You Better Remember That

Su Yan cracked his eyes open. Nie Chang's voice sounded unfamiliar to him at this moment. When had it gotten so … hoarse?

"You —" Su Yan instantly stopped. His own voice didn't sound any better. He gulped but Nie Chang had already relieved him of having to say something.

He once again stroked Su Yan's cheek and smiled. "We should get going or we're going to miss the workshop." He stepped back, took Su Yan's hand and led him toward the parking area.

Su Yan didn't say a word. He was unable to think straight. Actually, he wasn't able to think anything. His head was in a haze. He just followed Nie Chang and got in the car when he opened the door for him, still staring blankly ahead. Slowly, one realization made it's way to the front: He had just kissed his best friend and he had actually liked it.

Su Yan lifted a hand to his lips, unable to believe what had happened. Nie Chang saw exactly that scene when he himself got in the car and he smiled.

He fastened the seatbelt for Su Yan, buckled his own and started the car. He waited for a while before he coughed lightly. "Su Yan …"

Su Yan came out of his daze and spun around. He still seemed a little out of sorts.

"About what happened before … Can I ask you something?"

Su Yan really wanted to shake his head but after they had done that already, there really was no use. He nodded.

"Actually, I don't really know how to say this. I do understand that you're … surprised?" He raised his brows before taking a look at Su Yan in the mirror. "Considering your family situation you probably never came into contact with anyone who was gay. Or, well, even if you did, they most likely wouldn't talk about it. So it's expected that you're surprised about that. It's just … After you looked that up online, didn't that co-worker of yours confess to you? That Li Ming? He even kissed you. Why did you still …"

"Oh …" Su Yan looked out of the window next to him. Indeed. Why had he still believed that that wasn't real? Or … had he? "I probably just didn't think about it. I mean … All of that happened because of the System. It's like there's a big conspiracy going on."

"Oh." Nie Chang took a quick glance at him before concentrating on the road again. "So, do you believe it now?"

Su Yan also peeked at Nie Chang. When he saw that his friend wasn't looking, he continued to observe. He really didn't know what to think. He had known this person next to him for many years. Nie Chang had never had a girlfriend, even though the girls liked him. There had been many that had been friendly to Su Yan to get closer to Nie Chang and that despite the fact that Su Yan's family background was better than Nie Chang's by a large margin. He hadn't taken an interest in any of them.

"Ah Chang."

"Mn?"

"So … Do you … Do you like men?"

Nie Chang smiled and shook his head. "I don't."

"Oh." Su Yan faced the other side again. His heart was throbbing while he felt a little disappointed. Really, what was going on with him?

Nie Chang looked over. "I don't like men. Or women, for that matter. I just … like that special person."

Su Yan lowered his head. He felt even worse now. "You really must love her … him." He pressed his lips together and then took another peek at his friend. Nie Chang had said that he should be happy for him. He really should. It was just a little difficult. "So … that person … Is it a man or a woman?"

Nie Chang smirked when he noticed Su Yan's gaze in the mirror. "What do you think?"

Su Yan automatically wanted to respond that it should be a woman. But then he reconsidered. There had been so many women around Nie Chang over the years. If he really liked them, wouldn't he have had a girlfriend sooner? Meanwhile, not even one man had tried to get close to him, at least Su Yan knew of none. Then couldn't it be that Nie Chang had only fallen in love because a man had approached him now? Or, well, not approached him but had somehow come into contact with him and ignited that love?

"Then it's probably a man."

Nie Chang nodded. "That's true."

"How is he?"

Nie Chang really regretted that he couldn't take a good long, measuring look at Su Yan. He really wanted to savor the expression in his eyes and make him feel a little uncomfortable before he answered. In the end, he only took a bit of time before he finally coughed out Su Yan's most defining trait: "A little dense."

"Huh? That … doesn't sound too good?"

"Oh, no, everything about him is good. It's just that he doesn't realize some things even when I'm being really direct. He'll probably need a couple more weeks to figure it out." Or maybe I'll get a bit more help? Nie Chang looked at his pocket. He hadn't gotten another message yet but he really hoped he would.

Things with Su Yan were going well but he still didn't know how to proceed. A lot would depend on this date of theirs. But after that? What if Su Yan still didn't understand that he was the special person in the evening? Or what if he couldn't figure out if he liked men or not? He hadn't seemed to loathe it when they kissed but knowing Su Yan it would take a while for him to come to terms with it. He couldn't be too outrageous today. This was probably as far as he could go. He couldn't confess yet.

"He really sounds dense."

"Mn. You should remember that you said that."

Su Yan looked at him with a puzzled gaze but thankfully they had already reached their next destination. Nie Chang parked the car and once again went to open the door for Su Yan.

"Come on then. I promise you we'll have some sweet hours in there." He wriggled his brows and grabbed Su Yan's hand, pulling him into the building.