"Aether." He called my name and it was music to my ears as it felt like a cloud nine for me.
He pinned me to the nearest wall and glanced at my lips before his gaze went back to my eyes. He leaned closer to my ear and made me gasp as soon as he brus...
Time went by, and a wild, bright yellow flame burned in the center of the sky, as if the sky were like an artist's canvas, filled with skillful strokes of reds, oranges, and yellows. The sun was gradually melting into the sky, and darkness began to set in.
Our project was already done a few hours ago, but we decided to spend an hour playing Genshin Impact together. It was only supposed to be me and Chongyun, but Xiao suddenly wanted to play with us, so the three of us enjoyed spending our time playing games.
"Face that, monsters!" I yelled because we won the fight between these monsters, and my body unconsciously danced on its own.
My eyes noticed my beloved crush smile at me, and it made me blush because he rarely does that. It's been a while since the last time I saw him smile, and it almost made me forget how he is even more handsome when he smiles.
However, he immediately hid it when Chongyun pointed it out. "Whoa! I didn't know that you could smile, and it's quite a good look for you. For sure, you will get so many fans with that smile." Is it wrong to forbid him to smile? It's already hard for me to deal with his current number of fans.
"Shut up," he said, and he stuffed an almond tofu in his mouth.
However, our blue-haired friend won't stop teasing him. "Yo, Aether, you've got a fan over here."
My cheeks turned red, and Xiao kicked him as a punishment. "Ow! Did you eat something bad today? You are more grumpy than usual, dude."
Xiao rolled his eyes at his dramatic whine while Chongyun diverted his attention to me. "I didn't know you were so good at games, Aether."
"Really?"
He quickly bobbed his head. "Yes! We should hang out more and play games together," he suggested.
"Yes, sure, that would be fun," I said, smiling at him.
It took me by surprise when Xiao's foot suddenly landed on Chongyun's back. "Ow! What was that for? I didn't do anything wrong to you this time."
Xiao only gave him a death glare as an answer, which made me curious why. "Go home," he said coldly.
Chongyun scratched his head and asked, "What's your deal?"
His face is slowly turning a tomato, and he stood up from his chair to lay down on his bed with his hoodie on. "I want to be alone."
It made my head ache to analyze and process what happened because even I couldn't find the reason why he suddenly became upset. I grabbed the water placed on the right corner of the table and drank it since my throat was completely parched.
Chongyun suddenly sighed and said, "Yo, calm down. I am not taking Aether away from you."
What he said made me cough, while Xiao threw a pillow at Chongyun's face.
"I didn't know my face was a pillow catcher, not until now," Chongyun sarcastically said and threw the pillow back to Xiao, but it didn't hit his face since he immediately dodged it.
As for me, my cheeks wouldn't stop blushing, and my lips kept on smiling. Is that why he was down, because he was jealous of Chongyun? I am such a bare-minimum enjoyer because this already made me happy.
My phone suddenly made a beeping sound, and it was a message from my sister telling me to come home since it's now evening.
"Xiao. Chongyun. I have to head home because my sister is starting to worry about me since the sky is already dark." I don't want to interrupt their pillow fight, but it is important to inform them.
"As much as it pains me to say this, but you have won this battle, my fellow warrior, for I have to also head home. Fear not, for I will return," Chongyun said with his not-so-heroic voice.
We both grabbed our bags and were about to exit the room when Xiao stood up from bed and suggested, "I'll drive you home."
Chongyun didn't buy it and asked, "What's the catch? It's rare to see you offer a ride because this hasn't happened before."
"I have somewhere to stop by," he answered.
Chongyun raised his eyebrow. "Stop where exactly?"
Xiao groaned and responded, "It's none of your business."
Chongyun looked at me and looked back at Xiao. He rubbed his eyes and said, "Dude, I want to remind you that I have a boyfriend named Xinqui."
"I know because you told me, so what's your point?" Chongyun sighed and decided to end the conversation by agreeing.
