◎Retention◎
Su Yun looked at the man before him in disbelief.
How could someone look so remarkably similar to the person he had imagined in his mind? The only difference was that the man in his imagination was smiling, whereas the person right now wore a completely aloof expression, looking very much like a cool guy.
“Are you Su Yun?” When the other party received no response, he spoke up again. “I am Si Yan.”
Su Yun managed to snap out of his daze, hurriedly retrieving the business card from his chest pocket and standing up to reply. “Ah, yes, I am Su Yun, hello.”
Because of his earlier awkwardness, his mind temporarily switched to factory settings, causing his arm to rise mechanically as he attempted a business-style handshake.
Si Yan froze for a moment. When Su Yun realized something was amiss and tried to withdraw his hand, Si Yan grasped it and gave it a small, gentle shake.
“Would the two gentlemen like to order now? Our shop has just launched a brand-new business set meal.” A nearby waiter watched their posture and never once suspected they were on a blind date.
“Let us look at the menu first.” Si Yan released Su Yun’s hand and told the waiter.
“Alright.” The waiter left two menus behind and stepped away.
Su Yun’s lagging brain finally returned to normal. He pulled back his hand, his curled fingers still lingering with the warmth of the other’s touch.
Only then did he notice that the man’s voice sounded somewhat familiar, and the style of his suit was also reminiscent of someone else. This person looked awfully like the man in the basement earlier who was with the long-haired beauty.
He briefly retraced his thoughts. The expression Si Yan had given him earlier looked extremely surprised and unexpected.
Could it be that the other party had no idea his blind date today was of the same sex?
It was not as if he had never encountered such a situation before.
Thinking of this, he actually felt a wave of sadness wash over him, sadder even than discovering his blind date wasn’t a blonde beauty. When he sat back down in his seat, he couldn’t hide his dejection.
Noticing the heavy low pressure coming from across the table, Si Yan looked over with a mixture of confusion and inquiry.
Was he that reluctant to have dinner with him?
Lowering his gaze again, he lost all interest in the menu’s exquisite food pictures, his eyes continually drifting toward the opposite side of the table.
Su Yun was sighing inwardly, equally unable to muster any interest in the food.
From Si Yan’s angle, he could only see Su Yun’s long eyelashes rather than his eyes, but the drooped corners of the other’s mouth were very clear.
Su Yun happened to land right in his aesthetic sweet spot, and even his bizarre outfit, a plaid shirt paired with a striped tie, radiated a sort of green, youthful cuteness.
Yet Su Yun didn’t seem interested in him at all.
He withdrew his gaze, his eyes pausing when they brushed against the upper pocket of Su Yun’s suit jacket.
A card was tucked inside there, likely the one Su Yun had been looking at earlier. Only a small portion of its back was visible, featuring an irregular red mark that looked suspiciously like a lipstick stain, very likely left behind by that enthusiastic blonde beauty earlier.
Just then, Su Yun raised his eyes, and their gazes intersected unexpectedly.
Sensing that Si Yan had been looking at his chest pocket, Su Yun glanced down.
Catching sight of the card sticking out, he lowered his gaze and, with a self-deceiving gesture, used his finger to press the card piece by piece down into his pocket.
Staring as that lipstick stain completely vanished from view, Si Yan felt amused by Su Yun’s little action on one hand, while finding it oddly displeasing on the other.
Throughout the meal, both harbored their own thoughts and maintained near-zero communication, interspersing their time with furtive glances at each other.
Halfway through the meal, Si Yan decided it was still necessary to break the silence. After all, his mission tonight was to understand the other person’s situation so he could report back to Madame Mother. “Are you getting ready to graduate?”
He figured Su Yun was young and might have just started university not long ago.
Su Yun was chewing a piece of steak and couldn’t speak, so he simply shook his head.
Si Yan nodded slowly, thinking he had guessed right. “Freshman or sophomore?”
Having finished chewing, Su Yun held his knife and fork and continued shaking his head. “I graduated several years ago.”
Si Yan looked surprised. “You cannot tell.”
Su Yun felt a bit embarrassed, guessing that today’s rustic outfit had led the other person to mistakenly believe he was immature. He sheepishly lowered his head to cut his steak. “I am already twenty-six this year.”
“Oh,” Si Yan acknowledged softly. “How is work treating you lately? Is it going smoothly?”
“Yeah,” Su Yun was quite satisfied with his current job, the corners of his eyes curving upward. “Quite smoothly.”
Su Yun’s pupils were a light brownish-brown, clear and bright under the restaurant’s lighting. His eyelashes were remarkably long, his porcelain-white skin seemed to glow, and his pale lips were coated with a thin layer of food oil, looking thoroughly alluring.
Si Yan’s heart skipped a beat with a loud thump. His thoughts drifted into disorder, and he spent the rest of the meal completely distracted.
Su Yun adjusted quickly. Transforming his sorrow into an appetite, his spirits lifted considerably, and he occasionally followed Si Yan’s conversational threads to ask a few questions back, though the topics never went very deep.
Additionally, Si Yan constantly gave him a distracted vibe; he didn’t seem very interested in the blind date and maintained a polite, distant distance from him.
