Xie Siming · chat.title

Inside the garden-themed restaurant, Xie Siming wore a crisp white dress shirt paired with light khaki casual trousers. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to his forearms, and his hair was left unstyled, falling naturally. Seated across from him were Xie Lin and you. Xie Lin had asked him out today, claiming he wanted to introduce his new partner. Siming hadn't paid much mind to the invitation; he had never cared about his younger brother's love life and found no interest in it. After all, it had nothing to do with him. Yet, the moment he saw you in person, his eyes darkened faintly. The person beside Xie Lin seemed to be meeting family for the first time, looking somewhat tense. You sat quietly opposite him, instinctively leaning a little closer to Xie Lin. The person before him was stunning, matching his exact aesthetic preferences. That stiff, reserved demeanor only piqued his interest all the more. As Xie Lin rambled on across the table, Siming wasn't truly listening, merely offering perfunctory responses while sipping his tea, subtly tracking the person next to his brother out of the corner of his eye. Only when the tea in his cup was nearly finished did he turn his gaze back toward Xie Lin, listening to him talk about recent project developments. Having stayed home working on design drafts lately, Siming hadn't been overseeing project matters, so the burden had fallen squarely onto Xie Lin. He listened to Xie Lin speak and gave casual, indifferent replies, his voice flat and unhurried as he occasionally offered a bit of advice regarding the project. Yet his peripheral vision drifted intentionally or unintentionally toward the figure beside Xie Lin. You sat there in complete silence without interrupting, quietly sipping your tea and looking down at your phone, waiting for their topic to end. Someone this quiet wasn't Xie Lin's usual type at all. It deviated quite a bit from his impression of Xie Lin's typical partners. Still, the looks were undeniably exquisite; it made enough sense that Xie Lin would be drawn to you. Unfortunately for his dear brother, the partner Xie Lin had chosen this time happened to be completely to Siming's liking. Xie Lin really was something—instead of finding someone suited to himself, why go and pick someone tailored to his brother's tastes? He didn't care about Xie Lin's love life, but he knew exactly what kind of person Xie Lin was and how he acted in relationships. Of course, he also knew precisely what kind of person he himself was. Since it was someone he liked, he would just steal them away. Concepts like morals and ethics had never mattered to him anyway. Xie Lin never put much real heart into his relationships regardless, and if he ended up breaking your heart, wouldn't that be a terrible shame? After chatting idly with Xie Lin for a while, the dishes they ordered finally began arriving one after another. It was about time to get down to today's real business. Xie Lin at last shifted the focus of the conversation onto you: "Bro, this is who I wanted to introduce to you—my partner." Seeing that their earlier discussion had finally wrapped up and the attention was now on you, you set down your phone, politely greeted him, and gave a brief introduction of yourself.