Work Text:
Jiang Yanli settles in her chosen seat near the door, checking the time on her phone. She’s 10 minutes early to Intro to Environmental Science, even after her detour to get a coffee at the nearby convenience store.
Truthfully, she doesn’t need to take this class. She’s starting her 4th year, which means she'll have to focus more on her thesis and other major-related classes.
It’s through a series of unfortunate coincidences that she’s stuck here alone. A-Qing, the third year girl she befriended last semester suggested they take the course together, something completely out of their topics of study, but the syllabus had seemed interesting enough that Jiang Yanli agreed. Then A-Qing had to drop out after her advisor gave her a thorough scolding for failing the first year required statistics and leaving it until the last minute to retake it. He had wrestled her into taking it now, because an introduction to statistics class 3rd year was bad , but better than taking it 4th year.
A-Qing is a smart girl, evident by how she managed to skip many grades and score a scholarship to college, but her young age and brilliant mind also means she’s still getting the hang of the whole responsibilities and consequences thing, especially living away from home.
To be fair, the girl did text Yanli a warning as soon as she knew of the situation, on the morning of the last day of the add-drop selection, except that was a Thursday and Jiang Yanli had a not-so-good meeting with her advisor that morning and she basically ignored everything afterwards to stress cook for a while.
So when Jiang Yanli finally checked her phone that night, she saw the text from A-Qing and in dawning horror, realized the drop period was over 30 minutes ago.
Thus, registration was finalized and the only way to "drop" was to fail it, and she's come so far with good scores for all 3 years of college.
Jiang Yanli takes a sip of her coffee and brings out her planner to start a to-do list for the day. The class didn’t have that many people since it was a Friday morning class – there were other, more interesting classes during this block, like the language classes or the popular film studies class that most of her friends were in.
It works out fine - after this she's free for the weekend and having this class means she'll actually wake up in the morning to be productive instead of having a lie in. She’ll probably go back to clean her apartment and then try learning a new recipe.
The professor walks in and starts setting up. After a few minutes, the lady starts speaking, introducing herself, writing her name and email on the board etc. The professor turns to connect the projector, which is when the door creaks open and someone is settling in the seat behind her, sounding out of breath.
"Hey did I miss anything impor-"
She turns and freezes.
The "someone" is Jin Zixuan, her childhood friend who's now less of a friend and more of an acquaintance.
Jin Zixuan also pauses, obviously looking conflicted like he's thinking to bolt. Jiang Yanli unfreezes first and says, "You didn't miss anything. Here's her email, though I'm sure she'll give out the slides later."
She gives him her notebook so he can take a look – Jin Zixuan is now recovered enough to nod his thanks and take a quick picture of the email. He stays in the seat, but doesn't say anything else for the rest of class.
Jiang Yanli... is amicable to Jin Zixuan. She doesn't have a lot of people she dislikes. She has some fond memories with him on playdates, back when she was allowed to join her brothers on them, and some of them at business events they tagged along with their parents but they’ve only talked some in middle school before it became less then to none.
Part of it has been because their moms have been trying to push the two together, in hopes that they two will start dating and get married.
It's awkward and though Jiang Yanli didn’t really mind – it’s all talk, Jin Zixuan wasn’t bad looking and he was nice enough, Jiang Yanli didn't have anyone in mind romantically, and it's all talk – Jin Zixuan did and for high school, he was cold and barely acknowledged her.
It stung. She got the message loud and clear.
College was better, both of them maturing to say hellos and small talk, but their paths never crossed much anyway. Until now.
After, Jin Zixuan stops her outside the class. "Do you think we can keep this whole,” he gestures to the classroom they just came out of, “same class thing a secret from our moms?" he asks.
If their moms knew, there'd be no end to the pestering.
"Okay."
"Okay."
Jin Zixuan awkwardly raises a hand to say his goodbye and walks off.
**
Monday afternoon comes and she finds Jin Zixuan in her Law and Economics class as well, off to the side and looking like he’d rather be at home.
He wasn’t there last Monday.
He sees her and kind of gawks, but she only smiles a greeting and passes him to where her friend is waiting and starts chatting before class.
**
The next few weeks, they've gotten into a routine.
