3

Spending years with the same person can cause one's social skills to deteriorate.

For instance, right now, Thomas has no idea what to say to Mr. Cycle. Julian is urging him from the side,

"Hurry up and send him a message."

Thomas thinks for a long time and sends only two words: "Hello."

Julian: "..."

"Bro, your business skills are just too poor." Julian snatches the phone and clicks into Cycle's homepage.

"You need to find something to talk about from the other person's basic information and the statuses they post... Oh, why is there nothing on his homepage?"

Thomas says, "Maybe he doesn't spend that much time and energy online."

Julian returns to the chat interface with Cycle and is shocked to see that the other person has also replied with just two dry words: "Hello."

"... You two are truly a perfect match. Julian threw his phone to Thomas and walked away in silence, "You two chat."

Thomas didn't know what to say, typed something, deleted it, typed again, deleted again.

Ten minutes passed and he still couldn't send a single word.

He glanced at the time at the top of his phone and thought about his class the next morning, so he sent: Sorry, I have to sleep. I have class tomorrow.

A few minutes later, Cycle replied with just one word: Okay.

Thomas was getting ready for bed, but for Julian, the night was just beginning.

Julian found a pink shirt in Thomas's closet and wore it open, with only a T-shirt and shorts that didn't reach his knees underneath.

He asked Thomas for the bike key and rode off alone to the city center to hit the nightclubs.

Just as Julian left, the doorbell rang again.

Thomas thought Julian had forgotten something, so he pressed the unlock button for the building's main door and opened his own door.

As he walked towards the bedroom, he shouted out, "Julian, can you bring your own key next time? There's a spare in the bowl by the door. Take it when you leave and open the door yourself. Don't keep ringing the doorbell and disturbing me. And make sure to close the door when you leave, got it?"

"... "Thomas," a familiar voice rang out from outside the door.

Thomas paused in the act of closing his bedroom door and came out, seeing Liam standing at the door.

He propped his forehead with his hand and said, "Did you forget something?"

Liam asked, "How have you been?"

Thomas replied, "Not bad." Liam said, "Have you been eating well?"

Thomas said, "Yeah."

Liam said, "You've been smoking again?"

Thomas said, "Yeah."

Liam said, "Stop it."

Thomas said, "Just watch."

Liam tried to come in, but Thomas said, "What did you forget? I'll get it for you."

So Liam could only stand there.

"I have classes tomorrow. I really need to sleep," Thomas said, and was about to close the door.

Liam blocked the door with his hand, stepped forward and hugged Thomas tightly, saying, "Can we not break up? After all these years... I really can't accept it." For long-term couples, physical contact is terrifying. Familiar skin, familiar temperature, familiar scent, everything seems to say: nothing has happened, you and I are still the same as before.

At this moment, Thomas almost had an illusion that Liam had just gone on a trip or returned from abroad and was now back.

His body simply couldn't remember Liam's faults and was unwilling to accept the break-up order from his brain.

His body only remembered that Liam was the person he trusted most and was closest to.

His body was even frantically saying: I miss this person. I miss this embrace.

"Liam," Thomas struggled free, "Don't do this. This is already bad enough. Let's just end it quietly."

Liam said, "You're afraid of it being bad? I'm not. In front of you, what bad posture haven't I taken? How do you want me to apologize?"

Thomas said, "I know I have a bad temper. Let's just leave it at that. I really don't want to talk about this anymore."

Liam wanted to say something else, but Thomas cut in, "I'm already ready to start a new relationship."

Liam didn't believe it.

He stared at Thomas for a while and then looked around the room, saying, "I know your brother is living here now. Don't lie to me."

Thomas said, "I'm not talking about him."

Liam said, "Then who?"

Thomas didn't know either. All he wanted now was to get rid of Liam as soon as possible. Liam knew Thomas well. He knew that Thomas couldn't possibly have started a new relationship in such a short time. He also believed that as long as he spent time with Thomas, he could mend the current rift. So he had to stay tonight. He did know Thomas well, but not well enough. Thomas had a bad temper. He would find trouble in small matters, be unreasonable when he was right, and demand that Liam be submissive.

But when it came to major issues of principle, he wouldn't argue about right and wrong, wouldn't ask for an apology, and wouldn't care about holding anyone accountable.

He just wanted the other person to leave. He also saw through Liam's intentions. If he didn't do something, Liam wouldn't leave. So he picked up his phone and sent a voice message to Cycle in front of Liam: "Good night, dear." Liam said helplessly, "Thomas, who are you trying to impress?"

Thomas stared at his phone, praying: Big brother, please reply to me as soon as possible.

As soon as Liam leaves, I'll thank you. "I'm not trying to impress anyone. I really have met someone new," Thomas said.

Liam said, "It's just someone you met two days ago. I don't mind. Let's start over."

Thomas didn't say anything. He typed on his phone: Are you asleep? Please send me a voice message. Just do me a favor. My ex-boyfriend refused to leave my place. Cycle finally replied with two words: "Call the police."

Thomas quickly responded: "Calling the police will disturb the neighbors and waste time. I have classes tomorrow and they are very difficult. I must go."

After a while, Cycle replied: "What did the voice message say?"

Thomas felt relieved and continued typing: "Say 'Good night, dear.' Be a bit mushy. Or you can improvise."

Cycle didn't send a voice message for a long time.

Liam shouted: "Thomas."

Thomas looked up and said: "I'm chatting with him."

Liam said: "Keep chatting. I'll wait."

Two minutes later, Cycle sent a voice message.

Thomas opened it. Since Cycle was very close to the phone's microphone and the room was quiet, his voice sounded low and deep. It was just two words, like a gentle scratch on the heart. "Good night."

