Fu Huai'an dialed the number of Tianfu Bay while Lin Nuan was eating to let Auntie Li prepare a few simple dishes and porridge.
"Aren't you going to meet your friends tonight?" Lin Nuan asked with the glass of milk in her hand.
"You're sick now, so get some rest. You'll get your chance once you recover…"
Bai Jinyu called just as Fu Huai'an was talking.
Bai Jinyu made a reservation for the dining venue. He was especially curious who Fu Huai'an was going to bring over and began guessing on his own…
"I won't be coming over tonight."
"Why not! I already reserved the venue, and we already invited people over! We will have gotten our hopes up over nothing if you blow us off like this!"
Bai Jinyu's voice was so loud that Lin Nuan could vaguely tell it was a man on the other line. She grasped Fu Huai'an's wrist to prevent him from turning him down.
She felt it wasn't appropriate for her to blow them off the first time she met his friends—after all, she still wanted to leave a good first impression for his friends.
She'd look pretentious if she missed the gathering just because she was sick, making everyone wait for her.
She did go to work in the past, even when she was ill. She knew she could handle it.
Lin Nuan grasped Fu Huai'an's wrist tightly and nodded.
The other line of the phone was still noisy. Fu Huai'an paused for a moment and said, "We'll arrive a bit later!"
…
By 6:10 in the evening, she had finished her treatment. Fu Huai'an drove out of the parking spot under the hospital as the rain began pouring outside.
He waited in the car as Lin Nuan went back to her house to change. She tied her hair into a ponytail, put on some foundation and lipstick, combed her fringe, and came out.
She felt a lot better after going to the hospital. Despite that, she still felt uneasy meeting his friends.
She couldn't help but ask Fu Huai'an as he was driving, "Are the guests today close friends of yours?"
Fu Huai'an smiled as he turned to look at her and nodded. "You already met Tang Zheng, Bai Jingyu, and Lu Jinnan. There's another one… who grew up together with me since we were children. I'll introduce them to you later."
Lin Nuan was slightly shocked.
Lu Jinnan was coming?
Fu Huai'an mentioned last night he and a couple of friends were having a gathering and he was going to introduce them to her. She automatically assumed she had never met them before!
She couldn't imagine they were people she already knew…
Lin Nuan thought about how she met Lu Jinnan earlier that day, and she regretted how the conversation didn't end pleasantly.
If only she clarified with Fu Huai'an earlier—she could have used her sickness as an excuse not to go.
She looked outside the wet window at the scenery. She wasn't the type to spill everything out, and she didn't want Fu Huai'an to notice the awkward situation. Hence she put herself together and pretended nothing had happened.
She took a deep breath and stood up straight, smiling.
In the private room, the guests had already begun a round of Mahjong to kill time.
Bai Jingyu and his female guests were already sitting at the Mahjong table.
Lu Jinnan had a cigarette in his mouth as he laid out a Mahjong tile. He asked, "Where is Tang Zheng? Why hasn't he arrived yet? It's no fun playing without him!"
Just as he finished speaking, Tang Zheng entered the room following the waiter.
"What's this? Apparently I've been on your mind!"
Tang Zheng joked as he walked inside. He was suddenly shaken when he saw Chu Xun sitting on the couch using her phone.