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The weather turned fine without warning.

After tossing around nine o'clock, when Aaron returned to his residence from the police station, Xiao Min had already fallen asleep.

The breakfast omelette and soy milk were placed on the tea table, and Xiao Min ate his portion, leaving a table of unresolved messes.He shook his head, and sent the cups and plates into the kitchen along with the remaining omelets.After the twists and turns of the morning, he has no appetite.After missing the original bedtime and feeling overly sleepy, a kind of excitement appeared instead.

After entering his room and closing the curtains, Aaron lay on the bed and closed his eyes forcefully, trying to calm himself down.

The conclusion of the police investigation was that MELODY had not been broken into, and the cash was kept intact in the drawer of the bar. The boss was sent to the hospital and underwent emergency surgery after a stroke.It should be a simple report, why was it taken back to the police station for questioning by the district police?Lying on the bed, he rewound his memories again, only to realize that when the policeman asked if he saw anyone else, he hesitated for two seconds.

He put his arms across the bridge of his nose, trying to block the glare from the blinds, but he couldn't get rid of the increasingly clear memory. (Oh, it must have been seen that I stopped talking...) Uneasy, I rolled over and fell asleep on my side, thinking again of the bar that was closed and dark. (Could it be a hallucination?...)

The moment I pushed the door and entered, I don’t know how long the day’s footprints hadn’t stepped into the space, and immediately a smell of cigarettes and wine mixed with some old decoration came to my face.Even when he took a deep breath now, the smell seemed to follow him all the way to his room.As soon as he entered the door, he immediately found someone lying down on the corridor outside the bathroom. He subconsciously rushed forward to help the person sit up, but at this moment he heard someone shouting at him from behind——

In his impression, he turned his head quickly, but there were no other figures in the room.

When I was outside the door before, I always thought it was such a beautiful spring scene, but now I calmed down and slowly inspected every corner of the room, and then I realized that it is just a bar with a dozen high chairs.

But the difference in impressions added to the weirdness of this place, and Aaron couldn't help wondering if he had entered the wrong time and space?In such a dark and old secret room, would there be a demon atmosphere that he could not see bursting out every night, making those people report to the store as if they were possessed when the time came?The shopkeeper, who was unconscious on the ground, whether he was dead or alive, could it be that he knew how to cast spells to make the guests in this barren house think they were in a forest of wine and meat?

This corridor was undoubtedly the darkest corner of the house.Aaron, who was curled up by the wall, watched the sunlight creeping into the house inch by inch, as if he was not here to save them, but more like an invader, trying to destroy everything in the house. May smash in broad daylight.The momentary dizziness made him almost unable to tell whether he belonged to the kingdom of night or the kingdom of day.

After confirming that there was no one else hiding in the house, he felt a chill on his neck for no reason, and his heartbeat suddenly accelerated.Why did I appear here?Why did he have a rare interaction with the boss before dawn this morning?Maybe there was some kind of indescribable premonition at that time, so I took another look at MELODY when I got off work?

Afterwards, when the policeman asked, "Did you see anyone else?" I almost blurted out the answer, as if I heard someone, but swallowed the words in a second.

Fortunately, there was no sign of any suspicious crime at the scene. If I want to further clarify the whole story, I can only ask the patient after he wakes up after the operation. "The owner of this bar is really lucky. If you find out more than ten minutes later, he will probably be hopeless." The policeman left Aaron's contact information and added a sentence at the end.

I don't know if I have a guilty conscience, I always feel that there is something in the other party's words.

The policeman on duty couldn't be blamed, even Aaron himself was still full of doubts.But he knew in his heart that he couldn't reveal more to others at will.In just ten minutes, during the time waiting for the ambulance to arrive, he tried so hard to suppress the feeling of anxiety in his heart, forced himself to be calm and kept telling himself that thanks to the reminder of that voice, he did not make a mistake to the patient. disposal.

The invisible speaker may be someone who has been seen before.

Not a completely unfamiliar voice.Where had this man's voice been heard before?

There must be a more reasonable explanation. For example, a certain guest who left and then returned happened to come in from the door. After shouting those words behind his back, he hurried outside to ask for help, right?

But even if he went out to ask for help, he would still come back to see how the boss was doing.Why didn't even the figure disappear afterwards?Is it okay to just leave like this?

