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Feng Xin, Mu Qing, and Xie Lian had been friends for as long as they could remember. They went through kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and high school together. They even made sure to apply to the same college once they were old enough.

Fortunately, all three had passed the entrance examinations, and thus their college life began with the three of them together, again. They had even found an apartment they could share, and thus they were never apart for long. One could say that they were inseparable. It doesn’t mean that they never fought or had arguments, but rather that, no matter what happened, they always found their way back to each other.

So, of course, it wasn’t surprising that Feng Xin and Mu Qing felt out of sorts, when, suddenly, Xie Lian had started skipping their lunch hour—which they always spent together—to spend time with some guy who, in their opinion, was utterly suspicious.

Xie Lian always brushed it off with a few nervous laughs, saying that he would be back shortly, or that he just had to discuss a few matters somewhere else, but one didn’t have to be too bright to realize that there was more going on.

The halls were rowdy as Feng Xin and Mu Qing made their way toward the cafeteria. They both looked somewhat upset, as if they were trying to figure something out but couldn’t.

“It’s just,” Feng Xin started, scratching his head, “something just isn’t right about that guy. He looks—I don’t know. He’s weird. He dresses weirdly, and he acts like he’s better than everyone else, but with Xie Lian he just—he changes.”

And perhaps they did have a reason for thinking that way. Xie Lian had never been the type to date, but they had both imagined that if he ever did, his partner would be an impeccable, proper, and kind person. This guy was exactly the opposite. He wore leather jackets, a little too much red, had an eyebrow piercing, a couple tattoos, and an eyepatch.

“That’s what bothers me the most,” Mu Qing replied, rolling his eyes. “His attitude. He talks to everybody as if they were trash, but he’s different only with Xie Lian. I can’t figure out what he wants.”

“Okay, see, here’s what we’ll do,” Feng Xin said, suddenly sounding determined. “We’re going to keep an eye on them. We need to figure out what’s going on.”

Mu Qing, noticing they had arrived at the cafeteria, threw his bag to their usual table in order to make sure no one else took it.

Then, he raised a brow at Feng Xin. “You mean we’re going to spy on them?”

Feng Xin shook his head. “No, that—that’s the wrong word. We aren’t going to spy on them.”

“Except we are,” Mu Qing insisted, raising his brow higher.

Feng Xin sighed, then took a seat. “Fine, okay, whatever. Call it what you want.”

Mu Qing rolled his eyes, then opened his bag to take a perfectly well-prepared lunch out of it, while Feng Xin took a messy sandwich—which barely looked like one by then—that had clearly been prepared in a rush out of his.

“So,” Mu Qing started, “where are they now?”

“Beat you to it,” Feng Xin replied, with a smirk. “I’m looking at them right now. They’re four rows ahead of us.”

Mu Qing face palmed. “Feng Xin, maybe you could, you know, not be an idiot for once and stop staring at them straight ahead.”

Feng Xin glared at him, but he looked ashamed. “Yeah. Okay. Whatever. You didn’t have to insult me though.”

Mu Qing rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so sensitive. Anyway, what did you see?”

“Well, I wouldn’t know,” Feng Xin replied, with a sharp edge to his voice. “Someone told me to stop staring.”

Mu Qing sighed. “I told you to stop staring so obviously. I didn’t tell you to—you know what, whatever. Let’s switch places.”

Feng Xin shrugged, but he did as he said. Now, Mu Qing was the one who would spy—no, keep an eye—on them.

“What are they doing?” Feng Xin muttered.

Mu Qing was frowning. “Nothing. Just…talking.”

“Does Xie Lian look uncomfortable?”

Mu Qing’s frown deepened. “No, he’s—smiling.”

“Oh no,” Feng Xin mumbled. “That probably means he has fallen for the trap.”

“That much is clear,” Mu Qing agreed. “What I don’t get is what that guy wants from Xie Lian.”

“I think,” Feng Xin started, in a sarcastic tone, “that it’s called flirting—I hate to admit it, but it is. Not that you’d know anything about that, though.”

