Xia Qing turned his head and bumped straight into a solid chest.
"Ow! That hurt." Xia Qing covered his nose.
"Qingqing, are you okay? Let me see." Pei Ming looked at Xia Qing's nose with concern.
Xia Qing waved a hand and walked toward the sofa.
Pei Ming had the good sense to close the door and obediently follow Xia Qing.
"You're not going home?" Xia Qing glanced up at Pei Ming.
"Qingqing, my face hurts so much." Pei Ming's tears came on command.
Xia Qing looked at his multicolored face and sighed. "Then sleep on the sofa."
"Understood. I promise I'll behave." Pei Ming promptly got up and lay down on the sofa, hugging a pillow and closing his eyes as though afraid Xia Qing would change his mind.
Xia Qing rubbed his slightly throbbing head and returned to his room. Although he was exhausted, he still insisted on taking a shower before bed.
The next morning.
Pei Ming woke up early.
Pei Ming picked up the keys in the entryway, slipped quietly out the door, and ran a long way to buy soup dumplings from Xia Qing's favorite shop.
After bringing the soup dumplings back, Pei Ming figured it was still early, so he washed a pot and cooked some plain rice porridge to go with them.
Xia Qing got up around ten again. He stretched and walked out of his room in his pajamas.
He thought Pei Ming would have left already, just like before, but to his surprise, the moment he stepped out of the bedroom, he saw the familiar soup dumpling box on the dining table.
Xia Qing approached the dining table, looked up, and saw Pei Ming with his back to him, leisurely humming a tune while continuously stirring the porridge.
Pei Ming also