The transparent cocktail glass had been chilled, its surface coated with a layer of frosted condensation that delivered a sharp cold bite the moment it pressed against his lips. Yet as the cocktail flowed into his mouth, Xiao Jingwen’s hand remained exceptionally steady—even while Lin Congzhi was still running his fingers over the Roger Dubuis timepiece on his wrist.

For the second drink: vodka, crushed ice, lime juice, a splash of plum wine, garnished with a lemon wheel.

Xiao Jingwen brought it to his lips once more. This time, Lin Congzhi tilted his head back, looking up at him through half-lidded eyes. Tapping his fingertips against the watch face, he remarked, “This watch looks pretty nice. Good taste.”

The moment those words left his mouth, it seemed to strike a sensitive nerve in Xiao Jingwen. He set the glass down with a sudden thud, sending the half-filled cocktail sloshing back and forth inside. Caught off guard mid-sip, Lin Congzhi glared at him in confusion.

Yet in the very next second, his defiance completely evaporated. Xiao Jingwen unbuckled the watch directly from his wrist and shoved it straight into his hand: “You were the one who picked this out for me.”

He uttered those words through gritted teeth.

Knowing he had blundered, Lin Congzhi held the watch and lowered his head to take a closer look—and sure enough, it was true. Five years ago, on June 22nd—Xiao Jingwen’s birthday—Lin Congzhi, who had just graduated and had zero income, had stared at this Roger Dubuis Knights of the Round Table inside the display case for a long time, lamenting his empty pockets. And empty they certainly were; for a two-million-yuan item, he had just graduated, and there was no way he could turn to his mother and demand two million yuan outright.

Back then, Xiao Jingwen had paid for it on the spot, saying: I’ll buy it for you to give to me.

That logic had sounded completely airtight at the time.

And yet, here he was, having completely forgotten about it.

The twelve micro-sculpted Knights of the Round Table stood at the twelve hour markers. Back then, Lin Congzhi had genuinely adored it, feeling it suited Xiao Jingwen impeccably.

“S-Sorry…” Lin Congzhi gripped the watch, barely daring to lift his head to look at him.

“…” Xiao Jingwen remained silent. Standing behind the bar, he felt a wave of stifling frustration trapped in his chest, his eyes brimming with a storm of emotions, utterly exasperated—how could he forget, how could he possibly forget, and even compliment his “good taste” as if nothing had happened? What taste did he even have?

He felt aggrieved, furious, and intensely suffocated all at once.

Scanning the area beneath the counter, Xiao Jingwen pulled out a bottle of mineral water. The nearby bartender started to chime in that while the water looked unassuming, it was actually quite expensive, but Xiao Jingwen simply pulled out his wallet from his pocket, fished out several Euro bills, and handed them over. The bartender blinked in astonishment before accepting the cash.

Xiao Jingwen grabbed an empty glass, filled it halfway with ice, topped it up with the mineral water, and downed it in heavy, continuous gulps. Watching him, Lin Congzhi shrank back slightly; at a moment like this, anything he said would make him sound like a heartless jerk, so he could only lie low and observe.

Truth be told, a faint thought crossed Lin Congzhi’s mind right then: Should I coax him a little? Glancing secretly at Xiao Jingwen, he quietly pulled the cocktail over, lifted it himself, took a sip, and offered praise: “It’s really delicious—even better than what Coco makes.”

He thought to himself: Will this work?

Looking at him again, his expression seemed to have softened slightly.

He quickly offered an explanation: “Hey, about earlier… well, the lighting here was too dim, so I didn’t see it clearly. Looking at it closely now… I can tell clearly. It really is the one I picked out—the Twelve Knights of the Round Table, right?”

He still felt guilty, though, because he genuinely had forgotten.

Xiao Jingwen finished the glass of ice water as if swallowing an icicle. The upside was that he had cooled down. As a new track blasted through the bar, vibrating the glassware to the brink of cracking, he began preparing the third cocktail for Lin Congzhi.

Furious as he was, the drink still had to be made; this CEO had always kept business and personal matters strictly separate.

Lime juice mixed with single malt whiskey, with only a single drop of syrup added alongside an overwhelming amount of fresh lime juice—Lin Congzhi felt his mouth pucker just watching it. Taking a tiny sip, it tasted even sourer.

