CH 84

As usual, everyone chatted a bit more after wishing Huo Ran a happy birthday, and then they all went to sleep.

Kou Chen didn’t send Huo Ran any more messages. 

He scrolled through their earlier chat. There were only a couple messages actually, he didn’t even need to scroll, but he stared at them for at least two minutes before finally putting his phone down and going to sleep.

Today was good, he felt tired early.

He fell asleep right as he closed his eyes.

Everyone woke up pretty early the next morning. There was a new tradition in their class, in which the person whose birthday it was had to treat everyone to breakfast, half from their own money and half from the class funds.

There were a couple of people who did it before Huo Ran. Breakfast didn’t cost too much, and it was also a great opportunity for everyone to get together and have fun.

For this breakfast, everyone in their class would be at the cafeteria right on time.

Kou Chen was the first to finish washing up, and then he went and kicked the door to the dorm right across from them: “You guys up yet?!”

“Are you gonna pay for the door if you break it?” Hu Yi opened the door.

“Of course, didn’t I pay for the bed last time?” Kou Chen laughed.

“Paid for bed? Who paid for whose bed?” Jiang Lei walked out of the bathroom with a mouthful of toothpaste and mumbled.

“Huo Ran.” Hu Yi said. 

“Paid Huo Ran for bed?” Jiang Lei paused, “Kou Chen, you paid Huo Ran for bed?”

“He paid us for the bed frame!” Xu Zhifan walked over as he put his shirt on, “The one that broke last time!”

“…Oh,” Jiang Lei laughed as he went back into the bathroom and coughed his lungs out.

“Did you swallow toothpaste?” Kou Chen said. 

He didn’t hear what Jiang Lei said in reply, walking to Huo Ran’s bed. He was standing by the window trying to find a good angle to take a selfie.

“Is this what it’s like to be an adult?” Kou Chen looked at him. “Taking a selfie first thing in the morning?”

“My mom!” Huo Ran kept moving around, annoyed. “My mom has to post a photo of me every year on my birthday, saying ‘ah it’s my darling son’s birthday, he’s one year older, he’s so handsome and cute!’.” 

Kou Chen laughed.

“All of the photos she posts are the ones she snuck of me, they’re so ugly. One time a high school classmate of hers commented: ‘the kid is okay looking’, and it pissed her off.” Huo Ran said. “Pissed me off too.”

“It was obviously on purpose.” Xu Zhifan said.

“So I’m sending her a selfie this time.” Huo Ran stopped moving and threw his phone onto his bed. “But they’re even fucking worse than the ones my mom takes.” 

“Let me,” Kou Chen grabbed his phone, “I have lots of experience taking photos of Shuaishuai.”

Huo Ran looked at him.

Kou Chen handed him the phone: “Unlock it.”

Huo Ran looked at him. 

Kou Chen realized what he said and laughed: “I meant I’ve taken lots of photos, I pretend Shuaishuai’s a human when I take his photos…”

“Fine, stop talking.” Huo Ran unlocked his phone, “It sounds bad no matter what.”

Kou Chen opened up the camera app and pointed it at him: “Just smile, you don’t need to pose.”

Huo Ran leaned against the window and smiled at the camera. 

Kou Chen took the photo and gave the phone back: “This is good. Your skill is only really enough to take a photo of your hand as a profile picture.”

Huo Ran looked at the photo, he was actually pretty handsome.

No, it’s the photo actually captured his handsomeness.

“You just turned eighteen, how do you feel?” Kou Chen asked. 

“Nothing really,” Huo Ran laughed, sending the photo to his mom.

“Can we go now?” Kou Chen urged them. “There’s gonna be a lot of people. It’s not just anybody’s birthday, it’s Huo Ran’s. We’re probably gonna have to eat standing if you’re late.”

“Come on, come on,” Jiang Lei waved, “Let’s go!”

They all left the dorms, strutting to the cafeteria.

There were already a lot of people in the cafeteria, pretty much all from their class, there to save a seat.

When they walked in, everyone yelled: “The birthday boy’s here!”

“Happy birthday, Huo Ran!” 

“Happy birthday!”

