Chapter 13 (1/2)

Chapter 13

Edited by: Planetes

At 10.45pm, Fang Zhaomu’s phone rang. The person delivering the food had arrived.

Fang Zhaomu ran downstairs to pick it up. The delivery person seemed to be a part-timer. He was dressed in a suit, looking like a manager of the restaurant, and in his hands was a very big paper bag.

He politely handed the bag to Fang Zhaomu, and hoped that he would enjoy the food.

Fang Zhaomu felt the bag was very heavy. Back home, he saw that there were more than ten boxes within the bag. Fang Zhaomu’s table was small, and could not fit all the boxes.

Just a few boxes was enough to take up more than half the space on the table. Puzzled, he sent Andrew a text. “What did you order? Why are there so many boxes?”

“Lovers’ set,” Andrew replied. “It arrived so late?”

When Fang Zhaomu opened the boxes, he saw that the food within were all arranged very nicely. For some reason, they reminded him of something.

Fang Zhaomu finally registered what it was when he opened the box of dessert. Andrew had ordered him the lovers’ set from the restaurant he was at in the evening.

Fang Zhaomu was stunned for a moment. First, he was very touched, but then he suddenly felt that it was strange. Contemplating it, he pulled his hand back from the box, then looked at his brightly lit phone. Picking it up, his fingers paused on the screen for two minutes, before sending Andrew a message. “How did you know which restaurant I was at?”

Andrew’s response came very fast. “The photo you sent me had the restaurant’s name on the plate.”

Fang Zhaomu immediately switched to his photo album and zoomed in to the photo he sent Andrew. There really was a silver inscription of the restaurant’s name on the bottom right corner of the plate. Fang Zhaomu was no longer that worried, but he still felt a little strange about it.

Somewhat conflicted, he looked at the food on his table. Before he could calm down, he received a call from Andrew.

Fang Zhaomu picked it up. “Andrew.”

Andrew asked Fang Zhaomu, “What happened?”

Andrew’s tone could not be any more natural. Seeing that Fang Zhaomu did not respond, Andrew asked again, “The food isn’t good?”

Fang Zhaomu’s face heated up, feeling ashamed of his unreasonableness.

Andrew had contacted the restaurant who did not do delivery, and made them deliver the food to Fang Zhaomu’s place so late at night just to let him eat something, yet Fang Zhaomu was still feeling suspicious about it.

“I might still be in shock over the car just now,” Fang Zhaomu tried his best to find an excuse for his behaviour. “I think I haven’t recovered from it.”

“Don’t be scared.” Andrew paused. Fang Zhaomu felt that he still wanted to continue, but after waiting for a while, Andrew did not say it out.

Fang Zhaomu set his phone on loudspeaker, then opened up a few more boxes. He suppressed his other emotions, and told Andrew, “If only you were here. It’s too wasteful for me to eat a set for two people myself.”

“It’s fine.”

Fang Zhaomu picked up a forkful of salad. “How did you convince them to deliver the food?”

“Didn’t you want to eat it?” Andrew dodged Fang Zhaomu’s question, and asked him another in return.

Fang Zhaomu’s place was small, and the table was a low folding table he had purchased online. He took out all boxes of the set meal that Andrew had ordered for him, and they were spread from the table to the floor.

As there had been some communication issues with the school, they had only arranged a dormitory for him for two months. Fang Zhaomu had spent a long time looking for a place to stay, and moved here only last month. His lodging was in between two somewhat larger places, and it was not clear what his place was intended for. His landlord was Asian. He was renting out this place for the first time, and Fang Zhaomu had just happened across it.

From the start till now, Fang Zhaomu’s exchange had not been very successful, and he had been having problems with everything. For him to know Andrew, it felt like something that should not be happening to him.

“Thank you,” Fang Zhaomu told Andrew. “When you’re back, I’ll treat you to a meal too.”

“We’ll talk about it again.”

“Why do we have to talk about it again?” Fang Zhaomu squinted, and pushed his luck. “Does it mean that you don’t want to eat with me?”

Andrew hesitated for two seconds. “… No.”