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There was nothing remarkable from Liu Xiao’s first year as an international student in Bridon University. The routine of attending classes, completing assignments, and engaging in the typical student activities held little appeal for him. He found himself growing increasingly bored with his student life.
Stil, he needs to attend his classes so his father wouldn't notice what he’d actually been doing in Bridon. That private organization, where he deals with complex mysteries and high-stakes problems, was far more exhilarating than anything the university could offer. His work was thrilling and intellectually demanding more than the lecture about applying structuralism theory on semiotic analysis.
Amidst this dullness, there was still something that caught his attention. It was a fellow international student, one studying Applied Physics in second year. At first, Liu Xiao’s interest in Xia Fei was driven by pure curiosity. He couldn't help but wonder why Vein, the eccentric director of a major entertainment agency who also played a significant role in Liu Xiao’s private organization, seemed so particularly intrigued by this one person. Liu Xiao wondered just what made this seemingly ordinary student stand out enough to catch the attention of someone as influential as Vein.
Liu Xiao found out that Xia Fei, the quiet and unassuming student he had casually noticed on campus, was working at Vein’s agency. Xia Fei wasn’t just any low-level intern or assistant but rather a rising model, stepping into the limelight under the stage name "Felix."
Liu Xiao flipped through the latest magazine with a casual interest. Xia Fei in the magazine was not the same person he saw trudging through the university halls, hunched over in thick glasses, eyes shadowed with exhaustion. This “Felix” in the glossy pages magazine showcased a confident youth wearing the latest autumn collection as if he's born to be a model.
Liu Xiao’s gaze lingered on the page as he studied Xia Fei's pictures. His appearance was a perfect blend of delicate beauty and understated masculinity. Xia Fei didn’t possess the sharp edges most men usually did. Instead, his androgynous look was stunning, a perfect balance between handsome youth and small pretty face. His golden eyes were sharp, but there was a playful gleam that made him look youthful. His tall frame was bearing an undeniably slender waist, though there's a flash of defined muscles underneath it.
The more Liu Xiao looked, the more he understood why Vein treasured Xia Fei as his model. Xia Fei was every bit an attractive charmer who naturally knew how to wear something. It was very different from the quiet figure who always seemingly lost in his own worlds, making silly cat doodles in lectures. Liu Xiao couldn't help but appreciate the contrast.
“Why the fuck are you here again?” Xia Fei snapped, barely containing his irritation as he stood behind the bar counter, wearing a butler style uniform.
“Mmm, you're way more hostile than usual,” Liu Xiao replied with a lazy smile, propping his elbow on the counter and resting his chin on his hand. That familiar smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.
“You're annoying as always. Get the fuck out of here. Your face annoys me to hell,” Xia Fei shot back, his voice a warning for Liu Xiao to not talk to him again, preferably forever.
Liu Xiao leaned back, clearly enjoying Xia Fei's frustration. His sharp eyes behind his round glasses noticed the way Xia Fei’s cheeks were flushing a deep red. Xia Fei’s hands clenched as he wiped down the counter.
From Xia Fei’s point of view, this guy was the absolute worst. Liu Xiao, perched like he owned the place, lounging on the barstool with that infuriating smirk. Why was this guy always coming in his shift? Why was he always trying to act friendly, like they were close or something?
That smile, ugh. It wasn't even friendly nor inviting. That damn smirk made Xia Fei’s skin crawl, as if Liu Xiao knew exactly how to push all his buttons just for fun. It was also unsettling because it almost felt like he always knew something Xia Fei didn't know about.
Xia Fei hated that. He hated the feeling of being left in shadow, not knowing anything about what the fuck is this guy's problem while the said guy always seems like he knows everything about Xia Fei.
It was creepy.
And no matter how many times Xia Fei told him to get lost, Liu Xiao always came back, acting like it was some kind of game—which Xia Fei sure Liu Xiao played by himself. As far as Xia Fei was concerned, he wanted nothing, absolutely nothing to do with this guy.
Knowing he was being ignored, Liu Xiao casually raised a hand, catching the attention of the other bartender on duty. He slipped a large bill onto the polished counter.
“Make me the fanciest drink you’ve got,” he said smoothly, his voice just loud enough for Xia Fei to hear. He also didn't forget to add with a faint, amused smile, “Take the extra tip. Please ask that blond guy to talk more nicely with customers?”
Xia Fei, who was just a few steps away, froze mid-motion. His eyes widened in disbelief, the tips of his ears burning red. That bastard.
The other bartender, a senior staff member glanced between the two with a heavy sigh. Then, with a slight frown, he turned to Xia Fei.
“Xia Fei, seriously?” he hushed in Xia Fei’s ears. “We don’t start fights with customers.”
“Well he started it first!” Xia Fei whisper-shouted. How should Xia Fei explain to his senior that the blue haired guy is very weird, and always comes at his shift, and now is reading a magazine which he appeared in?
