Chapter 38
Time passed uneventfully until the Mid-Autumn Festival in August.
You receive a gift at the front desk; the character "旭" on the business card has a little tail, like a tiny smiley face.
The students and teachers were all surprised to see you carrying a huge life-size [Fang Xu] doll into the office.
You have a serious expression, as if you're carrying some dangerous item, but that's just an act. Once you enter the office, your ears slowly turn red, and you rub your temples with amusement.
Fang Xu called at just the right time, his voice light and airy, barely concealing a hint of pleasure at seeking praise.
"Teacher Nan, did you receive the gift?"
You fiddled with the doll's hair strips, not answering for a moment; the doll's hair was a golden mane like a little lion's.
This nickname was probably revealed when he got you drunk, maybe the night before last, or maybe a week ago. He was lying on your lap, hugging your waist and acting coquettishly. The lights outside were streaming through the glass window, creating a warm and peaceful atmosphere. You mumbled a few words, which he heard.
You couldn't detect much joy in your voice over the phone, but Fang Xu seemed to sense your embarrassment and burst into exaggerated laughter on the other end.
“Stop fooling around,” you could only say, with a slight smile on your face.
Happy holidays!
Just before he was about to hang up, he said, "I have to go out with my friend, so I can't come with you. If you have a plush toy, you shouldn't miss me too much."
Because you were very busy recently, and Fang Xu was helping his friend renovate a bar, you two haven't seen each other for almost two weeks. Although you chat on WeChat every day, it's still not as good as seeing each other in person.
When you first hear that you can't meet during the holiday, you inevitably feel disappointed, but you don't show it because you're worried about the trouble he'll have to travel back and forth. You just calmly agree and let him go about his business.
Goodbye then.
After hanging up the phone, I wasn't in such a hurry to leave work. Thinking about it, you two still haven't moved in together. Perhaps young people have different ideas. You've always been very patient with this and haven't pressured me. Not wanting to go home, I simply asked the secret service lady to bring in some more documents, planning to stay at the training center until late at night.
Miss Mystic had changed into her seasonal clothes early in the morning, shuffling in her high heels, and carrying a large stack of teaching materials and semester plans. She first pretended not to care and glanced at the large plush toy on the sofa, with an expression that looked like she wanted to laugh but dared not.
Then, seeing that you had taken off your suit jacket and were wearing indoor slippers, looking like you were planning to stay in the office for a long time, I asked in confusion, "Uh, Teacher Nan, aren't you going home today?"
You made yourself a cup of coffee, ready to bury yourself in work, but because of her mention of it, and glancing at the things already prepared on the sofa, you said, "He's quite busy, so let's not go out."
He paused, realizing that this would be a waste of the mental effort Miss Mystic had put in.
Miss Mystic sighed. She was one of the few people who knew about you. She thought you and Fang Xu were like an old house on fire, all sweet and loving. Who would have thought your relationship was so relaxed and calm.
She hesitated for a moment and then said, "Teacher Nan, why don't you come to my house for the holiday? It would be more lively."
You shook your head and glanced at the clock: "No need, let's go home quickly, or we'll miss the bus."
Miss Secret, because you usually have a lot of influence, even though you are an old colleague, it's not good to force you.
You stayed there until late at night. When the clock struck midnight, you were sure you were so tired that you could fall asleep as soon as you lay down on the bed before you grabbed your things and left.
Seeing the mountain of mooncake boxes at the front desk, I realized that the employees had all given gifts. There were little notes on the mooncake boxes, explaining that they were busy going home and didn't want to bother me, so they left them at the front desk.
You looked at the mooncakes, feeling conflicted. You couldn't bring yourself to eat them. After thinking it over, an idea suddenly popped into your head: you could go see Fang Xu and send the mooncakes over as a gift. It would be such a waste to let them go bad.
You act on your thoughts, but ultimately, you've always adhered to your bottom line and, given Fang Xu's personality, you don't interfere too much in his affairs.
