Liu Xingyu and Liu Xiaokai were somehow just as beautiful on camera as they were in real life. Xingyu especially was as unbearably charming as he’d been when Weiran first met him, but now Weiran could see a strange kind of emptiness in his eyes, and—deeper within his gaze—stranger—was a toiling, unending hatred. A disdain for everyone around him: for the host sitting to their right, her ankles crossed, smiling with her photocards in her lap; for the audience that sat in close quarters, laughing at the right moments and whispering at other moments; for the staff that moved on and off the stage and fixed Xiaokai and Xingyu’s hair without asking. For everyone but Xiaokai, who he watched often, his gaze flickering to something softer every time. And then Xiaokai, who was a little less charming on camera but still enormously alluring in some other way, beautiful and polite and perfect with his sharply intelligent phoenix eyes. Where Xingyu looked leisurely and relaxed and leaned back in his chair with an easy smile, Xiaokai was sitting up straight, his slender hands folded in his lap. He didn’t wear Xingyu’s naturally charming smile even though he could make smiles like that if he wanted, but when the host asked him questions he would curve the ends of his lips up in this little quarter of a smile that Weiran knew drove the crowd wild with the desire to see the rest of it—see what a full smile looked like on that carefully controlled face.

The host started with inane questions: how are you both doing today? What is it like to be back in the city, Xingyu? Did you miss your gege, Xiaokai? Which were all answered with half-truths: We’re both doing quite well, considering; It’s so nice to be back in the city. There’s so much to see that’s changed since I was last here. I’m glad to be able to speak my first language again (laughter); We didn’t get along very well when I was younger since we were always competing, but we’ve grown closer since he came back.

And then a little more relevant as the first break approached: the host leaned in with a smile and dangled the cue cards from one hand, already aware of the next question she was going to ask. “Everyone knows by now that Liu Xiaokai is named the city’s most eligible bachelor. Before we move to ask Liu Xiaokai for his opinions on this, we want to know your opinions first. Liu Xingyu, what do you think about this title? Do you think you’ll try to get it yourself now that you’re back?”