TBS Chapter 24

Xu Miao felt that Xie Ge’s proposal was
even more sudden and reckless than his own. Who proposes over the phone? And besides, his own proposal had been rejected by Xie Ge for “not being ready.”

As he typed, the keyboard made a soft click-clack sound, buzzing for a short moment, then falling silent. After a while, it clicked again, then went quiet.

Xu Miao pondered carefully, wanting to tease Xie Ge a little, but also worried that if he said too much, Xie Ge might misunderstand.

In the end, the text in the input box was deleted with the taps of the backspace key, leaving nothing.

Xie Ge had no idea about this. He only saw the “typing…” notification at the top of the chat repeatedly appear and disappear, but no message came through from Xu Miao.

After a few more minutes with no response, Xie Ge grew worried and hastily typed:

[A Little Silly]: Today I’ve hit the limit.

[A Little Silly]: Can you give me your card number? I’ll transfer it to your account.

Xu Miao looked at the messages and laughed and cried at the same time. He didn’t understand what was going on in Xie Ge’s head—randomly sending him money, randomly proposing to him.

It was as if Xie Ge had gone through some huge emotional upheaval in such a short time, making him suddenly discard all ideas of preparation—no ring, no wedding, even meeting the elders could wait.

All Xie Ge wanted was to marry Xu Miao.

After sending the additional messages, Xie Ge noticed the chat status at the top switch to “typing…” again. He felt a mix of nervousness and anticipation.

Rings, weddings, and meeting parents are all things to do before marriage; if they can’t do them now, they can be handled later. As for after the wedding… in order, they would get married officially, then go on a honeymoon.

Xie Ge had looked into plenty of suitable honeymoon destinations. If Xu Miao registered the marriage tomorrow and applied for leave from work, they could set off as soon as the day after tomorrow.

But he didn’t know if Xu Miao would be willing to take a few days off for a honeymoon.

Unfortunately, fantasy and reality rarely match. Xu Miao did reply, but his answer was nothing like the ones Xie Ge imagined.

The message was brief: “Something came up, we’ll talk after work.”

Until boarding, Xie Ge received no further messages or calls from Xu Miao.

When the flight attendants asked passengers to turn off their phones or switch to airplane mode, Xie Ge, unwilling to give up, sent Xu Miao one last message, telling him he would arrive home soon and would open the door immediately upon arrival.

The flight lasted one and a half hours. Xie Ge suffered through the entire time, focusing on his phone while only using his peripheral vision to follow the crowd toward the exit, occasionally glancing up as if searching for something.

No surprise awaited him—Xu Miao was not among the people picking up passengers.

Xie Ge felt a little disappointed, and also blamed himself for overreacting. It was reasonable that Xu Miao wasn’t there; he hadn’t told him his exact flight details.

He checked the time. Nearly eight o’clock. If Xu Miao wasn’t working overtime, he had likely already eaten dinner and might be curled up on the sofa, watching the movie they had talked about last time.

Xie Ge took a deep breath to calm himself and followed the signs to the ride-hailing pick-up area.

Someone rushed past, and Xie Ge instinctively stepped aside, but still got bumped on the shoulder, dropping his phone. He didn’t care, bending down to pick it up, only to have another hand grab it first.

He straightened and took the phone, about to thank them, when he looked up—and saw Xu Miao.

Perhaps noticing the slightly pitiful look in Xie Ge’s eyes, Xu Miao froze for a few seconds, then opened his arms to hug him, lightly patting his back and saying apologetically: “I wanted to surprise you, but it seems you don’t like this kind of surprise.”

Xie Ge closed his eyes, tilting his head to rest on Xu Miao’s shoulder. Quietly, almost secretly, he sniffled and murmured, “I just don’t like surprises like this. I’d rather you tell me you’re coming to pick me up—then I’d feel at ease.”

People came and went, but Xie Ge didn’t care. He held onto Xu Miao, continuing to say what he wanted: “But how did you know I’d be at this exit?”

Xu Miao smiled: “I guessed.”

Xie Ge asked again: “What if you guessed wrong?”

Xu Miao said firmly, “I won’t guess wrong.” In fact, he hadn’t guessed at all—he had checked the flight schedule based on the time Xie Ge had sent messages.

Xie Ge didn’t care and didn’t dig into it. All he knew was that Xu Miao really had come to the airport to pick him up. He was happy and immediately tossed all his worries aside.

“How long have you been waiting for me?”

“How long?” Xu Miao paused for a moment, as if calculating, then finally said, “I don’t remember… not very long.”

Such an obvious lie. Xie Ge suspected even more that Xu Miao had come straight from work.

He reached up and pinched Xu Miao’s ear, feeling so good he almost hummed a tune in his heart: “Aren’t you afraid we might have missed each other, and I’d be stuck here waiting?”

Xu Miao couldn’t help laughing: “Why are you asking the question back? It’s not like I’ll stop hugging you once I let go. Why drag it out?”

Caught in his own thoughts, Xie Ge felt both embarrassed and annoyed: “I’m concerned about you—why don’t you appreciate it?”

Xu Miao: “Then let go.”

Xie Ge: “No way.”

Xie Ge’s refusals in ordinary matters never worked with Xu Miao. Xu Miao ended the hug himself and created some distance between them.

Xu Miao didn’t give Xie Ge too much time to feel unhappy. He slightly opened his coat and pulled out a single eustoma flower.

Although it was only one flower, it was beautifully wrapped in beige wax paper and a pink ribbon. The only flaw was that it was clearly a little crushed.

“Looks not as nice as when it was freshly bought,” Xu Miao said after a quick glance, pointing out the culprit: “But you can’t blame me—it’s you who crushed it. Don’t complain it looks bad.”

Xie Ge and Xu Miao exchanged a glance. “I wouldn’t complain.”

Xu Miao held Xie Ge’s hand, Xie Ge held the flower, and together they walked to the underground parking lot.

“This is the second time you’ve given me flowers.”

“You like it?”

“Yes.”

“Then what she said was right.”

“Who?”

Xu Miao didn’t answer. Xie Ge, like a broken record, kept asking, “Who? Who? Who?”

It wasn’t until they got in the car that Xu Miao finally spoke, slowly.

“When I came by, a little girl was selling flowers. She stopped me and asked if I wanted to buy one. At first I said no. Then she asked if I was here to pick someone up. I said yes. She said I had no sense of romance—how could I pick up a girlfriend without bringing flowers?”

“I told her it wasn’t a girlfriend, it was a boyfriend. After hearing that, she looked at me with that expression—like, how are you so clueless about romance—and said that even boyfriends need flowers. So, I bought one.”

“You really did need it. I’m glad I listened to someone else’s advice.”

Xie Ge looked at the flower, then at Xu Miao, then back at the flower, then at Xu Miao again. After repeating this a few times, he finally made up his mind to try out a trick he had learned for surprising someone—on Xu Miao.

“How about I give you a suggestion too?” Xie Ge took several deep breaths, as if summoning courage, then said, “Compared to flowers, a boyfriend needs kisses more.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he heard Xu Miao laugh happily.

It was a pure laugh, without any teasing, which made Xie Ge feel a little warm in the face. He quickly added, “I was just saying that, don’t take it seriously.”

In just a few seconds, Xie Ge had turned his face away to avoid Xu Miao’s gaze—but Xu Miao’s hand guided his face back, holding his eyes with sincerity: “Too late. I’ve already taken it seriously.”

Under Xie Ge’s gaze, Xu Miao leaned in slowly, tilting his head to avoid their noses touching, and lightly kissed him.