The question is, if there is such an innocent guy, what did he want to do when he came back?

Didn't know any of the other bar regulars, let alone anyone close to the owner who wanted to be informed.It has been a long time, Aaron only saw the boss close the shop by himself, and another guy who can make women's clothes when he has nothing to do, it seems that he hasn't seen him show up to help for a year.

He never knew exactly what the relationship between the two was. (A joint venture friend? Could it be a lover, and they have broken up now?...)

It's not convenient for him to deliberately explore this kind of privacy when the boss pays the bill, right?What's more, how can outsiders understand the things between them?It's just that I really couldn't think of it for a while, who might have a closer relationship with the boss, and I should notify him.

This matter should now be the job of the police, not his concern.But the two policemen who appeared earlier made Aaron feel uneasy for no reason.

He remembered the look on the face of one of the officers as he rummaged through his boss' wallet for his papers.

The name of the owner of the vegetable market, Lin Guoxiong, is written on the ID card and health insurance card.A pile of membership cards fell out, the policeman picked them up, and began to browse through them leisurely, with a half-smile in the corner of his mouth, he turned to another policeman and said, "It's all about sauna and massage. Hospital, don’t be afraid of getting sick!”

Then there was a photograph, pulled from the inside of the wallet.

Mr. Police glanced at it, and was about to stuff it back into the wallet soon, but as if he had been reminded of something, he picked it up again to examine it.The room was too dark to see clearly, and after looking at the oblique light from the door for a long time, he finally handed the photo to him:

"Does this person come to the store often?"

Photo paper printing, such an old thing.It's all faded.That's right, Lin Guoxiong in the photo is at least ten years younger than he is now. Thirty Lang is a handsome guy, smiling very happily.

In the photo, the other one with the boss on his shoulders has a dignified appearance and a bit of a bookish personality.If this person is also in their circle, he really can't recognize him on the street!

Is it a couple photo?When buddies are photographed, there is no such cuddling feeling.Having never seen it before, Aaron returned the photo to the policeman and shook his head.

It turned out that the boss was not always alone, and was once loved by someone.

The police officer handed the photo to another person, who stared at him for a long time, and then exchanged a "what should I do now?" expression with his colleague.

"What do you think?"

"Not so sure."

"It's called touching clams and washing pants at the same time."

"It's better to be careful!"

The dialogue between the two police officers was always like playing charades.

Afterwards, he was taken back to the police station and questioned again. Aaron still didn't understand why he came here. Hasn't it been confirmed that it was neither robbery nor did anyone commit the crime?What is the relationship between the voice heard at the moment of night and dawn, the photo in the wallet, and the people in the photo?What made him even more difficult to let go was, that voice, if it wasn't his hallucination? ——

"It's a stroke...don't move him..."

It was a voice that sounded very tired and hoarse.

Xiao Min in the next bedroom was talking in his sleep again.

This sudden disturbance made him, who was thinking about it, mistakenly think that the voice was attacking again.

He and Xiao Min have always had their own bedrooms.Without the normal work and rest of ordinary people, the only sleep time they have is extremely precious, and they cannot tolerate each other's different sleep habits to disrupt the situation.For example, Xiao Min often talks in his sleep to make people feel hairy, while he is always shaken awake in the middle of the night because of his thunderous snoring.After barely getting used to it for a week, I finally had to separate rooms.

He pricked up his ears and listened to the sleep talking on the other side of the wall for a while.If it is not known that Xiao Min has this habit, at first hearing, one would think that there is another person in the room talking to her.

They are all unfinished sentences, as if the other party is very understanding, just need to stop.Judging from the soft and crooning tone, Xiao Min in the dream was obviously happier than when he was awake.

Who is in her dream?

◎

After tossing and turning, he didn't know if he fell asleep. After a few hours, he gave up and continued to struggle with sleep so hard.There was a feeling of being in a trance, half dreaming and half awake, always anxious to find something.The unidentified scene, the dim vision, was somewhat similar to that bar.Sitting up, I only remember this last impression.Looking at the watch, why is it only 01:30 in the afternoon?

After washing up casually, he took the keys of the motorcycle, and went out again lightly.

