Chapter 16

Roger ran to the bathroom right after finishing his meal.

The braised fish he had for lunch was too salty, and he kept smacking his lips on the way there, not even having time to drink water.

There was no one in the bathroom, so Roger furtively locked the door, then took out the jewelry box from his pocket. The ear holes he had just pierced seemed to have healed, and it hardly hurt.

But it still hurt when he took the nails out, because the nails were connected to the flesh of the ear, and it hurt when they were pulled. Roger pulled out the steel nails with a grin, and put on the diamond earrings that Alvis had given him before. It looked really nice. After all, such a big diamond, sparkling on his ear, made his face brighter.

Alvis had a good eye, and Roger was very satisfied.

He walked out of the bathroom and headed straight for the sky garden on the 22nd floor.

Alvis hadn't arrived yet, so Roger sat down in the corner and sent a message to Alvis: "Are you ready? Why haven't you come yet?"

Alvis said: "Right away."

"Hurry up, I've been waiting for you for a long time."

Alvis was late for sex, so Roger showed Alvis his earrings from a distance, pinched his waist and showed Alvis his right half of his body. When Alvis came closer, he pointed at his ears and said, "Do they look good?"

His eyes were so proud and complacent that Alvis was stunned: "What is that?"

"The earring you gave me!" He forgot it, his memory is really bad.

Alvis stopped a few steps away from him, his expression a little complicated at first glance: "What... do you mean?"

Roger saw that he still couldn't come over, so he simply walked over by himself. Alvis was so tall that Roger had to stand on tiptoes to be shoulder to shoulder with him. In order to let Alvis see his dress more clearly, he tilted his face up and pushed his right ear directly into Alvis's face: "I heard that gay people all have their ears pierced on the right side. I specifically asked them to have their ears pierced this way. How about that? You are sincere enough."

"..." Alvis raised his hand and twisted Roger's earlobe.

Roger's fingers were very cold, and he could not stand it and dodged: "You just washed your hands? Why are they so cold!"

Alvis took a deep breath and looked at Roger with a strange expression: "Are you coming out to me? Are you gay?"

"How is that possible?!" Roger reacted strongly, waving his hands to deny it vigorously, his face flushed, "I am supporting homosexuals with my own actions! I am not a homosexual, I am straighter than steel. I am showing you my sincerity. It's all my fault for saying the wrong thing last time. If I knew that you had a gay friend, I would definitely not say that. I know it was too much... I'm sorry, I hope you won't be angry with me because of this."

After listening to Roger's explanation, Alvis's expression returned to his previous calmness, even a little cold. He pushed away Roger's hand on his shoulder and said calmly: "I'm not angry."

"It's good that you're not angry." Roger breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that the huge stone that had been weighing on his heart for so long was finally lifted. He stood on tiptoe, hooked his wrist around Alvis' shoulder, and caressed Alvis like a brother in the past, saying, "You don't know how uncomfortable I have been these past few days. When I think about how I made you angry and you don't want to play with me, I can't eat or sleep. My mind is filled with your coldness and alienation towards me. I don't want to lose my best friend."

Alvis hesitated for a moment, but still pushed Roger's hand away: "Don't put your arm around each other's shoulders during work hours. It makes you look unstable."

"Yeah, yeah." Roger was very obedient at this time, "You are so nice. You still consider my image. Don't worry, I only do this in front of you. Who calls you my best friend?"

"Don't you have other good friends?"

"Yes, but they are not as good as you."

Alvis was silent for a while and asked him, "What's good about me?"

Roger counted on his fingers one by one, "You are handsome and rich... But I don't want your money, I want you as a person. And you are very smart, very good at business, and you have helped me a lot at work, although you have a bad temper, facial paralysis, get angry easily, have a mysophobia, walk very fast, and have a bad expression..."

Alvis' face became darker and darker, "Have you said enough?"

"Hahaha." Roger patted Alvis on the back with such force that it seemed like he was punching him, "I'm kidding! It's because you are good enough that these shortcomings are easily overlooked. I still love you and won't dislike you because of these shortcomings."

