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Wen Kexing had an amazing life. It was such an amazing life that he sometimes wondered which country he saved in his past lives.
He used to work as a kinder teacher but then he decided he wanted to open a coffee shop so he became the owner of a coffee shop. Every time he wanted to do something, he did it. Growing as an only child, he was kind of spoiled by his parents but he learned how to get the things he wanted with his hard work, so he studied hard and worked his ass off to become a person that could live without any external help. His parents were sad when he moved to Shanghai to fulfill his dream of having his own business, but they were also proud of him.
When he moved and established his business, all he had aside of his dreams and enthusiasm was the little A-Xiang. She wasn't little; she was an adult, but she always was like a little sister to him. She wanted a job and, Kexing asked her to trust him, so she did and followed him to Shanghai. She was there since they only had a rented local, when they started with only a few clients, she was a waiter and then a cashier, and when the little coffee shop went bigger, she became a supervisor. She was there since the beginning, following him and trusting him. In a place that was too far from home, she was the closest person he had.
Despite considering himself an extrovert, it was hard for Wen Kexing to form meaningful relationships with people. So when Gu Xiang told him she would get married, he jumped off his chair as if she had told him she killed someone.
"What's wrong, gege?" she asked.
"When did you meet him?" he asked, ignoring her question. The little girl suddenly looked so happy and couldn't help but smile as she answered: "Well, I was shopping and we both wanted the same watch. It was the watch I gave you for your birthday. We argued for a couple of minutes, and then he let me have it, so I admitted he had good taste. Then we met again, and again, and again. Destiny is such a funny thing, gege."
Wen Kexing looked at the watch around his wrist and crackled a chuckle, but then he put the most serious face he could. He was happy for her, but he felt like a protective father that had to let his little daughter go and see the world for the first time. But he didn't have the right to feel like that. A-Xiang has her own family that let her go and see the world a while ago, so he just sighed.
"When can I met him?" he asked.
A few days after that conversation, Wen Kexing met the lucky boy that would marry his precious A-Xiang, Cao Weining. The boy was the same age as Gu Xiang and he looked so nervous he couldn't even drink the coffee on the table but yet he managed to speak some words about his sincere love for A-Xiang as if he were scared that Wen Kexing thought he wasn't sincere enough. After exchanging a few words, Kexing concluded he was a good boy with good intentions. He felt happy for the girl, but he didn't show it and managed to make the meeting really awkward.
"He just wants to look cool, don't be scared," Gu Xiang said and Wen Kexing couldn't help but pinch her arms in annoyance. She pinched him back and Cao Weining smiled.
While they were talking, the door opened. The door opened a lot of times, of course. The coffee shop was really popular in the area, but this time Cao Weining looked at the door, surprised as if he had seen someone he already knew.
"Oh, mister Zhou!" Cao Weining said standing up from his chair as he watched a man enter the coffee shop. Wen Kexing stopped bickering and looked at the beauty entering the shop. He had an eye for beauty, and even with only looking at the profile of that man he knew it was the kind of man that he'd like to exchange some cups and a good conversation with before completely surrender to each other in bed. In other words, he was hot.
Is not that he was a hopeless romantic or someone who fell in love at first sight frequently, but he had been neglecting himself for a while. When was the last time he had a date? As a man devoted to his job, he couldn't even remember the last time he kissed someone.
Mister Zhou glanced at Cao Weining and went near to him to give him a proper greeting.
Cao Weining said that was Zhou Zishu, a close friend of his uncle. Cao Weining was way too kind, and he convinced the man the sit with them at the table.
"Gu Xiang, why don't you sit next to your future husband?" Wen Kexing said while looking at the girl in the eyes. She was sitting by his side while Cao Weining was in front of them with an empty chair by his side. Gu Xiang frowned, but she immediately understood. You didn't have to be a genius to understand what he was trying to do, and she knew him very well: the only thing that could distract him from his self-assigned role of protective brother was a pretty man, so Gu Xiang would gladly take the role of a matchmaker for his brother.
"Yeah, whatever," she said.
"Nice to meet you, mister Zhou. My name is Wen Kexing, and that is my co-worker, Gu Xiang." Ha! Suddenly she was just a co-worker.
"I've heard a lot about Gu Xiang. Weining's uncle is so happy he's marrying such an incredible and beautiful girl. Nice to meet you." Zhou Zishu said. Wen Kexing smiled, looking at him as if he couldn't wait to skip all the mannerisms and vore him. At least that was Gu Xiang thought. That thought made her shiver.
