Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Miss Keqing, here are the reports about the construction of Lingju bridge that you’ve requested. Is there anything else you would like me to compile?”

Keqing lifted her eyes from the document she was reading and found Huixin, her secretary, placing an armful of thick folders on her already fully stacked desk.

Drawing in a long breath, she massaged the spot between her eyebrows to stave off the headache that began to form behind her eyes. “Thanks, Huixin. I think that’s all for today. You can go home now and enjoy your break.”

The look on Huixin’s face, initially shadowed with worry, instantly brightened up at her dismissal. “Thank you, Miss Keqing! I will excuse myself now then. I hope you have a lovely holiday too!”

With that, she bowed happily and hurried away, leaving Keqing to stare at her quick departure with some kind of…unpleasant feeling in her chest.

It wasn’t that she disliked Huixin for wanting to hurry home on the eve of Moonchase festival, of course. Keqing might be a workaholic to a fault but even she knew that expecting employees to work overtime on a holiday would be too much. She just felt sour because she knew that she wouldn’t have a lovely holiday.

Keqing sighed and stood up from her chair.

Rolling her stiff neck, she brought her cup of coffee that had turned cold to the floor-to-ceiling window behind her desk, sipping it quietly and watching the city light below.

Around this time of the year, the streets of Liyue were always peppered with colorful lanterns and filled with boisterous crowd. Keqing could almost hear the sound of the dragon dance if she closed her eyes and pretended that she wasn’t nestled so high up in her tower.

Surely, families from all over the nation were having reunions right now to celebrate the Moonchase festival together.

Keqing’s own family, however, was not up for reunion.

Her father and mother, both having come from affluent families of real estate tycoons, were always scattered on different parts of the globe to oversee their businesses.

Ever since Keqing was a child, she could only see them once or twice a year if she was lucky. If she wasn’t, she didn’t get to see them for two or three years straight.

Keqing sighed again.

She knew that she shouldn’t complain, really – her parents had backed her up with so many resources that other people would struggle for a lifetime to attain and they had even trusted her a company branch at the age of 30 – but sometimes, just sometimes, she felt a little lonely.

The loneliness liked to make its presence in her chest gape wider on a quiet night like this too, when she swept her gaze over the dim office outside hers and found nothing but rows and rows of empty desks staring back at her in silence.

Keqing exhaled and threw back the rest of her cold coffee into her throat.

Since she had no one to go home to, she might as well get some job done in the office.

Settling on her chair again, she was about to resume reading when she realized that something had slipped out of her pantsuit’s pocket and fallen to the floor.

Her eyes widened slightly when she noticed what it was.

Bending over, she picked up the handkerchief near her heel with hurry as if letting it lie on the pristine marble floor for even one more second would soil it somehow.

Running her fingers over the faded embroidery of blue and white that formed the small patterns of Qingxin, she dusted it off carefully as if it was anything but an old, tattered piece of cloth.

So immersed she was in caring for the frayed handkerchief, the ringing of her phone almost missed her.

“Keqing! What the hell are you doing still holing up in your office? It’s already seven p.m. and tomorrow’s holiday!” Yanfei’s loud voice attacked her the second she picked up her phone, and Keqing pulled the device away from her ear with a grimace.

She should have known better than pressing her phone so close to her ear when it was her best friend calling, really.

“Gods, Yanfei. Will you ever speak in normal volume? You’re splitting my eardrum.” Keqing made a face as she brought the phone closer again. “How do you know that I’m still in the office anyway? For all you know, I may be at home already, peacefully trying to catch up on some nap before you yelled all the sleep out of my soul.”

Yanfei laughed unapologetically from the other end. “It’s because I’m currently in your apartment and it’s empty, you idiot.”

Keqing sighed, massaging her forehead again. “I really regret giving you the access code to my apartment sometimes. You know that, right?”

“Nope, I don’t. But I know that you love getting pestered by me. Otherwise, you would have changed your code a long time ago.”

Keqing hated it when Yanfei used her lawyer voice on her. Especially when she was being right. “Listen, why are you in my apartment anyway? Aren’t you supposed to celebrate the festival with Hu Tao? Did you guys break up and she kicked you out of your shared apartment or something?”

“Your faith in my relationship is appalling but no, thanks, we’re still together. We’ll keep making you suffer as our third wheel.”

Keqing rolled her eyes. Her annoyance was cut short though, because Yanfei’s jest suddenly came up with an unusual, anxious edge. “Uh, look, I actually come here because I need to ask you for a help. It’s something really important.”

For a moment, worry pricked at Keqing sharply because it was rather odd that Yanfei had to come see her face-to-face for a favor instead of just firing off a text.

“What is it?” she asked without thinking, knowing that whatever it was, she would do it if her friend was in a dire situation.

Yanfei’s answer, however, was not the kind of emergency that she had expected. “Ganyu-jie is coming home tomorrow. This is – um, this is all very sudden. You know that I’ve already made promise to Hu Tao’s parents about visiting them with Hu Tao tomorrow. So…I’ll need your help to pick my sister up at the airport if you can.”

The world seemed to stop spinning as Keqing tried to absorb the words. And for a brief moment, everything around her seemed to fall to a complete silence too.

Then, her heart thundered loudly in her chest. “What?”

“Um…my big sister is coming home tomorrow,” Yanfei restated, speaking so unusually slowly as if she knew just what kind of impact that information had on Keqing.

Keqing’s fingers tightened around her phone. “What – why? She – she has never come home for any holiday ever since she got married.”

“Well, this isn’t exactly for Moonchase,” Yanfei exhaled, sounding to be in disbelief herself. “She’s moving back permanently. She said, um, she’s filing for a divorce.”

The world came to a screeching halt again for Keqing. In that span of moment, all she could register was the wild pounding of her heart in her chest.

“Do you think you can pick her up?” Yanfei asked again, mistaking her stunned silence as refusal. “I’m sorry, I know that you haven’t spoken to her ever since she got married, but you’re the only one she really knows around here and she sounded very distraught when she called me earlier, so –”

“It’s – it’s okay! I’ll pick her up tomorrow,” Keqing answered, almost in a hurry. “I – I can drive to the airport tomorrow to pick her up,” she said again, more steadily.

Yanfei’s sigh was clearly relieved. “Thanks, Keqing. I know I can count on you. I’ll text you her flight details later.” She hesitated for a moment – sounding like she wanted to add something else – but then refrained from it. “I’ll get out from your annoyingly fancy apartment now then.”

Keqing only realized what it was that she had refrained from saying when the line was already off. Yanfei was about to ask her if she needed Ganyu’s phone number.

But of course, both of them knew that it would be unnecessary.

Although Keqing had never contacted Ganyu again ever since that day, her number had never left her phone.

After all, Ganyu herself had never really left her heart.

----------------------------------

The first time Keqing met Ganyu, she was crying all snottily at the small park behind her school.

Keqing never really cried anymore these days, but back when she was only ten, all it took to make her bawl her eyes out was some stupid boys bullying her unjustly.

“Will you stop snitching about us skipping classes to the teachers?!” One of the boys had shoved her on the shoulder, sending her tumbling to the ground unceremoniously with the sheer force of his push.

“It wasn’t me!” Keqing had shouted back in frustration, although her eyes brimmed with tears that didn’t quite match the fierceness of her voice.

The unfairness of the false accusation coupled with the burn on her palms that were scraped by the coarse gravels that she had fallen onto made it difficult to not tear up.

“Stop lying!” One of them yelled again, pointing an accusing finger at her. “Who else would seek attention from the teachers? It must be you! You always reminded them whenever they forgot to collect the homework too!”

Keqing opened her mouth to say that the two things weren’t even related – are these boys really this dumb? – but one of them, who was much bigger than her, shoved her again before she could even stand back up properly.

Keqing’s right wrist cracked with a sharp noise when it broke her fall this time. The stinging pain that shot up from that wrist was so bad, she ended up wailing out loudly on the ground despite her attempt to remain sturdy.

All her dignity be damned, she sobbed out with both of her lungs.

“Hey! What are you boys doing there?” A girlish voice scolded them from behind, and although it sounded too soft to be properly angry, it carried a certain strictness in it that made the boys whip around with fright.

For a second, Keqing thought that it was one of their teachers finding them in the park, but apparently, it was a high school student with a uniform that she didn’t recognize.

The jiejie sported a high ponytail that was tied up by a black and red bowtie, somehow making an unusual but perfect match of colors that complimented her sky-blue hair.

The boys seemed to panic for a second that someone had caught them ganging up on a girl. “W-who are you? Go away! This has nothing to do with you!”

The jiejie swept a sharper look at their uniforms and then leveled her gaze with them again. “You’re from the Qixing primary school, yes? My father’s a teacher there. If you don’t want your teachers and parents to learn about you bullying a girl half your size like this, I suggest you to leave her alone now and run off.”

Her voice was still incredibly even, but there was an unmistakable strength brimming behind it that made the boys simply reluctant to talk back to her.

They cast a look at each other – seemingly debating among themselves whether they should listen to her or not – before finally scampering off like little chickens.

Most of them – most of the kids from the Qixing chain of schools, really – came from renowned families and their parents valued their public image highly. The boys knew that there would be punishment if their parents learned about their unruly conduct.

“Hi there, are you okay?” The kind jiejie – Ganyu, her nametag stated – crouched in front of Keqing and lowered her bag onto the dusty ground. She tilted her head to the side to get a better look at Keqing’s face.

