Su Yan looked up into Nie Chang’s eyes and gulped. Why was his mouth suddenly so dry? And why did his hands seem to lack strength right now? Somehow, he felt a little intimidated by Nie Chang. Or, well, maybe it was not Nie Chang himself but rather the fact how close he was and how he was looking at him and …

Su Yan closed his eyes, shook his head and hurriedly took his hand back as if he had burned himself.

Nie Chang smirked once more and leaned even closer. "No? It’s true, though. There really is someone I like." His breath tickled Su Yan’s skin and made him shudder. Nie Chang used the fact that his eyes were still closed and put his arm on the back of the bench, enclosing Su Yan halfway. "Ah, no, that’s … actually, I don’t just like him. I think I fell in love."

Su Yan cracked his eyes open. "Uh … So … Does that person … also like you?" Somehow, he felt bad asking this question. He couldn’t understand why he felt this way but he knew that this wasn’t the right reaction. His friend that had never seemed interested in anyone was suddenly telling him that he had fallen in love. Shouldn’t he … be happy for him?

Nie Chang’s gaze roamed over Su Yan’s face and he narrowed his eyes. "I’m not too sure myself. Actually, I’ve liked that person for a while already. I didn’t want to tell him at first since … well, I wasn’t sure it would be well-received so I thought I’d just boil the frog in warm water for a while."

"Boil the frog in warm water?" Su Yan paled. Wasn’t that an approach that required one to spend lots of time with the other person? How come he had never known about this? He pursed his lips, clearly pouting. Just how long had this been going on between Nie Chang and that girl?

"Yes, indeed." Nie Chang nodded happily. You just needed to take one look at Su Yan’s face to know that he hated the mental image he was painting right now.

Ehehe! Nie Chang couldn’t help but laugh evilly inside. Look at this! This friend he had pursued for so many years was unexpectedly jealous! That had to mean that Su Yan wasn’t as indifferent toward his romantic approaches as he had always seemed. He definitely had to make use of this!

Nie Chang leaned even closer until their shoulders touched and lowered his voice a bit as if he didn’t want others to hear what they were talking about. Naturally, that wasn’t what this was about.

"I’ve been trying that for a while but that frog didn’t seem like it had noticed. It just got comfortable in my pot." His lips were already next to Su Yan’s ears and he only whispered.

Su Yan blushed and shuddered. Somehow, he was feeling good and bad at the same time. He didn’t want Nie Chang to tell him all that and somehow he felt too hot so close to him. He actually felt feverish right now. What was going on with him?

Nie Chang saw how uneasy he felt. Some weeks back he would have stopped his approaches at once but he had already had enough of that. If he still didn’t push his luck now, then he’d never get Su Yan! Thus, he followed right up.

"Eh, you’re shuddering. Are you cold? Tsk, I didn’t bring a jacket."

Seriously, wouldn’t this be the cliched scene from a movie where the male lead saw the protagonist shiver and then quietly slipped out of his jacket and gently put it on her shoulders instead? Then, she’d be totally surprised but instantly hug the jacket closer and smile a bit, giving her thanks in a quiet voice. At the end of the day, she would somehow forget to return the jacket or keep it at her home under the disguise of needing to wash it. But in fact, she would just be thrilled to have a garment of her crush with her. You’d see at least one scene of her sniffing that jacket and then having a really happy expression while remembering their date.

Nie Chang never understood that giving a jacket-scene, though. Why would you give a jacket? Wasn’t there a better approach?

Without waiting for Su Yan’s answer, Nie Chang slid even closer to him and looped his arm around Su Yan’s shoulder like he always did on their way home. To make sure the message that this definitely wasn’t the same came across, he pulled him toward his chest and took Su Yan’s hand into his. "Come here. I’ll keep you warm," he whispered, his breath once again tickling Su Yan’s ear and deepening the blush on his cheeks.

Su Yan closed his eyes and took a shaky breath. His heart was beating way too fast. Maybe he had eaten something bad yesterday and was getting sick? This definitely wasn’t normal. "Uh …" He searched for something to say but Nie Chang was a beat faster.

"About what I was saying just now, I’m really not sure if that person likes me back. We’re getting along fine, normally, but it has always only been platonic. I’m beginning to feel a bit impatient, though." He sighed and rubbed Su Yan’s shoulder to give him another hint. "But I think it’s not really that he doesn’t like me. I rather think he just doesn’t understand that I’m already in love with him."

"Uh." Su Yan didn’t get more than that out. He had a lump in this throat and his chest felt heavy. He took another trembling breath but only got another dose of that smell he had already noticed in the car. Nie Chang’s aftershave. Had it always been this nice? He honestly couldn’t remember right now.

"Eh, Ah Yan, don’t you want to eat anything?" Nie Chang dropped the topic just like that. He knew Su Yan wouldn’t ask for any more details. He was obviously too tensed to think any further. He’d need a bit of time to calm down. And then, when he asked for it himself … Mn … Nie Chang smiled with satisfaction.

"I … I’m not that hungry," Su Yan choked out. Honestly, he felt like he couldn’t even take one bite.

Nie Chang smiled. "Alright. Well, let me eat it. It would be a pity to throw it away just like that." He picked up Su Yan’s chopsticks and unceremoniously ate his friend’s dumplings. Mn, that was probably what people called an indirect kiss. Ah, he liked the feeling. He should have done all that much sooner.