It was impossible to stay any longer in the room. After that night, Yuan Ye refused to stay at Fang Shaoyi's place and went back after dinner. 

He couldn't stand the sight of all those roses, feeling embarrassed because he had never done anything like that before. Seeing that he was so shy, Fang Shaoyi also couldn't bear to ask him where the flowers came from, so they both remained silent about it.

That night, Fang Shaoyi sent him a text message: "Have you gotten back yet?"

Yuan Ye immediately replied: "Yes, I'm already lying down."

Fang Shaoyi scolded him: "You're so restless. You still have to come tomorrow."

Yuan Ye bit his lip and replied: "I won't stay at your place."

Yuan Ye thought to himself, 'Your bed is full of flowers, it's too prickly.'

Fang Shaoyi didn't say much, only wishing him good night and telling him to sleep early.

Yuan Ye also replied: "Good night, Brother Yi!" 

One of them was always eager to pursue, while the other had already seen through everything and enjoyed the ambiguous sweetness every day. They were both content in their own ways. 

This was the first time Yuan Ye had ever pursued someone, and he felt a great sense of accomplishment. He didn't know if Fang Shaoyi knew that he was the one being pursued, but he felt it was quite obvious. However, things like this were often uncertain for those involved. But he wasn't in a hurry, chasing after someone was quite interesting, haha.

Yuan Ye called home and asked his mother, "Mom, I'm almost 18 years old now, can I start dating? I'm about to graduate from college." 

"Who do you want to date?" Mrs. Lin, his mother, didn't quite agree. "You're still so young, what kind of partner can you have? Don't mess around." 

Back then, no one at home knew that Yuan Ye had his eyes on a young man. They thought he was like any other boy his age, with a crush on a girl. Yuan Ye said, "I'm not telling you who it is, but I'm not fooling around. This isn't considered early love!" 

His mother didn't really want to interfere. After all, how could she control a mischievous boy his age? Let him be. 

After hanging up, Yuan Ye called Fang Shaoyi. He was particularly active in making phone calls now, shouting as soon as the call was connected, "Brother Yi! Want to watch a movie?" 

Fang Shaoyi asked him, "What movie?" 

Yuan Ye said, "Let's watch a romance movie!" 

Fang Shaoyi's warm voice came through, "Okay." 

Yuan Ye loved hearing Fang Shaoyi's "okay" every time. It was a sign that he was a particularly gentle person. 

Before watching the movie, Yuan Ye didn't forget to buy a flower. He held it between his fingers and stuffed it into Fang Shaoyi's pocket the moment he say him, with only the head of the flower still showing. Yuan Ye flicked the flower and said, "There was a little girl selling flowers. I bought one because she looked too hot in this weather."

The stem was in his pocket and the flower was hanging out, which didn't look good and was hard to carry. Fang Shaoyi looked at Yuan Ye's lowered head and smiled, taking the flower out of his pocket and holding it in his hand. He said, "You even remembered to bring a flower."

Yuan Ye looked up at him, then lowered his head again and whispered, "Isn't that...what you taught me?"

It was already quite obvious what he meant, but Fang Shaoyi didn't burst that bubble and didn't respond to Yuan Ye's words. 

As they watched the movie, Yuan Ye breathed a sigh of relief but also worried about why Fang Shaoyi couldn't understand the hints. How else could he explain it to him?

The movie wasn't that great, or maybe Yuan Ye was just too picky. He didn't think the male lead was handsome enough and the story wasn't exciting enough. In fact, how exciting could a romance movie be? Yuan Ye's mind wandered halfway through the film.

Fang Shaoyi was a celebrity, so he had to be careful not to be recognized when going out in public. He always wore a baseball cap with the brim pulled down low. Yuan Ye turned to look at Fang Shaoyi and admired his profile under the cap.

Before, he had simply thought he was handsome, but now every time he looked at him, he couldn't help but think, "When will I ever catch up to someone as amazing as him?" 

Fang Shaoyi felt his gaze and turned to him, mouthing the words, "What's wrong?" 

Yuan Ye shook his head and gave him a silly smile.

