“Fang Zeqing, my little dog died.”
She shook with sobs, tears soaking the stray hairs hanging over her face, plastering them messily to her cheeks. Fang Zeqing’s tissues were drenched through, the dampness seeping onto his fingers, evaporating in the air, leaving his skin tight and wrinkled.
A sensation impossible to ignore.
His heart felt the same.
This was a consequence he hadn’t anticipated.
A long while passed before her sobs quieted to soft sniffles, and Li Xia finally calmed down.
“I’m sorry,” Fang Zeqing said.
Li Xia lifted her teary eyes to look at him, then let out a sudden giggle.
“It’s got nothing to do with you,” she said, lowering her damp eyelashes. “Just don’t laugh at me. I must have looked so ugly crying like that.”
“Li Xia.”
“Hm?”
“Tell me about it.”
Bread had originally been her friend’s pet, boarded at her house while the friend was abroad. During those few special years, her friend couldn’t return, so Li Xia had taken over caring for it. On the day of the incident, she had been walking Bread in the park when it led her down a side path. She hadn’t thought much of it. In the moment she glanced down at her phone, she realized Bread could no longer stand—it had collapsed on the ground.
“It was a snake bite. By the time we got to the hospital, it was barely breathing.”
Li Xia paused for a few seconds here.
“Later, I found out that other puppies had been bitten on that path before. The park had even posted warnings, but I hadn’t noticed. I was too careless.”
Fang Zeqing gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
He knew words of comfort were useless.
He simply said, “Pets are very spiritual creatures, especially the ones their owners love deeply. It surely didn’t want to leave you either, so maybe it turned into the wind or a cloud to stay by our side—just invisible to our eyes.”
He brushed a tear from her cheek with his thumb.
“Could you send me a few photos of Bread?”
Unsure what he had in mind, Li Xia nodded.
Only then did she take a proper look at him. Fang Zeqing was wearing a misty blue shirt today that made his fair skin look even gentler. His collar was unbuttoned, and Li Xia glanced at it before muttering, “Why are you dressed so handsome?”
Fang Zeqing burst out laughing.
“Very handsome, huh?”
Li Xia said proudly, “Just a little handsome, maybe.”
Thinking of what Lin Hong had told her, Li Xia added, “I know your secret now, Fang Zeqing.”
“My mom told you everything?”
“Yeah.”
Fang Zeqing looked at her, then gazed off into the distance.
His voice was calm. “It’s nothing. One failure just means another chance next time. I had too high expectations for myself.” He smiled again and asked Li Xia, “Should I switch tracks altogether?”
Li Xia nodded her head vigorously. “You could try the looks-based track.”
Then she added, “Nah, forget it. Then even more people would like you, and it wouldn’t be my turn.”
Fang Zeqing pinched her cheek. “There’s only one spot by my side. No taking turns.”
“You’re not mad at me anymore?” he asked.
Li Xia lowered her eyes and tightened her grip on his hand. “I was never mad at you. I just realized I was too eager. Just pretend I wanted to understand you too much. I don’t like hearing you mock yourself or put yourself down, so I wanted to know why.”
Then something occurred to her, and her eyes lit up.
“Fang Zeqing, do you remember that part in Stranger Things where Max blasts the music and charges out of the Upside Down?”
In Stranger Things 4, when the protagonist Max was swallowed by the Upside Down, it was love and friendship that gave her the courage to run from the collapsing otherworld. She sprinted forward as the apocalypse crumbled behind her bit by bit. The moment Running Up That Hill started playing, Li Xia had felt her blood surging.
“Fang Zeqing, the low points in life are painful. Everyone can play you that song and show you the way out, but you have to run for it yourself.”
“And I want to tell you—being an idealist in this world is truly lucky and incredibly cool.”
Li Xia’s eyes were earnest, her tone brimming with strength.
Fang Zeqing nodded.
He felt the power in Li Xia’s gaze and the warmth transmitted through their clasped hands.
Strong. Decisive. Warm.
As if the fragile girl who had just been crying wasn’t her at all.
“You’re great at comforting others,” he said. “But what about comforting yourself?”
Li Xia gazed at him quietly.
“I don’t want to see you unhappy.”
In that moment, Fang Zeqing thought how one person’s world could be changed by another. Li Xia might just be the song that could pull him from his own Upside Down.
He gently stroked the side of her face with his hand, lightly touching the skin around her eyes where tears had recently fallen.
“Me too.”
–
Lin Hong had actually arrived quite early but hadn’t wanted to disturb them. Fang Zeqing called out to her from the gazebo, and only then did she walk over awkwardly to take Melon Seed’s leash.
“Heh heh, I’ll take Melon Seed for another walk. You two keep chatting.”