Mu Qing’s gaze, turned cold, darted to him. “Shut up—what would you know? Don’t talk like you’re an expert after your one failed relationship.”

Feng Xin felt as if he had slapped him. “It has been one year already. You can stop bringing it up.”

“I didn’t bring it up,” Mu Qing retorted. “You did by acting like you know something I don’t.”

But he did, didn’t he? It was true that Feng Xin’s relationship with Jian Lan had failed, but at least it had been something. Meanwhile, Mu Qing—hadn’t he been single all his life?

Now that Feng Xin thought about it, it was a little strange. As he stared at Mu Qing—his long black hair tied up in a perfect ponytail, his bright eyes, and those long eyelashes—he admitted to himself that, to be perfectly honest, Mu Qing wasn’t, by any standards, bad looking. He was actually—pretty. So, it didn’t quite make sense that people weren’t looking.

Or—were they? Had something that Feng Xin hadn’t noticed happened? He turned his head to the side, wanting to test if anybody was staring at Mu Qing for a little too long. Not that he cared—he just wanted to know, because after so long of knowing Mu Qing, shouldn’t he get to know that information?

He thought he had caught a few wandering looks, but he wasn’t sure. In fact, now that he thought about it—Xie Lian had surprised him with his, ahem, preference toward guys. Not that there was anything bad about it, but Feng Xin felt somewhat disappointed that he hadn’t known that about Xie Lian, even after so many years of friendship. And now, he was realizing that he didn’t know anything about Mu Qing in that sense either.

“Hey, idiot,” Mu Qing called, sounding confused.“What is it?”

Feng Xin’s gaze darted back to him. Mu Qing was wearing a gray turtleneck sweater that made him look rather—well, decent, so Feng Xin’s curiosity sparked up again. But he had to think of a roundabout way to get his answers.

He came up with an idea and shrugged, trying to look natural. “I was just wondering what Xie Lian sees in that dude. Is he good-looking?”

Mu Qing raised a brow. “Are you asking me?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Mu Qing’s frown deepened. “I—well, I cannot stand his arrogant behavior, along with his shit-eating grin. So, no. I don’t think he is.”

Feng Xin chuckled. “Never thought I’d say this, but I agree with you.”

And yet, Feng Xin felt that he had found out nothing about Mu Qing’s preferences or experience in that field.

He pressed further, inspired by some idiotic impulse he couldn’t shake off. “Then, who would you say is attractive?”

Mu Qing rolled his eyes. “Why do you care? Stop being weird.”

“Can’t I be curious?” Feng Xin wondered. “I’ve known you for years, and yet, just like with Xie Lian, I have no idea what your life is like in that sense. Geez, I feel like I know nothing about you guys. It isn’t fair—I do share those things with you.”

Mu Qing seemed to tense up a little, but it soon passed. “It doesn’t matter. Stop being dramatic. For now, we just have to focus on what is going on with Xie Lian.”

Seeing that Mu Qing looked determined to avoid the topic, Feng Xin nodded and let it go.

The three of them had an unspoken agreement, since their first day of college, to meet each other when classes finished in the exit that was closest to their shared apartment.

By the time Feng Xin arrived, Mu Qing was already, as expected, there. He was resting his back against the wall, looking a little pensive.

He raised his brows slightly, as if in greeting, when Feng Xin arrived.

“He isn’t going to come today, is he?” Feng Xin wondered, sounding resigned.

“No,” Mu Qing replied, holding up his phone.

Feng Xin checked his, and indeed, Xie Lian had said in their groupchat that he’d get home a little later that day.

He cursed. “I should’ve known—that bastard is really spending too much time with him. I don’t trust him.”

“Neither do I,” Mu Qing agreed. “But there’s nothing we can do for now.”

Having said that, Mu Qing turned around to start walking toward their apartment, and Feng Xin followed behind, silently thinking about how that was the first time they had done that without Xie Lian.

They were too quiet. Feng Xin didn’t know how to break the silence. He was absorbed in his thoughts, but then he started noticing that some people around them were staring—probably at Mu Qing. Not at him—he was always wearing pants, or jeans in good days.

