Chapter 88: Dinner Gathering
Friday was Long Xing’s birthday. After their evening class, everyone went back to the dorm to tidy up a bit, then headed out of campus together in a lively group.
An Han walked at the back, texting Lin Yi about the comic convention tomorrow while glancing up at the few people walking in front.
Almost all of them were wearing black. Except for Chen Junjie, who had on blue jeans, the rest were dressed completely in black. With Long Xing’s strong presence, if they all wore sunglasses, people might actually mistake them for a gang out on patrol.
Besides the four dormmates, Su Peng also came to celebrate Long Xing’s birthday. They had originally planned to invite members from the fitness club too, but after Wang Sheng strongly objected, Long Xing decided to spend tonight with his dormmates and have dinner with the club members tomorrow instead.
“Wang Yu didn’t come, huh…”
An Han quietly sighed in relief. He had always felt a bit afraid of Wang Yu, and ever since the incident at the hotel last time, he had become even more unwilling to see him.
He had already celebrated Long Xing’s birthday three times.
The first time was in their freshman year, but they weren’t that close yet, so he didn’t join the gathering. In their sophomore year, An Han gave Long Xing a game skin worth about a hundred yuan.
This was the third time.
An Han looked down at the bag in his hand, wondering if his gift would be suitable. He originally planned to give it when Long Xing gathered all his close friends, but since only their four dormmates and Su Peng came this time, people Long Xing was already close to, it should still be fine.
No problem. As long as he recorded some videos of this birthday party and made them into Long Xing’s “black history,” there’s no way Long Xing would keep a good opinion of him after that.
Suddenly, Long Xing turned around and glanced at him with eyes full of curiosity. Clearly, after a few days of teasing, Long Xing had started looking forward to this mysterious gift. He probably thought it was something expensive or a carefully made handmade present.
An Han secretly smiled. The more Long Xing expected, the more disappointed he’d be when he opened that girly thermos cup.
It was already late October, and there were people on the streets wearing light jackets. An Han’s own jacket finally didn’t stand out so much anymore. No one would stare at him because of it now.
That alone made him relax a lot. He always worried that someone might notice his chest whenever he went out.
“What are you chatting about so happily?”
Su Peng had somehow walked up beside him and looked at the phone in his hands.
“Nothing.”
An Han naturally slipped the phone into his pocket. There was no way he could tell his friends he was going to a comic convention. He casually asked back, “Why didn’t Dongming come?”
“He’s not that close to Long Xing.”
Too bad. If possible, An Han would’ve liked to get Wu Dongming drunk. He might not be able to make him wear women’s clothes, but just watching that silly drunk face would’ve been fun.
The group entered a street food restaurant. An Han wasn’t interested in ordering, so he followed the waiter and went straight into the private room.
Restaurants near the school were always crowded. Almost every evening, this kind of place was packed. Tonight was no exception. Even sitting inside the private room, he could still hear the noisy sounds from the main hall.
Yawning, he pulled out his phone again to check his messages.
“With your body measurements, are you sure you’re not a girl?”
That was Lin Yi’s message from ten minutes ago, which he had ignored. Tomorrow at 10 a.m., he’d meet up with Lin Yi and head to the comic convention together.
An Han felt a bit nervous, he didn’t know if anything unexpected might happen. It was just wearing a cheongsam and posing as a model at a booth to please the male visitors… There shouldn’t be any problem, right?
It’s a pity, he was supposed to be the one admiring girls, but now he had become the one being admired like a girl.
“Xiao Han, I also ordered grilled fish,” Long Xing said as he came into the private room, carrying a box of beer in his hand. “Let’s drink this box first. We’ll keep drinking at the KTV later.”
“Okay.” An Han nodded without much interest.
“What did you buy me for my birthday? Let me see it secretly?”
Long Xing sat down beside An Han and reached out to grab the gift bag on the table.
“You’ll know when we get to the KTV.” An Han lifted his head, his eyes glimmering softly as he smiled gently. “You’ll definitely like it.”
That gentle, watery gaze made Long Xing freeze for a second, and he quickly turned his eyes away.
Could it be… a love token from Xiao Han? Otherwise, why would he act so secretive about it?
He started imagining things unrealistically.
But wait—I’m a guy, and Xiao Han is also a guy… That’s not right, is it? If that really happens, I should refuse him seriously. But what if Xiao Han cries in front of me? What should I do then?
An Han saw his dazed, conflicted expression but couldn’t guess what he was thinking. He simply looked up at the others who were entering the room one after another.
“What took you guys so long?”
“We went to get Brother Long’s cake. You think everyone just sits and waits to eat like you?” Chen Junjie placed a small six-inch cake on the table.
An Han leaned forward to take a look and frowned in dislike. “That cake is so small, it’s barely enough for me alone.”
“One bite each, that’s about it. Brother Long doesn’t even like cake. If we bought a big one and couldn’t finish it, what then?”
“I like cake!”
“Who the hell are you talking about?” Chen Junjie rolled his eyes at him. “You talk like it’s your birthday.”
An Han looked at the unopened cake with pity. Long Xing might not like it, but he sure did. Creamy sweet desserts were his absolute favorite.
“Brother Long! Brother Long! The cake’s here!”
Chen Junjie sat down beside Long Xing and shouted a few times. Only then did Long Xing snap out of his wandering thoughts. He quickly looked up and saw that everyone was already inside and there was a cake on the table.
Afraid that someone might notice his strange expression, he hurried to his feet and said, “Let’s eat the cake now to fill our stomachs a bit.”
They fumbled around, unboxing the cake and sticking in candles, but Long Xing couldn’t be bothered with the whole candle-blowing and wish-making part. He asked the waiter for paper plates and plastic forks, then cut the already small cake into several pieces.
As expected, each person got just one bite.
An Han sighed quietly in his heart, scanning the table. He spotted one unevenly large slice of cake and immediately got up, leaning forward to grab it.
“What’s the rush?” Su Peng teased from the side. “You’re the only one jumping for cake like that.”
“I want to!” An Han carefully held the paper plate in his hands. “Brother Long, where’s the fork?”
“Here.”
Taking the fork, he began eating while looking around, checking if anyone didn’t want their piece. Sure enough, he noticed Wang Sheng, who was sitting next to Su Peng, fiddling with his phone, looking bored.
“You can have mine. I don’t like cake.”
Before An Han could even say anything, Su Peng had already pushed Wang Sheng’s slice in front of him.
“What are you doing?” An Han instantly became alert.
“I don’t like cake, it’s too sweet and creamy.”
“I don’t like it either!”
An Han quickly looked away and focused on eating his own cake.
Trying to please me? No way!