The Escort

lp and was unwilling to bow down his head.
He never told anyone about his struggles with postgraduate studies.
One second he was considering it, the next second he was hesitant and impatient, but neither did he tell Min Yu.
If it were other things, he might not be so resistant to talk about it, but he closed his mouth tightly, not uttering a word.

Perhaps the events that happened one after another in one day were too sudden, or perhaps the anxiety and depression for some time have reached the critical point that they started to consume him.
At night, Shao Mingwei rarely dreamed of his deceased parents.
He didn’t know what the specific situation was.
He just felt that he was very anxious.
If he didn’t move fast, he wouldn’t be able to catch up with something, but in the dream, the faster he ran forward, the slower he moved, and he couldn’t help but stretch his hand and grab, but in the end, there was nothing. 

Then he abruptly opened his eyes.
Shao Mingwei was stunned for a moment, feeling a little clammy and cold on his face.
He reached out and touched his face.
His hand felt something sticky – his nose was bleeding.

Shao Mingwei sat up from the bed, looked to the side, and saw that Min Yu was still asleep, then opened the thin quilt and got up gently, took the blood-stained pillow case, and went to the big bathroom outside to rinse.

Min Yu woke up as soon as Shao Mingwei left.

“What’s the matter? Nosebleed?” Min Yu appeared at the door of the bathroom in his pajamas, with some residual drowsiness in his eyes.
His hair was not as neatly combed as during the day.
It was so fluffy and soft that one would want to touch it. 

Shao Mingwei was bending down and pouring water on his nose and mouth.
Seeing him wake up, he comforted him, “Why did you wake up? It’s just a nosebleed, it’s maybe because of excessive internal heat recently, you quickly go back to sleep, ba.
I’ll go back to sleep when I’m done.”

Min Yu nodded, turned around, and went out of the bathroom.

Shao Mingwei rolled two tissue balls to block his nose, soaked the pillowcase in the basin, and then went back to the bedroom.
He found that there was no one inside, so he went out and looked around and found Min Yu in the kitchen with only a small light turned on.

Min Yu couldn’t help laughing at the sight of his nose stuffed with tissue balls. 

Shao Mingwei also laughed.
“What are you doing here?”

Min Yu gently pressed the ice pack wrapped in a towel on Shao Mingwei’s forehead, and said softly, “Come, you move forward a little so that the bleeding will stop faster.”

Min Yu pressed the ice pack for him and Shao Mingwei encircled his arm in his waist, and asked in a low voice, “What time is it?”

Min Yu blinked and said in a low voice, “I saw it earlier.
It’s almost three o’clock.” 

Shao Mingwei didn’t speak, lowered his head towards Min Yu, and kissed him in an awkward position.

The two leaned sideways against the lowest cupboard in the kitchen and kissed quietly and passionately.
The microwave behind Min Yu rang lightly.
He stroked the back of Shao Mingwei’s neck a few times to make him let go.
When he stepped back and saw the tissue in Shao Mingwei’s nose, he laughed again.
“You come and hold the ice pack.”

Shao Mingwei took the cold towel in Min Yu’s hand, watched him take out the milk from the microwave and pour it into the two glasses, then handed him one glass of milk.

Shao Mingwei didn’t feel his nose bleeding anymore, so he put down the ice pack and stood in the kitchen with Min Yu looking through the window of the quiet night outside where cars occasionally passed by.
Talking to each other about random stuff and drinking hot milk while chatting. 

After drinking, Shao Mingwei washed the two glasses and put them back, tidied up the towel and ice pack, pulled the tissue balls out of his nose, and threw them into the trash can, then said to Min Yu who was waiting, “Let’s go back.”

Min Yu was one step ahead of him, took his hand and pulled him to the sofa to sit down, and looked at Shao Mingwei with a pair of calm and gentle eyes.
“Can we talk?”

Shao Mingwei froze.
“What are we going to talk about?”