Your Distance

7-3 Meters

Ting Shuang waited for an answer from the other side of the line, his heart beating faster than usual.

It took a few seconds before he heard Cycle say: “I’ve been busy recently.”

Ting Shuang: “Then, tell me when you are free.”

Cycle: “I’ll see.”

Ting Shuang: “I’m fine with eating breakfast too.”

Cycle: “Mm.”

Ting Shuang: “Well… tell me a day in advance, I’ll tidy myself up.”

He seemed to hear a little smile in Cycle’s voice: “Mm.”

Ting Shuang: “Then I won’t disturb you while you’re working anymore. I’m going to the library.”

From that day on, Ting Shuang would remind Cycle from time to time in a roundabout fashion that they had a meal to eat. For example, when he was in school in the afternoon, he would ask Cycle: Have you had lunch? Or when he left school in the evening, he would also send a message to Cycle: Have you gotten off work? I haven’t had dinner yet.

Cycle’s reply was either that he had already eaten or that he had something else to do, and Ting Shuang realised that he was not at school every weekday. Sometimes Distance showed that the distance between them was several hundred meters, and sometimes it was a little more than ten kilometres.

When Sunday came, Zhu Wenjia had already left, and Ting Shuang was alone at home. Seeing that the current distance between him and Cycle was 4.8 kilometres, he sent a message asking: You didn’t go out today?

Seeing that Cycle didn’t reply, Ting Shuang took another picture of the dish had he made himself and sent it over, tempting Cycle: I made mushroom grilled fish, do you want to come over and eat?

It was a long time before Cycle replied: I made sweet and sour pork ribs.

Ting Shuang replied: Send a picture?

Cycle: [Picture]

Ting Shuang sent a voice call request and said, “Why not I packet grilled fish to your house.”

“I’m already eating.”

“Are you afraid of meeting up? I don’t dislike that you’re… cough, old.”

Cycle smiled and said, “Why the rush?”

Ting Shuang said, “I want to see you. Why don’t… we do a video call?”

Cycle said, “No.”

Ting Shuang said, “You always reject me like this, watch out for when I camp outside the door of your LRM department.”

“You can try.”

“Forget it, I’m scared I’ll run into your boss. And I don’t know what you look like.”

“Aren’t you taking his class?”

“Seeing him twice a week is the limit. Now that I’m thinking about how I have to see him tomorrow, I feel like I’m going to get nightmares tonight. Hey let’s not talk about him anymore. When can I invite this old man out for a meal? “

“I’ve been slightly busier recently.”

“Busy making sweet and sour pork ribs at home.”

This time, Cycle really did smile a little, saying, “That’s some strong resentment.(1)“

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Resentment?

Strong?

Ting Shuang did not admit it, and replied, “I’m telling the truth.”