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“Goodbye, Xinyan!” Xiangling waved at the girl. “I hope to see you again tomorrow!” After receiving a positive and loud answer back, she turned around, ready to close Wanmin Restaurant for the day, when she stumbled into someone standing right behind her. “Oh!” A hint of red appeared on her cheeks and her words were stuck in her throat for a moment when she saw who that person was. “Good evening, Miss Yanfei!”
For a brief moment, Yanfei raised her eyebrows in confusion before she had her smile back on her face. “I thought we were already on a first-name basis, Xiangling.” She made a small gesture with her hands to signal her to calm down.
Xiangling clapped her cheeks with her hands, feeling the warmth on them, and nodded. “Of course we are!” She couldn’t look at Yanfei in front of her directly. There was no way she didn’t notice her red cheeks. “Can-Can I help you with something?” she asked eventually and couldn’t tell if it was for Yanfei or her own sake.
“Xiangling, come on. Time to finish cleaning up for tomorrow!” Chef Mao called for her and the girl sighed heavily.
Xiangling turned away from Yanfei. “A moment, dad!” She faced Yanfei again. “I’m sorry, he’s impatient, and he fears I run off somewhere.”
Yanfei chuckled. “I can see where that’s coming from. Maybe I take you with me now.” Then she laughed softly when she heard Xiangling stuttering without getting a word out. “No worries, I’m not here to demand you,” she explained. “Actually, I’m here because I wanted to eat dinner but it seems like I’m too late.”
There was no way Xiangling could make herself a bigger fool now. Even Yanfei was completely wrong with her guess why she was stumbling, she was relieved about it. Finally, she took a deep breath. “One more dish won’t hurt anyone.” Xiangling smiled. “Sit down and I’ll bring you something freshly cooked! Just tell me what you want.” Being professional helped.
Yanfei seemed to think about her order for a moment before she told Xiangling what she wanted to have. “I hope it’s not too much work.”
Xiangling waved it off. “No, no, it’s not!” And before Yanfei could say anything else, Xiangling turned around and held a hand next to her mouth. “Dad, we need a portion of today’s special dish!”
“Oh, who is the brave person this time?” Chef Mao asked her and threw some ingredients into the frying pan.
“Yanfei,” Xiangling answered. “And I’m sure she can take it and eat everything up. Not one customer today was able to clear their full bowl, but I was surprised how many tried it.”
Chef Mao looked at her for a short moment before he put his attention back on the dish in front of him. “I guess, nobody in Liyue is strong enough for you and your food.”
“Hmmh!” Xiangling agreed and placed the bowl next to the pan. It was a pretty mint-green. The same pretty color as Yanfei’s eyes, she thought and blushed over that sudden thought. Again, she clapped her hands against her cheeks before she grabbed the filled bowl and the rice going along with it. “I’ll bring it to her.”
With both bowls in her hands, she left the kitchen. As soon as she saw Yanfei, sitting there and going through one of her books about law, Xiangling’s heart skipped a beat. “Yanfei, I’m back!”
Yanfei put away the book and reached out for the two bowls.
“One Secret Bowl for you. I hope you enjoy it because until now, nobody was able to eat it fully and tomorrow we have another dish already.”
“That’s good,” Yanfei said and her shoulders relaxed. “Otherwise I may have to find some holes in the law.”
Xiangling frowned at her. “Why that?”
“Nothing!” Yanfei grabbed the spoon and took a taste bite from the vegetables in the soup in front of her. “Oooh-” Another one followed right after it, and she smacked her lips a few times, making a cute sound. “That’s perfect. A fool, everyone who orders, and can’t eat everything.”
And it came with no surprise that Yanfei was able to eat up both bowls while she casually told Xiangling about the case that made her do extra hours for three days straight. That explained, why she wasn’t her as often as she was used to from other days.
“I’m glad you’re here again, Yanfei.” Xiangling said and played with one of her hair strands. “I was worried about you.”
Yanfei waved it off. “There has yet to exist a case I can’t solve!” Then she shoved the empty bowls towards Xiangling. “Well, then, I ate everything up, where’s my prize for it?”
Xiangling frowned again. “It comes on house for you,” she then answered.
Yanfei squeezed her eyes at Xiangling. “That’s not the promised prize tho.”
“It’s 2,450 Mora but, really, it’s free for you.” Xiangling didn’t understand what the issue here was right now. It wasn’t the first time she invited Yanfei for dinner when she had a stressful day. Did she notice anything about her feelings? Was she too obvious today?
A pout appeared on Yanfei’s face. “Are you teasing me?”
The confusion was building up inside Xiangling the longer the conversation was going on and as a result, the nervousness was growing as well. Was she doing something wrong here? Had anything changed she didn’t know about?
Yanfei sighed and pointed at something behind Xiangling. “The poster,” she said when Xiangling wasn’t able to pinpoint down where Yanfei was trying to show her. “Everyone who eats our new super spicy Secret Bowl fully, receives a kiss from Xiangling.”
Xiangling was able to stare at the poster. Yanfei wasn’t talking about the price of the food but receiving her reward, a prize, for clearing the challenge. A challenge Xiangling never heard of until now. “Ah- that’s-” She didn’t know how to explain that this was most likely just her father trying to sell more, knowing full well, nobody was able to finish it.
With the realization, Xiangling’s face grew hot and her mouth stayed open slightly because she was unable to form a coherent thought. She should kiss Yanfei now? How was she supposed to that? There was no way she would be able to pull that off without dying. “No, no, no!” Xiangling waved it off harshly, mostly hiding her face behind her arms. “I can’t do this!”
Of course, she wanted to but not like that. Not as a stupid reward and Yanfei teasing her about it.
Even Xiangling was unable to see it, Yanfei averted her eyes and looked at the empty bowls in front of her. The expression on her face wasn’t the usual thoughtful or cheerful one. “I mean, if you can’t we can agree on something else and-”
Hearing her sad voice made Xiangling look up. “What, wait-” She jumped up from her seat and throwing it over. With the momentum of her reaction, she hit her leg. “Ouch- Ah, I can kiss you but maybe on the cheek and-” She swallowed the lump in her throat down but it didn’t disappear.
Yanfei wanted to get up from the bench across of the one Xiangling was sitting to calm her down but before she was able, the other girl was losing her balance of trying to explain herself, the attempt of kissing Yanfei’s cheek, and accidentally fulfilled the reward.
The kiss wasn’t soft and gentle as Xiangling daydreamed over her first kiss when she was lying in bed and food left her mind. But it still gave her butterflies in her stomach when she felt Yanfei adjusting to their clumsy kiss.
When they pulled apart, they stared into each other’s eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t-” Xiangling couldn’t finish her apology. “That was an accident. I mean, not an accident as bad as falling into a Hilichurl Camp while hunting boars but an accident because- because I didn’t plan our first kiss like that and-”
Way too late realization hit her, and she shut up immediately.
Yanfei laughed gently, hiding it behind her hand. “Well, we can go on a date tomorrow because I heard, that usually comes first.”
Xiangling hid her face behind her arms. “I want but don’t look at me now, please.”
Gently, Yanfei patted Xiangling’s head. “Your red cheeks are the cutest.”