Waiting For You To Come Online – Chapter 5

Chapter 5: No One Loves Him

The freshman welcome party ended perfectly.

After returning from the audience, Xie Yang became much more silent.

His slightly red eyes and low spirits, despite his efforts to conceal them, were still somewhat noticeable.

Su Huai didn’t bluntly ask what happened, but he had a feeling it might have something to do with Qi Xu. He couldn’t help but think of Qi Xu.

Su Huai was a local of S City and had known Qi Xu since they were kids. To be precise, they were part of the same social circle.

Qi Xu had a difficult personality: indifferent, aloof, and arrogant, as if he didn’t care about anything.

And he certainly had the right to be that way.

From a young age, Qi Xu had always been a model of “what we should aspire to be” in front of him. Kids of their generation were always compared to Qi Xu.

“Look at Qi Xu…”

“Why can’t you be more like Qi Xu?”

Su Huai had grown tired of hearing such things.

So he never had any special admiration for Qi Xu. In fact, just hearing his name annoyed him.

He didn’t think Qi Xu was handsome at all; rather, he found him conceited.

But he couldn’t deny that Qi Xu’s superior family background and his own excellence were out of reach for ordinary people.

Despite his unlikable personality, Qi Xu’s outstanding qualities overshadowed his minor flaws.

Qi Xu inherited his parents’ strengths, whether in his academic abilities or his looks.

Since childhood, people had always flocked to him, one group after another.

He received confessions from both girls and boys.

But Su Huai had never seen Qi Xu treat anyone specially.

He seemed to despise people getting close to him, especially boys. Everyone who knew him understood that Qi Xu was a die-hard straight guy.

He was homophobic and very averse to guys confessing to him.

But there was no indication he was interested in any girl either.

A person like him, Su Huai found it hard to imagine who Qi Xu could fall for.

Su Huai had more than once wondered just how outstanding the person Qi Xu liked must be, to catch his eye and stand beside him.

As for Xie Yang…

In Su Huai’s eyes, they were people from two different worlds.

Between them lay a vast chasm.

Xie Yang himself probably understood this point very well.

Su Huai suddenly understood Xie Yang’s unspoken crush.

He sighed softly, unsure how to comfort his former classmate and now new friend.

Why did it have to be Qi Xu that he liked?

After the freshman welcome party ended, the National Day holiday began.

Xie Yang’s roommates all went home directly after the party, leaving him alone in the dorm.

Thinking about the triple pay during the National Day, Xie Yang planned to work part-time at the cake shop for all seven days to save up some living expenses.

Ring…

Xie Yang hesitated for a long time before choosing to answer the call, seeing his mother’s name on the screen.

“Mom.”

“Yang Yang, have you rested yet?”

“Not yet.”

“Your school should be on holiday too, right? Why don’t you come and stay with Mom for a few days?”

“Um, I’m on holiday.”

“Mom hasn’t seen you in a long time. Come and stay with Mom this holiday.”

Xie Yang furrowed his brow slightly and instinctively found excuses to decline, “I have plans for the National Day holiday, maybe…”

“Mom misses you. I felt bad for not sending you off to school last time.”

“Are you adjusting well at S University?”

“How are you getting along with your classmates and roommates?”

“Mom cares about you a lot.”

Xie Yang trembled inwardly at her words and remained silent for a long time.

It had been a long time since he had heard his mother so warmly concerned about him.

He felt a heavy weight in his heart and didn’t know how to respond.

“Yang Yang?”

“Are you still there?”

“I’m… I’m here, Mom. I’ll come tomorrow.”

“Okay, that’s good. Xiao Hang said he really misses you and prepared a gift for you.”

Xie Yang just softly replied, “Okay.”

“Tomorrow morning, Mom will go buy some dishes you love. Let’s have a good meal together tomorrow.”

“…”

After the call ended, Xie Yang looked at the unsent message to the store manager on his screen and deleted it word by word.

He couldn’t help but wonder if his mom’s eagerness just now was because she hadn’t seen him in a long time and wanted to know how he was doing, or if it was because his younger brother said he missed him, prompting her to make this call.

In the end, he softened his heart.

Just this night, he tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep.

Mom’s home was not his home.

Even at Mom’s place, he was just a stranger.

It was troublesome.

And also an awkward existence.

Unable to sleep.

Xie Yang opened his phone again and browsed the S University forum.

All he saw were posts about the freshman welcome party performances, with Qi Xu’s name constantly catching his eye.

Xie Yang clicked into each post one by one, saving quite a few photos of Qi Xu.

After browsing several threads, Xie Yang started to feel drowsy.

