Ten minutes stretched into an eternity, but when the door finally opened again, it really only had been ten minutes, and Xingyu stood up on instinct at the sound of it.

“Xingyu, you’re already here. Good.” Ba put his hand on Xiao-Xiao’s shoulder. “Take some medicine before that becomes a problem. You know Sun Yue worries.”

Xiao-Xiao, the back of his hand pressed to his mouth. “Yes, Fuqin.” He turned his head slightly, enough to hide his eyes from Ba, and widened them slightly. What did that mean? They widened a little more. Xingyu took a small step forward. His eyes relaxed. He wanted him to come closer? Xingyu walked up to them, bowed.

“What do you need medicine for, Xiao-Xiao?”

Now Xiao-Xiao’s eyes narrowed. “It’s not serious,” he said. “Just general nausea.”

“Nausea?” Xingyu had only come over here to go along with whatever plan Xiao-Xiao had up his sleeve, but now he was genuinely concerned. “What’s going on?”

Xiao-Xiao’s eyes narrowed further, and Xingyu finally understood something that Xiao-Xiao was trying to say without having to say it loud: That’s not the point of this. Drop it. “I’m just feeling under the weather. Fuqin.” He bowed. “I’ll get out of your way so you can have your meeting.”

“Do you have a meeting this evening?”

“No. My next meeting is on Monday.”

“Won’t it have been a week already by then?”

“Almost.”

“Neither you nor Sun Yue think that’s an issue?”

There was something almost like contempt in Xiao-Xiao’s eyes. He lifted his chin. “Do you want me to get on my knees and beg them for appointments?”

“No, not necessarily.”

“Then there is no issue.”

Ba turned, apparently done with the conversation without officially ending it, and started punching in his passcode.

“Fuqin.”

Ba twisted around again. From this angle, Xingyu could see the passcode, could see Ba’s finger hovering over the buttons, could see the dim light coming from the number pad.

“If you have an issue with the number and frequency of my appointments, that is something you should discuss with Muqin, not me.”

Ba was quiet for a moment. Xingyu, even as he knew there was no hostility in the way Ba was standing or looking at Xiao-Xiao, was feeling as if he should grab Xiao-Xiao and run before Ba lifted his hand. Then Ba said, “I understand.”

The fight drained from Xingyu at once.

The keypad had timed out from the last time he started putting in the code, so Ba punched it in again.

Each number, one by one.

And Xingyu saw it all.

“Enjoy your time together,” said Xiao-Xiao.

WEIRAN HAD NO idea what to do with himself.