The next morning, I woke up when sunlight from outside the window shone into my eyes. Hoàng Tuấn was lying facing me, his back to the window, so he was still hugging me and sleeping soundly. It was almost noon already, and Minh Khôi had come back from who knows when—I had no idea.
I shook Hoàng Tuấn awake and asked: “No work today?”
Hoàng Tuấn, voice still groggy and nasal, replied: “Yeah, but I don’t want to. Work only earns a few bucks, how could it afford more moments like lying next to Hưng like this?”
I pinched Hoàng Tuấn’s nose, smiled and answered: “Getting smoother with words every day!”
Hoàng Tuấn reached over and squeezed my ass really hard, replying: “Gotta have a smooth mouth to make Hưng feel good, right?”
He said that, but after a while of teasing each other on the bed, we still had to get up and prepare to leave so Hoàng Tuấn could head to the shop. At that moment, my mind was occupied by something much bigger—nothing other than the little cat tattoo I’d seen on the livestream last night.
When we got back to the dorm, besides Ngọc Duy who had gone to work early, Tùng Dương and Thế Sang weren’t back yet, the rest were still sleeping like the dead. Minh Khôi was lying quietly on his bed with his bare stomach and shorts, probably just got back not long ago and was taking his second sleep—maybe he was so shocked last night he couldn’t sleep at all. While Hoàng Tuấn showered and got ready for work, I went out to the balcony to check something.
I took out my phone to watch the video I had recorded, then compared the clothes-drying pole in the video with the one outside. Surprisingly, not a single piece of clothing was missing! The most eye-catching was Nhật Hào’s red underwear hanging at the very end of the pole.
Last night, only Vũ Linh, Trọng Quân, Duy Long, Ngọc Lễ, Nhật Hào, and Ngọc Duy came back to the room. If the person getting pounded hard in the livestream was Ngọc Duy, then the top could only be Nhật Hào! Because Nhật Hào’s body stood out the most among the rest, and his dick was at least one and a half times longer!
My brain suddenly did the math: “Clearly the other day Nhật Hào was ‘weak,’ right? So how come last night he was able to thrust in and out of Ngọc Duy’s ass for a full half hour without any issue?”
Before this, I always thought Nhật Hào was “weak,” so he felt insecure, didn’t dare date anyone, didn’t dare find fuck buddies. That’s why I often sucked him off and let him suck me too. Looks like something was seriously wrong with that whole thing.
While I was still deep in thought, there was a knock on the iron door outside, and the dorm manager’s voice rang out: “Room 6xx, open the door for teacher to come in and talk a bit.”
Hoàng Tuấn was in the bathroom, so I went to open the door for the teacher. The teacher had only taken a few steps inside when he said: “This room really loves sleeping in! Wake up and listen to what teacher has to say, then you can continue sleeping.”
I hurriedly woke each one up. When it came to Vũ Linh, he grumbled in his sleepy daze: “It’s Sunday today! The dorm manager should be off, who’s coming up here?”
The teacher heard and immediately replied: “Because this matter is urgent, teacher isn’t taking the weekend off. If you don’t wake up and listen, you’ll lose your place here—deal with it!”
The whole room snapped awake. Even those who couldn’t get up still forced themselves to lie there with eyes open and listen. The teacher announced: “Because the dorm is preparing to renovate floors 6 and 7, at the end of this semester the school will arrange for you all to move to the other dorm building on campus. But that side only has 9 beds per room, so whoever wants to register to stay together, write your names on this paper for teacher. Anyone without a name will be assigned to another room by teacher later.”
Duy Long asked: “Huh teacher, why are they only renovating floors 6 and 7?”
The teacher replied: “They’re doing it gradually from top to bottom, it’ll be completely finished by the end of next year! Move over there—it has elevators, washing machines, full facilities. After the renovation is done, our dorm will also have these amenities. At that time, if you want to move back, you can transfer back!”
I didn’t really care about moving here or there, but our room currently had 12 people, while the other side only had 9 beds, so at least 3 people would definitely be split off and moved to another room!
The teacher gave a few more instructions, and before leaving said: “Hurry up and write the names then hand the paper back to teacher. The move will happen at the end of this semester!”
As soon as the teacher left, Ngọc Lễ clicked his tongue: “Announcing it so early, saying ‘end of semester’ sounds far away, but there’s really only ‘one’ month left!”
