletic and slender builds, appeared, holding hands, they immediately attracted several curious glances. When the onlookers realized that one of them was blind and holding the arm of the other to walk, their surprise grew. They whispered among themselves, lamenting how such a handsome person was blind.

An Yue rolled his eyes. Just a while ago, he’d been saying, “Nobody’s looking at you,” but now, he was being proven wrong. Thankfully, Ye Kongque was unaware, otherwise, he’d probably be spinning around proudly, showing off a peacock display.

He didn’t realize that besides looking at Ye Qinghe, people were also staring at him. An Yue simply kept a straight face as he braved the stares of onlookers, guiding Ye Qinghe to the side to do some warm-up exercises. Once the onlookers saw the little handsome guy’s displeasure, they realized they had been impolite and began to avert their gaze.

After Ye Qinghe finished warming up, An Yue led him to the pool. Standing in an empty, slow lane, he asked, “Are you okay? Is the water temperature alright? Not too cold?”

Hearing An Yue speak with a shiver in his voice, Ye Qinghe smiled and replied, “I’m fine. I used to swim in outdoor pools during winter. This temperature feels quite warm to me. Don’t worry about me. You should swim a few laps yourself. You’re shivering.”

“No hurry, I’ll swim later. You can try swimming first.” An Yue spoke as he held the side of the pool and clumsily climbed out.

“Where are you going?” Ye Qinghe felt a bit alarmed when An Yue left him alone in an unfamiliar place. “I can’t swim right now, right? I’ll just float here and play around with the water. You go ahead and swim.”

“You can swim.” An Yue stood on the edge, holding a rod taller than him, the tip of which had a small heart-shaped palm attached to it. He gently tapped Ye Qinghe’s head with the little palm. “Do you feel that? You just swim forward, and I’ll stand on the opposite shore. When you’re close enough, I’ll tap your head, and that’s when you can turn around.”

Ye Qinghe was surprised. “There’s such a method?”

“I’ve seen blind swimming competitions before,” An Yue crouched down and explained with a smile. “In those competitions, the coach uses this method. But for speed-focused races, using a cane requires a lot of coordination. The coach and the swimmer need to train together for a long time to get the best results. But you’re just swimming for fun, so I’ll protect you. You can swim at your own pace, and I’ll wait for you on the other side to give you a signal when it’s time to turn around.”

“Waiting on the other side like that must be so boring,” Ye Qinghe said helplessly, “I brought you down here to play together, not so you can just stand there on the shore.”

An Yue was also helpless. “How can I bring you with me while swimming? This isn’t like blind running where I can hold your hand while we run. We’re too close, I might kick you.” He sighed. “Enough talk, swim now, let’s try this method.” He tapped Ye Qinghe’s head again with the heart-shaped end of the cane.

“I think you’re just looking for an excuse to hit me,” Ye Qinghe pouted. “I’m not swimming. You come down here.”

“…,” An Yue chuckled. “You don’t like this method? I’ve spent so much time getting this cane, and now you don’t want to use it? How else do you think you can swim?”

“You come down here, swim over first, and wait for me on the other side. Then I’ll swim over to you, and you can stop me before I crash into the pool wall.” Ye Qinghe smiled as he spoke, his lips curling up. The thought of it made him so happy.

“…Do you plan to use me as a human shield?” An Yue didn’t approve. “This is no good. Even if it doesn’t hurt when you crash into me, getting startled by a sudden collision with something might make you choke on water.”

Unable to argue with An Yue, Ye Qinghe reluctantly agreed to his method.

An Yue helped Ye Qinghe start from the edge of the pool. This was Ye Qinghe’s first time swimming since losing his sight, and An Yue knew that orientation after blindness would be much harder. He specifically told Ye Qinghe to swim slowly. Since the slow lane was empty, even if Ye Qinghe swam at a slow pace or zigzagged, it wouldn’t bother anyone. As long as he felt the lane markers or the pool wall, he could adjust his direction.

Ye Qinghe listened carefully to An Yue’s instructions, nodded, and after taking a deep breath, put on his goggles and pushed off the wall to begin. An Yue stood on the shore, watching, and started walking as well. Once Ye Qinghe swam past the middle line of the pool, moving left and right but still maintaining a steady pace, An Yue picked up speed and got to the end of the lane to wait for him.

As Ye Qinghe swam towards him, An Yue tapped his head with the heart-shaped cane, hitting the perfect distance. Ye Qinghe felt the tap on his head, smoothly flipped in the water, and pushed off the pool wall with his long legs to continue swimming. An Yue quickly followed.

The Green View Mountain Resort’s recreational pool wasn’t a standard competition pool. It only had six lanes, each 25 meters long, with shallow ends and a deeper middle. The deepest point was about 170 centimeters, so after watching Ye Qinghe swim across smoothly, An Yue felt more at ease. Given Ye Qinghe’s height of 183 cm, the risk of drowning was low.

An Yue thought Ye Qinghe would swim about 50 meters and then stop, but to his surprise, Ye Qinghe kept swimming around, clearly enjoying himself. An Yue could only follow him. As he watched Ye Qinghe swim, initially concerned about his safety, he eventually found himself admiring his swimming technique and physique. Watching Ye Qinghe’s long, strong limbs as they stroked and kicked through the water, An Yue became a bit mesmerized.

He followed Ye Qinghe back and forth along the shore, walking a total of more than thirty times before Ye Qinghe finally surfaced.

“You jumped in and swam 800 meters all at once?” An Yue crouched by the shore, surprised. “Have you trained before?”

“I… I was on the swimming team in high school and college,” Ye Qinghe, panting heavily, could barely speak. He lay by the poolside, gasping for a while before continuing, “Our daily practice back then was at least 5,000 meters. A warm-up swim would be 1,000 meters.” He pushed his goggles up to his forehead and shook his head. “Now that I’m older, I can’t do it. I only swam 800 meters, and I feel like I’m dying.”

An Yue found it really amusing. “Then why push yourself so hard? You can’t see and this is your first time in the water. Why not just relax and swim at your own pace for fun?”

After catching his breath, Ye Qinghe provocatively asked, “Is walking back and forth on the shore fun for you?”

“…,” An Yue realized Ye Qinghe had done it on purpose. He had deliberately swum 800 meters to tease An Yue into admitting that his cane method wasn’t fun.

“It’s not fun. But I’m not here to play,” An Yue laughed. “Did you forget? I’m the one you hired to help you adapt to life. Walking back and forth on the shore to help you swim smoothly is part of my job. It’s what I’m supposed to do.”

“…,” Ye Qinghe didn’t expect An Yue to respond this way, and his expression faltered. “I didn’t bring you here to swim like this! I… I just wanted to have some fun playing in the water with you.”

Seeing Ye Qinghe look so flustered, An Yue finally burst into laughter. “I got it, I got it. My work is done, now it’s time to get in the water and play!”

“Get down here quickly!” Ye Qinghe said with a pout.

(To be continued…)