Thus, he unconsciously moved closer toward the other, feeling annoyed for no reason. Mu Qing raised a brow but didn’t question him, and before long they got home.

After eating, they had each started doing their own stuff. Feng Xin locked himself in his room, ready to facetime with his teammates about an important project. Perhaps it was wrong to call them his teammates—they were also his friends, but sometimes they could be a little too much.

He breathed in deeply before he accepted their call. Shi Qing Xuan’s face quickly appeared on his screen, with a wide smile.

“Feng Xin!” they called. “Nice to see you!”

“Yeah, nice to see you too.”

The other person in the call was as silent as a grave, and only nodded slightly at them as if that were an acceptable greeting.

“Ah, you really never talk, do you,” Shi Qing Xuan complained, in a tender tone.

“Anyway,” Feng Xin started, “let’s get to work. What should we—”

“Feng Xin, don’t be like that,” Shi Qing Xuan protested. “We just started the call! Let’s chat a bit first.”

No—Feng Xin already knew that each time they did that, they got nothing done, and that had already happened a handful of times, which meant that they only had a few days to turn that project in. They really shouldn’t chat—but how could he just say that?

He thought that perhaps He Xuan would. But as Shi Qing Xuan blabbered on and on, he found, with surprise, that He Xuan wasn’t protesting.

Feng Xin sighed. He resigned himself to another unproductive session. Deep inside, he also felt kind of left out. Even though He Xuan was just nodding and muttering from time to time, the conversation felt like it was going on between the two of them only.

He felt a bit lonely. His closest friends were Xie Lian and Mu Qing—the first was nowhere to be seen, and the other was at some other part of the apartment.

Pushed by some strange impulse, he walked out of his room, still with his phone in hand, to search for Mu Qing.

“Where are you going Feng Xin?” Shi Qing Xuan asked, sounding curious.

“Oh, you know—just to get a drink,” Feng Xin said.

“Ah, okay! OH! Which reminds me, they’re selling this new milkshake at the cafeteria…”

And so, he blabbered on about something else. Meanwhile, Feng Xin found Mu Qing in the living room, sitting on the sofa as he, too, facetimed with some people.

Feng Xin tentatively stared at the available spot on the sofa, without realizing that he looked like a complete idiot just standing in front of Mu Qing without speaking.

Mu Qing noticed where he was staring at. He looked confused, but he still moved to the side, leaving more room for him. Feng Xin tried to hide his embarrassment, and simply sat beside him. There was still some space between them, so it was all right.

Mu Qing’s videocall was the opposite from Feng Xin’s. Mu Qing’s team was simply too powerful. It shouldn’t be allowed for the three of them to work together—productivity and quality would be at their peak; none of the other team projects would even be able to come close to whatever they did.

One of his team members was Shi Wu Du, Shi Qing Xuan’s brother. However, the two siblings weren’t alike at all. They were opposites. Shi Qing Xuan loved to mess around and chat with everything that breathed, but Shi Wu Du was extremely grounded and work oriented. In fact, Feng Xin, like most people, found him a little intimidating.

As if that weren’t enough, the third member was Ling Wen. She had perfect notes in every class, and she seemed to know just about everything one could think of. The eyebags under her eyes made her look, for some reason, even smarter.

The three of them together made up the smartest and most productive team one could imagine. It also made sense that they were friends, because all three behaved like there was a stick up their asses and like they were smarter than everyone else.

Apparently noticing the increased noise around Mu Qing, Shi Wu Du said, “I think I’m hearing Qing Xuan’s voice twice.”

“It’s Feng Xin,” Mu Qing explained. “He’s here, and he’s chatting with them.”

“Ah, Feng Xin,” Shi Wu Du repeated, and something seemed to be hiding in his words. It made Mu Qing roll his eyes, but he almost looked embarrassed when a low laugh came from Ling Wen’s end.

“AH!” Shi Qing Xuan reacted, hurting everyone’s ears. “Is that my brother?”

