Our Sweet DaysChapter 38

About 2 hours later, the movie was over. The after-credits rolled across the screen as the lights slowly brightened (so as to not shock their eyes, the room had been really dark while they watched the movie). 

Sun Fang stretched out, sighing as he moved and sitting up straight. He’d kind slumped into a human-shaped lump on the couch while watching the movie, his focus eventually successfully captured by it. Mo Cheng stretched out as well, his eyes bright and mouth smiling as he stood from the couch. 1S25v

”That was fun,” Mo Cheng said, ”Thank you for watching with me.”

”You don’t need to thank me for that,” Sun Fang said, standing as well and beginning to pick up his glass and the bowl of chips they’d been eating out of. Mo Cheng who saw what he was doing picked up his own glass, and the napkins they’d used.

Please visit chrysanthemumgarden (dot) com

Mo Cheng said, ”I don’t think you hated the movie, but it’s not something that you really felt like seeing, I think.”

Glancing at Mo Cheng as they walked toward the kitchen. ”I liked it just fine,” said Sun Fang, pouting a little and speeding up. He did like the movie. It was a funny movie that he’d seen before and he’d liked it then too, it was just… not really something he was in the mood for right now. He was still feeling a little melancholy from Mianmian and a romp through spacetime filled with misunderstandings was fun but—well, maybe he just needed to watch a movie that’d make him cry. HTNUxW

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Something angsty, so he could release this pent-up stress he had and get rid of the bittersweet feeling in the pit of his stomach once and for all. ”The movie was fine,” Sun Fang repeated, stepping into the kitchen.

Ivy wasn’t there anymore, so he simply placed the dishes on the kitchen table. Mo Cheng followed his lead, humming as he went; he had a considering expression on his face that Sun Fang wasn’t sure if he liked. It didn’t seem like a good thing for him. Finally, Mo Cheng said, ”You asked me here to take me to the pool, right? Should we get going before it’s too late?”

”Oh, right,” Sun Fang straightened up, his face brightening. ”No, we can take our time. We’re not going anywhere, I have a pool of my own now.”

Mo Cheng blinked. ”You’re not talking about the pool in the apartment complex? ’Cuz I read about that and it doesn’t seem to count as strictly yours.”

”Well, I mean, I paid for that pool to be renovated a couple of years ago and in exchange I do technically own it a little bit. Enough that even if I move from here I’ll still be able to use it whenever I want. But, no, this is another thing,” Sun Fang grabbed Mo Cheng’s hand and started pulling him in the direction of the balcony. 

Mo Cheng hummed, ”So, you own two pools now?”

”Yes, I suppose so,” Sun Fang agreed.

Ivy was waiting by the balcony door, opening it when they approaching. It bowed at them as they passed and Sun Fang nodded at it, smiling with gratitude. Mo Cheng, too, nodded in greeting.  XQCk7I

Evening was beginning to fall, and the bottom half of the was pink and purple, even orange in places, too. Plenty of clouds littered the sky, the clouds themselves seeming colored by the setting sunlight. Those same colors danced across the balcony, the sparkling water in the pool reflecting them seamlessly. A second beach chair had been set up next to Sun Fang’s, a light parasol shadowing it. 

”Wow,” muttered Mo Cheng, letting go of Sun Fang’s hand and wandering over to the edge of the pool. He sat down on his knees and stretched out his hand, letting gently touch the water’s surface. Sun Fang sauntered over next to him and sat down as well, pulling up his skirt so he could shove his legs into the water.

”I know, right,” Sun Fang said, gazing out at the pool. It was even prettier with the sun setting, the light dancing over it. The evening air was pleasantly cool, as well, much more livable than the daytime temperature.

Mo Cheng cleared his throat and looked at Sun Fang, ”You did this yourself?” YjrQF9

”No, it was Ivy,” Sun Fang said. At Mo Cheng inquisitive look, he added, ”My AI butler. It was a surprise for me.”

”So you… didn’t even know? Your butler can do things like this without asking for permission? What if you hadn’t liked it?” Mo Cheng asked, his eyebrows furrowed. 

”Of course it can, it’s family. This is its home, too, you know. Ivy can do whatever it likes. If I hadn’t liked it, we would have just talked about what I didn’t like and fixed it, no big deal,” Sun Fang said. He really didn’t understand why Ivy wouldn’t be able to do something like this. It was its home, too? It lived here as well? It also needed to buy things for itself, etc? 

Ah… it was probably because it was an AI. Right. Ivy was one of the most advanced AIs in existence, especially its decision-making skills. It was the cream of the crop, so to speak. And naturally, it was ridiculously expensive. The common AIs that Mo Cheng would be more familiar with wouldn’t be as advanced, and thus not have as much freedom to make choices. Which made his reaction perfectly natural. IqFPT2

A shame. 

”We need to talk, Mo Cheng,” Sun Fang said, turning to look at the water again. It calmed him, this view. It was so pretty that he almost wanted to send a picture of it to a newspaper just to brag about it. Hell, he might just do it; no reason not to.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

”Okay,” Mo Cheng said, no hint of hesitance in his voice. Sun Fang took a deep breath and straightened his back. Talk. Talking was easy, all he had to was make sounds with his mouth. 

Easy. RQmp94