Everyone was stunned.
And that wasn’t even counting the thousands of fans watching the livestream—most of whom were certain the challenge had already failed.
[HOLY SHT HOLY SHT HOLY SHT HOLY SHT HOLY SHT HOLY SHT HOLY SHT HOLY SHT HOLY SHT HOLY SHT HOLY SH*T]
[WTF WHY DIDN’T I RECORD THAT?! SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME THEY RECORDED IT! I NEED TO WATCH THIS A MILLION TIMES!!]
[My entire cram school just stopped breathing.]
[WHAT DID I JUST WITNESS?! THAT WAS STRAIGHT OUT OF A DRAMA!!!]
[That was INSANE! Tingjue is ENDGAME. Trending topic secured.]
[Twists! Turns! Tension! 10/10.]
[Xiao Pei went full alpha mode! You feral puppy, I LOVE YOU!!]
[How did I get so lucky to witness this Tingjue moment with my own eyes?!]
“Wh—” Lu Yuan was completely shell-shocked. The last remaining shred of self-control made him censor his words just in time. “—at the…”
Pei Tingsong snapped back to himself like someone waking from a trance. It felt like he’d been possessed for a second there. Technically, his job in the game was done.
Right. Mission complete.
Realizing this, he quickly let go of Fang Juexia and backed off, pulling away from his lips.
But Fang Juexia hadn’t caught up yet.
His eyes were dazed. His brain blank. Every nerve in his body seemed to have frozen, stuck in place. So the wrapper, which had barely stayed on his lips for less than a second, fluttered downward again, twirling through the air like it was pleased with what it had just caused.
“Hey hey hey, Juexia! You dropped it!”
What?
Fang Juexia fumbled out a hand and just managed to catch the runaway candy wrapper, still looking lost and confused.
They didn’t hold it for three seconds. The rollercoaster that was the candy-passing game came to a dramatic, chaotic end—with a failure.
The director announced with mock regret, “Challenge failed. The drop happened during the final transfer, so Juexia will have to take the punishment.”
[Wait—Juexia alone?!]
[My poor beautiful baby 5555 why must he suffer!!]
[He was clearly stunned! Who could’ve predicted that plot twist?!]
[Petition for Xiao Pei to take the punishment WITH Juexia!!]
Ling Yi, seeing the flood of comments onscreen, immediately joined the chaos, bouncing excitedly, “They’re right! Juexia dropped the wrapper because Xiao Pei scared him! That means Pei Tingsong is at least half responsible!”
Pei Tingsong looked utterly baffled as he reached out and pushed Ling Yi’s loud little head away.
Ling Yi immediately fled to their leader. “Miao-miao! He pushed me!”
He Ziyan pried Ling Yi’s arm off of Jiang Miao and said with a deadpan face, “Go push him back.”
Lu Yuan chimed in, “I vote for Xiao Pei to be punished too!” Then, with exaggerated sincerity, he clapped his hands together and dropped to his knees with a thud. “Please! Just let my teammate film one cringe TikTok!”
“What? Why me?” Pei Tingsong protested. “The fail wasn’t on my part.”
Jiang Miao, still holding down the hosting duties, accepted the punishment box from a staff member, smiling serenely like a Buddhist monk. “Well… regardless. Juexia, you pick one first.”
Fang Juexia reached up and took off his hoodie. He was convinced it was the reason his cheeks were burning. Without saying a word, he slid his hand into the box. He didn’t hesitate much, just picked one of the two slips that remained.
[Teacher Fang—holding down the team’s last shred of dignity.]
[Juexia isn’t calm, he’s shook. Look at that face. Adorable.]
[Please let it be Fire Bro’s punishment! I’m begging! I’ll trade Ling Yi’s next life height for it!!]
“Short video, short video, short video…” Lu Yuan was muttering under his breath right next to Juexia’s shoulder.
Fang Juexia unfolded the paper and held it up to the camera.
A full sentence stretched across it in bold, unmerciful strokes:
“Choose one member to be locked in a wardrobe with you for five minutes of alone time.”
[AAAAAA THIS HAS FIRE BRO WRITTEN ALL OVER IT]
[2Huo is too powerful! A true chaotic genius of the group!!]
[WTF this is insane! Kaleido is going full-send on the CP content!!]
[The wardrobe… I’m dead.]
[Kaleido? More like Gayleido. WHO CAME UP WITH THIS GAY ASS PUNISHMENT??]
[As we all know, Kaleido has zero straight men.]
“AHHHH MY SHORT VIDEO IS RUINED!” Lu Yuan squatted to the floor clutching his head. “I already picked the exact one I wanted to parody!”
Pei Tingsong raised an eyebrow. “Then maybe you should do it yourself.”
Lu Yuan instantly stood up, brushed off his shoulders, and declared, “Never mind.”
Ling Yi was practically jumping up and down. “AHHHHHH Juexia who are you picking?! WHO?!”
Fang Juexia hesitated, clearly at a loss. Jiang Miao offered a calm suggestion, “Why not choose the person who passed it to you?”
Lu Yuan immediately made a dramatic gesture toward Pei Tingsong. “I support this. Into the closet you go.”