“Yeah,” Feng Xin muttered. “Mu Qing’s working with him, as usual—which reminds me, we should follow their example and get to—”

“So, they aren’t working again,” came Shi Wu Du’s voice. Then, he raised his tone. “Qing Xuan! Stop messing around!”

“Family problems,” Ling Wen muttered, and Mu Qing nodded.

Then, Shi Wu Du seemed to realize something. “Wait—who’s the third team member?”

They all froze at once. It was no secret that Shi Wu Du despised He Xuan, but Shi Qing Xuan insisted on hanging out with him.

However, He Xuan was never the type to be intimidated. He opened his mouth, but Shi Qing Xuan soon reacted and whispered, “Please don’t do this.”

Then, they raised their voice, “It’s Yu Shi! You know her.”

“Yu Shi Huang?” Shi Wu Du questioned. “Since when has she been hanging out with you? She mostly keeps to herself—I’m no fool, Qing Xuan. Tell me the truth.”

“She is here!” Shi Qing Xuan insisted.

“Tell her to say something.”

“You know she doesn’t like to talk.”

Shi Wu Du sighed. “Mu Qing—do you see Yu Shi Huang on Feng Xin’s screen?”

Shi Qing Xuan put on their best pleading face. Meanwhile, Feng Xin turned to give Mu Qing a similar look.

Mu Qing stayed silent for a moment, but then rolled his eyes. “Yeah, it’s her.”

Mu Qing’s phone buzzed. He ignored it for a moment, but when he turned to look at it, Feng Xin almost felt his soul leave his body.

Ling Wen:

What a bad friend you are, lying like that. Yu Shi isn’t there.

Mu Qing’s face didn’t change as Shi Wu Du started talking about the project again. He soon started typing.

How would you know that, miss know-it-all?

Not even a second had passed before Mu Qing’s phone buzzed again.

Ling Wen:

Because she’s here with me. She has been for a while.

Feng Xin’s jaw hit the floor, and even Mu Qing looked slightly surprised. Seeing Feng Xin’s reaction, he raised a brow.

“What are you doing staring at my phone?” he protested. “Mind your own business.”

“Oh, come on,” Feng Xin whispered, so that the others wouldn’t hear. “It’s not like you’ve got something to hide.”

“What would you know?” Mu Qing replied before turning his attention back to the video call.

And perhaps Mu Qing had said that without thinking too much about it, but it kept Feng Xin awake at night.

Feng Xin’s class finished earlier than usual. He left the room in a hurry after saying goodbye to Shi Qing Xuan and He Xuan, who had been a little too touchy with each other lately. That was why he didn’t want to stay there any longer.

He absent-mindedly walked around the building, until he reached a door and waited outside in the hallway patiently.

It was only after a couple of minutes had passed that he realized that he had walked to the classroom where Mu Qing’s class was currently taking place, and that he had gone there to wait for him.

Was he out of his fucking mind? He had never fucking done that before—why did he want to see Mu Qing of all people?

“Shit, what the fuck?” he hissed, pulling at his own hair and almost punching the wall.

“Feng Xin?” a soft, too familiar voice, came from behind him. His torment faded at once.

“Xie Lian?!” he exclaimed, then turned around.

And there he was, his best friend. His hair was tied up in a bun, and he was wearing a cozy woolen sweater.

He smiled. “Feng Xin, good to see you!”

Xie Lian had gotten home rather late last night, so they hadn’t seen much of him. They had thought of protesting—had he been with that dude all that time?!—but Xie Lian had insisted that he had been working on a project, and his eyebags seemed to back that up, so they had both let it go.

“Nice to see you too,” Feng Xin said. “You left us all alone yesterday.”

“Oh, don’t be like that,” Xie Lian protested. “Uh, anyway, are you waiting for someone?”

Feng Xin froze. He had forgotten about that.

“No, not at all,” he replied hurriedly. “Just, you know, passing by.”

Xie Lian didn’t say anything, but he tilted his head slightly.

Feng Xin sighed. “Well I—okay, yeah. I’m waiting for someone.”

Xie Lian nodded. “I see. This classroom…oh, you’re waiting for—”

Feng Xin panicked. He absolutely could not let Xie Lian think that.

