A bit longer?

"I'm her best friend, I shouldn't be the one running to others to help Chen!" she mumbled to herself in frustration as she walked out of the kitchen with a plate full of sandwiches and a two glasses of orange juice.

Yu Chen was sitting on the couch in the living room staring blankly into space. She snapped back to reality when she felt Xi Hua sit down beside her. Chen looked at the plate and glasses in Hua's hands and let out a huge sigh. "You don't need to go through so much trouble Hua. I'm fine." Chen said, not sounding the least bit fine.

Hua set down the things and looked at Chen in helplessness. "You're not. You're not fine. Let me help you Chen. Just, tell me what to do." Hua's voice broke by the time she reached the end of her sentence. Tears welled up in the eyes of both the girls as Xi Hua wrapped an arm around Chen, who leaned into her embrace.

"Just, stay like this." Yu Chen spoke softly.

When Si Xia burst through the door of the apartment, Chen had given him a key, this was the position he found the girls in. Hugging each other, with an empty plate and some empty glasses in front of them. Yu Chen resting her head on Xi Hua's shoulder, who was asleep with her head on top of Chen's.

Xia smiled and softly closed the apartment door, but he had already made enough noise to be heard by Chen, who suddenly looked up, waking up the sleeping Hua in the process. Si Xia spoke apologetically as he walked towards them, "So sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you. Or wake you." he added specifically to Xi Hua, who laughed and let out a yawn.

"Oh, I'm very glad you did. I have an early shift tomorrow and really should be getting home." she said and got up. Yu Chen also got up and followed her to the door, asking, "Are you sure you don't want to stay Hua? Your room is still empty."

Xi Hua hugged and kissed Chen on the forehead before replying with a smile, "Some other time." She left after waving goodbye to Si Xia.

Yu Chen walked over and melted into Si Xia's embrace, resting her head on his chest. Xia wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled Chen closer before sinking on the couch, Yu Chen still in his arms.

The two settled very comfortably on the couch, with Chen on Xia's lap. After a few minutes of peaceful silence, Si Xia softly asked, "How are you?"

Chen opened her eyes once to meet his worried eyes and gave him a small smile, before closing them again and sinking further into Xia's arms. "Wanna talk about it?" he asked again after a few moments of stroking Chen's head. "Not yet. Can we just stay like this for a bit longer?" Yu Chen spoke, sounding like a little baby who very much needed some assurance.

"We can stay like this forever." Xia said, placing a kiss on Chen's forehead and hugging her closer to himself.

That night, Si Xia lay awake on Chen's bed, with Chen asleep snuggled in his arms. His phone was in one of his hands and the other one was stroking Chen's hair.