Wu Xiaochen waved and pointed to a table full of gifts: “Happy birthday, Huo Ran! Come sit here, these are gifts from everyone, the big red box is from Old Yuan and the class reps.”

“Thank you, everyone,” Huo Ran quickly bowed left and right, “Thank you, thank you…”

“Good thing I was prepared,” Wei Chaoren whispered. “So many presents.” 

“What?” Kou Chen looked at him, “Are you gonna steal one?”

“Am I that sort of person?!” Wei Chaoren got out a couple of reusable shopping bags from his backpack, “I knew Huo Ran would get a lot of gifts, so I brought bags.”

“Gjwc,” Leb Ejc ijeutfv, “Ktjcxr!”

“Scbeut bo atja!” We Jtejc rwjmxfv tlw, “Tbe yfaafg cba rjs atjcx sbe jujlc ktfc kf ulnf beg uloar!” 

“Tfjt, bxjs, la’r ktja sbe uesr rtbeiv yf vblcu jcskjsr.” Leb Ejc cbvvfv.

Snfgsbcf mtffgfv obg j ilaaif ktlif wbgf yfobgf atfs rja vbkc jcv rajgafv fjalcu atflg ‘ylgatvjs ygfjxojra’.

The Seven of them cleared the gifts off the table. A lot of his classmates gave a gift, and there were a few from more than one person together. The various-sized boxes filled up a couple of shopping bag 

“Come, come,” Xu Zhifan smacked the table, “It’s our turn now. Kou Chen, do you have anything else?”

They all knew that Huo Ran’s anklet was Kou Chen’s birthday gift to him.

“Of course,” Kou Chen smiled and brought out a small leather pouch. “We gotta have the ceremonial feeling on the actual day.”

“There’s more?” Huo Ran paused. 

“It’s a little thing, it was supposed to hold the anklet,” Kou Chen put the pouch in front of them. “Happy birthday.”

“Happy,” Huo Ran smiled and picked it up. He hesitated, and then chose to not open it and put it in his pocket.

All of their presents were pretty thoughtful, a lot better than what they bought at the night market last time.

Xu Zhifan gave him a helmet, Xu Chuan gave him a really cool wireless charger, and Jiang Lei, Wei Chaoren, and Hu Yi got him a pair of nice cycling glasses together. 

“Even though it’s expected of you guys,” Huo Ran cleared his throat and gathered up all the gifts. “I’m not gonna say thank you, but I really am grateful.”

“That’s fine,” Xu Zhifan said. “Treat us to a nice dinner.”

“Kou Chen can order,” Huo Ran said. “He has experience.”

“Leave it to me.” Kou Chen snapped his fingers. 

The bad part about your birthday being on a Tuesday is that you still had to go back to the dorms, so you couldn’t hang out too late, and you couldn’t let go and drink, since you still had to get up and go to class the next day.

But as long as they could get out of the school, nothing could affect their good mood.

Before last period even ended, Huo Ran’s phone was vibrating like crazy, all messages from the others in the group chat.

Probably because they didn’t have enough fun at the amusement park the other day, so they were all very excited about tonight.

But Xu Zhifan was still calm, not forgetting to keep up the act from yesterday as he discussed with everyone else.

“Damn,” Kou Chen’s forehead was resting against the table, and he was looking down at his phone, “Did Zhifan tell you yet?” 

“Tell me what?” Huo Ran whispered, “I haven’t checked my phone.”

“He got rejected,” Kou Chen’s voice was low. “And they didn’t take the bracelet Old Yang brought over.”

“Huh?” Huo Ran pretended to be shocked, and he wanted to glance at his phone, but was afraid to slip up.

But Xu Zhifan was very meticulous. He saw Xu Zhifan’s message when he turned his phone on. 

–rejected

“He really did get rejected?” Huo Ran said.

“I told you,” Kou Chen leaned over, “Who do you think he asked out? Xu Zhifan’s good-looking, he’s smart, and he has a great personality. Who’s rejecting him? They must be crazy!”

“Dunno, maybe…” Huo Ran almost blurted out that maybe the girl liked women. 

“What?” Kou Chen looked at him, “You know something?”

