The Moon Pavilion was quiet that night.
Too quiet.
Dinner had passed with few words.
Li Zeyan, as usual, sat at the far end of the table, sipping black tea like it might help him disappear. Xu Meilin didn't try to speak.
She didn't have the energy.
Her eyes still ached from the earlier tears. Her chest still felt hollow from the call with her brother.
She told herself to sleep.
Tried.
Failed.
So instead, she wrapped herself in her thin cardigan and stepped out onto the balcony.
The air was cold. Crisp.
Stars blinked faintly overhead, scattered like forgotten thoughts.
She let out a quiet sigh and leaned on the railing.
But then she heard it, the soft click of a lighter. The faint scent of tobacco.
She turned.
Li Zeyan was already there, standing in the shadowed corner of the balcony, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a cigarette he hadn't lit yet.
For a moment, they both just looked at each other.
Then he turned his gaze away and said flatly,
> "I didn't think you'd be up."
She hesitated. "Neither did I."
Another pause.
Then a small flick of flame lit his face for half a second.
Sharp jaw. Tired eyes.
The fire went out before the cigarette was even lit.
He didn't smoke it.
Just held it.
> "I don't usually come out here," he said quietly. "It's… too peaceful."
Meilin glanced at him. "That's the point, isn't it?"
His lips tugged, just slightly, like he might've smiled once, years ago.
They stood in silence again. Not awkward. Not tense. Just… there.
Two people pretending not to need anything.
Then, without looking at her, he said,
> "If you could run… where would you go?"
Meilin blinked.
> "Run?" she asked.
He didn't answer. Just waited.
She looked out at the sky, then down at her hands.
> "Somewhere warm," she said. "Quiet. A place where no one knows my name. No past. No expectations."
A soft breeze swept between them.
> "You?" she asked, surprising herself.
He tapped the cigarette against the railing, but didn't smoke it.
> "I wouldn't run," he said. "Running means you think there's something better waiting. I don't."
Her heart tugged.
> "That's a sad way to live."
He finally looked at her,not coldly, not sharply. Just… directly.
> "It's not living," he said. "It's surviving."
Meilin turned away before he could see the tears that threatened to rise again.
She didn't speak. Neither did he.
But then, as she reached for the balcony door to go back inside, she heard him say, softly, almost like a secret:
> "You smiled at me… even when I deserved silence."
She froze.
> "Why?"
Meilin didn't turn back. Her fingers rested on the doorknob. Her voice was barely a whisper.
> "Because you looked like you needed someone to."
The door shut behind her gently, leaving Li Zeyan alone with the wind, the stars…
…and the cigarette he never lit.