DOWNTEMPO

Downtempo: a slow, moody, or decreased tempo or played or done in such a tempo.

◇

The days passed, and it was almost three weeks Zhou Yongliang lived in Beijing. Even though he came from the village, but he had no difficulty adapting. Before he transferred to the school in Beijing, his previous school was also in the city area.

Despite the fact, the atmosphere of Shanxi and Beijing remained different in many ways. He still needed to adjust in some aspects.

Zhou Yongliang was grateful that he got four good friends in Beijing. The four friends sincerely accepted him as he was. They also always protected him under any circumstances. They cared about him a lot and noticed every single detail in Zhou Yongliang, including the changes that seemed to be happening in the tall student.

Yes, Zhou Yongliang was changing drastically in the past week, and his friends suspected that the changes were related to Yang Liu. It had been a week since Zhou Yongliang and Yang Liu had a private talk after the school festival was over, and Zhou Yongliang was changing ever since.

The new student had explained about the private talk to them before, but the explanation smelled fishy that they couldn't help but feel suspicious. Do you think they could be fooled by the explanation so easily? He said that Yang Liu apologized to him. Do you think they easily believed in his words?

They were currently enjoying their lunch at the school canteen. Zhou Yongliang's appetite was quite big and he seemed to enjoy his lunch so much today. The other four guys could only watch him silently. There was something different in the brown-haired student and they wanted to confront him today.

"Zhou Yongliang," Ren Weisheng called him dangerously.

It was dangerous because the short boy was calling him using his full name, not the usual "Liangliang" that had been his nickname since he transferred to the school.

Zhou Yongliang's fast-paced lunch came to a halt at the sound of the call. He looked up at once, his cheeks puffed up from the food he had not swallowed.

In front of him, Ren Weisheng was glaring at him. Zhou Yongliang desperately swallowed his food because of the intimidating gaze. He knew that Ren Weisheng was in serious mode.

Next to Ren Weisheng was Zhong Hai, and on the right and left of Zhou Yongliang were Chen Guangli and Huang Bo. They all seemed to lock up Zhou Yongliang, cornering Zhou Yongliang so that the boy would be willing to confess. Inevitably, Zhou Yongliang put his chopsticks on the table and straightened up in his seat.

"Okay, I understand, guys." He finally gave up. "Last Saturday, I did lie to you guys." That statement made the four guys widened their eyes in surprise. "I'm sorry for not telling the truth, but something happened between me and Lai Yang Liu. Maybe after this, you will leave me or even hate me, but... I have already confessed my feelings to that person."

Zhou Yongliang did not see the major reaction of his four friends. The only obvious reaction was that the four pairs of eyes widened as if they forgot how to blink. It was enough to prove that they were all shocked hearing Zhou Yongliang's confession.

"W-what?" Chen Guangli gasped. "Zhou Yongliang, I didn't hear you wrong, did I? You confessed your feelings to Yang Liu? Are you... gay?" He carefully asked the taller boy.

Zhou Yongliang lowered his head while playing with his long fingers on his lap. He suddenly felt judged. "I'm sorry, guys," he then apologized timidly.

Seeing Zhou Yongliang's miserable expression, Zhong Hai quickly clarified, "No, Zhou Yongliang. Chen Guangli did not mean to question your sexual orientation, but rather he wanted to question why you could like such an arrogant and cold creature like Yang Liu. Are you sure about your sexual orientation and also your feelings toward him?"

Chen Guangli nodded quickly after hearing Zhong Hai's clarification. He wanted to assure Zhou Yongliang that he didn't mean to judge him earlier. He was just too shocked that he didn't filter his words before voicing them to Zhou Yongliang.

Yeah, the four guys were indeed shocked to hear the brown-haired student's confession. Even Ren Weisheng looked very limp in his chair. His hands trembled, and his lips turned pale. But, it seemed like no one noticed his bizarre reaction.

This time, Zhou Yongliang lifted his face again and gave Zhong Hai a sad look. "I'm serious, gege." He then looked at his friends one by one. "I know you guys don't like Yang Liu, but I can't hold back my feelings anymore. I'm really sorry."

Zhou Yongliang once again bowed his head down remorsefully. He knew that his friends found it difficult to accept the reality of his feelings. Especially Ren Weisheng.

Since the dodgeball incident, the bronze-haired guy seemed to be putting Yang Liu into his blacklist. He looked very angry because his beloved brother was intentionally hurt by the tall guy. Zhou Yongliang thought that was the background of Ren Weisheng's attitude.

"Don't worry, Yongliang," Huang Bo suddenly chimed in after he was being quiet for long. "I like Yang Liu—uh, no, it's not that kind of 'like.' I mean, I like him as a friend. Yes, as a friend because Yang Liu is my friend!"

Now, it was Huang Bo's turn to get the attention of four pairs of eyes after he made a strange confession earlier. Zhou Yongliang had even raised his head again and stared at Huang Bo intently.

"Never mind," Suddenly, Zhong Hai chimed in again, choosing to ignore Huang Bo's strange words. "Actually, Zhou Yongliang's feelings are not wrong. It doesn't matter who the object of the feeling is. One clear thing is that his feelings cannot be blamed."

"But, gege. Zhou Yongliang may get hurt if he likes Yang Liu. Yang Liu is very cold and heartless. I can't see my brother getting hurt!" Ren Weisheng finally opened his mouth again after a long silence.

Zhou Yongliang turned to the shorter boy and smiled. "I can take care of myself, gege," he assured. "Chen Guangli is also fine with his relationship with Fang Xing, and Fang Xing is Yang Liu's close friend. I will definitely be fine too."

Chen Guangli's face turned red. Indeed, Zhou Yongliang had found out about his secret relationship with Fang Xing. All the 'secret' gazes and 'secret' gestures were not so secret, after all. They were too obvious.

"You don't understand, Zhou Yongliang!" Ren Weisheng suddenly raised his voice, making the poor boy flinched in surprise. "Yang Liu is different from Fang Xing! He... It looks like he is not a human, Zhou Yongliang! He has no feelings! He will only hurt you!"

Zhou Yongliang stared at him and frowned in confusion. "Yang Liu is not a human? What does that mean, gege?"

There was invisible tension between Zhou Yongliang and Ren Weisheng, and Zhong Hai decided to intervene. "You don't need to listen to Ren Weisheng, Yongliang," He said carefully. "Ren Weisheng just wanted to say that Yang Liu is heartless as if he is not a human." He turned to look at Ren Weisheng. "But, maybe it's just the mask Yang Liu is wearing. We don't know who the real Liu Yang is. We better not judge a book from its cover."

The table was now filled with silence. Zhong Hai was still staring at Ren Weisheng as if he wanted to reprimand Ren Weisheng that he shouldn't say that in front of a clueless boy like Zhou Yongliang. But, Ren Weisheng didn't budge. From his eyes, it was clear that he was sticking to his stance.

Zhou Yongliang could only let out a tired sigh. The new student suddenly raised himself to his feet and said, "I'm done. I will go back first."

Without waiting for a response, Zhou Yongliang left his friends who were still silent at one of the canteen tables. He looked so moody today.

The four of them knew that Zhou Yongliang would not return to class right away. They had monitored Zhou Yongliang's behavior the past few days. That was why they could notice the changes in him.

"Ren Weisheng," Chen Guangli, who had been quiet for a long time, suddenly called out to the boy who had been consumed by anger. "I think you should forget about your past with Yang Liu."