Did I do something wrong?

About twenty minutes later, Fan Jin came in carrying a tray.

Plain rice porridge, a fried egg, a small dish of pickles, and a glass of warm water. Setting the tray on the bedside table, Fan Jin bent down and propped a pillow up behind Shan Ye's back.

"Can you sit up?" he asked.

Shan Ye tried shifting. The moment his backside touched the mattress, he hissed and hurriedly turned sideways, resting his weight on one cheek. "Yeah... I'll just eat like this."

Fan Jin glanced at him, placed the tray on his lap, and sat down on the edge of the bed.

Shan Ye picked up the porridge and took a sip. It was warm and thick, the rice grains cooked until they had bloomed. He looked up at Fan Jin, and their eyes met.

"Why aren't you eating?" Shan Ye asked.

"I'm not hungry."

"You didn't eat last night either." Shan Ye remembered that Fan Jin had been about to cook when he arrived last night, but they had ended up kissing all the way from the entryway to the bedroom, and dinner had never happened.

Shan Ye scooped up a spoonful of porridge and held it to his lips. "Open up."

"Doesn't your hand hurt?" he asked.

"My hand doesn't hurt." Shan Ye moved the spoon a little closer. "Hurry up. I'm holding it here."

Fan Jin lowered his head and ate the spoonful of porridge.

Shan Ye smiled, scooped up another spoonful, and ate it himself. They finished the bowl that way, taking turns. The fried egg was the same: Shan Ye took a bite, then gave the rest to Fan Jin.

Halfway through eating, Shan Ye suddenly remembered something. "Did you go out to buy medicine earlier?"

"Yeah."

"Didn't the person at the pharmacy ask what it was for?"

Fan Jin's chopsticks paused.

Watching him, Shan Ye suddenly widened his eyes. "You didn't just tell them-"

"No," Fan Jin interrupted, the tips of his ears instantly turning red. "I looked it up online."

A smile tugged at Shan Ye's lips.

"What are you smiling at?" Fan Jin frowned.

"Nothing." Shan Ye wiped the corner of his mouth, his eyes curving into crescents with his smile. "You're so cute."

Fan Jin glanced at him, then stood up and took the empty bowl away.

He didn't go to the café that day, staying home with Shan Ye instead.

Shan Ye pulled him down to sit on the bed, and they spent the whole day cuddled up there. He stroked Fan Jin's face. "Stop getting teary-eyed so easily."

"You have no idea. Whenever your eyes go red, it hurts my heart worse than my body hurts."

Fan Jin lowered his head. As a grown man, he felt embarrassed hearing that.

They exchanged some mushy words. By now, they had done everything they should and shouldn't have done. Their relationship had taken another step forward.

On Monday, Shan Ye had to go teach.

He was still at Fan Jin's place that morning. After washing up, he noticed that the hickeys on his neck hadn't completely faded. Two big marks sat brazenly on his neck, both Fan Jin's handiwork.

His Fan Jin certainly lived up to being a former soldier-he didn't know his own strength. From his collarbones downward, there were hickeys upon hickeys.

He had to find a way to cover them. It wouldn't look good if his students saw them.

He called toward the living room, "Fan Jin!"

"What is it?" Fan Jin answered, walking toward the bathroom.

"Look." He pointed at the evidence Fan Jin had left behind. "Look what you did. They've even turned purple. Anyone who didn't know would think I'd had cupping done on my neck."

Fan Jin unconsciously brushed his thumb over the spot, as light and ticklish as a feather. Shan Ye leaned back. "Tell me what I'm supposed to do. I have to go teach soon." Shan Ye scrunched up his nose, looking somewhere between accusing and coaxing.

Fan Jin went into the bedroom and rummaged through everything.

Shan Ye followed him in. "What are you looking for?"

Before long, Fan Jin found a gray scarf. It wasn't large, more like a neck warmer.

He handed it to Shan Ye. "Try this."

"A scarf?" Shan Ye took it and went to the bathroom to try it on.

It wasn't scarf weather yet, but Shan Ye put it on anyway.

"It feels a little tight. Did you buy one that was too small, Fan Jin?" Shan Ye asked.

Fan Jin stared at him, looking a little dazed. "That's my scarf from high school."

"High school... high school?!" Shan Ye's eyes widened. Fan Jin's high school days-that would have been fifteen or sixteen years ago, wouldn't it?

"It's an antique," Shan Ye couldn't help teasing.

Fan Jin smiled. "Come on. I'll take you to work."

Once he arrived at school, Shan Ye's scarf did indeed draw concerned questions from his colleagues.

"Are you all right, Shan Ye? It's only October, and it's over twenty degrees outside. Why are you wearing a scarf?" a male teacher asked.

"I, uh, have a cold. I get chilly easily."

He deliberately tightened the scarf a little, worried the hickeys might show. That wouldn't be good.

After teaching two classes that morning, Shan Ye couldn't stand the heat anymore and secretly took the scarf off in the office.

Yu Chuan came back from class and happened to see the conspicuous dark red hickeys on Shan Ye's fair neck.

He understood immediately and asked with a smile, "So you were deliberately covering those up?"

Shan Ye didn't try to hide them anymore. He nodded.

"Are you two together?" Yu Chuan asked.

Shan Ye kept his eyes on his computer rather than looking at him. "Yes. We just got together."

Yu Chuan remained silent for a long time. A while later, as he got up to teach his next class, he said to Shan Ye, "Congratulations. You're with the person you like." A smile appeared on his face, though it was hard to tell whether it was genuine.

Shan Ye smiled politely. "Thank you."

He had actually heard Yu Chuan's conversation with Fan Jin in the car that day. Yu Chuan had said he wanted to let go, but that didn't necessarily mean he could. Shan Ye didn't know how to handle feelings like his. All he could do was keep a respectful distance and give him no hope.

When Fan Jin returned from the café that evening, Shan Ye was home too.

He was sitting in the living room eating fruit. As soon as he saw Fan Jin come back, he ran to the entryway and threw his arms around him in a bear hug.

"Welcome home!"

Fan Jin was startled. It was Monday, and he hadn't expected Shan Ye to come over. He put his arms around Shan Ye's waist. "You're not going home today?"

Shan Ye shook his head. "My parents won't let me come home. They've already kicked their son out, so you have to take me in." He hugged Fan Jin around the neck, his voice playful as he deliberately wheedled.

Fan Jin pinched the soft flesh at his waist, then caught sight of the hickeys on his neck.

"Where's the scarf?" he asked.

"Oh, right, Fan Jin. I washed it." He pointed toward the balcony. "A few threads accidentally came loose while I was washing it. I think it's a little damaged."

Fan Jin's expression changed at that. His brows suddenly drew together, and he let go of Shan Ye's waist and strode toward the balcony.

His sudden reaction startled Shan Ye. He hurried after him. "Wh-what's wrong, Fan Jin?"

Fan Jin said nothing. He took the scarf Shan Ye had mentioned down from the balcony. It was still wet.

Holding it, he examined the somewhat uneven stitching. The ends of the yarn had indeed come loose.

Seeing how concerned he was about the scarf, Shan Ye had an uneasy feeling. "Fan Jin, I accidentally damaged it while washing it. I'll buy you another one."

Fan Jin stared at the scarf in his hands for a while before realizing that his expression was a little too stern. He turned to look at Shan Ye, who seemed at a loss.

He reassured him, "It's fine. It doesn't matter."

He relaxed his brows so he wouldn't look so stern. "It's getting late. Go on to bed."

Shan Ye nodded, turned, and walked toward the bedroom.