Kiss Me, Kill Me, Forget Me

Jiang Qi and Shen Yi were now seated on the couch, not saying anything. The room was filled with a stillness that was as a reflect of the earlier tension between them. Shen Yi sat with a blank face, yet his eyes held a quiet curiosity, and after a moment, he slowly turned to Jiang Qi and broke the silence.

"How long ago was it?" he asked, his voice calm but low.

Jiang Qi glanced at him briefly, then looked away as he answered plainly, "Seven years."

Shen Yi gave a small nod, his brows lowering slightly as he tried to think back to what seven years ago meant to him, and that's when something clicked in his memory. That was 2012—the same year when his memory was first wiped clean, leaving only the memories from when he was a kid to when he became a professional assassin.

He remembered what his uncle had told him back then, that it was necessary to erase everything just in case Shen Yi was ever caught, and maybe that was the same time when his memories with Jiang Qi had also been taken from him. He slowly raised one hand and pushed his front hair behind with a tired sigh, his mind filled with fragments he could no longer reach.

"Don't flex about that," Jiang Qi said suddenly, a smile tugging at his lips as he stood up from the couch.

Shen Yi looked at him but said nothing, just letting his eyes follow Jiang Qi who was already heading towards the kitchen.

"I'll make something for us," Jiang Qi added as he walked away, clearly trying to change the subject.

"Do you need help?" Shen Yi asked as he stood up as well, his voice quiet but steady.

Jiang Qi paused mid-step and turned to look at him, and a smirk now curved on his lips before he let out a short chuckle, then another and another. Shen Yi stared at him, a little confused by his reaction.

"Did I say something funny?" he asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.

Jiang Qi rubbed his nose and looked at him from the corner of his eye, his voice amused as he asked, "Since when did you learn how to cook?"

Shen Yi slipped both hands into his pockets and replied plainly, "I live alone, so I cook for myself."

That answer made Jiang Qi laugh louder, though it wasn't the kind of laughter that filled the house—it was short but clearly amused.

"You should avoid the kitchen at all costs," Jiang Qi said as he turned and walked into the kitchen.

Shen Yi frowned and followed him, stopping at the doorway as he asked, "Why?"

Jiang Qi was already picking out some vegetables they had bought earlier, and without looking up, he replied, "Because the last time you said that, I almost died of food poisoning."

Shen Yi raised a brow, trying to see whether Jiang Qi was exaggerating, but he noticed that although there was a grin on his face, his words were serious.

"Really?" Shen Yi asked, still standing at the door.

Jiang Qi nodded as he started cutting the vegetables with practiced hands, his movements quick and neat.

Shen Yi watched him closely, and something about the way Jiang Qi moved struck him—there weren't many rich kids who could handle things like this, not with such efficiency and ease. He was impressed but he didn't verbally comment on it.

Eventually, when the food was ready, Shen Yi helped Jiang Qi set the dishes on the dining table. They worked together without speaking much, just moving in sync like it was something they had done many times before.

After they sat down, Jiang Qi handed him the bowl. "Try it," he said.

Shen Yi picked some noodles from the large bowl with his chopsticks and placed them into his own bowl before tasting it. He chewed slowly and gave a small nod, then with a faint, almost unnoticeable smile, he said, "It's good."

Jiang Qi smiled back at him and urged, "Have more."

As they continued eating, Jiang Qi looked up and asked, "So, what do you want to do next after this?"

Shen Yi paused, his chopsticks still in the bowl, and thought for a few seconds before answering, "I don't know," then added, "Is there anything we can do around here?"

Jiang Qi set his chopsticks down and leaned back a little before he began to speak, and this time, he didn't stop at a simple answer.

"There's a lot, actually," he said. "You were the one who showed me most of it. Actually, there's a lake not far from here. We used to fish there because we didn't have much food, and we'd end up eating what we caught, even when it tasted like rubber..."

Jiang Qi kept talking while Shen Yi just stared at him, his gaze softening slowly as he listened to the stories—stories that sounded like they belonged to someone else, yet somehow they somehow brought an unfamiliar feeling of warmth, that he didn't dislike. Jiang Qi's smile when he narrated strangely made him feel at ease, and he unconsciously began smiling.

He found himself wishing he could remember all that Jiang Qi was saying. For someone like him who had spent so many years alone, it was hard to believe that someone had once stayed beside him like that. He couldn't understand how Jiang Qi had managed to befriend him when back then, he was nothing but a locked box of pain and silence. His wounds had not healed at the time, at least not the way they had now, and yet somehow, Jiang Qi had gotten close enough to him that Shen Yi had brought him to this place. Shen Yi didn't even remember buying the cottage, but deep down he knew this house was one of his own hideouts.

For him to have brought Jiang Qi here, it must have meant that Jiang Qi had once mattered to him more than anyone else ever had. Even without the memories, something in his heart seemed to remember, and that thought stayed with him long after the table fell into silence again.