My Boyfriend is the Heartthrob, and I’m Just a Passerby.

After his roommate’s voice fell.

Drip.

Drip.

…

The sound of dripping water continued.

The damp silence filled the entire dormitory, which was now enveloped in darkness.

Ye Jishu focused his gaze outside the bathroom door.

There was a sink there, but the faucet was firmly closed, with no sign of looseness.

So, the dripping sound could only be coming from inside the bathroom.

He picked up a disposable cup, pulled one from the stack, and placed the plastic bag he was holding inside it, watching as the goldfish continued to swim peacefully. Only then did he release his grip and turn his attention elsewhere.

As the air grew quiet, a faint sobbing sound echoed through the dormitory.

“Jishu, are you still there?”

“Yes, I’m here.”

Sticky liquid seeped from the bottom edge of the bathroom door, spreading along the grooves of the floor until it reached the center of the dorm.

He walked toward the bathroom.

His soles stuck to the floor, as if stepping on tar, each step making a squelching, creaking sound.

Ye Jishu stopped at the bathroom door.

His roommate immediately cried out in panic, “No, don’t come closer! Just stay there!”

He didn’t move forward.

“My head hurts so much… everything hurts. Is my brain melting? I don’t know…”

Ye Jishu replied, “Should we go to the hospital? I’ll go with you.”

Although the dorm was likely locked at this hour, the dormitory manager would probably let them out under such circumstances.

However, his roommate reacted strongly to his suggestion.

“No, absolutely not—!”

After a weak pause, he murmured, “Just come a little closer… just a little. My brain feels clearer when you’re near. Why… why are you only back so late? My head is spinning. Did you… go on a date again?”

His roommate was still so fixated on his outing with Yan Mei.

Not knowing what to say, Ye Jishu simply replied with a soft “Mm.”

“…”

But after his response, there was no further sound from his roommate.

The air became stiflingly silent.

Ye Jishu asked, “Are you still awake?”

After a long moment.

A faint voice came from inside.

“…Yes.”

“Don’t fall asleep.”

With that, Ye Jishu turned and walked toward his bed.

Because he often stayed up late, and had experienced difficulty sleeping and throbbing temple pain after waking, he had bought some painkillers for himself before.

They weren’t prescription drugs, so they were neither rare nor risky. He could buy as much as he wanted.

Even if someone else took them without a matching condition, it likely wouldn’t cause major problems.

Perhaps it could help.

If not, they’d have to call the dorm manager.

Ye Jishu wasn’t the type to force someone to go to the hospital.

He also had no experience caring for the sick.

Even when he was ill himself, he couldn’t be bothered to do anything, simply lying in bed and waiting for the uncomfortable symptoms to pass.

Since that was the case, if it was just physical pain, perhaps some painkillers might help.

He had disposable cups.

But hot water—that was another story.

Fortunately, the dormitory had a water room that was open 24 hours, so there was still time to fetch some.

“I’ll go get some water,” Ye Jishu said.

Without waiting for his roommate’s reply, he took out a thermos flask he hadn’t used in a long time, opened the dorm door, and stepped out.

The moment he left the room and distanced himself from the stiflingly hot indoor air, the sound of rain pounding down roared into his ears.

Wind brushed past his cheeks through the cracks.

He turned to look at the window at the end of the hallway.

It was pouring again.

The entire hallway’s lights were off.

Only the emergency exit light at the bottom of the wall glowed faintly green.

Every dorm room door was unusually tightly shut.

As Ye Jishu walked by with his thermos, he heard a creak behind him.

He turned slightly, catching a glimpse out of the corner of his eye.

Through the crack of a door, a pair of eyes stared at him.

“—”

The figure mumbled something under their breath.

Though he couldn’t make out the words, it didn’t sound pleasant—more like they were secretly gossiping about him.

Even so, they didn’t seem willing to approach him.

They just stared at him through the crack, without revealing their body, but unmistakably looking like an ordinary person.

Ye Jishu recognized the face.

It was a classmate from his statistics course. Occasionally, because of Yan Mei, this person would strike up conversations with him. But now, their gaze was one of unfamiliarity.

“…”

[How odd.]

He looked away.

But the hallway wasn’t limited to one dorm room.

As he walked further, more creaks of doors opening echoed behind him.

Once again, eyes fixed on him from those cracked doors.

As the number of open doors increased, the whispers mixed with the sound of rain, making his head throb.

They were definitely discussing and judging something.

Why…

Was it because of Yan Mei?

That seemed plausible.

They had only gone on a date to an arcade, but everyone knew about it when they got back.

It was the first time so many people paid attention to Ye Jishu and tried to talk to him, desperate to learn about Yan Mei’s preferences.

Normally, those people never bothered to engage with him.

Thinking of this, Ye Jishu ignored the stares, a trace of irritation rising in his heart.

He turned the corner at the end of the hallway and entered the water room.

The room was narrow, with a water heater leaning against three washing machines, its operation indicator glowing red.

As he approached, he suddenly noticed two figures in the shadows and stopped in his tracks.

They were two students standing face-to-face.

Although they maintained the posture of a conversation, no sound came from their mouths. They looked like they were miming a secret discussion.

When they noticed him approaching.

The two figures slowly turned their heads, their eyes fixing on him.

Ye Jishu walked past them.

Their eyes followed his movement, tracking him from left to right. They didn’t say a word, only stared.

“…”

How annoying.

Ye Jishu forced himself to focus on the water heater, ignoring the two silent figures who seemed to be watching him.

The light was dim.

Combined with the rain outside, the swaying shadows of the trees, and the crisscrossing patterns of shadow and light on the floor, the room felt even more dismal.

[Can’t figure out where the start button is.]

