HCILH Ch. 33

Chapter 33: Embrace

During the tennis match, a cheerleading squad was also invited.

Hou Mo sat with his teammates, glancing left and right, and saw Deng Yiheng and the others staring at the cheerleaders with wide eyes, hardly blinking.

The most excessive was Deng Yiheng, who was even smacking his lips while watching them.

Normally, Hou Mo wouldn’t pay attention; after all, he wasn’t interested in girls.

But today, he found himself watching for a while, mainly because of the mascot in the center position, who was dancing the same routine as the other cheerleaders. He had no idea when they practiced, but they were dancing in perfect sync, unlike the other mascots who seemed to be slacking off.

Despite being dressed in thick clothing and wearing a huge headpiece, the dancing was impressive.

Those who had danced since elementary school were different; their movements were clean and neat, with appropriate amplitude, creating an overall harmony.

Deng Yiheng was actually moved by this scene: “Wuwu, our senior brother has grown up; he’s willing to watch girls now.”

Hou Mo didn’t respond.

After the dance ended, the cheerleaders started packing up and leaving the stage. Suddenly, one of the girls ran up to the mascot, cupped its big head, and kissed the giant mascot headpiece.

The mascot, with its limited field of vision, seemed to not realize what had just happened, only noticing the commotion around it.

After pausing for a moment, the mascot, very professionally, didn’t hit anyone but instead covered the headpiece with its hands, as if feeling shy.

Upon witnessing this, Hou Mo straightened up, frowned for a moment, and then waved at the mascot.

The mascot noticed, hesitated for a moment, and walked over to Hou Mo, bending down without saying anything, looking like it was listening.

Hou Mo raised his hand to wipe the lipstick mark off the headpiece, saying with disdain: “Tsk, is this a part of the job? Just so you know, if you smell too good, I might not let you sleep on my bed!”

Hou Mo heard a light laugh from inside the headpiece, then the mascot stood up and nodded slightly, probably unable to move too flexibly in the costume.

Hou Mo wasn’t done; he called his teammates and the coach, saying: “Let’s take a group photo with the mascot!”

As he spoke, he really gathered everyone together, positioning the mascot in the center for a big group photo.

Hou Mo’s hand rested on the mascot’s headpiece, standing beside it with his chin slightly raised, smiling confidently with sparkling eyes like a galaxy full of stars.

After they finished the group photo, the teammates dispersed.

Nearby, some cheerleading members were heading to the audience stands to watch the match.

There were cheerleaders heading to the audience stands to watch the match.

Suddenly, a girl stepped on an empty drink cup, stumbled, and began to fall backward down the stairs.

The recently dispersed teammates noticed this scene and wanted to rush over, but it was too late. Fortunately, Hou Mo happened to be at the top of the stairs.

Everyone watched the handsome boy and girl, imagining an impending hero-saving-the-beauty moment, as if everything around was in slow motion, and the girl’s scream became thick and prolonged.

In Deng Yiheng’s mind, a scene of Hou Mo rescuing the beauty and having a family with children flashed.

In the end, they saw Hou Mo lift his foot, firmly supporting the girl’s back to prevent her from falling.

Once he saw she was steady, he quickly retracted his foot, smiling: “Good thing I was quick; otherwise, you would have fallen.”

The girl turned around, a clear size 44 shoe print on her back, and looked at Hou Mo, trembling, “Thank you.”

“No need to thank me.” After Hou Mo replied, he ran after the mascot, not sparing the girl another glance.

Deng Yiheng almost crushed the water bottle in his hand.

*

During the lunch break, Sui Houyu sat in a less crowded resting area, taking off the huge mascot headpiece and placing it on his lap for a brief rest.

This spot had air conditioning, making it cooler.

He raised his hand to tidy his hair, gathering it to the top of his head. Since it was damp with sweat, his hair didn’t fall immediately but remained in place.He tilted his head back, took a deep breath, revealing his adam’s apple, with his profile and neck forming a graceful arc.

This mascot headpiece was genuinely enormous, resembling a lantern on his head, with only one hole for viewing, providing almost no ventilation. If it had been two months earlier, Sui Houyu probably wouldn’t have been able to bear it.

He thought it was troublesome just to watch a match.

…

…

Forget it, he admitted he wanted to watch the entire match without being discovered, but it had turned out like this.

Nearby, he heard the voices of girls discussing, and one of them said, “I told you, he’s really handsome!”

“Oh my god, that side profile is killing me!”

“I need to get his WeChat ID.”

A girl in cheerleader attire jogged over to Sui Houyu and said, “Hey, handsome, can I get your WeChat ID?”

Sui Houyu turned to look at her, recognizing her as the girl who kissed his headpiece, so he stood up holding the headpiece.