Just as he was about to raise his head to call him out for being petty, syrup was poured in. Xiao Jingwen picked up a bamboo skewer from the fruit platter behind him, impaled a strawberry, dropped it in, and said, “Stir it yourself.”

“Oh.”

Because this was a country where same-sex marriage was legal—and one of the earliest to pass such laws—many same-sex couples in the bar were acting quite intimate.

As the night wore on, the crowd grew thicker. A male couple sitting to Lin Congzhi’s right was already locked in a passionate kiss, sharing a single olive between their lips. The sight made Lin Congzhi feel rather awkward, especially since another couple sat to his left as well.

Retracting his gaze to stop looking around, Lin Congzhi lowered his eyes to examine the watch in his hands.

In truth, once the memory resurfaced, many details came rushing back with it. On Xiao Jingwen’s birthday, he had gifted him a Victorian brooch. It wasn’t expensive and the craftsmanship was somewhat rough, purchased with the money he earned from selling two paintings. After buying it, he had modified it himself; it was a classic rose brooch, but Lin Congzhi had detached the rose section and added a knight’s sword behind it.

He carefully studied the twelve Knights of the Round Table inside the watch, all facing inward toward the center of the dial.

As more people flooded in, the already cozy space of the bar grew cramped, forcing nearly everyone to utter an “Excuse me” just to nudge past.

While Lin Congzhi was staring intently at the watch, a blond, blue-eyed man behind him noticed he appeared to be alone, his slender, lonely figure standing out starkly between the affectionate couples on either side.

It started with a strong waft of cologne, followed by a hand resting on his shoulder, fingers gently flicking the curled tips of his hair. Lin Congzhi jumped in surprise, nearly tumbling off the high stool.

The blond man chuckled, pulled his hand back, and raised a hand toward Xiao Jingwen behind the bar, pointing at Lin Congzhi as he said in English: “Buy this gentleman a Manhattan.”

Lin Congzhi looked silently toward Xiao Jingwen, wanting to convey ‘I’m innocent,’ but Xiao Jingwen wasn’t looking at him.

Setting his tools down, Xiao Jingwen replied in English: “I’m off the clock.”

Then, loosely curling his hand into a fist, he extended his wrist to Lin Congzhi: “Mind helping me put this on?”

He even tacked on: “Thanks.”

Intentionally spoken in English, the blond man beside them caught the hint, nodding politely to Xiao Jingwen in apology.

Xiao Jingwen rounded his way out from behind the bar. As he passed behind Lin Congzhi, he tapped his shoulder with a finger. Lin Congzhi gulped down the final sip of his drink and followed him out of the bar.

Having downed three cocktails, he didn’t feel much right away, but once the buzz kicked in later, the drunkenness would take hold.

Lin Congzhi rather enjoyed this buffer period while waiting for the buzz to hit. Nighttime Seville was still bustling with tourists, streetlight illumination casting a glow over the streets where Lin Congzhi spotted the neatly trimmed, square tree canopies his mother had mentioned.

Xiao Jingwen’s phone was piled with unread messages, all related to work. From the moment he left Yuchen until now, he hadn’t replied to a single message, so he finally had to handle them.

With his head down focusing on his screen, he simply followed behind Lin Congzhi. Right then, a lively group of local youths dressed in vibrant traditional attire came jogging and dancing along to the cheerful rhythm of an accordion.

The moment the crowd surged toward them, Lin Congzhi instinctively wanted to pull Xiao Jingwen aside to dodge them. Instead, the passionate Spaniards directly swarmed around them, rattling off a flurry of fast Spanish all at once, like a swarm of bees surrounding a flower with a chorus of buzzes before flying off together.

They came quickly and departed just as fast. Lin Congzhi understood Spanish, but only to the extent of basic daily banter like “How much is this?” or “I want this one.” He vaguely caught that they were offering a welcome, even singing a few lines of a song.

Yet by the time he snapped back to reality, he realized that when he had reached out to grab Xiao Jingwen earlier, the other man had already swiftly extended an arm to pull him tightly against his chest.

