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I can tolerate a lot of bullshit.
It’s kind of necessary to have a high bullshit tolerance when you live somewhere like this. I’ve spent most of my adult life doing backbreaking labor in the blazing sun. I’m not even going to mention the emotional misery of living in this hellhole on top of all of that. I can take a lot of shit without breaking.
I cannot tolerate the fucking cold.
Tàiyáng was pretty good at staying professional outside of— you know what, but I could tell that it wanted to laugh in my face. My stupid hands were shaking while I tried to eat my pancit. The noodles kept falling out of my chopsticks with every annoying jitter. I was so close to giving up and using my bare hands.
The amihan season was the absolute worst. The sun was so bright and the air was uncomfortably humid earlier. Of course I went out in my thinnest clothes. I wasn’t expecting the weather to change its fucking mind halfway through the day and decide that it wanted to freeze me alive as a divine punishment for some unknown wrongdoing. It really didn’t help that the way Binondo was set up almost purposefully funnelled the winds between the buildings. I looked like a dumbass shivering my ass off in the middle of this panciteria while my… companion looked completely unbothered.
“It gets much colder than this back home, you know. This weather is nothing to me.”
Okay? Thanks, I guess? Good for you then?
“And what am I supposed to do with this information.” I didn’t even bother making it sound like a question.
It rolled its eyes at me before shrugging the outermost layer of its hanfu off. I had to ignore the part of my brain trying to remind me of when it did something similar during that night in the alleyway. Not the fucking time. We were in public.
I distracted myself from that train of thought by saying, “What, are you bragging that you don’t need to cover up? Are you gonna rub it in my face even more?”
I felt its foot kick my shin hard, but didn’t react at all. That seemed to annoy it. Good.
Tàiyáng gathered up the fabric and held it out to me over the table. I stared dumbly for a few seconds before taking it and begrudgingly putting it on. It didn’t help that much, but it was better than nothing. I couldn’t stop myself from sighing in relief at the extra protection from the cold, especially over my bare arms. When I looked back at my irritating companion, it had this expectant look on its face. I wanted to fistfight it in the middle of this fucking place.
“I’m going to punch you when we get out of here.”
“Yes, you’re welcome to.”