Starlight Descends - 47
First Love
A little before ten, the group at the next table had grown bored of cards, so Jiang Xun rounded everyone up for a game.
"Truth or Dare?" Yan Jiu twitched the corner of her mouth. "What are you, twelve?"
"It's my birthday. What I say goes. Nyeh." Jiang Xun pulled an obnoxious face, earning a roomful of eye rolls, but everyone obediently shuffled into a circle anyway.
As Jiang Changwan scooted over, he said, "Next time it's my birthday, I'm making you bark like a dog."
"Great idea." Jiang Xun asked a server for a fresh deck of cards, swiftly removed the jokers, and began shuffling. "I order you to do it right now."
Jiang Changwan: "..."
"Get lost."
"Wang Chen says you blocked him?" someone asked.
Seated beside Qi Yao, Yu Jiashu leaned back lazily and replied nonchalantly, "The sight of him annoyed me."
Qi Yao pressed her lips together. Her heart gave a single thump.
"..."
"Alright, alright." Jiang Xun swept his eyes over the group and spread the cards across the table. "Eight people. Two cards each. Matching suits take the punishment. Whoever has the highest unmatched cards gets to decide the punishment."
Qi Yao reached out and pulled two at random, while Yu Jiashu pressed his fingertips on the two at the very edge and slid them over.
He peeked at them.
Good, not a match.
Expressionlessly, he set them face down again.
"Who is it? Who got matching suits?" Jiang Xun revealed his cards: Queen of spades and king of diamonds. A ridiculously high combination. Clearly he was tonight's designated punisher.
Everyone knew nothing good ever came from that, so they checked their own cards and collectively sighed in relief.
"No one?" Jiang Changwan said. "And you, quit terrorizing people."
Across the dark reflective marble tabletop, a slender hand quietly appeared. Qi Yao pushed two cards forward and said in a small voice, "Me."
"..."
Yu Jiashu was silent for a moment.
Her luck really was terrible.
Fifty-two cards. First round. Infinite possible outcomes. And somehow she'd drawn two hearts.
Even Jiang Xun was thrown.
He'd already planned out punishments for everyone: make Yu Jiashu sing on the stage downstairs, make Jiang Changwan bark like a dog.
As for Yan Jiu, she had backup tonight, so he didn't dare mess with her. Even if Jiang Jinghan didn't come back later and Yan Jiu was on her own, he still wouldn't risk it, but he could at least have asked some fun questions.
But it had to be Qi Yao.
She looked sweet, innocent, and well-behaved. They weren't very familiar, and she was the girl his friend was pursuing.
Tricky.
Jiang Xun's brain spun at top speed, thinking maybe he should just let her off easy.
"So, Yao-mei. Truth or Dare?"
Jiang Changwan was watching with great interest when she suddenly felt a hand reach under the table and pull the cards from her grip.
"...!!!"
She fought down the urge to scream, and stared at Yu Jiashu with wide eyes.
Looking perfectly composed, he lowered his gaze slightly. Using the dim lighting and the edge of the table as cover, his long fingers moved swiftly before slipping cards back into her hand.
"Hold on."
Yu Jiashu sat up lazily and laid his cards on the table.
Two spades.
Jiang Changwan: "..."
Holy shit.
How did he manage that?
She looked down again. This time her heart nearly stopped.
"Well, well, well, you little bastard, playing hide-and-seek, are we?" Jiang Xun perked up and circled the group, checking everyone's cards. "Anybody else holding out on me?"
Jiang Changwan held her cards tight and said nothing.
Jiang Xun stopped beside her, clicking his tongue. "Let me see. Or I'll tell your brother you're cheating."
"So what if I am? I'm not scared of him."
"Really?" Jiang Xun said. "Because I think he'd be interested in hearing about the guy I saw you with at Taikoo Li the other day."
The familiar whistles and cheers immediately erupted. Yan Jiu leaned back and raised an interested eyebrow.
Jiang Changwan: "..."
She cursed Yu Jiashu a hundred times in her head, shot him a murderous glare, and slammed her cards onto the table.
"There. Happy now?"
