“So, have you talked to Shen Wei?” Da Qing asked him the next day.

Yunlan hadn’t, and Da Qing offered to talk to Shen Wei himself if he didn’t want to do it.

Yunlan: "No no it’s... it’s fine, I’ll talk to him today."

Shen Wei had started eating at the cafeteria every day, so he planned to talk to him then.

He felt rather nervous, who knows why, but he tried to hide it saying he was too hungry to skip lunch, so he ate a little before gathering enough courage to stand up and walk towards him.

Shen Wei started getting up too, so he quickened his steps.

"Hello," he greeted him.

Shen Wei looked ready to leave but he stopped to gaze at him and smiled.

"Hello."

Yunlan scratched the back of his head and said, "Uh, I just... do you have a minute? I wanted to talk to you."

Shen Wei opened his mouth then closed it then opened it again.

"I..."

He adjusted his glasses then said without looking at him, "I really have to go now, excuse me," and he started walking away, but after a couple of steps he paused, hesitated, then turned around.

"But I’m free after school, we could... I mean, if you want to talk, we could meet then? Where we met the other day?"

Yunlan was a little taken aback by the turn of events, but he thought that the others wouldn’t really let him be until he talked to him, so he agreed.

Wei smiled then went on his way. Yunlan hesitated, the image of that smile lingering in his eyes, then walked back to his friends.

“You have a date with Shen Wei?”
Hong couldn’t really restrain herself.

Yunlan: "It’s not a date! You’re the one who wanted me to talk to him!"

Da Qing: "You date guys too?"

Jin: "Didn’t you go on a date two days ago? Was that also with Shen Wei?"

Yunlan: "No! and it’s not a date!" he exclaimed, then he stood up and left.

He felt reckless, it wasn’t a date but it was probably the first time that he met someone after school, alone without Hong, and not for a study project or something.

Was he supposed to wait for him at school? But he said to meet where they met the last time, and that could only be when he paid for his and his friends’ ice-creams, so he started walking towards the park.

When he got there, he didn’t see him anywhere so he took a seat. As reckless as he was, waiting wasn’t easy, and he wondered if it would be rude to eat something while waiting... after ten minutes of pondering if he should stay where he was or if he could get himself an ice-cream while waiting, he decided that something sweet would ease his spirit so he stood up and walked towards the ice-cream parlour.

"An ice-cream, please."

"Make it two," said a nice voice handing the money for both.

"Wait, I can let you pay again..."

"It’s my fault for making you wait, it looks like I always have to apologise to you."

They took their ice-creams and started walking around the park. Yunlan didn’t really know what to say, the other guys had done everything so far and he never thought of asking them what he should talk about with Shen Wei.

"So, you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes... yes I did."

...

"What about?"

"Uh.. I heard that your class’ tests were stolen."

"Oh, is that what you wanted to talk about?"

"..."

"Well, I heard your class’ tests were stolen too."

"Yeah, we’ll have to do the test again as well, I guess."

Wei shrugged. "We’ll have more time to study then."

"Yeah..." Yunlan said then he felt a bit nervous again and asked, "Do you... uh, do you know anything about it?"

Wei paused in his steps. "What do you mean?"

Yunlan turned to him, then he scratched the back of his head.
"Do you know who did it?"

Wei hesitated then said, "I’m afraid I don’t know anything."

Yunlan had a sudden thought, Is he lying to me? but then Wei smiled so he didn’t say anything, and they kept walking side by side.

"Are you angry that you’ll have to do the test again?"

"Actually, it didn’t go too well for me so... I may do better next time."

"Yunlan, a top student like you failing an exam? I don’t believe it."

He liked how his name sounded when Wei said it, and Yunlan realised that it wasn’t the first time he heard it. Suddenly he wanted to smile.

He smiled. Then he realised that he needed something more to answer to the third degree the others would inevitably subject him to, so he asked, "Do you have any suspects on who could have done it?"

There was a pause so small Yunlan wondered if he had just imagined it.