Xiao Jingwen, who had been staring down at his phone, had assumed it was some chaotic crowd and instinctively pulled him into his arms—a muscle-memory protective reflex.

Lin Congzhi often skipped meals on time, making him quite lean. Moreover, wearing shorts on his lower half meant his bare skin pressed tightly against Xiao Jingwen’s jeans, and with Xiao Jingwen holding him so snugly, he couldn’t back out on the first try.

“What was that about?” Xiao Jingwen kept his head turned, watching the group recede.

“Just… some local… activity, I guess?” Lin Congzhi wasn’t entirely sure either.

“Scared the life out of me,” Xiao Jingwen said, glancing down at him. “I thought it was a group mugging.”

“…How could it be that exaggerated?”

“It’s Europe, after all,” Xiao Jingwen replied.

With that, he released his grip, completely devoid of awkwardness or lingering emotion. They continued walking forward as Xiao Jingwen resumed replying to emails and messages on his phone.

Their destination was a restaurant on this street. In a city like Seville, many two-person tables in restaurants were tiny. A single large pan of paella took up half the table space the moment it was served.

“Such a huge portion.” Lin Congzhi held his spoon, glancing up at the person sitting opposite him.

The man opposite still had his head down, typing away on his phone with a stern, focused brow. It used to be like this often in the past; back then, Xiao Jingwen was consumed by trivial matters when Gleam was just starting its online auction projects. Online auctions weren’t popular domestically at the time, so almost everything was a fresh trial, leaving him overwhelmed.

He probably had troublesome matters on his mind right now as well; that’s just how people were, facing various headaches at every stage of life.

Lin Congzhi scooped a spoonful of rice into his mouth, glancing up at him from time to time. The server brought out the rest of their ordered dishes, including a cheese course. Seeing that they were foreign tourists, the server recommended they try dipping the cheese into fruit jam.

Lin Congzhi found the combination bizarre, but gave it a try anyway.

The server watched him with great anticipation, waiting for his verdict. Lin Congzhi genuinely couldn’t find the words to describe it; it wasn’t traditionally terrible, just something he wasn’t accustomed to tasting.

Dipping another piece, he extended it to Xiao Jingwen’s mouth: “Open up.”

Without even looking, Xiao Jingwen opened his mouth, allowing Lin Congzhi to pop the orange-jam-dipped cheese stick right in.

The man chewed a few times, swallowed, and didn’t even raise his head.

This time, even the server couldn’t bear to watch. What kind of situation was this? A couple traveling together, yet one was glued to his phone, completely unresponsive to everything, not even bothering to look up when fed, staring endlessly at that damn phone.

Feeling this man was beyond saving, the server shook his head, casting a look of deep pity toward Lin Congzhi.

“Uh, no, it’s not…” Lin Congzhi wanted to explain, but didn’t know where to begin. He could only accept the server’s gaze, pursing his lips and nodding to signal his gratitude for the concern.

“What on earth is this?” Having already swallowed it, Xiao Jingwen finally sensed something off and looked up at him.

“Cheese with orange jam,” Lin Congzhi said.

Evidently, this concoction exceeded Xiao Jingwen’s comprehension. Having single eyelids to begin with, he looked particularly earnest whenever he assumed a deep, contemplative expression.

And so, Lin Congzhi stared at him for a moment, waiting to see what he would say.

After a long pause, he asked: “Got any water?”

Lin Congzhi burst out laughing, unable to stop himself, his shoulders quivering as he giggled for quite some time. Only after catching his breath did he call the server over to order a bottle of water.

Xiao Jingwen downed more than half the glass, his brow furrowed: “Did you eat this thing yourself?”

“I did,” Lin Congzhi teased intentionally. “I thought it tasted pretty good, rather refreshing. Want to try another piece?”

Half-skeptical, Xiao Jingwen stared at the plate of cheese and said, “Then I’ll try one more.”

“Hey,” Lin Congzhi stopped him. “Forget it, I was lying to you. I thought it tasted weird too.”

Xiao Jingwen looked back at him: “You’ve grown kinder. In the past, you would’ve tricked me into eating the whole plate.”

Lin Congzhi nodded: “You were easier to fool back then.”

“I’m still easy to fool now.” Xiao Jingwen set his phone down and began eating his meal.