After Yu Jiashu had swapped one of her cards for a spade, she was now holding two diamonds.
Just her luck.
"Perfect. You three." Jiang Xun looked between them with barely contained delight. He started with the easiest target and made Jiang Changwan bark.
"...I haven't even chosen Truth or Dare! What if I wanted Truth?"
Jiang Xun scoffed. "Truth would just be you truthfully barking. Hurry up. You got lucky, you're not the main event. Nobody's that invested in you."
"..."
Petty bastard. Men were all terrible.
After cursing him internally a few more times, Jiang Changwan gave two half-hearted woofs and called it done.
Then came the "main event." Jiang Xun couldn't stop clicking his tongue as he paced back and forth in front of the two of them.
The whole room was in full gossip mode. Yan Jiu wore a small smile, elbows on the table, chin propped in her hands, watching the show. Above it all and out of the line of fire, Jiang Changwan started cracking sunflower seeds.
"You two. Truth or Dare?" Jiang Xun grinned wickedly.
Yu Jiashu cut a cold glance at him, leaned back in his seat and tapped his fingertips twice on the table, turning toward Qi Yao.
‘Her choice.’
"Ooooh."
"Look at him, already unconditionally following orders."
"Oh my God, I'm dying. This is too sweet."
The two drunken men across the table put on exaggerated performances until Yu Jiashu glanced over and they instantly shut up.
Qi Yao was still confused about how she'd gone from the sole loser to one of three.
"Does the punishment have to be the same for all three of us?" she asked. She vaguely remembered playing something similar while waiting for night shoots on set.
"Bingo."
Jiang Xun snapped his fingers. He hadn't expected someone who looked this well-behaved to actually know the game.
"Then Truth," Qi Yao said.
"Great." Jiang Xun was fully committed to stirring up trouble tonight. He turned and had a server bring over two slips of paper. "Same school, right? Everyone knows everyone, overlapping social circles."
He handed them each a sheet.
"Write down who your first love was."
The cheering instantly doubled.
A female celebrity. A girl that gorgeous. If her first love turned out to be someone from their circle, it would be absolutely explosive.
And then there was Yu Jiashu.
As far as anyone knew, he'd never dated. Plenty of girls had confessed to him over the years, but nobody knew whether he'd ever liked any of them back.
"That's evil," the guy in black-rimmed glasses commented. "They're on the verge of getting together, and you pull this. This is how people end up fighting."
The man in blue beside him said, "Isn't Wang Chen always bragging Yao-mei gave him a love letter in high school? Wanna bet?"
Black-rimmed Glasses snorted. "No bet. Nobody with functioning eyesight would choose him."
The man in blue considered it. "Fair point."
Then both settled back to watch.
A minute later, Jiang Xun swaggered over and collected the papers. He even let out an obnoxious little "oh ho."
Scanning the first slip, he froze for one second, then took another look to make sure.
"..."
Everyone watched as the smile slowly disappeared from his face.
He stared at the papers several more times as though he'd forgotten how to read.
"What happened?" Blue Shirt asked.
Black-Rimmed Glasses guessed, "Did they write the same person?"
Jiang Xun ignored them.
After a long silence, he looked up at the two people in front of him.
"Swear to me." He flipped the papers facedown, expression strange. "That this is true."
Qi Yao blinked in confusion but obediently answered. "I swear."
Yu Jiashu didn't bother speaking.
With one arm draped over the back of her chair, he simply glanced at Jiang Xun, his face clearly asking: Do you really think you're even worth lying to?
"...Fuck."
After another long pause, Jiang Xun stuffed both papers into his pocket. "Next round!"
"What?!" Jiang Changwan protested. "You're not telling us? That's unfair."
"You don't want to know. Especially you." Jiang Xun glanced at her, his expression complicated and slightly irritated, like he was constipated.
More than anything, it looked like he'd expected juicy drama and ended up choking on a mouthful of dog food instead.
No matter how much everyone tried to pry, Jiang Xun refused to reveal a thing.
Several more rounds followed. Some people answered embarrassing questions. Others were forced to flirt with strangers downstairs. A few got grilled about their love lives.
