The Truth That Lies (WangXian Modern AU)

24

"I thought you were on a break," Cheng mumbles next to me, now awake, making me jolt.

"Yeah. We just . . . text."

He peeks at the phone. "And send thirst pics, apparently." He rolls his eyes getting off the bed.

"I didn't ask for it," I yell after him.

"As if he wasn't staring," he mutters audible enough, slamming the bathroom door shut, and I start laughing. I mean, who wouldn't stare?

We meet Qing at the bar of the hotel we stayed. I pretend not to notice Cheng sucking his breath in when she shows up. Giving him time to recover, I say, "Her royal highness arrives," and Qing sits over-elegantly, matching it. "I'm mad at you. You left without a word."

"The first this I hear is nag," she scoffs.

"Yes, because that's a clear breach of the trust of twenty years of knowing each other. Totally unfair."

"Please. You only visit me when you want a drink."

"That's not true. I visit just to see you too. I even made Lan Zhan mad once."

"Can you for once leave him out of a conversation," Cheng grits, supposedly because he got a chance to speak without Qing's involvement. That's what he does when he's nervous; avoid the person at all costs.

I raise my hands in defense. "Fine."

"How is the company?" Qing asks,

"I was on leave for a while," I say, ignoring this full week. "Ask him." I nod at Cheng, who chokes on his water.

"It's—," he clears his throat, "uh, good. It's fine. Everything's fine."

Qing bites down a smile, and I'm in an internal laughing fit. But I really should go easy on Cheng since he made it this far. "Give her what Shijie sent," I tell him.

"I didn't bring anything down," he says. "You were supposed to do it."

"No. I told you to take it."

"When did you ever say that?"

I rub my hand over my eyes, groaning. "He was not in this world this whole day," I tell Qing.

"What do you mean?" Cheng snaps in. "I was."

"You were not."

"That's likely," Qing follows up.

"Shut up. Both of you. Fucking—fine, I'll get it." He hisses standing up, and the two of us break into laughter. Cheng leaves pretending not to hear.

"Man," Qing groans slouching down on the table, watching him leave. "I've been preparing myself for this for as long as I can remember. Never thought it's gonna be this tough."

"I'd say . . . you don't have to do this," I offer.

Qing sighs. "I don't know. I didn't think that we can survive long-distance. We're not the homemaker type, you know."

"But y'all did."

Qing hums, with a sigh.

I sit back, crossing my arms. "Why don't you try? Maybe it's worth."

Qing smirks. "Says the person who ghosted his man for two weeks."

I blink. "How'd you know?"

"Cheng called me that time. And vented about you for like, an hour? Don't tell him, I skipped a first-day class for that."

"Sounds romantic."

"Mm-hmm. Super romantic," she says with an exaggerated slur.

She eyes me, with that look that tells me I'm going to get one of her lectures. "What?" I ask propping on the table.