Keqing nodded, lifting her hands to rub at her eyes so she could stop the tears from flowing. She had, however, forgotten that her palms were all dirty from soil.

“Oh no, your face’s getting all dusty.” Ganyu searched into her pocket upon seeing her mess of a face and fished out a clean, blue handkerchief.

Keqing sat there and remained sniffling foolishly as Ganyu attended to her, wiping her cheeks and nose with the fresh piece of cloth.

It smelled of Qingxin flowers somehow.

“Thanks,” she said once Ganyu was done, blinking up at her with clearer eyes. Now that her sight was no longer shrouded by thick tears, she could see that this kind jiejie who had saved her was also very…pretty.

“Um…your handkerchief got all dirty because of me,” Keqing pointed at it, frowning with guilt. “I’m sorry.”

Ganyu didn’t seem to mind, however, as she only chuckled gently and held Keqing’s right hand up for assessment. After examining it for a while, she decided to wrap the handkerchief around her reddened wrist.

“I’m not sure if your wrist is broken or not, but I think it’ll be better to immobilize it for now.” She secured the handkerchief tightly and then looked up to meet Keqing’s eyes with a smile. “You should get it checked by a doctor soon. Do you know your parents’ number? I’ll call them up for you.”

Keqing’s heart sank a bit because as much as she wanted to call her mom and dad, both of them weren’t even in Liyue at the moment.

The last time Keqing had seen them was…three months ago.

“I…my parents can’t come even if we call them.” She looked down, somehow feeling dejected at her own admission. Ganyu seemed surprised though, so Keqing added on hurriedly, “I – I have a nanny and a driver waiting for me though. They’re probably at the school’s parking lot now.”

The surprised look on Ganyu’s face finally eased out a bit. She smiled again. “Alright then. I’ll walk you back to your school?” She stood up, eyes curving into crescents as she offered her hand for Keqing. Keqing took it and got herself pulled up.

She was a lot shorter than Ganyu apparently, only reaching her elbow height.

“Why did those boys bother you?” Ganyu asked, walking hand-in-hand with her through the park and helping her cross the road to her school.

Keqing huffed slightly as she recalled. “They thought I snitched about them skipping classes to the teachers.”

A soft laugh emanated from her side. “You didn’t?”

“I didn’t!” Keqing huffed again, jumping a little and pulling the strap of her backpack with indignance. “They just thought that it was me because I’m the teachers’ favorite.”

Looking back on it, Keqing realized that she had probably sounded a bit cocky even as a child. But Ganyu had only chuckled gently at her back then. “You must be smart then,” she had said lightly, her eyes still curving with smile as she looked down on Keqing who was clinging to her hand, “only the smart and hardworking students are the teachers’ favorite.”

Sometimes, Keqing thought that one of the reasons why she had studied so hard in schools all those years ago was because it just felt so good – so warm – to hear those compliments from Ganyu.

Sure, she had strived for good grades because she had wanted to impress her parents and get their attention at first, but over time, as the years passed, those reasons faded in significance compared to the sincerity of Ganyu’s praises and proud smiles that she gave whenever Keqing raced to her with good news.

And then somehow, somewhere along the years, that childish wish to impress Ganyu eventually turned into a different kind of wish entirely.

Keqing couldn’t tell for sure when it had happened, but somewhere between rushing to tell Ganyu about her graduation as the valedictorian of her high school and bringing Ganyu the news of her acceptance to the college she had desperately wanted, Keqing realized that she no longer only wanted compliments from Ganyu.

She wanted Ganyu to hold her longer when they celebrated a happy news together.

She wanted Ganyu to land a kiss on her cheek when she did something well instead of only laughing “Good job” and ruffling the top of her head.

She wanted Ganyu to stop viewing her only as a cute, silly junior and started looking at her as someone who stood on the same ground.

Keqing stopped bringing Ganyu her silly little achievements then and started bringing her flowers during her college years.

But not long after that, Ganyu had graduated from her own college and started working in another city. While Keqing was still struggling over her stupid exams, Ganyu was already out there, juggling with bigger responsibilities that eventually took their time.

And when Keqing had finished college, thinking that she could finally catch up with the person she had kept dear in her heart and properly confess, Ganyu had already found someone else.

The first time Keqing met Ganyu, she was crying foolishly.

The last time she met Ganyu, she was crying foolishly too.

But at that time, she was alone and inconsolable, hiding pathetically in the restroom behind the reception hall of Ganyu’s wedding.

Was she too late?

Could the outcome be different if she hadn’t waited to confess?

Or did she not have any chance since the beginning because Ganyu had never viewed her as that kind of person anyway?

Sometimes, even up to this day, Keqing still wondered about these questions.

“Keqing?” A soft, once familiar voice pulled her out of her trance, and Keqing’s heart jumped to her throat when she looked up from her shoes and found the person she had been reminiscing about standing only a few meters apart from her.

Ganyu stood in front of the arrival gate, doing nothing but staring at her too with her fingers wrapped tightly around the handle of her suitcase.

She had really aged well, Keqing noticed.

Compared to that high school jiejie that she had first met in the park, the 35-year-old Ganyu that stood before her now was taller and even prettier. Gone was the rounder shape of her younger face, and its place, rose the sharper, more prominent bone structure that had come naturally with her maturity.

Compared to the 28-year-old Ganyu that Keqing had last seen on her wedding seven years ago, however, the Ganyu that stood before her now seemed…rather dim.

Her purple eyes no longer shone with that joyful brightness that Keqing had last seen.

She just seemed…tired now.

“Ganyu – jie,” Keqing cleared her throat, willing her hands to stop shaking as she forced a smile on her face. “It’s been a while since I saw you. How have you been?”

She regretted the question the moment it left her mouth because really, what kind of stupid question was that? Ganyu obviously wasn’t well.

Nobody could have been well after filing for a divorce so recently.

Ganyu let out a soft, awkward laugh that sounded rather self-deprecating as she tried to mull over Keqing’s question. “Um, I’m alright, I think,” she said after a while, saving Keqing from further embarrassment. “How have you been? I – I haven’t heard from you for so long – you haven’t contacted me for a really long time.”

Keqing swallowed the guilt in her throat. “Well, I...um, I’ve been doing well. Let’s chat more about it on our way back, shall we? It’s a little, um, busy around here.”

She moved to take Ganyu’s heavy luggage, realizing just then that Ganyu was pulling it with her left hand because her right arm was carrying something – someone – else.

Keqing had been so in her own head that she had completely missed out the fact that Ganyu was carrying a sleeping child in her arm.

She had heard often about this child – from Yanfei’s squeals at Hu Tao about how adorable her niece was – but somehow, in all her restlessness after hearing about Ganyu’s comeback yesterday, she had forgotten that the older woman must be coming back with her daughter.

After all, knowing Ganyu, she wouldn’t have left her child under the care of someone she had deemed…terrible enough to divorce.

It was a biased conclusion from Keqing’s side, perhaps, but the Ganyu that she had known all her life was just too patient and forgiving to be doing something like this without a very strong reason. A reason that would have undoubtedly made other people pull the trigger way earlier.

“Qiqi, isn’t it? Her name?” Keqing smiled, and this time she didn’t have to force herself because despite her unsavory feelings about Ganyu’s…ex-husband, the peaceful kid looked too much like Ganyu to remind her of anyone else. “How old is she?”

“She’s six years old.” Ganyu let out a small laugh, and this time, her smile actually reached her eyes too. “She talks like she’s a lot older though, so you’ll probably get surprised when she wakes up.”

Ganyu tried to refuse Keqing’s attempt to take her suitcase away but she eventually gave in because it was difficult for her to carry a six-year-old child with one arm.

Qiqi kept clinging to Ganyu’s neck and dozing off peacefully as they made their way to the parking lot to find Keqing’s car. Once they deposited Qiqi safely on the backseat, they settled on their seats up front too.

“You don’t use a driver anymore,” Ganyu said, both a question and an observation.

Keqing’s cheeks colored slightly as she started the engine. “Yeah, well, I’m finally not followed around like a princess anymore now that I’m 30.”

Ganyu let out a quiet chuckle at her embarrassment. “Please. Your parents were just worried about you after that broken wrist incident. I was, too.”

Keqing’s eyes were set on the roads ahead but she could feel that Ganyu was staring at the side of her face for a while. It made her skin tingle with warmth.

“How are they, by the way? Your parents? Are they doing well?”

“They’re doing fine, I think.” Keqing blew out some air, attempting to cover her eternal bitterness at the topic with a joke. “I mean, I haven’t heard anything from any of their assistants, so everything must be going fine. Otherwise, they would have called me all hysterically.”

Usually, Keqing could keep her real emotions from showing – especially when she was handling things with her business associates – but that skill seemed to die a pitiful death whenever she was faced with Ganyu.

“You still miss them a lot,” Ganyu concluded quietly, somehow seeing through her attempt at joke effortlessly. A frown marred her gentle features. “How long has it been since you last saw them? I know that they can get…quite busy.”

Keqing ended up with a half laugh. Quite was an understatement. “I don’t remember, really. Three years? Four years? Something like that, I think.”

“But it used to be more often –" Ganyu stopped herself upon realizing that Keqing’s nonexistent family life had only gotten worse over the years and sighed. “If they have no time to visit Liyue, why don’t you…visit them? I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you.”

Keqing let out a bitter chuckle. “Well, I have too many things to handle in Liyue now to just jet off,” she swallowed, “besides, I’m sure they won’t be too happy to see me if it means that I’m neglecting one of their biggest branches.”

