7

Thomas waited by the phone for a response, his heart beating a little faster than usual.

After a few seconds, he heard Cycle say, "I've been quite busy recently."

Thomas replied, "Then, let me know when you have time."

Cycle said, "It depends."

Thomas said, "Even for breakfast is fine."

Cycle said, "Okay."

Thomas said, "Um... Let me know a day in advance so I can get myself together."

There seemed to be a hint of a smile in Cycle's voice: "Okay."

Thomas said, "Then I won't disturb you at work. I'm going to the library."

From that day on, Thomas would occasionally drop hints and remind Cycle that they had a meal to have. For instance, during lunchtime at school, he would ask Cycle, "Have you had lunch?" Or when leaving school in the afternoon, he would send Cycle a message: "Have you finished work? I haven't had dinner yet."

Cycle's responses were either that he had eaten or that he was still busy. Moreover, Thomas noticed that Cycle wasn't at school every working day. Sometimes the distance between them on Distance was just a few hundred meters, and sometimes it was over ten kilometers.

On Sunday, Julian had already left, and Thomas was alone at home. He saw that Cycle's current distance was 4.8 kilometers and sent a message asking, "Did you not go out today?"

When Cycle didn't reply, Thomas sent a picture of the meal he had made, tempting: "I made mushroom-baked fish. Do you want to come and eat?"

It was a long time before Cycle replied: "I made steak."

Thomas said, "Can I see a picture?"

Cycle: [Picture]

Thomas requested a voice call and said, "How about I pack the fish and come to your place?"

Cycle said, "I'm already eating."

Thomas said, "Are you afraid to meet me? I don't mind you... cough, being old."

Cycle seemed to smile and said, "Why are you in such a hurry?"

Thomas said, "I want to see you. How about... we have a video call?"

Cycle said, "No."

Thomas said, "If you keep rejecting me like this, I might go and wait for you outside your LRM office."

Cycle said, "You can try."

Thomas said, "Forget it. I'm afraid of meeting your boss. Besides, I don't even know what you look like."

Cycle said, "You still have to attend his classes."

Thomas said, "Seeing him twice a week is my limit. Just thinking about seeing him tomorrow makes me feel like I'll have nightmares tonight. Anyway, let's not talk about him. When can I finally treat you to a meal?"

Cycle said, "I've been quite busy recently."

Thomas said, "Busy enough to cook sweet and sour pork ribs at home?"

This time, Cycle did smile and said, "You have quite a grudge."

Grudge?

Quite a grudge??

Thomas didn't admit it and retorted, "I'm just stating the facts."

Cycle said, "Yes, facts."

Somehow, Thomas heard a hint of indulgence in those three low words. He suddenly realized that there had been no sound of eating from Cycle's end since the call began. Cycle had been talking to him the whole time and hadn't eaten yet.

"Eat first..." Thomas's voice dropped, "I won't bother you anymore."

After hanging up the voice call, Thomas was still savoring Cycle's voice. When he recalled this part of the conversation...

You keep rejecting me like this, I might go and wait for you outside your LRM office.

— You can try.

Try...

Is it not very moral to check the photos of the researchers at the LRM department website? — You can give it a try.

Screw morality.

Thomas opened his notebook, found the website of the LRM department on the school website, and then clicked on the faculty section.

The first thing he saw was Prof. White's photo. He didn't dare to look at it for long and quickly scrolled down the page.

British...

Male...

Researcher...

Thomas found two male researchers who seemed to be British from their names. One of them had no photo. The other one had a photo, but the person in the photo... Thomas wasn't judging by looks, but he just felt that the face didn't match Cycle's voice and demeanor.

Could it be the one without a photo?

Thomas stared at the name of the researcher without a photo for a while.

Jianguo Huang... Huang... Jian... Guo...

Cycle's name was Huang Jian Guo...

Huang... Jian... Guo...

It didn't seem right either.

Thomas enlarged Cycle's profile picture and compared it with the researcher who had a photo. Their chins and necks were completely different. The researcher was obviously fatter, and the upper body photo didn't look like Cycle's 187 as stated in his profile...

If he was 187, he should be taller.

Suddenly, a face that needed to be looked up at appeared in Thomas's mind - rimless glasses, thin metal frames, thin chains of the same color as the frames hanging down on both cheeks, and a pair of eyes looking down at him behind the lenses.

Thomas felt a chill down his spine.

Perhaps because of the shadow of that face, when Thomas took a bath that night, he couldn't get an erection even when he tried to masturbate.

The next morning, Thomas rode his bike to school and arrived at S17 classroom at 8:01. There weren't many people yet, so he found a seat not too far from the podium and sat down, hoping not to draw the professor's extra attention.