The girl’s gaze shifted from looking down at him to looking up, and couldn’t help but be stunned when she saw this handsome boy.

Then Sui Houyu coldly replied, “Even though it was just a kiss on this, it still makes me feel disgusted.”

After saying that, he walked past the girl and left.

The girl felt like she had been struck by lightning upon hearing Sui Houyu’s words, suddenly furious: “What are you being so arrogant about! Look at your own status; how many rich second-generation guys are chasing me?”

Sui Houyu ignored her and headed straight to the break room for some water.

The other cheerleading members comforted the girl, telling her to treat it as running into a jerk and not to get angry.

After Sui Houyu walked away, a few girls were still indignant when they suddenly saw Hou Mo entering the break room, holding two bottles of ice water.

One girl said: “He seems to be that key player.”

“Earlier, Youyou kissed that mascot, and that blonde guy got unhappy. Later, he used his foot to stop the girl from falling; they wouldn’t be a couple, would they?”

A girl named Youyou suddenly felt a sense of balance and muttered, “Hmph, what a gay!”

*

After the match, Hou Mo needed to go to the team doctor for a massage to relax and couldn’t return to the hotel immediately. He specifically brought ice water to find Sui Houyu, along with a spare room card.

“If you’re not hungry, wait for me to eat dinner together; if you are, eat first. If there’s anything, message me on WeChat,” Hou Mo said before quickly leaving the break room, saying he needed to do a urine test shortly.

Originally, he only planned to drink water and hold in his urine, but when he saw the ice water, he hurriedly brought it to Sui Houyu.

Sui Houyu glanced at the room card, then at the direction where Hou Mo left.

Yesterday, he wanted to take the lazy route.

Today… should he continue staying with him?

After thinking for a while, he finally put the room card into the pocket of his clothes.

When work ended, Sui Houyu didn’t immediately return to Hou Mo’s hotel room; instead, he wandered nearby, jogging along the waterfront to dissipate the restlessness of the day. Otherwise, there was nothing to do in the hotel.

As a result, he arrived later than Hou Mo.

After entering the room, Sui Houyu put the popsicles he bought into the small refrigerator, then went to wash up.

Hou Mo just peeked in and didn’t say anything, continuing to look at his phone.

After a while, Sui Houyu finished washing up, dried his hair, and changed into the sportswear that Hou Mo lent him.

He took a popsicle from the fridge, bit it open, and started eating, then asked Hou Mo: “Want one? I can give you one.”

“I can’t eat it.”

Sui Houyu didn’t ask further, holding the popsicle as he leaned back on Hou Mo’s bed, pulling out his phone to reply to messages from Ran Shu.

Hou Mo didn’t expect Sui Houyu to lie so casually; he felt a bit uncomfortable and shifted to give Sui Houyu some space.

In the room, the other bed was still empty, yet the two boys were squeezing onto one single bed, creating a very awkward scene.

Sui Houyu leaned against the headboard, munching on the popsicle while playing with his phone, appearing somewhat distracted.

Ran Shu was continuously complaining about his strict tutor, endlessly making him do problems.

Sui Houyu didn’t have the patience to listen to the voice messages, so he switched to text, skimmed the general content, and directly replied: “You really should study hard.”

A moment later, Sui Houyu put down his phone and asked Hou Mo: “I didn’t turn off the air conditioner last night. Won’t you get sick?”

“It’s fine, my immune system is pretty strong.”

“Don’t you need to be careful during the match?”

“We even take cold showers to relax; we’re really not that fragile.”

Sui Houyu didn’t say anything further and just continued eating his popsicle.

Hou Mo leaned against the headboard beside him and asked: “Have you eaten?”

“I found a restaurant and had a meal.”

“Oh…” He hesitated before asking, “I saw you reject that cheerleader girl. You don’t like girls like her?”

Sui Houyu replied vaguely: “I can’t stand anyone who suddenly touches me. Even if it’s just from behind a lantern, it feels disgusting.”

In Sui Houyu’s mind, that headgear was like a lantern.

Hou Mo suddenly felt very awkward, especially since he was lying on the same bed as Sui Houyu.

Was their relationship improving, or did he simply not count as a person in Sui Houyu’s eyes?

In the silence, Sui Houyu continued to squeeze his popsicle and took a couple of bites.

Hou Mo stared at his phone but couldn’t resist asking, “Why? You weren’t like this when you were a kid.”

Sui Houyu had been very clingy as a child, always wanting hugs when they met. He never seemed to dislike those moments.

But after asking, he received no answer.

He turned to look at Sui Houyu, only to find him actually dozing off while holding the half-eaten popsicle.

