Bai Yu's quiet words left the air around them a little still.
His hand was already closed around Ming's wrist, and he could feel a tremor that didn't seem right.
Ming pressed his lips together hard but didn't answer. He just kept eating, taking an occasional sip of liquor. Bai Yu said nothing either, waiting patiently beside him.
Ming glanced at Bai Yu, then looked away again. Who knew how much time passed? The silence between them remained unbroken, neither saying a word.
Ming gradually finished the food in his lunch box. Perhaps he was trying to stall until Bai Yu left; he ate it clean, leaving not a single grain of rice. But Bai Yu simply stayed beside him, watching quietly.
"I'm leaving."
At last, Ming seemed to be the first to speak. He tried to pull his arm out of Bai Yu's grip but failed, and Bai Yu spoke slowly.
"If you don't tell me, there won't be any more liquor for you."
"Mm."
Ming seemed to lower his gaze. After hesitating for a while, however, he spoke again, and his words took Bai Yu, along with Xiate and Annie behind him, completely by surprise.
"Then I don't want any..."
His voice was calm, the words coming very, very slowly, but Bai Yu caught an exceedingly faint tremor in it.
Ming kept his eyes on the ground, refusing to meet Bai Yu's gaze, as though he didn't want Bai Yu to see his eyes.
Bai Yu frowned a little. This really was the first time he had seen Ming so stubborn.
"What exactly is going on with you?"
Ming drank silently, still not answering. Bai Yu sighed and turned his face toward him. Looking into those wine-red eyes that kept glancing aside rather than meeting his gaze, he