The sun filtered through the sheer curtains, casting long golden streaks across the shared dorm room.
Chi Cheng stirred first, his arms still loosely wrapped around the sleeping form beside him. Wu Suo Wei's hair was tousled, his lips parted slightly, a peacefulness on his face that made Chi Cheng's heart ache with a kind of tenderness he couldn't explain.
He brushed a strand of hair from Suo Wei's forehead and whispered, "Da Bao... you're really mine now, aren't you?"
Suo Wei blinked slowly, waking up. His sleepy eyes locked with Chi Cheng's and for a moment, neither said a word. The intimacy of the previous night still clung to them like the soft scent of rain after a storm.
Suo Wei spoke first, voice fragile, "You're not going to leave me now, are you?"
Chi Cheng frowned, cupping his fiancé's cheek. "Never. Not even if the world turns against us."
Suo Wei let out a breathy laugh, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. "You always say the cheesiest things after you almost kill someone."
They both laughed quietly, and for the first time in a long while, it felt like their hearts were beating in perfect time.
Meanwhile, just across campus, Jiang Xiao Shuai sat with his chin resting in his palm, watching Guo Cheng Yu absentmindedly stir his coffee.
"You've been staring into that mug for ten minutes. What's in there, your tragic backstory?"
Guo Cheng Yu looked up with a grin. "Maybe I was waiting for my prince to notice me."
Xiao Shuai rolled his eyes but didn't look away. "You flirt with everything that breathes, Cheng Yu. Why should I believe I'm different?"
That made Guo Cheng Yu pause. The teasing left his voice as he replied quietly, "Because I don't want to flirt with you. I want to understand you."
Xiao Shuai's cheeks flushed. He averted his gaze and muttered, "Took you long enough."
They didn't hold hands. They didn't kiss. But when Cheng Yu's foot nudged Shuai's under the table, and Shuai didn't move away, that was something. The silence between them turned warm, heavy with things left unsaid.
Later that evening, Chi Cheng and Suo Wei walked hand in hand under the cover of dusk. They had been quieter since that night–closer too, like they were learning each other all over again.
Behind the apartment, they found a quiet spot by the cherry blossom trees. Chi Cheng pulled Suo Wei close, their foreheads touching.
"I still can't believe I almost lost you," Chi Cheng murmured. "I was so scared when I saw you in his arms helpless–"
"You saved me," Suo Wei whispered. "Like you always do."
Chi Cheng kissed the tip of his nose, then his eyelids, then finally his lips slow and reverent. The world around them seemed to disappear.
At the same time, Cheng Yu and Xiao Shuai stood under the same sky, leaning against the railings on the rooftop of the library.
"Can I ask you something?" Cheng Yu said, voice quieter than usual.
"Hmm?"
"If I stopped teasing you... if I got serious... would you stay?"
Xiao Shuai turned to him, eyes glinting with something softer than challenge. "I never planned to leave."
Their fingers brushed. Just enough. Just right.
And in the stillness of the night, both pairs of hearts beat in sync—side by side.