A Good Addiction - Volume 1

Chapter 2 - First Contact

 After several minutes staring at the phone, Weizhou had Li Hao text Jingyu's manager. He said he was in Jingyu's room and he was in the shower, and that he'd have him text Weizhou as soon as he was out. Weizhou took the opportunity to shower himself.

Once Jingyu was out of the shower and dressed, his manager handed him the new phone. He had brought breakfast up, and told Jingyu that the director said to not worry about coming to film for two days. There were scenes without Jingyu to be filmed and they needed to deal with this first. He sent a note for Jingyu:

Jing,

I wanted you to know that the cast, crew, and myself are here for you. We support you. In time, you may come to see this event as a turning point, or simply as a small speed bump in life. Either way, I know you will prevail. Fighting!

-Meng

P.S. - Stop thinking. You're not letting us down. Now go take care of ZZ.

Jingyu smiled. Meng and he had become close, something that is rare for Jingyu. Meng had become the big brother that Jingyu never had. A confidant. A mentor. So much, that Jingyu had opened up to him about his relationship with Weizhou. When he had told ZZ that, Weizhou surprised him by saying he was happy to hear that. ZZ said he had seen the stress of the circumstances weighing on him, and he hoped that by developing a close friendship with Meng it would alleviate those stresses. Jingyu asked ZZ if he had told anyone, at which point he turned the phone towards Li Hao, who smiled and waved. Jingyu was grateful for Li Hao.

Back to the issue at hand. Jingyu opened up the Contacts app on his phone, and the starkness of the emptiness reminded him just how alone he could feel at times. Only one record was listed - Xu Weizhou. His manager said he entered the new contact number for him, but he was on his own to transfer other contacts he wanted, knowing full well that is what Jingyu wanted, anyway. His manager said he'd be back later, and left.

He tapped the contact record, and tapped the phone icon. As soon as he had the phone to his ear, the call was answered.

"Are you alone?" Weizhou asked.

"Yes, and hi to you, too." After a few seconds of silence, "Hello? ZhouZhou?"

"I'm here..." croaked Weizhou.

"Babe, are you crying? Are you ok?" Jingyu was on full alert and honed in on ZZ's voice.

Weizhou was barely able to utter, "I'm fine, I think. How are you?"

"Babe, I'm hanging up and FaceTiming you."

"No! I'll be ok, I don't want you to see me like this."

"Nonsense. I need you to see my handsome face so you feel better." Jingyu resorted to a joke, in hopes that his ZZ feels better.

*Sniff* "Heh. Thank you, for that..." Weizhou replied. Then, "Babe, I'm so sorry. I don't know how it happened. I'm very careful about where my phone is. I have a security code set and even two-pass authentication enabled. I just don't know what happened. I've been trying to think where the failure was and I can't think of anything. I'm such a mess right now."

"Shhh. Shhh... It'll be ok. The authorities will figure all of that out. Don't worry about it."

"Ever since I learned about it this morning, all I could think about was how you were doing. I hate that we're so far apart. And then I'm wondering what this could mean about actually being able to see each other."

Jingyu thought back to the note from Meng, and he knew what he needed to say.

"Nothing is keeping me from you. No ban, no forced outing.... nothing. I'm done with the hiding, and keeping this a secret. You mean too much to me. In fact, I'm glad this happened. It means I can finally stand up and tell the world that I, Huang Jingyu, love Xu Weizhou with all my heart and being."