Page 79 of From Beijing, With Love

Be brave.

Like someone who’d lingered at the edge of a cliff for far too long, only now finding the courage to take the leap, Yang leaned in. He kissed Daniel on the bench where his parents had met, feeling like he was in free fall.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOURYang

“Can I borrow Daniel tomorrow night?” Yang asked Poppy in the library. He spoke in hushed Mandarin, even though Daniel was several stacks away.

“Depends. What are you up to?” Poppy asked with a head tilt, her eyes sharp.

Yang picked out a book from the shelf just to occupy his hands. “Not much.”

“Then we can speak English.” Poppy smiled as she leaned on the metal bookcase, her tone teasing. “My Mandarin is so rusty.”

“I’m planning something. A surprise.” Yang brought the conversation back to Mandarin.

Yang wasn’t going to let Daniel leave for Japan without taking him out on a real date. When they kissed on the granite bench where his parents met, it felt like a first. It wasn’t their first kiss, far from it, but it carried the weight of one.

“He’s all yours, but …” Poppy paused, biting her bottom lip. “Be careful with him, okay? I just don’t want him to get hurt.”

“I won’t do that.”

“The point is not whether you will, just that you can.” Letting out a sigh, she looked in Daniel’s direction. “If you repeat this, I’ll kill you.” She waited until Yang nodded before she continued in a hushed tone, “This stupid breakup really messed with him. I’ve never seen him like this before.”

A pang of irrational jealousy radiated through Yang. He had no claim to Daniel’s future, let alone Daniel’s past. But he couldn’t stand the idea that maybe he was just a distraction.

“No, you are not just the rebound guy. You’d be a total idiot to think that,” Poppy said with an impatient hand wave and an eye roll. “And you’re not listening. Danny let Taylor in, spent six months showing him who he really was. Then the asshole went and cheated with someone who was nothing like Danny.”

Yang clenched his fists. He understood then. Daniel’s constant apologies; that self-deprecating laugh, like he was the punch line; not asking for what he really wanted. All were habits honed out of self-preservation.

When their eyes met, she sighed again, deflating. “I see the way he is when he’s with you, the way he looks at you. I’m just worried about what it’ll be like for him to leave. And he is leaving, and soon. Do you understand?”

Yang understood. Of course he did. The logic of how time worked hadn’t escaped him. Then Daniel looked their way, an open book in hand and his too-big smile on his face, making Yang ache for something he hadn’t quite lost and never quite had.

“I get it.” Yang strained his lips into a smile. “I just want him to have a nice memory in Xi’an. That’s all.”

A lie with an ounce of truth, his own form of self-preservation.

After they left the campus, Yang walked Daniel and Poppy to the department store so they could pick up wine and face masks for what they called “wine o’clock.” When they were once again in front of the hotel, Yang got tongue-tied. He didn’t know how to ask Daniel out, which was ludicrous, considering how many times they’d already gone out.

“You are welcome to join us. You could use a face mask for all that sun damage.” Poppy gestured to his face.

“I can’t. Family dinner.” Yang stuck his hands in his pockets. The hotel doors opened with a whoosh in front of them, impatient. “But maybe we could do something tomorrow?”

“Count me out. I have a Bingmayong tour, so I’ll be back late.” Poppy shrugged.

“Is the tour guide cute?” Daniel asked, before flashing Yang a smile. “And what’s this Bing … whatever you just said?”

“The Terracotta Army. It’s a big deal in Xi’an.”

Daniel’s face lit up. “Oh, I know those.”

“You do?” Yang couldn’t keep the surprise out of his voice. His hometown wasn’t exactly world famous. Nine out of ten people he met in Cambridge had never heard of Xi’an, let alone the Bingmayong.

“Of course. I’m very cultured, I’ll have you know. I live for history,” Daniel said. Yang exchanged a look with Poppy, which elicited an indignant grunt from Daniel. “The emperor of the Qing dynasty was scared of being alone in the afterlife, so he commissioned a bunch of life-sized statues to be buried along with him. Am I wrong?”

Actually, he was. It was the Qin dynasty, but Yang wasn’t about to correct him when he’d gone through the effort of learning.

“Dumb dumb, wrong dynasty.” Poppy laughed. “And I would take you with me, babe, but it’s not your scene. One, it’s forty kilometers away, so a long drive. Two, the tour is in Mandarin. Three, it’s a historical site, so the toilets are—”