A few minutes later, Sophie arrived and sat next to him, saying, "Did you succeed in pleading?"

Thomas said, "Pleading with him is an insult to myself."

Sophie became interested and said, "How so?"

Thomas glanced at Sophie and said, "You really want to hear me being insulted?"

Sophie's tone was full of righteousness, saying, "Of course not!" but her face said, "Come on, tell me."

Thomas didn't want to go into details and just said, "Anyway, I'll come to class from now on."

At 8:14, the professor still hadn't arrived. Thomas wanted to send a message to Cycle to ask if he was free at noon.

But first, let's check the distance on Distance. I don't know if Cycle is coming to school today...

Thomas opened Distance and looked at the current distance below Cycle's name - "The professor is here," Sophie nudged Thomas with her elbow and whispered, "Put your phone away quickly." "... "Oh." Thomas absent-mindedly placed his phone under the table and looked up at the podium.

Did I see wrong...?

Three meters...

Meters...

Thomas couldn't help but look down at the current distance again.

It was still three meters.

Three meters!

Doesn't three meters mean Cycle is in the classroom right now? !

Could it be that Cycle had sneaked over to see him?

Thomas surreptitiously glanced around at his classmates. A man, British, in his thirties... There were few British students in the class, and they were all familiar faces. Even if he couldn't name them, Thomas had at least seen them before. The researcher with a photo on the department's website wasn't in the classroom either. Thomas looked at each one, but none of them seemed like Cycle. He even stared at Sophie's profile for a while.

Sophie turned her head, met Thomas's gaze, and said, "Thomas, what's that look? It's creepy."

Thomas averted his eyes and said, "What does Cycle mean?"

Sophie said, "What? You mean the English word 'cycle'? As in period? Why do you ask? Did the professor just mention it?"

"No." Thomas stuffed his phone in his pocket and focused on the lecture.

In the last five minutes of the class, Prof. White, as usual, called the roll and then announced the end of the class.

The sound of desks being slapped echoed around the room. Thomas followed suit, slapping his desk twice. While no one had left the classroom yet, he quickly took out his phone to check Cycle's current distance.

It was still 3 meters.

Sophie, while packing up her things, asked the motionless Thomas, "Aren't you leaving?"

Thomas stared at his phone screen and said, "Yeah, you go ahead."

One by one, the students left the classroom, and the number of people remaining decreased. The 3-meter distance remained unchanged.

Now there were only five people left in the classroom.

A white student was still copying the blackboard at the back of the room, and three students were still asking questions on the stage, all of them white.

Then it was just Thomas sitting in his seat.

But the current distance on Distance was still 3 meters!

Thomas suspected that the app had malfunctioned.

He typed to Cycle: What does your current distance show? Mine says 3 meters, and there's no British person within a 3-meter radius of me.

No, that's not right.

British person...

There was actually a British person within a 3-meter radius.

It's just that Thomas had never regarded him as a person, so he hadn't counted him in.

Thomas suddenly looked up at the stage. The students asking questions had already left, and there was only one person on the stage, collecting the lecture notes.

Thomas turned his head. The student copying the blackboard had also left.

Now there were only two people left in the classroom, himself and the professor on the stage.

British.

Male.

36 years old.

187 cm.

Wears glasses.

Thomas's legs went completely weak.

He was completely stunned.

No... It can't be...

Thomas desperately recalled the two voices, Prof. White and Cycle. At this moment, he realized that not only was there a difference between speaking face-to-face and through a phone, but even his own English and German voices were different. He had never heard Prof. White speak English, nor had he heard Cycle speak German. The huge difference in the two languages made it impossible to recognize that they were the same person.

At this point, he still held onto a sliver of hope.

Maybe the positioning was wrong.

He lowered his head and used his peripheral vision to look at the professor. When the professor left the classroom, he checked the current distance on Distance again - 12 meters.

Damn.

It's like a death sentence.

He was actually flirting with Prof. White???

Damn, what did he say...

"Good night, dear."

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

"Do you always leave your tie at other people's places?"

Damn.

No, Thomas suddenly realized, this wasn't the point... Flirting wasn't the main point.

It seemed he had said something even more terrifying...

Lack of humanity...

A heart as small as a pin...

Now, just thinking about seeing him tomorrow makes me feel like I'm going to have nightmares tonight...

No, these don't seem to be the scariest things.

The scariest thing was the night before he went to the professor to plead his case...

How could there be such a perverted professor... If it weren't a required course for our major, I don't think anyone would choose his class... The professor is a total jerk with a ton of problems and an extremely high failure rate. Who would want to take his class...

Oh, I'm not sick. I just drank too much before and overslept yesterday...

Thomas felt his vision go black.