“…No,” Huo Ran quickly searched for something to say, “Maybe he didn’t confess right? Too stiff?”

“No way, not with his EQ,” Kou Chen thought about it. “You on the other hand… I still think the girl’s crazy in his case.”

Huo ran glanced at him and didn’t say anything. 

Good thing I’m not confessing, or else you’d die of shock.

Kou Chen turned back to his phone. Huo Ran’s reaction made him a little uneasy.

Normally, Huo Ran would snark back for sure, but today he stayed silent. 

He stayed silent.

…He must be right, then!

Holy shit!

Kou Chen jerked back to stare at Huo Ran. 

Huo Ran was about to open the leather pouch, and him turning his head startled him. He paused for a moment before saying: “What, I can’t open it?”

“You can,” Kou Chen said. “Did you not look earlier?”

“No,” Huo Ran said. “I felt there was chocolate inside…”

“So you didn’t wanna open it, is that right?!” Kou Chen decided to strike first. 

“If it’s chocolate then I wouldn’t need to specifically open it to check.” Huo Ran said.

“Then why are you opening it now?” Kou Chen stared.

“I want to eat it…” Huo Ran said.

He didn’t have anything to say to that. Kou Chen nodded a moment later: “Okay.” 

Kou Chen laid back on the desk, and Huo Ran opened the little pouch.

His movements were soft and small. He didn’t know why, it was just a supplement to a birthday gift. It couldn’t be more normal to open it up, but he really didn’t want to startle Kou Chen.

Even if Kou Chen was perfectly aware of what he was doing, he was still careful, like Kou Chen would realize something was wrong with just a turn of his head. 

Indeed, there was a piece of chocolate inside.

But it was different from the ones Kou Chen normally gave him. There was a layer of colourful paper wrapped around it, like the streamers at little kids’ birthday parties.

Huo Ran unwrapped it, and saw that there was something written on it.

‘Wow I’ve been eaten by an eighteen year old gege’. 

Fuck.

Huo Ran paused, he suddenly felt a tickle in his nose, but he actually really wanted to laugh.

Kou Chen was still laying on his desk playing on his phone, and he quickly folded the paper up and put it in his pocket.

Then he took a bite of the chocolate 

There was more stuff than he expected in the little pouch. Apart from the piece of paper and the chocolate, there was also a tiny card.

He opened the card up, seeing the words written inside.

‘Happy Birthday’.

The two simple words were outlined many times in marker, filling up the whole card. 

Huo Ran felt like Kou Chen probably hasn’t given anyone a birthday gift since elementary school. His handwritten card looked like a little kid wrote it.

It was childish but complicated. The lines repeated, but they were all different colours.

Who would’ve thought that the cool and handsome Kou Chen, gave these sorts of birthday cards out.

Huo Ran smiled, putting the card back into the pouch. 

“Hey,” Kou Chen nudged his legs,” Huo Ran.”

“Hm?” Huo Ran turned to him and put the pouch in his pocket.

“Are you…” Kou Chen’s voice was as quiet as a mosquito’s yawn, “Are you…” 

Huo Ran’s ears perked up in alarm.

“Nevermind.” Kou Chen clicked his tongue.

Huo Ran stared at him, thoughts flying through his head. What did Kou Chen want to ask? Are you what? Into men? Gay? In love with me?

Those were the only thoughts in his head, and he almost wanted to laugh. 

Seriously?

Why was he so nervous?

“Finish your sentence!” Huo Ran quickly adjusted himself, reacting how he normally would.

“You’ve been acting weird these days,” Kou Chen frowned, “Are you… going after someone?” 

“Going after what?” Huo Ran’s hands went numb in his shock. It was amazing that he even said something in response to it. Right now he had the intense urge to yell out, ‘Xu Zhifan, help!’.

“Do you like a girl?” Kou Chen said. “You feel off, but I can’t say why… Am I just too sensitive?”

Huo Ran didn’t know if he should breathe a sigh of relief or tense up in nervousness.

Kou Chen said girl, so he could relax, but Kou Chen could feel it, and that made him nervous. 

For a second, he really wanted to just go along with it and say yes.

But he didn’t dare.

They were still in class, and he didn’t dare think about the consequences.