“Yes! You caught me—I’m waiting for Jian Lan.”

What? What had he said?

He was the greatest fucking idiot of all time.

Xie Lian’s eyes widened, and he took a step toward him. “Feng Xin, it has been too long already. I thought you—”

“Yeah, I,” he muttered, sounding distressed, “I guess I’m an idiot.”

That much he did mean.

Xie Lian frowned. “Not at all. I’m just concerned—but if you’re sure about this, then it’s fine.”

Feng Xin tried to smile, but he must have failed, because Xie Lian looked even more worried then. In fact, he was about to speak when they heard noise coming from inside.

“Oh no, class is over—she’ll come out soon,” Xie Lian panicked. “Okay, look. I’ll be at home by 5. You can tell me how it all went then.”

“Where are you going now?”

Xie Lian opened his mouth and then closed it, looking a little embarrassed. “Do you remember San Lang? I told you both about him.”

If he remembered? He had been having nightmares about the guy.

He sighed. “Are you gonna see him? Is it serious?”

“Ah,” Xie Lian reacted, blushing a little, “it’s just—we are just going to meet at a café.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, good luck! Tell me all about it later and call me if you need anything!”

Feng Xin didn’t have the chance to reply, because Xie Lian had walked away hurriedly. Thus, he only watched as people started walking out of the classroom in a rush, and his eyes searched for someone.

He soon spotted him. Mu Qing was wearing a black cardigan with a white shirt underneath, which really accentuated his figure. It was easy to spot him; he stood out.

Feng Xin mentally reprimanded himself for staring and walked over to him. “Hey there.”

Mu Qing looked surprised at first, but he quickly composed himself. “What are you doing here?”

Shi Wu Du and Ling Wen walked out soon later, but upon noticing Feng Xin’s presence, simply nodded in greeting and walked away slowly, not without laughing for some unknown reason which caused Mu Qing to glare at them.

Feng Xin’s gaze darted back to Mu Qing. “Oh, it’s just—uh, well, Xie Lian is apparently having a date with the bastard at a café. Thought it was important to let you know.”

Yeah, right.

“A date?” Mu Qing echoed, as if the word repelled him. “How do you know?”

“I saw him, uh, earlier. He told me himself.”

Mu Qing raised a brow. “Did he look happy about it?”

“I don’t know if he looked happy. But he did look embarrassed.”

Mu Qing stayed silent for a moment, then nodded. “Let’s go. We have to go there too.”

“What?”

“I don’t trust that guy,” Mu Qing explained. “And there’s only one café people go to for a date around this place.”

Feng Xin felt himself nod. It was true, there was a café nearby—it was mostly for couples, and it was the corniest place ever. Even the tables were designed for two people only, and the dishes all had ridiculous names like “Lovers’ meal”, “Love potion, “Love’s bliss.”

Feng Xin sighed. “I don’t think Xie Lian has any idea what he got into.”

“Of course not,” Mu Qing hissed. “Which is why we have to go.”

Feng Xin nodded, but then he stopped in his tracks. “Wait, if we do, people are going to think that we—”

Something strange flashed through Mu Qing’s face. “We won’t go in.”

“Okay. We’ll spy—no, stare—from the outside.”

Mu Qing only nodded, and then started walking away. Feng Xin followed.

They arrived before long. As soon as they started approaching the place, they noticed the uncanny amount of couples nearby. Their heads started aching when they thought of Xie Lian being somewhere around there too.

Fortunately, as they soon they got there, they noticed that Xie Lian and Hua Cheng had picked a seat near the window. In other words, Feng Xin and Mu Qing could keep an eye on them just fine.

However, not even three minutes had gone by when several passersby started to stare at them. After all, in a street full of couples, two guys staring at a café stood out.

Feng Xin panicked and, in a rush, reached out for Mu Qing’s hand.

Mu Qing tensed up at once, but he didn’t move his hand away. “What are you doing?”

“We stand out. We have to blend in somehow.”

