Second Male Lead to One, Male Lead to Another (Part 2)

383 Setting Up a Meeting

It seemed to take forever until Li Ming finally pressed the button. He stared at the screen of his phone afterward, expecting something to happen. He wasn't even sure what he expected but when there wasn't the slightest change save for the number disappearing from his blacklist, he felt weird.

"Am I the one making this weird?" He said that thought out loud before getting back to his senses. He looked around but he had made it to a small park in his neighborhood without noticing. Seeing that nobody was around, he went to sit down on a bench, going back to stare at his phone screen.

Actually, maybe he was the one who made this weird. Mo Fang had left the country three years ago and hadn't tried to contact him even once. Maybe he had long closed that chapter of his life.

Now that he was back, he might have remembered what had happened for the first time since then, or maybe one of the people that were familiar with both of them had brought it up. The latter wouldn't be too surprising. Zhi Bao Yu for one loved poking her nose where it didn't belong. And one of the others might have mentioned him in an attempt to genuinely help. Who knew for sure?

Of course, it could also be that nobody had brought it up but that Mo Fang had decided to come and see him all by himself. He might even have a legitimate reason that wasn't wanting to bother him again. Considering that there were a lot of places they had both frequented in the past where they would run into each other sooner or later, it wouldn't be that strange.

He rubbed his forehead, feeling like he was an idiot. Normally, he always thought the best of people. With Mo Fang, he had gotten burned because of that. Now, he was afraid and couldn't help but second guess others' motives. It had been like that in his relationships right after Mo Fang but he had gotten over that.

Now, he was open again when it came to meeting new people but when it concerned Mo Fang himself, he was just as doubtful as he had been three years ago. If something happened, he wouldn't think of the best possibility but of the worst option. Maybe he had overdone it though.

He finally shook his head at himself. Whatever it was, he had to find out. Zhu Yi was right. And currently, he was only trying to push it off because he was afraid of what would happen. That wouldn't change anything though.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then slowly typed a message.

Li Ming: [It's Li Ming. You said you wanted to talk?]

He read over it four times before hitting the send button and then leaned back as if all strength had suddenly left his body. How come dealing with an ex was this exhausting? Just sending a message made him feel like he'd need a couple hours of sleep to regenerate.

He shook his head at himself and then stared at his phone screen again. He didn't immediately get a response though. Instead, it took almost half an hour before Mo Fang send a message back, more than enough time for Li Ming to come up with several reasons for that.

Mo Fang: [I do. If you agree, do you want to meet up or call?]

Li Ming stared at that line, unsure what to make of it. He still couldn't shake the worry that there might be more to this. But then, this sounded quite normal. As for what he'd prefer ...

Li Ming: [Let's meet up.]

Anyway, he'd rather be able to look into Mo Fang's eyes while he listened to what he had to say. He wasn't sure if it would make a difference but he could at least try to distinguish the truth and any lies he might say that way. His chances of being right would be better than with a simple phone call.

This time, Mo Fang's response didn't need much time and arrived just a few seconds later.

Mo Fang: [When and where? You can choose.]

He didn't tag on any explanation and simply left it at that. Li Ming wasn't sure what to make of that but decided that it wasn't important. Instead, he stayed on the topic.

Li Ming: [I'm free on Thursday. Would that work?]

Mo Fang: [Sure.]

Li Ming nodded to himself. At least he wasn't making things difficult for him. Actually, did Mo Fang have a job? If he had just returned, that might not be the case. But then, it wasn't like he had been consistently working even three years ago so maybe that wasn't important.

Li Ming shook his head. Anyway, what did it matter to him? If Mo Fang didn't have time, he likely would have told him and they could have come up with a different time. Speaking of which ...

Li Ming: [At 10 in the morning?]

A later time might have been better but he didn't want to wait too long. He would just work himself up if he had to. That wouldn't help either of them.

Mo Fang was still just as agreeable.

Mo Fang: [No problem. Then what about the place?]

Li Ming pondered. Back then, they had always met at Si Tao's place but seeing as he knew both of them and lots of other people they knew like Linghu Jiahao also went there, he didn't think it was a good idea. No, rather than that, he'd go to a place where they weren't familiar with others.

He thought for a while and finally sent over the address of the restaurant where he had gone with Zhao Chen.

Li Ming: [Let's meet there. Do you know the place?]

Mo Fang didn't know the specific place but he did know where it roughly was so once again, he simply agreed.

Mo Fang: [Then we'll see each other there at 10 a.m. on Thursday. Thank you!]

With that, the meeting had been set up and the two of them didn't message further.