Before going to sleep, out of habit, he opened WeChat’s add friends feature and searched for Qi Xu’s account.

As usual, there were no changes.

With drowsiness creeping in, Xie Yang accidentally tapped on the add friend button.

Realizing his mistake, Xie Yang’s drowsiness vanished.

He stared repeatedly at the screen showing the friend request interface, completely unable to sleep now.

Why wasn’t there an option to retract?

Xie Yang’s current mood was strange, 70% regretful and 30% hopeful.

Regretful that his actions might disturb Qi Xu.

Yet also hopeful, wanting to secure a spot as Qi Xu’s WeChat friend.

It was now past 1 AM, and Qi Xu probably was already asleep.

Even if Qi Xu hadn’t slept yet, he would likely ignore this friend request upon seeing it.

But Xie Yang couldn’t resist. Every two minutes, he refreshed his phone.

Hoping for a different outcome.

Watching his phone obsessively, with a mix of anxiety and regret, and feeling uneasy about visiting Mom’s house tomorrow, he didn’t fall asleep until past 4 AM.

Throughout the night, he tossed and turned through several dreams, and upon waking up, he felt a heavy headache.

With sleepy eyes, Xie Yang stared at the ceiling, retrieved his phone from under the pillow, and checked the time.

It was already 10 AM.

Xie Yang abruptly sat up. He had promised Mom to go out for a meal, but now he had just woken up and it was too late.

At the same time, he remembered the accidental friend request to Qi Xu on WeChat last night. He quickly opened WeChat, refreshed it, but there were no new messages.

Xie Yang couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed.

Although he had anticipated this outcome, not getting the answer he wanted still made him feel sad.

The suspense in his heart finally came to an end.

Collecting himself, Xie Yang simply put on a set of clothes, slung on his backpack, and boarded the bus.

His mother, Rong Man, had remarried to a local in S City.

The cost of living in S City was high, and naturally, so were property prices.

Xie Yang had heard that Mom and Uncle were planning to buy a house. The current apartment they lived in was an old residential area from many years ago, with limited space and far from the city center, making commuting inconvenient. Considering all these factors, they hoped to buy a house in the downtown area.

Since Xie Yang knew about this, he had told Mom not to give him living expenses in the future; he could earn money through part-time jobs.

But Mom insisted on giving him money no matter what.

So Xie Yang decided to save it for her for now.

Actually, Xie Yang quite liked this old residential area. Life here was very peaceful.

He bought a bag of fruits downstairs and climbed the stairs slowly.

This was the politeness that a guest should have.

Xie Yang gently pressed the doorbell.

Click…

The front door opened slowly, and when Uncle saw him, his initially cheerful expression stiffened momentarily.

The two silently locked eyes for a few seconds, and Uncle quickly put on a smile, saying, “You’re here.”

Xie Yang pretended not to notice, politely greeting, “Hello, Uncle.”

“Has Big Brother arrived?”

Xiao Hang rushed out from the living room, clinging to the door, looking very happy to see Xie Yang.

Uncle patted his head, “Look how happy you are.”

Xiao Hang cheerfully took Xie Yang’s hand and pulled him inside from the doorway, saying, “Brother, come and see the building blocks Dad and I just finished!”

Following behind Xiao Hang into the living room, Xie Yang saw the building blocks he mentioned and smiled, “Xiao Hang, you’re really skilled.”

“Has Yang Yang arrived?”

Hearing the voices from the living room, Rong Man walked out from the kitchen, still wearing an apron. She looked very pleased to see Xie Yang, “You’ve come at just the right time. One more dish and we can have dinner.”

Xie Yang replied, “Mom.”

“Hey.” Rong Man looked at the bag of fruits in his hand and scolded gently, “You came, so why bring fruits? You don’t need to buy anything when you come to Mom’s place, you’re not a guest.”

Xie Yang just smiled faintly and didn’t say anything.

Seeing Xiao Hang pulling Xie Yang and talking to him, Rong Man said helplessly, “This child knew you were coming and was especially happy.”

Xiao Hang, at an age sensitive to emotions, blushed and embarrassedly said, “Mom, don’t say that!”

Rong Man said quickly, “Alright, alright, I won’t say anything.”

Smelling the aroma from the kitchen, Rong Man hurried back.

“Xiao Hang, Yang Yang, go wash your hands. Dinner is ready.”

Rong Man had prepared a table full of dishes, including two dishes Xie Yang loved from his hometown, placed in front of him.

These were dishes Grandma taught Mom to make. Xie Yang took a bite and immediately tasted Grandma’s flavor.

He hadn’t tasted Grandma’s cooking for many years; it was just a familiar taste etched in his memory.

Rong Man smiled, “How is it? Is it good?”