“Right…Yanfei told me that you’re one of the directors at your family’s business now.” The soft creases on Ganyu’s brow deepened slightly.

Keqing’s heart jumped a bit at the fact that Ganyu was talking about her with Yanfei. God, she hoped her friend didn’t say anything stupid.

“You’re amazing, as usual,” Ganyu muttered afterwards, her voice quiet but sincere with a smile. “Not everyone can pull off such a big role at such a young age.”

“Well, that’s because not everyone was born with silver spoon in their mouths,” Keqing jested. She steered the car carefully to a right turn so she wouldn’t wake Qiqi up with an accidental bump. The child must be tired too after the long journey.

“That’s true, but you’re also very hardworking,” Ganyu refused to let her play down her efforts easily. “I still remember you studying with Yanfei in her room and chugging two cups of coffee while she dozed off at midnight.” She chortled at the memory. “I came to wake you both at sunrise but you were still awake.”

She whirled to look at Keqing again then and her gaze turned tender. “I’m sure that without your own hard work, you won’t be standing where you are today. You should give yourself some credits.”

Keqing might be 30 years old now, but her cheeks still heated with embarrassing red whenever Ganyu looked at her like that and complimented her sincerely like she was the greatest person on the planet.

Also, Ganyu still remembered those little things about her? How…unexpected.

“Thanks,” Keqing mumbled nervously, praying hard that her colored cheeks would go unnoticed. Her brain racked around quickly for a change of topic. “Speaking of Yanfei, you haven’t met for a while too, have you?”

She had meant to ask it to deflect, but the second the smile on Ganyu’s face dimmed, Keqing felt like she should have just stayed quiet and suffered.

Ganyu looked down at her own hands – tangling nervously on her lap – before flicking her gaze out of the window. “Ah…my – my ex-husband didn’t like it very much if I left the house. It was usually Yanfei who came to visit me.”

Okay, so the husband – ex-husband, Ganyu had said, despite the papers being just filed – was a bit of a control freak, it seemed. No wonder Yanfei had said that Ganyu had quitted her job after her marriage.

Keqing had thought that it was odd back then, considering just how much Ganyu loved doing her job as a tax consultant.

She might have scolded Keqing often for overstudying herself in college back then, but to be honest, she wasn’t that much different from her.

Keqing still remembered Ganyu toiling away at those tax reports of various firms with the determination of a soldier that wouldn’t go home unless they had won the battle.

“I see,” she replied neutrally, noticing that speaking about this particular topic only brought Ganyu discomfort. “Well, anyway, now you’ll get to see her often. And oh, her girlfriend, Hu Tao, is a riot by the way. You’ve been warned.”

Ganyu’s lips quirked up into a small smile. “I’ve been told. I won’t be staying at their apartment for too long, though. I…I don’t want to intrude on their life. I think I’ll go back to my old house soon.”

Keqing whipped her head around to look at her – nearly forgetting that she was driving – before turning to face ahead again. “Um…are you sure? That house has been in disuse for a long time. It must be quite a mess.”

Ganyu and Yanfei were raised by their single father. By the time that their father had passed and Ganyu had moved to another city for work, Yanfei had only stayed in their house for a few more years. After that, she got together with Hu Tao and moved out.

“I can patch it up,” Ganyu smiled, seemingly a bit ashamed and woeful. “I’m the older sister…I shouldn’t trouble my younger sister too much. Even you, I – I feel bad enough for having to trouble you today. Yanfei insisted that you would pick me up even though I said that I could take a cab –”

“It’s not a trouble,” Keqing cut her off, not wanting her to worry over such a small help from her. “Even if she didn’t ask me to pick you up, I’d offer if I knew that she couldn’t.”

The anxiousness in Ganyu’s eyes seemed to fade a little then and her smile relaxed.

Keqing regretted turning to steal a glimpse and seeing that smile because a panicked wave rose in her chest. Was she saying too much?

“I – I don’t really have anything to do today anyway. It’s holiday,” she added hurriedly, cracking with a nervous laugh. “You know that I have no one at home to celebrate the Moonchase festival with.”

“Well then…” Ganyu mulled it over, seemingly brightening with a faint hint of mischief before asking her, “would you like to stay for dinner with us tonight?”

Keqing knew that she had set herself up with no way out the moment that light, smiley question hit her. Her brain went into a mini panic.

“Ah, come on,” Ganyu coaxed, “I’ll even make you those golden shrimp balls you used to obsess over. You shouldn’t work yourself so hard during a holiday like this.”

Keqing did have a ton of work still waiting for her at home but…faced with that slightly brighter smile on a face that was previously so dim? What was a little work to delay?

------------------------------------

The reason why Keqing thought that getting invited to spend Moonchase with Ganyu and Yanfei would be a bad idea was not because she wanted to avoid Ganyu.

Despite her awkwardness that still hadn’t fully subsided, her bitter determination to avoid Ganyu had phased out around two or three years ago.

At first, heartbroken, Keqing had done everything in her power to avoid contacting Ganyu again after her wedding. Back then, she had desperately wished to move on.

After several years of spectacularly failed relationships with others, however, she had come to realize that sometimes, there were certain people in life that one couldn’t quite shake off from their heart no matter what.

From there on, Keqing’s feelings about contacting Ganyu had morphed from absolute refusal to something akin to regret.

She had been thinking that maybe, if she hadn’t been so childish as to cut off every single contact with Ganyu who knew nothing about her feelings and did nothing wrong to her, they could have remained as close friends.

So, no. It wasn’t spending more time with Ganyu that she dreaded.

It was her best friend’s reaction – and more worryingly, her best friend’s girlfriend’s reaction – that she was truly afraid of.

“Ganyu-jie! Ah, I’ve missed you so much!” Yanfei practically hurled herself across the room the second she saw Ganyu, pouncing into her arms and squeezing her to near death like she hadn’t seen her since the rise of Liyue.

Ganyu and Keqing had arrived in the apartment a few hours earlier and had begun preparing dinner with what they could dig from Yanfei’s fridge, waiting for the rowdy pair to come home after visiting Hu Tao’s parents at the neighboring city.

Ganyu chuckled and patted her little sister on the back. “There, there, Xiaofei. Let me breathe a little, will you? You’re not exactly five and small anymore.”

Yanfei released her overexcited hold around Ganyu’s neck and took a step back to observe her. Then, her face contorted with a frown. “Jie, you’ve gotten even thinner compared to the last time I saw you. That darned man, I’ll really –”

“Ahem!” Keqing cleared her throat loudly – so loudly that it hurt – and bent down to pick a can of tomato sauce that she might or might not have knocked off the kitchen counter intentionally.

Yanfei stopped running her mouth upon hearing the clanging noise and promptly shut up when she spotted Keqing’s deadly glare. Read the room, oh my god.

Keqing knew that something like this would happen because while Ganyu tended to be quiet and accepting, Yanfei was the exact opposite. She would seethe at the tiniest injustice and seek to make the perpetrator pay. Let alone the perpetrator who had hurt her sister’s heart.

Thankfully, Ganyu’s back was to Keqing, so by the time she turned around, Keqing had finished glaring at her little sister and had flashed a friendly grin again. “Sorry, this can is rather slippery. It’s so loud too when it’s supposed to be quiet.”

The veiled sarcasm didn’t miss Hu Tao who had been watching the entire thing and doubling over with laughter.

Yanfei narrowed her eyes at the two of them. Then, she seemed to remember that she hadn’t introduced Hu Tao to her sister. “Oh, right! Jie, let me introduce you to my girlfriend. This is –”

“Hu Tao!” Hu Tao grinned and finished the introduction herself, never the one to shy away from a new person. “I run a funeral parlor not far from here. If jiejie ever needs to burry anyone who’s been wronging jiejie, Hu Tao will be happy to help.” She winked while shaking Ganyu’s hand, and Keqing swore she wanted to pass out.

Are these two for real?

Just when she thought Hu Tao could save them from Yanfei’s uncomfortable direction of conversation, she had made a joke about burying Ganyu’s ex-husband instead!

Keqing wished she could reach across the kitchenette and smack them upside down. Ganyu, however, bless her kind soul, only laughed softly at the two idiots.

“That’s quite… an interesting business field,” she said amiably. “How did you meet my sister? Surely, she wasn’t hanging out at a funeral parlor?”

Hu Tao grinned as she looped an arm around Yanfei’s waist and pulled her over. “This one wanted forensics to run an autopsy on someone I’ve already buried. Naturally, I objected. As the wise people said: let the dead rest. We ended up having a big fight when she came to find me in the funeral parlor.”

She bumped Yanfei with her hip and the girl bumped her back while rolling her eyes. “The dead cannot rest unless their murderer is brought to justice, Hu Tao.”

A lighthearted laugh escaped Ganyu as she watched the two girls debate. Maybe the two idiots had their use after all…Keqing thought.

“Anyway, what are we having for dinner tonight?” Yanfei asked once she was done rapping her arguments to her obnoxious girlfriend, tilting her head to look at Keqing who was still standing behind the kitchen counter.

Then, she looked at Ganyu with mild horror. “Jie, I can’t believe you’re letting Keqing do the cooking. Her cooking is more terrible than Hu Tao’s and mine combined.”

“Excuse me?” Keqing barked, although her voice lacked indignance because…Yanfei wasn’t exactly wrong. She had been struggling with the fish in her hands for several minutes too long now. How exactly should one clean and prepare a fish?

Couldn’t she just shove a stick into it and fry it?

Years of being so busy and having no time to cook for herself had finally showed their embarrassing result.

