Dyed in Your Color

Get in Here

But then Xian saw that aside from recognition—meaning this was not the first time she was seeing Lance’s face—there was a hint of worry in his elder sister’s eyes, and this made him confused.

He looked alternately at Laurel and at Lance, who had bowed his head politely at the former.

“You guys know each other?” Xian asked.

“Um…” Laurel began, looking at Lance as if in inquiry. The face she saw was still as stony as ever, but like before, her instincts told her that he didn’t want the content of their exchange yesterday to be divulged. Even though she didn’t need to, Laurel chose to be kind. Smiling, she said simply, “Our clubs frequently collaborate on projects.”

Xian nodded even though he still felt that something was off. “I see…”

From the corner of her eye, Laurel saw Lance look down as if he was bowing once again. She wasn’t sure if she was seeing things correctly, but she thought she saw in his face hints of relief and gratitude.

“Regarding that…” she went on. “There’s something I’d like to talk to you about later.”

Xian nodded again. “All right, sure. We’ll just be a while. Lance, come.” He turned to the other man, all bright and perked up again. “My room’s over here.”

Lance followed him, passing by Laurel. He nodded at the older woman, who smiled at him.

She didn’t know what he intended by wanting to keep his conversation with her about Xian a secret from the person himself. Whether Lance wanted to be the one to tell Xian about it or not, she decided to keep quiet for now.

After all, it wasn’t only Lance who wanted Xian for one of the lead roles in their latest project. Even without him, she’d still have ended up needing to ask her younger brother to take the role because of her clubmates’ insistence.

But aside from all that… she had a good feeling about Lance. It didn’t seem like he wished any harm to befall Xian.

Indeed, to Laurel, it seemed like Lance wished for the exact opposite.

***

Because the three siblings came from an affluent family, the apartment they were staying in was far from what ordinary university students would be able to afford. It had four bedroom suites, each with its own bathroom. The bright, airy, and very spacious central living area was decorated with a minimalist theme, and there were no walls separating it from the large kitchen and the dining area.

Xian and Lance had to traverse the whole length of it to reach the former’s bedroom, which was at the corner farthest from the entrance.

Xian opened his door and went in haphazardly, expecting Lance to just follow even though he didn’t give an explicit invitation. Predictably, Lance remained standing by the threshold while Xian searched for his wallet.

Though his face was impassive, Lance looked around at what he could see of Xian’s bedroom, revealing his curiosity.

Given the pieces of clothes strewn on the bedframe, the sofa, and even the floor, one could say that Xian was definitely not a neat person. But Lance did not see trash or dirty dishes anywhere, so at the very least, Xian could not be classified as a slob.

“Sorry for the mess, Lance,” Xian said as he searched for his wallet, completely unaware that Lance was still outside his bedroom. “I haven’t done my laundry this week yet. I meant to do it yesterday, but… aha! Found it!”

Full of excitement, Xian whirled around, holding up his erstwhile missing wallet. But as he’d expected Lance to already be inside the room, it took him a moment to locate him at the doorway.

At first, he was surprised. Then, Xian turned up one corner of his lips into a crooked smile and walked up to Lance.

'I should be annoyed…' he thought in silent wonder as he once again reached for Lance’s wrist. 'But damn it, he’s really cute.'

“What are you doing?” Xian asked, laughing as he pulled at the man. “Get in here.”

For a split second, Lance was torn with indecision, but in the end, while clearing his throat, he let Xian drag him inside his bedroom.

“Would you prefer the sofa or the bed?” Xian asked out of nowhere, which almost made Lance stumble.

Without even waiting for an answer, Xian went toward the bed, which had a black bedsheet accentuated by red pillows. After pulling off a few pieces of clothing from the bed and throwing them to the floor to make space, he forcefully had Lance sit down on the side while he himself dove to the center.

He sat and leaned his back on the headboard, the better to look at Lance, though it was only his side profile that was visible at the moment. For some reason, he detected a certain stiffness to both Lance’s back and expression, but Xian chalked this up to him being self-conscious at being in another person’s room.

'This is probably his first time because I’m the first friend he’s ever made,' Xian thought with a bit of smugness. He could not help but feel a certain pleasure from that possibility. 'Poor cutie.'

As he dug into his wallet, counting bills for the amount he owed Lance, he absently asked, “Say… what were you doing in that forest path earlier? I ended up there because I wasn’t really paying attention to where I was going, but you…”

All of a sudden, his eyes widened and he looked up at Lance. Lance also turned to him, wondering why he stopped talking.

Xian raised a hand and covered his mouth, as if shocked. It was hard to tell if he was being serious or not as he continued, “You… weren’t following me, were you?”

Of all the things that Xian had said and done since their encounter hours earlier, this question was what made Lance break. He didn’t laugh like any other person might have. He simply smiled while blowing out a bit of air through his nose.

Still, given the kind of person he was, this was probably the equivalent of him laughing until his sides hurt. Now, Xian was truly shocked.

“What if I was?” Lance responded. That left Xian even more speechless.