Aloof on the Outside - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“Do you know when the end of the semester is?”

“Nope.”

“I hope they announce it at the meeting so I can buy my tickets early…”

The large conference room was packed, with people still streaming in from the outside. The advisors busied themselves maintaining order and counting the number of attendees, while the students already seated chatted amongst themselves, speculating about the content of the meeting.

Zhou Ding rested his cheek on one hand, idly playing with his phone.

Due to his height, he naturally sat in the last row by the window, saving a seat for a friend. However, even as the meeting was about to start, said friend still hadn’t arrived, nor had he responded to the messages Zhou Ding sent him. Thus, Zhou Ding pulled the mineral water bottle he’d placed on the seat back onto the table.

Many late arrivals were looking around for seats, so it didn’t take long before someone sat down next to him.

Zhou Ding didn’t care who it was, nor did he lift his head, as he continued playing with his phone.

After a while, the main hall quieted down, and the meeting officially began.

Zhou Ding quickly lost interest and closed his eyes.

At that moment, the principal’s speech became the most soothing lullaby; ten minutes later, his breathing slowed, and he was on the verge of falling asleep. It was as if a layer of film had enveloped his ears, gradually blocking out the whispers around him.

“Ah—”

Suddenly, a loud moan rang out!

Zhou Ding jolted awake and glanced toward the direction of the sound—it was coming from his left!

Yet the student sitting to his left was sitting upright, head lowered as he wrote in his notebook, clearly not the source of any strange noises. Those around him were either looking at the podium or nodding off; no one seemed to have heard anything out of the ordinary.

Frowning, Zhou Ding turned back, suspecting he had misheard.

But how could he hear something like that? The sound was clearly…

A moan.

He couldn’t have misheard; that was definitely a moan. Sticky and hoarse, and it was a man’s voice.

Even though it stopped after only once, the single utterance was crystal clear, more than enough for him to make out what it was.

Zhou Ding frowned deeper and took out his phone to send a message to their basketball coach:

—?Coach, I recommend adding a new rule to our club: No watching porn in the basketball club.?

He felt that the members of the basketball club must have influenced him somehow.

As the basketball club’s president, Zhou Ding didn’t strictly manage the team; he only asked that his teammates maintain their performance in games. After all, they were all college students who knew what they could and couldn’t do, at least in theory. Even if he did say something, it wouldn’t be well-received.

That was why he never said anything about some members watching porn in the locker room.

Sometimes, after a game and during the brief window when their bodies and minds were most excited, a few of the boys would sit together and chat, eventually drifting toward more adult topics—this was normal, as young men in their early twenties were at the peak of their sexual curiosities.

Although Zhou Ding wasn’t fond of these conversations, he didn’t dismiss his teammates’ excitement and listened casually from the side.

Yet who could have known that casually listening in would land him in trouble?

Zhou Ding rubbed his ears, brows furrowed.

Suddenly, his hand stilled. As if struck by a realization, he turned to look at the student sitting to his left.

The student wore a light beige down jacket with a thick hood that covered half of his face, revealing skin even fairer than the white of his jacket. His slightly curled hair was dense like seaweed, its color dark as ink.

Zhou Ding hadn’t recognized him earlier, but he did now: it was Xia Yu.

He and Xia Yu had no real interactions or mutual acquaintances, but Zhou Ding had heard the name countless times.

In particular, one of his teammates would always grumble whenever they saw or mentioned Xia Yu—because his crush liked Xia Yu. After hearing it repeated so many times, Zhou Ding also developed a strong impression of Xia Yu.

At this thought, Zhou Ding turned his gaze toward Xia Yu’s hand, which held a pen.

The heat was on in the large hall, and some students had already taken off their coats, but Xia Yu was fully dressed and even wore a pair of black knit gloves, with a thin layer of transparent plastic at the edges.

Zhou Ding knew that beneath the knit gloves were disposable gloves, and beneath those were layers of hand cream.

His teammate had mentioned this multiple times, always with a tone of sarcasm, complaining that Xia Yu was more delicate than a girl, that his hands couldn’t possibly do anything other than draw, and that he applied hand cream every day—even implying that Song Ting must have been attracted to Xia Yu’s delicate nature—these were all direct quotes from that teammate.

When Zhou Ding heard these comments, he didn’t feel much, but now he was surprised. In all his life, he’d never met a boy who paid so much attention to hand care. It was certainly meticulous, and quite delicate.

“Oh! Ahh—”

Zhou Ding’s expression froze.

There it was again.

He heard that strange, ambiguous sound once more.

The voice once again came from the left. Although it was very soft and quickly stopped, his excellent hearing allowed him to confirm that the noise originated from the student sitting beside him, Xia Yu.

He wasn’t hallucinating.

His curious gaze quickly lifted to Xia Yu’s profile.

Zhou Ding noticed a white Bluetooth earpiece hidden amongst the jet-black hair on the side of Xia Yu’s head. It appeared to be not quite secured in his ear, leaving the tail of the earpiece slightly curled upwards.

That must have been how the sound escaped.

They were in school—how could he possibly dare to…?

