Starlight Descends - 5

Eye Corner

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Qi Yao: “…”

If this were a cartoon, crows would be cawing across the screen right now.

Qi Yao gave a dry laugh. She could totally post this on the Social Death Forum.

Of all the things to remember, why this?

Zhou Qi froze for another second, his gaze bouncing between the two people and staring at Yu Jiashu like he’d seen a ghost.

Then he shot Da Bai a look that clearly screamed: What the hell is he doing? Why is he talking to my goddess?

Da Bai looked equally horrified. His mouth formed a perfect O, his eyes darting everywhere: Beats me. Either he’s possessed or he’s into your goddess.

“Screw off.” Zhou Qi couldn’t help cursing under his breath.

Qi Yao, still frozen at the threshold, tightened her grip on the doorframe, stopping herself from stepping inside to retrieve the leash.

“Sorry, sorry, I wasn't talking to you,” Zhou Qi scrambled for a napkin, scrubbing the toothpaste foam from his lips. “I just moved in last night. They’re helping me settle in. I haven’t had time to clear the hallway yet."

He rubbed the back of his head, a little flustered. “It’s inconvenient to stand at the door. Do you want to come in and sit?”

“No, I’ll just take the dog and go.”

Qi Yao pressed her lips together, refusing instinctively. But Lai Fu, utterly shameless, had already propped his front paws on Da Bai’s thigh and was angling for a piece of meat. She sighed and stepped into the living room.

“I live right across the hall.” She gestured politely toward the opposite door. “If you need anything, just knock."

Zhou Qi: “…Mhm, mhm, mhm, mhm, mhm!”

The kid's ears went red from sheer delight. The corners of his mouth shot for the sky, impossible to suppress. He nodded like a bobblehead.

Yu Jiashu lifted his eyelids slightly in amusement. He pulled two bottles of water from the fridge, set them on the counter, and disappeared into his room.

“Uh, it’s a bit messy. I haven’t had time to tidy up. Please, sit,” Zhou Qi said nervously, frantically sweeping clothes and random stuff off the couch.

Qi Yao sat. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched that tall, straight figure retreat down the hallway and exhaled quietly.

“Hey, um, Yao-mei, you should come for dinner tonight!” Da Bai’s invitation boomed across the room. “We’re throwing this kid a housewarming party. More people, more fun. And hey, we’re neighbors now.”

Qi Yao opened her mouth to respond, but Zhou Qi was already shooting nervous glances at her, afraid of putting her on the spot. “You don’t have to. I mean, you probably have stuff to do.”

Da Bai rubbed his nose sheepishly. “…Oh. Right. Sorry.”

Qi Yao had never been good at refusing kindness. She hesitated. “It’s fine. Just dinner. We’re neighbors now, right?”

Da Bai clapped his hands, beaming. “Perfect! My wife chewed me out for not getting an autograph or photo yesterday. If I ask her to join us later, maybe she’ll let me off the hook for cleaning duty.”

“…”

Qi Yao was silent for a moment. She looked away and accepted the water Zhou Qi handed her.

A thin slice of lemon floated in the clear glass. She took a sip. Her gaze fell on the magazine resting on the coffee table.

"You bought this too?" Qi Yao asked, surprised.

It was old. Her very first cover shoot, from just after she’d debuted.

The girl on the glossy page was still young and unpolished. The makeup hadn’t tried to conceal the small mole at the corner of her eye. Looking at that face now gave her a surreal, distant feeling.

“Yeah.” Zhou Qi rubbed his nose shyly. “Back in high school, there was a newsstand on the way home. I just… bought it.”

Qi Yao ran the timeline in her head and almost laughed. “I shot this when you were still in high school?”

Zhou Qi nodded.

“And you call me Yao-mei?”

"I… isn’t that what everyone calls you?"

He scratched his head, his eyes landing everywhere except her face. He grabbed at the nearest available lifeline. “Everyone I know calls you that. Except for Bro.”

Then, afraid she wouldn’t know who his “bro” was, he tilted his chin toward the empty spot on the sofa, the spot Yu Jiashu had occupied moments ago.

“That guy,” Zhou Qi clarified.

Qi Yao was still for two seconds before asking very softly, “…Does he know me?”

“Well…” Zhou Qi looked a little uncomfortable.

“I used to think he didn’t. He’s really not into celebrity stuff. But now… he probably does.”

He spent way too long looking at your signature yesterday.

“I mean, you did call him…”

The pure-hearted young man’s tongue knotted, unable to bring himself to say the word. Instead, he made a vague gesture at his own nose, like he was wiping something, hoping the implication would carry.

“…”

Qi Yao kept her smile fixed in place. Inside, the little person in her head was screaming.

I was NOT calling him that?!

Zhou Qi continued. “Any man would probably never forget a woman who suddenly ran up and called him…that."

…

That what?

