Straight In Between

The sleep over

When they returned after showering, Gao Ming was already making breakfast, his face shining with a bit of entertainment. As soon as he spotted them, he quietly dashed towards Mr. Shen, dragging him by the wrist to the hall.Liang Wei rolled his eyes.

“He’s always in a good mood,” he said to himself and continued to the kitchen.

In the hall, Gao Ming’s boyfriend was still wrapped in the blanket, peacefully asleep. Gao Ming looked at Mr. Shen, wearing a big grin as his eyes settled on Chi Cheng and Xu Xuan, who were still peacefully asleep. Mr. Shen’s eyes lit. Quietly, he pulled the blanket aside, making Gao Ming grinned even harder. Just then, Xu Yang stirred awake; his eyes landed on Gao Ming first, then Mr. Shen, who was standing over Chi Cheng and Xu Xuan.

Gao Ming’s smile vanished immediately. Xu Yang sat up, eyes settling on Chi Cheng curled behind Xu Xuan, and his hand firmly fixed around his waist. He frowned, standing up immediately. Mr. Shen looked at him, then at Gao Ming. Gao Ming swallowed, and stepped back. Mr. Shen rolled his eyes and gently kicked Chi Cheng’s ass to wake him up.

His fine lashes parted, and his eyes slowly acknowledged the daylight as his eyes landed on Gao Ming, who now had a smirk on, then landed on Mr. Shen, who nodded his head at Xu Xuan. Chi Cheng’s face turned back to his side; his hand was still firmly wrapped around Xu Xuan’s waist like the just got married and had their first love making. His heart stopped, then raced; his face turned red as his eyes flew to Xu Yang whose eyes bore into his soul. He quickly drew his hand from Xu Xuan, pushing himself farther away from him; it made Xu Xuan stir, and adjusted his head. Chi Cheng’s eyes fell back on Xu Yang who then walked away, visibly annoyed. Gao Ming ran after him.

Mr. Shen pulled him up, brushing some hair strands from his face.

“Ignore him.”

“I can do that, but can you stop doing stuff like this?” Chi Cheng said, gesturing at the hall with his hands.

“I don’t want you to starve to death,” Mr. Shen whispered, his hand still in Chi Cheng’s hair.

Chi Cheng held his face in his palms, frustrated; he pushed Mr. Shen’s hand away from his hair and stormed away.

Breakfast was awkward, but everyone had to pretend it wasn’t. Later in the morning, they all headed to the boutique. Liang Wei did most of the shopping while Xu Xuan tagged along; the rest just scrolled through their phones.

“Mr. Shen? This’ll look good on you, try it on,” Liang Wei said with a bit of excitement, approaching Mr. Shen.

Chi Cheng looked up at him, eyes moving past him to Xu Xuan, then to Xu Yang being dragged by Gao Ming to buy some clothes. Chi Cheng, though unwilling, trailed towards Xu Xuan, making sure there was enough gap while Liang Wei successfully dragged Mr. Shen to the dressing room to try the things he picked. After what seemed like forever, they came out without trying on even a shirt.

“Just take anything you think is going to look good on me,we can try them on when your legs are wrapped around my neck and your eyes white from shivering .” Mr Shen whispered enough, making Liang Wei step away immediately squeezing his face. .

“Where’s Chi Cheng?” Mr. Shen asked, looking around.

“Hmm, there,” Gao Ming motioned with his head.

When Mr. Shen approached him, he was holding a pretty white hoodie but didn’t look like he was planning on buying it.

“That’s barely close to your size,who’s it for?” Mr. Shen’s voice sliced through. When Chi Cheng looked up, he didn’t say anything; he stared at Mr. Shen. After what seemed like an hour of silence, Mr. Shen’s hand ran through his hair.

“You’re not planning on giving it to him, are you?..you’re going to admire it and keep it back! .

Silence.

After standing quiet for ever,Chi Cheng pushed the hoodie into Mr. Shen’s hand, swallowing hard. Mr. Shen’s hand ran through his hair again; he stole a glance at Liang Wei, then back to Chi Cheng.

“I’m so tired of you,” he whispered, walking off.

“Honey, won’t this look good on your best friend?..Chi Cheng picked it ” Mr. Shen whispered into Liang Wei’s ear.

Liang Wei stepped back to look at what he was holding; his eyes lit up.

“We have great taste,” he said cutely, making Mr. Shen grin.

He grabbed the hoodie and dashed towards Xu Xuan. Mr. Shen stole a glance towards Chi Cheng; a little smile played around his lips.

“Xu Xuan, try this. It’s your size.”