When I arrived at the hospital, I found that although the operation was over, the patient was still in the recovery room and had not been sent back to the ward.Aaron got on the motorcycle again and took a circle in the alley near Qitiaotong.

I seldom visited these alleys before dark, without the blessing of layers of gaudy neon lights, under the setting sun in winter, this area looks dilapidated than I remembered.Across the alley, which was less than two meters wide, he looked at Melody's store on the opposite side.The iron rolling door was only halfway down, and the signboard light was still forgotten to be turned off amidst the rush of police and ambulance personnel.During the day, the appearance of the store looks like a human face, blinking sleepless eyes, grinning at him.

After crossing the street, he pulled up the iron rolling door, entered the bar, and pushed the high chair against the door.Although the winter sun in the west is no longer warm, it is still much more dazzling than in the early morning. It makes people feel that the house has been sterilized immediately, and the air is also circulated instantly, which has washed away many of the old monsters that have been accumulated for many years. taste.

Walking into the bar, I started to fumble for all the power switches, tried to press several times, and finally made sure to turn off the signboard of the light box outside the house.

It looked like there was nothing of value in the store except for a few unopened bottles of whiskey.

I used to avoid looking at the art photography of men's bodies hanging on the wall, but now that the door is wide open and the room is brightly illuminated, it is impossible to pretend that there is nothing on the walls.But why are all the Western men in these photography posters?There is one thing that Aaron has never understood. Is there a difference between gay and male?If two people are muscular men like those on the wall, wouldn't it be like seeing cows mating in the countryside when they were young?

But this is not what he wants to study when he comes back here alone.

Even in the daytime, this place is still a dark place. In addition, it rained all night last night. After the big night shift, I felt tired and depressed. Under these factors, could it be that I lost my mind? Or an illusion?

It can be seen that Lin Guoxiong is really a saver.There is no ice machine, and the ice cubes used are retail, and there is not even a refrigerator necessary for the catering industry.Small coolers for outings are stacked on the floor behind the bar, and the beer is kept frozen in them.Calculate how many bottles will be used for one night, and I would rather bother to order the goods every day than save half a dozen more.With years of working experience in supermarkets, he understood at a glance the boss' plan to save electricity.

Furthermore, there is no security system or surveillance video installed in this place, and even the iron door is a manual rolling door.A-Long found the big lock and chain in the cabinet, thinking that even if the worthless things are easy to steal, there may still be unsuspecting customers coming to the door at night, so it is better to pull down the lock on the store door, otherwise someone will definitely run away He came to the supermarket to ask him questions, and he didn't want to be harassed by such things all night.

After checking around, there is nothing unusual in the house.It can't be the people in the photo who are talking, right?Obviously the sentence I heard was in Chinese, but these are A Tuzi ②!

As for the purpose of such a large bundle of ghost papers in the small storage room, he thought that it was common for business people to worship gods and ghosts for peace, so it was not surprising.

Although there was a reasonable explanation, the piles of ghost papers still gave him a strange feeling.The boss prepared too much weight, could this be the reason?It is said that things like incense, candles, and paper money are the medium for passing through yang and yin. There is indeed an energy in this place that ordinary people can't feel, except for him?

"Excuse me--?"

He almost had a heart attack from the sudden sound.

When I looked up, I saw a woman in a two-piece suit appearing at the door.I didn't know what to ask, so the woman went straight to the door and entered the room.Behind her was a man with a camera in his hand, and he started snapping the shutter on the indoor scene.

"Hey! Who allowed you to take pictures? Who are you? Why are you so rude?"

"I'm a reporter for X Magazine."

The woman made a gesture to ask the photographer to suspend work, and handed him her business card: "This is a gay bar, right? I heard that the boss is currently in the hospital? Are you the one who found Lin Guoxiong unconscious and reported to the police station?"

The female reporter's aggressive tone made Aaron feel harsh. This was not like an interview, but more like an interrogation of a suspect.Although he has no friendship with his boss, even if he is helping each other, it seems that he should not disclose this information to the magazine media with unknown intentions.

media.Comrade.exposure. ...A certain long-buried memory was immediately touched, but Aaron subconsciously blocked the transmission of the memory code like pressing a switch.The thing he needs to guard against the most now is to accidentally let himself get trapped more and more difficult to get out, even his memory will be pulled out for inspection because of this sudden incident.

