Chapter 14 – Letter

信
（一）Hold right hand in front of you, four fingers facing the left side, back of the hand facing away
（二）Left hand, back of the hand facing away, comes down from above behind right hand, as if throwing a letter into the mail

The Chinese society, as many others, had an emerging problem with the youth using their cellphones to an unhealthy extend – everything had to be photgraphed, filmed and uploaded to Weibo or WeChat, to share it with a million other people who liked, commented and forwarded the content. It often occurred that weird happenings like a fistfight in the metro over a seat would be filmed by at least ten bystanders, but nobody would even think about stepping in to put an end to it. China had its very own world wide web and therefore its very own memes or videos that went viral. And Yifan, who was one of the very few who tried to not get into this whole digital thing, was now one of its victims. Of course his drunk proposal had been filmed by some random stranger, uploaded to Youku and shared by a thousand others. It was Luhan who made him aware of the situation: The weather was perfect for having lunch at Weiming Lake, which was located in the park of Peking University, so everyone had brought sandwiches and snacks. When Yifan and Yixing joined the others who were already seated on Luhan’s big picnic blanket, Luhan didn’t even say hello but dropped:
“So you two are engaged huh?”
Both of them stopped short.
“What… what do you mean?” Yifan asked, because he and Yixing just had decided to not tell anyone because the teasing would be unbearable.
“You don’t know?” Tao asked and Chen cried out:
“I want to show them, wait, wait, give me a minute!”
He drew his phone out of his backpack and he opened the Youku App, typing something into the search bar.
“What the hell is going on?”
They sat down next to each other and Luhan said:
“Well… ummm… remember Sehun’s birthday?”
“In bits, you idiot,” Yifan grumbeled.
“Okay… so…” Luhan started, but Chen just butted in and held his phone under Yifan’s nose.
“Just press play, it’s pretty self-explanatory.”
When he did, Yifan wanted to throw the phone into the lake.
“Oh NO!” he exclaimed and Yixing looked over his shoulder into the device.
“Apparently, you proposed to Yixing at Seven Eleven…”
“Thank you for your input, Captain Obvious!” Yifan threw at Tao and the others laughed.
The only good thing about the whole matter was that the video was of really bad quality, because the person (it was a girl, because she shrieked very high every once in a while) had been too drunk to perform proper camera work, so you barely saw any big details. Yixing was standing with his back to the camera and blocked the view when Yifan had gone down on his knees. But he knew that people from his classes or the basketball team would immediately recognize him.
“That’s it, I’m moving to Canada!” Yifan announced when the video had ended and he wanted to bury himself in a hole.
He did not mind about people knowing about him dating a guy, that wasn’t even the problem. But he stayed away from the internet as far as possible out of personal principles. How could anyone violate his privacy and upload a random video of him?!
“I think it’s cute!” Suho winked, “When’s the wedding? Are we invited?”
“Oh, oh, oh! Let me be your best man, Yifan!” Tao threw in in excitement.
“The hell you’ll be, Tao!” Yifan shot at him, “And NO nobody’s getting married! I was drunk and I don’t even remember that thing, it doesn’t count when you have no memory of stuff like this!”
The group shared a moment of silence and then Tao said:
“You’re still engaged. And, mark my words, you’ll be the first to marry.”
“What the is wrong with you all?!”
“Right, why are we discussing about their marriage when we could go through all the comments about this video?” Chen cried out scrolling down the comment section on Youku, “It’s so amazing! I’ve counted five storms against homophobes already!”
Suho read the comments alongside and said:
“Awww, most of them say that they find you guys cute!”
“Great, because that is what I strive to be!” Yifan snorted and Yixing patted his thigh.
“Don’t take it too hard, anything gay-related gets deleted off the internet anyway…” Sehun said.
“Well, he’s got a point on that one,” Tao responded and Yifan started to munch on a sandwich, but suddenly his hunger was gone.
“Don’t you have anything to say about this Yixing?” Minseok asked.
Yixing just shrugged his shoulders.
“You don’t even see a lot. And I think Sehun is right, it’s going to be deleted soon.”
“You know Yifan, you should absorb some of Yixing’s chill,” Tao stated but only received a look that could’ve killed him on the spot.
Throughout their lunch break, it was especially Yifan who had to endure a lot of teasing, and when the break was finally over and the group had scattered in different directions to get to their classes, Yifan told Yixing:
“If I ever get my hands on that person, I’ll kill them.”
“Don’t take it too hard,” Yixing said and gave him a peck on his cheek.
He had to stand slightly on his tiptoes for that and Yifan absolutely loved it when he did that.
“I’ll get going too, will you come over tonight?”
“Sure. I’ll come over after basketball practice.”
With a last nod, a short goodbye kiss and a quick advice to not overdo it in practice, Yixing left for the direction of the East Gate.

