Should We Be So Obsessed with Brotherhood

Under the bright autumn sun, still tinged with a hint of childishness.

Lin Yu and Gu Yue were walking along awkwardly.

But soon.

They noticed that the people around them had somehow thinned out.

Only a few students remained beside or behind them, and they were no longer strolling leisurely. Instead, they were either jogging or sprinting.

Lin Yu was the first to sense that something was off.

He pulled out his phone.

Glanced at the time on the screen, and instantly felt his hair stand on end.

“Holy shit!”

“We’re gonna be late!”

“Move it!”

The time on the phone showed 7:57.

There were only three minutes until class at eight.

And they hadn’t even entered the teaching building yet.

There was truly no time left for lingering awkwardly anymore.

The moment Lin Yu finished speaking, he took off running.

Gu Yue tensed up instinctively when she heard they were about to be late for class.

She followed behind him, racing toward the teaching building.

Lin Yu was tall, with long legs that could cover ground fast.

Gu Yue looked like she had long legs, but she wasn’t actually tall, so her legs weren’t that long either.

In just a few steps, she fell behind Lin Yu.

She was desperate to catch up to him.

But she wasn’t paying attention to the steps underfoot. Her toe caught on a stair.

Thump.

Gu Yue’s knee slammed onto the step.

Then her body smacked against the lobby floor of the teaching building with a wet thud, like a slab of sticky rice cake.

The noise was so loud.

Lin Yu, who was running ahead, couldn’t ignore it even if he wanted to.

He turned around.

And he saw Gu Yue lying flat on the ground.

Her face was twisted in pain, her teeth clenched.

But when she looked up and met his gaze, she forced herself to hold back the agony.

With an expression like a martyr heading to a glorious death, mixed with a touch of endearment, she declared firmly:

“You go ahead and check in...”

“Don’t worry about me!”

“How the hell could I not worry about you?!”

Lin Yu was almost ticked off by her, though it was hard not to laugh.

This girl was way too much of a loyal buddy, wasn’t she?

But this was just one late arrival.

It wasn’t worth abandoning her for!

Turning back, Lin Yu hurried to her side, crouched down, and asked with concern:

“How are you?”

“Are you okay?”

Gu Yue winced in pain, her lips stretched tight.

She struggled to roll over and sat up on the floor, tears welling in her eyes. “My leg... it hurts a bit.”

Actually, she didn’t even need to say it.

When she turned around, Lin Yu had already seen the wound on her leg, where blood was seeping out slowly.

“It’s already bleeding.”

“Of course it hurts.”

“I’ll take you to the clinic to get it cleaned up.”

Lin Yu stared at Gu Yue’s wound, feeling a raw, visceral pang of sympathy stir in his heart for the first time.

Beads of sweat had broken out on Gu Yue’s smooth forehead. She bit her lower lip, furrowed her brow, and nodded.

Lin Yu carefully helped her up.

Watching her leg, he asked uneasily, “Can you still walk on it?”

On her pale, smooth calf, droplets of blood were slowly trickling down, leaving stark, jarring trails of red.

Lin Yu thought about wiping them off for her.

But since he didn’t have any tissues on hand, he had to let it go.

“I think I can manage,” Gu Yue said, hissing through the cold air.

“Alright.”

“Then lean on me as support.”

Lin Yu reached out his arm, offering it as a crutch.

Gu Yue grabbed hold of his forearm.

The moment she tried to take a step forward, her delicate face scrunched up again in pain.

"No, no, no."

Gu Yue's voice was already tinged with a hint of sobbing as she said pitifully, "My leg hurts too."

Hearing this, Lin Yu looked down.

Only then did he notice a clear white mark on Gu Yue's right leg as well. Although it was just a scraped surface without any bleeding, it still looked like she had taken quite a knock.

Both legs were injured.

There was definitely no way she could walk.

Lin Yu frowned.

He turned his head around irritably, but didn't find anything that could carry Gu Yue to the infirmary.

Turning back, he looked at Gu Yue, whose eyes were brimming with tears from the pain.

Lin Yu decided to go all in and spoke up:

"Come here."

"I'll carry you to the infirmary."

With that,

Lin Yu directly draped one of Gu Yue's arms over his shoulder.

Then he bent down, spreading both arms wide, waiting for Gu Yue to lower herself into his hold.

Gu Yue's small face, pale from the pain, now miraculously regained a bit of color.

She looked at Lin Yu, who had positioned himself and was ready to pick her up.

A strange feeling melted in her heart, even numbing a good part of the pain in her legs.

Gu Yue gently lowered herself down.

Lin Yu caught her steadily with both hands, then lifted her effortlessly, cradling her horizontally in his arms, and hurriedly rushed toward the nearby infirmary.

But he hadn't gone far

before he started to regret carrying Gu Yue like this.

The reason was that Lin Yu found it really awkward.

Gu Yue clung to him.

She was light, like some kind of big-eyed little animal.

Her bright, large eyes stared straight at him without blinking, holding a strange smile that made him feel embarrassed to meet her gaze.

Lin Yu carried Gu Yue for a while.

Unable to bear her staring, his face growing hot, he tried to shift his focus by glaring at her and said gruffly:

"What are you laughing at?"

"Doesn't your leg hurt anymore?"

As he spoke, Lin Yu thought to himself that he couldn't let this go on.

Otherwise, he'd lose his composure!

He made as if to put Gu Yue down, muttering:

"Let me switch positions."

"I'll carry you on my back to the infirmary."

"No!"

Gu Yue nestled in Lin Yu's arms, letting out a soft whine.

She wrapped her arms directly around Lin Yu's neck, like a sloth clinging to a tree trunk, and buried her face in the crook of his neck while whimpering.

As living beings,

not to mention organs, just considering the skin—

the two most sensitive spots should be the soles of the feet and the neck.

The warm breath from Gu Yue's lips blew entirely onto the skin of Lin Yu's neck.

It sent an inexplicable tingle down his spine.

For a moment, he even felt unsteady on his feet.

Along with the warm breath came

the faint perfume mixed with the warm scent of a girl's body from Gu Yue.

It smelled so good it seemed laced with poison,

making his head start to grow dizzy.