Nothing too dramatic happened after that, and the mood stayed relaxed.
The deck sat in the center of the table, slightly out of Qi Yao's reach.
Getting up every round was annoying, so whenever Yu Jiashu drew cards for himself, he grabbed two for her as well.
Somehow, miraculously, Qi Yao never got picked again.
Yu Jiashu, on the other hand, answered two harmless Truth questions and somehow got tricked into downing two more bottles of alcohol.
Qi Yao didn't know much about alcohol. The labels weren't in English, and the lighting was too dim to make out the alcohol percentage.
She was a little worried, but he seemed perfectly unbothered, and his expression and movements were both normal, so she didn't say anything.
After staying until the game wound down, Yu Jiashu pulled out his phone to check the time, the screen illuminated his features.
Almost eleven.
He pushed his cards into the middle. "I'm done."
"Already gave you more than enough face." Ignoring Jiang Xun's protests and calls, Yu Jiashu stood and grabbed his jacket.
He looked down at Qi Yao, tilted his head a fraction, and said, in that careless way of his, "Let's go home."
Qi Yao froze for two seconds before responding with an "Oh."
She gathered her things and followed him out.
The scent of alcohol on him was noticeably stronger than before. As they headed downstairs, she asked quietly, "Are you drunk?"
He'd had two whole bottles, and the proof clearly hadn't been low.
"I'm okay," Yu Jiashu answered.
But his head was admittedly spinning a little.
Jiang Xun was currently in one of those endless break-up-and-make-up cycles with his first-love girlfriend and couldn't stand seeing anyone else happy.
As a veteran card player, others might not have caught the card switch, but Jiang Xun absolutely did. He hadn't exposed it, but he'd taken his dog-food resentment and poured two bottles straight into Yu Jiashu.
By the time they reached the ground floor and stepped outside, the cold wind had cleared his head somewhat.
Qi Yao called Lizi to bring the car around. While waiting, she spotted a familiar figure.
An equally slender, fragile silhouette, stood against the cold wind. Except there was a man beside her, arm around her waist, their posture unmistakably intimate.
But Yan Jiu didn't seem particularly willing, she appeared to be pushing him away.
After hesitating for two seconds, Qi Yao started toward them.
She'd only taken two steps when Yu Jiashu followed her gaze, and, with zero expression, reached out and pulled her back by the collar of her coat.
"Hey..."
Qi Yao was caught off guard and stumbled backward into him. Yu Jiashu slid his arm down, wrapped it around her waist, and steered her toward the car.
"Little couple heading home. What're you butting in for?" he said lazily.
"...How was I supposed to know?" Qi Yao frowned. She was being carried along purely by momentum now, practically tucked into the crook of his arm. She struggled lightly. "If I see some strange guy holding a girl who's clearly trying to get away, of course I'm going to worry."
A two-second silence followed her words.
As if suddenly realizing something, her movements stopped.
Yu Jiashu raised an eyebrow.
A couple.
The girl struggling.
"..."
Weren't they basically doing the same thing right now?
"Maybe they're just flirting," Yu Jiashu said.
Qi Yao: "..."
Flirting. Right.
Her ears burned again. She stopped struggling, and quietly let him guide her to the car.
There were people in the car. Although Lizi and Xiao Wang kept their eyes strictly forward, clearly determined not to look back even if the two of them started dancing in the backseat, neither Qi Yao nor Yu Jiashu said anything.
The alcohol had quite a strong aftereffect.
Halfway through the drive, Qi Yao glanced over. Yu Jiashu's eyes were half-closed, his head resting against the window frame.
The alcohol was burning through him now. A faint flush colored his pale neck. His jawline was taut and sharply defined. His Adam's apple shifted along the line of his throat.
Qi Yao looked away almost immediately.
She asked Lizi for the small blanket they kept in the car and carefully draped it over him without once looking directly at him.
As she withdrew her hand, she suddenly remembered the blanket Yu Jiashu had bought specifically for her. She still hadn't had a chance to use it.
The rest of the ride passed in silence.
When they reached the building, Yu Jiashu still didn't seem entirely sober. Qi Yao called his name twice without getting a response.
