Shangguan Yu stared at him, not quite sure what to say. In the end, he reached up and cupped his cheek, pecking his lips.

Ao Jing looked at him and squeezed his hand, finally pulling him into his arms. Logically speaking, they shouldn’t do this. Tomorrow, they would only meet up for the first time. What were they doing getting even closer in the game? But somehow, the situation just was like that. It would feel a bit wrong to pull back. In fact, right now, this felt just as real as real life might. But he still knew that it would be better to leave this for tomorrow. He really was torn on what to do.

He hesitated only for a moment but then turned his face and kissed Shangguan Yu’s cheek, his lips lingering on his skin for a moment. "If you still feel like this tomorrow, then let’s talk about the future again. Just … I guess it would be good to give the two of us a bit of time. Just to make sure. I really don’t think it will change anything but it might be for the best."

Shangguan Yu also turned his head and the two of them looked at each other. "You were sure that it won’t change anything for you. And I … I actually think so too. So why are you telling me to wait now?" To be honest, he felt a little aggrieved. The moment just now had been perfect. So why did Ao Jing have to ruin it by saying they should wait? They had already known each other for half a year. How much longer did he want them to wait?

Ao Jing didn’t quite know how to answer that. He reached up and rubbed his neck, trying to find a way to explain that wouldn’t make him sound like an indecisive idiot. "I don’t know. I guess I’m just a bit scared? Anyway, it’s not that I’m not sure about this and I don’t mean that we should wait for a long time wither. Just … Let’s see how tomorrow goes and then in the evening after I’ve left or maybe — if you’re comfortable enough —, you can tell me right away what you’d think about being together in real life. Saying it today … I don’t know if that has the same meaning. I just want to make really sure."

Shangguan Yu looked at him and smiled, cupping his cheeks with both hands. "What you said before means a lot to me. It doesn’t matter if it’s here or in real life. Anyway, while we call it real life, aren’t we still real even if this is virtual reality? Our thoughts and words are still the same, right?"

Ao Jing gave a hum.

Shangguan Yu sighed and shook his head. "Well, if you really insist that it’s better to do this outside of the game, then I’ll accept it. But you’ll have to tell me the exact same thing you said before again."

Ao Jing couldn’t help but laugh and then finally nodded. To be honest, he felt that he would be completely embarrassed if he had to say something like that in real life but he could see that it was important to Shangguan Yu so he would do it. Anyway, he had created this situation by himself. "I just hope you won’t be embarrassed if I say it in real life. It’s a bit too saccharine, isn’t it?"

Shangguan Yu chuckled and playfully slapped Ao Jing’s chest. "That’s the point. So don’t think you can get away." He smiled and then got up, casually changing the subject. "Anyway, didn’t we want to play a bit more today? There’s still that quest line we have to finish." Anyway, he wasn’t worried. Ao Jing was probably right that they should at least wait one more day until they had met up in real life. Before that, it really would be dumb to make any kind of promise even if they felt sure. After all, if they did and then tomorrow things didn’t work out by some strange stroke of bad luck, the disappointment would be even bigger. No, it was better to be safe than sorry in this situation. So for today, they should just focus on what had originally brought them together: Playing this game and enjoying their time doing the tasks in here.

Ao Jing looked at him, his eyes brimming with love and finally, he got up as well, once again taking his hand. "Alright, let’s go and see how that quest line will go on then. I think we were meant to meet with that Liangqiu Min at the teahouse along the way to the town, right?"

Shangguan Yu nodded and they summoned their flying mount, making their way over to the place where they had originally talked with him and looking around to find the teahouse he had mentioned.

Since they both had a free day tomorrow and wouldn’t be meeting up too early, it would be alright to play a little longer today so they weren’t worried at all that they wouldn’t manage to solve a bit of this puzzle in the next few hours.

Soon enough, they spotted the teahouse that Liangqiu Min had mentioned before. Landing on the ground, the two of them exchanged another glance and then walked into the building side by side. A few of the NPCs inside looked over and, apparently, there were also some players present. It seemed that things might get interesting.