Oct 21

7:33pm

how are you feeling now

much better, thank you

that's good

and remember what i told you

xiao is just hurt rn, he didn't mean those things he said

yeah, i know

thanks a lot tho hu

you've been a great friend and i can never thank you enough for that

you don't need to thank me

i am always happy to help you

well if you ever need anything, come to me

will do, thank you

now go rest and do smth to cheer yourself up

i will

but i'm still worried for xiao

give the guy some time, he'll be fine

alright

thanks again, i'll ttyl

ba bye ttyl 😘

Y/n reacted with 😘

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Oct 22

7:33am

are

you

alive

no. i'm dead

ok

y/n is rlly worried abt you, y'know

i'm a dumbass

mhm

so you also agree

sorry but you are being a bit shitty to y/n rn

again.

i know

and i do regret what i said to them yesterday

look, i know you're worried abt qiqi

but so are we

and i know you blame yourself for it

but like we all keep telling you, it's not your fault‼️

alr

sigh

what are you going to do now

idk

let me give you a small hint

talk to y/n!!!

idk what to say

oh my archons, do i really need to give you ANOTHER hint

lol

wtf was that... who taught you to say lol...

but anyway, start off with an apology or smth

alr, i'll try

good

and don't you dare break y/n's heart again.

i didn't do it intentionally

yeah i know, i know

but still

good luck

not pressuring you or anything but don't mess this up!

wow so reassuring

but thanks, i guess

ok now bye. it's 7am, i am tired and done being a relationship helper thingy person

bye

Hu Tao reacted with 👍

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Xiao had been thinking of his apology to you all day. Because of this, he wasn't able to pay attention to a single class. Though, that didn't matter to him right now.

Since right now, the only thing on his mind was you.

But it was the end of the school day again, and Xiao needed to visit Qiqi at the hospital.

However this time, he didn't want to go. He felt like he was making himself feel even worse by visiting her only to see no progress in the end.

So he was headed home. That was, until he received a text message.

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I will meet you at the hospital today. See you there. 👍.

oh, alright

Seen at 3:51pm

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The male sighed as he placed his phone back into his pocket. 'I guess I need to visit Qiqi today, after all.'

He then turned around and began walking to the hospital. However, Xiao took his sweet time getting there. And this was because he currently had a lot on his mind and seeing Qiqi in that condition again would only add more onto his plate of burdens.

But nonetheless, when he did arrive, he took a deep breath and walked to Qiqi's room.

Although, his thoughts remained dark. He still felt an aching sensation within his entire body. He was afraid to go.

But those thoughts soon vanished when he heard growing unusual noises the closer he got to Qiqi's room. It sounded like... laughing?

This immediately caught Xiao's attention and without realizing, his legs began moving faster. He needed to know where that laughter was coming from.

He finally got to Qiqi's room and slowly opened the door, revealing a sight that was rather shocking.

His eyes widened and his entire body froze. Qiqi was awake. And you had been sitting beside her with a cheerful smile on your face. The male simply stared at the both of you, completely speechless.

"You're..." He was barely able to find any words to say. "You're— awake?"

The little girl only smiled in response, with you glancing at him. He took a step back. All of the negative thoughts that had constantly bothered him began fading away.

S̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶l̶i̶v̶e̶.

She's alive.

S̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶s̶u̶r̶v̶i̶v̶e̶.̶

She survived.

Y̶o̶u̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶d̶e̶s̶e̶r̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶h̶a̶p̶p̶y̶.̶ ̶

You can be happy.

I̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶f̶a̶u̶l̶t̶.̶ ̶

It never was.

Y̶o̶u̶'̶r̶e̶ ̶w̶e̶a̶k̶.̶

You never were.

Y̶o̶u̶ ̶h̶u̶r̶t̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶.̶ ̶

You did everything you could.

And no matter how hard Xiao tried to resist, his vision became blurry as small tears formed in his eyes.

His heart felt lighter, his body felt looser, and he finally felt a sense of relief. He didn't know how much this moment meant to him until now.

He was happy. After waiting for so many months, he was finally able to see Qiqi awake and well.

A small smile formed upon his lips as he quickly wiped away the few tears on his face. Xiao walked over to the little girl and gently patted her head.

"How do you feel?" He asked her quietly, almost whispering. The little girl's smile widened. "Qiqi feels— better. Thank you." She replied, yawning in between.

The male then turned to face you. "When did she wake up?"

Before you were able to answer, the nurse behind you answered instead. "She woke up a couple of hours ago. She had already been awake when Y/n arrived," the nurse explained briefly with a wide smile.