The first basketball session after the game and the disastrous evening at Marie’s place was rather awkward. The cheerleaders sat on the sidelines, Marie and Yin Hang didn’t even look at each other and didn’t even dare to look into the same direction. When Marie saw Yifan, she threw a pissed off look at him – and he did just the same. Yifan had been running a little late, so he was the last to enter the gym and everybody else of the team was already warming up.
“Sorry Coach,” he mumbled, after the elder sent him to run ten leaps around the field as a punishment.
When Yifan was done the coach said:
“Ok guys, here’s the thing: We’ve won this time but it was a close call. And yes, Qinghua might have been one of the toughest teams, but we shouldn’t underestimate the team up next.”
He went through the scribbles he had made during the match and scratched the back of his head.
“We really need to work on your defense, so let’s revise these tactics first.”
Ever since Yifan had stepped into the gym, he had felt weird looks resting on him especially from one of the guard players going by the name of Shihong. Unfortunately enough, the coach gave Yifan the order to hinder Shihong from passing the ball to another player. Yifan did as he was told to do and blocked Shihong’s body with his and extended arms. Shihong was about one head shorter than him and barely stood any chance. His ears turned red and suddenly he threw the ball at Yifan and yelled:
“Stop it with this already!”
Yifan had to take a few breaths before he could ask:
“Stop it with what? I was just blocking you?”
“I don’t want you to touch me!”
It took him a moment to understand what was going on.
“Oh no Shihong, we’re not going there,” Yifan responded and the coach and a few teammates approached them.
“What’s going on?! Did I tell you to set up a little tea party and have a nice chat?!” their coach yelled.
Yifan was about to say that nothing was going on, but Shihong just answered:
“I don’t want to train with him anymore, I need a different partner.”
The coach, who had obviously no idea what was going on, squinted his eyes and tilted his head in question. Yifan started to laugh because he found the whole thing too ridiculous.
“Shihong, I can assure you, you are so far away from my kind of type, I don’t want to have with you. In fact, I don’t even think anyone in this world wants to have with you.”
One of the other teammates called Weizhe snorted, but tried to contain himself when the others shot angry glares at him. The red on Shihong’s ears slowly wandered into his face and he was at loss for words. He opened and closed his mouth and looked awfully similar to a fish on land.
“I—I just think that gays are sick in the head! It’s not normal!!” he finally managed to squeeze out.
“I am BIUAL you primitive walnut!” the taller one corrected.
Yifan caught a glare at Yin Hang who stood up, looking at Shihong as if he was a very big cockroach that needed to be killed immediately.
“So you think my ‘gayness’ rubs off on you when I touch you? Huh? Yeah, feel the gayness! Do you feel the need of already?!”
He approached Shihong and touched his shoulder repeatedly, which quickly turned into shoving. Shihong took a few steps back and tried to slap his hand away, but Yifan just kept coming at him.
“Hey, hey, hey, Yifan, slow down.”
Weizhe grabbed Yifan’s arm to hold him back and their coach said:
“Wait, does that mean Yifan’s got a boyfriend?”
“He even PROPOSED to him, you can watch it on Youku!” Shihong spat out because Yifan was held back by Weizhe so he felt courageous enough to speak up again.
“Is that true, Yifan?”
It was the look that the man in his early fifties had on his face that made the young man even more angry. It was like he was very disappointed in him, as if he had just committed a major crime.
“It is, but I don’t see what this has anything to do with this club,” Yifan responded and jerked his arm free of his teammate’s tight grib, “It’s not like I magically play any different!”
There was a pregnant silence following after that – his teammates suddenly found the floor very interesting, while the coach pierced through Yifan with his sharp eyes. Shihong took a few steps back, just to make sure. Nobody said anything or dared to take a side. And that was the moment Yifan had enough.
