Zhenlan had seen enough men lose their heads over women to recognize the signs. He just never thought he would see it in the three men around him, given the circumstances.

Everyone knows them. The poor judgment, constantly being distracted, the inabilityability to think with any other brain other than the small one between their legs.

And yet, here they were. An ex-soldier, a Kingpin, a .... whatever Lingyun was.

Each one now entirely focused on the woman in front of them and not the destruction going on just outside their door.

That was what got people killed.

Especially now.

Which was exactly why he should have not only noticed the problem sooner, but put a stop to it.

Instead, he wasn’t entirely sure when it started.

Or maybe that was the issue.

Nothing about how the men were acting happened all at once. There was not a single instance where he could point out the first time Chenghai touched Rouxi... or the first time Yuche kissed her forehead.... or the first time that Lingyun touched her body.

It had simply... happened.

And Zhenlan was willing to admit that was what had made it the worst for him. Chenghai was old enough to be her father... technically... if he had a child when he was really young.

But the point was valid.

No one should be looking at Rouxi like she was the sun and they were completely helpless against her orbit.

The movie playing on the television had probably been watched over a hundred times between the five of them at this point. Some Marvel action film that Lingyun insisted got better every time he saw it even though half the dialogue barely made sense anymore.

But then again, it wasn’t like anyone was really paying attention to it.

Sure, Rouxi was probably still watching it. She seemed to be oblivious half the time about what the men were doing to get her attention. Hell, Chenghai had made her a steak dinner with homemade ice cream.

Zhenlan didn’t even know that the other man knew how to make ice cream. But for Rouxi, he learned.

The sectional was large enough to fit seven people comfortably, but somehow all three of them still ended up gravitating toward Rouxi anyway.

Yuche sat on one side of her, one arm stretched lazily along the back of the couch behind her shoulders while his other hand absently turned a silver core over his knuckles. Lingyun occupied the other side, close enough that their legs touched every time he shifted.

Chenghai sat on the floor directly in front of her.

That alone should have been strange and set warning bells off in Rouxi’s head. But still...she didn’t say anything. She just accepted their attention like this was supposed to be normal.

Nothing about this situation was normal.

Take Chenghai. He had always carried himself with quiet confidence. Even before the apocalypse, he looked like the kind of man people naturally stepped aside for without realizing they were doing it.

And yet now?

He sat at Rouxi’s feet like he belonged there.

He had picked up one of Rouxi’s legs and moved it so that it was resting over his shoulder. His head was gently leaning against her inner thigh, making sure that there was no sudden movements that would have alerted her. After a few moments of him being motionless, he started moving his fingers slowly up and down her calf in absentminded strokes.

They didn’t seem deliberate enough to call attention to them, but they also happened too often to be accidental either.

Lingyun was doing the same thing with her arm.

Every few minutes his fingers brushed against her wrist or shoulder before drifting away again.

And Yuche wasn’t much better.

At some point during the movie, Rouxi had leaned slightly against him without even looking away from the television and his hand had immediately settled against the back of her neck like it had always belonged there.

None of them spoke about it.

That was the part Zhenlan couldn’t stop thinking about.

There was no awkwardness.

No hesitation.

No uncertainty.

Rouxi simply accepted their touch like it was natural for them to be close to her.

And maybe it was.

Zhenlan looked down at his own hands resting against the arms of the chair hard enough that his knuckles had started turning pale.

When exactly had this happened?

Not because they were trapped together.

That was another thing that bothered him. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

None of the guys were trapped inside the house.

The roads still existed.

The city still existed.

And they were more than strong enough to take on the zombies that they might come across. If any of them truly wanted to leave, they could do it whenever they chose to.

But nobody did.

Instead, they stayed inside this house orbiting around one woman who spent most of her time eating snacks on the couch while insulting the government and threatening violence over bad internet connections.

It shouldn’t have made sense.

And yet somehow, it did.

Rouxi laughed suddenly at something happening in the movie and the sound immediately drew everyone’s attention toward her without a single person realizing they had done it.

Zhenlan noticed that too.

The way the room shifted around her constantly without effort.

Not because she demanded attention.

She didn’t.

Half the time she looked annoyed people were speaking to her at all.

But there was something about her that pulled people closer anyway.

Hell...even he was fighting the same pull. But at least he was strong enough not to give in to it.

But it would be so easy....hummed a voice in his head. With a firm shake, he pushed the voice back down. No. There would be no taking the easy way out.

He... he couldn’t...

The baby vine poked its head sleepily out from the collar of Rouxi’s shirt before immediately settling back down once Chenghai scratched beneath its chin without even looking away from the television.

The stupid thing purred.

Actually purred.

Rouxi snorted softly. "Traitor."

"You say that like you aren’t exactly the same when someone feeds you."

"I have standards."

"You ate marshmallows for dinner yesterday."

"They were gourmet marshmallows that Chenghai had made from scratch. I didn’t even know that was possible!"

Lingyun laughed quietly while Yuche’s fingers moved once against the back of Rouxi’s neck before stilling again.

Zhenlan looked away from their hands.

Then immediately looked back anyway.

That was becoming a problem.

Or maybe it already was.

The movie continued playing in the background while Rouxi stole fries off Chenghai’s plate every time he looked away long enough for her to get away with it.

He noticed every single time, and he still let her do it.

Outside, the world continued collapsing one disaster at a time.

But inside the mansion, Rouxi curled further into the couch while four grown men unconsciously shifted around her like she was the center of gravity itself.

And who knew?

Maybe she was.