By the time the cleaners finished, Mo Fei's apartment looked human again.
The curtains were open.
Sunlight poured through the windows. The mountain of bottles had disappeared, the questionable cup on the coffee table had finally been removed from society, and the floor no longer looked like something had died on it.
Mo Fei stood in the middle of the living room, hands planted on his hips as he inspected their work.
"Haa… dazzling."
One of the cleaners handed him the receipt.
Mo Fei barely glanced at it. "Thanks for cleaning up the house, guys. Give yourselves a huge tip and put it on Yichen's tab."
The cleaners paused and with admirable professionalism, decided that whatever financial arrangement rich celebrities had between themselves was none of their business.
"Thank you, sir."
They bowed with considerably more enthusiasm.
The front door opened just as they were leaving.
Chen Yu stepped aside to let them pass, a large food container balanced in his hands. He watched the last cleaner disappear down the corridor before turning to Mo Fei.
"You cleaned up the house?"
"Yep." Mo Fei dropped onto the sofa. "On thousands of Yichen's hard-earned money."
A slow, proud grin spread across Chen Yu's face. He raised his hand. Mo Fei slapped his palm.
No further discussion was required.
Chen Yu carried the food to the dining table and began setting out the containers.
Mo Fei's nose twitched, his head turned. Chen Yu had barely opened the first container before Mo Fei materialised beside him. "Move."
"Wait, I haven't even—"
Too late.
Mo Fei seized a fork and attacked the spaghetti.
Chen Yu stopped.
He watched Mo Fei shovel food into his mouth as though he had been starved for several years. His lips trembled. He turned aside and delicately wiped beneath one eye.
"My Feifei…"
Mo Fei kept eating.
"My precious Feifei has finally returned to me. For several days, this humble mother wandered through darkness, wondering if I would ever again witness—"
"Shush."
Chen Yu swallowed the rest of his speech.
Mo Fei pointed his fork at him, still chewing. "The food is peppery. I don't want to choke on emotions."
Chen Yu's expression collapsed. "You ungrateful bastard. I cooked that for you."
"Mhm." Mo Fei confidently took another bite.
Chen Yu clicked his tongue and sat opposite him. Still. His Feifei was eating. His apartment no longer resembled the final resting place of a depressed raccoon.
And, most importantly, he was being irritating again.
Chen Yu rested his chin on his palm and watched him for a moment, something occurred to him. "You know… We tried everything. Xiao Mei even suggested kidnapping you."
Mo Fei's fork stopped halfway to his mouth. "…What?"
"We rejected the idea." Chen yu patted his back "Well... Mostly."
Mo Fei slowly resumed twirling spaghetti around his fork.
Chen Yu leaned back. "Thing is, none of us could get you out of that apartment. Then Zhang Yichen appears and suddenly you're outside, your hair is done, your house is clean and you're stealing his money."
Mo Fei choked. "KH—! Kleugh—ahck!"
The spaghetti attempted murder.
Chen Yu immediately shoved a glass of water towards him. Mo Fei snatched it and drank.
Unfortunately, the choking had already opened a door his brain had absolutely no business walking through.
Zhang Yichen grabbing the back of his shirt. His feet leaving the floor.
Being thrown over that bastard's shoulder like stolen luggage—
Then another memory surfaced.
HET. Cold air. His chest refusing to work. Yichen's hands against his face.
Look at me.
Mo Fei drank faster.
Chen Yu frowned. "Why are you drinking like you crossed a desert?"
Mo Fei slammed the glass down. "Chen Yu." Mo Fei opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. "Hypothetically speaking…"
Chen Yu's entire face changed. "Whenever you say 'hypothetically', something stupid follows."
"This is serious." Mo Fei abandoned his fork and grabbed Chen Yu by the arm, dragging him closer. "Come here."
"I'm already here."
"Closer."
Chen Yu reluctantly shifted his closer.
Mo Fei lowered his voice. "Suppose… two people were somewhere. And one person was having trouble breathing."
"Okay."
"And the other person wanted to help them breathe."
Chen Yu's brows knitted. "Uh-huh…"
Mo Fei glanced away. "So that person… um…used their mouth."
Silence.
Chen Yu, "..."
Mo Fei stared somewhere over Chen Yu's shoulder.
"Used their mouth to do what?"
"To help." Mo Fei batted his lashes. "With breathing."
Chen Yu grimaced. "How?"
Mo Fei's face tightened. "Why are you asking so many questions?"
"Because nothing you're saying makes sense!"
"It makes perfect sense."
"No, it doesn't. Are you talking about CPR?"
Mo Fei hesitated. "…Something like that."
"Was the person unconscious? Were they dying?" Chen Yu asked.
Mo Fei scratched the side of his neck. "Not exactly."
Chen Yu frowned. "Then why were they doing CPR?"
"They weren't doing CPR!"
Chen Yu threw both hands up. "Then what the hell are you talking about?"
Mo Fei opened his mouth. The kiss flashed through his mind again. He immediately shut it.
Chen Yu narrowed his eyes. Mo Fei narrowed his back.
Several seconds passed between them.
Finally, Mo Fei released his arm. "You're no help."
Chen Yu looked personally offended. "I don't even know what I'm supposed to be helping with!"
Mo Fei turned away and resumed eating.
Conversation over.
Chen Yu remained there for several seconds, visibly trying to reconstruct whatever nonsense had just happened.
Eventually, he gave up.
Whatever.
His gaze dropped to the ridiculous amount of spaghetti steadily disappearing into Mo Fei's mouth.
He said nothing else.
For now, watching his Feifei eat was enough.