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Lin Qin stood there, idling for a while, until Xü Beijin couldn’t take it anymore and flips the board allowing entrance to the reception up, and tells him, “come and take a seat inside.”
Lin Qin’s eyes seem to sparkle as he hurriedly walks in and sits right next to Xü Beijin.
‘He’s always said he likes Xü Beijin, but doesn’t act at all like he does, now, does he?’ Xü Beijin thinks, glancing at him. Does he really even like him?
Lin Qin seems confused by the gaze, and asks, “why are you looking at me like that?”
Xü Beijin answers quite frankly, “I can’t feel how you like me.”
Lin Qin tilts his head to ask, “why don’t you feel that?” He seems surprised, “even after everything?”
Xü Beijin “…”
Feeling speechless, he asks, “do you think I’m a mind-reader?”
Lin Qin goes ‘oh,’ and then starts thinking hard about what he could do to make Xü Beijin feel his like.
Xü Beijin puts his arm straight up on the desk, and props his head on it, looking at Lin Qin with a subtle smile. This dum-dum of a little apple… sure is interesting.
Lin Qin thinks for a while and then speaks up, “I read a novel before?”
“Mmhm?”
“In the book, there was a couple. One of them would always tell the other when they wake up in the morning, ‘I love you.'”
Xü Beijin says, “too cheesy.”
Lin Qin complains, though, “you don’t even fall asleep, so how am I even supposed to say ‘I love you’ when you wake up?”
It takes Xü Beijin a second to process Lin Qin’s amazing logic. Almost flabbergasted, he says, “so, to prove that you do like me romantically, I should go to sleep? Lin Qin, I’d almost say you’re doing that on purpose…”
“No,” Lin Qin suddenly gets all serious, and says, “I really wish you can go to sleep, and it is also true that I like you.”
XĂź Beijin falls silent.
Lin Qin’s crispy clear, and especially piercing eyes are looking right at Xü Beijin. He then says, gentler and more serious than ever, “I love you, Xü Beijin, that’s the truth. You cannot deny my feelings.”
Xü Beijin simply blanks out there for a pretty long time before he forces a smile and says, “alright, fine… I know you love me already…”
Lin Qin asks, “you’re not trying to run away again, right?”
“… What do you mean ‘again’?”
“You always change the topic on this.”
“… It’s supposed to be ‘you’ liking ‘me,’ so now why is it my thing again?”
“Didn’t you say that the object is ‘you,’ which also makes you a part of it?”
“But you also said that I don’t need to feel troubled by this?”
“I just want you to give serious consideration to my feelings,” Lin Qin’s eyes widen a little as he says, “and if you still feel troubled, then…”
“Then what?”
“Then just put it on hold for a bit,” Lin Qin gestures, “for a very tiny bit.”
Xü Beijin “…”
He swears he’s frustrated enough to chase Lin Qin right out.
Seemingly picking up on something, the very sharp and witty Lin Qin says, “you were the one to invite me to sit here.”
Xü Beijin narrows his eyes looking at Lin Qin, who adds, “you’ve let me into your world, so you can’t chase me away after that; just like how you barged into my world, and you can’t just expect me to sit there and do nothing.”
XĂź Beijin goes quiet.
Huh, that doesn’t make sense. Since when did Lin Qin learn speechcraft like that?
… It was basically a flirt; so the little apple could also actually say something like that, given time?
XĂź Beijin is amazed, frankly.
Maybe, he shouldn’t have let Lin Qin have full access to those weird novels.
The meaning carried through Xü Beijin’s gaze also makes Lin Qin ask in return, slightly gruntled, “oi, what is that shocked expression supposed to mean?”
“… Who in the world would call the person they love ‘oi’?”
Lin Qin is stupefied for a moment, before asking, “darling?”
“… No thanks, my name is ‘oi.'”
Lin Qin “…”
He’s miffed, as he thinks he’s being made fun of here.
… But never mind, he thinks, since he knows Xü Beijin, and the more agitated and emotional he becomes, the more doubtful and unsure of himself he must be inside.
Tilting his head, Lin Qin observes the quiet Xü Beijin closely, wondering if it really is true Xü Beijin doesn’t know he, Lin Qin, likes him?
… No way. Xü Beijin must know that well.
Lin Qin believes that, when it comes to emotions, Xü Beijin must be far more perceptive than he is. Lin Qin’s world is a blank, but clearly, it’s the opposite for Xü Beijin, who still remembers his days on Earth, and has definitely heard enough stories even if he hasn’t experienced any.
Yet for some reason, it is XĂź Beijin who would dodge the topic and try to avoid talking about it altogether.
What’s wrong with him calling him ‘darling’ anyway?
Xü Beijin would ask ‘do us friends need to be so cheesy’ and resolve Lin Qin’s straightforward attack altogether. If he doesn’t plan to even accept Lin Qin’s emotions, then his personality means he should have responded frankly to that effect.
But he hasn’t. Instead, he relies on his instincts to dodge and escape.
Because he must be unsure. Lin Qin must have managed to get at some part of his emotional heartstrings. That is why he acts like so. He is hesitating. He is wondering. He cannot find an appropriate countermeasure to resolve this.
The more unsure XĂź Beijin becomes, the more certain Lin Qin becomes in return.
Lin Qin thinks that, something like love, would be most effective when one is straightforward and unwavering, right?
And he happens to be one such person.
He doesn’t want to leave Xü Beijin. He wants to be by this man’s side forever. If that is not love, then what could he use to explain this burning, fiery emotion he has in his chest?
Sometimes, he would really wish XĂź Beijin could feel what he is feeling.
It is burning, gnawing, titillating… The motions, the thoughts; the obsession, when Lin Qin realised the weight of the word ‘to like,’ has tied him firmly to this single route.
There is no way to back out of this anymore.
Lin Qin has always had his way on the bottom floor, with his physical prowess meaning he can always do whatever he wants to in the Tower. It is only his disinterest in doing so that has stopped him from doing that, so in a sense, he is actually proactively stopping himself.
His deeply emotional gaze is pointed right at XĂź Beijin. It seems like it would not move away even if the Heavens shall fall.
In the silence, he simply thinks, this is the person he likes. He is… his.
He opens his mouth to smile.
Oh yes, he will hold the ray of light——in his own hands.
What he wants done, will always be done. There has never been an exception.
So many people have forgotten, and even XĂź Beijin himself has largely overlooked how, while Lin Qin has largely kept his temper in check recently, but in the beginning, Lin Qin was named the crownless King of the bottom floor, because he was basically a mad dog.
While he seems to have been domesticated now, but his actual violent nature, is still etched right into his very soul.