Ganyu smiled as she walked around the kitchen counter to stand beside her. “Keqing’s cooking isn’t bad,” she defended her honestly, making Keqing’s face heat up because now Yanfei and Hutao were giving her a look.

Ever since Ganyu introduced her to Yanfei – her sister who happened to be the same age as Keqing – all those years ago, Yanfei had always playfully whined about how Ganyu tended to spoil Keqing more than she spoiled her.

It had been all fun and laugh when they were younger…but ever since they got older, Yanfei’s teasing had gained a completely new undertone.

Keqing’s cheeks colored red and it had nothing to do with the hot steam that came out from the pot she was standing over.

Just when she felt like she was reacting too awkwardly, someone else came out of the bedroom to save the day.

“Mom?” Qiqi stood in front of the bedroom Ganyu had put her in earlier, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she blinked up at all of them curiously. For a moment, she seemed confused by the number of new faces inside the room.

A warm smile bloomed on Ganyu’s face as she walked over to pick her up. “Qiqi, you woke up. Do you remember who this is?”

Qiqi blinked up at Yanfei, who immediately assumed a silly, proud superhero pose with both hands resting on her own hips as she waited for answer.

Qiqi stared at her for a while before turning to look at Ganyu again. “This is aunt Yanfei who got Qiqi the cute finches last year.”

“Hah!” Yanfei exclaimed, face brimming with pride. “Told you that she won’t forget me. I’m her coolest aunt after all.”

“That’s because you’re her only aunt,” Hu Tao whispered, to which Yanfei ignored. She went over to make cooing noises at Qiqi and pulled at her cheeks instead.

Keqing thought that her cooing noises were bordering on frightening, but Qiqi remained surprisingly calm as she accepted the barrage of excessive adoration. Even when Hu Tao joined in to introduce herself and ruffle her hair, she made no fuss whatsoever as she only blinked up at them curiously.

Truly a child after Ganyu’s own heart, it seemed.

Keqing had never seen…such a mild-mannered child before.

She had always thought that children were adorable, but somehow, they always ended up wailing loudly whenever she came close. Perhaps, Qiqi would be an exception.

Qiqi turned her curious eyes to her then – as if she could sense Keqing staring at her – and then tilted her head. “Mom? Why does that auntie have cat ears?”

The room was stunned silent for a second before Yanfei and Hu Tao cracked up loud enough to wake people over at Inazuma. “The auntie with cat ears!” Yanfei wheezed, sounding like she was dying. Beside her, Hu Tao wasn’t faring any better. “She must think that you’re some sort of weirdo!”

Keqing would love to walk over and strangle both of her friends to silence, but Qiqi’s confused little “Sorry, everyone…did Qiqi say a bad thing?” made her postpone her murderous plan.

She turned to Qiqi and gave her a comforting smile. “Hi, Qiqi. I’m Keqing. You don’t have to worry about these two…you’ve said nothing bad.”

Qiqi looked up to Ganyu again – seemingly still worried that she had said something wrong – but upon seeing that Ganyu was only chuckling, she decided to brave her curiosity and look at Keqing again. “Um…why do you have cat ears? Can Qiqi touch them? Qiqi never saw someone with cat ears before.”

“Qiqi, ah. Those are…those are not cat ears,” Ganyu decided to step in finally, fearing that the child would make Keqing feel uncomfortable somehow. “Those are hair buns. Keqing likes to wear her hair up that way so it won’t trouble her when she works.”

“Oh, okay.” Qiqi turned to stare at Keqing again, still looking very curious.

Keqing cleared her throat. “Um…it’s okay,” she said, trying to appear less awkward around a child. “She can, um, she can touch my hair if she wants to.”

Qiqi’s eyes lit up and she looked up to Ganyu again for permission. “Mom, can I?” A faint pink dusted the skin on Ganyu’s face as she glanced at Keqing apologetically.

“It’s okay, really,” Keqing restated, walking over to the pair of mom and daughter with awkward but certain steps. Then, she lowered her head slightly so Qiqi could reach it.

Qiqi raised her curious hands from where Ganyu was carrying her – and for a moment, Keqing feared that she would yank her hair a little too excitedly like that one time when she had played with her cousin's child – but true to her good manner, Qiqi only patted her buns softly.

Very, very softly, in fact.

“Qiqi likes them. They’re very fluffy. Qiqi wants to have them too.”

Keqing breathed out with relief because: 1) finally there was a child that actually liked her; and 2) she didn’t lose any of her hair.

“I’ll teach you how to do them then.” She rose her head and stood straightly again, feeling somehow cheered up. Ganyu smiled and mouthed a silent “thank you” to her for humoring her child and it made her feel even better.

“Alright! Let’s have dinner now, shall we? I’m famished. You guys can have your hairstyling lesson later.” Yanfei clapped her hands together and moved around to save Keqing’s abandoned cooking. Hu Tao joined in to help too and half an hour later, all of them sat around the small dinner table to enjoy their Moonchase dinner together.

“So, how does everyone like the apartment so far?” Hu Tao asked, taking some of the fried fish with her chopsticks and placing it in Yanfei’s bowl. The supposedly starving girl was somehow too busy feeding Qiqi with the weird cooing noises again.

“It’s really nice here, Hu Tao. Thank you,” Ganyu’s voice carried her heartfelt gratitude but it also dipped with the same guilt that Keqing had heard from her earlier. “I’m sorry that I have to intrude you guys, though. I’ll try to find a job here as soon as I can. After that, I’ll move out to our old house.”

“Jie, you really don’t need to worry about things like that,” Yanfei finally emerged from her little bubble with Qiqi, giving Ganyu a serious frown. “We’re sisters. You don’t have to feel bad about asking me for a little help.”

She steered her gaze to Keqing then and let out a tiny smirk. “Or, maybe, you can ask Keqing for help. Her apartment unit makes ours look like a junkyard in comparison. It has twice the size. I’m sure that she’ll be more than happy to accommodate you.”

If looks could kill, Yanfei would be lying dead on the floor now with the way Keqing was channeling hostile glare at her over her bowl of rice.

“Ah, no. That won’t do,” Ganyu shook her head firmly, seemingly a little flustered at the silly idea. “I shouldn’t trouble Keqing too. She probably has someone who –”

“Aiya, what someone. She’s been single for nearly three years now," Hu Tao quipped, muttering through a mouthful of rice that Keqing wished would accidentally choke her down to her eternal slumber.

Her face burned red with embarrassment.

“Oh,” Ganyu was surprised, her head turning a little to glance at Keqing with a look that Keqing couldn’t quite stomach. If only she knew that it was because of her. “I – well...I’m sure that she’ll meet someone nice very soon. I shouldn’t trouble her.”

Keqing cleared her throat stiffly, unable to take the awkwardness any longer. “Um, do you plan on going back to work as a tax consultant?” She kept her voice as neutral as possible, taking a bite of her fish and pretending that she wasn’t changing topics.

Ganyu looked down at her plate and released a barely audible sigh that Keqing was sure wasn’t meant to be heard by anyone. “Well, I plan to, yes, but it’s been –” she halted and seemed a little embarrassed with what she was about to say. “I’ve been applying to several firms in this city for six months. It’s quite…difficult to get a job after having seven years gap in my employment record.”

There was silence blanketing the room as understanding descended on everyone.

If Ganyu had been trying to get a job in this city for the past six months, it meant that she had been trying to get away from her ex-partner since then too. The fact that she had ended up leaving him anyway despite still not finding a job implied that she just couldn’t stand him anymore in the end, after doing so for god knew how long.

Keqing probably shouldn’t say what she was about to say, but the words slipped past her lips before she could stop them. “I think I can help you with that.”

Three pairs of surprised eyes instantly turned to stare at her. Even Qiqi, who had been peacefully enjoying her food, eventually blinked up at her.

Keqing squirmed nervously on her chair.

She would definitely regret this later because everybody – especially Ningguang, that insufferable Head of Finance in her company – would tease her to death for personally recommending an employee after always preaching about eradicating nepotism, but Ganyu was in a dire need of job and Keqing couldn’t just do nothing.

“I heard that the Head of Finance in my company is, um, in search of a new secretary who has basic knowledge about fund management, investment, and taxes. It’s not exactly what you want but I think it’ll be okay for now?”

“Oh, are you – are you sure about that?” Ganyu’s voice might sound reluctant to take the offer – and Keqing knew that Ganyu was reluctant to accept something like this – but the hopeful light in her eyes betrayed her self-restraint.

That desperation sealed the deal for Keqing.

“It’ll be okay, don’t worry,” she said in finality, swallowing the last bit of her hesitance with her food. Ningguang would absolutely snide at her to the end of the world but it would be all worth it if she could help lessen Ganyu’s distress.

“I’ll talk to her once I get back to the office tomorrow and then I’ll – I’ll call you.”

Chapter Text

“Miss Keqing, do you need me to bring this proposal to the Finance team? I think it’s due today.” Huixin gestured at the thick folder on Keqing’s desk and at that moment, Keqing swore that she ought to raise her secretary’s salary.

“Thanks, Huixin. I almost forgot. Please hand it over to the Finance team so they can progress with the next step.”

“Okay, Miss Keqing.” Huixin picked up the folder, but she barely placed it on top of the pile that was already in her arms before a different idea flashed into Keqing’s mind.

“Huixin, wait!”

Huixin startled a little and whirled around to face her again. “Yes, Miss Keqing? Is there anything else you would like me to bring?"

