Drawn to You

13. Hua Cheng moves on

Xie Lian never called, and it's been, what? Almost two months. Hua Cheng really missed him, feeling quite bored these days, but didn't call either: what would be the point? Hua Cheng didn't want to push him, and after a few days waiting and waiting, he just felt stupid and realised that, most likely, Xie Lian wouldn't call, period.

"But then, why would he? All I gave Gege was trouble", he muttered to himself bitterly.

He always thought Xie Lian really didn't look like he would hang around with the likes of him, but for some reason (at least for some time) he did.

And anything seemed to remind Hua Cheng of him, almost all the time. He only didn't think of Xie Lian (or so he thought) when he was working in his studio, in a state of flow, so focused he didn't really consciously think of anything, and also for this reason he gladly threw himself into work.

That's right: he had a book to finish after all. It'd have to be finalised by the end of August to be sent for proofing and pagination, so the initial print run (300 thousand copies) would be ready for release in mid to end of October. He Xuan could always negotiate an extension of this deadline with the printing company, but if he had to do that –

"Fuck, I'd never hear the end of it", he said to himself, pursing his lips. Better to avoid that at all costs.

He glanced at his production chart on the wall: he still had around a month to go, and had inked (digitally, but he still called it inking just for the feel) most of it: he just needed to keep up.

Every morning he went to the gym for one hour or so, then walked back home and had long showers, going to the studio right after (he had put an AC there on the previous year, it was really life-saving) for the rest of the day. At night, sometimes he went for long walks, then just cooked simple meals at home (instead of eating out almost every day).

It was good making himself busy, he felt. He hasn't been drinking and partying either, and as for sex –

"At this rate I might definitely become a monk soon", he told himself, pffting a laugh and shrugging.

He felt totally fine about it, thinking (for the first time in his life) that meeting random people at a bar, paying them a drink, chatting them up, and... huh, was just boring. Whenever Qi Rong or Bai Wuxiang or anyone else called him, he couldn't be bothered to even pick up the phone, and with time they stopped calling. Maybe he was getting old.

That day he was at home, having some black coffee before hitting the gym, thinking (again) it was still early morning but his flat was so hot: he should really look into moving somewhere else. He spotted a sketchbook lying around on his desk, the one he took to that onsen in Hakone he went for a long weekend with Xie Lian.

He flipped through its pages, looking at those sketches of Xie Lian wearing a yukata, and thought of how he laughingly sat for Hua Cheng to do a few quick portraits, while sipping on sake. It felt like it was a long time ago, and at the same time, just the day before.

He smiled, "Gege, you're so cute", he said to the portrait, feeling his face burning hot.

Suddenly, his phone pinged: it was He Xuan, "I hope you haven't forgotten that event later on".

•

No, he hasn't, he was actually quite excited about it: a talk at the Hokusai Museum, in Sumida City, about the influence of ukiyo-e printing in manga in general, and in his own work.

At one of the times he met He Xuan over a meal and drinks to discuss the book schedule and its release, he mentioned that visit to the Tokyo National Museum and the ukiyo-e gallery, and (probably because he had drank a few and got too excited) even showed He Xuan some of the pictures he had taken on his phone that day.

That day, he saw Xie Lian right after, surrounded by his students on that education space, (playing with the stamps that showed visitors how ukiyo-e worked). Then they went to buy food at a convenience store, and had a late lunch outdoors. He thought of Xie Lian's golden outline under that cold winter sunlight, his rosey cheeks, his light brown eyes, almost a honey colour.

He Xuan thought a talk would be good publicity to promote the new book, and approached the museum event organisers with the idea on behalf of the publishing house.

After they agreed and gave them a date, Hua Cheng quickly put together a Powerpoint presentation for that day, with some examples of ukiyo-e (even some erotic ones, to shock the audience a little bit) with panels from his previous books side-by-side. He also included some time-lapses of panels for the new book showing ukiyo-e style elements.

"Block colours, contrasts of bold hues and pastels, gradients. Even in digital art, you can blend colours manually to get the same gradient effect", he kept muttering to himself as an improvised rehearsal.

After lunch, Hua Cheng had a long shower and got ready: he wore a boxy fit red shirt, loose trousers and canvas trainers, his hair (slightly longer now) tied in a ponytail, and a few assorted bracelets. He then took a train to the museum: it wasn't far but it was just too hot to go walking.

He received another text from He Xuan, "The new book on Twitter is already trending. Do your best!"

Wow, for He Xuan, that dead inside guy, to text him like that, with an exclamation mark... So, news of this talk at the museum and of Hua Cheng's new book must have been posted by the publishing house earlier that day then, but he didn't think of checking himself –

He suddenly thought of Xie Lian: did he see it, would he have come if Hua Cheng had invited him?

He arrived at the museum's matte-silvery, stylish building, in front of , really a square with colourful mosaics on the ground and a children's playground, but no trees. Fuck, it's hot, he thought again, walking into the building and, after nodding at the attendant at the museum shop by the entrance, he got into the lift.

"Trending huh?" he said to himself, his charming, witty personality all ready for the next few hours.

•

At the end of the talk, He Xuan himself, of behalf of the publishing house, announced the release date of Hua Cheng's new book, Colours, mentioning of course that pre-orders could already be made on the company's website. No turning back now: the final deadline was on, Hua Cheng thought, getting all excited just like the audience.

"The sales department just texted, pre-orders are doing good, and it's only the first day", He Xuan commented while they were leaving the building, adding, "Drink? There's a festival in Sumida City tonight, you know fireworks, street food and – "

"Thanks, but I don't feel like it", Hua Cheng replied, "Better go home, have an early night – "

He Xuan raised an eyebrow, clearly shocked Hua Cheng was saying no to some drinking, specially after an event (and a very successful one at that): he would want to celebrate, or so He Xuan thought.

"After all, I'm still working on the book for these pre-orders, have to take it easy – "

Hua Cheng himself knew that for him, to talk about taking it easy was a bit out of character, but well, it was late afternoon, not so hot anymore... He'd rather just take a long walk home, maybe make himself some uddon with mushrooms and spinach and have a cold beer, instead of some crowded, noisy festival with loud fireworks.

He Xuan probably thought he had a hangover (or plans for drinking elsewhere), and, with a shrug, tapped him on the shoulder as a goodbye, and went off.

Hua Cheng then was left alone in that square, and as he turned around to start his walk back home, he heard some hurried steps behind him.

"San Lang! I", he huffed, "I'm so sorry I'm late and missed your talk. But at least you're still here – "

Hua Cheng could hardly believe it: it was Xie Lian!

Thank you for reading! Surprise Hualian meeting, anyone? 😍

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