CH 81

A couple seconds ago he was laughing at the other for being scared, and then he himself ended up pressing the other’s hand to his crotch because he was too scared.

Huo Ran felt like he couldn’t come back from this. 

If it were anyone else’s hand, he wouldn’t be feeling like that. Even if it were last month’s Kou Chen’s hand, it wouldn’t make him so distraught.

The only thing that made him feel better was that nobody else seemed to have noticed the embarrassing action.

After the seatbelts were undone they all jumped off and started talking loudly, laughing their hearts off.

Jiang Lei and Wei Chaoren were even grabbing each other’s crotches and accusing the other of pissing their pants without a care in the world. 

…Good, good.

As Huo Ran was about to sigh in relief, he turned to look at Kou Chen.

And he saw that the damn thing was laughing!

He suddenly had the extreme urge to silence Kou Chen at once, or else his reputation would be ruined.

“And you fucking laughed at me.” Kou Chen was laughing so hard he could barely stand up straight. He put an arm around him and laughed in his ear, “Look at yourself…”

“Tired of living, are you?” Huo Ran glared.

“You should thank me.” Kou Chen said.

“For what?” Huo Ran asked. 

“If I was scared at the moment,” Kou Chen put his hand in front of his face, fingers spread. Then he clenched them and yelled, “AH!”

“What was that for?” Huo Ran startled.

“Copying you.” Kou Chen said. “If I grabbed you like that, they would’ve exploded, and then you would be screaming like this, AH!”

“…You can shut up now.” Huo Ran was speechless. 

“But don’t worry, I have a solution.” Kou Chen patted him on the back and dug around his pockets, “Look, I’ll show you.”

“What?” Huo Ran looked at him strangely.

Kou Chen brought out his yellow chick keychain.

To Huo Ran, that thing was the beginning of Kou Chen’s insanity. Once it appeared, it meant that Kou Chen was going crazy. 

No.

No, no, no.

Ho Ran stared at Kou Chen’s hand. If he dare stuff it inside his pants, then he dare hit him.

“Ah, Ranran!” Kou Chen put the chick in his palm, and exclaimed pitifully, “Ranran!” 

“…Fuck you.” Huo Ran looked at him.

Kou Chen pressed on the chick’s chest with one finger: One, two, three, four…”

“…Kou Chen, are you okay?” Huo Ran asked.

“Ranran!” Kou Chen continued to press, and then he kissed the chick’s head twice, “MUA! MUA!” 

“What the fuck are you doing?” Huo Ran asked.

“CPR.” Kou Chen replied without even looking up.

Huo Ran didn’t know if had damaged his brain from all the earlier shock or what.

When Kou Chen started pressing down on the chick’s chest again, he burst out into laughter. 

His knees nearly went weak.

Kou Chen always remained composed when he was going crazy. The Seven of them plus the girl were all laughing hysterically, but he was still as calm as ever. After performing two rounds of chest compressions, he stopped and put the chick back into his pocket.

“I’ll go get drinks.” Kou Chen said after they finished laughing, still calm. “What do you guys want? Drinks, cakes, or something?” 

Everyone listed out the drinks they wanted in the group chat.

“Let’s go.” Kou Chen patted Huo Ran’s shoulder.

“Mhm.” Huo Ran followed him to the row of food stands.

He didn’t know when it started, but it was already a habit of theirs to do stuff like this together. Not only were they used to it, the others were as well. 

Huo Ran held a plastic bag and watched as Kou Chen put things inside, feeling strangely at ease.

“Do you want to eat anything?” Kou Chen asked. “I saw they have chocolate cake.”

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Huo Ran laid down on the grass.

Kou Chen followed him. 

Neither of them spoke, they only listened to the others talk. The girl was a third year at Shiyizhong, not too far from their school. Wei Chaoren was already asking what university she wanted to go to.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the girl’s grades were very good. The few schools that she listed were ones that Wei Chaoren never even considered, but he quickly changed his goal from the same school to the same city.

Huo Ran kind of wanted to laugh, but he was also a little envious.

How nice it is to bump into someone you like just like that, and to be able to express it so easily. 

“Hey.” Kou Chen turned to him and whispered. “Have you thought about what school you wanna go to?”

“Nope.” Huo Ran closed his eyes, almost feeling dizzy at the way the sun flashed through his eyelids. “There’s still a year left, I’ll think about it when I have to.”

