Hey, guys! Sorry for the delay. Have had so many social gatherings to attend and so much food to digest.😥

How have you all been? Sorry that I did not reply to the comments. I really didn't get much time lately. 🙇🙏

About this chapter, I had so much fun writing it that I'm really happy! It's silly but I don't regret it. Sometimes we need silly in our lives, don't we?😍

Anyway, take care, my darlings. Eat, sleep and don't forget to find a reason to smile. Love ya!😘💕

Off with the read now!

Comments and votes are very much appreciated!💖

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Chapter-5

A drum was going off inside his head completely out of tune; his mouth felt foul, as though something crawled up and died on his tongue. Gross. He rubbed his temples with a groan and cracked open an eye difficulty when there was a sound of thud.

JingYu set down a glass of water and a white, flat pill on the bedside table.

"Wha's that?" WeiZhou croaked.

"Aspirin. It'll help with the hangover," JingYu answered.

WeiZhou took turn to eye the pill and the other man suspiciously. "And you're giving me that fooooor...why exactly?"

"Cause I'm a good host? Decent human being?" JingYu tried for a snark but dropped the act when given a very WeiZhou-ish "oh, please" look. "Fine. It's so that you won't be a bitchy prat all day long."

Scowling and wincing at the strain the movement brought to his throbbing brows, WeiZhou took the offered pill and water. "You reap what you sow," he remarked after downing them and closed his eyes for the pain to lessen.

The sound in the room, however, did not cease. He opened his eyes to choke on his saliva in the next instant.

JingYu was standing at his closet, back to WeiZhou. Shirtless. Flexing his muscles ever so often.

"The hell you think you're doing?" He yelped.

JingYu turned only his head to him. "What?" and asked. All innocent and oblivious.

"Why are you-" he waved his arm up and down- "naked?!"

Frowning, JingYu gave himself a once over. "I'm not."

"Yes, you are! You are-" WeiZhou waved his arm again, "- topless!"

This, seemingly, was something of a concept his fake boyfriend was not familiar with, as the confusion on his face only grew. "And? We are both men. What's the big deal?"

WeiZhou stuttered for a moment. What could he say? This was indeed not a 'big deal', it should not have been between two adult men. But a certain muscle of his body, that had a horrible taste in men and was hard and twitching, begged to differ.

"W-well, forgive my reluctance to not want to see some man boobs first thing in the morning!" He retorted.

JingYu blinked then craned his neck as if he did not hear him properly, "Huh? Man boo- These are not man boobs!!"

"Don't yell! Please, just- shut up!" WeiZhou held his throbbing head and groaned again; twitching muscle notwithstanding.

"You're the one saying weird stuff."

He heard the other man mumbling but did not reply. Red spots were floating behind his eyelids, accompanied by flexing abs. Gaaah!

Mercifully, the next time he opened his eyes, the room was devoid of any naked moron.

XOXOXOX

How could people be this chipper all the time, WeiZhou had no idea. It was like the entire family was on Cheering Charm. The moment he got out to the dining hall for breakfast, he was greeted by an enthusiastic chorus of 'good mornings'.

He had a lapful of squishy, wobbly infant and was trying to fend off the grubby hands of another child when the ever chirpy grandmother said, "Why don't you two to go to the fair this evening?" Then she addressed her grandson, "Why don't you take him there, JinJin?"

The two men looked at each other uncertainly.

"I...don't- that's okay, Nana," WeiZhou hedged, "I'd rather spend the evening with you all."

He almost swallowed his tongue saying that but had the satisfaction of watching JingYu picking up his jaw from the floor.

"Oh, hush, you sweet talker," Nana pinched his cheek. "You're not fooling anyone." When WeiZhou tried to protest, she said, "Also, we don't want to watch you two giving each other bedroom eyes all the time. It's not something parents need to witness, if you ask me."

Nana never needed to be asked for an opinion. It was always given voluntarily, often forcefully. But that was not the point! The point was......bedroom eyes?

He sneaked a glance at JingYu only to find the man giving him suspicious look.

The nerve of him! Who stood topless, flexing boobies at him this morning?

He might have said that aloud, had not Nana spoken just that moment, "It has toys and rides and candies. You'll like it."

He stared at this batshit crazy lady and realized that she did not possess the mental faculty to differentiate his age from QiuQiu's.

XOXOXOX

A village fair was just that: a village fair. Nothing more, nothing less. There was no stall selling cow dung cakes or bundled hays, no little man disguised as a leprechaun doing happy jive on a stool, no drunkard throwing darts at random people- in short, a village fair was nothing WeiZhou had thought it would be.

