Song Yixiao and I broke up

Just before work ended, Pei Yang's phone rang.

He picked it up and saw "Jingmo" on the caller ID.

Xia Jingmo was Pei Yang's college classmate and one of his few close friends. Back in college, the three of them had often been inseparable, but after graduation, they had gone their separate ways and hadn't been in touch for a while.

Pei Yang quickly stood up and took his phone into the break room.

As soon as he left, Yin Sufang looked up from the workstation opposite his and noticed that Pei Yang had taken his personal phone.

As far as Yin Sufang was concerned, Pei Yang's phone was just for show. He had never seen Pei Yang touch it during work hours, after all. In all the time they had been coworkers, this was the first time he had heard Pei Yang's personal phone ring.

Yin Sufang froze for a moment, then followed him.

Pei Yang leaned casually against the break room wall, completely unguarded. Worried about keeping Xia Jingmo waiting, he eagerly pressed the green answer button. "Hello? Jingmo."

"Yangyang!"

Xia Jingmo was always like a little sun, brimming with astonishing energy every day, and this phone call was no exception. "I'm heading to the Northern Continent on a business trip the day after tomorrow. You and Song Yixiao should come pick me up at the airport. The three of us can have a little get-together."

Pei Yang paused.

He wasn't sure whether Xia Jingmo was closer to him or to Song Yixiao. With his two good friends falling out, being caught between them would probably put Xia Jingmo in an awkward position.

Pei Yang took a moment to gather his words. "Of course I can pick you up, but it might just be me."

"Why? I already spoke to..."

"Song Yixiao and I broke up."

"..."

The other end went quiet for five seconds. Xia Jingmo was clearly stunned. "B-broke up? When did that happen?"

"A couple of days ago," Pei Yang said.

"Why? He treated you so well. How could you bear to break up with him?"

Pei Yang took a deep breath. "As for the details, I... don't want to get into it."

"Okay... if you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to." Xia Jingmo paused. "Don't be too upset, Yangyang. In that case, I'll see you two separately... I'll send you the flight details once I book my ticket."

Pei Yang said, "Okay." They caught up a little longer before hanging up.

Slipping his phone back into his pocket, he said flatly, "Heard enough?"

"..."

Outside the door, Yin Sufang emerged from behind it, guilty yet self-righteous. "W-what? I was just passing by."

Pei Yang glanced at him. Rather than argue, he turned sideways to leave.

"Hey! Pei Yang!" Yin Sufang hurried after him. "You broke up?"

"What does that have to do with you?"

"He cheated on you, didn't he?" Yin Sufang said suddenly.

Pei Yang stopped, a hint of disbelief in his eyes.

Yin Sufang said, "He never came to pick you up after work in all four years you were together, but that day, he suddenly made a big show of it and even brought flowers. Yet you clearly didn't want to see him. Obviously, he'd done something you couldn't forgive. You'd made it through four years together, so what could make you cut him off so decisively? The only thing I can think of is that he cheated."

Yin Sufang's reasoning was so sound that Pei Yang couldn't immediately find anything to refute it, so he let him talk.

He had barely shifted his foot when Yin Sufang caught his hand and called, "Pei Yang."

Forced to stop again, Pei Yang's gaze moved from Yin Sufang's hand holding his to his face. "What exactly do you want?"

"I..."

"Yes, you guessed right." Pei Yang pulled his hand free, his eyes hollow. "He cheated, so we broke up. You can gloat or spread it around all you want, but please stop bothering me."

"Is that the kind of scumbag you think I am?" Yin Sufang sounded indignant, his tone growing sharper.

Pei Yang said nothing. Yin Sufang glanced around, then lowered his voice. "You were late that day because you caught your boyfriend cheating the night before, weren't you?"

"...Then those marks on your body," Yin Sufang lifted his eyes and looked at Pei Yang challengingly, "who left them?"

Pei Yang's heart seized. A crack appeared in the expression that never changed, day or night.

That crack told Yin Sufang everything. "Your first response to seeing your boyfriend cheat was actually to sleep with someone else. Pei Yang, that does sound like you."

"Don't tell anyone." Pei Yang frowned.

Yin Sufang parted his lips, finding it almost laughable.

Pei Yang was usually so sharp, yet something like this made him incredibly slow on the uptake. One little bluff, and he practically spilled everything.

"Holy shit-"

Just as Yin Sufang was about to speak, a shriek erupted from the office. "Aaaaaah! Oh my god!"

The two exchanged a look and headed toward the office in unspoken agreement.

"What happened?" Yin Sufang asked. "What's all the shouting about?"

"P-Pei," a coworker stammered, holding a phone and looking at Pei Yang, trembling with a hint of excitement in their voice. "You've gone viral."

"What?" Pei Yang was a little bewildered, not immediately registering what "viral" meant.

The coworker held the phone up for him to see.

Pei Yang raised his hand, but when it was just a centimeter from the phone, Yin Sufang snatched it first.

The screen showed the post Pei Yang had uploaded that morning. It already had 670,000 likes, over thirty million views, and more than thirty thousand comments.

Yin Sufang: "?"

The trending thirst-trap dances I usually do only get ten or twenty thousand likes. This was one fucking photo!?

Pei Yang glanced at the screen while Yin Sufang held the phone and understood what "viral" meant. He had no interest whatsoever. All he needed was to place first in the team. No matter how many views or likes he got, the bonus would still only be two hundred.

He returned to his workstation and continued working, his calm reaction leaving his coworkers exchanging bewildered looks.

"What are you all huddled together for?" The click of high heels came from the hallway, and Lan Shuang's booming voice rang through the entire open-plan office, sending everyone scurrying back to their seats.

Her towering heels stopped in front of Pei Yang's desk. Lan Shuang swept her gaze around and clapped her hands. "I have some good news to announce. Everyone in the curation department, come to meeting room two."

Everyone rushed into the meeting room with their meeting notebooks, braced for Boss Lan to deliver an hour-long speech. Instead, she had just one sentence: "Tomorrow at nine, everyone is to attend a meeting at the group's headquarters."

"?!"

Everyone's breath caught. They stared at one another, shocked out of their minds but not daring to speak.

Lan Shuang smiled. "Go ahead and say what you want. I won't stop you."

With Boss Lan's permission, everyone around the square table lost their composure. Apart from Yin Sufang and Pei Yang, they all started talking at once. "Holy shit-"

"Seriously? We get to go... to a meeting at headquarters?"

"Has headquarters finally remembered us!? Oh, I could cry!"

"I thought our company was only affiliated with FK in name. Turns out it isn't!"

"..."

Lan Shuang seemed to be in a very good mood. Even with the meeting room descending into chaos, she didn't get angry. Smiling, she gestured for everyone to quiet down. "Headquarters sent an email specifically asking for our company's curation department to attend together. Apparently, they'll be focusing on developing new business in the second half of the year."

"Oh my god-"

"Heavens! We've finally made it!"

Lan Shuang said, "If we really do develop new business, we might even get to relocate the company. We won't have to stay in this godforsaken place anymore!"

"Yessss-"

Everyone was thrilled. Even Pei Yang's expression shifted slightly.

After the meeting ended, Lan Shuang, who had already reached the meeting room door, suddenly turned and pointed at Pei Yang. "Yangyang, unless something serious comes up, don't take tomorrow off."

Pei Yang: "?"

Lan Shuang said cryptically, "Anyone else can skip it, but you have to be there."