Make Our Days Count : Domestic

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Shigu typing...

"Haoting, where are you? Who are you with now?"

Haoting is having his lunch at his foodcourt when the phone buzzing. It's rare for Shigu to message him in the middle of the day. He usually busy with his course or working at the cafe. 

Haoting reads the message but decided to call Shigu instead of texting back. 

'Hi babe, I'm still in the campus' 

'Your own faculty?'

'No...I'm having lunch with Zi Xuan, at Physical Ed's.' 

This is weird. Shigu never asked this kind of questions before. 'What's wrong babe?'

'Oh nothing. Okay then. Enjoy your lunch. I love you. Bye.'

The call ended before he can reply. What's with the rush? 

Haoting stared at his phone, unmoved for a few seconds. Zi Xuan looked up from his Ban Mien lunch, chopstick hovering and eyeing Haoting frozen status. 

'Haoting, you okay?'

Haoting says nothing. He redials the number but Shigu did not picked it up. 

*

Shigu threw his phone in his backpack after dropping the call. He smiles to the other guy. 

'Haoting and Xi Zuan is eating at the food court cafeteria. Wanna join them or wait here?'

Yu Hao scratched his head absentmindedly. 

'I haven't had lunch. Let's join them. I know the building'

Shigu nodded and they walked briskly, side by side. 

'Haoting talks a lot about you and Zi Xuan. I felt like I know you personally by now.'

Yu Hao laughed. 'Hope he's not complaining. He always leave the dorm whenever I dropped by to visit.'

' Did Zi Xuan ever complained about you visiting him?'

' Zi Xuan likes to play hard to get. He never makes things easy for me, but I like him and will always remind him of that. Why? Worried Haoting won't like you visiting him without notice?'

Shigu nodded. His eyebrow starts to scrunched. He is worried. But he just wanna have a meal with Haoting and go back to Taipei tomorrow. The second year is hectic and Haoting would not be able to go back this month. Shigu have a few days without class and wants to surprise Haoting by visiting him for the first time. Haoting never forbid him, but he senses that Haoting was reluctant to allow him that. 

Sometimes, Shigu wants to be the one who pamper Haoting instead. He doesn't want to take things for granted. 

'You definitely need to see the dorm room. I'm jealous with the amount of your photos on Haoting desk. Zi Xuan is too cruel. He didn't even put a single photo of me on his desk. ' Yu Hao broke the silence. 

Shigu smiles shyly. He's proud but embarrassed at the same time. 

They arrived at the foodcourt. Shigu recognize Haoting broad back from far. Two girls sits beside him, one has her palm on Haoting shoulder, another scooted over nearer and nearer. 

Shigu froze. He is not sure if he should join the table now.  He looked at Yu Hao for some help but Yu Hao already walks fast to the table and kicked the bench. 

The two girls clicked their tongues. 'We know! We know! Qui Zi Xuan is yours! We're not bothering your boyfriend! We are just inviting Student Xiang to join us for dinner!' 

They know Yu Hao. He was here since the first week Zi Xuan enrolled in the university. All 1st year to 4th year was made to know who is is. He doesn't shy away from claiming Zi Xuan in public. Often glaring at the one making advances to his beloved. Even the lecturers knew the couple. Yu Hao is almost like an unofficial student here. He will enrol in a few months time anyway. Makes no difference.

' Senior Xiang cannot join you girl. His lover is here! ', he pointed to Shigu.

Haoting turned abruptly to Yu Hao. Earlier he is too busy texting and calling Shigu. He ingonored everything around him. He even called Zhigang only to be told Shigu took 2 days emergency leaves. He is about to call his Mom to help check on Shigu at their house.  He follows Yu Hao's eye to the entrance of the cafeteria. 

Yu Hao clicked his tongue back to the girls, and sat beside his boyfriend. Zi Xuan walks to order another bowl of noodles for him. He is not interested in drama and he doesn't care. 

Shigu stands unmoving. His face is unreadable but it slowly turn red and he blinks rapidly. He doesn't like being the centre of attention. 

The whole cafeteria is watching them. 

Haoting walks closer. He is angry at Shigu for making him worry. But there's no way to be mad at Shigu, he could never ever do that. Worship him, yes. Hurt him, never. 

Shigu fixed his eyes on the floor. His hand gripped the straps of his backpack. He just wants to see Haoting before the busy week starts. That's all. He doesn't want to announce their love to the world, or being a centre of anyone's attention. When he sees some student's pointing their phone at his direction, he starts to feel uncomfortable. Not everything has to be viral and shared to rest of the world.

Haoting stands right in front of his. He can feel the gaze of his towering partner. Still he stares at the floor, looking at the his shoelaces against the floor patterns. In times like this, the floor pattern is the most interesting. 

'Hi babe' . Haoting placed his hand on Shigu nape, raising his face towards him and giving him a peck on his cheek. 'Earth to Shigu', he continues and drop another peck to the left cheek. He is about to peck Shigu on the lips when Shigu gives him a side eye and placed his palm on Haoting's chest. 

The world slowly coming back to him. A group of cheerleaders had their jaws dropped to the floor. Some athletes are clapping under the shades and making a toast from afar with their bubble teas. 

'Hi' Shigu replied. He's shy. He can't look at Haoting directly in the eyes. 

Without any acknowledgement to the people staring at them, Haoting intertwined their fingers and dragged his to the table. 

Zi Xuan pointed to 2 packed lunch. 'Today I heading back home for a family celebration with Yu Hao. Feel free to sleepover at the dorm. I won't be back until Wednesday. Lunch on me.' He offers a handshake to Shigu. 'Qiu Zi Xuan, nice to meet you.' 

Shigu took it. Yu Hao winks.

The two girls still stands beside them and was ignored like they never existed in the same dimension. 

* **

A/N: Short chapter cos I been busy at work. This pandemic is worst that we predicted. My manager told me we won't have bonuses this year because we couldn't hit the quarterly revenue target. All my ideas and motivation is gone. Haaaaiiihhhhh...