Sit Softly On Your Shoulder

Chapter 37: Shopping Excursion

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan are sitting inside the airport at a breakfast cafe, guzzling down a shared plate of dumplings and it's black coffee for Wei Ying while his husband sips from a cup of jasmine green tea demurely.

"You're still not going to tell me where we're going?" Wei Ying asks him, narrowing his eyes.

"It is a surprise. The clue is in that last word."

Wei Ying chokes out a surprised laugh. "You know, you think you're so funny. Just you wait, Mister. I will have my revenge." He waves his chopsticks threateningly at Lan Zhan, who merely raises a brow.

"I look forward to it," he replies, full of confidence.

Wei Ying loves him so much. There's a marked difference between this relaxed, quietly joyful Lan Zhan than the man he met months ago. That Lan Zhan kept his thoughts to himself and was unfailingly polite. At that time, Lan Zhan was slowly losing himself to the grief weighing him down, and looking for a lifeline to be tossed his way.

This one however, is brutally honest and unafraid to share his opinion, no matter how bitchy it is. His personal, private thoughts are clever and display a shocking intelligence that he refuses to broadcast, comfortable in simple observation. It is a credit to his mental strength that he has pulled himself out of the emotional turmoil he had been drowning in before to emerge victorious now.

Wei Ying reaches across the tiny table with his palm up, his smile growing wider when Lan Zhan places his own hand on it, threading their fingers together. Immediately and without thinking about it.

"I love you," Wei Ying tells him earnestly, and is rewarded by Lan Zhan's enigmatic gaze to melt into something so much softer, like warm liquid honey fresh from the honeycomb. His lovely lips turn up unconsciously, which for him, is akin to smiling broadly. Lan Zhan looks happy, filled to the brim.

"As I love you," he replies, quietly. Lan Zhan doesn't even blink, staring back at him as if he can't believe this is happening to them but if it is, then he'll take it with both hands.

The moment morphs from something innocent and sweet into an electrifying madness, and Wei Ying stands up just as suddenly, his urgency making Lan Zhan panic into alertness.

"Wei Ying?"

"I need the bathroom," he replies, and then pauses to give Lan Zhan his wickedest smile. "Correction, WE need a bathroom. Stat."

It takes Lan Zhan a second to realise what he wants, but as soon as that clicks, he takes charge right away. Luckily, the door has a lock when they get there...

*************

"Guangzhou?" Wei Ying taps his nose, leaning on Lan Zhan's shoulder as he thinks about it. "Why are we going there?"

"Wei Ying will find out in due course." There's a stubborn glint in Lan Zhan's beautiful golden eyes as he studies him back.

Lan Zhan still won't tell him anything more aside from the fact that it's a surprise, and Wei Ying only found out the destination after correctly guessing the place, when they'd stopped to check on the gate number for boarding their flight. All this, in spite of a very satisfactory period of time spent just now, with Wei Ying trying his hardest to get answers from a brick wall. Alright, so the brick wall more resembled a puddle of melted marshmallows when Wei Ying was done with him, but that's beside the point. The Puddle of Melted Marshmallows still refused to talk.

"Lan Zhaaaaan!" Wei Ying whines, fluttering his eyelashes at him, but all that does is tighten Lan Zhan's arm around his waist to pull him closer, but information is still withheld.

The flight is only two-and-a-half hours long, which Wei Ying spends dozing, leaning his head on Lan Zhan's shoulder. Lan Zhan spends the same amount of time looking down at his face and marvelling at how lucky he is to have such a beautiful man at his side. He stares at the way thick dark lashes curl onto rosy cheeks flushed with sleep, the unconscious pout on those quick plump lips, and the way Wei Ying's contented sigh makes his heart swell with happiness and peace.