Their ambiguous relationship began in the summer when Yuan Ye was seventeen, like a cup of sweet lemon tea. Once, Yuan Ye wrote in his journal, "That summer in my memories, I may spend my whole life reminiscing about it. It was too beautiful. Before it, my world was a chaotic land, but after it, I had an everlasting peaceful moonlight." 

At seventeen, falling in love felt like a matter of life and death for Yuan Ye. His heart was completely occupied by Fang Shaoyi, and the more inexperienced the boy was, the more tumultuous his emotions became. However, Yuan Ye was not completely blinded by his infatuation. 

He knew deep down that there was a distance between him and Fang Shaoyi, so he didn't force anything. If they were meant to be together in the future, that would be great. But if not, he just wanted to make sure he wouldn't have any regrets. He worked hard to pursue his feelings, but if it didn't work out, he wouldn't regret it. This was something he and Fang Shaoyi both agreed on. 

As they walked slowly around the small lake on campus, Yuan Ye and Fang Shaoyi brushed arms occasionally. The brief contact between their skin sent shivers down their spines. Yuan Ye gazed at the lake and suddenly said, "Brother Yi, if I ever say something that scares you, will you stop being friends with me?"

Fang Shaoyi looked at him and smiled, shaking his head. "You can't scare me. Just say what you need to say."

Yuan Ye blinked and after a while, said, "I don't know what your response will be after you hear what I have to say, but I hope it's a good one."

Fang Shaoyi asked him softly, "And if it's not?" 

Yuan Ye pursed his lips and thought for a moment before saying, "I'm pretty happy too, as long as I tried my best. Human desires are endless, not every excessive wish needs to be fulfilled, why should it be? Anyway, I tried my best and that's pretty brave of me. I'm quite proud of myself."

Fang Shaoyi looked at him and saw the brave boy in front of him. He raised his hand and gently rubbed Yuan Ye's head, from front to back, and said, "Being brave is always right. I won't let you down."

Yuan Ye nodded and said, "I hope so... what I want is too extravagant." 

Fang Shaoyi always wanted to leave the opportunity to properly end this period of ambiguity to Yuan Ye. He had been pursuing him for so long, and he must have been so happy to finally succeed. So Fang Shaoyi didn't say anything else at the time, afraid that he would reveal too much.

Every time Yuan Ye laughed carelessly at him, this thought would pop up in his mind. This sentence had crossed Fang Shaoyi's mind many times.

...What could you want that I wouldn't give you?

Yuan Ye had already decided to speak his mind, regardless of the outcome. He just wanted to get it over with. But before he could even prepare himself, Fang Shaoyi suddenly caused a scandal, leaving Yuan Ye completely bewildered. 

Back then, the biggest media outlets were newspapers and television. Yuan Ye looked at the newspaper his roommate brought back, and there was a big headline that said Fang Shaoyi and Chen Yuange were suspected of being in love. 

Yuan Ye stared at it for a while, realizing that Fang Shaoyi hadn't been at school for the past few days because he went to a gala. The picture in the newspaper showed Chen Yuange wearing Fang Shaoyi's coat, and they looked very close.

Yuan Ye knew Chen Yuange. She was three years younger than Fang Shaoyi and they were family friends. Chen Yuange's father, Chen Weilin, and Fang Han were old friends, and Fang Shaoyi and Chen Yuange had known each other since they were young.  

Although Yuan Ye didn't really believe it, he couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy. News like this was always hard to distinguish between truth and lies. Even with his close relationship with Fang Shaoyi, he couldn't be sure about this. But Yuan Ye wasn't the type to keep things bottled up inside, he always wanted to ask Fang Shaoyi about everything first.

So, Yuan Ye sent a text message: "Brother Yi, are you in a relationship?"

It took a while for Fang Shaoyi to reply: "Who am I in a relationship with?"

Yuan Ye replied: "Chen Yuange."

After a while, Fang Shaoyi replied and asked: "What do you think? Who do you think I'm in a relationship with?"

Yuan Ye thought to himself, 'I think you're in a relationship with me, but I can't say that.' 