“Okay, I understand. You’re all a bunch of idiots. If you can’t distinguish between personal matters and things that really affect this team, like a homophobic idiot that refuses to train with other people for example, then there’s no need for me to be here anymore.”
The last sentence provoked a reaction. Weizhe looked up and said:
“But, Yifan, you’re our best center player, we need you!”
“I’ve got better things to do than to waste my time with this bull!”
He decided to leave so he turned to Shihong and threw the ball back at him, with such a force the smaller one whined when it hit his solar plexus and he stumbled a few steps back.
“That’s yours. But be careful, I touched it.”
And with these words, he left for the locker room where he basically just put on his sweater, before he threw the things in his locker into his bag. He didn’t even care that the metallic door sprung open again when he threw it shut; and on his way outside, he also kicked Shihong’s bag across the room, which caused books and other stuff to scatter on the dirty floor. When he got out of the room, Yin Hang was waiting at the door.
“You’re not staying for practice later?” Yifan asked and went for the exit, Yin Hang followed him on his heels.
“Are you kidding me?! First of all I cannot stand Marie’s face for one more minute. Second of all, how DARE they to treat you like this?! I’m not staying in a room of people who turned out to be narrow minded s and think my friend has a mental illness for going out with someone he obviously loves very much!”
When they stepped outside and Yifan gave her a grateful smile, he suddenly remembered why he had fallen for her in the first semester: She was loyal and protective of the people she was close to, which was, in Yifan’s opinion, hard to find in a world where it mostly mattered what luxury goods you owned and how high you scored at your exams. Yifan walked over to his bike to unlock it.
“So, are you out-out of the team now?” Yin Hang asked as she watched her friend.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“And you’re never going back?”
Yifan threw the lock into his bag and thought for a moment.
“Maybe if they apologize, I’ll think about it.”
“I think they’ll come crawling back to you after the next game,” the young woman said and patted Yifan’s shoulder, “They’re nothing without you.”
“Aaaaaaah, sweetheart!”
Yifan threw an arm around her and hugged her tightly. She returned it, putting her delicate arms around Yifan’s hips. They stayed like this for a few moments, then Yin Hang let him go and said:
“So, are you going somewhere? I still have some time left.”
“Huh, time left before what? Are you having plans for tonight?”
His friend blinked at him in a way Bambi would’ve gotten jealous and then she shrieked:
“Before what? I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“Girl, what is going on?”
“Nothing!” she exclaimed, a little too fast to be convincing.
It only took Yifan to raise one eyebrow to make her break. She slumped down, shoulders hanging and said:
“Okayyyyy I’m meeting Sehun at seven.”
“Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!”
“Don’t ‘ooooooooooooh!’ me! It’s not like it’s a date or something! I’m just returning the shirt and the shorts!”
“What, so you’re coming over to his place?” Yifan asked and wiggled his eyebrows.
Yin Hang hit him with her Chanel bag which was obviously only serving fashion reasons and not practical ones and answered:
“Nooo, we’re having dinner!”
“Yin Hang, my sweet summerchild, no offense - but this is a date.”
“It’s not!! Someone gave him coupons for Sugar Shack and we’re going there to get one pizza for free! It’s not a date if you use coupons to pay!”
“Since when is that a rule of dating?”
Yin Hang was out of arguments which rarely happened and Yifan laughed when he saw her pressing her lips together, like she always did when she was losing an argument.
“You know what, sweetheart? You better use the freetime and get home to doll up for your coupon date with Sehunnie!”
“It is not---“
“Yeah, of course. Just don’t have on your first date, okay?”
Yin Hang exhaled a breath she was holding and then threatened:
“You better get going or I’m going to kill you!”
“And off I go! Bye bye!”
He sat on his bike and pedaled off. When he turned around the corner, he heard Yin Hang cry out:
“You’re an idiot, Wu Yifan!”