Keqing hesitated for a moment before finally deciding to just do what she was thinking about. “I think I’ll bring that proposal to Finance myself. You’ve already had a lot in your hands.”

Literally speaking, Huixin did have a lot in her hands at the moment.

But figuratively speaking, everyone in the company knew that Keqing had way more responsibilities in her own hands than her secretary.

So, it was no surprise that Huixin stared at her with the confusion of someone who had just seen her grow a second head. “Are you sure, Miss Keqing? I can do it. You don’t have to deliver this all the way to Finance yourself.”

Face red with embarrassment for reasons that she couldn’t share with anyone, Keqing sprang up from her chair. “No, it’s okay. I’ll bring it myself.”

She pretty much snatched the folder from the baffled secretary and powerwalked out of her office, thundering her way down to the Finance division because she’d rather stab herself with a sword than let an employee see her blush.

“Miss Keqing? Is there anything I can help you with?” Baiwen, one of the senior staffs at Finance, was the second person who looked at her like she’d grown a second head.

Keqing was starting to think that this whole 5-floor trip down to Finance was actually a bad idea. “Baiwen, this is the budget proposal for the construction of that new shopping center at Qingce. I’ve made several annotations and I want your team to look at it.”

Keqing gave herself a mental pat on the head for still sounding dignified enough – at least – despite the shame that currently raced through her.

“Oh! Okay, Miss Keqing. I’ll get it to my team immediately and I’ll report it to Miss Ningguang too.”

Keqing nodded with only a half focus because her eyes were busy flying around the room to spot the person that she had made the trip for.

Disappointingly, her search came up fruitless.

“Uh, I heard that your boss finally managed to get a new secretary?” Keqing hoped that her question had come across as casual as she had wanted it to be.

God, she loathed speaking indirectly and putting false act like this, but there was no way in hell she was going to ask Baiwen directly about somebody else’s secretary, especially when the said secretary was supposed to be unknown to her.

“Oh, yes. Miss Ningguang has finally found someone who meets all her requirements. Her name is Miss Ganyu and she’s just started working today. I think Miss Ningguang is currently taking her to her first meeting.”

Keqing was about to nod and take her dejection back with her to her own office when suddenly, a low velvety voice emanated from behind her. “Well, well, if it isn’t our esteemed Director. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

Keqing froze and cursed loudly in her heart.

Crap.

She definitely did not need to run into Ningguang, out of all people, at this moment.

“Ningguang,” Keqing sucked in a deep breath and turned around, acknowledging the taller woman’s presence and managing to strain a smile that at least only looked mildly constipated. “Didn’t expect to meet you here.”

There was a smirk growing on Ningguang’s lips and Keqing didn’t like what was about to come with it. “Oh? Coming all the way down to my division but not expecting to see me? I wonder who you wish to see then.”

Keqing narrowed her eyes as a warning, but of course, it had no effect on Ningguang. “I just need to bring the budget proposal you passed to me. It’s done now.”

“Don’t you have a secretary to do that for you?” Ningguang drawled. “I believe our Director’s precious time’s more needed in other important issue than in delivering files. Should I lend you my secretary once she comes back from her errand, perhaps, if yours is overwhelmed?”

The widening shark-like smile on her lips showed that she clearly had too much fun doing this and Keqing did not appreciate it.

Thankfully, Ganyu wasn’t around so Keqing could afford to sound a little curt. “Thanks for your concern, Ningguang, but it’s unnecessary. My secretary’s fine.”

Baiwen began to fidget and took a sudden interest in the carpeted floor, pretending that she wasn’t awkwardly stuck between her bosses trading snide.

At least Keqing felt sorry for her and decided to end her suffering. “I think I’ll go now, Ningguang. Have a nice day.”

“Oh, what’s the hurry? Since you’re already here, we may as well chat some more in my office about work.” Ningguang apparently had a different idea.

Keqing resisted the urge to groan out loud.

“It’s not every day that I get a visit from our Director. Come, I have excellent tea in my office.” She motioned for Keqing to follow her and left her with no option but to tail after her begrudgingly.

“You’re truly insufferable, you know that, right?” Keqing shot the moment they were alone in her office, away from the curious employees. “Teasing me right in front of Baiwen? I thought we agreed to stay quiet about –” she paused and swallowed, unable to find words that wouldn’t embarrass herself.

Ningguang’s smile was threatening to reach her ears now. “About you forcing me to employ someone and commencing that nepotism you’ve always condemned?”

“Hey!” Keqing spluttered, her face crimson. “I didn’t force you. I just recommended her. I told you that you could make your own judgment after interviewing her. I have never said or insinuated otherwise –”

“Relax, I was just pulling your leg,” Ningguang let out a laugh, shaking her head a little as she settled on her chair and pulled out a cigarette from her purse. “God, Keqing, you’re still so ridiculously uptight. I thought sleeping with me a few times some years ago would have loosened you up a little but I guess I was wrong.”

Keqing squinted at her and it had nothing to do with the thick, white smoke that was billowing her way. “We agreed to never mention that at work too.”

Ningguang’s lips curled around her lit cigarette. She pulled it out and exhaled slowly. “Never in my life have I imagined that I’d be asked by an ex to take a woman she likes as my secretary. You’re quite something, you know? Have I loved you, my poor little heart would have broken to pieces.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing that we’ve never loved each other then. And we’re not exes. We just slept together a few times. You should stop being dramatic.”

Ningguang laughed. “So many fierce denials, and yet, none about liking the beautiful new secretary.”

Keqing shut her mouth and frowned. She…did miss refuting that one.

Ningguang’s wine-colored eyes danced with victory. “There’s no need to be ashamed of that, really. I understand why you like her. She’s beautiful, sweet, and helpful. She’s smart too from what I’ve seen. I’ve only mentioned things to her once but she learned everything quickly.” She put the cigarette back between her lips.

Keqing waited for her to finish taking a drag because she knew that there was more to that. But when several seconds passed with nothing, she grew impatient. “What then? You can just finish what you want to say since you’ve started it anyway.”

The look on Ningguang’s eyes glowed amused. “Well, we’re not close enough to be friends who share relationship advices, but a single mother fresh out of a divorce that hasn’t even settled yet in the court seems like a risky bet, Keqing, even for me.”

The furious urge to retort that Ganyu wasn’t a bet only stopped halfway on Keqing’s tongue because she didn’t want to give Ningguang – and anyone else – the wrong impression that she was actually making a non-platonic move on Ganyu.

At this point in their lives, Keqing believed that ship had already sailed and she only wished to be good friends with Ganyu. Something that they should have remained as if Keqing hadn’t one-sidedly and unfairly severed all contact with her seven years ago.

“Worrying for my wellbeing doesn’t suit you, Ningguang,” she tried to keep her voice even. “You should get back to only worrying about our company’s mora.”

A light chuckle left Ningguang. “Alright then, as you wish. I guess our new secretary will have no choice but to work hard at helping me amassing mora too. After all, it’s the Director’s order.”

------------------------------------

It seemed like Ningguang’s joke about making Ganyu work hard turned out to be true after all. Keqing had occasionally met Ganyu whenever she hung out at Yanfei’s, but she needed three weeks before she could even glimpse Ganyu in the office.

Granted, the building was extremely huge and they were working on different floors, but whenever Keqing made a trip to Finance – only because she had real businesses there, okay, definitely not because she tried to see Ganyu over and over again like a complete loser, hmph – she wouldn’t even spot her hair among the other employees.

It seemed like Ganyu was always dashing around doing never-ending errands for Ningguang, who admittedly, was also a very busy woman.

So, when Keqing finally saw Ganyu in the office, it was no surprise that it was at nine p.m. when everyone – including Ningguang – had gone home and every errand possibly available for the day had been finished.

“Keqing?” Ganyu blinked at her, seemingly a little surprised to find her in the elevator that she was about to step in.

Keqing wasn’t prepared to meet her too when she was disheveled and half asleep from exhaustion. “Ganyu-jie? What are you doing here at this hour?” She realized what a stupid question it was when her tired brain looked at the lit number of the floor the elevator was currently parked on.

It was on the Finance floor and obviously Ganyu was there because she’d just finished working overtime, just like her.

Keqing blushed as Ganyu chuckled lightly at her floundering. “It seems like we’re both working overtime today,” the older woman mused, stepping inside the elevator and standing beside her. “No one’s around on my floor so I just assume that everybody has gone home. I got a little shocked when the elevator opened and someone’s in it.”

Keqing was surprised too because usually, she had the entire elevator – and the entire building, really, save for the parts where the securities patrolled – to herself at this time of the day.

A teasing smile tugged her lips. “Old habits are difficult to break, aren’t they, jie? You always make a fuss about me working too much but you’re the only person who works as much as I do.” She grinned, feeling some of her nervousness shedding away. “You really should stop criticizing me about it.”

“Ah, but you shouldn’t follow my terrible examples,” Ganyu feigned a rueful sigh, the corners of her lips twitching upward too. “What was it that the older people used to say to us when we were younger? That they forbade us from doing certain things they did because they wanted us to be better than them? Something like that, I think.”

“I thought we agreed when we were little that it was a shoddy excuse, jie.”

They stared at each other for a moment before breaking into a shared laugh. It felt easy, comfortable, and lighthearted, just like when they were younger.

Before Keqing knew it, she was staring at Ganyu openly with a fully relaxed smile now. “How was your day, jie? Is the work okay so far? I hope Ningguang doesn’t give you too much trouble. She can be quite a handful sometimes.”