Kou Chen laughed.

“What about you?” Huo Ran asked. 

“I’ve thought about it in middle school.” Kou Chen said. “Doesn’t matter what school, I wanted to study archaeology.”

“Read too many books, didn’t you?” Huo Ran laughed and said.

“Yeah.” Kou Chen sighed. “Then I didn’t want to anymore, and I still don’t know what I’m gonna do. But the thing is, what school can I get into? My dad probably has to spend some money.”

“Then do you want to stay here or go somewhere else?” Huo Ran asked. 

“Somewhere else.” Kou Chen said. “Then my dad won’t be able to boss me around anymore, and he won’t have me to piss him off to the point of making sausages all the time… But if you’re considering a school here, then I won’t go.”

“Huh?” Huo Ran turned to him, and opened his eyes slightly.

“We should be together.” Kou Chen turned sideways, head supported on his head. “It’s not realistic for all of us to be together, Zhifan’s gonna go to a good school. Chuan-ge, Carrot, and you could probably get into a decent one with some effort, and as for Leilei, Chaoren, and I… So I wanna be near you, I’m scared that after graduation we’ll…”

Kou Chen sighed and didn’t continue. 

“We’ll what?” Huo Ran didn’t have a habit of pressing too hard, but this time he couldn’t help it.

“If we don’t see each other often after graduation and you make new friends,” Kou Chen said, “We’ll drift apart, right?”

“Why don’t you say that you’ll make new friends and then ditch me.” Huo Ran tsked.

Kou Chen laughed. 

As advertised, the amusement park was huge, with lots of rides. They picked the most thrilling ones to go on, like the pirate ship, the pendulum, the flying trapeze…

Their group finally left the amusement park when it was starting to get dark and they were starving.

The girl’s dad was already waiting at the exit for her, and she waved goodbye: “Keep in contact, call me next time you guys come out here.” 

“Okay!” Wei Chaoren replied brightly.

After the girl left, Kou Chen called a cab. They would probably starve to death if they took the bus back ten, twenty stations.

Huo Ran dreaded having to separate after spending a day together like this.

Especially today. 

He’d never thought about what would happen after graduation, seeing as they still had a year left, and his parents didn’t have much of a plan for his future anyways.

When Kou Chen brought it up earlier, he realized with a jolt that it was only just one more year.

There was only a year left of these days of spending every waking hour together, seeing each other first thing in the morning, and going to the bathroom together.

He suddenly felt panicky. 

It was already getting cold as the sun set, and now his fingers felt numb with the cold.

From the amusement park back home was the opposite of their usual path, so Huo Ran was the one to get off first.

He didn’t say much the whole ride back, and he was startled when he realized that they were already at his place. 

The reluctance to part quickly became stronger, and he even felt that they were parting forever when he opened the car door.

…Didn’t even know who he was parting from specifically.

“Get to school early tomorrow,” Kou Chen rolled down the window, “Let’s eat breakfast together. Remember to ride my bike over.”

“Mhm.” Huo Ran nodded. 

He wanted to stall for a couple more seconds, but Kou Chen had already heartlessly rolled the window back up.

So he could only head inside.

Barely two steps in, the car had already turned around and drove off.

Huo Ran was annoyed. 

What’s the rush?!

What are you driving so fast for?!

I’m still standing here!

It was so rude! 

As he was standing there in a fit of rage, the elevator doors opened, and his dad walked out.

Seeing Huo Ran, he paused: “Oh? Did you get into a fight with someone?”

“What?” Huo Ran quickly touched his face, and then his nose.

No way he had held a nosebleed in for a day and it was finally coming out… 

“You look angry.” His dad looked at him. “It doesn’t look like you’ve just had a day of fun.”

Huo Ran looked into the mirror in the elevator, and seeing his annoyed expression made him laugh. He rubbed his face and said: “Nah, today was really thrilling, I’m probably just tired… Where are you going?”

“To buy vinegar.” His dad said. “Your mom made dumplings.”

“Ah!” At that, Huo Ran perked up and rushed into the elevator. “Go on then, I won’t come with you, I’m gonna eat some dumplings first.” 

“Go, go.” His dad said. “How come you didn’t invite Kou Chen over for dinner? His bike is still here, right? I thought he would come.”

“Ah,” Huo Ran paused, “He went home, I’ll take the bike to school tomorrow.”

When the elevator doors closed, he looked into the mirror at himself and sighed. 

