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“Did you think this would be how it ended?” Xiaoshuai asked, looking over at Suowei draped over the clinic's sofa. His gaze on the ceiling and his mouth curled into a smile.
“What do you mean?” He asked, turning his head on the cushion to look at Shuai sat across from him crossed legged on the clinic’s floor, his hands on the small coffee table between them.
“When you— we started this whole plan to get revenge on your girlfriend and Chi Cheng. Did you think it would end with you and him being together?”
“No,” Wu laughed, “I thought it would end with me and Yue Yue walking down the aisle.”
Shuai smiled, a shared laugh filling the silence. The lights had been dimmed, and the clinic doors were locked for the night, the little sign in the window read closed and outside the streetlights were just starting to light up the evening. There had been talk of going back to Shuai’s or maybe even Wu’s but instead they had ordered take out to the clinic and sat nostalgically in the waiting room talking.
“Do you regret any of it?” Shuai asked and he watched as Suowei frowned slightly and turned his gaze back up to the ceiling.
“Yes but not being with Chi Cheng. I regret lying and hiding my true feelings for so long. I wish I had come clean earlier. I don’t regret the plan— if we hadn’t, I’d probably still be chasing after Yue Yue and making myself miserable.”
Shuai nodded slowly, he understood what Wu meant. It had been rough the build up and the fallout from the truth but it had made Chi and Wu stronger. Neither Suowei or Xiaoshuai had meant for their revenge to get to this point, hadn’t meant to find love and friendship within their lies and scheming.
“I’m glad.” Shuai smiled, reaching across the table to pick at the label on his cup.
“What about you? did you think it would end like this? Did you think we would still be friends?”
“No,” Shuai admitted softly. “I didn’t expect any of this but I’m grateful. I’m glad you came into my clinic that night after being such a fool.”
“So am I.” Suowei grinned turning to share his smile with Xiaoshuai.
“I’m grateful for Chi Cheng too, for being good to you,” he continued. “And I can’t even tell you how grateful I am for Guo Chengyu.” He smiled bright a small laugh escaping as he looked at Wu, his eyes shimmering with affection that Shuai was sure he had lost years ago. “I didn’t think I would ever have something like this again, thank you.”
Suowei knew what Shuai meant, he knew about Meng Tao and the so-called friends he had back then. He knew that Shuai’s clinic name had come from a sliver of light in dark times. He had seen Shuai changed over the last few years. His face now soft and his smile bright—no longer cold and tight; he laughed freely and loved Wu Suowei and Guo Chengyu so much that it hurt sometimes.
“We’re like a family.” Wu Suowei said, not for the first time over the last few months.
Shuai smiled warmly at him, the last year had been hard for Wu, the passing of his mother and the guilt he felt over Chi Cheng’s family pulling away from him because of Wu Suowei, he always brought family into things when he was feeling emotional and Shuai didn’t mind. His family lived far away and he rarely spoke with them. Guo Chengyu’s family had been kind, and he had felt welcome but it wasn’t the same as the feeling the four of them shared when they were together.
“Yeah. We are.” Shuai agreed, grateful.
A light knock at the clinic door made Suowei sit up and glance over. “Really? We can’t have just one night?” He groaned, flopping back down on the sofa as Shuai laughed. Guo Chengyu stood at the door a smirk across his mouth as he waved slowly.
Xiaoshuai didn’t say anything as he got up and made his way across the clinic to open the door. Guo Chengyu smiled at him, placing a soft kiss against Shuai’s forehead as he walked inside a clear bag held in his hand. “I figured you’d both be here. I brought dessert.”
That made Suowei’s face soften and he sat up eagerly. “Home made?” He asked, practically reaching for the bag in Guo’s hand.
“Of course.” Chengyu scoffed, turning his nose up when he saw the takeout wrappers scattered around where Suowei and his boyfriend were sat. “You stayed here and had take out? I would have made dinner for you both.” He added and Shuai only patted him on the back and sat back down on the floor.
“This is supposed to be a boyfriend free night.” Suowei huffed.
“Didn’t you get enough of those when you were single?” Chengyu smirked.
Suowei glared at him, soft and teasing.
“Don’t panic, I brought your boyfriend too.” Chengyu added, Suowei jumped when he felt Chi Cheng move to sit beside him on the sofa, a smirk curved as his lips when Wu stared wide eyed at him. He had been so pre-occupied with Chengyu’s promise of dessert that he hadn’t seen Chi come in behind his friend.
“Fine, so dessert….” Suowei said eagerly, Chi Cheng wrapped his arm around him and pulled him in for a kiss, short and soft on the lips.
“Am I not sweet enough for you Wei Wei?” Chi asked, his tone low and his eyes full of affection. Wu pulled a defiant face and shrugged his shoulders, teasing.
Shuai and Chengyu laughed, Chengyu sitting beside him on the floor with his arms thrown around Shuai’s shoulder; his nose brushing Shuai’s cheek as Chi and Suowei bickered across from them. Dessert on the coffee table still in the bag. He swallowed taking a minute to appreciate that his clinic, once a quite sanctuary was now filled with laughter and warm with love that only family could bring.
Wu Suowei was right. They were a family and Jiang Xiaoshuai was more than happy with that.