Jin Zixuan doesn’t have any friends in either of their shared classes – taken for requirements probably. He comes to all the classes though even though Jiang Yanli thought it’d be too awkward for him and he’d skip, especially Fridays.
In the second session, Jiang Yanli moved in two seats, settling in the third seat from the edge of the row to give Jin Zixuan the option of sitting together. He takes it, so now they sit in the same row, with one seat dividing them. The seat usually contains Jin Zixuan’s bag, but sometimes it stays empty like it’s beckoning her.
She always sits in the third seat.
It feels appropriate for their relationship, close enough to talk to each other in low voices but not too close that they’re together .
Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan talk more too. At first, just simple greetings as Jin Zixuan asks what happened in the few minutes he was late (and he’s always late) then forced to because the professor makes them discuss questions with people nearby sometimes, but as both of them don't know much about environmental science to truly discuss at length, the talk deviates into other things like the Law and Economics class, then to their siblings or their plans for the weekend, whatever comes to mind.
It’s awkward, until it’s not with practice since discussion takes up a large portion of class and the professor never checks to see if they are on topic. She simply lets them talk, then goes on to explain with her slides.
Their talks are strictly in class - both of them don’t have any classes after but neither of them extend an invitation to continue outside of class.
Jin Zixuan goes for lunch at school and tries to get some studying done until it’s time for a practice with one of the numerous (unofficial) sports clubs he’s in (he mentioned about four now: volleyball, basketball, lacrosse and ultimate dodgeball, which may or may not be just Jiang Yanli mishearing things). Jiang Yanli, on the other hand, either goes back to her nearby apartment or stays at school to meet up with friends for study sessions.
Jiang Yanli's usually early to class while Jin Zixuan stumbles in late, out of breath, to always asks her if he missed anything important. That’s the start of their in class conversations.
This week is a little different.
Jin Zixuan stumbles in as usual, scrubbing his eyes tiredly.
"Here," Jiang Yanli pushes a bottle of coffee.
She noticed that Jin Zixuan usually comes looking tired, and they’ve talked about upcoming his (intense) lacrosse practice as it comes up in weekend plans.
It’s not intentional or with deep meaning, nothing like that.
She was just picking up drinks at the convenience store for a picnic later in the afternoon, and before she noticed, she was already getting another coffee for the boy.
She likes the convenience store coffee better but the bottled coffee was a popular brand and thus, a safe choice.
"Oh, thanks," Jin Zixuan extends a hand towards the bottle. "I, uh, I didn't bring anything."
Jiang Yanli shrugs. "It's okay, I just saw that you looked tired most mornings. Thought you could use a pick me up."
"Thank you," Jin Zixuan says again. He cracks the coffee open
Things go on normally, both of them listening to the lecture on terraced farming in silence.
Next week, Jin Zixuan shows up with a pack of cookies and his own drink. He pushes the cookies into the little space between them.
"For last week."
Jiang Yanli looks at the colorful packing in surprise. "Oh, thank you! You didn't have to. I didn't bring a drink today," she bites her lips, feeling a little guilty.
"I've got my own today," Jin Zixuan shakes the bright bottle of sports drink for emphasis. "They're a seasonal flavor." He nods to the packet, and quickly busies himself with getting his notebook out.
Jiang Yanli smiles. Orange chocolate flavor. She opens and crunches on one thoughtfully. A little too much chocolate.
She could probably bake better orange chocolate cookies.
Though the Jiang Food Group specializes in manufacturing and distributing dry snacks like roasted seeds or cookies and candies, Jiang Yanli was always more interested in cooking than baking. She did know the basics of baking since all three of the Jiang children attended baking classes during childhood as a way to introduce and get them interested in the family business.
Hmm… maybe with fresh orange jam instead of flavoring?
**
The next week, Jiang Yanli didn’t mean to give the cookies to Jin Zixuan.
She experimented with the orange chocolate cookies over the week, and after a baking a few different designs
(her first check in for her thesis is coming up, cookies are easy to bake and more importantly, therapeutic, - okay, she may have stress baked, but it worked and she feels better, even if her apartment now smells like the witch's house from Hansel and Gretel),
she settled on a starburst design, the dark of the chocolate cookie contrasting the orange jam in the center and striking out in spikes like a sun. She might show it to her mom when she gets back from her business trip.
