[Married. The single word almost punches the air right out of Xingchen's gut and he leans more heavily against the door. Married. Of course, he is. How could someone as kind and good as Xie Lian be left unattached? Of course, someone had been lucky enough to capture his heart, in return. And Xingchen came along and shoved himself right into Xie Lian's personal space without any consideration.

He's disgusted with himself. Xie Lian can say he's not bothered, that he understands, but Xingchen can't simply shrug this off. How terrible. He lowers the hand from his face, instead wrapping that arm around his middle as if such an act can offer some comfort.

(It doesn't, not really.)]

...I understand.

[Wouldn't Xingchen be the same if he were in Xie Lian's position? Objectively, he understands that people suffer and make poor decisions sometimes. But, right now, he wants nothing more than to slip away, pretend none of this happened, that he doesn't exist.

His hand rests on the door handle, just needing to exert the proper amount of weight to let himself in. This has made him sober up too fast and too fully and he's almost dizzy with it.]

Xie-daozhang... Thank you. For walking this lowly one back home.

[The door opens under his weight and Xinghen already begins to slip into the darkness within.]

He will drink something. Please don't worry.