However, the few seconds of the short connection made him more alert to the bad guys.Intuitively, the customers in this store would not want a reporter to bring a photographer to their site to point out.Even if it’s not a gay bar, the third-sex public relations shop Niu Lang’s lounges in this area all value privacy.If Xiao Min was stopped by reporters on the way to work one day and asked a bunch of personal questions, he would definitely jump out and show the other party some color.It's just that the one in front of me is a woman——

His restraint and silence did not make the female reporter give up at all, and continued to throw the next series of questions at Aaron - how long have you known the boss Lin Guoxiong?Do you know his friendship status?When the police came to the scene today, did you still remember a photo you saw?

No matter how he remained unchanged to respond to all changes, his silence was unavoidably broken by the last question.What picture?He pretended to be stupid on purpose.

Do you recognize the other one in the photo?The female remembers to continue to press on the man.

"I don't know what photo it is—" Aaron said while picking up the big lock on the bar, "Sorry, I'm closing the door!"

The female reporter's high-spirited attitude was immediately challenged. She must have never expected that the other party would give her such an insult.Chasing after Aaron, she yelled in an almost uncontrollable scream:

"You comrades are so afraid to meet people? Always hide in the dark? What is there to hide? If you feel that your lover is your right, why don't you jump out? I represent a professional and responsible news media, especially I also came here to check with the person concerned, hoping to give you a fair report, don’t you think that your attitude will hurt the image of comrades——?”

"I'm not gay!"

Already walked outside the door, at this time Aaron turned around abruptly and pulled the iron rolling door to a height only enough for half a person to get out: "I'm just here to help lock the door." Even if he is, You also have no right to make any response on behalf of the boss, right?

The memory that had just been disconnected took the opportunity to move around.Already he smelled the heather in his memory again... the picture of the headline of the newspaper that day many years ago came to his eyes... that's enough.It must be no good for these people to appear suddenly.But it was Lin Guoxiong, a photo taken with his lover more than ten years ago, wasn't it?Is it worth making such a fuss about?

"Hey! Can you raise the door a little higher?"

The female reporter, who looked angry and couldn't hide her embarrassment, could hardly bend her legs to get out of the door because she was wearing a narrow skirt.Aaron saw it in his eyes and was unmoved in the slightest.

"I'll come back another day." The female reporter managed to get out of the door with the support of the photographer, still stubbornly trying to save her dignity in the embarrassment.

Seeing the two men retreat without success, he was a little proud, but he was hanging up the iron chain and buckling the lock ring. Looking at the moment when the storefront was sealed by the iron gate, he was moved by another wave of uneasiness in his heart. submerged.Why does it feel like this is just the beginning of an event, not the end?Why do you feel as if you heard the sound of a wine bottle being smashed to the ground behind the iron gate?

Standing in the rising cold wind, he tried his best to suppress the urge to open the door again and go in for a look. It wasn't until he found his lunch shift colleague Qiu Qiu waving to him in the supermarket opposite, that he panicked and thumped. With a beating heart, he stepped onto the locomotive, as if someone had discovered that he had done something bad, and accelerated out of the winding alley.

◎

Carrying the dinner bought from the buffet restaurant, when I returned to the residence, I saw Xiao Min wearing a big bath towel, just coming out of the bathroom after taking a shower.Aaron reported the dishes: there are steamed fish, scrambled eggs with tomato, and loofah.

"Come right away." Xiao Min flashed into the bedroom.

The small coffee table is covered with newspapers, and the disposable tableware is set up for dinner.The dining table is full of batches of cosmetic and skin care products for direct sales. He has forgotten when was the last time he ate at the dining table.

"You haven't seen anyone this morning. I thought something happened to you. It scared me to death."

Xiao Min resumed the sharp and direct way of speaking when he was awake.The whistling of the hair dryer not to be outdone can be heard in the background, and the owner of the hair seemed to be frightened, and suddenly amplified his voice: "What?...What did you say about that gaybar?...Ah?...You really meddle in your own businessㄝ -"

But even for Xiao Min, Aaron's description still hides the part that makes him uneasy.He didn't even explain what happened when he went back to the scene a few hours ago.

