They eventually had to leave the courtyard.
That became obvious when Auntie Lin walked past their table for the third consecutive time carrying absolutely nothing.
Xu Chen noticed first.
Aum noticed two seconds later.
"The older woman continues monitoring us."
Xu Chen rubbed once at his forehead. "Please stop phrasing things like we're part of an environmental survey."
"She appears emotionally invested."
"That is unfortunately true."
Aum considered this carefully while Xu Chen stood from the table.
"Should we reassure her."
Xu Chen looked at him with genuine disbelief.
"You want to reassure the sixty-year-old restaurant owner that we are emotionally stable after kissing for nearly an hour?"
Aum paused.
"Your phrasing suggests concern."
"It suggests reality."
The corner of Aum's mouth shifted again.
Xu Chen's chest tightened immediately at the sight.
That had become a problem frighteningly fast.
They settled the bill at the counter. Auntie Lin accepted Xu Chen's payment with the deeply satisfied expression of someone who had just watched an extremely successful romantic drama unfold live in front of her.
"You should come earlier tomorrow if you want breakfast before festival crowds," she said casually while handing back the receipt.
Then, after one very deliberate glance toward Aum:
"And bring him again. The courtyard suits both of you."
Xu Chen nearly lost the ability to function socially.
"Auntie—"
"She is expressing approval," Aum informed him helpfully.
"I am aware."
Auntie Lin looked delighted.
"Young people should be honest when they like someone," she announced while reorganizing chopsticks that clearly did not require reorganization. "Life becomes exhausting otherwise."
Xu Chen closed his eyes briefly.
Beside him, Aum had gone very still.
That silence was dangerous now.
Xu Chen knew it immediately.
Because Aum processed emotionally honest statements like important scientific discoveries.
Xu Chen thanked the woman quickly before the conversation could become permanently unsurvivable and guided Aum outside into the cooler mountain night.
The air beyond the restaurant felt different.
Sharper.
The streets near the old town had grown brighter during the past hour, festival lanterns now glowing fully overhead in long drifting lines of red and gold. Vendors moved through the crowded lanes carrying trays of grilled squid skewers, sesame flatbread, flower cakes, and steaming bamboo baskets releasing clouds of fragrant vapor into the cool night air.
Music echoed through the streets from somewhere farther downhill.
Dali no longer felt sleepy.
It felt awake.
Aum slowed slightly near the edge of the road, his attention moving across everything at once—the fabric banners overhead, the changing light patterns, the density of human movement increasing with every block.
"You are overstimulated," Xu Chen observed quietly.
Aum looked at him immediately.
"Yes."
"Too much?"
A short pause.
"No."
The answer came softer than Xu Chen expected.
Aum's gaze drifted briefly back toward the lanterns overhead.
"It is… unexpectedly beautiful."
Xu Chen watched him instead of the street.
That had become automatic tonight too.
The lantern light moved across Aum's face every time pedestrians passed between them and the hanging banners above. Warm reds. Golds. Flickering shadows.
Xu Chen suddenly understood with dangerous clarity why his father had called Aum unforgettable after seeing him once.
Aum turned slightly.
"You are observing me?"
Xu Chen exhaled quietly before he replied to Aum.
"Yes."
"You do this frequently now."
"So do you."
"That is because I enjoy looking at you."
Xu Chen nearly walked directly into a passing bicycle.
The cyclist cursed loudly while swerving around him.
Xu Chen immediately stepped aside. "Sorry."
Aum watched him carefully.
"You lost environmental awareness."
"That happened because you keep saying things like that unexpectedly."
"They are accurate statements."
"That does not improve survivability."
Aum seemed genuinely thoughtful afterward.
"I will attempt warning signs beforehand."
Xu Chen laughed softly under his breath.
The sound disappeared into the surrounding festival noise.
They reached the car several minutes later beneath the same tree where Xu Chen had parked earlier. The lantern light did not reach this section of the road as strongly, leaving the vehicle partially hidden beneath shifting shadows.
Xu Chen unlocked the doors.
Neither moved immediately afterward.
The atmosphere changed the moment the city noise softened around them.
Closer now.
Quieter.
Aum stood near the passenger side door, watching him steadily in the dim light filtering through the trees above.
Xu Chen became suddenly aware again of everything that had happened inside the restaurant courtyard.
The kissing.
The touching.
The things they had said.
The realization of just how irreversible tonight had become.
Aum stepped slightly closer.
Not enough to corner him.
Enough to alter Xu Chen's breathing instantly anyway.
"There is another question I would like to ask," Aum said softly.
Xu Chen looked at him helplessly.
"That sentence is becoming dangerous."
"I am serious."
"That's why it's dangerous."
Aum's gaze remained fixed on him.
"When humans leave after emotional intimacy," he asked quietly, "why do they appear reluctant to separate physically?"
Xu Chen's throat tightened immediately.
Because the answer existed directly between them already.
Neither of them wanted this night to end yet.
Xu Chen leaned lightly back against the car door.
"You really chose tonight to become curious about absolutely everything, huh."
Aum considered that carefully.
"Before tonight, most emotional variables remained theoretical."
Xu Chen stared at him for one long second.
Then laughed softly again.
"That is somehow the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me."
Aum's expression shifted slightly.
"You continue reacting positively to statements I do not initially identify as romantic."
"That's because you keep accidentally saying devastating things."
Aum stepped closer again.
Xu Chen stopped breathing properly for approximately three seconds.
The lantern glow from farther down the street barely reached them here now, leaving only fragments of light moving across Aum's face whenever cars passed nearby.
Xu Chen could feel warmth from him again.
That alone had become enough to destabilize him.
Aum's voice lowered slightly.
"You still have not answered the question."
Xu Chen looked at him steadily.
Then answered honestly.
"Because once someone matters enough…" His voice softened unconsciously. "Going back to distance feels wrong afterward."
The silence that followed felt enormous.
Aum absorbed the sentence carefully.
Xu Chen watched understanding settle slowly through his expression.
Not sudden.
Deep.
Then Aum asked very quietly:
"Does that mean you do not want distance from me anymore?"
Xu Chen's chest tightened hard enough to ache.
The terrifying part was how easy the answer had become now.
"No," he admitted softly.
Aum's eyes changed instantly afterward.
Xu Chen felt it physically.
Aum moved closer one final step until Xu Chen could feel the warmth of his body even without touching.
Then, very gently, his fingers brushed once against Xu Chen's wrist.
A simple touch.
Xu Chen's pulse reacted immediately anyway.
Aum noticed.
Of course he noticed.
"Here your body did it again."
Xu Chen laughed weakly under his breath.
"You say that like it surprises you now."
"It no longer surprises me." A pause. Then softer: "I think I have started liking it."
The sentence entered Xu Chen somewhere beneath language entirely.
He reached for Aum before thinking properly.
Not rushed.
Not hesitant either.
His hand slid lightly along the side of Aum's neck before pulling him forward into another kiss beneath the lantern-lit shadows beside the car.
This one felt different from the courtyard.
Less uncertain.
More knowing.
Aum responded instantly, one hand settling against Xu Chen's waist while the other tightened briefly against the car door beside him as though grounding himself physically had become necessary.
Xu Chen felt warmth spread through his entire body again.
Slow.
Deep.
The city noise faded around them.
Festival music drifted distantly through Dali's glowing streets while lantern light flickered through tree branches overhead.
And standing there beneath the shifting shadows beside the car, Xu Chen realized with terrifying certainty that he no longer remembered how life had felt before Aum entered it.