"Aiya, you're way too formal. No need to be this formal, mister Zhou. With this young couple in front of us, we must become friends, or else the table will be in silence. You know, people of the same age understand each other better." Wen Kexing said while he wrote something in a paper that got from god-knows-where and gave it to Gu Xiang.
"You're right. I have to leave soon, though." Zhou Zishu said with the hint of a smile.
"Where are you going?" Wen Kexing asked.
"To work." Zhou Zishu answered.
Cao Weining didn't want to speak at all, as he felt something weird going on. He looked at Wen Kexing, who suddenly looked different. He looked juvenile and mischievous, with a smile that he could only interpret as the smile you give to someone when you want to marry them. Wen Kexing said:
"Oh. Well, before you leave I want to let you know that I like your face, and your shoulder blades are very pretty. And I like men."
"Weining, we have to meet someone today, don't we? Let's get going!" Gu Xiang said, kind of embarrassed. How could she think that bastard needed a matchmaker? He could do everything by himself since he had no shame!
Weining nodded then they said goodbye to the two men left on the table.
"So...Do you like men?" Wen Kexing asked with his hand under his chin, looking for Zhou Zishu's eyes.
"Yes, I do," Zhou Zishu said, looking at him in the eyes. Wen Kexing smiled, "but you're not the type of men I like."
"I can fix that. What's the thing you don't like?" Wen Kexing asked with a big smile on his face. He thought it wouldn't be easy, but he enjoyed challenges.
"You look so desperate it is embarrassing." Zhou Zishu answered.
"So what if I am? We could skip most of the annoying stuff if you come to my house."
"I'm right. So fucking desperate. But, if you work a little bit harder I could let you hold my hand." Zhou Zishu said. His tone was sarcastic and he kept a smile on his face as he added, "Now I have to go." He stood up, walking to the door leaving Wen Kexing in the clouds.
A waiter came with a coffee and said: "Sir, wait a second. You're forgetting something. Courtesy of the house."
Zhou Zishu took it and thanked him. He glanced at Wen Kexing once before leaving while drinking that sweet macchiato. He wondered when he told the waiter to give him that. Not that he cared.
• • •
Zhou Zishu was an experienced man in the art of flirting so when he noticed the note under the cup of coffee with Wen Kexing's phone number he just rolled his eyes and added his number, just because. He said " Hello ." and that may have been a mistake.
Wen Kexing was really talkative. He got good morning, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight messages sometimes along with pictures of him, asking for him to send pictures back -all he got were pictures of wine, though-. He was, Zishu would say, annoying. But not the kind of annoying that would bother him.
Zhou Zishu couldn't explain it but he felt as if he met Wen Kexing a long time ago. Even with daily reminders that he wanted to fuck him, it was so easy to talk to him, as if they already talked every day for a lifetime.
"I think you're my soulmate, Zhou Zishu. I'm willing to abandon all my responsibilities to take good care of you for the rest of my life, what do you think?" Wen Kexing said once. It was probably the third or fourth time they met after that day in the coffee shop.
They were in a park, sitting on a bank. There were a lot of people and kids playing around, but Wen Kexing didn't care about anything at all. He talked so freely and loudly as always, as if he was reciting a poem instead of talking to a friend. Yes, he considered Wen Kexing a friend. A pretty talkative friend. Someone he felt the need to protect, even when they had the same age, but he wouldn't dare to say those things out loud. After all, if Wen Kexing heard him say that he would either laugh like a lunatic or die because of a heart attack. He didn't want to risk it.
Sometimes Zishu wondered if Kexing didn't have anything to do. He could be working or doing something productive, but he chose to follow him during his breaks every day.
Actually, he found him cute. Being willing to chase someone just because your guts told you that person was your soulmate. Zhou Zishu could never, but maybe he didn't have to go too far to find his own soulmate.
"I think you should shut the fuck up."
"Make me." Wen Kexing smirked.
A sarcastic laugh left Zhou Zishu's mouth and then he just casually put his hands over Wen Kexing mouth and said: "If you cook for me tomorrow I may or not consider to let you take care of me for the rest of my life."
He could feel Wen Kexing's smile under his hand.
A day after that, he found out Wen Kexing cooking skills weren't bad at all.
They met a couple more times.
