A poker-faced man sweet-talked his husband

Zhou Min left. Shan Ye kept his head down, poking at the rice in his bowl with his chopsticks, over and over.

Come over sometime? I'm not letting you in, Shan Ye silently fumed.

Fan Jin looked at him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Shan Ye poked a hole in the rice, then another. His chopsticks scraped against the bowl with a grating sound.

He was doing it on purpose.

Fan Jin watched him for two seconds, then reached over and took the chopsticks out of his hand. Shan Ye looked up to find him watching him, his expression as impassive as ever.

He immediately frowned and pouted. "Give me back my chopsticks." His voice was distinctly unhappy.

"Don't waste food."

Shan Ye opened his mouth at that, momentarily at a loss for words.

He picked up the spoon beside him and went back to eating with his head down, neither speaking nor looking at him.

Fan Jin noticed that he was deliberately avoiding his gaze. He set the confiscated chopsticks aside and picked up his own to keep eating.

They stayed silent for a full five minutes. Shan Ye shoveled rice into his mouth with the spoon, poking the rice between every mouthful, making the spoon clatter against the bottom of the bowl. Fan Jin left him alone this time, but placed a bite of food at the edge of his bowl.

Shan Ye didn't touch it. He finished his rice, set down the spoon, wiped his mouth, and leaned back in his chair, looking out the window.

"Full?" Fan Jin asked.

"Yeah."

"Let's go."

Fan Jin paid the bill, and Shan Ye followed two steps behind him. When they left the restaurant, a night breeze swept over them, and Shan Ye sneezed. Fan Jin came over to take his hand, but he dodged him.

He headed toward the elevators with his head down.

Fan Jin quickened his pace to catch up, and they entered the elevator one after the other. Shan Ye stood in the corner, staring at the numbers above the doors. Neither of them spoke.

The elevator reached the first basement level, and the doors opened. Shan Ye stepped out and headed toward their parking spot. After two steps, someone caught his wrist.

He stopped without turning around.

Fan Jin held his wrist and didn't let go. Shan Ye felt his thumb brush gently against the inside of his wrist. It tickled.

"Turn around," Fan Jin said.

Shan Ye stood stiff as a post, resisting the urge to move. This was the first time he had sulked at Fan Jin.

Fan Jin walked around to stand in front of him and looked down at him. Shan Ye turned his face aside, refusing to look at him.

"Shan Ye."

He still said nothing.

Fan Jin caught his chin and gently turned his face back. Forced to look at him, Shan Ye had slightly red eyes. He wasn't crying, but his lips were pursed in a pout, and he looked as if he had suffered the greatest injustice in the world.

"What are you angry about?" Fan Jin asked.

Shan Ye slapped his hand away. "I'm not angry."

"Then why didn't you eat the food I put in your bowl?"

"I was full."

"You haven't said a word, and you still say you're not angry." Fan Jin's tone remained as level as ever.

Being called out only made Shan Ye angrier. He turned and walked away.

Fan Jin followed and pressed the button on his car key. The lights flashed. Shan Ye pulled open the passenger door, climbed in, and slammed it shut. Fan Jin got into the driver's seat, but instead of starting the car, he turned to look at him.

Shan Ye folded his arms and stared through the windshield.

The car was quiet for a few seconds.

"When I was renovating my place, she helped pass me things and cooked for me. That was all," Fan Jin said.

"I didn't ask." Shan Ye's voice was stiff.

"Your expression has been asking the whole time."

That shut Shan Ye up.

Fan Jin reached over, pulled his seat belt across, and buckled it. The movement was perfectly natural, but afterward, he didn't pull his hand back. He left it resting at Shan Ye's waist.

"She invited me to dinner. I didn't agree," Fan Jin said.

"If I hadn't choked and interrupted you two, would you have said yes?"

Fan Jin paused in surprise. "No. I wasn't interested in her that way."

"Then how were you interested?"