Xiao led us to their garage, and our eyes sparkled amusingly when we saw a variety of luxurious brand cars parked inside.
"2 words. Adopt me," Chongyun said, and he immediately checked out the cars.
"It's not a garage anymore because this is already a mall for cars." Seriously, even the latest brand new car models are here.
"It felt like being here meant being slapped as poor," Chongyun added, and he fished out a popsicle from his bag, then delightedly ate it.
Xi did tell me that he has had a weird addiction to eating popsicles ever since his family runs an ice cream factory, so he always carries popsicles in his bag.
"Says the one who is as rich as he," I mumbled.
Xiao chose the gray Ferrari car and gave us both a ride. He decided to drop off Chongyun first since Xi recently called him and apparently was waiting for him at his condo to sleep over, so it's now the two of us alone in the car.
I'm nervous because the silence is making me sweaty. C'mon, Aether! Say something. Create a conversation.
"Hey." I'm pretty sure my soul shivered from surprise when he suddenly spoke.
"Do you really like games?" It made me wonder what the occasion was for him to ask this question.
"I don't know. I don't like it, but I don't hate it either. It's kind of in the middle. Why do you ask?" I answered.
"Do you prefer to hang out with someone similar to Chongyun's personality?" My eyes widened when he asked this question because it may be true that he was jealous of Chongyun.
I tried not to smile and blush. I want to give him a straight-forward answer, but where's the fun in that? My mind is so evil and wants to tease him a little bit. "Why do you want to know?"
I could see his face blush, even if the car had a darker light. It made me smile to see his reaction. "I was only curious."
"Alright. What will you do if I answer yes?" I noticed that he tightened his grip on the car wheel and mumbled something, but my ears didn't catch what he said.
"Did you say something?"
"I said we're here," he said coldly, and he parked his car in our front yard.
I couldn't hold my laugh, and he confusedly looked at me. "What's so funny?"
"You're the one who's funny," I said, and I laughed even more.
He pouted and asked, "What do you mean?"
"Idiot! I was only kidding with my answer. You don't have to be upset about it," I answered.
His face turned red, and he put his hoodie on to hide his blush. "I-I was not upset. You clearly saw it wrong."
It made me smile to think that he can still excuse himself when he's red as a tomato. "You know that I prefer to hang out with someone who is dense and cute."
He looked at me and asked, "Who is that?"
"You will know him soon," I said, winking at him.
We both got out of the car, and Xiao walked me over to our front door. Not to mention, he looked so cool when he had his hoodie on.
"Xiao, thank you for the ride."
He nodded his head and responded, "No problem."
He was about to leave when my hand grabbed his hand. "Wait! I almost forgot."
"What is it?"
I leaned closer to him and gave him a flick on his forehead. He whimpered and said, "What was that for?"
"You stole something from me and you forgot what it was, so you deserved that one."
"What did I say?" He didn't finish his sentence off when my lips traced down in the same spot and gave it a soft kiss.
"I hope you remember what it was." His eyes widened from what I said, and he blushed like crazy.
I smiled at how adorable he was when he tried to refrain from getting flustered, yet his face had already turned bright red.
A loud cough ruined the moment, and we both diverted our attention only to see my sister standing beside the door while crossing both of her arms and smirking at us. "Excuse me for interrupting."
We both got embarrassed, and it made her smirk grow wider. I quickly pushed her and forced her to go inside the house.
"Xiao, see you on Monday, and be careful on your way home," I said. He nodded his head and waved goodbye to us. I noticed that he was still taken aback by my actions, and it made me let out a small chuckle.
I closed the door as soon as we entered the house and exhaled in relief.
"I see that you had a good time with the lover boy," Lumine said, wriggling her eyebrows while planting a wide grin on her face.
"Shut up!" I ran into my room to get away from my sister, and my ears could hear her laughing from downstairs.
•••••
Author's Note:
Aether: "You know that I prefer to hang out with someone who is dense and cute."
Me to Xiao:
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