On the same night inside Xu Chen's villa after returning from the old town.
The hallway suddenly felt too narrow.
Xu Chen stood near the entrance with the front door still closed behind them, the automatic lights casting soft gold across the polished wooden floor while mountain wind moved faintly against the windows farther inside the villa.
Aum remained only a step away.
Close enough that Xu Chen could still feel warmth from him without touching.
That alone had become enough to destabilize him completely.
"I believe I want to hear you say it."
The sentence lingered heavily in the silence between them.
Xu Chen looked at him.
Aum's expression remained calm on the surface, but Xu Chen recognized the changes now. The increased stillness whenever emotion affected him too strongly. The way his attention narrowed entirely onto Xu Chen when something mattered.
Right now, nothing else existed for him.
The realization hit dangerously deep.
Xu Chen released a slow breath.
"You really don't know how to make things easier, huh."
Aum answered immediately.
"I do not currently want easier."
Xu Chen laughed softly once, the sound strained around the edges now.
That answer alone nearly undid him again.
The silence stretched.
Aum waited without pressuring him further.
Which somehow made Xu Chen want to speak honestly even more.
The problem was that honesty around Aum had stopped feeling small a long time ago.
Xu Chen lowered his gaze briefly toward the floor between them before speaking quietly.
"When I said bringing you back here wasn't intelligent…" He paused once. "I meant I already know I'm not going to want you leaving tonight."
The atmosphere changed instantly.
Aum became completely still afterward.
Xu Chen felt the exact moment the words landed inside him.
Xu Chen looked up slowly.
Aum was watching him with such focused intensity now that Xu Chen's chest physically tightened from it.
"You want me to stay," Aum said softly.
Xu Chen's throat moved once before he answered.
"Yes."
The honesty entered the villa quietly and stayed there.
Neither of them looked away.
The hallway lights hummed softly overhead while distant wind moved through the trees outside the house.
Somewhere farther downhill, festival drums echoed faintly from the old town below the mountain.
Inside the villa, everything had narrowed to this moment.
Xu Chen became painfully aware again that this was the same entrance where Aum had first stood months ago half-conscious and injured, still strange to Earth and impossible to understand.
Now he stood here looking at Xu Chen like...
Wanted and known.
The realization overwhelmed Xu Chen unexpectedly.
Aum stepped closer.
Xu Chen's pulse reacted immediately anyway.
"You are nervous."
Xu Chen laughed softly under his breath.
"Yes."
"Because of me."
"Yes."
The answer came almost helplessly now.
Aum's gaze softened further.
Xu Chen could see the emotional progression in him more clearly tonight than ever before.
On Brihyansh, perhaps attachment had been structured and controlled and stabilized through compatibility systems.
But this uncontrolled emotional gravity between them was changing Aum in real time.
Xu Chen was changing with him.
Aum lifted one hand slowly toward Xu Chen's face again.
The movement paused briefly halfway.
Somewhere he thought that he needed permission.
Xu Chen's chest tightened painfully at that small instinctive consideration.
Instead of waiting, Xu Chen closed the distance himself this time.
Aum inhaled softly the moment Xu Chen's cheek settled into his hand.
The reaction was immediate enough that Xu Chen felt warmth spread through his own body in response.
He was becoming addicted to Aum's reactions.
That realization should have frightened him more.
Aum's thumb brushed slowly once beneath his jaw.
Xu Chen closed his eyes briefly.
"You like touching me so much," he murmured softly.
Aum answered with complete honesty.
"Yes."
Xu Chen laughed quietly. "No hesitation at all anymore, huh."
"You asked for honesty."
"I'm starting to regret that."
"That statement appears false."
Xu Chen opened his eyes again immediately.
Aum was still looking at him with devastating attentiveness, his hand warm against Xu Chen's face while silence deepened around them again.
Xu Chen's restraint had become fragile hours ago. Now it barely existed.
"Aum," he said quietly.
"Yes."
"You need to stop looking at me like that inside the house."
"How am I looking at you."
Xu Chen stared at him helplessly.
"Like you already know I'm going to kiss you again."
Aum's eyes darkened slightly at the sentence.
Xu Chen felt the reaction physically.
And then Aum said, very softly: "You are."
That ended the conversation completely.
Xu Chen kissed him before another thought could interfere.
The impact this time felt different from the courtyard and different from beside the car.
The impact was less hesitant an more inevitable.
Aum responded instantly, one hand sliding around Xu Chen's waist while the other remained against his face, pulling him closer with growing unconscious confidence.
Xu Chen felt his back touch the wall beside the entrance almost immediately.
The realization should have startled him.
Instead warmth flooded through his body hard enough to make breathing uneven.
Aum kissed him like gravity behaved differently whenever Xu Chen was involved.
Slow pull. No escape. No desire for escape either.
Xu Chen's fingers tightened against the front of Aum's shirt as the kiss deepened, his heartbeat becoming impossible beneath his ribs again.
A quiet sound escaped him before he could stop it.
Aum reacted instantly.
His hand against Xu Chen's waist tightened briefly enough to feel possessive for the first time all night.
The sensation nearly shattered Xu Chen's remaining composure.
Aum pulled back only slightly afterward, breathing uneven now against Xu Chen's mouth.
"You continue making that sound," he whispered softly.
Xu Chen closed his eyes. "You need to stop noticing everything."
"I cannot."
"That's becoming a serious problem."
Aum's forehead rested briefly against his.
The intimacy of the gesture hurt unexpectedly. This wasn't a desire,this was something deeper.
Xu Chen realized suddenly that the villa no longer felt empty because Aum was inside it again.
The house seemed warmer already.
Aum's voice came quieter now.
"When I left here," he said softly, "I believed distance would restore structural clarity."
Xu Chen looked at him carefully.
"And did it?"
Aum's gaze remained fixed entirely on him.
"No."
The word entered Xu Chen gentle but devastatingly.
Aum continued before Xu Chen could answer. "I thought independence would reduce attachment progression." His fingers moved slowly once against Xu Chen's waist. "Instead, I became aware that every environment without you felt incorrectly arranged."
Xu Chen stopped breathing entirely for one suspended second.
That sentence was going to stay inside him permanently.
Xu Chen laughed once weakly against Aum's mouth, almost overwhelmed by warmth now.
"You really have no idea what you do to me when you say things like that."
Aum became still.
Then asked quietly: "What do I do to you."
Xu Chen looked at him for several long seconds afterward.
Then answered with dangerous honesty.
"You make me forget I was ever good at being alone."