The moment An Yu pulled away from him, the entire rooftop fell into silence.

Fu Teng remained frozen where he stood, his mind completely blank for several long seconds as the warmth of what had just happened still lingered far too clearly.

His breathing had become uneven.

His chest rose and fell sharply.

Everything had happened too quickly.

One moment they were talking.

The next—

An Yu had kissed him.

Fu Teng stared at him in disbelief.

Then suddenly, as if his body finally reacted to the shock, he reached forward and shoved An Yu back hard enough to force him a step away.

"What are you doing?!" he shouted.

His voice echoed loudly across the rooftop and disappeared into the night air below.

An Yu steadied himself almost immediately, but he did not move closer again.

Fu Teng looked furious now.

Truly furious.

His eyes were filled with shock, confusion, anger, and something else he could not even sort out himself.

"You have completely lost your mind," he said.

His voice was no longer calm.

It was tense and shaken in a way An Yu had rarely ever seen from him before.

Fu Teng turned away for a brief moment and dragged a hand roughly through his hair before looking back at him again.

"What was that?" he demanded.

An Yu remained quiet for a second.

The wind moved through the rooftop, shifting the loose strands of his hair slightly, but his gaze never left Fu Teng’s face.

Finally, he spoke.

"You should leave," he said quietly.

Fu Teng looked at him as though he could not believe what he had just heard.

"Leave?" he repeated.

A bitter laugh escaped him.

"You kiss me out of nowhere and then tell me to leave?"

An Yu lowered his gaze briefly before looking back at him again.

"You already came here confused," he said calmly. "I only made things worse."

Those words only made Fu Teng angrier.

"You think this is a joke?" he asked.

"No," An Yu replied immediately.

His answer came without hesitation.

"I am very serious."

The rooftop became quiet again after that.

But this silence felt heavier than before.

Fu Teng clenched his fists tightly at his sides.

"You should not have done that," he said.

This time his voice was lower.

More controlled.

But the tension inside it remained obvious.

An Yu gave a small nod.

"You are right," he replied.

Fu Teng stared at him.

"Then why did you do it?"

An Yu did not answer immediately.

For a moment, he simply looked at Fu Teng quietly while the cold night wind moved between them.

Then finally—

"Because I was tired," he said softly.

Fu Teng’s brows tightened slightly.

"Tired of what?"

An Yu gave a faint laugh, but there was no humor in it.

"Tired of pretending that none of this exists," he answered.

Those words struck harder than Fu Teng expected.

His expression changed slightly.

An Yu stepped no closer, yet somehow the distance between them still felt dangerously small.

"You came here tonight after getting engaged to another woman," An Yu continued quietly. "And the first place you chose to go was here."

Fu Teng opened his mouth slightly.

But no words came out.

An Yu’s gaze remained fixed on him.

"You stood in front of me and said talking to me feels easier," he said. "You looked for me in the middle of the night instead of staying beside the woman waiting in your room."

Every word landed heavily.

"And somehow," An Yu added softly, "you still do not understand what that means."

Fu Teng looked away immediately.

His heartbeat had become uneven now.

Because deep inside—

He understood far more than he wanted to admit.

And that terrified him.

"This is wrong," he said at last.

His voice sounded strained.

"We are both men."

An Yu looked at him quietly for a moment before giving a small nod.

"I know," he replied.

His calmness only made Fu Teng more unsettled.

"You should never touch me like that again," Fu Teng said firmly.

An Yu remained silent for a brief second.

Then he nodded once more. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"Fine," he said quietly.

The answer came too easily.

Too calmly.

As if he had already expected this outcome from the beginning.

Fu Teng suddenly felt something tighten painfully inside his chest.

Neither of them spoke again after that.

The rooftop fell silent beneath the dark night sky.

Heavy tension lingered between them, impossible to ignore now that the line between them had finally been crossed.

Then suddenly—

The sound of footsteps echoed from below.

Both of them turned toward the rooftop entrance immediately.

Someone was coming upstairs.

So quickly Fu Teng left the rooftop without looking back.

The moment he stepped through the door, he descended the stairs quickly, his mind already thrown into complete disorder.

Everything had happened too suddenly.

Too unexpectedly.

By the time he reached the lower floor of the pavilion, the sounds of the night market surrounded him once again. Servants moved through the hall carrying wine and food, merchants laughed loudly downstairs, and lantern light flickered across the crowded street outside.

But Fu Teng barely noticed any of it.

He stepped outside the pavilion and stopped beneath the lantern hanging near the entrance.

The cold night air brushed against his face.

Still—

His thoughts refused to settle.

For several moments, he simply stood there motionless.

Then he suddenly dragged a hand roughly through his hair and exhaled sharply.

"What the hell was that?" he muttered under his breath.

His voice sounded tense.

Almost shaken.

He looked back toward the upper floor instinctively before forcing himself to turn away again.

Nothing about this situation made sense.

They had only known each other for a short while.

Yes, they had become comfortable around each other unusually fast.

Yes, talking to An Yu felt easier than talking to most people.

But this—

This had gone far beyond what Fu Teng ever expected.

Far too fast.

Far too suddenly.

Then another thought entered his mind so abruptly that even he froze slightly.

Did he recognize me?

The question struck him hard.

Two years ago.

That brief encounter.

Fu Teng’s expression tightened immediately.

Then he quickly shook the thought away.

"No," he muttered firmly.

"There is no way."

Back then, he had looked completely different.

Not just younger.

Not simply less mature.

He had been dressed as a woman.

Everything about his appearance had been different at the time.

There was no reason An Yu should have recognized him now.

None at all.

Fu Teng frowned deeply as he replayed the rooftop scene again in his mind.

The way An Yu had looked at him.

The way he had spoken.

The way he kissed him without hesitation.

His heartbeat immediately became uneven again.

Fu Teng exhaled sharply.

"He is probably drunk," he muttered to himself.

That explanation made far more sense.

An Yu had been drinking alone on the rooftop when he arrived.

Of course he was drunk.

That had to be the reason.

Otherwise—

Nothing about tonight could be explained at all.

But even after convincing himself of that—

The uneasiness inside him still refused to disappear.

Because deep down—

An Yu had not looked drunk when he kissed him.

He had looked completely certain.