Yuan Ye sat on the chair and scratched his head before replying: "I don't know." 

This time, Fang Shaoyi didn't respond, as the words "I don't know" from Yuan Ye pierced his heart. The silly monkey said he didn't know, who knew what nonsense was filling up his head everyday. 

For the next two days, the two of them didn't contact each other, nor did they call or text. Yuan Ye was anxious, while Fang Shaoyi waited for Yuan Ye to make the first move. But Yuan Ye was too passive, so in the end, Fang Shaoyi took the initiative and sent a message before going back: "How do you expect to chase someone if you're not proactive?" 

Yuan Ye replied at lightning speed, as if he had been holding his phone the whole time: "When are you coming back, Brother Yi?" 

Fang Shaoyi asked him: "Why?" 

Yuan Ye replied: "I miss you!" 

Fang Shaoyi's temper disappeared instantly. He told Yuan Ye: "I'll be back tonight." 

After sending that message, he immediately followed up with another one: Confess already. 

Yuan Ye was used to following whatever instructions Fang Shaoyi gave him, and he could usually get away with being vague about it afterwards. But today, he knew he couldn't be vague about it. 

He put down his phone and started rummaging through his things, looking for the love poems he had written. He found several stacks of them, but couldn't find one that he was satisfied with. He tried to write a new one, but he was too flustered and couldn't come up with anything. He spent a long time searching, and by the time Fang Shaoyi arrived, he hadn't even had time to buy a flower. 

He told Fang Shaoyi to meet him by the lake, but when Fang Shaoyi got there, he couldn't find Yuan Ye. He searched around for a while, and just as he was about to call him, he heard a voice from above: "Brother Yi, over here!" 

Fang Shaoyi followed the sound and his eyebrows jumped as he saw Yuan Ye sitting on a tree with one leg crossed and the other hanging down, holding a willow branch. Fang Shaoyi walked over and looked up at him, saying, "Come down." 

Yuan Ye smiled at him, looked around and saw no one, then said, "Then catch me." 

Fang Shaoyi was surprised and replied, "How can I catch you? Come down carefully, or you'll fall." 

But Yuan Ye didn't listen and jumped down towards Fang Shaoyi. Fang Shaoyi instinctively reached out to catch him, but it was too difficult and he wasn't given enough time to prepare. He couldn't catch him at all, and Yuan Ye fell down in a very awkward position. 

Fang Shaoyi frowned and squatted down to look at him. He was a bit angry but mostly helpless. "Why are you so mischievous? Did you break anything?"

Yuan Ye had something on his mind but couldn't say it in front of Fang Shaoyi. He quickly rolled on the ground and then grabbed Fang Shaoyi's arm, agilely jumping onto his back like a monkey.

Fang Shaoyi was originally in a squatting position, but with Yuan Ye's sudden pounce, he had to use his hands to prop himself up before standing up. Ignoring the dirt that covered Yuan Ye from rolling on the ground, he turned around with Yuan Ye on his back and said helplessly, "What's wrong with you today?"

Yuan Ye handed the willow branch he was still holding to Fang Shaoyi and shook it. "I didn't have time to buy flowers today, so you can use this as a flower instead." 

Fang Shaoyi looked down at the willow branch and reached out to take it, laughing, "Can this really be used? It's too perfunctory."

"It can be used, they're all plants, the same thing," Yuan Ye lay on Fang Shaoyi's back, his arms around his neck, his face close to Fang Shaoyi's ear as he said, "Brother Yi, I have something to say, but I can't look at you, so I'll just say it like this."

Fang Shaoyi already knew what he was going to say and nodded gently, saying in a warm voice, "Go ahead."

Yuan Ye rubbed his face against Fang Shaoyi's body and pressed his mouth close to Fang Shaoyi's ear, as if this would make his voice quieter and he wouldn't be so embarrassed.

When he spoke, his mouth even touched Fang Shaoyi's ear, it was ticklish and enticing, making Fang Shaoyi's shoulder go numb. 

Fang Shaoyi heard Yuan Ye take a deep breath. Then, in a loud voice, he said, "Brother Yi, I want to be in a relationship with you."