Stay With Me

Ch 15. The Promise

Or, we can get through anything...if we promise to stick together.

Feng He woke up to find Cheng Qing staring at him. The expression on his face was so sweet that he couldn't help but reach up and kiss his nose. "Good morning."

"Good morning...my love." Cheng Qing responded and imitated Feng He's move by placing a peck on his nose. "How did you sleep?"

"The best I ever have." Feng He whispered. "What got into you last night?"

Feng He wasn't complaining. Their love making had left him breathless and satisfied but even more than that it had made him feel loved. It was so good to see Cheng Qing like that. Feng He was intent on making it a habit to have the other man lose his control; let everything go and just be himself. The rewards were well worth it, although he might never get out of bed again if that was the inducement. Then again an addiction to the man he loved wouldn't be so bad, would it?

"I read your letter." Cheng Qing confessed after a long while.

His statement caught Feng He midway through his musings. He sounded uncertain but he was also smiling happily. It was hard for Feng He to decide how to respond. The letter and everything he had revealed in it still made him blush all the way to the roots of his dark, short hair and knowing for certain that Cheng Qing knew his feelings only made him that much more self-conscious.

"My letter?" Feng He asked even though he knew very well what the other man was talking about.

"The one you wrote for me." Cheng Qing clarified. He was trying to read Feng He's face to make sure he wasn't making another mistake like he had the last time but his boyfriend wasn't giving him much to go on.

"Ohh..." Feng He said.

Really...was that an actual response? Cheng Qing would have strangled him if he didn't already love him so much. "Is that all you can say?"

"I wrote that a few weeks ago and when you didn't say anything I thought..." Feng He shrugged.

Cheng Qing knew that move. It was code for, 'he didn't know what to say or he didn't want to say what he knew'. Either way, Feng He was trying to spare him and he didn't want any part of it.

"You thought what?" Cheng Qing asked insistently.

Feng He shrugged again and just kept quiet but his eyes were speaking volumes. He was afraid that Cheng Qing didn't feel the same way he did. Or perhaps he did feel the same way. Both prospects were equally terrifying.

"I found it under the table on Friday morning when I was cleaning." Cheng Qing finally explained hoping that would ease some of the tension that had crept in between them.

"Ohh..."

"Did you want me to read it or not?" Cheng Qing finally asked.

He was no longer willing to guess because the chances that he would get it wrong were increasing just as the stakes for their conversation rose. That letter already meant so much to him but it would never replace the feelings he had for Feng He. Feelings he thought were already so strong when they started but had grown exponentially since then. Feelings that – for the first time – he believed Feng He reciprocated in full.

If the fall from a single note penned by Meng Meng as a joke had nearly destroyed them. He had no idea what a letter so complete altering would do to them if Feng He didn't give him something more than, 'Ohh.'

"I wanted you to read it." Feng He explained quietly when Cheng Qing didn't say anything more. "I just didn't realise it had fallen on the ground. I thought you didn't have anything to say...or perhaps you wanted to wait until the exams were through. I didn't want to pressure you..."