Hou Mo had to reach out to help Sui Houyu lie down properly, taking the popsicle from his hand to put it in the fridge.

However, Sui Houyu suddenly reached out and tugged at the hem of his shirt, not letting him leave. After hesitating for a moment, he had no choice but to toss the popsicle into the trash can.

Hou Mo raised his hand to turn off the light and lay down beside Sui Houyu in the dim light.

He could now confirm that if he wasn’t beside Sui Houyu, Sui Houyu would wake up after a while. But if he stayed, Sui Houyu could sleep through the whole night.

So, he decided to stay.

After Sui Houyu fell asleep, his breathing became steady, seeming long with each exhale. The breath escaping his nose was lightly brushing against Hou Mo’s shoulder, soft and warm, making him feel a bit ticklish.

Hou Mo adjusted his position, turning his back to Sui Houyu.

This time, the breath brushed against the back of his neck, not ticklish, not numb, but rather sending a shiver down his spine, feeling almost as intimate as the shoulder.

He rolled over again, this time facing Sui Houyu. In the dim light, he could see Sui Houyu’s outline, like a large doll, with exquisitely delicate features.

He closed his eyes, trying to sleep, but failed.

Opening his eyes again, his gaze fell on Sui Houyu’s collarbone. Hou Mo stared at it for a long time, finally exhaling deeply and taking out his phone to look up “Qingxin Mantra^[1].”

For a gay man, this situation was truly torturous.

He really deserved to be Liu Xiahui^[2].

He shouldn’t have doubted Sui Houyu liked him, then emphasized to Sui Houyu that he wasn’t gay, making Sui Houyu feel completely at ease around him.

He wanted to come clean with Sui Houyu.

However, thinking that if he couldn’t sleep, Sui Houyu would likely suffer, he dismissed the thought.

With that, Hou Mo could only grit his teeth and endure.

It’s fine, he wasn’t a beast after all.

*

After Hou Mo fell into a drowsy sleep, he surprisingly dreamed of events from his childhood.

It was during the days he played with Sui Houyu. Before going to the amusement park, he heard reminders saying that Little Yu had never attended kindergarten and wasn’t good at playing with other kids, so he was asked to help take care of her.

They even tried their best to keep Little Yu away from other children.

But that day, something still went wrong.

He saw it happen: a child snatched something from Little Yu. Little Yu was stunned for a moment, then snatched it back, which made the other child burst into tears.

The child’s parent came over, accusing Little Yu. Little Yu tried to explain briefly, but that parent didn’t listen at all: “If you hadn’t hit him, how could he cry like that? You look so gentle, but you’re so ill-mannered?”

Little Yu’s stepmother ran over and didn’t listen to any explanation. She scolded him for being unreasonable and even apologized to the other parent, seeming to have decided that Little Yu was a troublemaker.

She has no trust in Little Yu at all.

Little Yu stared at the scene in shock for a moment before starting to yell, his voice piercing, “It wasn’t me! It was him! I said it wasn’t me! Can’t you understand? Why are you framing me?! It wasn’t me! Don’t you all understand human language? Are you all idiots? It wasn’t me!”

Huo Mo was startled by Little Yu’s hysterical reaction and quickly ran over to hug him, trying to calm him down, but Little Yu was already furious, kicking and smashing things, shouting loudly.

This attracted quite a crowd.

Huo Mo could only shout to the others: “I saw it; it wasn’t him, it was that kid who snatched the thing. You’re framing him.”

Little Yu’s stepmother paused, and after a long time, she said something very hurtful: “He’s just a madman; he’s having another episode. Look at him, is he even a normal child now?”

He held Little Yu tightly, coaxing and comforting him to calm down.

“It’s not you; they’re framing you. I know, just don’t be angry…”

When Little Yu finally quieted down, crying in his arms, he rubbed his hair and said to Little Yu’s stepmother, “He was just wronged and got angry.”

Little Yu’s stepmother watched them for a long time before turning and leaving.

While Little Yu was making a scene, her stepmother was also exhausted and on the brink of collapse. Who would want to take care of a child like this?

He saw the stepmother cry in anger.

He saw Little Yu’s father comforting the stepmother.

No one cared about Little Yu.

Hou Mo woke up with a start, looking around the dim room.

He checked his phone for the time; it was only four o’clock, and he could still sleep a little longer.

The person beside him was still sleeping soundly. After hesitating for a moment, he reached out and hugged Sui Houyu, gently stroking his back like he used to when comforting him as a child.

Hou Mo felt a wave of sadness.

Looking back, was it possible that Sui Houyu’s parents had each remarried and no longer wanted him?

After finally learning to rely on someone, was he abandoned again because he was seen as a burden?

What could anyone do… Just the thought of it now made one’s heart ache.