“Shhh. I’ll apologize to him. You go take that table’s food order, alright?”
Xia Fei clenched his jaw, swallowing the immediate urge to argue back. His pride stung, especially with Liu Xiao still watching from the bar like he was enjoying every second of it. Furious, flustered, and humiliated, Xia Fei spun on his heel and stormed toward the next table, pretending very hard that he didn’t just want to slam a tray into someone’s smug face.
Liu Xiao remained seated at the bar, leisurely sipping the vibrant cocktail that had just been set before him, but his gaze never left Xia Fei.
Across the room, Xia Fei approached a round table occupied by three women dressed in elegant blouses and designer accessories. He pasted on his professional expression and greeted them with a slight bow.
“Evening, ladies. Can I take your order?”
One of them, the one with deep wine red hair and the boldest red lipstick, leaned forward onto the table, resting her chin on her palm as she looked him up and down. “Oh my, you’re more handsome than what it looks on the viral video,” she said teasingly. “You’re too handsome to be just a waiter. Are you interested in playing as an actor, sweetheart?”
Xia Fei offered a tight smile, already feeling uncomfortable. “I can't do acting, ma’am. What would you like to drink?”
Another one giggled. “He’s shy! That’s so cute.”
The first woman wasn’t done. She suddenly reached out and tugged lightly on the sleeve of his uniform. “Come closer. We need a better look at that pretty face.”
Before Xia Fei could retreat, she reached up and pecked his cheek. It was quick but forward, and enough to make his face flush crimson. The table erupted in delighted laughter.
“Ahh, he’s blushing! So adorable,” one of them said. “Young guys like you are the best! Very easy to fluster.”
“So I was right. You do look cute playing romance telenovelas. Sure you don't want to take the offer, sweetheart?”
“Please, ma’am. I-I’ll give you a minute to decide,” Xia Fei mumbled, stepping back as gracefully as he could manage, ignoring the continued giggles behind him. His heart was pounding, his skin burning with embarrassment, and he didn’t even glance Liu Xiao’s way as he walked straight toward the staff room, trying to keep his composure intact.
From the bar, Liu Xiao watched it all unfold with a frown behind his eyeglasses. His gaze lingered on Xia Fei’s retreating figure, noting the slight unsteadiness in his step, the way his shoulders slumped as though under an invisible weight.
Meanwhile, inside the dimly lit staff room, Xia Fei leaned his forehead against the cold surface of the metal locker. The chill bit into his skin, but it was a small relief against the heat simmering beneath it. Shit… this is bad.
He had thought he could push through until the end of his shift. At first, he thought the mild fever he noticed in the afternoon class would just fade on its own. Now his head was spinning, his vision slightly blurred. A growing ache throbbed behind his eyes. His skin felt like it burned with fire. Everything in his body ached that he couldn't even decide if he should stand or sitting or leaning down on the floor.
He’d skipped lunch, too busy rushing from class to work, and hadn’t touched the medicine he had bought after the afternoon class. Maybe it was stress, maybe exhaustion, maybe both, Xia Fei couldn't really think right now.
Panic edged into his chest. He dug into his pocket for his phone. His fingers fumbling over the screen to call Vein, but before he could dial, a firm hand caught his wrist.
“As expected,” a firm voice murmured behind him.
Xia Fei stiffened. He recognized that voice instantly, and his heart sank.
Another hand gripped his shoulder, steadying him before he could stumble. “You’re going to collapse at this rate.”
Xia Fei turned his head slightly, just enough to confirm his suspicion. “This is… you're not supposed to be here,” he muttered through clenched teeth, voice low and hoarse.
“Doesn’t matter. You're sick and you didn't even tell anyone until it's too late,” Liu Xiao clicked his tongue. His hold on Xia Fei’s shoulder tightened slightly, keeping him upright as Xia Fei's knees began to give way.
Xia Fei let out a soft groan, of all people to find him like this, why did it have to be him?
Xia Fei couldn’t quite remember how he ended up outside. One moment, he was gripping the cold edge of a locker, trying to stay upright, and the next… everything blurred. Sounds faded in and out, like he was swimming in a pool. He remembered footsteps echoing in a hallway. His own? Someone else's?
The next thing he knew, he was moving again. A car? A train? A bus? He wasn’t sure. The windows passed by like smears of light. Buildings, street lamps, the occasional flicker of red or green at intersections. His head lolled against something soft, maybe a seat or someone’s shoulder.
Then, he was in a narrow box that had this weird sensation of going up which made his stomach churn. The narrow box swayed, or maybe that was just his balance failing him. He clung to something, someone, anything that looked firm enough to hold onto.