Zhou Zishu complained about his job, especially the lazy teenagers and that old woman that told him that he should get married everytime she saw him. Wen Kexing mostly complained about Gu Xiang leaving him. Zishu would try to comfort him, but he learnt that he just had to listen. He was a good listener. Zishu thought of Kexing as a nice companion, but the kind of companion that he -only sometimes- would think of kissing. Not that he would say it out loud.
"Lao Wen, are you happy now?" Zishu asked once when they were in the closed coffee shop.
"Yes, I am happy now." Wen Kexing didn't seem to think too much about his answer. "I met you," he added. After a minute or so he asked, "And you?"
"I'm happy too."
They both smiled.
After a while, Zhou Zishu thought he probably made it hard for him in another lifetime, so it wouldn't hurt to be nice to him sometimes. For two weeks, they would even call and go to dates -he would let Kexing call them dates-, where they both complained about stuff, joked and flirted, but never more than that.
Zhou Zishu worked as a teacher of physical education and gave self-defense classes on Saturday nights just for fun, so even after spending a considerable amount of time with Wen Kexing, he didn't think he would cancel his class to end in a situation as dumb as the one where he was: in Wen Kexing's house, with the man pinned against the wall while they kissed. God, they were just kissing but it felt like a fight. Both of their tongues trying to gain the battle and their teeth clashing with each other. They separated for a second so they could breathe and Wen Kexing used that opportunity to invert the roles and suddenly Zhou Zishu was the one pinned against the wall.
He was supposed to go and help him organize the place because it was a mess since Gu Xiang moved, so Zhou Zishu had no idea of how they end up like that. Maybe it was because Wen Kexing talked way too much so he couldn't help but look at his lips from time to time. His lips seemed so soft so...
Wen Kexing smiled and said: "You look so good today. Would you let me..."
Zhou Zishu didn't say anything he just gasped, which made Kexing's smile wider. Wen Kexing started to kiss his neck. His lips felt soft again on his skin, but Zishu couldn't help but poke him.
"Ouch!" Wen Kexing whimpered.
Zhou Zishu grabbed Wen Kexing by his waist and got closer to his lips as if he wanted to say or do something. The taller one didn't even blink. In all of his dates, Zhou Zishu always felt physically distant and didn't dare to make any bold move. Even though Wen Kexing thought he should always assurance dominance, there was something on Zhou Zishu holding his waist that was making him lose his sanity and made him almost say do whatever you want to do with me . But his hands were faster than his brain and made their way to the bottoms of Zhou Zishu's shirt, desperately unbuttoning it.
Zhou Zishu left his waist and used the hand that was grabbing it to hold Kexing's naughty hands. He kissed them softly while the taller one looked at him, eyes wide open.
"Are you being sincere?" Zhou Zishu asked.
"What do you mean? Why are you asking that?" Wen Kexing replied, but Zishu didn't answer. "I am sincere." this time, he took Zishu's hands and kissed them, "I know we only met by chance, but I think of you as my soulmate. I'd like to know what do you think of me, but with your personality, you may have to take your time to answer that. I like you, and it is more than an infatuation. I am being sincere."
"Idiot." Wen Kexing frowned, but he was smiling. "I like you."
"A-Xu! You should try harder. I gave you such a sincere speech and you just say that."
"What did you just call me?" Zhou Zishu raised an eyebrow.
"I called you A-Xu! It goes well with you, doesn't it?" Zhou Zishu didn't answer, instead, he just blushed, while trying to not look at Wen Kexing eyes. Suddenly his eyes were too scary for him to look at.
Wen Kexing held him by his chin, making Zhou Zishu look at him in the eyes. Both of their gazes meeting. The taller one smirked, "Someone is being shy." he said. His hands were still holding Zhishu's chin. He looked as if he wanted to say something else; instead, he just kissed him again. This time, the kiss was rather soft and gentle.
They separated for a second. Zhou Zishu couldn't help but cradle Wen Kexing's face. He was blushing.
"We, we can...my bedroom, it's-" Kexing's words were interrupted by the sound of his phone. He cursed and didn't even check who was calling, "What do you need?"
"Gege, why are you so mean?" Oh, it was Gu Xiang.
"Sorry, A-Xiang. I was doing something..."
"Zhou Zishu?"
"What?"
"Nothing! I wanted to remember you that my wedding is in two days. Remember to bring a great gift and a friend. Bye!" She said and hung up the phone.
Wen Kexing frowned. He had yet to get a gift for her.
"What happened?" Zishu asked.
"Uh, nothing. It was just A-Xiang. I don't have a gift for her wedding. What do you think I could gift her?"
