He Has Always Given His Tenderness to Someone Else

The second bonus chapter of the microfiction series

[His tenderness was always meant for someone else]

The day Zhao Man slammed the door, Lin Ye was in the kitchen stewing bird's nest soup for her.

"You don't understand romance or how to have fun. Being with you is like living as a widow!" Her words were icicles, piercing Lin Ye's silent eyes.

Later, Zhao Man got drunk at a bar, only to witness the most outrageous scene of her life.

Her taciturn, wooden ex-boyfriend was kissing her gay best friend, Su Mu. The streetlamp stretched their shadows long. Lin Ye's hand gripped Su Mu's waist, and his gaze held a tenderness Zhao Man had never seen before.

"You little homewrecker! How dare you seduce my man!" Zhao Man charged forward, ready to slap Su Mu, but Lin Ye seized her wrist.

His eyes brimmed with fury, his voice cold as ice. "You hag, get lost and take your tantrum somewhere else."

Then he turned to Su Mu, the ice in his eyes melting into spring water as he ruffled his hair. "Don't be scared. I'm here."

Zhao Man watched them walk away together, the curses stuck in her throat.

She didn't know that on the night Lin Ye drank himself into alcohol poisoning, Su Mu had searched every bar and alley in the outskirts with a flashlight, carried him home unconscious, and stayed up with him all night.

She didn't know that when she casually complained Lin Ye didn't understand romance, Su Mu had secretly taught him how to choose gifts and remember anniversaries, and had even written drafts of love notes for him.

More than anything, she didn't know that Lin Ye had never been incapable of love. In countless little moments she'd overlooked, his tenderness and patience had quietly shifted to the person who had always stood in the corner, silently aching for him.

"Lin Ye, what if she..." Su Mu asked quietly.

Lin Ye clasped his hand tightly. His voice was firm. "Who cares about her? From the moment she slammed that door, you were all that was left in my world."

"So he wasn't incapable of tenderness. I just wasn't the one he wanted to give it to."

"Rugged seme x sweet uke | Ex gets their comeuppance | Mutual devotion"

"The night he searched the whole city to save him sealed the rest of his life: it could only be him."

Theme: Just because he doesn't say it doesn't mean he's wrong.