Xiao Min ate the steamed fish he bought, and nodded while listening: Well, I don't think the boss has any family members.Many gays are like this when they get old--I paused at this point, thought of something, and stopped talking.

"what happened?"

"It's nothing, I thought of my second sister; she said before, why is the owner of this gaybar so stubborn, after earning more than [-] years, it should be closed long ago."

The second sister is the mother Sang in their shop.She has a younger sister who is very popular in the music world. It was revealed by the media a few years ago that before she became famous, her younger sister had been drinking with her older sister in the bar opened by her older sister. (It was caused by the media again...) The second sister and the younger sister really look alike, but the lives of the two are one day at a time. The vicissitudes of the second sister can no longer be covered up by cosmetics. Now it is said that she is the queen's mother. I'm afraid there are even more people who will believe it.

"Oh? Has it been open for so long?"

"Second sister said that it was earlier than she opened the shop."

He knew why Xiao Min had half-spoken just now.She should have thought of herself.

"Are you going to sell those skin care products tonight?"

"Well. I haven't been to your house. Will the second sister really see our relationship?"

"I'm just telling you not to come to the store. One more thing is worse than one less thing. Anyway, next year, next year at most—" Xiao Min put down his chopsticks, and then sighed.

"Actually, you really don't have to go to the big night shift anymore. It's been almost four years. I haven't seen any situation, and I can handle it myself. Do you want to consider finding a full-time day job again?"

"But in that case, we would hardly meet each other." Aaron smiled uncomfortably, "I like the feeling that both of us are awake at the same time." He said.

Xiao Min looked at him for a while, not knowing what he was thinking about.Then suddenly he said leisurely that he was full, got up and went into the bedroom, sat in front of the dressing table and began to vigorously brush his long golden hair.Aaron quietly followed to the door of the bedroom, leaning against the door and looking at her.She suddenly saw it in the mirror, hurriedly put down the comb, started to pick up a bottle of lotion, filled her palm, and smeared it on her neck and legs indiscriminately.

Why stand there silently?she asked.

In fact, Aaron really wanted to tell her a bunch of questions that had been circling in his mind for a day.I really want to tell Xiao Min that I will take a vacation tonight, because it always feels like something is wrong.There might be something unsettling lurking in the noisy and lonely streets and alleys after nightfall.

Drink less at night.In the end, he only spit out these few words.

"It's time for you to prepare. It's not raining today, and customers may arrive early. You'd better go to replenish the goods before seven o'clock... How many girls in total will call you regularly?"

Five or six, right?Aaron lied.In fact, he was not actively promoting it.

Xiao Min nodded in satisfaction.

Then a new idea flashed in her mind, and she couldn't help laughing:

"There are quite a few gay bars nearby, do you want to open up the market? Maybe you are very gay!"

◎

When I was harassed by the female reporter of the magazine a few hours ago, the broken memories that flashed through my mind several times in a hurry, finally because of Xiao Min's point of view, there is nowhere to escape.

Originally, I deliberately didn't want to make more associations, but Xiao Min would take this as a joke.In fact, he didn't remember having fully narrated this past to Xiao Min.Just like the accident that happened that day, he subconsciously omitted some of it.

It was about the time I joined the ballroom dance club when I was in college.

I quit after only one semester, so I just mentioned it to Xiao Min accidentally after a casual meal.He only had a brief encounter with the society, and even though some things have been deeply buried in his memory afterwards, as long as he doesn't say more, it seems to dilute its authenticity.

I didn't join the club because of interest, but because I heard other boys in the dormitory yelling, saying that the female teacher who came to the national standard dance club was super hot, always wearing short skirts and high heels, twisting like a snake of.It doesn't matter if you don't dance well, the teacher will let you hug her waist and show you a one-on-one demonstration.College boys are so full and have nothing to do. As a result, in the club classroom, the yang is flourishing and the yin is declining. Twenty or thirty pairs of eyes are all staring at the graceful and exquisite curves of the female teacher.

There is no one-to-one teaching as rumored, the female teacher has a male teaching assistant, who is in the master's class, who is responsible for dealing with these boring boys.There were not enough girls, so the teacher simply put the boys in a group with the boys in class. After a few times, the group of boys who turned out to be dishonest all ran away.