Zhou Ding stared into Xia Yu’s eyes, but Xia Yu didn’t seem to notice him at all, remaining completely focused on drawing in his notebook.

His eyelashes lowered slightly, casting faint shadows beneath his eyes. As if he had made a mistake, he erased a portion with an eraser, then gently pulled down that collar which covered the lower half of his face. Finally, he pursed his lips and blew lightly onto the page.

A soft sound escaped.

His hand fell away, once again obscuring his chin and lips.

After a few seconds, he put down the pen in his hand and finally realized that someone had been staring at him.

Xia Yu turned, a hint of confusion in those clear black eyes. “Hm?”

Zhou Ding pointed at his own ears. “Your headphones aren’t on properly.”

Xia Yu touched his headphones. “Thank you.” He nonchalantly placed the headphones back on his ears. “Is there anything else?”

This calm? Zhou Ding asked deliberately, “What are you listening to?”

Xia Yu looked at him. “A basketball game.”

Zhou Ding glanced at the headphones hanging by Xia Yu’s ears. How could those sounds be from a basketball game? Who screamed like that while playing basketball?

“You like basketball?”

“Of course.”

Zhou Ding raised an eyebrow. “You don’t watch the live stream and only listen to the commentary?”

Xia Yu held up the book in his hands, showing him the drawing inside. “I listen to the games mainly to get a feel for it.”

The sketch was only rough, with the main focus being the man slam-dunking the ball, but nothing beyond the contours had been drawn.

The court was also a simple rectangle, and the people sitting by the sides were mere circles of varying sizes. Despite being a mere draft, it was clear the artist was skilled, as a few strokes of the pencil had already captured the characters and setting, as well as the atmosphere.

Zhou Ding’s impression of Xia Yu improved significantly as he watched the latter gracefully jump and slam-dunk the ball.

“You also like Kobe?” Zhou Ding asked, though he already knew the answer. Even without a face, the number 24 on the back of the jersey made it obvious to any basketball fan.

Xia Yu hummed lightly in response, his tone aloof.

Zhou Ding rubbed his nose, feeling a bit embarrassed. He must have misheard; there was no way someone who listened to explicit content would also be drawing a picture of Kobe.

He wanted to say something to remedy his overreaction, but Xia Yu had already turned away, seemingly unwilling to acknowledge him. Thus, Zhou Ding could only shut his mouth and awkwardly sit upright once more.

At that moment, he forgot something: he also wore a number 24 jersey.

The pencil scratched on the white paper, and with each stroke, the rough sketch became increasingly refined and detailed. Facial features, hair, and clothing slowly materialized on the figure. And so, it became increasingly clear that despite the character’s tall figure, they were unmistakably of Asian descent—a very young one at that.

His back, although wide, had not yet reached the thickness of a fully mature man. The basketball uniform, lifted by his powerful leap, revealed toned abs and a defined waistline. His suspended calves and extended arms were covered in lean, well-proportioned muscles that, while toned, gave off a youthful fragility. The strength and tenderness combined to create a passionate aura.

Xia Yu stared for a moment, then gently rubbed a piece of rubber over the eyes he had drawn. Instantly, the eyes appeared more spirited and alive, adding a touch of liveliness to the figure.

Finally satisfied, Xia Yu put down the pencil, shaking out his slightly cramped hand. If Zhou Ding were to glance at the drawing now, he would surely recognize the person within: it was himself!

Xia Yu’s expression remained unchanged as he closed the sketchbook and left the large meeting hall after the school leaders announced the dismissal. The incessant whispers in his ears finally ceased.

He neither returned to the classroom nor went to the cafeteria, but headed back to the dormitory instead.

The dormitory he lived in wasn’t one of the school’s assigned dormitories, but rather one he rented from the university himself. Longcheng University, with its long history, was like a vast ocean that welcomed hundreds of rivers, and its vast campus also provided housing for faculty members. However, as most faculty members had bought their own houses, many of the dormitories reserved for them remained empty, so the school had decided to rent them out.

Most of those who rented were students preparing for graduate school, though many students who disliked communal living also chose to rent.

The price wasn’t high, only five hundred yuan a month, and they were quite popular.

As Xia Yu walked, his phone in his pocket vibrated.

Xia Yu, notebook and pen in one hand, took out his phone with the other to check the message.

? Shen Youtang: I reserved a private room at Jiangnan, room 301. Come by at 7 P.M. sharp. ?

? Xia Yu:? ?

? Shen Youtang: I’m planning on confessing to Ruanruan. ?

Frowning slightly, Xia Yu felt a bit of irritation, but quickly recovered his expression and continued typing with lowered eyelids.

? Xia Yu: Got it. ?

? Shen Youtang: Don’t tell anyone; I want to give her a surprise. ?

?Xia Yu: Okay. ?

After stuffing the phone back into his pocket, Xia Yu continued walking toward the dormitory.

The faculty dormitories were in a different area than the student dormitories, so soon, he was walking alone.

As he passed by the trash can, Xia Yu casually tossed a few crumpled sheets of paper inside.

He had kicked Shen Youtang off the list of people worthy of observation.