Jie ran.
The door still quivered behind him, but all he could hear was the frantic pounding of his heart.
His lips were trembling.
His breath felt thin.
He didn't stop running until he hit the stairwell.
The elevator took too long.
So he ran—
Down the stairs, out the building, into the open streetlight.
Only then did he stop, hands on his knees, gasping for air.
The kiss still clung to his skin like heat after a burn.
His mind was blank. His body was cold.
It wasn't disgust.
It wasn't rage.
It was something else.
Something he didn't have words for.
He had never imagined Di would do something like that.
Di—who always stood beside him, who listened, who said "I'll help you"—
Had kissed him.
Not softly.
Not by accident.
With everything he'd been holding back.
—
"Jie!"
A familiar voice cut through the noise.
Lan had followed him out, breathless, eyes filled with confusion and concern.
"You… are you okay?"
He wanted to nod.
But no words came out.
She stepped closer.
Her eyes caught the red mark at the corner of his mouth.
Her face froze.
"He bit you…?" she whispered.
"I don't know," Jie rasped, his voice dry and shaky.
"I don't know anything anymore."
He shoved his hands into his pockets, trying to keep them from trembling.
"I didn't see it coming."
—
The silence stretched.
A car passed on the road behind them. The city noise faded, replaced by the cold night air.
Then Lan finally spoke.
"Actually… I've had a strange feeling for a while now."
Jie turned to look at her.
She met his gaze steadily.
"Back during the basketball game… when I rejected you. And Di suddenly got so emotional and stepped in."
"I didn't understand it back then. I just thought he was upset on your behalf."
She paused.
"But now I think… it wasn't about you."
Jie's eyes widened slightly.
Lan continued, voice calm but heavy.
"He wasn't defending you. He was protecting something else."
"Something he didn't want to lose."
—
Jie looked away.
He didn't answer.
Didn't know how to.
Lan took a breath and stepped closer.
"I'm not saying you owe him anything. You don't. And it's okay if you're confused. If you need time."
"But this… this isn't something you can just run from."
"Because whatever that kiss meant to him—whether you return it or not—"
"It happened to you, too."
She looked at him quietly.
"You can ignore him. You can stay angry. You can pretend it didn't happen."
"But whatever you decide—just make sure it's your decision."
—
Jie lowered his head.
The streetlight cast a long shadow beneath his feet.
He lifted a hand and touched his lip. It still stung.
He finally said, very softly:
"I never thought… he felt that way."
Lan didn't say anything.
Then, gently:
"Some things don't wait for your permission to exist."
—
Back in the KTV room, Di still hadn't moved.
Everyone else had quietly left.
He sat alone in the too-bright light, staring at the nothing in front of him.
The soda had long gone flat. The music had stopped.
He lifted a hand, wiped the blood from his mouth with his thumb.
Then laughed—once.
Quiet. Dry. Bitter.
"So I still couldn't say it."
He leaned back against the couch and looked up at the ceiling.
His throat tightened.
There was no wind in the room, but he felt like he'd been caught in a storm.
That kiss had not been love.
It had been a collapse.
A kiss like wind—
Violent, sudden, wordless.
And now…
Silence again.
Too much silence.
Only the voice inside him remained.
"…I'm sorry."
He didn't know who he was saying it to.
Maybe to Jie.
Maybe to Lan.
Maybe to the version of himself he'd just broken.