At the school celebration party, all clubs had to send out programs, and the national standard dance club had a shortage of male roles and couldn't make it.Aaron didn't know why, other boys didn't receive a call from Teacher Guobiao, but he was the only one.For the show of the party, she specially called to ask him to come back to the team to help out.Unable to resist the sweet and soft offensive from the female teacher on the phone, Aaron had no choice but to bite the bullet and agree to go back to dance practice.

At the beginning, the female teacher completed the choreography and matching of the dancers, and then the supervision and practice were handed over to the teaching assistants for execution.Aaron has a good figure, and for the sake of the effect on stage, the dance partner assigned to him by the teacher is a veteran cadre in the club, with the intention that the veteran can lead the newcomer.

Unexpectedly, Aaron's dance partner was angry because he was not assigned to the focus show. It was fine to lose to another girl in the club, and she was asked to play with him, a rookie. She hadn't had a good time since the beginning of dancing complexion.As long as Aaron was corrected a few times and still made mistakes, the girl stared at him so coldly that he was almost crippled.The process of studying seems to be a carefree Aaron. Once he has decided on something, he will definitely work hard. This is his personality, just like the decision to leave home to work and study independently. He has never complained about hardship.

Until that time, the dance partner shook his head and left saying that he couldn't practice anymore, leaving him with a red face and the silent teaching assistant beside him.He had never been humiliated by a girl like this before, and he felt that he was stupid for agreeing to return to the team.

"Why me? As I said, I only joined the club because—"

Before he finished speaking, the teaching assistant handed him towels and mineral water: "I provided the list. The teacher doesn't have time to get to know each of you; but I'm paying attention—I know you can do it."

"I don't want to practice dancing with that self-righteous ugly bastard again."

"Hmm, let's find a way to solve this." The assistant patted Aaron on the shoulder, "There is only one way to piss her off. That is, we don't need her at all, and we have to overwhelm all others on the stage that day." dancers."

Having said that, both of them were mentally prepared to fail at the time, thinking that it was an impossible task.

Pas de deux with two male dancers?

The country boy is so strong that he only has a stupid brain. In order to get revenge on the girl who looked down on him, Aaron is determined to fight.Ever since he was a child, he has never been able to sing and receive awards on stage. He never thought that he would be discovered to have the potential to dance.In addition, the assistant coach modified some movements to make him more proficient, and the original frustration was quickly replaced by the newly ignited confidence.

Not to let the secret weapons go out in advance, they always avoid members and rehearse in empty classrooms after midnight.Master the basic dance steps and rhythm in less than two weeks.In front of the big mirror wall, I saw that the movements of myself and the teaching assistant became more and more coordinated. I was surprised that tango dance is both powerful and beautiful, and it is also suitable for two boys to interpret traditional passion with masculine explosive power.

Just imagine that this is a duel between two lions in the field!The teaching assistant said so.

There are several difficult movements in the original version. For example, the male dancer has to catch the jumping female dancer, then spin the opponent to the ground, and finally pull the female dancer out from the crotch. The assistant teacher has considered whether to use the This string choreography is simplified.Aaron thought that since he wanted to amaze the audience, he should try it out first.

"I'm only 55 kilograms, don't expect me to lift you." The assistant said.

"Come on, whoever is afraid of whom!" He lightened his arms, although he had doubts about his ability.

In addition to dancing, the two began to take time out to go to the gym together during the day to strengthen their muscle training.For more than a month, he hung up his earphones when he had nothing to do, counting his steps in his heart, and at the same time calculating the angle and his own speed.After active training, Aaron is confident that he can lift the opponent, and it will not be a problem.

Unexpectedly, the person who always made mistakes in practice was replaced by his dance partner this time.Although it was a pas de deux, the two of them didn't have much physical contact before. Aaron found that the problem was that the assistant always seemed uncomfortable with his touch.

"I'll try to lose a few kilos, sorry," he always said.

"Hey, buddy, it's not your weight problem, it's that you haven't adjusted your center of gravity properly, and your body is shaking. You have to ㄍ一ㄥ③ hold all the muscles in your body, like this——"

Unconsciously, he has become a physical trainer instead of the client. Aaron turned the assistant coach to face the mirror wall, and slapped the opponent's body parts that need to be exerted: "Here, the waist should be straighter... and the thighs should be closer together. That way your weight doesn't drop down—"

The eyes of the two met in the mirror, and Aaron saw the strangeness in the assistant's eyes.