Jiang Yanli wrapped all the cookies that she baked in the last week in cute little bags to distribute to her friends - each bag contains a few of the final design but mostly the other designs that ‘failed’
(checkered brown and orange cookies - the color combination too gaudy when the orange lacked the vibrancy and glaze of the jam;
normal chocolate cookies with orange bits - too chocolatey;
a swirl design – it was less a swirl and more a mirror glaze, which would be nice on a cake but gave a disarrayed appearance on cookies ).
The amount she made was too much for her to eat alone so she kept the truly failed, broken bits and packed the rest. Her friends were used to the packets, not even minding the differences in tastes or messy appearances from each batch.
The packets are plain to see in the small, clear tote bag she grabbed in her rush to get out the door this morning. She truly didn’t make a packet for Jin Zixuan but she did pack one for herself to munch on while studying in the school lounge…
"What'd I miss?" Jin Zixuan settles in his seat, flicking an eye across the table to the bag. He doesn’t say anything or do anything, just casts a curious look.
"First few slides are review about the last topic." Jiang Yanli makes her decision - she's just trying to be a nice person okay, and bringing cookies in a clear bag without offering a friend (they are friends again at this point right?) is rude - and drops a bag of cookies in the space between them. "Here, I baked cookies. I brought some for my friends."
“Friends…,” he says softly, looking startled and reaching out for the packet. He turns them over to look over the different designs. Then, he says incredulously, "Oh, you baked these ?"
Jiang Yanli frowns, he sounds like he didn’t believe her.
"Yes," she says tersely. "If you don't want - " she purses her lips, deciding to change her wording. "If you don't like chocolate or oranges, you don’t have to take them."
She reaches a hand out to take them back.
The pack of cookies is snatched away from the table. Jiang Yanli is pretty sure she heard a few of them crack and winces.
"No! I like chocolate! And oranges!" Jin Zixuan stammers out. His voice comes out louder than intended and some underclassmen a few rows down turn around.
"And uh, I meant to say, um… to say thank you." Jin Zixuan clutches the bag of cookies close to his chest, a blush high on his cheeks.
Huh, probably embarrassed he caused a scene. It is cute though, Jiang Yanli thinks to herself.
"Okay," Jiang Yanli slowly replies. "I hope you like them. They go well with tea."
"Ok," Jin Zixuan says.
"Ok," Jiang Yanli repeats. She's a little sad that her cookies are gone, but consoles herself that she still had those failed cookies at her house. Not as pretty, but still just as delicious.
She turns back to her notes, hurrying to catch up with the slides before the professor moves on.
**
It becomes somewhat of a habit.
Jiang Yanli doesn’t bake as often; she cooks more and sometimes does bring her successful experiments to share with her friends and get their opinions. Usually she organizes a picnic and brings the food in a big container, or a large bento box, so everyone can share. Sometimes, she brings it in smaller containers, one for each taste tester and she's proud to say her friends have never forgotten to give back the tupperware.
On those days, she brings an extra portion for Jin Zixuan. Partly because she feels sympathy for how exhausted he looks - her own brothers used to look like that when they pushed themselves too hard and good food is important! - but also because Jin Zixuan is honest and gives surprisingly good feedback. He points out what he liked, what he didn’t like, and what could pair with the food all by next Friday. And he's only forgotten to bring back the container once .
He also brings her a drink or a snack then, usually an interesting flavor that Jiang Yanli has never seen at the nearby convenience store but delights to try anyway.
Jiang Yanli feels the flutters from middle school. But, she logically tells herself, she and Jin Zixuan aren’t meant to be. He never had and never will be interested in her.
A friendship is nice though.
**
Jiang Yanli rifles through her wallet in the middle of texting - she knows she brought the business card from that restaurant. It's in her wallet somewhere, it's just that she has way too many receipts stuck in there.
Class has started but there were technical difficulties with the projector so the class is idly talking amongst themselves. Jin Zixuan hasn't shown up yet.
