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Yanqing rides his bike home like always after a long day at school.
He yawns a little while watching the sunset at the road's end, with a tired expression. Usually, Yanqing's school hours have already ended, and he is on his way back to his comfort zone to take a nap or two.
Unfortunately, his class has a strict math teacher who requires every student who is unable to ace his test to take a rehab class. Math isn't exactly Yanqing's forte, even though he always tried his best and finished any homework that was given to him.
Perhaps it's truly his luck after all when he mistakenly ticks the wrong answer on that one question...
He sighs as the sleepiness creeps up from the back of his mind and takes a sharp turn at a crossroads.
"Ah... I just want to lay down on this road for a bit... Look chilly enough..."
Yanqing scans the peaceful street to relieve his boredom during a long ride. As he observes the neighborhood, he is taken aback by the scenery.
Colorful ribbons adorned every corner, and salespeople held up heart-shaped balloons with excited kids surrounding them. The local flower shop hung a sign that read: "Roses for Valentine's Day, buy now before they're gone!" and even convenience stores were advertising aggressively about a day that "lovers cannot miss."
"Well, apparently, Valentine's Day is going to be another ordinary day for good old me.", he thought to himself.
His train of thinking was abruptly stopped by a large growl that came from his stomach.
It's understandable, as Yanqing has skipped lunch to take a large nap, caused by his night owl habit.
He tried to stay past his sleep schedule, in a (vain) effort to review algebraic formulas.
Formulas suck, he'd rather study 5 periods of literature (Mr. Jing Yuan's class always makes Yanqing's days, though Yunli begs to differ) than torture himself with what?
A mind-numbing lesson that doesn't make any sense, even Yunli's sword-fighting teaching is clearer than this!
As he rides past a bakery, the delicious aroma of freshly baked goods beckons him like a siren. The golden croissants, fresh baguettes, and pain au chocolat displayed on the counter make Yanqing’s mouth water.
He checks his wallet and realizes he has enough money to buy at least one of their pastries.
His stomach rumbled again. Yanqing gave in to his hunger and decided to spend his savings to buy some food.
After parking his bike, he steps into the store.
The bell chimes softly as the door swings open, releasing a warm, sugary scent. The small bakery is filled with cinnamon rolls, waffles, muffins, chocolate cake, soufflés, and every other goodie you could think of.
He takes a deep inhale of the aroma to appreciate the cozy atmosphere and steps to the counter, where he is greeted by a baker with a beige apron standing behind the counter.
"Welcome to Birdie's Bakery, feel free to browse around!" The brown ponytailed girl welcomed him with a bright smile.
"What are the best-selling products here?"
The baker, Sushang, as written on her name tag, enthusiastically gives him some names:
"We have cupcakes, apple pies, chocolate cakes, croissants, if you don't like sweets, that's fine! We also have salty baked goods like sourdough, or some bacon sandwiches-"
"Maybe I should buy a strawberry shortcake... Hm... But that muffin looks so delicious too ...", Yanqing thought silently.
"Are you choosing for someone or yourself?", Sushang asks him.
Before Yanqing could reply, the baker quickly continued: "If you want to buy it for someone else, you should choose this mango and passion fruit mousse cake, or if you have a sweet tooth, you can choose the heart-shaped chocolate cake, these products are currently on sale for Valentine's Days, you could buy this for your loved one or yourself! Or this-"
An image of a dark-haired deskmate with a strong-headed attitude appears in Yanqing's mind.
"Wait, why am I thinking about her?"
Yanqing flushes and scoffs at himself for the mere thought of her. Their relationship has improved a lot from before, from enemies that degrade, mocking each other at every chance possible to a mutual rivalry with silent respect for each other. They could even call each other "friends" (at least Yanqing likes to think so).
Yunli has gotten softer around his presence these days and with friendship, and something pesky also bloomed inside of him along the way...
A counter shining with glitters, decorated with hearts catches Yanqing's view.