He is also a boy, of course he can recognize that expression.It was a kind of gaffe in which both psychology and physiology were provoked at the same time and it was difficult to restrain oneself.Although it was a short moment, he saw the erection in the assistant's crotch, and he quickly turned his face away.

"Hey Aaron it's just me—"

Not to let the other party's flustered explanation continue, he put on a straight face, pretending he didn't see anything, and just said: "There are only ten days left, don't waste time. Let's practice again."

No explanation needed.It's not that he doesn't understand what's going on.

Don't talk about it anymore, he thought it was the best way to deal with it.During the last week of rehearsal, he tried not to talk to each other as much as possible, and avoided being alone with the two during breaks, and went to sit outside by himself.He just hoped that he would not be embarrassing when he was on stage, and he pretended that nothing else happened, and he didn't want to delve into it.How long has the other party been silently fermenting this kind of thinking? It seems that the more you learn about it, the more interested you will be in this kind of thing, making him that passive dancer. In fact, he has never rejected the dance steps led by the other party. .

Even declaring that he is not is too superfluous, and the result can only be extraneous, so that the other party has more opportunities to confide to himself the pain, loneliness, etc. that have nothing to do with him.

It's just, why didn't I think that I wasn't really a dancer, and that it was a deliberate arrangement of the teaching assistant to be selected?It was a feeling of being violated.Aaron felt cheated.

I think of the late nights when the two danced alone, the tacit understanding at that time, the understanding eyes exchanged for cheering or cheering for each other, but now they have lost the purity of friendship between boys and boys.

After thanking him with thunderous applause, when he got backstage, the teaching assistant suddenly hugged him in full view and shouted excitedly: "We did it!"

He pushed away the body that was drenched in sweat like himself, and glanced around from the corner of his eyes, someone was covering their mouths and snickering when they saw this scene.He didn't respond more, except for a polite nod to the other party.

Facing Aaron's still deliberately alienating him, the teaching assistant was stunned for two seconds, forgetting to wipe off the sweat that dripped onto the tip of his nose.He just stared at Aaron's face like this, and it took him a long time to finally come back to his senses. He pretended to be a buddy and stretched out his palm towards him: "I'm very glad to cooperate with you."

Aaron hesitated for a moment, instead of holding the opponent's hand, he asked the opponent to give him a high five instead: "Thank you, teaching assistant."

A pair of tango, a few difficult toss toss, won the audience whistle and applause again and again.Only Aaron himself knows how hard these tricks have been practiced.At the curtain call, listening to the applause from the audience, he fell into a complicated mood.He didn't know whether to continue to alienate, or to let go of the past.

The moment he stepped off the stage, he made a quick decision.He told himself that this is just a show, and he has faced this challenge with the most professional attitude possible. Now that the show is over, any involvement that shouldn't be involved should stop from this moment. Only in this way can he be regarded as a competent dancer.

Back in the dormitory, I found a small card in my schoolbag, I don't know when it was put in it.

"I fight against myself and the world, but I can't fight against you who don't care about me. Take care. Please don't blame me for approaching you in this way. I hope that after many years, when you think of this dance on the stage tonight, Will be a fond memory. Tony”

Before his roommate noticed what he was reading, Aaron quickly rubbed the card away.

Later, I never went back to the club, and I never saw that Tony again on campus.Until one day in his senior year, he saw the news in the newspaper.

The mayoral election of a certain city was fiercely fought. One of the candidates had a drag dancer at the campaign party, playing the issue of equal rights for gays in order to win more votes.The attached news photo took up a larger page than the text, and Aaron recognized the dancer in the photo with just a glance.

A week later, the news of Tony's suicide hit the major newspapers, and it was even more prominent than the previous candidates' rallying parties.The electronic media interviewed Tony's sister, and throughout the day, various TV news outlets repeatedly broadcast a shocking scene of her accusing the candidate of killing her brother——

"They tricked him into performing, and the papers came out saying he was gay, and put such a big picture of him