It didn’t cross his mind to invite Kou Chen back for dinner and to pick up his bike.

The annoyance turned into a different kind of annoyance after eating ten dumplings at home.

What’s wrong with you, Huo Ran?

What happened? 

What are you thinking?

What are you doing?

“Kou Chen, is that you?” His mom called from the second floor.

“Yupppp—” Kou Chen dragged out his reply.

Shuaishuai leapt out of the hallway and into him.

“Trying to die?!” Kou Chen growled. 

Shuaishuai immediately sat down, but before he could even take his shoes off, he was on him again and rubbing against his face with his tongue out.

Kou Chen hugged him, “What’s wrong with you, it’s only been a day… I’ll play with you now, okay? You can sleep in my room tonight.”

Shuaishuai yipped, tail wagging.

“Had enough fun?” Kou Xiao came down stairs with her snack. 

“I’m starving.” Kou Chen leaned onto Shauishuai and the two of them wormed over to Kou Xiao, “Is dinner ready?”

“Amost.” Kou Xiao ate a cookie, “Stay at home tonight, I bet dad’s gonna call to ask about you. If he hears that you’re not at home he’s gonna yell at you again when he’s back.”

“I’m staying.” Kou Chen said. “I don’t wanna fight with him either. He’s just making himself mad, talking about sending me abroad all the time. I hate hearing it.”

“Just ignore him then, why do you have to argue back?” Kou Xiao glanced at him. 

Kou Chen laughed, and scooched over to her hand.

Kou Xiao took another cookie and put it in his mouth: Okay, no more, it’s almost time for dinner.”

His dad wasn’t home, so after dinner it was only his mom and Kou Xiao. Kou Chen sat down and switched to the sports channel, but before the ads were even done, he was shooed away. 

“Go watch TV upstairs.” His mom waved him off.

“You haven’t seen your son in a week,” Kou Chen said. “Don’t you want to…”

“Nope.” His mom laughed, and then pinched his cheek. “You can watch dramas with us or you can go upstairs.”

“Goodnight.” Kou Chen hugged his mom and ran upstairs. “Shuai—” 

Shuaishuai barked and followed him up.

Kou Chen turned on the TV in his room, but he felt restless after a while, like there was something on his mind, but he didn’t know what.

Staring at the TV, he zoned out for a while before he remembered. 

Tuesday was Huo ran’s birthday, and although the gift he had was already forced out, his original plan was to put the anklet with a card in the leather pouch.

The leather pouch was still there, and so was the card.

He got up and sat at his desk.

He took out a card. 

It was a really small card, with golden flowers printed on one side, and the other side blank. He was planning to draw something on it, and then write a ‘happy birthday’.

But now, he doesn’t know what to write.

Just a ‘happy birthday’, didn’t feel enough.

But anything else felt excessive. 

He didn’t know what was wrong with him.

He’d never been so stressed before.

He stared at the card for a long time.

Then he got his phone out. There were no new messages. 

The group chat was lively at dinner, full of photos, ugly photos, pretty photos, and silly photos they took of each other.

Everyone had a lot of fun today, so he guessed none of them wanted to move after eating dinner.

He scrolled through the photos slowly, saving each and every one of them.

Hu Yi sent a pretty interesting photo, one of him doing chest compressions on the chick. Huo Ran stood in front of him, laughing like an idiot. 

It was really cute.

He zoomed in on the photo, and studied it for a while.

A couple seconds later, he threw his phone down and paced around his room a little irritably. Then he sat back down in front of the TV.

He sat for a while, and then he stood back up to get his phone. 

He scrolled through a bunch of apps lazily, and then he went to his friends list.

He scrolled down slowly.

He added Lin Wuyu during the basketball tournament. As for why he did it, he couldn’t explain either, but Lin Wuyu didn’t ask either. He wanted to add him, and Lin Wuyu said yes.

And then they never chatted after that. 

Lin Wuyu’s profile picture was a black goat head. Satan.

At his age??

Every time he saw it he wanted to click his tongue, but then he remembered the grim reaper he had on his back, so he couldn’t quite do it.

He stared at the goat head, and then gave up on trying to start a conversation with him. 

He went back to the top, and tapped on Huo Ran.

-ranran, are you there?

-yup, chenchen

Huo Ran replied pretty quickly. 

Kou Chen didn’t know why it was so funny to him, but he burst out into laughter.