"Shen Wangjing, where are you?"
"Did Old Man Li keep you for dinner???"
"Are you coming back or not? If you aren't, I'm throwing out your pillow!"
The three messages crowded the screen. Shen Wangjing stared at the last threat for two seconds, the corners of his mouth lifting ever so slightly, then typed back, "Be right back."
He had barely hit send when Jiang Xun's call came through, his clear voice pelting him through the receiver. "Quick, quick, hurry back! If you don't eat the fruit dessert Duan Qizhao bought, he's going to finish it all!"
Shen Wangjing pressed the elevator button. Jiang Xun kept chattering on the other end, with Duan Qizhao's squawking mixed into the background.
He leaned against the elevator wall, his shoulders and back slowly relaxing. The smoldering anger in his chest had been doused by the call until only a wisp of smoke remained.
He hurried straight back to the hospital, where the laughter from the ward had already spilled into the corridor.
He pushed open the door. Jiang Xun was sitting cross-legged on the bed with Shen Wangjing's coat tucked behind his lower back, bringing a piece of yellow peach to his mouth on a plastic fork, his cheeks bulging round.
"Perfect timing!" Jiang Xun's eyes instantly lit up. He speared a piece of yellow peach and beckoned him over. "This place's fruit dessert is incredible, a hundred times better than the cafeteria's!"
Shen Wangjing walked over. Jiang Xun held the peach to his lips, and he lowered his head to take it into his mouth, sweetness spreading over his tongue.
"Sweet?" Jiang Xun looked up at him.
"Sweet."
Jiang Xun smiled, his eyes curving.
Duan Qizhao's tone was sour enough to pickle vegetables. "I stood in line for half an hour and