Instead, it was jovial, crowded without being suffocating, noisy, and a heaven for people with notorious sweet tooth.

"You should wear casuals more. It suits you better," JingYu had said suddenly, using the tone that spoke he did not really care anyway but WeiZhou was a businessman and he knew better.

And just because he knew better he felt his cheeks warm up without his permission. JingYu had no business in commenting on WeiZhou's fashion sense! He should just remain an assistant, a fake boyfriend, an accomplice in an elaborated lie. He should keep their relationship professional and not, absolutely not, make WeiZhou's cold, controlled heart beat faster!

However, when he rolled his shirt sleeves up to his elbow it was because he was feeling hot and not because it made him look more casual. No, absolutely not.

What hit WeiZhou most when they reached the venue was the sheer number of snotty children running around, squealing in eardrum shattering pitch.

"Why do people feel this irrepressible need to reproduce?" He thought out loud, grimacing at one baby trying to lick at someone else's ice cream over his mother's shoulder.

JingYu hummed absentmindedly. "Mmm, yeah. People just should be gay and problem solved."

WeiZhou promptly choked on his spit and unanticipated images of JingYu's bared torso flooded his mind, man boobs flexing and all.

"Do you wanna ride?"

"Wh-What?" There were some words that should be banned while thinking about certain things. Such as, 'ride' and 'topless men' or a particular man.

JingYu pointed at a mini version of Ferris Wheels that was spinning at the off side of the ground; its fairy lights twinkling.

"Of course, not! That's for the kids!"

"No, it's not. It's not very high but see, the adults are riding it too. Wanna give it a try?"

"No," WeiZhou declined the offer with his nose poking at the sky and to emphasize his reluctance, walked to the opposite direction. Only, he had no idea where he was going and thus ended up in front of a stall where you throw a hoop over a toy or other inane things and take them home.

"You want a toy?" JingYu's surprise was explicit.

WeiZhou wanted to dig a hole and die but he would not be Xu WeiZhou had he not maintained his image. "Yes. Problem?"

"None whatsoever."

The stall owner gave them three hoops each along with a smile that was commonly found in people untainted by urbanized bitterness.

When WeiZhou looked at the hoops, at his companion and again at the hoops, JingYu chuckled and very unhelpfully said, "You first."

It went without saying that WeiZhou's hoops never landed on any target. However, to his great mortification and to his fake boyfriend's glee, one of them landed on the stall owner's bald head.

"Ahem, it'll be better next time, I'm sure."

And of course, the sadist prick would not let this opportunity to mock him go. WeiZhou turned his face away in indignant embarrassment.

To his consolation, two of JingYu's hoops missed their target.

But WeiZhou still ended up with a tiny plushie panda. It squeaked when being pressed on the tummy.

"This is ridiculous!" He stated, scowling at the unsuspecting, smiling baby animal.

"No, it's not. The way you were eyeing it, I feared you might break into tears if you didn't get it."

"I did so such thing!"

WeiZhou had stopped on his track. He could not believe the nerve of this man! Just because he was lenient did not mean they were on the same scale now.

JingYu just laughed, "Wanna a ride anything?"

"You..! I want to ride you, you moron!"

Uh-oh

It took one and half second for WeiZhou to realize what he had just said and his tongue shrunk back to his uvula as soon as he did.

What was more humiliating was the faint pink that dusted over JingYu's cheek. The evidence that his words were misinterpreted quite correctly.

What an oxymoronic mess.

"Er."

"So-"

"I mean-"

"Merry-Go-Round?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I meant."

And that was how WeiZhou found himself on a pony (because he would never use the word 'riding' again), spinning round and round on a carousel, along with half a dozen children and a handful of adults.

JingYu was on a giraffe. Looking more pleased that he had any reason to be.

If, along the spin, WeiZhou began to smile again and it spread through his face and reached his heart, which then soared from elation of pure joy, then no one was there to judge him. And he must not speak of it ever.

But he was happy nonetheless.

XOXOXOX

Dizzy from the motion, when his body was still adjusting to the stillness of the ground he swayed and a strong arm held his waist to steady him.

It was not winter. The night was not cold. There was no reason for enjoying an extra body heat but WeiZhou skin did just that. It absorbed the quick but intense heat of JingYu's body and left goosebumps of appreciation underneath the soft fabric of his shirt.

"So, did you enjoy that?" JingYu asked once they were steady on their feet.

"What's there to enjoy? Dangling on wooden animals with a bunch of infants and other irresponsible adults." Already flustered from his completely unreasonable reaction, WeiZhou's reply came out terser than he intended. "It was adequately fun." He amended.