Alvis: "Haha."

"What do you mean by haha?"

"Nothing, let's get back to work."

"So positive? Really, if you don't succeed, who will succeed..."

Roger and Alvis resumed their close relationship, but unfortunately it didn't last long. Alvis finished his work in the International Trade Department and was leaving for the headquarters to study.

That night, everyone saw Alvis off, but Roger was the only one who was most sincere. He hugged Alvis and cried bitterly, wiping his tears and snot all over Alvis' expensive suit. Alvis had a dark face and tried to push him away several times but failed. Roger drunkenly hugged Alvis and said sadly: "After you leave, will you come back?"

Alvis smelled the alcohol from his mouth, frowned and turned his face away. His tone was unusually not cold, but a little warm, as if a window in the air-conditioned room was not closed tightly in the summer, and a ray of hot summer air came in: "Of course, I'm not dead."

"Wuwuwu, I can't bear to leave you."

"I'm not going to Mars either."

"After you leave, I have no friends. I want to eat alone, work alone, smoke alone, fight alone, and dare not speak out when bullied. I will just hide in the toilet and cry silently, wuwu."

Alvis paused and asked curiously: "When did you learn to smoke?"

"Oh." Roger wiped his tears and sobbed, "This is the character I created for myself, a lone wolf-like social animal."

"..." Alvis' face twitched, "Find a girlfriend as soon as possible, like a normal person."

Those who came to see Alvis off were having fun at the moment, and no one cared about what happened to Alvis here. The KTV room was very large, and the rotating colored lights of the light ball shone on people's faces, which seemed a little ambiguous.

Roger's eyes were swollen from crying. The food in the cafeteria was good recently, and he gained weight. His cheeks and cheeks were slightly bulging, soft and a bit like buns. His eyes were as red as a rabbit, and his hands were wrapped around Alvis' neck, telling him how much he missed him after Alvis left.

"I will definitely miss you, the time when we worked together. Although I asked you to go out and play, you were always reluctant, but we still chatted a lot. I decided to print out all these chat records and take them out to read when I miss you..."

Alvis rarely let Roger do anything to him. He sat on the sofa without moving, silently listening to Roger's drunken nonsense.

"After you left, I didn't want to stay here..."

"Why?" Alvis stared at Roger's face.

"Because this place is full of traces of your existence." Roger was a person who was afraid of loneliness. He thought he and Alvis had become brothers. The fate between people was so wonderful. Sometimes people who seemed to be different could have such a good relationship. "I will definitely miss you, and then get sick because of missing you too much."

Alvis looked at him as if he was looking at a ghost: "You look like a homosexual now, are you sure you are a straight man?"

Roger sobered up all of a sudden, his body straightened up, his eyes wide open like two bells: "How is it possible? I am 100% a straight man, but I am a person with more emotions. I am very sincere to my friends. Don't get me wrong, even if there are only two men left in the world, I can't get together with another man. I can only be hard with women."

Roger was too drunk now, and everything was spinning around. Alvis' face had already split into two, three, or even more in his eyes. He had to hold Alvis' neck to prevent himself from falling down completely.

He saw Alvis' face magnified in front of him, as if he was wearing a magnifying glass. He tilted his head in confusion, wanting to get closer to see if he was seeing things. Alvis' face was getting closer and closer. Even though Roger was drunk and dizzy, he had to admit that Alvis was so handsome. He was so handsome that even Roger, a handsome man, was jealous. He opened his mouth and criticized Alvis's handsomeness: "It's okay that you have money, but you are also so handsome. How can we ordinary people live?"

Alvis' voice was close at hand: "Really? How handsome is he?"

"Handsomer than those guys like Takeshi Kaneshiro and Daniel Wu."

Alvis' face suddenly became bigger. Roger felt that the tips of their noses were touching each other. He even smelled Alvis' breath, which was a little hot and fragrant. Maybe this was the smell of a handsome man.

