Give Me a Hug

Chapter 34.2

Deliberately behaving so well.

Deliberately... making me like you more and more every moment.

To prevent his wound from getting worse while bathing, Liang Sunian took him everywhere almost all day.

Fortunately, Liang Sunian didn't have many classes today: one in the morning, free in the afternoon, and a professional elective at seven in the evening.

Class ended at 8:40, and the students in the classroom packed up and left one by one.

Xie Jiaran received a message from Su Xiaoyue in the class group, saying that the teacher had just suddenly assigned a task: a character-related sketch due tomorrow afternoon.

He had run out of sketch paper at the dormitory, and since the art building was on the way back, he took Liang Sunian with him to get more.

On the way back, they passed by a music classroom. It seemed that the previous person had either gone to the restroom or forgotten to turn off the lights, as one light was still on in the back. The front door was also unlocked.

Xie Jiaran looked around and saw no one, so he decided to go in and turn off the light. Liang Sunian glanced inside and said, "Is there a piano?"

"This is a vocal classroom, not an art studio," Xie Jiaran replied.

Hearing his tone, Xie Jiaran turned back and asked, "Can you play the piano?"

Liang Sunian nodded. "I learned for a while, but I haven't played in a long time."

Xie Jiaran paused in turning off the light and looked at the piano, then softly asked Liang Sunian, "Do you want to play?"

There were two seats in front of the piano, and they each took one.

"Choose a song. What do you want to hear?" Liang Sunian opened the piano cover.

"I don't know much about piano pieces," Xie Jiaran said.

"You definitely know some, even if you can't name them," Liang Sunian said as he played a short sequence with one hand. "How about this one? Sound familiar?"

Xie Jiaran hesitated and nodded.

It was indeed familiar, but he couldn't name it.

Liang Sunian smiled and placed both hands on the keys.

His long fingers danced over the black and white keys like butterflies, casting an invisible glow.

If the scene could be split into frames, each one would be stunningly beautiful.

For the first time, Xie Jiaran realized that a melody could be so pleasant that it seemed to have shape and color, filling the entire music classroom with a magical combination.

He knew it wasn't just because of the piece itself—if the reason was tenfold, the piece only accounted for one. The remaining nine parts were because of the person playing it.

Because the person playing it was Liang Sunian.

"How is it? Sounds good, right?" Liang Sunian asked lazily, his hands resting lightly on the keys.

Xie Jiaran nodded. "It sounds good."

Liang Sunian blinked. "But I made quite a few mistakes in the middle."

Xie Jiaran insisted, "It still sounds great." After a half-second pause, he emphasized earnestly, "Better than any piano piece I've ever heard."

"You're easy to tease," Liang Sunian chuckled. "This piece is called 'Ballade pour Adeline.' It's my mom's favorite. Apparently, when she was in school, my dad won her over with this piece. Later, she found out he only knew this one piece, which nearly drove her crazy."

"So your mom had you learn piano to make up for that regret?" Xie Jiaran asked.

"Maybe a bit. But no matter how many pieces I learned, they always asked me to play this one," Liang Sunian said.

"And they always complained I was too loud."

Talking about this made him laugh. With a wry smile, he told Xie Jiaran, "They even discussed putting the piano on mute so I could practice without making noise."

That seemed like quite a predicament.

Xie Jiaran couldn't help but imagine Liang Sunian's baffled expression in front of a mute piano, a faint smile forming at the corner of his eyes.

"Your parents must have been joking," he said, his voice softening.

"You never bother anyone," he added, looking at Liang Sunian with stars in his eyes.

Liang Sunian appreciated the sight of the stars in the pretty boy's eyes for a moment before teasing, "Really?"

"Yes, really."

Xie Jiaran lowered his head and pressed a white key with his finger, producing a crisp high note. "You're wonderful. Who wouldn't like you?"

Liang Sunian's hand paused over the keys.

He looked at Xie Jiaran's profile, even in the dim light, a soft halo outlined his features.

"Does that include you?" he suddenly asked.

Xie Jiaran turned to look at him.

When their eyes met, Liang Sunian felt a gentle tug, as if hooked.

Quickly regaining his composure, he wondered if he was out of his mind to ask such a difficult question.

Before Xie Jiaran could answer, Liang Sunian changed the subject, "Want to give it a try?"

Caught off guard, Xie Jiaran looked puzzled. "Try what?"

Liang Sunian moved closer.

Xie Jiaran protested, "But I can't play."

"It's okay. I'll teach you in a second," Liang Sunian said, moving his stool next to Xie Jiaran's. He wrapped his left arm around him in a back-hug, placing his hands over Xie Jiaran's.

The warmth of his hands against Xie Jiaran's, like the warmth of his chest against Xie Jiaran's back, made Xie Jiaran's heart race.

His fluttering eyelashes betrayed his nervousness.

He rarely felt this flustered, worrying about how to hide his pounding heart from Liang Sunian.

His clumsy hands followed Liang Sunian's skilled ones over the keys.

It felt surreal—he was playing, yet it wasn't him. The melody flowed from his fingers, from their fingers together.

In that moment, he felt like a puppet controlled by Liang Sunian.

Liang Sunian manipulated his movements, his heartbeat, his countless unspoken thoughts.

The notes flowed, and he played on the keys, while Liang Sunian played on his heart.

Thud—

A sudden loud sound.

Xie Jiaran pressed a key hard, curled his fingers, and before Liang Sunian could react, turned and grabbed Liang Sunian's shirt, burying his face in his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Liang Sunian gently patted his back.

Xie Jiaran closed his eyes, burying his face deeper, his voice muffled, soft, and with a hint of a spoiled complaint.

"Ge."

"I don't feel well."

••••

TL:

Darn, I messed up! I didn't notice that I still have 3 pages untranslated in docs. _(:3」z)_