Meng Tao didn't show up at class the next day.
Or the day after that.
Which was strange because the entire point of transferring, as he had said, was for a "fresh start." Yet after that brief encounter in the editing room, he'd vanished again like mist under the sun.
Xiao Shuai noticed, even if he didn't say anything.
And Guo Cheng Yu noticed that he noticed.
At lunch on Friday, Cheng Yu dragged Shuai off campus, insisting the cafeteria was "too loud" and "smelled like existential dread." They ended up at a small hotpot place off the main road, tucked between a laundromat and a quiet bookstore.
They got a booth in the back.
"Are you going to hover every time I enter a room now?" Shuai asked dryly as the pot bubbled between them.
"If hovering means I get to watch you fail at using chopsticks correctly then yes."
Shuai gave him a look. "You're impossible."
Cheng Yu leaned back. "And yet... here we are."
The words sat between them neither playful nor serious. Just honest.
Shuai looked down at the pot. "You know I'm not going to run into his arms, right?"
"I know," Cheng Yu said without hesitation. "But that doesn't mean it doesn't sting. Seeing him again. It's okay to admit that."
There was a pause. Then, softly:
"I didn't expect him to come back looking the same," Shuai murmured. "It's annoying. He didn't even age badly. Where's the justice?"
Cheng Yu laughed, and the tension cracked.
"But," Shuai continued, "I didn't feel what I thought I would."
"Which is?"
"Anger. Or heartbreak. Or longing."
"And instead?" Cheng Yu asked, voice quiet.
Shuai looked at him. Held his gaze. "I just kept thinking... 'I wish you were here instead.'"
Cheng Yu's breath caught.
Before he could say anything, a shadow passed by the window. Shuai glanced out.
It was Meng Tao.
He stood across the street, holding a paper bag, clearly looking for something or someone. When he spotted them inside, his steps hesitated.
Shuai tensed.
But Cheng Yu reached out and gently placed his hand over Shuai's on the table. He didn't squeeze. He didn't speak.
Just held him there. Steady.
Shuai looked down at their hands. His voice dropped. "Don't let go."
Cheng Yu leaned in. "Wouldn't dream of it."
***
Later that night, back in Xiao Shuai's dorm, he lay in bed staring at the ceiling, headphones in but no music playing.
His thoughts were noisy. But they all revolved around one person.
Not Meng Tao.
But Guo Cheng Yu who always showed up when it mattered, who always teased him like it was the most natural thing in the world, who always stayed.
He closed his eyes and smiled faintly.
Maybe the past had come back to test him.
But the future?
It was knocking on his heart and it wore Cheng Yu's grin.