Fan Jin opened his mouth, only to realize he had nothing convincing to say. After two seconds of silence, he withdrew his hand from Shan Ye's waist and started the car.

The car pulled out of the underground garage and joined the traffic. Shan Ye kept looking out the window without speaking. Fan Jin said nothing either, leaving them locked in a stalemate.

When they reached Fan Jin's place, they went upstairs one after the other.

Once the door was open, they walked straight into the living room. Shan Ye sat on the sofa and hugged a cushion to his chest.

Fan Jin sat beside him, and he shifted half a seat away.

The man beside him moved closer again.

He shifted away again. Fan Jin simply reached over and pulled the cushion out of his arms. With nothing to hug, Shan Ye placed his hands on his knees, then lowered them again, feeling uncomfortable all over.

He stood to leave, only for someone to seize his wrist and pull him down onto Fan Jin's lap.

"What are you doing-" Shan Ye struggled briefly.

Fan Jin wrapped one arm around his waist and held his hand with the other, keeping him still.

"What are you doing?" Fan Jin countered.

"Didn't you say we should talk things through whenever something's wrong? Why aren't you talking?"

His own words came back to hit him square between the eyes. Shan Ye gritted his teeth. "Didn't you say no one had ever liked you? Then what was that with her? She asked for your contact details, and you just gave them to her. She even wanted to ask you out to dinner, and she was deliberately doing all that stuff in front of you to seduce you. Did you think I couldn't tell?"

The longer he spoke, the louder he got, and the angrier he became.

Fan Jin watched the man on his lap pour it all out in one breath. "Finished?"

"Finished." Shan Ye pressed his lips together and avoided his gaze. "Go on, explain."

"She helped me with a few things back then. We were neighbors, and I really didn't read anything into it," Fan Jin said. "We haven't been in touch since she moved. Running into her today was a coincidence."

Shan Ye kept his head down and listened to his explanation.

"I didn't realize she was interested in me." Fan Jin paused. "You know I'm slow on the uptake."

Those words took away half of Shan Ye's anger. He knew Fan Jin wasn't pretending. He really was that oblivious.

But he hadn't quite gotten over it yet. "Then why did she come cook for you?" Shan Ye asked sulkily.

"I was busy then, and I couldn't cook while my place was being renovated. Whenever she cooked, she came to invite me over. I turned her down at first, but later she said it was just neighbors helping each other out. I was wrong."

Shan Ye turned his head aside and snapped, "Then ask her to cook for you from now on."

Fan Jin took a deep breath, turned Shan Ye's face back, and looked him in the eyes. "I was wrong."

Shan Ye froze for a moment. He hadn't expected Fan Jin to admit fault so quickly.

"It definitely won't happen again," Fan Jin said.

Shan Ye stared at him for two seconds. "What else?"

"I shouldn't have let her save my number."

"What else?"

Fan Jin thought for a moment. "That's it."

Shan Ye looked at him. Fan Jin's expression was still cool and composed, but he was genuinely earnest about admitting his mistakes.

"No. I'm not forgiving you that easily."

Fan Jin smiled helplessly. "Then what will it take for you to forgive me?"

"Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless you call me something sweet." Shan Ye folded his arms with a slightly haughty air.

Fan Jin thought for a moment. "Call you... Shan Ye?"

"Tsk, no."

"Then... Brother Shan?" Fan Jin thought of how Shan Ye usually called him Brother Fan. "Surely I can't call you Brother Ye."

Shan Ye laughed despite himself. "Why not? All my friends call me that."

Fan Jin pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling rather helpless. All he could do was indulge him. "Brother Ye, can you stop being angry now?"

"I never said you could call me that." He was being deliberately unreasonable.

Fan Jin drew a breath. "Then what exactly should I call you?"

"Call me... baby. Sweetheart works too." Shan Ye playfully wrapped his arms around his neck. He was still sitting on Fan Jin's lap, his legs swinging every now and then.