You nodded. "Yeah."

"Oh. Will she be alright then?" He asked, looking back at Qiqi.

"She will be fine. You know, Qiqi's lucky to have woken up. It's a miracle. All of us believed she wouldn't be able to, but it's almost as if she was granted a second life," the nurse responded gleefully, walking over to the little girl.

"And of course, it's thanks to that young man as well. After all, he paid for all of Qiqi's expenses," she continued. This had caught Xiao's attention, causing the male to quickly glance at the nurse.

"What young man?" He raised a brow.

"I believe his name was Zixin. He spoke something about redemption, I don't remember exactly. But he paid for her all of her bills, hence why we were able to give her everything she needed."

"Oh, Zixin," you mumbled to yourself, recalling who he was.

"I see." Xiao crossed his arms. "We should go now. Qiqi needs rest," he suggested, to which you nodded at.

"We'll be back tomorrow!" You waved goodbye to the nurse as you and Xiao walked outside of the room. The nurse waved back with a smile.

The both of you eventually arrived at the exit of the hospital, where you then saw Zhongli. The older male approached the both of you with his hands in his pockets.

"Greetings, Xiao and Y/n," he smiled majestically. This man may have been broke, but he still always managed to appear so elegant.

"Hey Zhongli," you waved at him. "I'm assuming you both have already visited Qiqi?" He asked, to which you both nodded at.

"Ah, I see. Then I'm hoping that eased your worries."

"It did. Have you visited Qiqi yet?" Xiao asked, glancing up at his very tall guardian. Zhongli nodded with a smile.

"Should we head back home now?" The guardian asked the smaller male. Xiao then faced you. "I'll walk Y/n home first," he said bluntly, to which you just awkwardly nodded at.

"Alright then, as you wish. I will meet you back home." Zhongli bid farewell and walked away. "Bye bye," you said as the brunette took his leave.

"Let's go," Xiao said, catching your attention. "Alright," you agreed.

But it didn't take long for you to wish you hadn't agreed to Xiao walking you home at all. The walk home was incredibly awkward. You prayed to the archons for it to stop but it remained quiet the whole way.

You exhaled in relief when you finally saw your house. 'It's over!!'

Walking to your door, you turned around to face Xiao who, to your surprise, seemed to be deep in thought. This immediately worried you. "Are you ok?"

The male gave no response. His eyebrows were furrowed and he had a finger on his chin, still thinking deeply about archons know what.

You walked over to him slowly and patted his shoulder. "Hellooo, are. you. ok?" You repeated, causing him to finally look at you.

"I'm sorry," he suddenly apologized, which you were taken aback by. "It's ok— you don't need to apologize for zoning out."

"No, not that. My apology is for what I said to you yesterday. For my ignorance. And for hurting you," he said in a low tone and with a serious expression.

Your eyes slightly widened, but you couldn't say that you weren't expecting this. A bright smile made its way onto your face.

"Hmm. It's alright, I guess— however," you took a step forward with a cheeky grin. "You should make it up to me."

"And how can I do that?" Xiao inquired as he raised a brow and crossed his arms. "I don't know, you figure it out el oh el," you said, jokingly.

But Xiao didn't take your words as a joke at all. He thought hard about what he could do and when an idea finally seemed to have popped up in his head, his entire face bloomed red as his eyebrows furrowed.

This piqued your curiosity. "What is it?" You asked him.

The male clicked his tongue as he took a step forward, barely leaving any room between the two of you. You felt your cheeks heat up when he began leaning his face towards yours.

Although he looked heavily embarrassed doing so, Xiao placed a small kiss upon your lips. You, not being prepared for it at all, began panicking.

You felt your heartbeat rapidly increase as Xiao pulled away. But he seemed far more flustered than you were.

So flustered that he could hardly maintain his usual nonchalant face. His entire face was far redder than yours, but you decided not to tease him about that right now.

He averted his eyes from you and sighed, pretending that he wasn't internally regretting what he did. "Was that enough?"

You quickly shook your head, pulling yourself together. "Yeah, that was good enough, I guesss."

Xiao then turned around, "I should go now. Bye," he quickly uttered while walking away, not even giving you a chance to say goodbye back.

You were confused on why he was in such a hurry but you waved goodbye anyway.

Though, what you didn't know was the soft smile that appeared on Xiao's face the moment he began walking the other way. The smile that you would've seen if he stayed any longer.

But of course, being the tsundere he was, there was no way he could've let you seen it.