I like him

The scene was clearly heartwarming, yet Shan Ye found it painfully hard to look at.

He watched from outside the door for a while, then left.

On the way home, he kept thinking about how Fan Jin had turned him down when he asked for his WeChat.

"He turned me down so firmly. Could he really be seeing someone? Was it that man just now?"

There were only two possible reasons for such a flat refusal: either he was taken, or he really was an iceberg who let no one get close.

Clearly, the former was a little more likely.

As soon as Shan Ye got home, he went straight to his room and searched for Fan Jin on WeChat. He entered the phone number and found an account called "He Feng Coffee." Its profile picture was also the simple four-character shop sign.

The longer Shan Ye looked at the picture, the more familiar it seemed. Wasn't this the owner of their members' group chat?

Without hesitating, he immediately sent a friend request-I'm Shan Ye.

The request was accepted instantly.

Shan Ye's eyes went wide. And he'd said he didn't use WeChat.

"Boss Fan, I used your phone number to find your WeChat. You're not upset, are you?" He thought it over before sending it.

The other person is typing...

-Hello, Mr. Shan. I'm Zhang Nan. This is our shop's WeChat account, which I manage. [Handshake][Handshake]

?

Shan Ye was about to lose it. Was Fan Jin that wary of him? Refusing to give him his personal WeChat-could he really be taken...?

Shan Ye lay on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, growing even more convinced of his theory. He'd even told his mother she'd have a daughter-in-law soon. How was that supposed to happen now...?

The man who had come to pick up Yaoyao had a build much like Fan Jin's, tall and solid, but his demeanor was gentler. Standing together, the two of them looked like a perfect match no matter how Shan Ye looked at it.

Countless thoughts sprang up in Shan Ye's mind. They were friends. Yaoyao called him "Papa Fan," and that man was very close to Fan Jin. Close enough to let his daughter call the other man her dad.

Then what...was their relationship?

Would ordinary friends let a daughter call them Dad?

Or...were they already a couple?

Shan Ye suddenly sat bolt upright. He remembered Yaoyao's drawing of a family of three. In it, Fan Jin and that man stood together, with Yaoyao between them.

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

If Fan Jin and that man were a couple, it made sense for Yaoyao to call Fan Jin "Dad." The man was a single father, Fan Jin helped him look after his child, and the two of them lived together...

He suddenly began to feel like backing out.

He buried his face in his hands, then raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. Just then, his phone rang.

Shan Ye fished out his phone and glanced at the name on the screen-Tan Yi'an.

He swiped to answer, and a flamboyant voice immediately came through. "Hey, Ye, what are you doing?"

"Nothing much. Did you need something?" Shan Ye sounded listless.

"Oh, someone's in a bad mood. Tired from work, or is something else getting you all worked up?"

Tan Yi'an had hit the nail on the head. Shan Ye didn't hide it, either. After a moment's thought, he said, "That person I told you about last time-"

"The one you like?" The question came before he could finish.

Shan Ye pulled the phone away and looked at it, surprised that he'd guessed so quickly. "Yeah."

A chuckle came from the other end. "What happened? Is he messing with your mood?"

Having been read so easily, Shan Ye felt a little embarrassed. But he hadn't planned to keep it secret in the first place, so talking about it wasn't a bad thing.

"Yeah." He admitted it readily, though he was still conflicted. "But there's a pretty big problem now...I don't know whether he's single."

"Why don't you just ask him?" Tan Yi'an said.

"...I couldn't bring myself to."

"Tsk, why are you such a chicken?" Tan Yi'an complained over the phone.

"...I-I just don't want to tip him off. It's called being cautious. You don't know shit."

"Then tell me, do you suspect he's taken, or what?"

Shan Ye thought for a moment. "He has a daughter."

"A daughter!?" Tan Yi'an exploded.

Shan Ye immediately explained, "Not his biological daughter! She's his friend's, but she calls him Dad too, and the little girl seems to really like him."

"So you think they're...in that kind of relationship."

"Yeah." Finally, someone had put Shan Ye's worries into words. "The little girl drew a picture of a family of three, with her dad and Fan Jin standing together. Looking at it made me feel awful."

Tan Yi'an fell silent for two seconds. "But isn't that all just your own guesswork? It isn't necessarily true."

"What if it is...?"

"What if it isn't?" Tan Yi'an countered. "Keep chickening out like this, and by the time he actually gets together with someone else, it'll be too late for regrets."

Shan Ye went quiet.

"If you ask me, you should be bolder and go after him. If he's taken, he'll definitely tell you straight out. If he isn't..."

Shan Ye suddenly felt a little nervous. "What if he isn't?"

"If he isn't, win him over. What else? Idiot." Tan Yi'an didn't hold back.

"..."

Shan Ye rolled his eyes. "You're insulting an educator. I'm calling the police to have you arrested."

Tan Yi'an laughed. "All right, all right. Seriously, though, you're a catch. Over a hundred and eighty centimeters tall, a university lecturer, and not bad-looking, either. Why wouldn't he like you?"

Shan Ye laughed despite himself. "Since when did you get so good with words?"

"I've always been good with words. You just never noticed."

They chatted a little longer, and Tan Yi'an said he was returning to the country the day after tomorrow and wanted Shan Ye to pick him up.

"Fake foreign devils aren't allowed back into the country," Shan Ye said mercilessly.

After hanging up, Shan Ye lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling.

Tan Yi'an was right. I'm a catch. What am I chickening out for?

Shan Ye rolled over and buried his face in his pillow.

Fine, I'll go after him. The worst he can do is turn me down.

Shan Ye lay on his bed, his state of mind now worlds apart from what it had been ten minutes earlier. Tan Yi'an might be a flippant guy, but what he'd said made sense. Shan Ye suddenly regained his confidence. Everything up to now had only been his own speculation anyway. He might as well be bold and pursue him outright.

For the next two days, Shan Ye didn't go to the coffee shop to bother him, but he didn't sit idle, either.

Every morning without fail, he ordered an iced Americano from their shop for delivery to his home. He even openly put down his own address, phone number, and name.

His delivery notes grew longer and longer-

[Morning, Boss Fan. I don't have classes today and want to come sit in the shop for a while, but I'm afraid you'll find me annoying-Shan Ye]

[It's raining today. Did you bring an umbrella? How about I come pick you up?-Shan Ye]

[Good morning, Boss Fan. I'm having a latte today. Add some sugar; I don't like it too bitter-Shan Ye]

He was deliberately making his presence felt.

He placed an order every day he stayed away. There was no way Fan Jin wouldn't know they were from him.

Every time Zhang Nan saw those notes, he wanted to laugh, but he didn't dare do it in front of Fan Jin.

On the third day, Fan Jin was grinding beans when he suddenly asked, "What did he write today?"

"He wrote...I think he's addicted," Zhang Nan said.

"..."

Coffee really could be addictive, especially when Boss Fan made it himself. Just like the man himself, it was sweet and crisp, leaving a lingering taste that made him crave more. No matter how bitter the beans were, once they were ground and brewed, the coffee tasted sweet to Shan Ye.

At last, the weekend arrived, and Shan Ye didn't have to work.

That morning, he deliberately got up extra early and went to the flower market to buy some fresh flowers-a variety of blooms, mostly roses. Every time he visited the coffee shop, he felt it was a little plain inside. Though the decor was lovely, it was too minimalist. The young women who came to take pictures could also use some fresh flowers as accents.

At noon, he arrived with a whole box of fresh flowers.