1

After the incident, Thomas felt like a dried fish that had been left out for too long or a wet sponge bra that couldn't dry on the balcony during the rainy season.

His phone lay on the floor, vibrating and a message popped up on the screen.

"Bro, take a few days off and come here. If my friends were in your situation, they would all take a break and go out to clear their minds."

Thomas was drunk and asleep, so he didn't hear the phone vibrate.

When he woke up at noon the next day and picked up the phone from the floor, there were countless messages on the screen. The most recent one was from his classmate Sophie: "Thomas, are you dead? It's the first day of school, Monday, and the first class of Robotik! How could you not come? Send an email to the professor to explain the situation. Maybe there's still hope."

Thomas held his splitting head and called Sophie.

"Hello..." Thomas felt his throat burning, "I had some personal matters to deal with, so I didn't go this morning."

Sophie said, "You should call the doctor right away and get a sick leave note to give to the professor."

Thomas said, "Okay. Did the class cover anything important? Can you send me the password for the course materials? I'll download them later."

"There are no course materials," Sophie explained in one breath, almost teasingly. "This professor is really strange. First, he doesn't upload any materials, so you have to attend the class to know what he's talking about. Second, he demands a 100% attendance rate, but even if you attend all the classes, there's no credit for it. You just get the chance to take the final exam. Third, the final exam is an oral test. Each student goes in one by one and is tested individually. I'll send you a photo of my notes, but I don't think I wrote everything down."

Thomas pressed his temples and said, "Why do Germans have so many rules?"

Sophie paused for a moment and said, "No, well, actually I don't know his nationality. He looks and sounds like an Englishman, though."

Thomas said, "...Okay."

He didn't have time to care about the professor's background. He hung up the phone, quickly contacted his family doctor for a sick leave note, then took a shower to wash off the smell of alcohol, and finally made himself a cup of coffee to fully wake up.

The coffee machine needed twelve seconds to preheat. Those twelve seconds were enough for him to remember who had bought the coffee machine at home.

"Thomas, can you stop drinking so much coffee? Every time you can't sleep, you come and bother me. I have an experiment to do early tomorrow morning," Liam pushed Thomas off him.

"Huh, didn't you buy the coffee machine?" Thomas reached into Liam's pants and gave him a hard pinch.

"Damn it," Liam muttered, using the word in a double sense. "Do you know how to write the word 'moderation'?"

Thomas grabbed the condom from the bedside table and threw it at Liam, saying, "Damn it or not."

Liam surrendered, "Damn it, damn it, damn it."

The coffee was ready.

Thomas carried the coffee to his desk, opened his laptop, and went to the school website to find the professor's email address to send him a message. After dealing with the professor's matter, he went back to reply to the others.

"I'm fine."

"I'm okay now."

"Don't worry."

"I'm good."

After replying to a bunch of similar messages, he saw Liam's message: "Forgive me this once. Let's not break up, okay?"

Thomas subconsciously reached for the ashtray on the upper left corner of his desk, pulled it over, then grabbed the lighter and the cigarette box. The white and green cigarette box was printed with the words "RauchenschädigtIhreLunge" and below it was a picture of a healthy lung on the left and a damaged lung on the right. The warning was clear.

To hell with the warning. Thomas took out a cigarette from the box, lit it and took a deep drag. If Liam were here now, he would take the cigarette from Thomas's hand and say, "Thomas, your lungs are mine too. Please don't ruin them, okay?"

Besides the lungs, Marlboro also printed other warnings, such as "Smoking is harmful to your reproductive health." If Thomas had bought that kind, Liam would threaten, "If you get impotent, I'll find someone else."

Thomas finished the cigarette with a vengeance, thinking, "I'm not impotent, you still left me for someone else."

He crushed the cigarette butt and picked up his phone. He typed a few words in the input box, then deleted them and finally replied, "You cheated on me for a year, not just once."

After sending the message, Thomas still felt it was unreal. They had been together for many years, from high school to university, then came out to their families together, and went abroad to study together. All their friends would praise Thomas and Liam as a model couple. Now the breakup was so ugly, it shocked everyone.

The phone vibrated again. Thomas thought it was Liam's reply, but it turned out to be Julian's video call.

Thomas answered and said, "Julian."

Julian saw Thomas's bloodshot eyes and said, "Bro, did you drink or cry?"

Thomas said, "I didn't cry. I just didn't sleep well."

Julian said, "Did you get the leave? Come and play at my place."

Thomas said, "What? Do you want me to go to the red-light district with you? I don't have that kind of hobby."

Julian said, "You're so green with envy. Who are you trying to impress by keeping yourself pure? Come to my place. I'll call a few guys to keep you company. They're all more handsome than Liam."

"Stop it." Thomas glanced at his email. Prof. White still hadn't replied. "Even if there were ten Liams at your place, I still wouldn't have time. I have a killer course this semester."

Julian said, "Then I'll come to see you."

Thomas said, "When did you become so close to me?"

"My mom has been nagging me to visit you. She's asked me three or four times." Julian was a bit annoyed. "You know my mom. She's so afraid that you'll break up with Liam and one day decide to marry a woman and have kids. Then my dad will give the company to you."

"Julian, you're so silly." Thomas smiled. "You say such things to me."