“Oh, Miss Ningguang’s great, don’t worry,” Ganyu chuckled, waving Keqing’s worries off. “I admit that she looked a bit intimidating at first, but she’s actually very nice. She told me to go home and rest whenever I wanted to do overtime. So, this overtime isn’t her demand, actually. I’m just…trying to catch up with things on my own.”

“Uh, trying to catch up?” Keqing didn’t really get what she was saying.

“Well, you know, just trying to wrap my head around work again.” Ganyu tried to brush it off as something casual, but her smile looked a little woeful. Then, a miniscule sigh escaped her as if she’d tried to contain it but failed. “Seven years of just being confined at home are a really long time. I’ve forgotten a lot of things I used to do effortlessly.”

Something in Keqing’s heart tugged sharply as understanding hit her along with the deep regret running underneath Ganyu’s quiet muttering.

Of course, it would be difficult to recall some skills that had gone…rusty over the long period of disuse. But Keqing disliked seeing Ganyu like this, downcast and seemingly suffused with self-blaming for a mess that had been started by someone else.

“You’ll get back on your feet soon,” she assured her, a fiery conviction burning behind her words. “You’re capable. You just need a little more time to adjust to everything.”

“Thank you.” A soft smile touched Ganyu’s eyes as she took the time to absorb the words and let it resonate with her. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell myself too. I believe that if I put in extra hours for work, for now, I’ll be able to catch up soon. I…I really want to be able to stand on my own feet again quickly.”

Some of the indignance Keqing felt towards Ganyu’s ex-husband finally shed away as she met the determined look in Ganyu’s eyes.

As long as Ganyu still wanted to try and to live happily again, Keqing could put off her more hostile thoughts of wanting to throttle the darned man to death.

“You’ll be back on track in no time, don’t worry,” Keqing reassured, meaning every single word. “And if there’s anything you’re having troubles with, I’m always willing to help, work-related or not.”

That statement seemed to twitch Ganyu’s lips with a hint of mischief. “What? You mean my awful personal life? Surely you have other more interesting things to do than sit down and hear the series of my bad decisions in life.”

Keqing let out a chuckle. “I don’t, in fact, have anything more interesting to do. If you really must know, all I’m planning to do after a work day like this is go home, take a shower, and cook up a pack of instant noodle for dinner before I pass out.”

At that, a mildly horrified look that was almost comical took over Ganyu’s expression. “I hope you’re joking and you’re not really only having instant noodle for dinner every night?” she asked, seemingly both worried and appalled.

Keqing resisted the urge to laugh at her distress over something so small. “Um, well, not really every night, sometimes I have burgers or hot dogs.”

“Right, because those are so much healthier,” Ganyu nearly rolled her eyes and the sight made Keqing chuckle despite her attempt to contain it because Ganyu never really rolled her eyes at anyone.

Anyone except for Keqing when she was being stubborn, it seemed, like when she’d chugged down two cups of coffee the night before her exams all those years ago.

“How about you, Ganyu-jiejie? Have you had proper dinner then?” Keqing tossed the question back to her, because she just knew that Ganyu probably hadn’t even eaten anything to begin with.

To prove her right, Ganyu let out a small, exasperated sigh. “You’re always so smart at getting back at me since you were younger.”

Keqing laughed. “Well, how about going out with me for dinner then? That way we can both have a proper meal.”

She realized how wrong her question could come across when she played it back in her head a second later. Her eyes widened with panic. “Uh, I mean! We can just, um, grab a quick bite around the corner?” she stammered, words tumbling out in a jumble. “There’s a great restaurant near here called Wanmin! We – we can go if you want.”

Thankfully, Ganyu didn’t seem to assume that she was flirting – or was she? no, she definitely wasn’t – and only seemed to consider her availability for the offer. Another kind of mini panic went through Keqing then, at the prospect of being rejected.

“I think we can,” Ganyu decided after a while, smiling and wiping off her worries. “Qiqi must be sleeping by now. Yanfei and Hu Tao are watching her when I work overtime.”

The elevator chose that moment to arrive at the lobby, opening up with a ding and giving Keqing fresh air to breathe in with her huge relief. “Alright then. I’ll just – get my car from the parking valet really quickly.”

She pretty much sprinted out of the elevator to the valet’s counter – which was a really unnecessary thing to do because why was she so happy at the idea of having dinner with Ganyu? – and then cursed herself internally and slowed down with whatever bits of dignity she had left.

This was completely, clearly not a date and she had told herself that she no longer wished to pursue Ganyu in that way.

Not to mention that Ganyu herself was obviously unavailable for anything more than friendship at the moment because she had just filed for a goddamn divorce.

Get your shit together, Keqing.

Get it together.

Keqing sucked in a deep breath and then exhaled. Friends. She could be a good friend to Ganyu. This was nothing but two good old friends having a dinner together after a long day of work. She had absolutely no reason to behave like a lovestruck teenager.

“Um…” Ganyu’s small voice pulled her out of her internal debates once they settled in the car, and Keqing turned to look at her to find her chuckling rather nervously. “I’m sorry, now that I think about it, we probably shouldn’t be doing this.”

“Oh?” Keqing’s heart cracked, thinking that Ganyu had decided to cancel somehow. “Do you not want to go?”

“Oh, that’s not it.” Ganyu waved her hand, still chortling slightly with a mix of hesitation and…amusement. “It’s just that we’ll probably be giving the securities and the valets a wrong…impression about us if we go together like this.”

It took Keqing an embarrassingly long moment to realize what Ganyu really meant.

Once she did, her skin flushed red to the tips of her ears. Gods. The Director of the company, known for liking women, taking the new pretty secretary into her personal car at such a late hour. What was she thinking?

Keqing was so red she might as well turn into a lantern. “I’m – I’m so sorry, jie. I didn’t think this through – do you want to get down now?”

“No”, Ganyu laughed – really laughed, like how she used to when she was 17 – and suddenly, Keqing didn’t think being gossiped as a shady boss would be so bad. “I think it’ll look even weirder if I get down now. Let’s just…go and enjoy our dinner, shall we? We probably won’t get the chance again any time soon.”

A small part of Keqing’s heart mourned for that, but the bigger part rejoiced because tonight, she would get to catch up with Ganyu without any annoying disturbances.

No Ningguang teasing her, and no Yanfei or Hu Tao making obnoxious remarks.

She pressed the ignition button on and gripped the steering wheel excitedly, all her previous exhaustion melting away.

---------------------------

In hindsight, Keqing realized that she should have thought over her decision that night.

Just as Ganyu had said, they really weren’t able to hang out again because some silly rumors did get spread.

Granted, it wasn’t anything big and it was only whispered by a few people, but it irked Keqing that Ningguang, out of everyone, was one of the people who knew.

“My, my, Director,” the silver-haired woman had mused when they met a few weeks ago, smirking so widely that the corners of her lips threatened to reach her ears. “I was under the impression that you didn’t want anyone to know anything about you and her. But it turns out, you’re only against publicizing your sneaking her into the company but completely okay with publicizing your sneaking her into your bed.”

Keqing knew that Ningguang was just pulling her leg again – that she didn’t actually thought that Ganyu and Keqing were up to anything indecent that night – but the idea that everyone else might think so made her antsy.

It wasn’t so much her own integrity that she was worried about but it was Ganyu’s.

Keqing wouldn’t want anyone to think that if Ganyu would get promoted to a higher position one day, it was all because she was sleeping with the Director and not because she was an honest, hardworking person.

That idea was much more insulting to Keqing than the idea of herself getting gossiped as some sort of predatory boss.

So, Keqing decided to steer clear of Ganyu in the office and only got to see her when she hung out at Yanfei’s once in a while. Which, honestly, wasn’t her favorite method of meeting Ganyu, because Yanfei and Hu Tao simply would not stop waggling their eyebrows excessively whenever she came within 5-meter radius of Ganyu.

Curse her best friends.

Or not, because apparently, Yanfei called her up one day and asked if she could help Ganyu move into their old house the next day because she had an appointment with a client in a neighboring city.

Keqing practically leapt at the chance.

“Oh my, Keqing, I’m so sorry for troubling you again. If only Yanfei has told me earlier that she can’t help today, I would have postponed this entire thing.” Hovering on the doorway with one hand covering her face, Ganyu looked like an endearing mix of indignance and embarrassment when Keqing showed up the next day.

Keqing let out a chuckle. “When did she tell you that she can’t make it?”

“This morning,” Ganyu stared at her widely, as if telling her can you believe this girl? and it made Keqing chortle even harder.

So…Yanfei had asked her for help yesterday but she had only told Ganyu about it this morning, probably thinking that it would give Ganyu no chance to back out.

Keqing didn’t know whether she should thank her friend or whacked her on the head for being so extra. The girl was probably smirking her way to the other town thinking that she had masterminded something really huge and clever.

“It’s okay, Ganyu-jie. I don’t really have anything to do today,” Keqing shrugged, which wasn’t a lie because she did finish everything she needed to do yesterday.

“That can’t be true,” Ganyu gave her an incredulous look as she opened the door wider and invited her into the apartment. “You said you work even when you’re home.”

“Okay, let me rephrase in your way then, I don’t have anything interesting to do today,” she jested, eyes straying a bit from their rightful path as she tailed Ganyu and ended up staring at her behind.

It was, quite honestly, a fantastic behind.

Keqing had always thought – whenever she chanced upon Ganyu in the office – that her usual office attire that consisted of a knee-length pencil skirt and form-fitting dress shirt was already a looker, but these darned denim shorts and sleeveless white top she was donning, coupled with the high ponytail, were even terrifyingly better looking.

