A kid's play (Teach me how to live again) - Hualian AU + TGCF as kids

Noodles can mean a lot at night

San Lang was kinda very hot.

Xie Lian inhaled deeply, where did his breath go all of the sudden? That was just a realization. And, by the way, it was also kinda very inappropriate for teacher Xie Lian to think that about his assistant right now, and at school! He tried to brush the thought away before his cheeks would turn pink.

"Gege, do you want to change before going home?" Hua Cheng asked, now in a new shirt and tying his hair.

"No, I'm okay. I have so much food on me that it would make for a picnic. If I change, I would need to wash more clothes actually... what's the matter?"

Hua Cheng had looked away when Xie Lian said picnic, the teacher worried something might be bothering him. The assistant dismissed the concern with a brief "nothing" and they left the school together.

After walking some minutes in silence, close to the bakery where they stopped yesterday and thus also close to the assistant's apartment, Hua Cheng asked, "Gege, would you like to stay over again?"

Xie Lian denied intensively this time. "No, no, no, but thank you, San Lang. I gotta go home and put my life together."

Hua Cheng sighed, "E'ming will be sad." He watched the teacher while asking, "will you be alright?"

"En," Xie Lian nodded, but he then stopped walking. "I... San Lang, I actually wanted to thank you for yesterday, very much. And for today. The way you handled the situation improvising with the kids was so clever. And when you spoke to Kemo, that little lie about me helped out a lot! As you can see, he's not my big fan, I'm not sure wh..."

"It wasn't a lie," Hua Cheng replied looking firmly into Xie Lian's eyes. "I am sincerely inspired by you-r class," he completed in the most fluid way possible.

Xie Lian didn't understand but thought he should feel some level of embarrassment. "Oh no, nonsense. What's there to be inspired about? I'm a huge mess. And today I... ouch!" His ribs still hurt.

"Gege, are you sure you'll be fine alone? Is there anyone you can call?"

"There is, actually, and that's what I should do," Xie Lian's thoughts went back to the inconvenient truth.

They said bye briefly and Hua Cheng insisted Xie Lian could let him know anytime if he needed anything. The teacher was now finally back home.

***

After a long shower agonizing about what to do, Xie Lian reached no conclusion and the stress and tiredness washed over him. He laid on the bed, exhausted, his cellphone was buzzing. There was no energy left in him to pick up the call, so he didn't move.

It seemed only some minutes had passed and he was still having some trouble falling asleep when a discomfort in his stomach started. Was he hungry? He didn't take any bread today. He didn't want to be asked questions about yesterday, so stopping at the bakery was ruled out. He would just eat noodles.

Buying various cup noodles flavors was a habit, not only because Xie Lian would eat them when he was alone, which was often, but he would also buy a certain someone's favorite, in case she showed up at his place.

That discomfort was persistent. Was that sadness? What he felt yesterday was definitely sadness. A sorrow for his idea of a relationship, a sorrow for trusting someone in vain. This feeling was flooding his body, suddenly overwhelming him again. He imagined himself as an endless source of that same feeling, now overflowing his body and soaking the bed. It was covering everything in a dark, shadow-like tone.

Xie Lian shifted position in bed, opening his eyes and staring at the ceiling. Barely no light used to come from the street since the city was pretty much dead in the evening...