"I'm just telling the truth." Julian looked unconcerned. "Who wants to manage the company for the family? I'd rather you make money and I spend it. If you manage the company, would you let me starve? But if I manage it, I'll starve the whole family... Alright, my friend has booked my flight. I have to go."

At nine o'clock in the evening, when the doorbell rang, Thomas habitually picked up the phone and said, "Ja." Julian said into the intercom, "Stop saying 'Ja'. It's me."

Thomas said, "You really came."

Julian said, "Open the door quickly."

Thomas pressed the doorbell.

Julian didn't bring much luggage. He just had a computer bag on his back, with a few pairs of underwear stuffed inside. He took a shower first, found a clean T-shirt of Thomas's to wear, then randomly took a bottle of opened whisky from the fridge and two glasses from the cabinet, added ice to the bottom and filled them with whisky. He took a sip first and immediately complained, "Bro, what kind of crappy wine did you buy? I should have brought some."

Thomas said, "Don't drink the crappy wine."

Julian pursed his lips and said, "Yes, you're different from me. You're amazing. You haven't used a penny from your family since you came out in college. Now, what do you think? Stupid, right? In my opinion, you shouldn't have come out in the first place. Was it worth it for the guy named Liam?" With that, he picked up two glasses of wine and sat by the window. "Come on, let's talk?"

Thomas's rented house was in a suburban residential area. Outside the window was a garden that the landlord's wife took good care of. In April, the grass and trees were already lush. At night, sitting by the window, one could see the stars and hear the chirping of insects.

Julian couldn't appreciate such a place and kept complaining about mosquitoes.

Thomas closed the window and sat opposite Julian, taking a sip of wine. "What do you want to talk about?"

Julian said, "Stop pretending to be stupid in front of me. Drinking, crying, cursing at Liam, getting drunk. What else can you do?"

Thomas said, "It's not that bad."

Julian said, "Try drinking a few more sips."

After Thomas finished his glass of wine and sat there blankly for a while, he suddenly said, "Liam is a dog."

Julian, having expected this, clinked his empty glass with Thomas's and echoed as if giving a toast, "Exactly. He's a dog."

Thomas drank a few more glasses. When he was drunk, he pulled at his collar and looked inside, saying, "Is it because I've gained weight? Or is there something wrong with my personality? Liam used to say I had a bad temper."

Julian said, "Bro, let me be honest. Your personality has always been bad. It's not something that happened overnight. So this Liam thing has nothing to do with your personality. You are who you are. Don't bother trying to change."

Thomas said, "Then it's because I've gained weight."

Julian said, "Come on, give me your phone."

Thomas said, "Why?"

Julian said, "I don't want your two-year-old crappy phone. Give it to me."

Thomas handed over his phone.

Julian took the phone and snapped a photo of Thomas sitting by the window drinking. The window was closed, and in the night, Thomas, wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, sat on a wooden high chair, holding a glass with a whiskey-soaked rim. His face was not visible.

After taking the photo, Julian downloaded a gay dating app called Distance, set the photo he just took as his profile picture, and registered an account.

Name: Frost

Attraction: 0.5

Age: 24

Height: 182cm

Weight: 70kg

Occupation: Student

Relationship Status: Single

"Wait and see," Julian shook his phone and said, "Let's see how many messages you get tonight."

Thomas was still confused. "What are you talking about?"

The phone vibrated. Julian looked down and said, "Oh, pretty fast. There's a 0 who's 151 kilometers away from you and chose 'Like Me a Lot'. They sent a message asking which city you're in. Do you want to reply?"

Thomas went to look at the screen. "Are you setting me up on a date?"

Julian said, "I'm proving your charm. Don't think that all the cheating by dog men is your fault. The idea of looking for reasons in yourself is something invented by people who don't want to take responsibility for others... Look, you've received three more 'Likes'. One of them is quite close to you, only 18 kilometers away."

Julian smirked and said, "You like this type? Judging from the figure, she should be in good shape..." He saw the age on the profile and added, "Isn't she a bit too old?"

Thomas replied, "As long as she's too old to have the energy to cheat, that's fine."

"Then it's her," Julian, fearing Thomas might change his mind, immediately clicked "Like" for him. "

"Hey," Thomas said, speechless. "Just a 'like' would have done. Why did you have to click 'like a lot'?"

Julian replied, "You've looked at over a hundred people, and this one caught your eye for a bit longer. Isn't that one in a hundred? And isn't one in a hundred considered 'like a lot'?"

Thomas said, "Tsk tsk, one in a hundred. You even know idioms."

Julian said, "Stop making fun of me. I at least finished two years of high school in China."

Thomas said, "Alright. I'm going to brush my teeth and get ready for bed. Don't mess around with my phone."

Julian said, "Don't worry. I'm just going to send a photo to my mom to show her I'm here. That way she'll stop nagging me."

Thomas nodded and went into the bathroom. He had only been brushing his teeth for a while and still had a mouth full of foam when he heard Julian shout from outside, "Bro, the system has made a perfect match for you -"

Thomas couldn't hear clearly, so he turned off the buzzing electric toothbrush and said, "What?"

Julian held up his phone triumphantly, exaggerating his mouth movements as he said, "Perfect Match. You've been perfectly matched with Mr. C, 287 kilometers away. He also 'likes a lot' of you."