Li Xia shot to her feet.
“Sister Hong.”
Lin Hong smiled, looking both satisfied and delighted. “You’ll have to start calling me Auntie from now on, right?”
Li Xia pressed her lips together, her face flushing red.
Lin Hong beat a hasty retreat. “I’ll head back first and make dinner for you all.”
As she left, she secretly gave Fang Zeqing a thumbs-up.
After dinner together, Lin Hong stood at the door to see them off. Fang Zeqing had switched to a sports car today, and Li Xia eyed it before saying he clearly wasn’t suffering as a director.
Fang Zeqing laughed heartily.
Li Xia had never felt this comfortable, this reluctant to let the moment end. She sat beside Fang Zeqing with the window half-down, stretching out her hand to feel the bustling, damp, cool breeze of Nanlin. When she turned her head, she could see his handsome profile, the bob of his Adam’s apple.
Perhaps her gaze was too intense, because Fang Zeqing turned to her and asked, “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Li Xia scoffed. “Good looks like yours are one in a million.”
The orange-yellow streetlights had come on, their glow streaming through the glass and flickering across his face. The wind seemed to favor his hair too, tousling it into a hint of wildness.
“I thought you were the quiet and reserved type,” Li Xia said. “But driving like this? A bit playboy-ish. Pretty handsome.”
Fang Zeqing’s lips curved in a smile. “You’re pretty cool yourself. Skateboarding suits you.”
“That’s not the same.”
Fang Zeqing said, “I’m bad at balance. I tried it once and fell right off—seemed impossible. But you’re amazing at it.”
“Hahaha.”
A red light appeared ahead, and Fang Zeqing brought the car to a stop. Neither spoke. His hand brushed across the center console to find hers, his fingers grazing her palm before drawing her hand closer, and closer still. In the quiet, the air grew thick and restless. Li Xia could hear only the pounding of her own heart.
She watched as Fang Zeqing lowered his head—
And pressed a featherlight kiss to the back of her hand.
“Come to my place tonight, Li Xia.”
–
Li Xia threw her arms around Fang Zeqing’s neck. First, she was pinned against the door as he bent down to claim her lips. The instant their mouths touched, she felt her waist gripped fiercely from behind. Fang Zeqing practically hauled her entire body against his.
She was pressed flush to him, feeling the rapid rise and fall of his chest. His breath was scorching hot, blasting against the corner of her lips as he kissed her hard and urgently, sucking at her with each press, stealing the air from her mouth. Again and again, he pulled their bodies tighter together.
Li Xia’s body went soft under the onslaught.
She had never seen him like this—filled with desire, utterly predatory.
As if unsatisfied, his burning hand slid up from her lower back to the nape of her neck, forcing her to keep her head tilted up. He deepened the kiss, making it heavier, as if it could never be enough.
The moment she kissed him back, he suddenly paused and opened his eyes.
Between parted lips and teeth, he murmured her name and kissed her again. “Li Xia.”
Li Xia’s heart had melted into a puddle.
She couldn’t remember how they made it from the door to the sofa. Fang Zeqing carried her there, settling her on his lap. The shirt she liked so much—the one from today—was left damp and wrinkled at the back and collar from her clutching hands. She cupped his face and kissed him, reveling in the way his body responded.
“Do you have it?” she asked, her breath coming in husky gasps.
In that moment, she was the one in control.
She saw the tips of Fang Zeqing’s ears turn bright red. He pulled back slightly. “I didn’t buy any.”
“Why not?”
Li Xia leaned in closer, their noses brushing.
Fang Zeqing’s breathing was unsteady. “I went for a checkup. The results aren’t back yet.”
Li Xia laughed in surprise.
She leaned down and kissed him contentedly. “I want some water.”
Fang Zeqing carried her to get a drink.
But the water only served to heighten things. When they finally lay down together on the bed of desire, Li Xia reached up to undo the buttons of his shirt.
Fang Zeqing was growing restless. He caught her hand. “What are you doing?”
“Just looking.”
“Only looking?”
“Can I touch?”
She sprawled atop him, her small hands wandering like little fish. Finally, Fang Zeqing couldn’t hold back any longer. He pinned her hands firmly at her sides and, amid the thunder of his heartbeat, looked into her shining eyes with a touch of helplessness.
Fang Zeqing surrendered.
He lowered his head, burying his chin in the crook of Li Xia’s neck and inhaling deeply.
She heard his uneven breaths right by her ear, felt his soft lips press against the hollow of her throat, trailing lightly.
His voice turned into scorching, magnetic grains, amplified in her ear—
“Don’t tease me anymore, Li Xia.”
“Let’s date.”