Yes, that much was true—but what was also infuriatingly true was that, for some fucking reason, Feng Xin’s heart was beating like crazy.

Mu Qing looked like he wanted to protest, but in the end decided to stay quiet.

Mu Qing’s hand, Feng Xin noticed, was soft. He didn’t expect it to be, but it was. As he looked down at it, he noticed the usual ink stains on it, and he almost laughed.

What a nerd. He takes notes.

Then, his eyes left Mu Qing’s hand to look at his waist—it happened unconsciously. Unconsciously, okay? It’s just that—Mu Qing had a really nice and slim waist, and that fucking cardigan accentuated it too much.

Mu Qing’s voice brought him back to reality. “Xie Lian is feeding him."

Something like an alarm went off in Feng Xin’s head. He turned to look at the café’s window, and saw that Mu Qing was, unfortunately, telling the truth.

“What does he see in that lame emo-looking guy? Why does he pamper him?” he complained. “I don’t get it—I really don’t.”

“I suppose it’s hard to understand what people see in the ones they like,” Mu Qing replied. There was a hidden meaning in his words—Feng Xin knew that much, but he couldn’t figure out what it was.

Some people started staring at them again. They were not being so discreet with their investigation, it seemed.

Thus, Mu Qing moved closer to him, and he intertwined their fingers together.

Feng Xin’s heart skipped a beat.

“Uh,” he started, feeling nervous for some reason, “so, anyway, how is your team project going?”

Mu Qing looked taken aback by the sudden change of topic. “It’s almost done.”

“Really?!” Feng Xin exclaimed. “Fuck—we haven’t even started ours.”

“Look,” Mu Qing started, rolling his eyes, “you have to take control of your team. Shi Qing Xuan will rant for as long as you let them, and He Xuan has a thing for them. So, if you don’t do anything, they’re going to flirt while you do all the work an hour before it’s due.”

“It’s just—they look really happy with each other. I’d feel like an asshole to intrude just like that, you know,” Feng Xin explained. “Oh, by the way, thank you for helping us out with Shi Wu Du yesterday.”

Mu Qing looked surprised, and he even tensed up a little. Feng Xin didn’t understand why at first, but then he realized that was probably the first time he had ever thanked Mu Qing for anything.

Mu Qing rolled his eyes once he composed himself. “It’s nothing.”

And so, they fell silent. They started speaking again from time to time, and Feng Xin felt—it was nice. He was comfortable.

Before long, while they were chatting, they noticed that Xie Lian and Hua Cheng had exited the café and were walking their way.

They hadn’t been spotted yet, but the mere idea panicked the hell out of them. They let go of each other at once, but before they could walk away, someone called out to them.

“Mu Qing? Feng Xin?”

It was, of course, Xie Lian.

Feng Xin turned around, trying his hardest to smile. “Xie Lian!”

Mu Qing stayed silent, and rather decided to glare at the man beside Xie Lian. Hua Cheng stared back. He didn’t look intimidated, and he even smirked. Feng Xin felt himself shiver.

Xie Lian, noticing the obvious tension between the two, tugged at Hua Cheng’s arm. Only then did Hua Cheng stop glaring at Mu Qing and turn to smile at Xie Lian. His attitude had changed completely in just one second. It creeped the fuck out of Feng Xin.

“Ah!” Xie Lian looked like he had finally remembered something. “Feng Xin, how did the talk with Jian Lan go?”

The atmosphere was already bad, but the moment Xie Lian said that, it somehow turned even worse.

Mu Qing tensed up. Feng Xin wanted to hit himself in the head. Hua Cheng looked like he didn’t give a single fuck, and Xie Lian looked confused. It was normal that he did—they had always talked about that matter openly among the three of them, and Hua Cheng obviously didn’t care.

“Gege,” Hua Cheng started, sounding like he was about to whine about something, “I’m bored. Let’s go.”

“What? Where?” Xie Lian smiled, raising a brow.

“Gege promised he’d let me show him where I live,” Hua Cheng said, in that infuriatingly sweet tone of voice.