“Money?”
“Good idea. Mmm, I can think about it later. As I was saying,” Wen Kexing placed his hands on Zhou Zishu's waist, stroking it and then holding it tightly. “my bedroom is upstairs.”
Zhou Zishu smiled: “Lao Wen, why are you so desperate?”
“A-Xu, when will you stop teasing me? Yes, I am desperate, what's wrong with it? I can't even remember the last time I had sex, why are you making it so hard for me? I'm not going to praise your self-control if that's what you're expecting. And we are like a couple now, there's nothing to be scared about. I can, and I will take good care of you. If you let me, of course.”
“We are like a couple now?” Zhou Zishu raised both of his eyebrows before this sudden realization. Wen Kexing just nodded. “Will you let me take good care of you as well?”
Wen Kexing didn't answer; he took his hands away from Zishu's waist and places them on his chest —that was now visible because of the previous unbuttoned shirt—, touching his soft skin. His hands traveled to Zishu's face, gently caressing it. Then he finally spoke, with his face way too close to Zishu's and their lips almost touching, with a small smile on his face, he said, “Do as you wish.”
So he did.
• • •
It was the day of A-Xiang's wedding.
In the end, Wen Kexing decided to gift her money in a red envelope. Zhou Zishu did the same thing.
“You!” Gu Xiang screamed at Zhou Zishu when he gave her the red envelope after the wedding ceremony. Cao Weining was greeting everyone, looking like the happiest boy alive. On the other hand, Gu Xiang was really pretty, dressing all in white and looking so calm and collected, until she spoke.
“What did I do?” Zhou Zishu asked, innocently.
But he knew why she was acting like that.
When she was doing the wedding preparations with Cao Weining, she made sure he didn't see her dress before the wedding by contracting Wen Kexing as her personal bodyguard, it was just that her personal bodyguard was always with Zhou Zishu, who liked to tease her at any chance he had. Gu Xiang, of course, would complain about it to Wen Kexing, but he wouldn't do anything other than saying “A-Xu, why are you like this?” before starting to act all clingy towards him. The poor girl didn't know her gege would betray her like that.
“Forget it! I'm glad you two are here. I want to take this opportunity to tell you to take care of my brother. I have to take care of Cao Weining now.” Gu Xiang said with an extremely serious.
“A-Xiang, don't speak nonsense. It's you who's getting married today.” Kexing said. “By the way, where's that boy? It's been like five minutes since I saw him. Did he run away already?”
“He wouldn't dare.” Gu Xiang smiled. Wen Kexing smiled back. “I have to help him greet people now. See you guys later!” she said before leaving the two men alone.
Zhou Zishu took Wen Kexing's hand. It was cold.
“Lao Wen...” he started, but he didn't really know what to say. He knew Wen Kexing was extremely happy for Gu Xiang, but at the same time, he was worried because he wouldn't be the one in charge of taking care of her now. Zhou Zishu wasn't good at comforting people, so he just squeezed his hand and rest his head on his shoulder.
“A-Xu, I've told you like ten times that I am fine.” he squeezed his hand back, “I am so happy actually. I was so scared. I don't know a lot of people. I've been living a good life, but I didn't have any friends of my age that could understand me. A-Xiang is like a little sister to me, but there isn't that much for us to talk about, yet I've always enjoyed her company. I knew someday we wouldn't live in the same house, but I didn't want to think that much about it. When she told me she would get married I was scared that I would be lonely. And then I met you.”
“Right on time,” Zishu said.
“Destiny is a funny thing.” Wen Kexing said. He pushed Zhou Zishu's head away with a toss.
“Hey!” Zhou Zishu said but Wen Kexing just laughed, hugging him by his waist.
“I've told you this a thousand times already but I'm glad I met you.”
“I'm glad I met you too, dumbass.”
“Then let's get married.” Zhou Zishu swallowed so hard he nearly choked.
“Yeah, whatever,” he said, rolling his eyes.
“Did you just say yes?”
“I said, yeah, whatever.”
“A-Xu! Can you act like a normal person in love for once? We are in a wedding, I'm hugging you, there's a beautiful sunset and when I ask you if you want to formally spend the rest of your life with me you just say that.” Wen Kexing shooked his head.
Zhou Zishu held him by the collar of his suit and pressed a kiss on his lips, “I want to formally spend the rest of my life with you and shit. Can you shut up now?”
“As you please.” Wen Kexing said before kissing him back.
In fact, destiny was such a funny thing.