Xie Yang nodded, “Very delicious.”

Rong Man said, “Then eat more. You don’t need to be polite at Mom’s place.”

During dinner, Mom kept serving him dishes, stirring some emotions within Xie Yang.

Perhaps his sensitivity misunderstood Mom. Thinking of this, he felt a bit guilty.

This warm moment continued into the afternoon.

Xie Yang, feeling tired from not sleeping well, remained in a weary state.

Rong Man was tidying up a room for him, a small utility room.

Originally, this old house had limited space and no guest room prepared, only this utility room which didn’t even have a bed.

When Grandma passed away, Mom took him in to take care of him for a while.

So this small utility room, originally a storage room, now had an extra bed.

During Xie Yang’s absence, the small utility room had once again filled up with various items.

As Mom moved things out, she awkwardly explained to him, “I’ve been stocking up on things lately, and with the house being small, there’s no place to put them, so I’ve temporarily stored them in your room.”

Xie Yang didn’t say anything, just helped with the moving.

He felt that Mom’s actions were completely reasonable; after all, this room was originally meant for storing various odds and ends.

The small utility room was emptied out again, and Mom replaced the bedding for him.

The room was tiny and dim when not lit.

Lying on the bed, Xie Yang smelled a faint musty odor in the air. The stuffy feeling from the poorly ventilated room made him furrow his brow slightly.

Xie Yang woke up to voices arguing.

The old house had poor sound insulation, and Rong Man’s annoyed voice came from the living room.

“I’ve explained this problem three times already!”

“Could you please listen seriously to Mom’s explanation?!”

Xiao Hang pouted, “I did listen seriously!”

“It’s the same type of question. Mom has explained it three times, and you still can’t solve it?”

“What’s the use of forcing him if he doesn’t want to learn like you do?”

Uncle’s comforting voice followed, revealing his tenderness and indulgence towards Xiao Hang.

Rong Man: “It’s because he doesn’t want to learn that he needs to be pushed. If we let it go on like this, he’ll grow even more averse to studying.”

Xiao Hang didn’t like studying. At this age, he was playful and always distracted in class, not paying attention or finishing his assignments properly.

His homeroom teacher had already called the parents several times last semester.

But the stricter the discipline, the more resistant Xiao Hang became to studying.

Coupled with his parents’ indulgence, Xiao Hang became even more unruly.

In an effort to encourage Xiao Hang to study, Rong Man had even sent him to tutoring classes, but despite the money spent, he made no progress.

Several thousand yuan went down the drain.

Later, Rong Man tried hiring a private tutor, but Xiao Hang resisted even more.

There seemed to be no way to deal with a rebellious child.

Rong Man and Uncle couldn’t help but complain to each other.

They had different views on raising children.

Their leniency and indulgence had led to Xiao Hang’s increasingly difficult personality.

Xie Yang hadn’t intended to eavesdrop, treating it as if he hadn’t heard anything.

But just as he was about to put on his headphones and go back to sleep, he faintly heard his name being mentioned.

The voices suddenly lowered.

Xie Yang couldn’t help but quietly get out of bed, leaning against the door frame, wanting to hear what was being said about him.

Uncle: “Since Xie Yang is here now, let him take care of Xiao Hang these few days. Anyway, Xiao Hang always listens to him. Besides, he’s staying here for seven days.”

Rong Man: “What do you mean by that? Yang Yang is my son, and him staying here for a few days won’t be a problem.”

Uncle: “Hey, weren’t you the one who suggested letting your son come over to tutor Xiao Hang and stay a few days? Now you’re backing out?”

Rong Man: “I was just talking casually. Besides, I haven’t figured out how to bring up the idea of having Yang Yang tutor Xiao Hang.”

Uncle: “You said it yourself. He’s your biological son. What’s there to be embarrassed about? You’ve been giving him so much allowance for these years, paying for his education and pocket money. It’s not a big deal to ask him to tutor Xiao Hang.”

Rong Man: “You can’t mix these things together. Even if Yang Yang is willing, I’ll still pay him separately for tutoring.”

Uncle: “Fine, fine, whatever you say. We’re planning to buy a house, after all. Besides, he’s grown up. You can’t keep supporting him forever.”

Rong Man: “Yang Yang has never asked me for money on his own initiative. Don’t be too harsh with your words.”

Uncle: “I know you care about your son. I’ll stop.”

Xie Yang felt a chill all over, as if he had fallen into an icy cellar.

He squatted down slowly against the door, his vision blurred by tears.

The only person in the world who loved him was no longer there.

He should remember this deeply.

Instead of holding on to ridiculous expectations, hoping that someone would love him.

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