Wu Suo Wei's POV
The apartment was unusually quiet.
Suo Wei sat on the edge of their bed, fingers curled around a ceramic mug that had long gone cold. Outside, traffic buzzed distantly beneath the open window. Inside, tension pressed down like humidity, invisible, but impossible to ignore.
Chi Cheng stood near the bookshelf, arms folded, back stiff.
"You didn't need to lie about meeting Wang Shuo," Suo Wei finally said. His voice didn't rise, it never did when he was truly upset. Instead, it went soft. Wounded.
Chi Cheng turned slowly, expression unreadable. "I didn't lie."
"You didn't say anything either."
Silence.
Suo Wei placed the mug down with a dull clink and stood, wrapping his arms around himself. "I saw the message on your phone. He asked if you still remembered 'that night.'" He tried to sound neutral, but his voice cracked.
"It was nothing," Chi Cheng said quickly. "He's just trying to stir up the past."
Suo Wei gave a weak smile. "And you're not telling me because...?"
"I didn't want you to get hurt."
Suo Wei shook his head. "No. You didn't want to deal with me getting hurt."
Chi Cheng stepped forward, jaw tightening. "Da Bao..."
"Don't." Wu Suo Wei took a step back. "I'm not your fragile porcelain doll, Chi Cheng. I've been through enough to know when something is wrong. You could've just told me."
There was a beat of silence. Then Chi Cheng muttered, "It didn't mean anything. What I had with Wang Shuo — it wasn't love. Not like this. Not like you."
Suo Wei stared at him, chest rising and falling. "Then why does it feel like you're still giving him space in your life?"
Chi Cheng's face twisted with pain, guilt, something unspoken.
He crossed the room suddenly and cupped Suo Wei's cheeks, his touch gentle but desperate. "I'm scared," he whispered. "Scared that if I dig too deep into the past, it'll find a way to ruin what we have."
Wu Suo Wei's lips trembled. "It already is."
Their foreheads pressed together.
"I love you," Chi Cheng murmured. "Only you. I'll block him. I'll delete his number. I should've done that a long time ago."
Wu Suo Wei let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "I don't need you to erase the past. I just need to know I matter more than it."
Chi Cheng pulled him into a tight embrace, holding him like an anchor.
"You do," he said, voice hoarse. "You always have."