The whole room suddenly fell silent, no one said a word, clearly no one wanted to be separated to live in another room. Honestly, even though we weren’t blood-related, we had lived together for so long, got along so well, so when it came to separating, both those leaving and those staying couldn’t help feeling sad.
I said: “Whatever, let’s sleep more, we’ll have a room meeting tonight to discuss.”
So the “Peach Blossom Council” was held again, except there was no food, no alcohol at all. Everyone sat on the floor, glancing at each other in silence. I said: “Looks like the only way now is to draw lots. Whoever leaves, whoever stays—if we can’t decide ourselves, let heaven decide!”
After hearing that, Quốc Bảo jumped up onto his bed and said: “I forgot to tell you guys, at the end of the semester I’m moving out to live with my brother, so don’t count me in.”
No one said anything to each other, but it felt like everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly the issue of splitting rooms didn’t feel as serious as before.
Thế Sang suddenly spoke up: “I’m moving out to live with my girlfriend. Giving up my slot for you guys!”
Tùng Dương clicked his tongue: “Damn, living the dream huh?”
Thế Sang said: “My girlfriend keeps telling me to move in with her. And fuck, she’s horny as hell. Living together, she’d probably ride me 3 times a day! But for the sake of brotherhood, I’ll endure it!”
Vũ Linh asked: “Wait, you go over to her place all the time—don’t her parents know you two are fucking?”
Thế Sang said: “Fuck, her parents practically want to lock me down for life. Every week her dad buys me a box of condoms and says: ‘Uncle sees your build and figures your dick must be huge, so uncle bought the largest size!’ Look, just arrange to move in here already, save on rent, food’s covered too. And uncle’s daughter won’t have to miss you every day!”
Quốc Bảo, sitting on the bed tapping his laptop, turned and said: “Fuck, did you save the world in your past life or what? Jackpot life already!”
Trọng Quân said: “Next time uncle buys condoms, tell him to buy an extra box of Salonpas too. I’m really worried about your back!”
The whole room burst out laughing, Duy Long said: “God, at this rate Quân is getting way too savage!”
I wrapped it up: “So now there are 10 of us left? Let’s draw lots and see who’s lucky enough to draw the ticket to leave the shared house among the 10 slips!”
Minh Khôi had been sitting quietly on one side since the beginning of the meeting, looking completely dazed. Only Hoàng Tuấn and I knew why he was like that—it seemed the psychological shock from last night was quite big. At this moment, he suddenly spoke: “No need to draw, I’m moving out.”
Ngọc Lễ asked: “What’s up? You moving in with your girlfriend?”
Minh Khôi shook his head: “No, just want to try living off-campus and see what it’s like.”
Ngọc Duy said: “Then Khôi think carefully. Before moving into the dorm, Duy also rented outside, but the costs are really high—rent alone is at least a million, not counting food.”
Trọng Quân asked: “You seem weird today, Khôi. You okay? Are you in a clear state of mind to make this decision?”
Minh Khôi gave a faint smile and replied: “I’m normal!”
I said: “Yeah, normal is good. If there’s anything, just tell us, don’t keep it inside.”
Duy Long suddenly asked: “Hey, moving over there has elevators and washing machines too, does the fee go up?”
I read the information on the paper the dorm manager gave and replied: “500k a month.”
Thế Sang exclaimed: “Damn, triple the price!”
Nhật Hào said: “Makes sense though, it’s District 1, and right opposite Bùi Viện walking street too.”
Duy Long said: “Expensive or not, we still have to live there. What other choice do we have? Unless we rent outside, but where’s the money for that?”
Luckily, the room meeting finally ended peacefully. Quốc Bảo, Thế Sang, Minh Khôi would move out. The remaining 9 people would transfer to the other dorm building. That dorm was known for being for high-quality program students, so the rooms were much nicer and the facilities were many times better.
One month passed in the blink of an eye. Early morning, the truck was already parked in front of the dorm gate. The truck bed was quite large, could fit all the belongings of 5–6 rooms at once. But honestly, dorm students like us don’t have that much stuff anyway. Even if we wanted to buy a lot, there was no space in the cramped area.
After the first two trips, it was finally our turn to have our things moved. Hoàng Tuấn said to me: “Hưng sit and rest, Tuấn will carry the stuff onto the truck for you.”