"Adequately fun? Ade-" JingYu laughed out loud.

Was his laughter always sounded so....nice? Like, rivulets of water falling down a bamboo pipe. WeiZhou frowned at this absurd thought. What was wrong with his today?

"-always so uptight?" JingYu was speaking. "You need to unwind a bit. Chill out."

Well, it certainly chilled out WeiZhou's wayward thoughts. He was never accepted for who he was. Always falling short of everyone's expectation in one way or other. "Chilling out will not bring my dreams to life, will it?" He stated coldly and moved on.

Unfortunately, his eyes did not know the concept of maintaining his reputation and landed on an open stall of cotton candy. Cotton candy. Pink, soft, fluffy cloud of cavities and diabetes and weight gain. Cotton candy, the sweetest sin humans had committed. The taste buds inside his mouth orgasmed just by the sight.

He did not realize he had been staring at the cobwebs of cotton and probably drooling till a voice penetrated through the pink haze of his mind.

"This is the dream of your life? Cotton candy?"

"What?" He asked with surprise. How did JingYu know? Wait, no! "Of course, not! I'm not a child!" He said, just in case JingYu thought otherwise.

His companion only chuckled all too knowingly. The git.

"Would you like to have some?"

Yes, please. "No. That's not hygienic."

Again that irritated all knowing chuckle. WeiZhou hated it.

"Okay, make two, please," JingYu said to the candy maker.

"I said I don't want any!"

"Oh, I'm not gonna give you any. Don't worry."

What? Why? But- "O-okay. That's fine, then. We're clear on that," WeiZhou said in, what he thought, to be an indifferent tone but he could not help but feel a tad bit disappointed. Not that he wanted it, mind, but...well, it's cotton candy!

The stick swirling on and on, gathering sugary gossamer thread around itself as two adult men looked on, both's mouth watering with childhood taste memories.

In the end JingYu gave one to WeiZhou, who accepted it without any fuss. For politeness' sake, of course. And perhaps for the fear of never being asked again....perhaps.

He was lost inside his mouth, savouring the sticky sweetness when the question came. Because there were bound to be questions when an adult acted like a lost and starved child given its first candy.

"When was the last time you had candy floss?"

That forced WeiZhou's eyes open. When had he closed them anyway?! He reeled back, trying to find the last memory of indulging in such childishness. He opened his mouth to answer, then, realized that he could not remember. So, instead, he licked the corners of his mouth.

"That long, huh?" JingYu asked and for once WeiZhou could not detect any judgement or mockery in his voice.

"I have been busy," WeiZhou said defensively, just to be safe.

"Huh." JingYu took a mouthful of fluff and contemplated looking at the sky. "And when was the last time you were at a carnival?"

WeiZhou hated this line of questioning. He knew his life was miserable in more than one way and did not need others to point that out, all right?

"Middle school," he answered noticing that JingYu was waiting for a reply. He could not exactly remember whether it was in middle school but he did remember it was around that time.

"Middle school? That was.....ages ago! Are you serious?"

The incredulity in JingYu's voice stung.

"We have established it long ago that we've had very different childhoods. Now, if you are done interrogating me, can we move on?" He snapped out and stomped forward.

Following after him, JingYu came up beside and nudged his shoulder lightly, "Hey, I wasn't making fun or anything. I was just-" he ran a hand through his hair, "nevermind."

"Small talk is not your forte, don't try it," WeiZhou stated. He was feeling rather wise and forgiving.

"Roger that! So, what now?"

"You're the carnival expert. You tell me."

And apparently, he was feeling quite generous too.

But JingYu gave him a smile in reply that made WeiZhou cough and gulp and everything became a bit sparkly.

Sparkly? Damn.

XOXOXOX

Wonder of the East: The Spider Girl

WeiZhou squinted at the poster. The hell?

"Is this some kind of Marvel cosplay or something?" He wondered.

"Come on, let's go inside and you'll see."

When WeiZhou looked at JingYu and saw that impish smile he knew nothing good would be waiting for him inside, the absurdity of human spider notwithstanding.

And he was right.

As it turned out, the Wonder of the East was a fourteen-fifteen year old girl with cakey, horrid make up and eight fake limbs......fake plushie limbs. Dangling from the hanging platform she was sitting on.

The girl had a cheap wig of electrocuted dark hair that was tipped with poison green. Her face was covered with eye like bluish circles, lips green. She was wearing a hairy body suit from which six stuffed leg sprouted out.

It was so bad, so terribly, pathetically bad that a bark of shocked laughter left WeiZhou without warning as he stared at this, uh, Spider Girl.