Ling Yi was already rolling on the couch in laughter. “HAHAHA don’t forget to come out in five minutes!”
“What are you guys talking about?!” Pei Tingsong looked completely lost. The entire night had taken a hard left turn into chaos and he was still trying to catch up. But before he could piece things together, Ling Yi and Lu Yuan were already shoving him toward the bedroom.
Ling Yi shouted, “Juexia’s wardrobe is big! Let’s go to our room!”
“Wait, what? That’s not fair…” Pei Tingsong was baffled. “I didn’t even lose! Why do I have to go in too? I’m not going.” Then he pointed accusingly at Fang Juexia. “And you’re not allowed to go either.”
I am the one who helped you settle that huge mess, after all.
But before Fang Juexia could respond, He Ziyan mercilessly popped his bubble of wishful thinking. “No can do. Juexia drew the one I wrote, so naturally I set the rules.” As he spoke, he waved a finger with the flair of a domineering CEO. “Take Number Six inside.”
“Yes, sir.” Ling Yi and Lu Yuan replied in perfect unison. The two of them flanked the tallest member of the group and started dragging Pei Tingsong toward Juexia’s room, kicking and flailing. Jiang Miao couldn’t stop laughing, then glanced back at Juexia.
“You don’t want to go in?”
Of course Fang Juexia didn’t want to. He had lost the game fair and square, and unfortunately, drawn the punishment written by Ziyan. Between being locked in a room with Pei Tingsong or filming a finger-spin flower trick, he’d much rather film the trick.
“…Can I switch to a different punishment?” Juexia asked.
[Is Juexia embarrassed? LOL]
[God, if I were him I’d still be in shock—this is way too much]
[Our poor pretty baby got neck-kissed and still has to suffer this fate kkk]
Jiang Miao burst out laughing. “Sorry, that’s not up to me.” Then he shot a not-so-subtle glance at the production staff. “If you wanna hesitate a bit longer, go ahead—everyone here’s got time to wait.”
And with that, Juexia’s deeply ingrained instinct—don’t inconvenience others—kicked in. He let out a silent sigh and walked toward his room.
Meanwhile, the livestream bullet comments were going wild:
[Aaaaaaand it’s official! Send them into the bridal chamber!!!]
[Congrats to the newlyweds!! Wishing you a lifetime of happiness!!]
[9999999999999999]
[WTF when I clicked in I did NOT expect it to be this exciting x]
[This livestream is wild AF. I can’t believe I’m witnessing a live coming out party LOL]
[Juexia’s so cold and cute. Totally deadpan, but still obediently going in 🥺]
A staff member followed in with a camera rig. The wardrobe door opened, and both of their phones were confiscated. Fang Juexia took off his slippers and quietly climbed into the pitch-black space on his own. Pei Tingsong, on the other hand, was practically screaming as Lu Yuan and Ling Yi shoved him inside.
The door slammed shut with a thud.
From a distance, the camera could only show the tightly sealed closet doors.
Then came Ling Yi’s voice from off-screen. “Don’t even think about sneaking out. There’s a camera right outside, and the entire livestream is watching you.” After that, he pulled on Lu Yuan’s sleeve. “Let’s go. We’ve got five minutes to grab a bite.”
The sound of footsteps gradually faded into the distance. Inside the closet, it was so dark they couldn’t see a thing. Short jackets were hung overhead, and the two of them had no choice but to sit face to face with their knees drawn up. Four long legs had nowhere to go and could only fold into awkward, cramped angles.
Once the closet door shut, the small, boxy space was split in two by the thin sliver of light seeping in from the door crack—creating two distinct zones, like magnetic fields that refused to meet.
Pei Tingsong was already in a foul mood from losing all night. He’d finally managed to avoid losing the last round, yet somehow he still had to serve a punishment. How did that make any sense?
He wanted to let off steam, wanted to just leave—but there was a camera right outside.
To top it all off, his partner in punishment was the one person in the whole group he had the worst chemistry with. And of course, this had to be Fang Juexia’s closet. The scent lingering inside was exactly the same as the one on his clothes—cool, muted, and persistent. It reminded him of the sharp, chilly scent you’d get when opening a popsicle straight from the freezer. A burst of coldness to the face.
Even his cologne matched his personality. No warmth, no emotion—faint and indifferent.
Compared to Pei Tingsong, who was on the verge of exploding, Fang Juexia took the punishment with surprising calm. He curled his right leg in slightly, resting his chin on the crook of his arm and quietly gazed at the closed closet door. Five minutes—three hundred seconds—wasn’t that long.
He had always been a daydreamer as a kid. And when he daydreamed, he’d often count seconds. It was like he had a tiny clock ticking away in his mind—tick, tock—each second precise and audible.
To Fang Juexia, suffering was just an emotion people projected onto time. In his mind, the inner clock ran on cold, impartial logic. Time had no emotions. It moved forward with unwavering consistency.
That detachment allowed him to separate feelings from time. Whether he was sad or happy, time passed at the same steady pace. There were no fleeting instants, no torturous stretches. His sense of calm came from that precision—no matter what happened.