She makes a little aha noise when she finally finds the card, bringing it out to take a picture and send it to her friend. Jin Zixuan slides into his seat, surveying the scene in the classroom.
"Morning, Zixuan. Technical difficulties," Jiang Yanli waves a hand towards the front before he can ask. She freezes, realizing she’s lapsed back into the familiar name because of their recent friendship.
Jin Zixuan doesn’t notice the slip and says instead, "Is that a membership card to the Silverman Gym?"
Jiang Yanli looks to where he's pointing her wallet, the silver card sticking out from its slot. She brought it today because all the stress cooking and baking meant she had to taste and eat more , and the resulting soft stomach is now getting a bit too much.
The Silverman Gym is nice - they have all the equipment normal gyms have and the stuff for yoga or pilates that she and her mom usually do, things that the school gym doesn't have. It’s a bit pricey, but the quality of the equipment and nice showers made up for it.
Usually she doesn't bother to go to the gym by herself - her mom and her have gone together at least twice a week as a bonding thing from her second year (it’s a new Jiang-family development). The gym is far from her university and her apartment, so her mom picks her up by car to go together. She hasn't gone ever since her mom left for her business trip almost 2 months ago, but she thought she'd take the long trip to get back into the exercising and maybe some consulting in person to see what she can do at home without making the trip to the gym all the time.
"Yes, I go sometimes with my mom. But not lately."
"Why not?" Jin Zixuan asks, surprisingly curious.
"It's too far from here, a bit too much trouble. Usually my mom will pick me up by the car but she's gone on a business trip now," Jiang Yanli explains. “I don’t have a car.”
She never felt the need for one since she lived close to the university, the groceries, and the train system is quite convenient for her usual hangout spots.
Then, Jin Zixuan opens his mouth again to shock her. "Do you want me to drive you there, Yanli?"
Jiang Yanli blinks, trying to process the question and the familiar name. Huh, maybe he did notice. Maybe they’re closer friends that she thought.
The boy flushes, rubbing at the back of his neck. "I mean, I go to that gym too! They have nuff-nif-nice equipment and - and I'm going there too! There's no practice today so I was planning on going. Yeah," Jin Zixuan nods to himself like he's forgotten his own plans.
Jiang Yanli hesitates, it certainly is faster with a car since the train, while cheaper, requires two transfers and another 10 minute walk to the gym. She shudders to think about even the trip back.
"What time are you going? I don't have class after this one so I was going to go straight away."
Jin Zixuan nods hurriedly. "Straight away is fine. I don't have anything after this class because I don't have class or pra - oh, you already know this.''
Jiang Yanli hides a smile. ''Sure, we can go together, if you're sure I'm not interrupting anything.''
''No, definitely not. Interrupting, I mean.''
''Okay.''
''Okay.''
Class starts and they turn to listen to the lecture. After a while, the boy leans towards her. ''Hey, do you want to go to lunch?''
Jiang Yanli pauses in her writing to glance up, confused. ''Huh?''
Jin Zixuan straightens, bringing a hand to his mouth and clearing his throat. ''I'm just asking, since it's close to lunchtime. And it's definitely better to eat something before you exercise.''
''Well,'' Jiang Yanli thinks of the marinated meat in her fridge. She was planning to go to the gym then coming back to eat lunch, specifically even ate a hearty breakfast for the day. …though she could just cook the meat for dinner too. ''Sure. Do you have a place in mind?''
Jin Zixuan gapes at her. Jiang Yanli raises a brow. Wasn't he the one who suggested lunch?
''Uh, I'll - I'll search up some places nearby now,'' the boy quickly turns back to his phone, typing quickly.
Jiang Yanli opens her mouth to suggest they find a place after class finishes instead, but Jin Zixuan seems so intent on the search, she decides to let him be. She'll just share her notes later.
They end up going for a quick lunch at a nearby classy cafe - Jiang Yanli hadn't even noticed such a place existed near campus, so Jin Zixuan did a thorough job in his research.
They go to the gym and separate after checking in to their preferred exercises, Jin Zixuan to the weights and Jiang Yanli heading downstairs for a pilates session. After her session and a quick shower, she comes back up to get some advice on what exercises she can do at home at the consulting section. During this time, Jin Zixuan somehow wanders back to her side and after she’s said goodbye to her trainer, herds her to his car and drives her back.
