"What’s the matter with you? New girlfriend?"

Ao Jing flinched and almost dropped his phone, only catching it at the last moment. He heaved a sigh of relief and patted the screen, making sure to switch it off while he was at it. Then, he turned to his supervisor who had sneaked up on him. "Ah, Mister Fang, I’m sorry. I guess I was a bit distracted."

His supervisor just raised his brows. "So what is the matter? Are you not feeling well? Anyway, there isn’t much to do today. If it’s really that, you could call in sick for the rest of today."

Ao Jing gave an embarrassed smile. So far, he had actually been doing great work if he might say so himself. He had never called in sick and save for some minor mistakes he had made early on, his work had always been up to standard. To be so distracted for a whole day that he even spaced out and didn’t notice when somebody approached him … This really wasn’t like him. And the reason for that … It was a bit awkward to admit it but he also wouldn’t do to lie.

He awkwardly cleared his throat and forced a smile onto his face. "Actually, your first guess wasn’t that far off. I have something like a blind date tomorrow and I just can’t help but be a little anxious about it."

His supervisor raised his brows. Somebody having a blind date wasn’t strange at all but from how he knew Ao Jing, he was indeed quite a bit surprised that he would be so worried about it. "What’s there to fear? You’re a good-looking guy. I’m sure she’ll like you."

Ao Jing nodded but his expression was still a little ugly. Anyway, things were a bit complicated but he really didn’t want to unpack that at work. Especially not in front of his supervisor. While Mister Fang was just a few years older than him and normally quite easy-going, he still didn’t feel comfortable discussing his private matters with him. Especially not if he had just been caught pondering them at work.

He scratched the back of his head and then gave a wry smile. "I’m sorry for spacing out. I guess I should get back to work now. I mean you’re definitely right about that date. I shouldn’t worry too much."

Mister Fang nodded and patted his shoulder. "That’s right, just take it easy. Anyway, women like confident men. I’m sure if you keep your nerves in check, you’ll have success. Who knows? If you stay here after your internship, you might even have to invite me to your wedding." He laughed and then went off, not even waiting for Ao Jing’s explanation.

Ao Jing continued to stand there with a wry smile, finally looking down at his phone and switching the screen back on. Looking at Shangguan Yu’s picture, he couldn’t help but sigh. "I guess it would be a little difficult."

Anyway, gay marriage still wasn’t legal and he didn’t think that it would happen anytime soon. Even if he did, it probably wouldn’t be such a good idea to make his relationship known at his workplace. While there were more people alright with it by now, that was still the minority. The kind of repercussions it would have to admit that he was gay … He really didn’t think that that would be a good idea. The same was probably true for Shangguan Yu.

Sighing to himself, Ao Jing went back to his desk, put his phone down next to him, and then started to work again. He really would’ve liked to turn on his screen and glance at Shangguan Yu’s photo every now and then but considering that it wasn’t a cute girl he was meeting up with, that wouldn’t be possible, unfortunately. It really was a pity though. Now, he wouldn’t be able to look at him up until the moment he got off work. Well, what could he do? Work was work. But tomorrow, things would be different.

Smiling to himself at that thought, Ao Jing finally resolved to just get it over with the last few hours. After that, he would be able to return home and could go and play a few more hours with Shangguan Yu. He was really looking forward to it.

With his thoughts on a positive note, time actually seemed to go by very fast. Or, well, maybe that had to do with the fact that there had only been a few hours of work left. And it was always easier to work toward something nice than to work while you were worrying if your relationship was breaking apart.

As soon as the clock on the screen showed that his time was up, Ao Jing closed the document he had been working on, shut off the computer, and then rushed off, only saying goodbye to his supervisor and his coworkers in passing. He hurried to the garage and leaped into his car, driving home as fast as he could without going over the speed limit.

As soon as he stumbled through the door, he went over to his desk and turned on his laptop, not even bothering to get something to eat. He put on the headset and logged into the game. He couldn’t wait a single moment longer to see Shangguan Yu. Asking that of him would just be pure torture.

When the scene loaded and he saw that valley steeped in the glow of the setting sun in front of him, he immediately turned to look at the cliff, hoping that Shangguan Yu would’ve waited for him instead of going off to play already.

To his surprise, that was actually the case. It seemed that with their date coming closer, the two of them were also getting closer. It really made him happy thinking about that.