Ye Jishu pulled out his phone from his pocket, opened the function panel, and turned on the flashlight.

A faint beam of light emerged from the front of the phone but flickered frequently, giving the impression of a faulty electrical wire.

He examined the instructions for a while.

First, the red button.

It had the word [Start] written on it.

Ye Jishu placed the thermos bottle under the hot water outlet, swiped his student card, and then pressed the red button.

Hot water gushed out.

The light from his phone dimmed and then brightened again.

Someone had sent him another message, occupying memory on the phone and causing the flashlight function to falter.

Ye Jishu swiped the screen to close the notification.

But before the message disappeared from his view completely, he managed to read it in full:

[Have you made your decision? The project is scheduled to be announced next Monday and carried out on Wednesday.]

… So soon.

This fleeting thought passed, and the message disappeared from the screen.

The phone’s flashlight returned to its original brightness.

The thermos was nearly full.

Ye Jishu extended a hand and pressed the blue [Stop] button next to it, stopping the flow of water just as it reached the brim without spilling over.

He picked up the thermos and tightened the lid.

It was time to head back.

The thermos felt a bit heavy and required both hands to hold it steady, so he shifted his phone to the front of the bottle.

Ye Jishu lifted his head.

Unexpectedly, he came face-to-face with someone standing extremely close to him—a face so sudden and near it caught him off guard.

It was—

His roommate.

The roommate had appeared out of nowhere, standing silently behind him and staring intently at his actions.

This was the first time Ye Jishu had truly seen this face.

Delicate and frail, with hair grown unusually long.

Although they’d never really met, he immediately recognized this person by the eyes.

[There was something neurotic about him.]

The roommate muttered softly, his gaze frantic, his teeth chattering, and his body trembling violently.

“Jishu, Jishu, did you see that? I’m too scared to be alone. They’re all watching me, whispering about me. It’s terrifying, so terrifying—I don’t want to be seen like this. Even if I’m worthless, even if I can’t do anything, I don’t want them whispering behind my back. I’m so scared—”

As he spoke, Ye Jishu noticed the two students who had been standing motionless earlier.
Their eyes began to move again, fixing on the roommate.

The once silent, eerie lip movements suddenly produced mocking laughter.

“I heard both his parents are professors. How could he get those grades on the finals?”

“Haha, well, that’s all his intelligence can handle.”

“Honestly, I’m jealous. If I had parents like that, I’d be studying at a much better school by now.”

As the roommate described their fear and resistance, the bizarre scene unfolded right before their eyes.

Aside from the murmurs of these two figures, the building was otherwise deathly silent.

Yet the person in front of Ye Jishu suddenly raised their hands to clutch their head, as though countless voices were flooding into their brain.

“Too loud…”

[Did you see?]

[Everyone’s watching me, talking about me—]

In front of him, his roommate’s face gleamed in the darkness—tears had drenched his entire face.

“Jishu, do you know? It’s always been like this. I didn’t want to leave my room. I worked so hard, so hard to write a paper worthy of recognition, something that wouldn’t embarrass my parents. But I didn’t even wait for the results to be announced because—”

Ye Jishu already knew what he was about to say.

[Because Professor Chen took my name off the paper.]

The roommate had experienced something similar to him.

And so, upon witnessing what had happened to Ye Jishu, his mind snapped under the pressure.

Ye Jishu turned his head coldly, staring at the two still-bizarrely-behaving male students.

“Shut up.”

Creak.

The mocking voices abruptly ceased.

Even the swaying tree branches outside the window seemed to have frozen in place.

The roommate jerked his head up, staring at Ye Jishu in disbelief, his black eyes wide open.

“You… erased my infection.”

It was an almost astonished whisper.

But it was so soft that Ye Jishu didn’t hear it.

At that moment, Ye Jishu wasn’t one for comfort.

So, under the gaze of his roommate, he paused briefly and chose the most direct words.

“You’re not useless. You’re just an ordinary person.”

“Ordinary person…”

This phrase was repeated softly by the other.

His eyes, fixed on him, gradually became misty again as tears streamed down his cheeks.

In the dim light of the phone, the liquid dripping down seemed to morph into a thick black substance.

Ye Jishu instinctively tried to discern what it was.

But the roommate suddenly stepped back, avoiding the flashlight’s reach, and retreated into the shadows.

“Thank you,” they stammered.

“Hey, um… we’re friends now, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Great. Friends… I’ll respect your decisions.” The roommate murmured, “I’ll help you. If you want to keep being an ordinary person, I’ll deal with Professor Chen myself. I’ll make sure he can’t do anything to you again—”

His voice paused unnervingly for a few seconds.

“Professor Chen needs to see me as I am now.”

“…” Ye Jishu.

[What nonsense is this? His mental state is clearly breaking down.]

[I can’t let him leave and go looking for Professor Chen like this.]

But before Ye Jishu could act, the roommate disappeared from his sight in an instant.

There was no time to stop him.

[What is all of this?]

Bang.

Suddenly, a noise echoed in the darkness.

He hesitated for a moment before shining his phone’s light toward the source.

Not far away, the two classmates who had been in the water room suddenly collapsed to the ground, as if they were puppets whose strings had been cut.

[They… suddenly fainted, just like that.]

The surroundings fell eerily silent.

Only the sound of rain tapping against the windows broke the quiet.

The air was damp and stiflingly hot.

At the same time, an indescribable, absurd feeling welled up inside him.

Ye Jishu stood still, holding the thermos.

“Bzz—Bzz—”

His phone suddenly vibrated.

It was the forum app, its notification chime frantically popping up new post alerts.

Ye Jishu had set it so that only updates related to the modeling competition would trigger a notification.

This meant that, in just a few seconds, someone had published hundreds of posts about the competition.

[Has everyone… gone mad?]