“Ah, right!” Xie Lian said and, once he realized that both of his friends looked as if they had turned into stone, started nodding. “Let us go then. I’ll see you guys later!” Seeing that neither of his friends replied, he started growing concerned, and added in a low tone, “Call me if anything’s wrong.”

And thus, they were left alone again.

Silence reigned for a moment, and then Mu Qing started walking away.

Anxiety invaded Feng Xin’s heart at once. He hurriedly reached out for Mu Qing’s had, but Mu Qing slapped it away.

“Leave me alone,” he warned. “I’m going home.”

They lived together, for fuck’s sake. It would’ve been funny if it weren’t for the current situation.

“What’s wrong?” Feng Xin heard himself ask, and he was already internally cursing himself the next second.

“Wrong?” Mu Qing questioned, with a frown. “Nothing’s wrong! I just think you’re a fool who makes idiotic decisions! But you know what? That’s none of my business! Go find her, why are you wasting your time with me?”

“No, that’s not—"

“I don’t care!” Mu Qing hissed. “You—”

Before he could think about it more carefully, an impulse took over Feng Xin, and he reached for Mu Qing’s arm again and pulled him toward him. His other hand caressed Mu Qing’s chin, and he leaned in.

He closed his eyes. Mu Qing’s lips were soft, and a little cold, against his. His hand moved from Mu Qing’s chin to his waist, where it rested. Feng Xin’s heart was going crazy.

At first, Mu Qing just froze. He then felt him tense up in his arms, and finally he pulled away.

“No,” he muttered, softly, a little dejectedly, as pink colored his cheeks. “I don’t want to be the one who satisfies your—physical needs while you think about somebody else.”

Feng Xin felt as if someone had punched him. “Mu Qing, no—I’m not thinking about anybody else.”

To emphasize his point, he reached toward Mu Qing’s cheek to caress it, but Mu Qing took a step back.

“I…” Feng Xin started, with a wavering voice, “I saw Xie Lian earlier. Just when I was waiting for you in the hallway. He asked what I was doing there, and I wasn’t ready to admit that I—that I…”

“That you what?” Mu Qing pressed, a little impatiently.

“That I was there to see you,” Feng Xin managed to admit, though it took a lot of energy out of him. “That I was there because I couldn’t stop thinking about you. So, I, like the idiot I am, used the first stupid excuse that came to mind—which was that I was there to see Jian Lan. Think about the times. They match up. I promise I’m not lying.”

Mu Qing’s eyes widened, and pink started enveloping most of his face.

It was adorable, and it made Feng Xin breathless.

He took a step forward, and Mu Qing didn’t back away that time. Thus, he reached out and started caressing his cheek with his thumb, looking straight into those beautiful eyes of his.

“You are an idiot,” Mu Qing muttered.

Feng Xin chuckled. “Yeah. I guess I am.” His eyes darted to those pink and too kissable thin lips. “Mu Qing, may I—”

Before he could finish, he felt those soft lips being pressed against his. Their kiss was urgent, like they had been waiting for it for too long. It was quick, and a little desperate.

Feng Xin wrapped his arms around Mu Qing’s waist, and Mu Qing wrapped his around his neck, caressing his nape. They got lost in each other, until they ran out of breath and parted, resting their foreheads against each other.

Feng Xin’s heart just wouldn’t calm down. And it looked like Mu Qing’s was in a similar state, judging by his expression.

Mu Qing leaned in again, and though every part of Feng Xin was aching to let him, he didn’t want Mu Qing to think that he only wanted this.

Hence, he pressed his palm softly against Mu Qing’s lips.

“Before that, I think it’s our turn to go on a date,” Feng Xin said, retrieving his hand and trying to hide how nervous he was—how afraid he was of being rejected or made fun of. “What do you say?”

A small smile appeared on Mu Qing’s face. Feng Xin thought he was seeing wrong—but he wasn’t. He felt himself smile, too.

Mu Qing rolled his eyes, but he hadn’t stopped smiling.

He reached out for Feng Xin’s hand. “Let’s go, then.”

And so, Feng Xin let himself be dragged to that café, and to a beautiful new stage of his life.