Whoa, You Were Serious?!

[Major revisions underway. Locked chapters will be released gradually.]

When Zhou Ming was at the lowest point in his life, his childhood friend Xie Yanxi returned from abroad.

Xie Yanxi's family background, abilities, and looks were all beyond compare.

In other people's eyes, Xie Yanxi had always been the perfect good boy. But in Zhou Ming's eyes, he was his nemesis.

As children, Zhou Ming had competed with Xie Yanxi plenty of times, only to be outdone at every turn. Now that they had met again, looking at his old friend, who was even more dazzling than before, Zhou Ming's heart was as still as dead water.

I'm tired. I'll just give up. It's not like I can beat him anyway.

Until he caught Xie Yanxi entangled with a man.

They didn't look like friends. The tension between them was thick, and they seemed more like enemies.

While Zhou Ming was still trying to figure out what was going on, the man who had been arguing with Xie Yanxi bluntly told him, "I'm his boyfriend!"

"Oh."

...?

Wait, what?

Boy?? Friend?!

While Zhou Ming's mind was in a confused daze, Xie Yanxi made things worse by explaining, "No, he's my ex-boyfriend."

Zhou Ming: Huh?

-

Zhou Ming's understanding of the world, built over more than twenty years, shattered.

This was absurd.

Before he could fully make sense of it, Xie Yanxi made him another outrageous request.

Xie Yanxi: "He keeps clinging to me. Help me get him to give up."

Zhou Ming: "How?"

Xie Yanxi: "Pretend to be my boyfriend."

"..."

Zhou Ming: Do you hear how ridiculous that sounds?

Even more ridiculous, he agreed, just to prove a point.

Zhou Ming couldn't believe it.

He and Xie Yanxi had grown up together. He even knew where the mole on his butt was. How could he not know whether he liked men or women?

And yet here he was, pretending to be his best friend's boyfriend, and there was no turning back...

-

The next time Zhou Ming saw the man who had been pestering Xie Yanxi, his role had changed: he was now Xie Yanxi's "boyfriend."

An ex meeting the current boyfriend should have been a recipe for jealousy, but the other man looked suspicious and tested Zhou Ming at every turn.

No matter how much Zhou Ming had competed with Xie Yanxi in the past, those had been minor things. He knew what mattered now.

He had to help his buddy get back on the right path.

Zhou Ming resolved to play along and do his best for his friend.

Bring on any other problems!

The other man: "Then kiss each other so I can see."

Zhou Ming: Hey, that's going too far!

But the next moment, warm lips pressed right against his.

Staring at Xie Yanxi's enlarged face, Zhou Ming's eyes went wide. What the heck, you're actually doing this for real?!

-

Xie Yanxi looked flawless, but deep down he was gloomy, antisocial, and cold...

Only one secret had ever held him back.

He had impure feelings for the friend he'd known since childhood.

He didn't know when those feelings had begun, but ever since he realized they were there, he couldn't take them back.

But that person was completely straight and homophobic. There was no way his feelings would ever be returned.

At his most tormented, he angrily carved his wish into the wall: May all homophobes die!

Though he silently added one more thing: Except Zhou Ming.

God said: People shouldn't, at the very least, shouldn't...

Theme: Everyone pursues different things in life. There is no higher or lower, only whether something is worth pursuing.