Yanqing shifts closer to it. On the surface, there are delicate boxes of chocolate, square or heart-shaped, their wrappers shimmering in the warm light with pink and gold. Nearby, pretty cacao and strawberry cakes sit in elegant boxes, some with roses icing or "I LOVE YOU" written on them.
"Maybe I should buy some sweets for Yunl-". He immediately stops that idea from growing.
"No no no. I can't do that. It will be so awkward. Me and Yunli aren't even lovers! Valentine's Day is for lovers and if I give her a gift it will insinuate something that I like her or something. Me? Like her? No way, not a chance, but Yunli likes sweets and I just want to express my thankfulness-"
Sushang coughs lightly.
"Hey young guy, do you need help with choosing? If you want to find a gift for a friend or special someone, I could offer some advice?"
Oh. Seems like he said that bunch out loud. It's either that or his emotion is too evident on his face. Or the baker could read mind. In the heat of the moment, Yanqing forgot that Valentine's Day isn't exclusively for lovers. Right.
That was dumb of him. A light bulb goes on in his brain. Yunli has been a big help to him with science subjects this recent months. Maybe he could cling to this and say it was a "thank you" gift for aiding him in study. Genius!
But what to buy?
"Do you have any casual Valentine's Day gifts for friends?"
"Do they have any specific preference?", offered Shushang.
"She liked candied fruit. And sweet stuff. Like as sweet as possible."
Shushang claps her hands with delight. "We have these delicious candied strawberry cupcakes! We also have the mango option if you like some more tropical flavor."
Yanqing's mind started to spin. "Cupcakes are a good choice, not too flashy but still look nice... The price is not bad either..."
"Can I get one of the strawberry kind, please? Oh, and this choux creme and this fruit Danish also."
"No problem!"
Sushang quickly grabs everything he needs and it in a bag.
"I will buy the choux creme for Dad and the Danish for me.", Yanqing thought about Jing Yuan and his adoration for sweets and grinned to himself.
Yanqing pulled out his wallet, but as he took out the money, his eyes widened as Shushang put his cupcake into a different box with a white color and a small, golden ribbon.
"This is for your special friend, you don't mind if I decorated it a bit? Don't worry, free of charge!"
Sushang smiles knowingly.
Ah, so she knows.
"Know what?", a voice asked him back. Yanqing really does not want to answer that right now.
Sushang's "Thank you for buying, good luck!" makes him blush a bit when he steps outside. The chilly wind hits him straight in the face, Yanqing sneezes and mutters "Bless you" to himself.
The watch on his hand indicates 5:15 PM. "There is still time if I speed up."
So he pedals like a madman, his head filled with worries and mortification. "What if she is not home? What if I met her grandpa instead oh god that would be so awkward. What if she thought I liked her or something? What if she thought I was a weirdo for doing this, what if she creeped out and distanced herself from me? This is a bad idea after all-"
Despite all of these negative thoughts, Yanqing still followed every road, turned every corner, and every alley leading to that familiar place, Yunli's house.
He is now standing in front of Yunli's door.
Yanqing fidgets. He peeked inside the peephole and saw her slippers.
"So she is home... I wondered if I should text her."
Yanqing opens his phone.
It's out of battery.
Panic, Yanqing checks the door for bells.
It's the traditional type and they don't have any.
"Maybe I should call her name as loud as possible", he thought to himself.
"Yun..."
The sound dies out as he realizes how embarrassing it is to shout a person's name in the middle of the road and front of their house.
"Yu-", he tries again and fails.
"Y-", Yanqing somehow got even quieter than before.
"Ugh... This is suffering."
Yanqing looked down at his gift, his ears reddening. Maybe he will take his chance when he meets her at school. With a defeated sigh, Yanqing got on his bike to go home.
"Yanqing?"
It's embarrassing how quickly Yanqing turns his head. He almost fell off his bike for a moment.
