After getting on the bus, Xu Miao finally had a chance to pull out the phone in his pocket—the one that had been noisy enough to disturb the whole neighborhood. The screen lit up, and sure enough, the notification bar was packed with messages.
【ATM】: A guy?
【ATM】: You’re messing with me, right?
【ATM】: No way that’s real.
【ATM】: Don’t do this.
【ATM】: I’m gonna hang myself.
【ATM】: Why aren’t you replying to me?
【ATM】: Looks like the food was pretty good.
【ATM】: Wait, you actually ate?
【ATM】: [crying hard.jpg]
【ATM】: I’m a guy too, why won’t you eat with me?
【ATM】: Hanging myself, do not disturb.
【ATM】: Actually… you can disturb me a little.
【ATM】: How about you just disturb me, after all.
【ATM】: What am I supposed to do without you [crying hard][crying hard][crying hard]
Xu Miao had no idea where Xie Ge got all these chaotic, dramatic thoughts from—but they were kinda cute. What even Xu Miao didn’t realize was that he always found himself smiling unconsciously when replying to Xie Ge’s messages.
【XM】: Disturbing you now.
【XM】: Only stayed a few minutes. I didn’t eat with anyone.
In the private room, Xie Ge let out a weird screech the moment he got the message.
Liang Dong kicked his chair, and he didn’t react at all. Even when Liang Dong called him crazy, he didn’t bother to respond. His fingers were flying over the keyboard, practically smashing the keys, like he wanted to type two hundred words every two seconds.
【ATM】: I knew you had me in your heart.
【ATM】: I know you can’t bear to let me die.
【ATM】: Honestly, I wasn’t that jealous.
【ATM】: Please don’t skip dinner just because you can’t bear to lose me.
【XM】: I’ll head back then. I didn’t go far anyway.
【ATM】: Hanging myself right now—
Seriously, A Baby Who’s Really Good at Playing the Victim, Xu Miao thought.
Seeing that he was almost at the office, Xu Miao knew he wouldn’t be able to reply quickly for a while. He didn’t want Xie Ge spiraling into more overthinking, so he explained the situation clearly and reassured him repeatedly that from now on, he wouldn’t eat with anyone whose gender was male, just to put Xie Ge at ease.
With a satisfactory answer finally in hand, Xie Ge was willing to put down his phone and talk to Liang Dong sincerely—even though Liang Dong wasn’t exactly in the mood to respond anymore.
Xie Ge knew he was in the wrong. He tried to make up for it and said,
“If there’s a new banner next time, I’ll roll for you until you get the 5-star. If the pulls aren’t enough, I’ll top-up for you.”
Liang Dong really wanted to stay cold and indifferent—but as someone with trash luck at gacha, he couldn’t live without Xie Ge. Still, even though he was already secretly thrilled at the thought of an early 5-star, his mouth refused to cooperate: “Like I need you to top-up for me. You think I don’t know how disgustingly lucky you’ve been all these years? I don’t get it—why does all the good stuff fall into your lap? What am I, the universe’s discarded child?”
Xie Ge let out a half-hearted sigh and patted Liang Dong on the shoulder.
“Everyone has their fate. Just accept it.”
The two of them had never gotten along quietly since they were kids. Liang Dong brushed off Xie Ge’s hand from his shoulder and shot back without missing a beat:
“Don’t get too cocky just yet. Haven’t you heard that all the good luck you get now is just building up your tolerance for massive misfortune later?”
Xie Ge: “Never heard that. You made that up just now, didn’t you?”
Liang Dong: “And you caught me just like that.”
Xie Ge: “Because it was a terrible line.”
Halfway through the conversation, a message notification chimed on Xie Ge’s phone. He quickly picked it up to check.
【XM】: [Photo]
【XM】: Coffee time.
Xie Ge opened the photo and scanned it like a machine—visually covering every inch, again and again.
The hand holding the cup was really good-looking—bigger than most girls’ hands. Xu Miao must be quite tall. Thankfully, he was tall too, Xie Ge thought with a touch of relief.
But the more he looked at the picture, the more something felt off. On his way here earlier, he thought he’d seen that café.
While this coffee chain did have a pretty wide network of stores across cities, some locations hosted limited-time, region-exclusive themed stores. In the top right corner of the photo, part of the storefront was visible—and the decor style showing there was nearly identical to the one he saw today.
No way… but maybe? After all, he’d always been lucky.
【XM】: The new seasonal flavor is way better than I expected.
【XM】: [Money transfer]
【XM】: Inviting baby to have coffee with me.
Xie Ge couldn’t calm his rapidly beating heart. He was a little panicked, a little hopeful. He wanted to rush over to that place and confirm it with his own eyes—but he was also afraid it was just a fantasy.
Holding on to hope and confirming the truth had always been a tough choice—like Schrödinger’s cat. As long as you don’t open the box, you can keep hoping for a good outcome—the cat is still alive. But once you open it, there’s a chance it’s already dead. And once you know, there’s no going back, just the sting of disappointment.
Xie Ge didn’t hesitate for long. He had to go. To him, the worst-case scenario wasn’t that bad—it would just be not knowing where Xu Miao was, same as always. But the best-case? That’d be an unexpected delight. It would mean he was one step closer to him.
“Don’t tell me you’re leaving too,” Liang Dong yanked Xie Ge back. “Are you even human? Came empty-handed, leaving empty-handed. I’m the hotel—who’s the home?”
Xie Ge looked visibly grossed out, pretending to shiver like he got goosebumps.
“Since when did your words become this disgusting? And correction—you’re not even a hotel. I own a house here.”
Liang Dong rolled his eyes. “So what if you have a houset? Like I don’t?”
That topic always confused Xie Ge. From junior year onwards, A University didn’t require students to live on campus. Liang Dong’s place was just five minutes away by car from school. Anyone would find it weird.
“You’ve got an apartment, but you still live in the dorm? Don’t tell me you’re afraid to sleep alone?”
Liang Dong pouted. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Right, right, I wouldn’t understand,” Xie Ge said, lifting his phone and casually flashing the screen in front of Liang Dong’s eyes. “Can’t help it, really don’t get how you single guys think. Oh? How’d you know my girlfriend calls me ‘baby’ and treats me to coffee? I told you not to peek at other people’s phones.”
Liang Dong: “…”
Liang Dong: “You’re the one who shoved it in my face.”
Liang Dong: “And I didn’t even get a good look at anything…”
Xie Ge put a finger to his lips: “Shh. Don’t get too jealous.”
Liang Dong: “Can you act normal for once?”
Xie Ge: “I’m gonna go grab a drink. Want anything?”
Liang Dong: “Wow, growing a conscience now?”
Xie Ge: “Nah. I’ll just buy you some rat poison to drink instead.”
