The same absurd logic is dawning on Jin Ling too. They'd been so careful that they'd ended up staying away and not communicating for no reason at all! Neither of their feelings had changed, they were just being overly sensitive and trying to predict what the other one needed from them while being miserable and stupid in the meantime. He's not as disciplined as Yuan. He breathes a soft, exasperated laugh.

"Worthy?" The word catches his heart like a sharp fisherman's hook. It hurts to know that was a concern of the other boy's when even standing in those risqué blue robes and painted lips, Jin Ling had already been head over heels for him.

He remembers then what Zizhen told him to say. He couldn't. He shouldn't. He..

"I still love you. Will you marry me?"