"Yunli?"
She glances at his uniform and teases him: "Why are you at my house so late? Rehab classes again?"
"Oh shut up, you know how Blade is, it's like he hates me or something..."
"Shush, don't be mean to him only because you can't remember some algebra, Yanqing.", he could feel her smile in that phrase.
He playfully fires back:
"Then what about you, Mistress Literature Is Dumb And Doesn't Help For The Future?"
"Hey! I'm only telling the truth, Baron I'd Rather Eat Jing Yuan's Cooking Than Do Math? Don't slander my image like that, A Qing...", Yunli pouts, then a grin displays on her face.
"I never said that Jing Yuan's cooking sucks! Don't go around and spewing such lies!", he crossed his arms.
"Yeah, well, your eyes said it whenever he made you lunch!"
Yanqing cracks a laugh at that.
"This is why I don't want to give her this box."
Yanqing thought.
"I don't want to lose this."
"Hey, Yanqing, what's that big box inside your basket?", Yunli points at the box with golden ribbon.
Damn it, Yanqing was trying to forget about that.
He chuckles nervously.
"Right, so, this a dessert that I bought from a... convenience store! It's on sale so I thought why not? Yeah... So... I-"
"Are you buying this for someone?"
Yunli's expression shifts, her gaze becoming subtly darker.
"Well... Yes...",
Yanqing hums, cracking his knuckles behind his back.
Yunli looks straight at Yanqing, then looks at the box again.
Then something clicks inside her head.
"Is it for me?"
He immediately averts his gaze and then profusely explains:
"Well it's technically for you, yes, um it has candied fruit in it, I thought if you like the tanghulu, you might like this too, and also this is a thank you gift for helping me with the math stuff yeah but also um... Yeah. Thank you for helping me so much this year. As a friend, of course."
An awkward pause followed, and then Yunli burst out laughing. Her laughter rang in Yanqing's ear like chimes and bells, echoing in his mind
as one of the most adoring sounds he had ever heard.
Blood flowed to Yanqing's head, his face was red, and his mouth was stuttering in confusion:
"W-What?"
Yunli's finger poked Yanqing's forehead. She laughed until tears came to her eyes.
"I didn't expect the best student in the class in literature, Teacher Jing Yuan's favorite student, to be this... this... dumb!"
Her hands pinches his cheeks lightly. Yunli's face heats up a bit, making her look shy. "Idiot. But thank you for the gift though. I appreciate it."
Yanqing, still not recovering from his shock, dumbfoundedly asks back:
"Wait, you do?"
She sticks her tongue out cheekily.
"Well duh. It's from you, after all."
And before Yanqing could even react, Yunli pressed her lips lightly on his hand.
"Well, maybe next time, I will give you an even better gift than this. It's a competition."
Her cheeks are dusted with pink, and her lips curved into a soft, blissful grin, glowing with affection. Black and golden eyes sparkle in the dim light of the afternoon, akin to the sunset at the end of the road that he saw earlier. It's shiny and mesmerizing.
Every thought inside Yanqing collectively melts like wax under the radiant, brilliant emotion. He couldn't even form a witty comeback or at least a "You bet!".
"Maybe this is what basking in the sunlight on full force feels like"
He just stands there, knee dropping to the ground, face buried in the palm of his hands, and face hot enough to boil a kettle.
Yunli seems to realize that too, the embarrassment and shame now coming back in full force once she realizes what she just did and said.
Her face was red too, they now both looked like two ripe tomatoes even with the chilly weather.
"Well! Thank you for giving me the sweets, I like it. You want to come in and... have some tea with those pastries of yours?", she offers, even though she could feel her cheeks heating up.
"Gladly.", Yanqing answers automatically.
Yunli lifts Yanqing up from the cold ground, they both ignore the electricity running through them when the tip of their fingers touches and go into her house with the desserts.
Well, maybe having rehab class is a type of luck, after all, Yanqing decided.