Qi Yao’s smile twitched. She set her glass down on the coffee table with a firm clink.

“Okay. That’s enough.”

Any more, and it’d be rude!

---

Study

It was one of those rare, perfect days in C City. A clear blue sky, the sun peeking out from behind a pillow-soft cloud, painting everything in pale gold.

Yu Jiashu stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, one hand braced on the frame, his body angled slightly forward. His hair fell loose across his forehead, the clean line of his jaw catching the light. Cool. Indolent. Watching the traffic flow far below.

The lock clicked. Da Bai squeezed in.

Yu Jiashu turned and leaned against the railing, one eyebrow raised in silent query.

"Man, that kid's face is so red I can't even look at him." Da Bai waved a hand, fishing a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. "I'm not gonna crash the fan meeting."

“Why did you hide in here too?” Da Bai asked.

Yu Jiashu tapped his fingers on the railing without answering.

He had the feeling that the girl was tense around him. She played it cool, but her shoulders were wired tight, and she never quite knew where to look.

“Want one?”

Da Bai extended the pack. Yu Jiashu tilted his head slightly away. “No.”

“Ha. Gotta hand it to you. You quit, you quit.” Da Bai sat at the desk and lit up his own cigarette. “Then again, you only ever had a couple when stressed. Back when Jingfan Tech first went public, you smoked more. You were never really addicted. Easy to kick."

Yu Jiashu made a noncommittal sound and pushed the window open for air, squinting at the clouds on the horizon.

Soft, thick, flushed with beautiful sunset light. For some reason, he thought of her eyes.

Peach-blossom eyes with upturned corners. Calm and quiet. Carrying a current beneath the stillness that was hard to name.

“Zhou Qi sure found a great place,” Da Bai exhaled a stream of smoke, content. “His goddess lives right across the hall. The kid’s eyebrows are practically flying off his face."

“He's lucky,” Yu Jiashu replied.

“Celebrities really are different. That presence...” Da Bai clicked his tongue. “My wife used to say they could wear a trash bag and still look good. I told her, ‘Find me a celebrity in a trash bag, then we’ll talk.’ Got a beating for that.”

“…”

Yu Jiashu let out a quiet laugh. “No wonder you don’t dare go home at night.”

Da Bai ignored the jab, still ruminating. “You think they’re born that beautiful? Like, you put them in a crowd and there’s just this… wall. They must’ve been pretty confident growing up, right?”

Yu Jiashu’s gaze held on the most luminous cloud. After a long moment, he said quietly, “Not necessarily.”

Da Bai said "oh," but something felt off. “How would you know? You don’t follow celebs.”

“Just a guess.” Yu Jiashu brushed him off. He glanced at his phone, then reached for his jacket. “I’m going to the office to check on progress.”

“Again? It’s already in production. Doesn’t need watching, does it?” Da Bai said in surprise.

“Meeting with R&D. Next-gen GPU roadmap.”

“One project just wrapped and you’re already in pre-production for the next.” Da Bai stared in disbelief, giving him a thumbs-up. “Model worker.”

“You coming back for dinner?”

“We’ll see,” Yu Jiashu answered flatly . He opened the door and took two steps out, then as if remembering something, he turned back.

“Wait a while before you come out.”

Then he left, the door clicking shut behind him.

Da Bai blinked, nodded automatically, and blew out a lungful of smoke before realization dawned on him.

…Why?

Frowning, he walked to the door, pulled it open a crack, and stuck his head out of the room.

Yu Jiashu was already gone. The two people in the living room were still talking.

Zhou Qi: “Actually, that Weibo hot comment you replied to last night…that was me.”

“Which one?”

“I said I signed up for ‘Men and Women Charge Forward’ but got rejected. They said I didn’t meet the criteria. So I was like, I do charge forward all the time. I see Yao-mei and I charge, I charge till the end of time, I charge till I pass out. So I went back and asked them. Turns out the problem wasn't the charging forward. It’s that I’m neither a man nor a woman. I’m just Yao-mei’s dog.”

“You replied with a question mark,” Zhou Qi added.

“…”

Silence.

The real dog sniffing around and the eavesdropper both went quiet.

Just then, a breeze drifted through the half-open study door, curling out a wisp of smoke. Da Bai watched Qi Yao’s profile as her nose wrinkled ever so slightly.

Her fingers, resting on her knee, curled inward. Just a flicker of discomfort, but she quickly suppressed it, remembering she was in someone else’s home.

The expression was so faint it might have been subconscious. You’d miss it if you weren’t watching closely.

The thirty-year-old married man was still reeling from the shock of today’s youth slang when another realization crept up on him. Something secret, something huge.

Da Bai closed the door with complicated feelings. Staring at the cigarette butt burning  down in his hand, the corner of his mouth twitched, his expression turning subtle.

Yu Jiashu hadn’t even looked. He just told him to wait before going out.

…Was he afraid the smoke would bother her?

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