Cake Scraps

● Sunny, cheerful puppy × cold, world-weary gloomy type

● High school student × pastry chef

["If you were someone else, would you be willing to date yourself?"]

When Xie Jinhe was serving a little cake to a customer, the video the customer was watching played those words.

"Hey, handsome, would you?" the customer asked.

"No." He answered without thinking.

"Huh? Why not? You're so good-looking." The customer sighed.

Xie Jinhe smiled and stepped away. Nobody could love someone who had taken a life. Even he loathed himself.

When the framed photo of his father at his bedside sent him back eleven years, Xie Jinhe saw a shattered boy beside a trash can. He went to a nearby bakery and bought the last scraps of cake, then said with disdain, "Can crying put food on the table?"

The Xie Jinhe of eleven years in the future could never fall in love with himself, but the Xie Jinhe of eleven years ago would fall for the person in front of him.

"Your surname is Xie too? How old are you? Can I call you big brother?"

"..." Had he always been this forward?

Xie Jinhe had never realized he had it in him to be a tagalong. He had never thought he could smile so brightly, so brightly it was almost asking to be punched.

"Big brother, we've already slept together. Why can't we be together?"

"Adults get what they want from each other."

"Do you do this with other adults too?"

"..." Xie Jinhe lost it and shoved the other man off him. As he got dressed, he said, "Because I'm you, eleven years from now!"

The Xie Jinhe of eleven years ago froze for only a second before pulling him back. "I like knowing someone inside out. The book says that knowing yourself and your enemy means you'll always win."

["If you met your former self at the peak of his powers, could you defeat him because you knew him so well?"]

Xie Jinhe had never had a peak, but he was willing to lift the other man to one, in every way.

He would give everything to his past self, including himself.

*Inspired by two comments I came across: "A happy childhood heals you for life; an unhappy childhood takes a lifetime to heal" and "The first thing you should do when you grow up is treat your younger self to a feast."

Theme: Maybe the only person who can heal you is yourself.