There's a warm room. Xia Fei didn't recognize it. Was he dreaming? In the middle of the room, there's a bed and someone guiding him toward it. He thought he heard a voice, telling him to take off his coat. Maybe his clothes too. His fingers moved sluggishly, tugging at layers, dropping clothing wherever they fell. Was someone helping him, or was he doing it himself? He couldn’t tell.
A hand pressed something into his palm. A pill? He blinked at it. He didn’t ask what it was. He swallowed because the voice said to, and because fighting felt impossible now. The last thing he remembered was sinking into the bed. The rest after that, he couldn't really remember. He only remembered the black claiming his whole body.
Liu Xiao let out a quiet snort, more amused than surprised as he watched the lump of blanket that was currently Xia Fei.
“Who gets naked and sleeps so comfortably in a stranger’s bed like that?” he smirked to himself.
Xia Fei had been half-conscious, feverish, and still managed to be the most stubborn person ever. The guy had put up quite the fight when Liu Xiao tried to get him into the car. Weak as he was, Xia Fei still thrashed like a feral cat, muttering protests in unrecognizable language.
Still, Liu Xiao had handled him without much trouble. For someone as tall as him, Xia Fei was alarmingly light. It was almost too easy to lift him and settle him into the back seat, limbs sprawled and face flushed. He’d gone quiet somewhere along the ride, the fever finally dulling his resistance.
Liu Xiao had known, of course, that models often kept to strict diets. They need to carefully fit in the body standard. Xia Fei’s frame, though lean and defined under all those layers, felt too delicate. It left a bitter taste in Liu Xiao’s mouth.
Liu Xiao watched as Xia Fei stumbled into the elevator beside him, the other boy’s frame unsteady, his steps dragging. As the lift ascended, Xia Fei leaned heavily to his side until his shoulder bumped softly against Liu Xiao’s. Liu Xiao didn’t move, just glanced at him through the corner of his eye. His brows creased slightly. That fever was definitely getting worse.
By the time they reached his apartment, Xia Fei was barely keeping himself upright. Liu Xiao wordlessly guided him through the spacious hallway, watching how his walk swayed with each sluggish step.
“C’mon,” Liu Xiao said, his voice low and calm as they entered his bedroom, “take off that coat. You don’t want to overheat and drench it in sweat.”
Xia Fei didn’t even argue. With glazed eyes, he shrugged off his coat and let it drop to the floor. Then, without a word, he began peeling off his cardigan, his black turtleneck, and even his tank top. Liu Xiao blinked, watching the slow strip of clothing fall one by one. He could’ve said something. Should’ve, maybe. But he didn’t.
“Really?” he mumbled to no one. “You just strip like that in a stranger’s house?”
Xia Fei, of course, didn’t respond. He looked half-conscious as he moved toward the bed. With a quiet sigh, Liu Xiao moved to his drawer, retrieving an emergency medicine kit he always kept stocked. Pulling out the painkillers and a bottle of water, he crouched beside the bed.
“Here. Take this. Then you can steal my bed all you want.”
Surprisingly, Xia Fei didn’t even resist. He took the pill, swallowed it with a few slow gulps of water, and then blinked slowly, his hand already feeling around the bed for the edge of the blanket. It was like watching a sleepy animal burrow into a nest. Within seconds, he was curling up, pulling the blanket over himself up to his nose.
“Do you want to borrow some clothes?” Liu Xiao offered, already half-turning toward the closet.
“No need,” came the muffled reply from under the blanket. “You smell like an old man.”
Liu Xiao froze, hand in mid-air. That hit harder than it should’ve.
“…I’m literally younger than you, you punk,” he groaned.
Even half-dead, you will find something to insult me, huh?
Liu Xiao smiled to himself, a small huff of laughter escaping his nose. This guy was oddly amusing. Despite being feverish, dizzy, and dumped into a stranger’s apartment, Xia Fei had somehow managed to undress, take his meds, tuck himself into bed, and insult the host at the same time. How self-sufficient, rating one star for being the worst guest ever.
In the seven hours that followed, Xia Fei drifted in and out of feverish sleep, but to his surprise, the rest was deeper and more comfortable than he’d had in weeks. The mattress beneath him was soft, cradling his aching body like a cloud, and the blanket wrapped around him was thick and fluffy, a far cry from the scratchy, thin layer in his cold and cramped dorm room.
When Xia Fei finally opened his eyes, the world didn’t spin. There was no fluorescent glare searing into his skull, only the gentle glow of morning sun bleeding through the closed curtains, painting the room in a shade of pastel blue and orange. It was warm, blissful, and perfect.
Until it was not because he realized he wasn’t alone in the bed. His body reacted before his brain did. Xia Fei swung his fist in the direction of the person beside him.
That person, Liu Xiao, caught the punch with ease. Their eyes locked. Xia Fei's eyes wide with panic and disbelief, Liu Xiao’s lips curling into that same devious smirk that haunted Xia Fei’s whole university life.