With Lizi's help, she half-supported him through the entrance, pressed the elevator button, and, standing inside, told Lizi it was late, go home, get back safe. Lizi nodded.
The elevator doors slowly slid shut.
In the small, sealed space, only the two of them remained inside.
She could see him through the spotless mirrored walls: tall and straight-backed, jaw slightly lifted, one arm looped across her waist. They were standing very close.
One of Qi Yao's arms was still around his waist. His torso was lean and solid, and even through his jacket, she could almost feel the tightly packed muscle beneath.
...His abs.
She knew exactly what his abs looked like.
Ridged and defined, not overly bulky, just right.
Qi Yao's breath caught.
Her fingers curled instinctively like it touched something burning. Trying to act natural, she quietly stepped back a little.
A soft, barely-there sensation grazed along the side of his waist. The man's eyelids flickered very slightly.
Qi Yao didn't notice.
She looked away and fixed her attention on the changing floor numbers, refusing to look at their reflection, which was pressed so intimately close.
From that angle, they looked exactly like a sweet couple.
But he'd said they weren't dating.
And...
Qi Yao lowered her eyes thoughtfully. That first love Jiang Xun had refused to reveal, he was probably just trying to spare them the embarrassment.
The elevator was silent, only their breathing filled the narrow space.
Time stretched endlessly. Every upward arrow on the display seemed to take forever.
At long last, the elevator doors finally opened.
The sound-activated lights clicked on, flooding the hallway with brightness. Qi Yao half-carried him to his front door.
After hesitating for two seconds, she reached for his hand.
He had beautiful hands. Long, well-defined knuckles, tendons and bones visible beneath the skin on the back.
Aside from a brief twitch when she first touched him, he let her hold it without resistance.
Carefully, she covered the back of his hand with her own and used his fingerprint to unlock the door.
...
Nothing happened.
Qi Yao frowned and tried again.
Still nothing.
She let go of his hand and tapped the screen herself, tried a few passcode combinations. No response at all. No beep of fingerprint recognition, no passcode error warning, not even a flicker of light on the panel. The lock was completely dead.
"..."
Looks like it's out of battery.
As if tonight needed another complication.
Qi Yao sighed. Her only hope now was that Yu Jiashu had brought his keys when he left. Otherwise, he'd have to spend the night at her place.
Lowering her gaze, she started searching for them. Coat pocket, hoodie pocket…
Nothing.
Furrowing delicate brows, Qi Yao leaned forward slightly.
With one hand still around his waist, her fingers searched across his clothes.
Through the fabric, they brushed against him now and then, soft and fleeting.
At some point, Yu Jiashu had lifted his eyes and straightened up.
The hallway was too quiet, and soon motion-sensitive light clicked off, plunging them into sudden darkness.
Qi Yao froze for a moment. She thought she heard Yu Jiashu call her name, but when she looked up, all she could make out was the silhouette of his jawline in the darkness, sharp and distinct.
...Had she imagined it?
She paused for two seconds, then lowered her head and continued searching.
Just as her fingers were about to reach something cold and metallic in his pocket, Yu Jiashu called her name again.
"Qi Shiyi."
The voice was extremely low, not even enough to trigger the lights, a heavy, breath-worn rasp, hoarse beyond words.
Qi Yao looked up. From this angle, she could see right up the line of his throat. His jaw was lifted, the line of it taut, Adam's apple pronounced, shifting along the long, elegant column of his neck.
"Who taught you to go around putting your hands in a man's pockets?"
Qi Yao went still for two seconds. Her palm, pressed against him through only that thin layer of fabric, suddenly felt scorched, a comprehension dawned on her.
She hurriedly tried to pull her hand back. Her slender fingers brushed clumsily against the inside of the pocket.
Yu Jiashu closed his eyes, and then, in a sudden motion, his hand closed around her fine white wrist.
Everything stilled.
Their breathing lingered in the darkness.
Her fingertips were still pressed against him. Heat rose through the bare skin where they touched.
Qi Yao heard him exhale, a heavy, ragged breath, and speak in a low voice.
"If you keep touching, I'm going to get hard.”
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