Chapter 14: Happy Birthday (2/2)

Looking at his sad face, He Bai almost felt guilty as if he had done something terrible to him.

“You… You’re welcome.” Ashamed of what he had in mind a while ago, he put away his phone.

It made sense. They couldn’t very well be the same person. After all, who would pay a fortune to buy back one’s own autograph after giving it away? That was not something that a smart man like Di Qiuhe would do. He was not that rich.

The more he thought of it, the guiltier he felt for being so paranoid a while ago. He then realized that what he said had deeply upsett Di and he hurriedly added, “Today is your birthday. What else do you want except for the longevity noodles? Cake? I know just the place to eat cake. Would you like me to order you one”

“Ok. Let’s go have some cake.” Di Qiuhe chimed in and sped up to finish his noodle. “I thought I’ll be alone today. Thank God I ran into you, little puppy. Thank you.”

He Bai swallowed what he wanted to say and looked towards his camera bag beside him.

‘Perhaps, I just found the right model for photographic course this week.’

Each of them finished the breakfasts with their own axe to grind. Then Di Qiuhe went to get his diploma, while He Bai took photos of Di Qiuhe striding into the teaching building.

With the sun rising, more and more students were coming out for exercises. To avoid causing disturbance, Di Qiuhe rode with He Bai downtown after getting his diploma. Afterwards, they drove together to a game center.

“Don’t you want a cake?” Standing in front of the game center, He Bai felt as if he was about to enter the lion’s den.

“I have already ordered a cake over the phone, but it needs time to be ready. Let’s kill some time with this while we wait.” Di Qiuhe lowered his cap. From his pocket he drew 500 yuan and delivered them to He Bai, “Here you are. Go exchange some game coins. Let’s play to our hearts’ content.”

He stared at the money as if it’s the same 500 yuan that he made yesterday. The shame for selling the autograph came out again. He took a picture when he saw Di Qiuhe ‘s handsome face under that cap peak. He then took the money and strode into the game center, all the while thinking, ‘Well, think of it as a compensation for selling his autograph.’

They tried everything that the game center had to offer: basketball machine, fishing machine, street dancing machine and VR equipment. He Bai stood next to a doll machine with an emotionless face, quietly watching Di Qiuhe wrestling with the gripper trying to catch the dolls. At weekends, there were a lot of people. Earlier the two were able to go on unnoticed under the cover of the dim lights, but now in the section of doll machines where lights were sufficiently bright, more and more passersby were looking towards their direction.

Holding back his impulse to yawn, He Bai suddenly noticed that not far away there were a few girls looking at his direction with sparkling eyes. With a twitch of his eyebrows, he looked around and saw a staff in a maid’s uniform selling comic spin-offs. He hurriedly stopped her and bought something. Then, he came back, placing his hands on Di Qiuhe’s shoulders and turning him around to face himself. “What’s up?” causally said Di Qiuhe, not minding the fact that this sudden interruption had totally ruined his best chance at catching the doll. Nonetheless, he wasn’t pissed, and instead raised his hat a bit and gently asked, “Getting impatient, hm? Shall we go get some drinks?”

The blushed face after playing, the smile, and the gentle way he said those words almost made He Bai feel like he was flirting with him. What a horrible delusion it was!

Holding back his desire to make sarcastic comments, He Bai stuck a sticker on Di’s face and then he squeezed a lot of paint, randomly rubbing them all over Di’s forehead and cheeks. He nodded with satisfaction after the handsome face had turned into a messy drawing board and then waved him away, “Ok. Go play. Childish Di.” He had figured out that Di Qiuhe was a childish man faking to be a mature grown-up. He was obviously a lousy gamer and the way he kept playing said a lot about his childish character. He now looked nothing like what he was made out to be.

Di Qiuhe let him do what he would to his face, but then he, smelled at the paint with a frown, “Childish Di?”

“How about Junior Di?” He Bai generously replied.

Di Qiuhe suddenly grabbed the paint from him, squeezing out a handful and rubbing it onto the dimple on the left side of his face. He then pinched his face. “You are younger than me. If I’m Childish Di, what does that make you?”

“Your uncle.”

“Little puppy.”

“What?”

“My uncle has been dead for many years.”

He Bai took away his hands. Then he quickly took some photos and snickered “I’m going to take all the ugly photos of you, then sell them to your stupid fan. Let’s see whether she would stop idolizing you and turn against you instead.”

Di Qiuhe put on a gentle smile while looking into the camera. “Stupid fan? Who? The one spent 1000 yuan for the autograph? Little puppy, I forgot to ask you. Why did you sell my autograph? Do you hate me?”

The guy in the camera was smiling, but with a sense of sadness. Unconsciously, He Bai pressed the shutter to take a picture, then put it down with a sigh. He put on his poker face again and tilted his head to looked at the door, signaling him to tag along, “Let’s go. I’m starving. Let’s go eat something.”

“Your treat?”

“… My treat.”

“I want to eat ribs. The most expensive kind.”

He Bai paused suddenly and pulled over his hands for a quick shake. Then he let them go, waving “Happy birthday. See you again!”

Di Qiuhe couldn’t help but laugh. The moment He Bai turned around, Di Qiuhe quickly caught his bag belt. Being taller than him, Di Qiuhe took away his camera with ease, and then he waved “All right. Thanks. See you again!”

After finishing those words, he turned back and went away without hesitation as quickly as he could.

“Wait…” He Bai was dumbfounded, and then he stomped his feet, shouting “You bastard! My camera!”