The sun began lowering slowly over Old Dali by the time the three of them entered the tea café.
Evening light softened the city into gold.
The streets outside still pulsed with festival movement and music, but the narrow café tucked between two silver shops felt calmer than the crowded roads surrounding it. Warm lantern light glowed beneath dark wooden beams while steam drifted upward from clay teapots carried between tables by exhausted staff moving carefully through the dinner crowd.
Traditional Bai string music played softly somewhere near the back courtyard.
Xu Chen exhaled quietly the moment they stepped inside.
Aum noticed immediately.
"Environmental stress reduced."
Meera pointed toward him dramatically while sliding into the nearest empty table.
"You know what? I need everyone to stop validating my concerns about how terrifyingly attentive he is."
Warm amusement flickered through Aum's expression again as he sat beside Xu Chen.
Not across.
Beside.
The movement happened naturally now.
Xu Chen did not even think about it until Meera's eyebrows rose slightly.
Then immediately lowered again.
Not teasing this time.
Observing.
The tea café itself smelled warm and familiar:
roasted pu-erh,
wood smoke,
fried sesame pastries,
jasmine blossoms floating in ceramic bowls near the entrance.
Outside the open wooden windows, lantern light swayed softly over the crowded evening streets while distant festival drums echoed through Old Dali beneath the deepening blue of twilight.
A server approached their table carrying handwritten menus.
Meera ordered immediately.
"Cold rose tea. Extra ice."
The server nodded before turning toward Xu Chen.
"The usual?" she asked automatically.
Xu Chen blinked once in mild surprise.
Then laughed softly.
"Apparently I come here too often."
"You come here every field season," Meera said flatly.
Aum looked toward Xu Chen thoughtfully.
"You demonstrate location attachment behavior repeatedly with familiar environments."
Xu Chen rubbed once at his forehead.
"One day I'm genuinely banning you from scientific language permanently."
"That outcome appears improbable."
Warm laughter escaped Meera this time.
Then she froze slightly.
Because Xu Chen laughed too.
Naturally.
Without restraint.
The sound seemed to surprise her more than anything else all day.
Xu Chen noticed immediately.
"What."
Meera looked at him carefully across the table.
"You know what's weird?"
"That sentence never leads anywhere safe."
"You're easier to talk to today."
The observation settled quietly between them.
Xu Chen looked briefly toward the lantern-lit street outside the café windows.
Then back toward Meera.
"I wasn't aware I was difficult before."
Meera stared at him.
"A-Chen." Her voice softened slightly. "You once answered a casual 'how are you' with a three-minute explanation about air quality degradation."
Aum immediately looked interested.
"That does appear contextually excessive."
Xu Chen pointed accusingly between both of them.
"You are forming alliances against me repeatedly."
Warm amusement touched Aum's face again.
God.
Xu Chen genuinely thought the emotional impact of those small expressions should have stabilized by now.
It absolutely had not.
The server returned with tea moments later, carefully arranging ceramic cups and small plates across the dark wooden table.
Steam rose warmly into the evening air.
Without thinking, Xu Chen reached automatically toward the edge of the tray just before one of the cups slid slightly against uneven wood.
At the exact same moment—
Aum did too.
Their hands brushed briefly beside the ceramic cup.
Both paused.
Meera watched the entire thing happen in complete silence.
Not the touch itself.
The instinct.
The automatic movement toward the same problem at the same time.
Xu Chen slowly pulled his hand back first.
Aum steadied the cup carefully before setting it upright.
Then the two of them looked at each other instinctively afterward.
Like they always did now.
The café lanterns reflected softly across Aum's eyes while festival music drifted faintly through the open windows behind him.
And suddenly Xu Chen realized something terrifying again:
Aum had started returning to him automatically.
Not physically.
Internally.
Every reaction.
Every observation.
Every moment.
His attention always circled back toward Xu Chen now.
The realization settled deeply.
Meera noticed it too.
Xu Chen could tell from the sudden quietness in her expression.
Not teasing anymore.
Thinking.
The server finally left the table.
Outside, the festival streets glowed brighter as dusk settled fully over Old Dali. Lanterns illuminated the stone roads while crowds thickened again beneath drifting flower petals and music echoing through the old city.
Inside the café, however, warmth gathered slowly around the small table.
Xu Chen lifted his teacup carefully.
Aum watched the movement automatically.
God.
There it was again.
That constant attention.
Not overwhelming.
Not possessive.
Steady.
Meera leaned back slightly in her chair.
"You know what's bothering me most?" she said eventually.
Xu Chen narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"The fact that something is bothering you at all."
"No." She pointed lazily toward Aum. "It's the way he looks at you."
Xu Chen nearly inhaled tea incorrectly.
Across from them, Meera continued calmly:
"Not romantically. I already accepted that disaster hours ago."
"Wonderful," Xu Chen muttered weakly.
"I mean specifically." She looked thoughtfully toward Aum now. "He listens to you like everything you say matters."
The café quieted around the sentence.
Xu Chen's chest tightened softly.
Because suddenly nobody was joking anymore.
Aum answered first.
"It does matter."
Simple.
Immediate.
Certain.
God.
Xu Chen looked down toward his tea because eye contact had become structurally dangerous again.
Meera watched him carefully.
Then her gaze softened unexpectedly.
Not amused.
Not shocked.
Gentle.
And Xu Chen realized suddenly that she understood now.
Not just that he loved Aum.
But why.