Liam's expression turned sour.

Thomas pretended not to notice and sent Cycle another voice message: "By the way, you left your tie at my place last night."

Soon after, Cycle sent a voice message back.

Thomas didn't dare to open it, fearing that Cycle would expose his lie and ruin his plan

. Liam stared at Thomas and said: "Where's the tie?"

Thomas said: "It got dirty. I sent it to the dry cleaner today."

Liam's expression worsened, but he still said: "I don't believe you."

Thomas typed to Cycle: What did you say in your voice message? You didn't expose me, did you?

Cycle replied: Open it and listen.

Thomas felt that these three words were incredibly reliable, so he opened the voice message.

Cycle's voice came through: "I'll come to your place in two days to pick it up."

Thomas said to Liam: "See? I'm not lying to you."

Liam looked at Thomas for a long time before saying: "After all these years, you really can let go."

Thomas didn't know how to respond to this. After all these years, you really can let go? The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to laugh. After all these years, who was the first to let go?

"I'm going to bed," Thomas didn't want to argue anymore. "If I find your stuff, I'll send it to you. No need for you to come here."

After Liam left, Thomas lay on the bed and suddenly felt extremely tired.

He sent Cycle a message saying his ex-boyfriend had left and thanked him for tonight.

Cycle didn't reply again.

That night, Thomas couldn't sleep well. He kept waking up and couldn't get a good rest

. At around six in the morning, Julian, who didn't have a key, started ringing the doorbell frantically and woke him up. Thomas opened the door while scolding Julian.

Julian threw a paper bag on the table and said: "I even bought you breakfast. If I knew this, I wouldn't have bought it. You heartless dog."

"I'm heartless? You better pack your things and leave. Don't stay in this dog's den and wolf's lair." Thomas couldn't sleep anymore and had to get up to wash up.

Until he finished washing up, Julian didn't say a word.

Thomas was puzzled and went out of the bathroom.

Julian was lying on the sofa, one leg on the backrest, snoring softly, sleeping soundly.

Thomas threw his blanket over Julian and then took his laptop to the dining table.

He ate the breakfast Julian bought while checking his emails. Besides the school's mass emails, there was only one unread email in his inbox, from WHITE, William.

Thomas saw the name and nervously opened the email.

It's over.

He was done from the very first line. The professor of the death course told him to retake the course, and not next semester but next year, because the course was only offered in the summer term. Next year, retake. Just because he missed the first class. Thomas had no appetite for breakfast. He sent messages to a few classmates asking how to handle this situation.

Their opinions were basically the same: British professors had a lot of autonomy, and the school couldn't do anything about it. The only solution was to beg the professor. Thomas cursed the professor in his heart while replying to the email, asking the professor to give him a chance.

He promised to study the content of the first class carefully through his classmates' notes and would definitely make an appointment for the professor's office hours if he had any questions. For the rest of the day, he kept checking his email every now and then.

A whole day passed, and he smoked an entire pack of cigarettes, but Prof. White still hadn't replied. He was already very tired after a day of classes.

When he got home, he saw Julian playing games with the sound on, which made him even more frustrated.

"Julian, can you wear headphones?" Thomas said.

Julian didn't take his eyes off the screen or his hands off the keyboard and said, "The headphones are dead."

"Can't you charge them?" Thomas said and went into his bedroom, closing the door to block out the noise.

He was in a bad mood. Thomas played with his phone for a while and somehow clicked on Distance.

There was only one person in the chat list, Cycle.

He clicked on Cycle's profile, which was still blank with no posts. He returned to the chat box and looked through the few chat records.

Then he clicked on the four voice messages again to listen. Frost: "Good night, dear."

Cycle: "Good night."

Frost: "Oh, by the way, you left your tie at my place last night."

Cycle: "I'll come to pick it up in a couple of days." Cycle's voice was indeed pleasant.

Thomas clicked on Cycle's "I'll come to pick it up in a couple of days" several times, listening while imagining what Cycle looked like.

He couldn't imagine.

Cycle's voice made him feel reliable, trustworthy, and persuasive.

That voice should belong to someone who would never lose their composure.

The thought that such a person had acted with him last night made Thomas want to laugh.

Thinking this way, he suddenly felt like talking to Cycle.

Thomas thought for a moment and typed: Are you off work? Cycle didn't reply. T

homas continued typing: I had classes all day. Do you have time to chat tonight? He sent the message and waited for a while, but Cycle still didn't reply. So he put his phone aside and went out to call Julian for dinner.

When Thomas checked his phone again at around 10 p.m., there was a message reminder from Cycle.

Cycle: Had a whole day of meetings. Cycle: Just got home.

Thomas clicked on the message reminder and was about to reply to Cycle when he suddenly noticed that the current distance below Cycle's name had changed from 287 km to 4.8 km.

4.8 kilometers?

Thomas first wiped the phone screen and then rubbed his eyes.

The current distance displayed on the screen was still 4.8 kilometers.

What's going on?

Is there a bug in the program?

Thomas typed to Cycle: How did the distance between us become 4.8 kilometers?

After a while, Cycle replied: I was in another city for meetings these past two days.

Thomas: ? In another city for meetings??? So Mr. C, who was 287 kilometers away, had become Mr. C who could be here in 10 minutes by car?

Frost: Then you can really come to my place to get the tie?

Thomas regretted sending this message as soon as he did, but it couldn't be withdrawn.

He looked at Cycle's profile picture in the chat box, feeling a bit nervous. Ten minutes later, a new reply finally appeared on the screen.

Cycle: If I did leave the tie at your place.