The Perfect Couple

Su Yan looked at his boyfriend who seemed like he was choking on something. He couldn't help but frown. Could it be Nie Chang had also realized just now that they might indeed be incompatible in that regard? What were they supposed to do now?! Argh, he had just gotten used to the idea of doing it on Friday!

Nie Chang cleared his throat and patted Su Yan's back before he could get even stranger ideas. "Don't worry about that. I'm sure there's another explanation."

"Another explanation?" Su Yan continued to frown. "What kind of explanation is that supposed to be? In which other way are we incompatible? Isn't everything else perfect about us? We've known each other for so long and we've always gotten along well. And now we're even a couple. What else does the system want?"

Nie Chang chuckled. Who would have thought that his little darling would get this indignant because someone thought that they weren't the perfect couple? "How bad could it have been? Didn't you say it was a high rating?"

Su Yan nodded but still pursed his lips. "It was! But it was only ninety-eight percent. I don't think that's fair. It's supposed to give a full score for a relationship as great as ours! What's with those two missing percents? That's so stupid!"

"Well …" Nie Chang didn't feel that achieving ninety-eight percent of compatibility was bad at all but his little darling was obviously dissatisfied with the system's decision. So he should find a way to explain this that didn't have to do with any birds.

He looked at the lotus pond for some inspiration but it wasn't that easy to come up with something reasonable from the top of his head. Especially since he didn't even know how exactly that task had worked! But there should be some sort of reason behind this rating, shouldn't there? Well, even if he couldn't accurately guess it, he had to come up with something. He couldn't just let it be. Su Yan would scare himself with his own explanations otherwise. And who knew what else his little brain could conjure up? It was way too active in that regard.

"Let's see … I don't know why exactly the system would rate something a certain way but as for the compatibility of a couple I do have some ideas on that. I think for one, it would probably take the personalities of the two people into consideration. After all, that should influence a lot of their decisions and some personalities might clash. Other than that, it could also depend on how much a couple has in common and how much they differ. Like do they spent their time on the same things? Do they share beliefs? Or is there a fundamental difference in the way they see the world?"

Su Yan nodded. "That sounds logical. But how does this explain why we don't match?"

Nie Chang snorted and ruffled Su Yan's hair. "Ah Yan, we're missing two measly percent. Do you really want to call that 'not matching'? That sounds a little hard to me."

Su Yan puffed up his cheeks. "We deserve a hundred! So if the system doesn't want to give us a hundred, that's basically like saying we don't make a good couple."

Nie Chang coughed. It seemed finding an explanation was even more important than he had thought. "Uh, maybe … it was because of the time. I mean it was last week when you got that task, right?"

Su Yan nodded but couldn't help and frown a little. "That's true. So you think that the compatibility of a couple, would change each week? That doesn't sound very logical to me."

Nie Chang really wanted to shake his head. Of course, it didn't sound logical if he said it like that! He had made that up on the spot and Su Yan's explanation made it sound even more ridiculous. But, well, this week could probably serve as an explanation for next to everything. After all, a lot had happened. Mn, that might actually suffice as an explanation for Su Yan.

"That's not it. But sometimes there can be more things changing in one week than they changed in a whole year before. Just look at us or maybe even just yourself: You resigned from your old job, went to work for an old friend, went on a date with the said friend and became his boyfriend. Now you're even thinking of moving in together with me. That's a lot, isn't it?"

"Well … I guess so?" Su Yan still looked skeptical. How was this supposed to influence their compatibility? "You wouldn't think that there are extra percentages for actual couples, would you? I feel like that would have been cheating. Then I could have just asked around who is already together and would have finished the task easily."

Nie Chang sighed, looped one arm around Su Yan's waist and grabbed the tandem again with the other. They probably wouldn't get to admire the park anytime soon. Su Yan's thoughts were all over the place. There was no way he could concentrate on anything else. They might as well leave the pond and make their way through the park slowly.

Su Yan wasn't at all satisfied with how long his boyfriend took to answer one simple question. "Ah Chang!" He called out and tugged at his sleeve, demanding more of his attention.

"I heard you, darling. I was just … considering this."

"What's there to consider? I don't think your idea was very good this time. Maybe you don't really know the system after all."

Nie Chang smiled wryly. He had never said that he did, had he? Well, never mind that. "I don't think it does either. I was wondering how to explain my thoughts to you. You see I think that with everything we experience we change a bit. So maybe we and our compatibility with us changed because we experienced so many things over this week."

"Hm …" Su Yan also pondered the issue. This explanation didn't sound as far-fetched as the one from before but he wasn't completely happy with it either. Who knew just how much would need to change for the system to finally admit that they were the perfect couple.

Nie Chang smiled at his skeptical look and ruffled his hair. "Who knows? Maybe … the system just miscalculated."