Sun Fang spammed Deng Xi with pictures of the new place. Shocking no-one, offering money above the asking price got him the property with no fuss, and it would ready for them to move in less then a month. Money made everything smoother.
Deng Xi’s first text back was a simple wait you’re moving and was followed by a long string of question marks. Sun Fang sent another ten pictures of the house and the view and the lush green garden. Before Deng Xi could even respond, Sun Fang sent a video of a walkthrough of the house. The house was gorgeous. Sun Fang had made an amazing choice.
Deng Xi called him two seconds later. ”You’re seriously moving?” Deng Xi snapped as soon as Sun Fang answered the phone. It was a video call, so Sun Fang saw Deng Xi’s feral eyes.
”Yep,” popped Sun Fang.
”You didn’t even tell me you were considering it!” His cousin pressed a hand over his eyes and sighed deeply, sounding so exasperated that Sun Fang couldn’t help but giggle a little. He raised a hand to cover it, but his cousin realized anyway and gave him the stink eye. Sighing again, Deng Xi lowered his voice as he asked, ”Is this because of Mianmian and us?”
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.
”No,” Sun Fang said, smiling. He tilted his head back, inhaling a slow, deep breath. He allowed it to hold shape in his lungs for a moment before he let it out, the sensation of his chest moving keeping his attention. He glanced at Deng Xi over the tip of his nose and added, ”We went there on vacation and Ivy fell in love with the ocean. So now we’re moving seaside. And there are no seas on Guillotine, so…” he shrugged.
Deng Xi slowly bobbed his head. But he frowned, his eyebrows furrowing over his straight nose. ”It’s really not because of Mianmian?”
”Really not,” Sun Fang clearly annunciated. He grinned at his cousin’s annoyed glance. After a moment of silence, Sun Fang took the leap, licking his lips and fingers threading together, to say, ”I still haven’t properly talked to Mianmian. How’s he doing? Does he… know that you know?”
”He’s doing well, I think,” Deng Xi was silent a second, then said, ”I don’t know how well he’s adapting to the parenthood thing. He doesn’t… hmm, I don’t think he ever wanted to have a child? And he loves Casey!” Deng Xi glanced at Sun Fang, then lowered his gaze again, ”But he doesn’t really… well, we’re talking things through. And yes, he does know that I know about your history.”
Sun Fang bit his bottom lip. He heard the sound of the door opening and looked to the right; Ivy was coming inside with a glass of sparkling, clear liquid. He crossed the room in three simple strides, stopping beside Sun Fang. ”A drink, Fang’er?”
Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Deng Xi furiously glancing between them, his eyes wide with curiosity. Sun Fang grinned up at Ivy, holding out his hand and making a gimme motion. Ivy patiently put the drink in his hand, and Sun Fang instantly started sucking at the straw, the coldness spreading throughout his chest as he quickly swallowed some cooling water.
”Do you like the ocean, Ivy?” Deng Xi asked, and Sun Fang glanced at his cousin. Deng Xi’s head tilted to the side, and he was staring right at Ivy. Sun Fang’s cheeks popped as he furiously swallowed some more water.
”Yes,” Ivy answered, his voice cold and impersonal. In truth, Ivy and Deng Xi had never spent much time together—Sun Fang didn’t really get to just hang out with his cousin until he reached adulthood and gained a greater level of freedom. Ivy and Deng Xi had certainly never been alone together, or had proper conversations. Sun Fang surreptitiously rose an eyebrow and leaned back in his seat, trying to reduce his sense of presence.
Deng Xi smiled at Ivy. He asked, ”So you’re excited to be moving to Firelight?” Scooted forward somewhat on his chair. He was still looking right at Ivy and Sun Fang couldn’t fault him for it. When Ivy started thinking about the ocean nowadays, it was startlingly visible. Ivy lit up like a firework—Sun Fang had never seen anything so amazing in his life.
”I am,” confirmed Ivy, and it was nice to hear it say it someone else. Sun Fang had kind of sprung it on Ivy, after all.
Everything was going so very fast, now.
Deng Xi grinned, and it was the kind of soft, supremely look that made him appear softer. Sun Fang looked down at his glass when no more water entered him, no matter how much he sucked. Frowning, he saw the bottom of the empty glass. He continued to keep the straw in his mouth, absentmindedly chewing on it, as he listened to his cousin say, ”Then I hope you have fun there. You can probably do lots of exploration of the sea there, right? They should have specialists there that can take you diving or something.”
Ivy’s smile was so beautiful, so fucking joyful, that Sun Fang accidentally bit down too harshly on his straw. Luckily, it was just plastic, or he could have lost a tooth. Grimacing a little at the mere thought, he glanced back at his cousin and Ivy. They didn’t appear to have noticed Sun Fang’s temporary setback, good. Breathing out softly, he eyed Deng Xi’s expression—he looked just as floored by Ivy’s smile as Sun Fang felt.
That was only fair. Ivy’s smile was fucking mesmerizing.
”I will see the life below the ocean,” Ivy said, sounding proud. Sun Fang bit down on his own smile, nodding when Deng Xi glanced at him. Ivy really would. They’d already started looking for places that could take it diving.
”Send me pictures,” Deng Xi said to Ivy, and Ivy’s answering nod was nothing less than absolute confirmation that Sun Fang was doing the right thing. Sure, it was fast. But it was the right thing for them right now.
Thanks for the chapteeeer~