Yifan admitted that the short talk with Yin Hang had lifted his mood, but he still had a sour feeling on his tongue and knew that he’d only feel better if he talked to Yixing about it, so he pedaled down Chengfulu, took a turn at the intersection and he was lucky enough to make the guard open the bar (which was actually only for cars entering the building complex) so he didn’t have to get off his bike and had to try to open the metal door next to the bar with one hand holding on to the bike. When he opened Yixing’s apartment door after leaning the vehicle against the wall next to it, he half-way expected him to sit on the couch awating him, but in fact, Yixing was already having company.
He was laughing whole heartedly about something, while he was holding some sheets of paper in his hand. Next to him sat Suho, who kind of looked annoyed and pouted.
“You’re so mean Yixing!”
Yixing signed a “Sorry” and wiped away a tear in his eyes while he tried to calm down. When Yifan slammed the door shut, Suho looked up, which made Yixing turn his head also. His face fell in surprise.
“Aren’t you supposed to be at practice?”
“I left early,” was Yifan’s short answer.
He eyed Suho while he took off his shoes and the Korean said:
“Okayyyy, I feel some negative vibes here, maybe I should leave.”
“You can stay Suho,” Yixing said but Suho had already gotten up.
“It’s no problem, really!”
The smaller Chinese sighed and then said:
“I’ll go over this tonight and I’ll bring it over to you tomorrow.”
Suho’s answer was a big hug and Yifan grunted. Yes, yes, Suho was a good friend and was really good at integrating Yixing and others, but did he really have to be this touchy all the time?!
“Thank you!” Suho beamed and pressed his thumb down twice which made Yifan roll his eyes.
Yeah, there he was, knowing how to sign maybe two phrases. A true genius!
“Bye Yifan!” Suho said when he opened the door and got out with a last wave.
When the door shut close and the steps of Suho’s slippers had faded in the hallway, Yifan asked:
“So, why was he here?”
“He came over and asked me if I could correct some of his homework.”
Yifan nodded to indicate he understood and hovered over to the fridge. There were some leftovers from yesterday’s Daoxiaomian which he grabbed and placed them next to the microwave. Yixing sat down on one of the barstools and asked:
“What’s wrong?”
Yifan put the food in the microwave and threw the door shut a little too forceful which made Yixing tell him:
“My microwave has nothing to do with that!”
“Sorry,” he mumbled and leaned against the counter behind him, “Practice was kind of ty.”
“What happened?”
Yifan sighed and told Yixing about his teammate who had been weirded out by the fact Yifan was dating a guy. And that he had refused to practice with him, and about the argument that had emerged.
“Anyway, I left the team for now,” he closed and Yixing had a sad look on his face.
“I’m sorry you go through this because of me.”
“What are you talking about?! It’s because of that stupid that uploaded this stupid video! Stop with this nonsense!”
An awkward silence followed and the microwave beeped to indicate the food was warmed up. When Yifan turned around and grabbed his dinner, Yixing had walked over to the living room table and brought over a letter.
“This might take your mind off that practice,” he said with a tensed look on his face.
Yifan put down the bowl of noodles and took the letter which had been addressed to Yixing. It was sent from the Beijing United Family Hospital in Chaoyang.
“What’s that?”
“Just… read it.”
Yifan took the writing out of its envelope and unfolded it. What he read almost felt like a trick that Yixing was pulling on him:

