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Almost on instinct, Shen Wang stood up and reached out, pressing his hand against Gu Chong’s forehead, trying to check his temperature.
Gu Chong caught his wrist immediately.
His brows were furrowed, and his gaze pinned Shen Wang in place—sharp, unblinking.
Only then did Shen Wang realize how inappropriate he’d been.
“I just… wanted to see if you had a fever,” he said quickly, voice softening. “Your face doesn’t look right.”
Gu Chong still didn’t let go.
He just kept staring at him, as if trying to see straight through him.
Shen Wang lowered his gaze.
“Sorry,” he repeated.
A few seconds of silence stretched between them before Gu Chong finally loosened his grip.
“Forget it.”
“I’m sorry… I, I’m just used to it,” Shen Wang added hastily.
Gu Chong gave a quiet, unreadable laugh but didn’t respond.
Shen Wang hesitated, then gently said, “If you’re sick, you shouldn’t be drinking anymore.”
“It’s just a cold.”
“Mm.” Shen Wang paused. “Even so… you should drink less.”
Gu Chong didn’t respond.
His eyes drifted somewhere distant—focused on nothing in particular—before he suddenly said, almost absently, “I thought if I drank with you long enough, we’d both quit. Didn’t expect us to end up both becoming alcoholics instead.”
Shen Wang said quickly, “This time I really will quit…”
Gu Chong only smiled faintly.
Didn’t say whether he believed him or not.
The dishes Shen Wang ordered were gradually brought in one by one. The presentation was exquisite, but Shen Wang could barely taste anything. His mind was entirely elsewhere—on Gu Chong.
He tried to start a few light topics, forcing something conversational, but Gu Chong’s responses were lukewarm at best. Detached. Polite in the way that kept distance intact.
Shen Wang kept checking the time.
Eight o’clock arrived.
Suddenly, the crystal chandelier in the private room dimmed, leaving only the city nightscape behind Gu Chong glowing through the glass.
Almost instinctively, Gu Chong looked at him.
Their eyes locked.
Shen Wang found himself thinking, So “eyes like cold stars” really does exist.
In the dark, Gu Chong’s gaze still carried a faint, steady light—bright enough to feel like it belonged to a younger version of him.
Shen Wang stood up in a hurry, awkwardly clapping along with the server as a birthday song played.
When the staff finally left, Shen Wang said softly, “Happy 26th birthday.”
Gu Chong didn’t move.
Didn’t respond.
Shen Wang carefully pushed the cake a little closer. “Aren’t you going to blow out the candles?”
Gu Chong asked instead, “Is this also something you ‘just happened to buy’?”
Shen Wang froze for a moment.
“No,” he said quickly. “I prepared it specially.”
Gu Chong said nothing.
The warm candlelight flickered across his sculpted face, softening its edges, turning his usual sharpness into something almost distant.
Shen Wang felt it—the loneliness in his expression.
“You might not like it, but…” he started.
But he couldn’t finish.
But it’s my intention.
Before the silence could deepen further, Gu Chong’s phone vibrated sharply.
He answered.
“Hello?”
A pause.
“I’m outside. I’ll be back soon.” A faint laugh slipped into his voice. “Take it for a walk first. Have you eaten?”
“…Wait for me. I’ll be right back.”
Shen Wang caught the tone instantly—warm, familiar, intimate.
It took him a few deep breaths to steady himself.
After hanging up, Gu Chong picked up his suit jacket.
“I have to go.”
Shen Wang blocked the door.
“Who was it?”
Gu Chong didn’t answer.
He tried to step past him, but Shen Wang suddenly pressed his hand against the door lock, stopping him.
They were too close.
Close enough that Shen Wang could smell the alcohol on him, mixed with a faint, clean fragrance of cologne.
“Boyfriend?” Shen Wang asked.
Gu Chong stood there, jacket draped over his arm, his expression hidden in the darkness.
Then he said quietly,
“Yes.”
Shen Wang froze.
Gu Chong was trapped between him and the corner of the doorframe, his tall frame casting a heavy shadow over him.
Shen Wang felt his chest tighten.
He could barely breathe.
And then, unexpectedly calm, he said, “You’ve been drinking. You can’t drive.”
Gu Chong didn’t respond.
“I’ll take you,” Shen Wang added quickly. “I’ll drive you back.”
“I can call a ride.”
“Let me take you,” Shen Wang insisted. His voice lowered. “After this… maybe I won’t bother you anymore.”
Gu Chong looked at him.
“Why go that far?”
Shen Wang met his gaze without flinching.
“I want to see him.”
Part 2
Shen Wang was still driving the same Mercedes.
The little charm hanging from the mirror was still there too—an old blessing Gu Chong had once bought him at a temple.
Back then, Shen Wang had laughed at him. Said it was funny how someone who grew up in the U.S. was so superstitious.
Gu Chong had retaliated by biting him twice, then smiling as he wished him a long life—said he himself would only live to ninety-six.
At the time, Shen Wang thought he looked like a prince from a fairy tale.
No matter how masculine his body was, something inside him had always remained boyish.
Now, Gu Chong only glanced at the charm for a moment.
Didn’t say anything.
Shen Wang had wanted to talk, to fill the silence, but Gu Chong had already fallen asleep against the window.
His breathing was steady.
Peaceful.
Shen Wang slowed the car deliberately.
Just to keep him there a little longer.
Asleep, Gu Chong looked exactly the same as he did years ago—guard down, eyelashes thick and still, lips slightly relaxed. The aggression he carried when awake was gone entirely.
If not for the suit, it would have felt like they had gone back six years.
Shen Wang wasn’t someone who thought things through too deeply.
He loved Gu Chong, so he wanted him back.
But he had never known how to get him back.
Or even considered how many obstacles would stand in the way.
Like he’d once told Mei He, he had nowhere to go.
Ahead was a cliff.
Behind was a void.
Too-late love left him stranded.
Maybe the person Gu Chong was seeing now could finally make him give up.
Shen Wang tried to imagine it.
Was it someone like him? Or completely different?
Would he have to act properly, politely, to preserve some dignity?
He thought about it again and again.
Still found no answer.
Near the destination, Gu Chong woke up.
He blinked slowly, scanning his surroundings with the alertness of a newly awakened predator—sharp, wary, dangerous.
Only when his eyes landed on Shen Wang did the tension in him ease slightly.
“Almost there?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
Shen Wang turned the steering wheel, then couldn’t stop himself from asking,
“What kind of person is he?”
He had too many guesses.
Kind? Gentle?
Someone like him?
Or the complete opposite?
Maybe someone who liked daisies too?
Outside the window, the familiar two-story house came into view.
The swing at the front was still there—probably the same one Shen Wang had picked years ago.
The white paint had faded under rain, exposing patches of rust beneath.
It looked quietly desolate.
“Anyway,” Gu Chong said as he opened the car door, his voice low, “you already know them.”
Shen Wang froze.
“I know?”
He followed him out in a daze.
Gu Chong walked straight inside and opened the door.
Everything inside was exactly the same as before.
Even the scent of sandalwood lingering in the air felt familiar—almost intimate, like time had never touched it at all.