"You can't bear to leave me, right?" Roger smiled foolishly.

"Yeah." Alvis said, his warm breath sprayed on Roger's face.

"Come back to see me more often if you miss me. By the way, there must be more beauties in the headquarters, right? Remember to introduce them to me, don't keep them all to yourself. My requirements are not as high as yours, just ordinary ones are fine, I don't feel comfortable with too pretty ones."

Roger felt his mouth itchy, as if he was bitten by something, but the mosquito was stupid enough to give up when it couldn't bite open. He shook his head and chased the annoying mosquito away.

Alvis hugged Roger with brotherly love. Roger felt like he was being held tightly by a pair of iron arms, and his bones hurt. He wanted Alvis to loosen up a little and not strangle him. Then he heard Alvis gnashing his teeth and saying in his ear: "I'll introduce you. Be a straight man and be nice to your woman in the future."

Roger was overjoyed when he heard the words "I'll introduce you". He patted Alvis on the back and said: "You are really my good brother. I will remember this sentence. Whoever regrets it is a dog."

He could not remember what happened next. He had no memory of it.

After Alvis left, Roger's life suddenly became as bleak as a rag.

He was used to sharing everything with Alvis and reporting everything to Alvis. Even though Alvis had only been out with him a few times, Roger felt that he was reliable for some reason, which he had never experienced with his former friends. He believed that few people in the world were better to him than Alvis. Although he was always cold and taciturn, his heart was as warm and firm as a diamond, which often gave Roger unspeakable comfort and encouragement. Roger was

a little careless at work, but since Alvis became his team leader, he would send a copy of any email he sent to Alvis, who would read every email and point out his omissions in a timely manner. Because of this, Roger maintained his performance every month. Alvis also taught him how to change his carelessness, supervised him every day, and reminded him. Even though he was very busy, he never gave Roger a perfunctory response.

A good partner at work and a good friend in life, this is how Roger positioned Alvis.

Unfortunately, Alvis became busier and busier after he left, and gradually stopped replying to Roger's WeChat messages.

Roger talks a lot of nonsense, and he has a strong desire to share. He would even send Alvis an ant on the table in the cafeteria, not to mention all aspects of life. He has almost no reservations about Alvis. Alvis knows about his family, his growth, his friends, and even his secret crush. Alvis is also a reliable friend, and has never leaked any of Roger's privacy.

So when Roger realized that he and Alvis were finally drifting apart, he felt indescribably sad.

The WeChat chat box is full of his self-talk. He greets Alvis three times a day, asks about his well-being, and expresses his longing for him. Alvis occasionally responded with a few meaningless words: "Oh", "Really", "So", "Haha", and he had no intention of continuing his friendship with Roger.

Roger was an adult, and no matter how stupid he was, he knew what this meant.

Alvis was probably now dealing with some executives, leaders, and the like, all of whom were better than Roger. People were always moving up, so why should he keep in touch with a friend who was far behind?

One night, Roger was unwilling to give up, so he sent a WeChat message to Alvis: "Why don't you talk to me? Are you busy with work?"

Alvis didn't reply for a long time, so Roger said: "You don't have a girlfriend, do you?"

Two minutes later, Alvis replied: "Yeah."

Roger paused, and wanted to joke with Alvis like he used to, for example: There are so many beauties in the headquarters, can you introduce one to me? Or: She must be very beautiful, does she have an older sister? If so, maybe we can become brothers-in-law, and then we will be brothers without blood ties, haha. But this kind of joke can no longer be said now. It seems that there is a particularly wide river between him and Alvis, and they are no longer the kind of relationship where they can joke casually.

Roger typed carefully: "Very good, I wish you happiness."

Alvis: "Thank you, you too."

Although he didn't want to admit it, he and Alvis seemed to have lost each other.

Life is like this, with unexpected encounters or separations everywhere. When he first met Alvis, he didn't expect that he would become friends with such a person. When they were deeply in love and thought they could be friends for life, they were like two leaves on a branch, completely blown away by the wind.