Then you do not have to worry. I have wanted this for a long time. Ever since those days where I stubbornly did not allow the presence of forks at my table and you stubbornly refused to lose to a pair of cheap-ass wooden sticks as I believe you called them.

[ That particular memory is a fond one, where Xiangling had gasped at his language, giggles hidden behind her hand as Chef Mao had rolled his eyes at their antics. And how Childe had left the restaurant with a steamed bun stuffed in his mouth as both proprietors made sure he didn't leave the establishment hungry. How bright and alive the world had been&mdash is when Childe was a part of it. ]

I thought again and again during those times how much I wanted to kiss you.

What a fool I was to not say anything before you left. To wait years before I came here in search of you.

[ Because why... why hadn't Zhongli said anything to Childe during those months in Liyue? Long long months where he let the opportunity slip through his fingers time and time again. How much time had Zhongli wasted with his silence even here in Snezhnaya— more lost months and more lost time.

No. No, today there would be an end to that. He would get his answer soon enough. ]

You have my apologies for being a coward.

[ Ah, if only Zhongli knew just how much of a coward he really was. And why he didn't say anything during Childe's time in Liyue... ]