Chapter 2: The Accidentally-Stolen Jacket

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Next day--

The bookstore was hidden behind ivy-covered walls and the soft rustling of wind-touched branches. It was the kind of place only someone like Fei Du would find — tucked away from the world, quiet and timeless. Inside, it smelled like pressed paper, aged leather, and faint traces of jasmine tea. Fei was standing in the poetry section, his fingers gently brushing the edges of a worn anthology, when the bell above the door chimed softly.

He didn’t look up right away.

But the sudden warmth crawling up his neck told him exactly who had just entered.

Luo Wenzhou’s voice followed a beat later, smooth and familiar. "Didn’t expect to see you here. Though... I guess fate keeps doing me favors."

Fei finally turned. Luo stood there in a casual brown jacket, no tie, hair still a little messy like he hadn’t tried too hard — and still somehow looked perfect. Fei’s heart did something strange, something too fast.

“You followed me,” Fei said quietly, half-accusing, half-flustered.

Luo raised a brow. “Would I do that?” Then, with a smirk, “Yes.”

Fei opened his mouth to reply, closed it, then glanced down. He was still holding Luo’s jacket.

“You kept it,” Luo said, stepping closer, not unkind. “I wasn’t sure if I’d see it again.”

Fei hesitated. “I meant to return it.”

“You didn’t have to.” Luo’s voice was quieter now. “It looked good on you.”

They didn’t say much more as they wandered toward the small café in the back of the shop. It was quiet — just the clink of cups and the soft hum of an old radio playing something mellow. They found a table by the window, just big enough for two.

Fei ordered jasmine tea. Luo asked for black coffee, no sugar this time.

For a while, they sat in a comfortable kind of silence. It wasn’t awkward, just unsure. Like neither of them knew how close to sit or how much to say.

“I don’t usually…” Fei began, watching the steam curl from his cup. “I don’t meet people like this.”

Luo nodded slowly, watching him. “Me neither.”

Fei looked up, surprised. “You seem like you do.”

“I seem like a lot of things,” Luo replied. He leaned back slightly, eyes still on Fei. “But I’ve never sat in a bookstore café with someone I barely know and wanted to stay longer than I should.”

That made Fei go quiet again, cheeks tinged with pink.

“I still don’t get why you’re being kind to me,” he said softly.

Luo thought for a moment, then reached across the table. Not to hold Fei’s hand — not yet — but just to nudge the edge of his cup into place.

“Because I see you,” he said. “And because I think you might be the kind of person worth knowing slowly.”

Fei's fingers curled slightly around his cup. Something in his chest felt warm and slow and new.

They didn’t hold hands. They didn’t touch. But when they walked out of the bookstore side by side, it was clear — something had shifted.

[End of Chapter 2]

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