Therefore, I didn't call him, thinking that if I regretted it or the atmosphere wasn't right, I could quietly slip away and pretend nothing had happened, just take a look and that would be enough to get through the night.
Fang Xu is currently in a neighboring city. You drove there, and it took you about four hours on the road, but you didn't feel tired at all. Instead, you felt quite interested.
After arriving at the destination, he was eager to meet his friend. Thinking it wouldn't be right to use the employee's gift as a favor, he went to the hotel to queue up and bought several boxes of high-end mooncakes.
You were busy with these things, and only after everything was ready did you head to the bar that Fang Xu had helped you with. It wasn't hard to find on the map, but before going in, you hesitated for a long time before finally smiling and taking a few boxes of mooncakes with you.
Initially, I just wanted to casually visit, not wanting to put pressure on Fang Xu or make him think I was unhappy about our separation. But being so cautious doesn't seem like a typical relationship; it feels like I'm overly calculating and lacking in energy. Now that I want to meet, I don't need to overthink it.
You carried the mooncakes and went into the bar.
At noon, even though it was a holiday, there were still many people here. Judging from the atmosphere, it shouldn't be entirely a gay bar; there were also quite a few girls drinking inside.
After you came in, you called Fang Xu, but no one answered. So you had to take the mooncakes and ask the staff nearby.
"Fang Xu? He's in the private room. Are you his friend?"
The staff member must be very familiar with Fang Xu. When he heard you ask him, he immediately smiled knowingly, instantly closing the distance between you: "Oh, his friends are all really handsome guys."
You followed him up to the second floor, which was quieter. Most of the private rooms were open at this time, making it convenient for the waiters to clean.
Several staff members pushed carts full of drinks and fruit platters toward the deafeningly loud private room. The boy leading the way was stopped halfway by a walkie-talkie. He pointed out the room number and hurriedly ran away.
You looked left and right, following the numerical order, and found the private room at the corner. At this moment, the door was wide open, the music was loud, and the waiter pushed drinks in and then pushed empty bottles out.
The glass in the porch reflects the scene inside the house.
You shouldn't rush in rashly. Look around first. Fang Xu is easy to recognize. You don't need to use your eyes much to spot him. He's sitting on the side, wearing a thin black sweater, with a lazy smile on his face. One foot is propped up on the coffee table, and the hand with the dragon-patterned bracelet is on the shoulder of a sharp and flamboyant young man.
The two are of similar age and have similar temperaments; both are extremely eye-catching.
You were about to go in when you happened to see a waiter pushing a cart out, so you waited for them to walk past.
Suddenly someone spoke into the microphone in the private room, and some people started to jeer. The voices you heard were somewhat familiar and somewhat unfamiliar. Fang Xu's voice wasn't very clear, but the microphone seemed to be quite close to him, so you could understand every word.
[Hey, congratulations on finding a partner!]
[Bullshit]
[You can't be serious... like that... you...]
[I'm probably more suited to Platonic relationships. I genuinely liked him at first, but as time went on, I always felt it was meaningless. It's just that this time, my disappointment came much faster.]
Listening closely, it seems he was simply too lazy to dawdle any longer, since he had already spent a lot of time on it, so he wanted to use alcohol as an excuse to get it to his mouth quickly.
But if you think about it carefully, you never made any promises. The other party went to great lengths to ask for the status of a boyfriend so that you could do this openly and honestly, saving everyone from feeling awkward. But you had many concerns and didn't introduce him to your friends.
Moreover, even though you had some suspicions at the beginning, you still got involved without much struggle, unlike how decisive you were when you hung up the phone in the first place.
The commotion lasted for about two or three minutes. Once the waiters had left, the door to the private room was closed.
You stand at the door, your expression blank.
The waiter closed the door, turned around and noticed you, feeling immediately embarrassed, and quickly asked if you wanted to come in.
You said, "No need."
Halfway there, I picked up the mooncake box that had fallen on the ground and took it with me. When I got to the door, I found that the packaging was too big to fit in the trash can, so I had to leave it aside.
I drove home only after I finished taking care of everything.
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