“If I do like a girl,” Huo Ran said, “I would tell you. Aren’t you the master at confessions? I have to ask you for help.” 

“That’s a promise!” Kou Chen pointed at him.

“Mhm.” Huo Ran nodded.

Kou Chen didn’t push the matter, feeling like he was too delicate, like a teenage girl.

Tsk, tsk, tsk. 

How embarrassing.

A few minutes before the bell rang, he grabbed his phone, leaned against Huo Ran, and messaged the group chat.

It didn’t matter if he was lying or not. Huo Ran said he didn’t like anyone, so that made him feel better. 

-I’ll call a cab when the bell rings, Chuan-ge do it too, they should be here when we get to the gates

Everyone replied:

-when is the cake getting there?

-7:30, on time 

When the bell rang, Kou Chen lept up and dragged Huo Ran out with him.

The others did the same, and they were the first to leave the classroom.

They were all pretty childish. Everyone knew that they were planning to go out, and they still had to show off a little, like they were afraid other people didn’t know that they were the best of friends, and that they had private plans. 

Very haughty of them.

But they ran too fast. At the school gates, the car was still stuck at the lights two kilometres away.

“We can bring some barbeque back for everyone else,” Xu Zhifan said. “Or else it looks like we’re sneaking out for food.” 

Xu Chuan nodded, “We’ll call Wu Xiaochen to bring some girls over to pick theirs up.”

“Can I bring Lu Huan some separately?” Jiang Lei looked to Kou Chen, “Is that appropriate?”

“Please bring some for all of the girls in her dorm.” Kou Chen said. “You have to win over her friends first.”

“Got it, food for each of them.” Jiang Lei nodded. 

“Just say it’s Huo Ran’s treat,” Kou Chen said again, “So she can’t refuse.”

“Okay.” Jiang Lei gave him a thumbs up, “Even though you’re all talk, your advice is still helpful.”

“Shut up.” Kou Chen glared at him.

That was pretty embarrassing for Kou Chen. 

And a little upset.

The fuck do you mean by ‘all talk’?

I just don’t have practical experience, okay?!

What do you know?! 

Kou Chen turned away, looking at the people standing under a tree two metres away from them.

He stared for a while, and then one of them waved at him.

With a jolt, he realized that he was staring down Lin Wuyu and a few of his friends.

“Spacing out?” Lin Wuyu laughed, “I thought you were declaring war.” 

“Oh, no, no, no.” Kou Chen quickly shook his head.

“Is it Huo Ran’s birthday?” Lin Wuyu asked, “The cafeteria was full of people from your class this morning.”

“Ah, yeah,” Huo Ran nodded.

“Happy birthday,” Lin Wuyu said. 

“Wanna join us for dinner, senior?” Wei Chaoren greeted enthusiastically.

“I’m fine, we already have plans.” Lin Wuyu pointed at his friends.

“Oh!” Wei Chaoren nodded.

“Are you stupid?” Xu Chuan couldn’t help but ask. 

“…Maybe.” For the first time, Wei Chaoren questioned his intelligence.

“I’ll be off then,” Lin Wuyu waved, “Have fun.”

They all waved back.

Kou Chen waved too. He really was extra sensitive lately, especially in front of Lin Wuyu, who had already come out. He kept feeling like one of his shameful secrets was about to be exposed. 

He even thought that Lin Wuyu glanced at him specifically when he said that last thing.

A very meaningful glance.

Was something wrong with him? It looked like he had a crush on Lin Wuyu like this.

He turned and hugged Huo Ran, burying his face in his shoulder. He mumbled: Ranran.”

“Hm?” Huo Ran turned his head.

“Nothing,” Kou Chen said. “I just wanted to see if you were there.”

“The seventeen Huo Ran isn’t here, but the eighteen year old Huo Ran is.” Huo Ran laughed. 

“Good for you, yeah?” Kou Chen lifted his head.

“No?” Huo Ran raised an eyebrow, “Brat.”

Kou Chen tsked.

Huo Ran’s expression was haughty and cute, so he had to click his tongue to stop himself from suddenly kissing Huo Ran’s face. 

Well, it’s not like he doesn’t do that normally.