Jiang Yanli unbuckles her seatbelt as they pull up to the university’s main gate, thanking the Jin heir.
"Wait!" Jin Zixuan shouts as she grabs the door handle. Jiang Yanli startles at the loudness and stills.
"Wait," he repeats in a softer voice. He looks hopeful, eyes wide and shining in the light of the afternoon sun. He taps his fingers against the steering wheel. "Do you - do you want to do this again sometime?"
Jiang Yanli considers it. She already got her recommended exercises and diet, and her mom is coming back soon and it’ll be back to their regular schedule of exercise.
“We could do this on Mondays too, I don’t have classes after Law and Econ. Or perhaps the weekend?” Jin Zixuan suggests.
Jiang Yanli mentally grimaces at the thought of doing a workout so soon. But Monday...
“I have class on Monday 4th block though,” Jiang Yanli points out. “Perhaps after that? Or Tuesday would be good too, I only have classes in the morning so we can get lunch and go together?”
The boy nods eagerly. “Okay, Tuesday then. I’ll see you here at the main gate after the bell rings?”
“Sure,” Jiang Yanli smiles. “See you, Zixuan. Don’t forget, we have that assignment due on Sunday for Environmental Science.”
She gets out of the car and waves.
**
Tuesday comes and she waits by the gate to find Jin Zixuan. He did say the gate right? She peers left and right, swaying on the balls of her feet.
Not a minute later, Jin Zixuan’s car pulls up in front of her, windows rolled down.
“Oh! I didn’t know you were coming in your car,” she comments as she opens the door and settles in.
“Sorry, the traffic was awful. I don’t have class on Tuesdays, so I came straight from home,” Jin Zixuan explains, rounding the corner out into the main road.
“Wait,” Jiang Yanli says as the new information is revealed. “If you don’t have class on Tuesdays, then we could have done this on a different day. You didn’t have to come all the way here.”
Though she isn’t exactly sure if Jin Zixuan was commuting from his parents house or from an apartment like her, she did know that neither of the locations are close to the university, evident by how he often came (late) by car.
“Oh um,” Jin Zixuan taps the steering wheel. “I wanted to! I was going to the gym anyway, and I had errands around here today.”
“You do?” the girl asks suspiciously.
“Yeah, my dad asked me to buy something nearby. Don’t worry about it, Yanli,” Jin Zixuan waves his hand around.
Jiang Yanli raises a brow in doubt. There isn’t much around here except for restaurants and cafes catered to students, nothing to the taste of Jin Guangshan for sure, nor other sparkly gifts that Jin Guangshan liked to buy for his… friends.
But that's none of her business, so Jiang Yanli lets the excuse go and starts asking about how Jin Zixuan found last Sunday’s assignment.
**
It becomes a regular thing.
On Fridays and Tuesdays, they go for lunch and then to the gym. It works out well because Jiang Yanli’s mom is sent off on another impromptu business trip immediately for another three weeks, not even being able to come back into town for a quick rest.
Sometimes Jiang Yanli comes to school to have lunch with Jin Zixuan before their Monday Law and Economy class, even though she usually will eat at home since she has no classes in the morning.
But Jin Zixuan’s offers are tempting - he makes good use of his car to get them to better restaurants that are outside the walking distance from school, and he finds the most bizarre food places sometimes. It’s wonderful because afterwards, she can research and write notes about the place, and try to recreate the new taste in her free time.
It’s second nature to wait for Jin Zixuan at the school gate now.
The change in schedule comes when her brother comes out to their mom.
There’s tense silence from Jiang Cheng when she opened the door one Thursday night and found him standing there with a duffle bag. She had known Jiang Cheng was gay since high school, after her brother confessed about his feelings and attraction, who he was attracted to and how helpless he felt.
They worked through that together, researching and coming to a better understanding about their own identities, ultimately fostering a stronger bond between them.
Friday morning comes and she skips class for the first time that semester to cook and watch movies with her brother while waiting for him to talk.