                Dear Mr. Zhang Yixing,

                We’ve looked over your application and are happy to tell you that we consider you a suitable candidate to receive an Esteem Implant. We’d like to invite                   you to a first discussion about further steps and some tests to make sure you’re suited for our treatment. Please come visit us on

                               20^th April, 01:30 p.m.

                in our ENT department of Beijing United Family Hospital, 2 Jiangtai Road, Chaoyang. If there’s any reason you’re not able to keep this appointment,                         please contact us as soon as possible so we can set up a new date. Please have a copy of your audiogram ready. We’re looking forward meeting you.

                Best regards,

                Dr. Sofia Lopez                                                                Dr. Wang Dieyi

Yifan lowered the letter. It took him a few moments to find his voice again.
“When the hell did you apply there and why? – It’s not because of what Marie said, is it??”
Yixing gave him an apologetic look and explained himself:
“I admit, her words got me thinking again, but there was a lot more going on on that evening. I mean, you’re all so nice to me, but I’m always the odd one out.”
Yifan wanted to protest but Yixing told him to shut up and let him finish first.
“I didn’t sleep very well that night and thought a lot about this. It’s not only mean comments by other people. I got over that, really. But I’ve had enough of not being able to stand up for myself or do things on my own. I always have to depend on others like my family and now I depend way too much on you. And I know you don’t mind, but I also want to be able to help you but I feel that I can’t do that right now. So while you were in your Soju indused coma I did some research myself and found these two doctors. They’ve been performing the treatment a few times in the US and came to Beijing a few months ago. I’ve read a lot of reviews and all of them were positive, so I sent an e-mail with my audiogram and a formular you could download on their homepage. I didn’t expect a reply this fast, but here we are.”
“You don’t have to put yourself through this, Yixing. Not for me or anybody else.”
Yixing cracked a slight smile and said:
“I think more than 20 years of silence are enough now. I need to move on.”
Yifan felt like his heart was about to explode and he threw the letter on the counter. Then he took Yixing’s face in his hands and said:
“God, do you know how much I love you?!”
He didn’t wait for an answer, because it has been more of a rhetorical question anyway and kissed him. Yixing struggled free and said:
“Yeah, I’ve got a rough idea now.”
“Duh, you’re such an sometimes!”
Yixing smiled, grabbing Yifan’s hands and caressing them with his thumb.
“So… do you have time on the 20^th? I don’t want to go alone.”
“Are you kidding, even if I hadn’t I’d make time to go with you!”
Yixing snuggled against his chest and Yifan held him in his arms, while he read the letter over and over again, just to make sure he wasn’t misinterpreting anything. But well. It seemed like this was legit. Maybe something good had come out of the disaster a few days ago anyway.




A/N: Woop, woop, writing this down went pretty fast? :'DDDD
And I also felt like I owed you guys a faster update this time since I was slacking off the last few updates. Plus I'm eight days away from getting into that horrible plane to China (I hate flying sfm, I am never able to fall asleep on long distance flights and I always sit next to super annoying Chinese airline passengers what did I do to deserve this... how do people end up in the same airplane like Yixing or Yifan and take pictures HOW DO YOU DO THAT?????? I wouldn't mind these guys hanging around?????) and I want to update as much as possible before that. 
BTW aff user Linhsummer started to translate this into Vietnamese and even though I don't understand one single word it looks hella rad and I feel honoured! Translating can be a huge pain in the (I know that from own experience) and I think it's amazing someone does this, considering the fact TSOF is... a monster (I just realized I've written content worth almost 100 Word pages what the heck?). So really, I'm tipping my hat, I find this absolutely amazing!
I'm done talking now, have a great Sunday and a great week! ♥
(Aaaand I hope I'm not marking this completed again when did that happen the last time omg)

PS what is wrong with the editor I had to move the letter to the center because no matter what I tried it ed up the layout. WHAT.