She then extended a hairy hand at a small child standing near, elongated fake nails painted in green with black dots.

The child began to wail.

Although, WeiZhou was not sure if it was for the fear of the human spider or the fact that his parents were subjecting him to the torture of enduring such stupidity.

"That was something," WeiZhou spoke once outside, "that I can confidently say I have never seen before and hope not to see ever again. That was.....god! What a bizarrely awful experience."

JingYu was cackling beside him, shaking his head gleefully. "This way you'd never forget today!"

Well, WeiZhou was never going to forget today for a very long time and for a very different reason other than witnessing that disaster, but Xu WeiZhou was an emotionally constipated man who did not say things like that out loud. So, he just made do with a, "Hmm."

XOXOXOX

WeiZhou had acrophobia and he should have come out clean about it before because now, he was going to die and his body was going to be chucked into space.

They were sitting in what ought be a very crude and rustic version of Ferris Wheels. It was wooden and the height was roughly two and a half storey tall. Still too high for WeiZhou and that was the reason why he was sitting squeezed against JingYu in the open box, eyes shut tight, teeth latched onto a clothed shoulder that was not his own.

"It's- it's okay! You're not gonna fall off. I won't let you!"

Someone, JingYu, yelled into his ears and WeiZhou's teeth sank deeper. He was whimpering too but the sound was drowned in the whoosing air. He would have thanked the Almighty for small mercies had he not been scared shitless.

"It's- okay-"

" 's no'- okaaaaaaaaay!" WeiZhou wailed long enough to convey his current emotion to the other party, then, went back to biting again. He hadn't realized it before but his arms were around JingYu's waist, in a death grip. But the man who would have embarrassed at such a display of intimate weakness was busy counting his blessings.......and biting.

This should not have happened. Everything was going perfectly all right. But then JingYu had indicated at these wheels, wiggling his brows at the sudden paleness of WeiZhou's face and asked if he was scared of heights.

WeiZhou, being the pompous pretentious fool he was, had stood taller, expanding his chest, and said with full confidence, "I have no such fear, don't be an idiot."

Oh boy.

"Are you going to throw up?" JingYu yelled again.

"Mngggufffg," WeiZhou replied.

"Oh, okay. Got it."

XOXOXOX

In the end he did not throw up, though he wished he did. All over JingYu. Instead, he compensated by just glaring hell fire at him.

"You should have told me you were that scared of heights," JingYu asked scratching the back of his neck, looking sheepish. He had a half full bottle of water in his hand that he had bought for WeiZhou.

"I am not scared," WeiZhou denied, still glaring. Because he was Xu WeiZhou who held a PhD in Denial.

"Riiiiiight," JingYu nodded then gestured at WeiZhou's hand. "Eat that. It will make you feel better."

Oh, yes. WeiZhou now had a caramelized hawthorn fruit stick in his hand, tanghulu. He felt like a kid that had been bribed by its parent who did a booboo.

He took a disgruntled bite anyway.

Sweet made everything better. He chewed slowly, rolling the chunk of fruit with his tongue.

"Give me some, will you?" JingYu came near, fully expecting a share.

Which he did not get.

"I don't share. Get your own." And he turned away unabashedly. Sweet delights were not meant to be shared. Period. And if it was childish of him, he was entitled to a bit of uncharacteristic oddity after that ride to hell and back.

"You're an oddball." JingYu's huffed. His remark echoed WeiZhou's own thoughts but the man did not go to buy another tanghulu for himself.

After a moment, WeiZhou was struck by the impoliteness of rejecting JingYu of the candy that the man bought him from his own pocket and offered him grudgingly. "Here, have one. And only one." He warned because he knew this lecherous glutton would sneak more if given the chance.

And the glutton did just that. He took two! But on the bright side, WeiZhou did not let him bite the fruits right off the stick, oh no. He made him take them off the stick. And he took great pleasure watching JingYu making faces at his sticky fingers.

Then he wiped those fingers on his jeans and WeiZhou regretted his decision immediately.

Next time, he would do this moron's jeans a favour and buy him another stick.

They were midway to another booth when it registered to him.

Next time?

What?

XOXOXOX

WeiZhou was not expecting it.

When they approached another booth, he did not look up to see the banner and thought it would be another human-animal hybrid scam and plushie limbs.

He was mistaken as it turned out to be a Wishing Booth.

"Sooo, what do we do here? Pray for something?" He asked looking uncertainly around the cramped plywood booth that had a dispenser box with a token inserter above it.

"No, we make a wish here," JingYu informed, grinning wide.