“Wowww, it’s…it’s so pretty ,” Xu Xuan said, turning the hoodie around.

“Come, come,” he said, keeping the shirt he was holding and dragged Liang Wei towards the changing room. Liang Wei glanced towards Mr Shen and Mr Shen wink at him as if trying to say “good job “

As soon as Liang Wei and Xu Xuan disappeared into the changing room, Su Yue walked in with her best friend Wang Xinyi. Her eyes darted to Chi Cheng and Mr. Shen ,talking and she smirked a little, turning back as if she didn’t just look in their direction.

“Wait! That’s Su Yue, right?” Gao Ming asked his boyfriend.

Xu Yang looked over from the shirt he had in hand. “Who’s Su Yue?” Xu Yang asked, confused, making Gao Ming look at him like, seriously?

“The only thing you focus on is work! Babe, you have to quit your job. Believe me, Yuxuan is taking the world from your life!.. look at her face,isn’t she the one you saw Xuan has a crush on?

Xu Yang rolled his eyes and focused on his shirt after taking a look at who he’s pointing at.

“I’m not the one with a crush on her,why should I remember her name?

“Babe,that girl is always on TV, if you are not too engrossed in Yuxuan’s company,you’ll probably remember her name especially because Xuan has a crush on her for so long.

“Can you stop saying his name so much before you get me into trouble?” Xu Yan hissed and walked away

“You know her?” Mr. Shen asked Chi Cheng, whose eyes remained focused on Su Yue. He shook his head, eyes still following Su Yue picking a dress and laughing, obviously at something her friend said. As if they knew what they were coming for, they both picked similar dresses and handed them to an attendant.

“We’ll take these,” Su Yue said, still seriously engaged in a conversation with her friend. After their dresses were handed over, they elegantly walked towards the entrance. Just then, Liang Wei and Xu Xuan walked out of the changing room. Chi Cheng instinctively approached them, making Mr. Shen look at him suspiciously, especially when he stood at the entrance as if trying to hide something.

“It’s just perfect,” Liang Wei said, looking at Xu Xuan.

“Of course, the size can’t be mistaken,” Mr. Shen replied, leaning against the wall with a smirk.

“This shopping is taking forever. Hey Liang Wei, are you buying everything?” Gao Ming’s voice rang from the entrance. Liang Wei rolled his eyes, handing some things to an attendant before walking out of the changing hall.

“If I buy everything, will you still be able to pay?”

“Yoo, are you trying to bully me?”

“Yuxuan, your boyfriend is trying to bully me!”

“Baby,he can buy this whole place and the workers in it and still have more than enough to live the same life,” Mr. Shen whispered in Liang Wei’s ear loud enough for Gao Ming to hear.

“Ohhhh,” Liang Wei simply said, throwing his head up and walking to the attendant.

“Shen Yuxuan, don’t call my boyfriend for unnecessary things; it's the weekend,” Gao Ming warned as they got to the car park.

“Gao Ming, you know you can always tell Xu Yang to quit his job, right?” Mr. Shen asked, getting inside the car without waiting for his reply.

“Mr. Shen, should we grab something to eat before going?” Liang Wei asked, handing some things to Xu Xuan.

“We can just eat when we get back; it’s already getting late,” Mr. Shen replied, looking very stressed out.

“But...”

“Baby, please. Unless you plan to send these things tomorrow,” Mr. Shen interrupted.

“Okay, fine. Then should we drop Xu Xuan on campus to get his bags?”

“We can still do that tomorrow.”

“But Mr. Shen! Tomorrow is Sunday and Xu Xuan isn’t with his Student ID; he can’t get in since it’s summer break.”

“Liang Wei, it’s really getting late. I can just take a taxi,” Xu Xuan said.

“No, that won’t do. Gao Ming and Xu...”

Mr. Shen stopped mid-sentence, eyes darting away from Xu Yang back to Liang Wei, whose eyes were tightly shut as if to say oh my goodness.

“I... I mean, Chi Cheng should drive you to campus instead. That way he can still drive you back to the apartment safely, so Liang Wei won’t be worried,” Mr. Shen explained awkwardly.

“Hmm.” Liang Wei cleared his throat.

“It’s settled then,” he said, handing his apartment keys to Xu Xuan, whose face had visibly changed from the excited one to annoyance. He quietly took the keys, ignoring Liang Wei’s hug hand gesture, and got into Chi Cheng’s car.

“Let’s go,” Xu Yang’s voice followed, closing the car door. Gao Ming glanced at Mr. Shen, giving him a wink to not worry about it, then waved off Chi Cheng, got inside his car, and drove off.