[风情 | FengQing]: This Is Why Birthdays Are The Best! [TGCF ABO Universe]

2. He Remembers My Birthday!

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The next day, Mu Qing went to work a little early. It was a Sunday, so he was supposed to open up at about noon, but it was raining so heavily that he doubted anyone would be showing up so early in the day.

- I wonder if it's gonna be so crappy tomorrow too... -  he mumbled under his nose.

Tomorrow was his birthday.

He sighed, getting into cleaning and the usual stocking of the place up with a case of beer and a case of wine. That had to be enough for now; the whiskey and gin bottles were handy and at the ready on the shelves behind his back. Feng Xin was going to be arriving towards 6, as per usual, so he was bored, the jazz music was making him sleepy and he was lazily serving the two people who only ordered tea, wondering whether Hua Cheng would return today again, after yesterday's brawl with the irritable Alpha.

He felt a little hot today, restless, and wondered whether that was why the two visitors were staring at him weirdly all the time. Was there something on his face? He stole a quick look in the mirror – there was a large mirror panel, very old-fashioned, behind the shelves behind his back, which created the illusion of many  bottles – there weren't that many available, at all. Bourbon was a rare request. It was sleepy, small jazz club, so most people preferred cocktails, or wine. Hmm, come to think about it, the only people who ever ordered hard liquor were Feng Xin and Hua Cheng. 

Xie Lian never drank, ever. Because once drunk, things would often get... hmmmm.

Mu Qing stared at his own reflection now. Yea, he didn't like that nose, not at all... He thought that his eye color was dull too. He was... uninteresting. But yes, today his cheeks were too flushed, and he looked as if he was coming down with something.

Dammit. Could this be getting  any worse?!

It was going to be one hell of a birthday, for sure! His mom had certainly planned something of a "secret" surprise party for him, as if he was 12 still! He frowned. He wished his parents would treat him like the adult he felt he was becoming. Most of his friends considered him a sissy boy, and he hated that so much!

He placed his palm on his forehead, checking for fever foolishly, but also nervously putting his long hair in order in the process.

He clenched his teeth. He gave himself a deadline: a month. One more month. After that – to hell with his parents!  He was going to get an appointment with a doctor himself! He bit his lips – what if he was a Beta?

No. Impossible.

Please, god, no!

Dammit!

- What are you staring at, idiot? – Hua Cheng's voice thundered behind him; he had never even noticed him entering.

He turned around sharply, ashamed. Hua Cheng was frowning too; his long black hair was hanging pitifully, too wet because of the rain outside, and all in all too long  –  he looked just as miserable as the today's weather. Mu Qing thought that he was imagining things, but the Beta looked paler, somehow... sickly. Thinner, for sure.

Good god! He was... He was... pining. He was pining without his Alpha.

Was this what it felt like? True love? The one true mate?

Xie Lian was away for a couple of days  –  his family was organizing some sort of charity fundraiser in another state, and he had to attend, it was not debatable: all high society pure bloods would be there. Hua Cheng had to stay behind, because of his job, but the two had been saying their farewells for three days beforehand, and they had looked so pathetic that Feng Xin had been truly entertained by their whining and all the shameless petting too. Ever since, he had been calling Hua Cheng "Dianxia's little bitch", and Mu Qing had been amused by this joke for a while, but then... once Xie Lian was indeed gone, it suddenly wasn't so funny any more. Watching the Beta miss him was.... painful.