WeiZhou looked at him dubiously, "O-kay." Because, huh?

"We make a wish for each other, not for ourselves."

Ah! So, that's the catch. It wasn't bad, per say. Actually, it was kind of unifying and inclusive but a bit too cheesy for two adults to enjoy.

"And what would we have to do so that I can get out of this canister quicker?" He was unnecessarily cranky; he knew that but could not help it. After coming here, in this village, in this family, in this fair, everything was throwing him off balance and he did not like it. He had grown up in a life meticulously measured for him. He thrived in sophistication and discipline. And he could not understand, for the life of him, why he was so attracted to this crude, unruly life.

And what was more surprising was that JingYu, or anyone for that matter, did not mind his deliberate rudeness even for a bit and took him on their stride.

"We'll have to insert a coin here, get wishing bands, tie on each other's wrists while making a wish and done," JingYu explained while rummaging his jeans pocket. "Got any small change? Oh, nevermind. I've got it."

That was oddly....beautiful. That was all WeiZhou could think of as he watched JingYu insert the coins and get two bands from the dispenser. They were two fancy and somewhat childish looking braided threads with a bead at the centre of each.

"So, you ready?"

JingYu was looking at him and that stare, that expecting, open stare threw WeiZhou off balance all over again. What he wanted to do was to run away, screaming, grabbing his luggage and flying back to his cold, secure life of predetermined actions and profits, but what he actually did was nodding and saying, "Yes."

The band he was given, the one he was meant to tie on JingYu had a rust coloured bead. JingYu had a black one. He gestured WeiZhou to extend his right arm.

WeiZhou did, eye on the black beaded band in JingYu's hand and heard the other man take a deep breath.

And then he was tying that band around WeiZhou's wrist delicately, not too tight as to cut off the circulation, yet not too loose as to let go.

Tying it while wishing something solely for him, on behalf of him. This should not be special; this should have been foolish, silly, and meaningless.

Only, it was not.

It was not meaningless for WeiZhou, who had grown up learning the only way to life was to gain for himself, to wish for himself, to take and not to give...not without reason. And certainly not for sentiments.

"Here, your turn."

The other band was offered to him and he took it. And he took a deep breath just like his boyfriend. And he tied it around the wider wrist extended to him.

And he made a wish.

For someone else.

XOXOXOX

On their way back, WeiZhou began to pester JingYu to tell him what did he wish for him.

"But it won't come true if I tell you," JingYu said.

"Rubbish. The wish has been done for and it will come true if it is meant to be. Your telling about it has no part in it." WeiZhou would not budge either.

"That's the rule though."

"I didn't know you always play by the rule. In fact, I had the opposite impression."

"I don't."

"Then tell me."

JingYu groaned, rubbed his neck, then, shoved both his hands inside his pockets.

"I wished that you may get the life you always wanted."

WeiZhou was ready to joke, to make fun, to laugh even. He was not ready to stare at the side profile of JingYu's face. Was not ready to look down and watch their feet moving along in unsynchronized manner. Was not ready to notice the scruff on JingYu's trainers.

Was not ready to acknowledge the itch behind his eyes.

"And what did you wish for me?"

The question put a stop to that itch and WeiZhou cleared his throat. "It won't come true if I tell you," he said airily and smirked when JingYu's jaw hung open.

"That's...not- that's unfair! That's cheating!"

"How so? We didn't make a deal of exchanging information. I asked and you shared, that's all."

Grunting, JingYu kicked a pebble off the road and shoved the hands deeper in the pockets, shoulder hunching, brows frowning.

The image brought a smile on WeiZhou. "Just don't fight with your family or hurt them," he said in the same light tone.

When JingYu looked at him with askance, he added, "Then my wish will come true."

The silence that followed them till they reached the house was serene and soft, like the breeze that was blowing on their skin.

As they strolled, side by side, apart but not away, WeiZhou wished.

He wished he could meet JingYu when they were still children, when life was uncomplicated, when WeiZhou still had the courage to be a good human being.

He wished they could meet as teens and sneak out to go to a carnival and ride a Ferris Wheels. Maybe JingYu could have cured him his fear of heights then. They could have bought candy floss with their allowances and spent the night with tummy aches.

He wished he could meet JingY as young adults so that the man could lend him some of his positivity and courage to get out of his grandmother's clutch. To not give his life as ransom for his father's crime.

He wished he could meet JingYu before so that he did not have to cry at the mere thought of someone else caring for him enough to make a wish for his happiness.

He wished his life was not so lonely and bitter and he met this person when there was still time for him to change.

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Any thoughts?😶