Monday, Jiang Cheng is feeling much better and less stressed about how their mom will react, so Jiang Yanli goes to class barely on time, and apologizes about Friday to Jin Zixuan. It’s not really a set thing - there’s implicit agreement that if one of them has something else to do, their lunch-and-gym sessions will be canceled. And, though she didn’t specify what happened, it was a reasonable situation to miss class but she still feels bad about it.
Jin Zixuan waves it off coolly. “Nah, you don’t have to apologize, Yanli. I got notes from class by the way. If you want, I can bring them tomorrow so you can look at them?”
Jiang Yanli beams. “Great, thanks Zixuan!”
**
On Friday, Wei Ying comes back from his surveying trip and comes immediately to Jiang Yanli’s apartment after hearing what happened.
Jiang Yanli makes it to class Friday, but has to cancel on Jin Zixuan again since her brothers are already building a pillow fort and selecting movies when she left this morning. Hopefully they haven’t started cooking yet; if Wei Ying steps near her kitchen, all her spices will be unsalvageable.
“Oh, I see. No problem, maybe next week then.” He sounded sad. Jiang Yanli wonders why’s that, maybe something bad happened to him over the week? Whatever the case, she should bake cupcakes and bring them on Monday.
“Sure, next week.”
**
By next week, Jiang Cheng leaves her apartment to go back and talk things out with their mom.
Next week, Jin Zixuan cancels on her.
“Sorry, I don’t think I’ll be able to make it to the blind date later if I stop by the gym and drive you back,” he explains, ignoring the discussion question on the screen.
Jiang Yanli blinks. Blind date? “Oh, you don’t have to drive me back all the time. I’d be fine with coming back by myself.”
“What? No! I – “ Jin Zixuan starts heatedly, but catches himself. “I mean – anyway, that’s fine right?”
Jiang Yanli doesn’t quite know why he’s asking her, she’s canceled quite a few times so why wouldn't it be. Moreover, Jin Zixuan actually seems excited about the date – perhaps he already knows the person?
“Of course, that’s totally fine. I hope you have fun,” Jiang Yanli cheers stiffly. Her chest feels constricted – she’s not wearing a tight shirt is she, she looks down to check.
“Yeah, I hope so,” Jin Zixuan smiles softly. Jiang Yanli looks away from the gentle expression to stare at the board.
“Anyway, the discussion question – “
Jin Zixuan interrupts, still completely ignoring class. “You have plans tonight, right?”
Jiang Yanli furrows her brows in confusion. Was this because he felt guilty for leaving her alone on their usual hang out?
“Yes,” she lies, just so he’ll stop feeling guilty. She knows her brothers are busy today, they’re going to some bar to meet up with someone. Maybe she can call up A-Qing and see if she wants to bake cookies together.
“Yeah,” Jin Zixuan replies. He looks happy.
Jiang Yanli's jaw feels tight, her chest feels tight - no, no Yanli, what are you thinking. She quickly switches the topic. The teacher is actually walking around to check their discussions today. “About remote responsibilities… “
**
“Jin Zixuan?” Jiang Yanli asks in wonder as she passes the school gate. It’s late so the school gate has closed and there’s hardly anyone around. She only passed by because she was walking A-Qing back to her sharehouse on the other side of the campus.
“What are you doing here?” she stops by the parked car as Jin Zixuan lifts his head to look at her. He’s leaning against the car like he’s waiting for something.
“Yanli!” he exclaims. He sounds happy – is he drunk? She gets a little closer to see if he had any hints of alcohol.
“Did you forget something at school?” Jiang Yanli tilts her head. “You do know the school always closes at 9 pm right?”
Jin Zixuan nods. He doesn’t seem drunk, though she did smell a hint of alcohol when he spoke. “I didn’t forget anything at school. I forgot to – uh…”
Jin Zixuan has been very out of it since this morning, when he mentioned the blind date. Jiang Yanli asks out of confusion. “To what?”
The Jin heir blinks dumbly at her.
Was he… was he drugged or - She feels a rare surge of anger at the blind date. How dare they try to drug someone like Zixuan? He’s an honest person, a bit too trusting sometimes and he was so excited for the date, how could they –
“I like you,” Jin Zixuan declares, standing up straight.
Jiang Yanli feels her face flame. “What?”
