Xiumin kept his head down the whole journey, eventually realizing that Yixing had not gotten off at his usual stop. Instead, they were now heading to the lower part of uptown, where Xiumin worked in retail. It was a pretty small job and he worked selling the handmade items of a big family and in the end, it was what he preferred over some other retailing job like selling shiny, wrapped up books.

When Xiumin stood up to get off the bus, Yixing got up as well. Xiumin tried hard not to notice Yixing walking behind him as he held onto his bag a little tighter. Was Yixing following him?

Indeed, he was. When Xiumin took out his ring of keys and opened up the store, pulling up the "metal wall"- was he supposed to know what it was called?-, Yixing had simply leaned against the wall, watching him. Xiumin had fumbled a few times but when he finally unlocked the glass door and entered, he breathed a sigh of relief. At least he hadn't tripped over the step at the entrance of the store.

Yixing had stayed in the store all day, picking up things and putting them back, unfolding clothes and folding them back. At one point, he had even taken the broom and dustpan right from Xiumin's hands, cleaning up the store himself. 

When Xiumin was locking up, he turned to Yixing who had barely said a word the whole day.

“Why were you following me today?”

Yixing grinned. The sun was setting now and the shadows shaped Yixing’s features perfectly.

“So I could take you out as soon as you finished work, of course.”

Xiumin felt the blood rush up to his face almost embarrassingly fast. He turned away from him and dropped the keys into his bag pack as he tried to collect himself. He took in a few breaths and Xiumin mentally prepared himself to turn around and face Yixing- hopefully with a less obvious blush- when Yixing popped up in front of him instead. Xiumin stumbled back a step.

“You’re so cute. Especially when you blush.”

Xiumin’s cheeks got warm all over again and he tried to hide his face all over again but it was in vain as he heard Yixing’s laughter. 

“Lets go!”

Boldly peeling his hand off Xiumin's face, Yixing held onto Xiumin's hand and began walking away from the store, almost dragging the shorter man along. It didn’t take a long time- especially not with how Xiumin’s mind couldn’t stay still- before they reached their destination. Yixing had brought them to a little hole- in- the- wall cafe, with darkly tinted windows and wind chimes hung all around the windows. 

Yixing seemed to know all the staff by name and Xiumin almost couldn’t handle how cool and collected Yixing acted. He felt a little small, if not a little inadequate holding hands with Yixing. 

They sat next to the window, the crowds of people walking past them a constant reminder that time passed. Xiumin had spent most of the night listening to Yixing’s silky voice who told him about his days in Changsha, his family and all his hobbies, all with that lilt in his voice and the dancing of his lean fingers. Xiumin listened to Yixing talk about his job, and how much he liked the restaurant they were at. They had shared dessert and Xiumin had blushed and stuttered when Yixing tried to feed him. 

Yixing walks Xiumin home, right up to his front door, and he stays until Xiumin has the door open and isn’t really sure what else to say after this. So Xiumin settles for stepping into his apartment and bidding Yixing goodbye. But Yixing has other plans.

Placing a hand on the doorjamb and resting all his weight on it, Yixing leans down and kisses Xiumin lightly on the lips. Xiumin must be dreaming because he can feel Yixing's smile and smell caramel on his lips. But when Xiumin looks up, he can’t help but smile and blush because Yixing is looking down at him as if he has just met an angel.

“You’re so cu- no, beautiful. You’re beautiful. See you tomorrow.”

It takes Xiumin 10 minutes to close the door, 5 minutes after Yixing’s tall frame disappeared into the elevators.