Keqing’s traitorous eyes ignored her brain’s yell to look away and left Ganyu’s ass only to trail all over the pale, smooth expanse of skin on her arms and legs.

Sweet heavens. Those arms and legs were slim but toned, alright.

Doing house chores and carrying a six-year-old was apparently quite a workout and Keqing was apparently a lecherous person who deserved to be jailed.

“Oh shit!” She squeaked when her little toe slammed into something, which amidst her miserable, painful groaning, she realized was the corner of a sofa’s foot.

She winced when Ganyu spun around – at her sudden loudness or at her profanity? Keqing wasn’t sure – and witnessed her hopping on one foot like a stupid donkey.

“Oh my god, are you okay? Did you hit yourself somewhere?” Ganyu rushed forward with concern, which quite honestly, Keqing didn’t deserve because she’d brought this upon herself by ogling Ganyu irresponsibly like some horny teenager.

“I’m alright! I’m alright, don’t worry,” she forced out a laugh, swallowing her pain like a soldier, if the soldier was horny. Her little toe hurt like bitch, but there was no way she was telling Ganyu that. “Uh, I’m sorry?”

“For what?” Ganyu paused worrying over her for a second, her eyebrows vanishing into her fringe.

Keqing didn’t know why she had said that either.

Sorry for ragingly ogling you because you’re so fine?

“For, um, cursing? Hehe.” She prayed for the thunder to strike her down right at that moment because what the hell was up with that stupid hehe?

Ganyu stared at her for a good five seconds before bursting into laugh. “Keqing, you aren’t 15 anymore. I’m not scolding you for cursing.”

Keqing grinned sheepishly. Well, at least she managed to dodge the bullet at the price of sounding like a fool. “Right. Old fear, sorry.”

“Just don’t curse in front of Qiqi, okay?” Ganyu walked away, still chuckling and shaking her head slightly. “That, I’ll be mad about.”

“Well noted, ma’am.” Keqing tailed after her, the stupid grin still hanging on her face. “Speaking of Qiqi, where is she? I got her the new coloring book that she likes.”

Keqing hadn’t had many chances to play with Qiqi again aside from their occasional time together when Keqing came over to have dinner with everyone, but after a dinner one evening, she had spotted the kid coloring something seriously on her sketchbook and had tried to brave her awkwardness around kids to ask what it was.

That was when she found out that Qiqi apparently had special likings for coloring birds.

Especially, plenty and plenty of finches.

“Do you know how to draw and color?” Qiqi had asked her back then, and Keqing had hidden a small smile.

“I do know a thing or two about drawing and coloring, yes.”

Ganyu, who had been doing the dishes in the kitchenette with Hu Tao at that time, had glanced back at the living room and shook her head at Keqing with a smile.

They both knew that Keqing could do more than just a thing or two at drawing.

Before she had taken business management as her major all those years ago, she had once dreamed of becoming an architect. Her father, however, had deemed that he didn’t need Keqing to be the one drawing their construction projects and that he only needed her to be managing the people who would do so.

So, Keqing had swept that old aspiration under the rug and had only ever picked up a sketchbook again as a hobby in her pastime, which admittedly had become rarer as she grew progressively busier.

“Do you want to color with me?” Qiqi had held a crayon up to her, offering it kindly.

Keqing had accepted the offer and lowered herself onto the floor to sit beside the kid and join her coloring the little birds.

Coloring had, since then, become their special activity whenever Keqing dropped by at Yanfei’s once or twice a week.

“You bought her another coloring book?” Ganyu turned around, looking at her with surprise and then with a headshake. “You’re spoiling her too much.”

“I’m spoiling myself,” Keqing tried to replace the perspective, knowing that Ganyu still felt a little uncomfortable whenever Keqing got them free things. “Qiqi has made me rediscover my old hobby. I am having fun doing this.”

As if on cue, the little kid poked her head out from her bedroom. “Auntie Keqing? Is that you?”

“Qiqi!” Keqing grinned and went to her, squatting down to level with her and ruffling the top of her head. “How are you doing? I got you a new coloring book! It’s in my car.”

Qiqi’s eyes, usually placid just like Ganyu’s, absolutely lit up. “Qiqi’s doing well. Can Qiqi see that coloring book now?”

At Ganyu’s little eyebrow twitch from behind them, the kid added up hurriedly, “Thank you before, auntie Keqing.”

Ganyu chortled at the hastily tacked-on thank you. “Later, Qiqi. We need to move out first. Have you packed up all your school supplies?”

“Yes mom, they’re all here,” she pulled at the straps of her backpack to show it, which somehow, made Keqing grin because the backpack was almost larger than her.

“Good kid,” she ruffled the top of the kid’s head again, standing up to help Ganyu carry some boxes out of their room. “Ganyu-jie, I’ll put these in my car first, okay? I’ll come back up for more later. You can just wait here.”

“No way,” Ganyu shook her head firmly, carrying her own boxes and following Keqing. “It’s bad enough that I have to trouble you with moving, I can’t possibly just sit back and watch you do all the work for me. That’ll be too much.”

Keqing laughed, walking out of the apartment unit and making her way towards the elevator. “It’s okay, really. I told you I have nothing better to do.”

“I refuse to believe that you have no better way to spend your Saturday than to slave for me,” Ganyu clicked her tongue, shaking her head again with amusement. “Qiqi, please watch the place? We’ll be back soon.”

Qiqi nodded quickly as if she was given a mission that she would absolutely not fail.

Keqing and Ganyu worked together to move the boxes and suitcase to her car and then once they finished, they took Qiqi with them and left the apartment.

“Mom, will auntie Yanfei and auntie Hu Tao still come to see us if we move out?” Qiqi asked quietly from the backseat, a tiny hint of worry coloring her question.

“Of course, sweetheart.” Ganyu turned to give her a reassuring smile. “The house isn’t far from here. Auntie Yanfei used to live there too when she was little. She’ll be happy to come over from time to time.”

“Okay then,” Qiqi said, her worry relieved. Then, she turned to look at Keqing who was driving. “And how about auntie Keqing? Will she still come to visit us too?”

That question put both Keqing and Ganyu in silence because what reason would there be for Keqing to keep visiting them now that they were no longer with Yanfei?

All this time, Keqing had been dropping by at Yanfei and Hu Tao’s apartment because that was what she had been doing even before Ganyu had come into the picture.

But what reason would she have to keep seeing Ganyu and Qiqi at their own house?

Ganyu was the first one to break the silence with a nervous laugh. “Auntie Keqing’s a busy woman, Qiqi. I’m not sure she can keep coming over.”

“Oh, but –”

“I think I can come over sometimes,” Keqing cut them off, not liking the dejected tone in Qiqi’s voice and also not liking the idea of not seeing Ganyu again. She already had no reason to see Ganyu in the office, so she needed to at least have this. “Don’t worry, you two can’t get rid of me so easily. I’ll keep pestering you with my terrific cooking.”

Surprisingly, Qiqi let out a small giggle – a very, very small giggle – that Keqing had never heard in all of the three months she had known the kid.

Ganyu seemed surprised too.

“Qiqi thinks that the cooking part should be left to mom,” she said, still giggling behind her small fist. “Auntie Keqing shouldn’t go near the stoves again.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Keqing feigned being offended, though her lips were pulling up into a wide grin. “Do you have anything to say about my cooking skill, young lady? I’ll let you know that I’ve learned to make a really mean grilled fish now.”

“Auntie Keqing can make a grilled fish really mean?” Qiqi tilted her head and scratched the top of it, her face the picture of confusion.

Ganyu, who had been watching their entire exchange quietly at first, eventually broke out with a soundful laughter. “Auntie Keqing was using a form of speech, Qiqi. What she means is, she makes a really delicious grilled fish now.”

“Oh, a form of speech,” Qiqi nodded. “Mr. Zhongli taught us about it but Qiqi still has a lot to learn from him.”

“Mr. Zhongli?”

“He’s her teacher at school,” Ganyu explained, her gentle smile still in place as she turned from Qiqi to Keqing. “She’s been liking her new school so far. It seems like the teachers are really nice and the kids are okay too.”

“Oh? None of those who like to bully someone they assume is a tattletale, I suppose?”

“Hmm, that sounds a lot like a personal grievance, Keqing,” Ganyu grinned.

“What’s a tattletale?” Qiqi quipped.

“Tattletale’s someone like auntie Keqing, Qiqi.”

“Hey, you know that’s not true,” Keqing protested harder, drawing a soundful laughter from Ganyu. “I didn’t report those boys to the teachers. It was someone else!”

“I know, I know,” Ganyu’s smile softened, and it just looked so warm, Keqing thought it would be okay if she suffered some more injustice to see it again.

“Tattletale’s a kid who likes to tell on other kids’ mischiefs, Qiqi.” Ganyu turned to look at the kid again, who made a huge O with her mouth as she nodded.

They arrived at the old house not long after that, and when Keqing stepped down, she felt like she was hit by a strong whirlwind of nostalgia.

She could almost picture herself 15 years ago; sprawling on the patio with Yanfei in their high school uniform and whining about their never-ending exams. All the while, Ganyu, who had been juggling a part-time job and her own finals in college back then, brought out a tray of freshly baked cookies to cheer them up.

It made Keqing shake her head fondly because how time flew and how spoiled they were back then. She and Yanfei were always making a fuss over small burdens when Ganyu was the one who had carried more on her shoulders at that time.

All without a single complain. Just like now.