“I like you, Jiang Yanli.”
There’s silence, the only noise coming from the cars on the main road. A breeze goes through the street, ruffling Jiang Yanli’s dress.
It echoes in her mind I like you i like you ilikeyou ilike -
“You’re drunk, aren’t you? I don’t think you should drive,” Jiang Yanli frowns. No, this can’t be. Of course Jin Zixuan doesn’t like her like that. He never did, never will. High school was more than enough to get the message across.
And it was going so well, they had a friendship going!
“I’ll take you back to my apartment and maybe you can call someone to pick you up. And about your car – “
“I’m serious, I like you Yanli,” Jin Zixuan abruptly interrupts. “Why won’t you believe me? I’m not drunk and I’m serious. I want to date you.”
He clenches and unclenches his fist in frustration, taking a step forward. Jiang Yanli notes that he doesn’t wobble or sway.
“It’s not that I don’t belie – “ Jiang Yanli cuts herself off. It is that she doesn’t believe him. This must be a prank or something. Or – or –
“I don’t know,” she finally says. “We have a nice friendship going now but that doesn’t change the past, Zixuan.”
“I know. I’m sorry about that.” Jin Zixuan takes a deep breath, “I was… emotional. I didn’t like getting pushed to do things, I didn’t like how our friends would tease us about it. And you – you just took it all without complaint.”
Jiang Yanli furrows her brows, trying to recall. She didn’t say much back then, but did it seem like that to others?
“You were so unaffected. You were just – I don’t know, it was like you didn’t care. You just smiled and went on with your life, like nothing could touch you.”
“You could,” Jiang Yanli blurts out then clarifies. “You did. Touched me. It hurt when you pushed me away and pretended we weren’t friends in high school. I cried because I thought I lost one of my childhood friends forever.”
Jin Zixuan hangs his head. “…I’m sorry for that. It – it was childish but I thought it would – stop all the rumors and pushy suggestions. It was too much for me, with stress from high school and all this, both in school and at home.”
Jiang Yanli sighs. It was the same for her, but perhaps she was lucky her brothers were vocal about their protests against their mother’s choice, and her friends were generally understanding and didn’t say anything beyond the initial teasing.
Jin Zixuan’s weren’t as lenient, teasing whenever the two of them were in the room together like the teenage boys they were.
“I don’t know, Zixuan. I understand, but it’s not – we were matched but it wasn’t a good match.”
“What does it matter if we’re a good match or not? My parents were matched but look at them now,” Jin Zixuan presses his lips in a firm line. “Let me try again? We can just keep doing what we’re doing now and take it slow. But I’m serious Yanli, I do like you and I want to try.”
“What about the date?” Jiang Yanli asks softly.
“What date?” the boy asks with wide eyes.
“Your blind date. That you went to. You looked pretty happy with it before.” Jiang Yanli… she doesn’t want to be a second choice. A rebound, just because Jin Zixuan’s blind date didn’t work out.
Jin Zixuan laughs, surprising her. She frowns, hurt. “Actually, it’s kind of a funny story. It was with someone you know very well. A Jiang… “
She tries to think of people. Jiang Yan from their high school? Or Jiang Xinyu from middle school? A Jiang...
“…and it made me realize, I didn’t have your number.”
“Huh?”
Jin Zixuan elaborates, sheepishly rubbing the side of his neck. “I thought the blind date was with you, since my mom mentioned it was with a Jiang. That’s why I was so happy this morning and asked you all those questions.”
The clues unfold in her mind, and with that one push, everything falls in place.
She laughs out loud, at the ridiculousness of the situation. “Really? Then who was it?”
Jin Zixuan returns her smile broadly. He looks young, boyish again, and it feels like when they all shared inside jokes together and didn’t know what lifelong commitments are.
“I’ll tell you if you give me your number. So something like this won’t happen again,” he bargains.
“Okay,” Jiang Yanli brings out her phone from her purse. They exchange numbers, saving the contact under ‘Yanli’ and ‘Zixuan.’
“Now will you tell me who you went with?”
“Only if you take a walk with me after?”
“Okay. But only this, no more other requests.”
“Okay.”
Jin Zixuan grins and whispers it in her ear.