“Hm?” Liu Xiao grabbed Xia Fei’s fist tightly, “someone’s feeling energetic. That fever must’ve broken.”
Liu Xiao sat beside him on the wide queen-sized bed, his posture relaxed, back pressed into the headrest, a literature book open in his other hand. He looked far too comfortable. Xia Fei, on the other hand, was anything but calm. His mind raced to catch up with his surroundings. Anger bubbled in his chest as he jerked his wrist free from Liu Xiao’s grip.
“What the hell? Why are you sitting here? Who just sits next to a sleeping person like that? Do you not understand boundaries?!”
He was ranting, gesturing wildly, but Liu Xiao just turned a page with a ghost of a smile on his lips. It was infuriating.
“Has your fever gotten worse or have you forgotten that this is my bed in my own room?”
Sure, Xia Fei admitted to himself that he had been borrowing Liu Xiao’s bed. That didn’t mean it was morally acceptable for the bed owner to just sit there, reading literature, watching him while he slept!
Then Xia Fei realized something far more horrifying. The cold air conditioner hit his bare chest that didn't have anything to cover. His hands scrambled to pull the blanket up to his collarbone, eyes wide in horror.
“You! Why am I naked? Did you do anything to me last night?!”
Liu Xiao didn’t flinch. He merely closed his book with a soft thud, turning toward him with that maddeningly calm expression.
“Oh?” he said with a mockingly hurt tone, “I’ll be so sad if you don’t remember anything about last night.”
Xia Fei’s mind raced, but nothing came to him. He tried to remember something, anything that might explain why he woke up completely exposed in Liu Xiao’s bed. His thoughts spiraled, the idea of what could have possibly happened filling him with dread.
His body shuddered. Did Liu Xiao take advantage of him in his delirious state? Fuck, did Liu Xiao kissed him when he sleep? Or worse, was he the one who asked for it??
No. No. No. He was as sick as close to dying, there's no way he even had time to think about that. So, if anything happened, it was Liu Xiao's doing. Yes, surely it was. He also didn't feel anything hurt in his neck, or his chest, or his stomach, thank goodness. There's also no red marks. He still wears pants. Good. Very good.
Surely anything didn't happened right?
Burrowing deeper into the blanket, Xia Fei wished he could just disappear under the covers. He wanted to pretend this whole situation was a nightmare, but Liu Xiao’s smug voice brought him right back to reality.
“Why are you so shy? You’re the one who took off all your clothes by yourself~”
Liu Xiao leaned sideway, one elbow supporting his cheek, studying him with that irritating smirk on his face. Xia Fei froze, eyes wide, his face turning a shade of crimson that even the fever hadn’t caused.
“Shut the fuck up!! I didn’t!! You’re messing with me!!!”
“Are you going to nest in my bed forever?” Liu Xiao teased, “Not that I mind, but you kinda need to eat something after skipping lunch and dinner last night—”
Xia Fei didn’t need to be told twice. He shot up from the bed like a startled deer, his heart pounding in his chest. He panicked, and in haste, he grabbed his clothes from the floor and fumbled to put them back on.
"No! I'll go eat by myself!" Xia Fei shouted.
His face was still flushed, and he refused to look in Liu Xiao’s direction, his eyes fixed firmly on the floor, doing everything he could to hide his embarrassment. It was a weak attempt, really, a cute one, too, if Liu Xiao were being honest. He could hear Xia Fei’s heart thumping wildly. The sound was so loud, it was almost like a steady drumbeat in Liu Xiao’s ears.
Xia Fei hurried toward the door, his movements stiff and hurried as he tried to escape from Liu Xiao. With a slam, he shut the door behind him.
Liu Xiao just sighed, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he shifted his position on the bed. “Damn, not even a single thank you.”
Liu Xiao sprawled out on the bed, propping his head up with one hand, staring up at the ceiling. The other side of the bed was a mess, his hand reaching the traces of warmth left behind from where Xia Fei had been lying. The absence of the other person was almost more present than their physical form had been.
With a small sigh, Liu Xiao reached for his phone, absentmindedly scrolling through the online restaurant app. He placed an order with a few taps. He let his mind wander, a slight smile curling as he remembered Xia Fei's adorable attempt to push him away and his adorable sick state and his adorable everything, really.
When Xia Fei reached his dorm, he was greeted by something hanging on his door. It was a plastic bag from a nearby Chinese restaurant. His brows furrowed as he approached it, unsure of what to expect. The receipt inside the bag had his name printed on it, but he hadn’t ordered anything from this place. His fingers hesitated for a moment before he read the note attached to the bag.
Have a nice breakfast, cutie <3
The note was signed with none other than Liu Xiao’s name.
Xia Fei stood frozen for a long moment, staring at the words as the eerie realization began to settle in.
Scary. Scary. Scary.
That guy is weird and creepy!