Chi Cheng's POV
The message was still there.
Unread.
Buzzing quietly beneath the screen.
Wang Shuo.
Chi Cheng had finished his workout twenty minutes ago, but he sat alone now, elbows resting on his knees, staring at the locker door in front of him.
He hadn't replied.
Wouldn't.
But something about the name, the past was starting to bleed into the present.
A hand rested gently on his shoulder.
"Cheng-ge?"
Chi Cheng looked up to see Wu Suo Wei standing there, slightly breathless from the walk over, holding a chilled bottle of water.
"You weren't picking up." His voice was soft. "I got worried."
Chi Cheng accepted the bottle but didn't drink. He stared down at the phone still on the bench beside him.
"...Sorry. Lost track of time."
Suo Wei sat down beside him, close enough that their thighs touched. His gaze dropped to the screen and caught the name still sitting in the notification bar.
He didn't ask.
Instead, he said, "Didn't you promise not to let him get to you anymore?"
Chi Cheng tensed.
"I did."
Suo Wei hesitated. "But he's still getting to you."
Silence.
For a long minute, the only sound was the distant hum of the gym air conditioner. Then Chi Cheng finally said:
"You don't understand what it was like, Da Bao. Back then... I didn't have anyone. He was all I had. Even if it was fake."
Suo Wei's voice stayed calm. "You have me now."
"I know."
"Then why do you keep looking backward?"
Chi Cheng met his eyes.
Suo Wei's expression wasn't angry. It was hurt. Quietly. Carefully hidden but there.
It twisted something deep in Chi Cheng's chest.
He reached out, gently cupping Suo Wei's face. "I'm not going back to him. I swear. I just... I don't know how to make peace with who I used to be."
Suo Wei leaned into his touch.
"Then let me help you figure it out."
That was all he said. No demands. No ultimatums.
Just that one, honest offer.
And for once, Chi Cheng didn't deflect.
He nodded.
Wu Suo Wei's POV
Later that evening, back at their shared apartment, Suo Wei sat cross-legged on the bed, flipping through an old notebook. His eyes scanned the pages, but his thoughts kept drifting to the bathroom door, still closed, steam curling from beneath it.
His heart had been oddly restless since the gym.
The door creaked open at last.
Warm steam spilled into the room, and then Chi Cheng stepped out. His hair was damp, dark strands falling over his forehead. A towel hung loosely around his neck, chest bare and skin flushed from the heat.
Suo Wei's eyes lingered.
Chi Cheng caught the look.
His lips curled. "Like what you see?"
Suo Wei rolled his eyes but didn't look away. "Not bad."
Chi Cheng walked over slowly, standing at the edge of the bed. He tilted his head slightly.
"You're staring."
"You're standing there half-naked."
"So come here," Chi Cheng said softly.
Suo Wei's breath caught.
He closed the notebook, setting it aside with care, and crawled forward on the bed. Chi Cheng knelt up on the mattress, and in one smooth motion, he cupped Suo Wei's cheek, thumb brushing beneath his eye.
"You're always so quiet when you're scared."
"I'm not scared," Suo Wei whispered.
Chi Cheng leaned in, their foreheads touching. "Then kiss me first."
And Suo Wei did.
He leaned in, brushing their lips together, slow at first, just a breath of closeness. But Chi Cheng's hands pulled him closer, deepening the kiss with quiet hunger. His towel fell to the sheets, forgotten.
Suo Wei let himself melt into it, into him.
Chi Cheng laid him back gently, kissing down the line of his jaw, along his throat.
Suo Wei's hands tangled in his hair.
Their bodies pressed together, bare skin meeting skin, heat rising between them like the steam still drifting from the bathroom.
It wasn't rushed.
It wasn't rough.
It was reassuring - the kind of intimacy that came not from lust but from the need to feel known, safe, and real.
"I love you," Chi Cheng whispered against his chest, just above his heart.
Suo Wei whispered it back breathless, trembling slightly. "I love you too."
And that night, they didn't just make love they made peace with each other.
With the past.
With what was next.