This moment was no different. If he kept counting, just like he always did, he could forget this was meant to be some kind of punishment.
They could’ve quietly endured the five minutes—if not for the gurgling that suddenly broke the silence. It stopped the ticking of Fang Juexia’s internal clock.
He lifted his chin slightly and turned to look at the other person shrouded in darkness.
“What are you looking at?” Pei Tingsong hissed, his tone sharp with irritation, trying to keep his voice low so the camera outside wouldn’t catch it. But the tough act lasted barely a second before his stomach growled again. He quickly dropped his head and instinctively covered his belly.
Fang Juexia’s face remained mostly unreadable, but he turned toward Pei Tingsong and stopped staring at the door. He knew Pei had barely eaten anything all night—it made sense that he’d be hungry now. Normally, he would’ve pretended not to notice. It was just five minutes. No one starves in five minutes. He was well aware of that.
But Pei Tingsong had only ended up here because of him. He hadn’t lost that round. In fact, he’d done everything he could to win.
In the dark, Fang Juexia reached into the pocket of his loungewear. Before the game, Ling Yi had handed him a glutinous rice ball, individually wrapped. He hadn’t gotten the chance to eat it when the game started and vaguely remembered slipping it into his pocket.
Sure enough, he found the little emergency snack tucked away, and he pulled it out.
“Give me your hand.” Fang Juexia’s voice emerged from the darkness, soft and slow. “I’ve only got…”
Pei Tingsong had no idea what he was trying to do this time and interrupted him, annoyed. “What now? Haven’t you messed me up enough already?”
But the moment the words left his mouth, he felt the other person fall silent. It was a strange sensation—like somewhere in the shadows, a small creature had just frozen in place, too scared to move after being startled.
A faint trace of guilt flickered in his chest—just a little.
But it didn’t last long before the situation completely veered off from the quiet, pitiful image he’d imagined. Not only did the “small creature” move, it made a lot of noise doing it. In the pitch dark, Pei Tingsong couldn’t see a thing, but suddenly felt hands fumbling toward him, catching him off guard.
Fang Juexia knew there was no point explaining, so he simply reached out, trying to hand over the small snack he was holding. But he couldn’t see anything at all. The sliver of light slipping through the closet door might’ve helped Pei Tingsong a little, but to him it was useless. Half-kneeling on the closet floor, Fang Juexia leaned in and spread his hand, groping around like a blind man. A moment like this—completely unguarded—was rare for someone usually so restrained.
His fingertips brushed against cotton fabric, and through it, the firm outline of bones. He mentally traced the image sketched out by the tactile feedback.
“What are you doing?”
He could feel the clear definition of collarbones, and just to the right was the neckline. His fingers accidentally grazed a patch of bare skin—probably a shoulder, he guessed. His hand continued down, aiming for Pei Tingsong’s hand, but in the process his long fingers swept over too many places: his chest, the printed words “melt for u” on his shirt, his tightened abs—and even lower.
“Hey.”
Pei Tingsong’s voice was low—so low it sank straight into Fang Juexia’s heart—as he grabbed the wandering hand in a silent act of protest.
And in the next instant, he pulled Fang Juexia even closer.
Time, as always, refused to behave. In that instant, it slowed down so much that when Fang Juexia passed through the weak light leaking from the closet door, Pei Tingsong could see the soft pink birthmark near his eye—flashing briefly in the dark, crossing the line, then fading once again into shadow.
Fang Juexia wasn’t kneeling steadily. With one pull, he was yanked forward, nearly crashing into Pei Tingsong. He had no idea how close they were—only that for one fleeting second, he could feel the warmth of his breath.
And then, somewhere deep inside, the flawless little clock he’d always relied on… suddenly skipped a beat.
Author’s Note: Kaleido Character Sheet (oldest to youngest):
- Jiang Miao: 23 y/o, 177cm. Leader, sub-vocal. Hidden talent: Gu Zheng (Chinese zither)
- He Ziyan: 22 y/o, 186cm. Rapper. Hidden talent: DJ & music production
- Lu Yuan: 22 y/o, 178cm. Main dancer. Hidden talent: Choreography
- Fang Juexia: 22 y/o, 180cm. Visual/Face of the group, ACE. Hidden talent: Mathematics
- Ling Yi: 20 years old, 173cm, main vocalist, high-note specialist. Hidden talent: comedy
- Pei Tingsong: 19 years old, 188cm, unofficial visual ACE. Hidden talent: songwriting
Fan: Question! The members of Kaledo all have such different heights! Doesn’t it look awkward on stage?
Jiang Miao: Our stylist takes that into account. For example, we wear shoes with different heel heights during performances, and our formations and positions are adjusted so it looks balanced overall.
He Ziyan: Be grateful our broke little company managed to debut us with the right number of people. Stop being picky.
Lu Yuan: Chill, with shoes on I’m 180cm. Totally not short.
Pei Tingsong: heh.
Juexia: Hmm… (mic gets snatched away)
Ling Yi: I’ve been stuffing insoles in my shoes for two whole years—why’d you have to expose my real height?! I’m devastated!!!
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