“What are you spacing out about?” Ganyu mused, shutting the car door on her side and walking around the SUV to open the hatch at the rear. “Let’s get inside.”

“Yeah, sure.” Keqing cracked a small grin to hide the conflicting thoughts flying around in her head and hurried over to help.

What she was really thinking about was her conversation with Ganyu on that evening when they had gone for dinner at Wanmin over a month ago.

Back then, relaxed and loosened up from the stress of the day by the baijiu the cook – Chef Mao – had paired their dinner with, Ganyu had let loose an admission that was the first for Keqing to hear.

“I was so stupid,” Ganyu had muttered to her, the look on her eyes far-off as she stared at the quietening night streets outside the restaurant’s window. “I’ve sensed that the marriage was no longer the same about five years ago. I’ve seen cracks on it from the way he’d yelled at me so loudly when I did a small mistake, and from the way he’d started policing me on what I could or couldn’t do.”

Regret dripped thicker with each flow of her words. “At first, I held on because he always apologized afterward. I told myself that he’d just lost his composure because he was tired with work. But as the years passed,” Ganyu trailed, her forehead creasing, “his temper and controlling demands only became worse. He never really raised his hands at me but he started mocking me sometimes, for doing certain things my way.”

The small, rueful laugh that left her was bitter and heavy. “I was so stupid. So stupid for thinking that just because a man didn’t raise his hands at me, he was okay enough to tolerate. So stupid for believing his gaslighting and for doubting my own abilities. So stupid for even thinking that having a father like that would be better for Qiqi than for her to see me be strong and leave him alone.”

When she turned away from the window to look at Keqing again, the thin layer of water on her eyes just about broke Keqing in.

“I should have left him years ago,” Ganyu said with regret that ran so deep, it sounded like it sliced out of her heart to say. “I shouldn’t have stopped working – doing what I loved – just for someone else. I should have stood on my own feet firmly. Always.”

That self-blaming, regretful look had etched itself onto Keqing’s mind so hard, she had ended up deciding to do what she was about to do.

“Ganyu-jie,” she called nervously once they had finished moving the boxes into the house, her fingers clamping tightly around the small name card in her jacket’s pocket.

“Hm? What is it?” Ganyu came over from one of the bedrooms where she had settled Qiqi in and joined her in the small living room where they used to lounge around when they were younger.

Keqing swallowed and pulled out the card from her pocket quickly. “I–I got this for you,” she all but shoved the card into Ganyu’s hand, gaze sticking on the floor instead of meeting Ganyu’s. “I know that you’re perfectly capable of handling your own troubles and that you don’t feel really comfortable constantly getting help from me, but I…I’ve been thinking about this and I think this may be very helpful for you.”

When Ganyu said nothing and Keqing lifted her gaze to find that the older woman was staring at her quizzically, she tried to explain again in a less anxious way. “This is the contact of a therapist I know,” she said slowly. “She’s a nice person. You’ve been saying that you want to get back on your feet – and I know that you’re perfectly capable of doing it on your own – but I just think that…this may help.”

When Ganyu still didn’t say anything in return even as the words fell between them, Keqing started to fear that she might have overstepped some boundaries.

“I’m sorry if I’m acting out of my place but, ah, you know, if you don’t feel like doing it, it’s completely okay too. I just – um, I didn’t mean to –”

“Keqing,” Ganyu cut her off gently, and the warmth in both her eyes and voice was so tender, Keqing found all her worries melting away. “Thank you,” Ganyu smiled softly, plucking the card out of her steely grip and then keeping her hands there, wrapped around Keqing’s, to ease her out.

The feeling made Keqing want to melt away too.

“Thank you, really, this is the most thoughtful thing I’ve received from anyone, in a long time,” Ganyu gave her hand a gentle squeeze, and her smile, although small, reached the depth of her eyes with sincerity. “Thank you, for finding me this.”

Keqing was the first one who broke the contact and withdrew her hand despite wanting – oh, so desperately wanting – to keep her hand there, wrapped in Ganyu’s forever.

“It’s nothing, really. You’ll be the one doing all the hard work,” she let out a nervous laugh, willing her madly pounding heart to just stop. “You’ll be so busy doing this and working and taking care of Qiqi at the same time, you’ll make me look like a slacker.”

Ganyu chuckled, tucking the name card into her own pocket. “Can the slacker perhaps help me clean up this house then?”

“Oh, now you sound bossy,” Keqing played along, relieved that everything had gone well. “I thought I was just the driver and the mover today.”

“I’ll throw in golden shrimp balls for dinner to compensate making you our cleaner too,” Ganyu grinned.

Ah. So that meant Keqing could stay for dinner with them then?

“Alright, deal.” Keqing grinned – perhaps a little too widely – and rolled the sleeves of her jacket up to her elbows. “Point me to the direction of whichever room I have to rub off until shiny then.”

“So eager for a little treat,” Ganyu laughed, not knowing that she was the treat in the deal.

-------------------------------------

They finished cleaning up the house a lot earlier than Keqing had thought.

It turned out, Ganyu had been making regular trips to the house since a few weeks ago to clean up the majority of the rooms and have the repairmen fix some broken parts. She had, much to Keqing’s awe, gotten some new, basic furniture to replace the ones that were no longer usable too.

Keqing would say that she was surprised at how fast and efficient Ganyu was taking back control of her life and making progress ahead, but to be very honest, she wasn’t actually surprised.

After all, Ganyu was the only person she had known whose efficiency at work – and at nearly anything – almost overtook her own.

The fast cleanup, in turn, allowed them plenty of time to relax in the evening.

“I haven’t seen her laugh like that in quite a long time,” Ganyu muttered once they had finished their dinner and done the dishes, settling on the simple but comfortable new couch that Ganyu had gotten in the living room.

At first, Keqing wasn’t sure who Ganyu was referring to, but upon following the line of her gaze, she ended up with Qiqi who was sitting on the floor in front of them, curious little eyes glued to the animal show that was airing on the TV.

So immersed she was in watching the big cats – lions and leopards – on the screen, she halted coloring the book on the coffee table she was occupying and seemed to miss the conversation behind her too.

Keqing turned her head to the side to look at Ganyu again. “You mean she hasn’t –”

“The divorce hasn’t been easy on her too,” Ganyu looked down, wrapping her fingers around the warm cup of tea in her hands. “She’s never been…particularly close with her dad because he rarely spent time with her, but I guess she still wonders about him from time to time.”

Keqing nodded. “I suppose it’s understandable that she’s still sad.”

“Was,” Ganyu corrected her, eyes alight with a small smile. “Or at least, not as sad as she was anymore. She seems to have a lot of fun with you. Even more than with me.”

Keqing was about to open her mouth to disagree but as if on cue, Qiqi stood up from the floor and carried her coloring book with her.

“Auntie Keqing, Qiqi has finished coloring this page.” She held up the book proudly and presented it to Keqing, who automatically cracked a grin because the kid had done a really good job.

“Well done, Qiqi,” Keqing said honestly, ruffling her hair. “You’re a quick learner, huh? You got all the shading prettily this time.”

Qiqi’s eyes lit up and a small, happy grin adorned her face again.

She waddled forward and climbed up the sofa with her little limbs to settle on Keqing’s lap instead of Ganyu’s.

The sight made Ganyu chuckle to herself with a headshake, fixing Keqing with a look that said, see? I told you that she likes you more than she likes me.

Laughing, Keqing reached forward to help the little kid up from her struggle and placed her on her lap.

“Auntie Keqing, when will we learn to make the cat ears?” Qiqi pointed at the TV, now showing a snow leopard that had similar, pointy ears.

Keqing was reminded of her old promise. “Oh, right. Well, we can do them now if you want to.”

“Yes, please,” Qiqi nodded, tiny legs dangling on the edge of the couch and kicking excitedly.

“Sit quietly, alright? We don’t want the buns to come out messy,” Keqing chortled and began to do her hair as Ganyu watched beside them with an amused look.

“Qiqi can’t wait to see them,” the kid mumbled, even though she began to doze off on Keqing about five minutes later. By the time that Keqing had finished, Qiqi had totally fallen asleep on her.

“Have I known that you’re such an expert at making children sleep,” Ganyu mused, mirth dancing in her eyes, “I would have hired you as a nanny all those years ago. Qiqi’s quiet now but back when she was a baby, she kicked up quite a fuss every night,” Ganyu laughed. “I didn’t sleep properly for an entire year after having her.”

Well, now you have me, Keqing wanted to joke, but then paused with red light blaring in her head when she ran the words over again.

Ganyu didn’t have her.

No one was having anyone around here.

They were just being good friends.

Distantly, Keqing could almost hear the echo of Ningguang’s snicker – single mother straight out of a divorce that hasn’t even finished in the court seems like a risky love interest, Keqing – and it made her want to groan.

Damn that woman.

Keqing would prove that she was no longer a foolish teenager. She was now a fully responsible, 30 years old adult who knew that not all romantic feelings should be acted on. She could very well crush on Ganyu without wanting to pursue Ganyu in that way.

Everything would be okay.

“I’ll put her to bed now,” Ganyu stood up from the couch, placing her empty cup of tea on the coffee table and taking Qiqi from Keqing’s arms.

When their fingers grazed against each other’s, Keqing told herself that the electric shock that went over her skin was nothing out of ordinary.

Yep. It was just a physiological reaction. And Keqing definitely wasn’t going to actively pursue Ganyu simply because her physiological reactions were demanding her to.

Nope.

She was definitely not going to ruin her chance as Ganyu’s friend for the second time.