I was actually exhausted from carrying things up and down six flights of stairs all morning, so with this offer I couldn’t refuse, just replied shortly: “Thanks Tuấn!”
Duy Long saw it and pouted: “Pussy! Anyone hungry? Eat some dog food then get energy to carry more!”
The truck carrying the stuff left first, we followed behind on motorbikes. The District 1 dorm was really different, much grander, much nicer, the rooms designed scientifically and properly. My favorite part was the toilet and bathroom separated into two distinct rooms facing each other. Tùng Dương saw it and immediately exclaimed: “Finally no more worrying about shitting in my pants because the bathroom is occupied!”
Over here we use elevators to go up and down so moving stuff was much less tiring, though when entering and exiting we had to swipe cards to open the gate, as well as when taking the elevator to upper floors. At first it was a bit messy and confusing, but luckily the security aunties and uncles helped, so we managed to bring all the stuff in safely.
When Vũ Linh stepped into the room, the first thing he blurted out was: “Holy shit, these triple bunks are so fucking tall? Then who’s sleeping on the very top?”
Instead of using double beds like the old place, the new place used triple bunks. I looked and felt dizzy, the top bunk was at least over 2m from the floor. I clicked my tongue and laughed: “Then draw lots, what else!”
Anyone who has ever lived in this dorm knows that bunk height is real! Climbing up makes you scared you’ll shit yourself huhu :((
Ngọc Lễ said: “Tuấn and Duy went to work already. How do we draw now?”
Trọng Quân said: “I think Duy is easygoing, he’ll sleep anywhere. As for Tuấn, just ignore him, whatever bunk he draws, at night he’ll sleep on Hưng’s bed anyway.”
Duy Long laughed loudly: “Damn, this kid is way too savage already! I like it!”
Trọng Quân better keep quiet, because every time he speaks he drops something unbeatable. So the 7 of us drew lots together, each one glancing at the others extremely nervously. I pointed to each bed and counted the numbers from the door inward. Beds 1-2-3 are bottom, 4-5-6 are middle, 7-8-9 are top. Higher number means higher up!
Although there were only seven of us, I still made a full 9 slips. I counted to three, and everyone quickly grabbed their own slip.
Duy Long opened his first, then jumped around screaming: “Number 2! Number 2! Ahhh ahhh!”
Ngọc Lễ opened next: “I got number 5! I’m on top of you!”
Duy Long yelled: “That’s so fucked up! Back there we shared a bed, you under me on top, now it’s switched—you on top of me!”
Ngọc Lễ said: “Whatever, as long as it’s not the highest bunk I’m good hahaha!”
I drew two slips at once, considering it as drawing for both me and Hoàng Tuấn. I patiently waited for them to finish opening before I opened mine.
Nhật Hào opened his and exclaimed: “Aaa number 9!” So Nhật Hào became the first victim to sleep on the highest bunk. I shouted: “Haha, welcome to the highest throne!”
The others opened one by one. Trọng Quân got 6, sleeping right under Nhật Hào. Vũ Linh got 1, Tùng Dương got 4. So now only numbers 3, 7, and 8 were left. Six people, 12 eyes staring intently at the slips in my hand. They all chanted together: “Number 7! Number 8! Number 7! Number 8!”
I cursed: “Fuck you all!” Then opened it—number 7 for real!
Tùng Dương laughed like he’d won the lottery: “The one who laughed yesterday gets laughed at today!”
I huffed once, said: “I still have one more slip!”
Vũ Linh said: “Then I’ll hold the last one for Duy! Don’t let you flip it around!”
I prayed in my heart, clasped my hands, bowed three times to Buddha, then opened the slip. The moment that number appeared, my heart went numb. Ngọc Lễ snatched the slip from my hand and screamed: “Number 8! Fuck, number 8 you guys! Haha! Drew 2 slips and still got the two highest bunks! Laughing my ass off!”
The whole room laughed and teased me. Trọng Quân said again: “Brother Lễ and Dương, laugh all you want! Just remember at night there will be two people sleeping right above your heads!”
But the whole room still couldn’t stop laughing. I decided to take the top middle bunk. Honestly it’s just a bit high to climb, but up there it’s very private. If Hoàng Tuấn and I want to do anything, it’s less awkward, even though normally we’re not shy at all anyway.