"How could I know, I’m just a student like everyone else, I have no idea..."

There was something in his voice and again Yunlan thought he IS lying to me and felt upset.

He stopped walking and looked him straight in the eyes.
"Are you lying to me?"

Wei lowered his eyes. "I..." but didn’t seem to find the words.

"I know you are, someone saw you," Yunlan bluffed.

Agitated, Wei could only murmur, "What? Who, that’s not possible..."

Yunlan stared at him. "I think I’d better go now."

"Go? No, wait, why..."

"I thought we could be friends, but you keep lying to me."

Wei’s face now looked miserable, and Zhao’s heart skipped a beat. He didn’t like that.

He kept walking away from him.

Wei hurried after him. "Wait, let me walk you home..."

"Why? we’re not even friends."

"But I want to be..."

Zhao kept walking.

"Alright, I took them. Please wait for me, let me walk you home."

Zhao stopped, waited for him then they walked again side by side.
"Why?" he simply asked.

"I..." Wei adjusted his glasses then continued, "I knew I had failed it and so I... I wanted another chance and..."

Every time he lied to Yunlan his voice became hesitant and his eyes twitched, as if he disliked the idea of lying to him, as if his whole being protested against the action.

Zhao noticed that and started walking faster leaving him behind.

"Ok, I’m sorry, I’ll tell you the truth, please..."

Again Yunlan waited for him and they walked at the same pace.
"I’m listening."

"I..." he cleared his voice, then kept going, "I knew that ‘someone’ wasn’t prepared for it, and I... I wanted to hel... help him..."

Had he known him better, Yunlan would have realised how those subtle words were so much more for Shen Wei, he felt like he had cut open his chest to reveal his heart for the other to see.

Yunlan didn’t know what to say; even if his face didn’t betray anything, inside he was all in turmoil. Is he talking about me? I wasn’t prepared... but how did he know? he thought and the sudden image of Shen Wei passing by the corridor while he was talking to Hong flashed before his mind’s eye. He wanted to help me?

"Why two classes, then? Was this... ‘someone’ in both classes?"

Wei gave him a sad smile. Yunlan felt his heart prickle and shivered. He didn’t like that.

"No, just one, but it might have looked more suspicious if only... if only his class’ tests disappeared; I wanted to be sure to not cause him trouble..."

"I see."

They walked in silence for a while. "You appear to be so cold and distant, but you’re actually very caring."

Wei wasn’t sure where they stood at this point and looked worriedly at him.

"So... you’re not still angry because I lied to you? I really didn’t want to involve my friend in this."

That same hesitation in his voice, Yunlan wondered if he realised how obvious he was.

"No, I’m not," he said simply; there was the hint of a smile while he said, "We can be friends if you like."

Wei’s smile grew wide in his enthusiasm. "Yes, I want you... uh, I mean, I want to be friends with you."

Shen Wei gave him a shy smile, lowering his eyes and averting his gaze trying to hide the fact that he was blushing.

Yunlan thought that the sincere smile suited his face much better. He liked that.

He suddenly felt a bit embarrassed and laughed at himself. "Would you... would you like to sit and eat with us tomorrow? We’re friends now, so I must introduce you to Hong and the others."

"Hong? Oh, yes, your girlfriend..."

"No!" Yunlan didn’t know why he had raised his voice, but after all he promised Hong that she was free to date Jin or whoever she wanted now, so he couldn’t let ‘people’ think that they were still together, now, could he?

"Actually we... we broke up, but we’re still friends. They’re all weird, you’ll like them."

Wei’s smile seemed... happy, and they kept walking in a comfortable silence until they reached Yunlan’s home. They stopped at the door, not knowing what to say.

Yunlan: "Well... thank you for the ice-cream."

Wei smiled: "My pleasure; see you tomorrow then."

With that, he walked away. Now that nobody could see him, he lowered his head and smiled wider than ever.

Yunlan went to his room, a strange feeling inside of him. He would never admit it to Hong, but he really felt like he had just been on a date...