Su Yun had no hobby of turning straight men gay, and furthermore, the guy seemingly had a girlfriend. Therefore, even if the other person matched his ideal image down to the last detail, it was a no-go.
He simply treated it as coming here to enjoy fine food, devouring his post-meal dessert completely.
“You seem to really like that. Would you like a box packed to take home?” Si Yan hadn’t ordered dessert himself, watching patiently as Su Yun ate.
“No need.” Su Yun’s eyes curved. “I am already satisfied.”
Being able to meet the perfect image constructed in his mind was satisfaction enough.
Si Yan felt that after eating dessert, even Su Yun’s smile was dusted with powdered sugar, making him want to taste a piece himself.
Ultimately, Si Yan insisted on paying the bill and even had the waiter pack a slice of cake.
Noticing Si Yan’s deep sense of apology, Su Yun roughly understood his intentions; they likely wouldn’t be in touch again after tonight.
“Let’s go Dutch, or I can pay for the cake.” He was equally persistent.
Si Yan glanced at him, then looked away. “Then let’s split the bill, and I will pay for the cake.”
Su Yun agreed.
When they left, Si Yan walked ahead carrying the boxed cake, with Su Yun following behind.
Only then did Su Yun realize that Si Yan didn’t just share facial similarities with his ideal model; even his back view bore an uncanny resemblance.
“Are you driving yourself?” Si Yan was pressing the elevator button, turning his head slightly.
Su Yun’s heart fluttered.
That profile was an exact replica of the one in his memories.
“Hm?” Receiving no response, Si Yan made to turn his head fully.
“Don’t move, just like that, don’t move.” Su Yun blurted out reflexively to stop him.
By now, he was almost certain that Si Yan was the very same man who had sat outside a foreign café feeding birds.
Clueless yet cooperative, Si Yan stood frozen without moving a muscle.
The elevator doors opened before them.
Si Yan asked, “Can I move now?”
Su Yun had blurted that out on pure instinct, regretting it the moment the words left his mouth. “Sorry, yes you can.”
He saw the corners of Si Yan’s lips twitch upward slightly, as if he were smiling.
Su Yun wanted to die of social embarrassment, his toes curling inside his shoes as his mind alternated between screaming like a million chickens and flopping like a million carp.
As they stepped into the elevator, Si Yan remained standing toward the front, turning his profile at the exact same angle to ask, “I called a driver to pick me up. Shall I drop you off?”
Remembering he hadn’t answered Si Yan’s earlier question, Su Yun felt a fresh wave of mortification, clutching the hem of his suit jacket. “No need, I drove my own car.”
“Oh.” Si Yan’s response sounded heavy and muffled.
In the underground parking garage, Si Yan walked Su Yun to his car.
Su Yun noticed that the brightly colored sports car parked diagonally opposite earlier was gone.
“Your car…” He harbored a flicker of hope that Si Yan wasn’t that man from earlier.
“The basement is hard to navigate, so I told my driver to wait on ground level,” Si Yan explained.
“Oh.” Su Yun couldn’t be certain, but he lacked any grounds to probe further, hesitatingly pulling open his car door.
“It is still raining outside, watch your safety on the road,” Si Yan said.
“Okay, you too.” Su Yun wriggled clumsily into the car.
Si Yan bent down, handed the cake box into the vehicle, and placed it on Su Yun’s lap. “For you.”
“Huh?” Su Yun was caught completely off guard, thinking Si Yan had bought the cake for himself.
“Seeing that you enjoyed it,” Si Yan said.
Hugging the round cake box, a delicate citrus fragrance drifted out from within, sweetening the small, confined space of the car cabin.
Si Yan uttered a concise goodnight and straightened up.
The second Si Yan’s face vanished from his field of view, Su Yun panicked for no apparent reason, instinctively leaning out of the car window. “Wait.”
Si Yan had originally intended to help shut the car door, but seeing this, he rested his hand on the frame and leaned down once more. “What is it?”
Embarrassed once more by his own impulsiveness, Su Yun pressed on regardless. “Nothing, just thank you for the cake.”
The straight line of Si Yan’s lips curved into a tiny arc. “You are welcome.”
It was the first time Su Yun had seen Si Yan smile tonight. Though the gesture was tiny, so faint he wasn’t even sure it counted as a smile, this minute transformation softened Si Yan’s strangers keep out aura, sparking a shred of courage within him to draw closer.
Clutching his car keys, a storm of thoughts raged through his mind.
What if Si Yan wasn’t that man he saw in the basement at all?
The suit style Si Yan wore wasn’t unique; who decreed that only Si Yan could wear it?
Basements echoed, so the voice he’d heard might not have belonged to Si Yan either.
Besides, although Si Yan looked cool, he was actually quite a gentleman, unlike someone who would speak to a woman with impatience.
Perhaps he really had just misunderstood?
With Si Yan holding the car door and waiting indefinitely for a farewell that wouldn’t come, he finally felt he was overstepping boundaries and straightened up to leave, only to have a sleeve grabbed tightly from behind.
Su Yun decided to give them both one more chance to understand each other. If Si Yan genuinely had a girlfriend or disliked men, he would let it go.
“Um, would you like to exchange contact information first?” he probed cautiously.
Noticing Si Yan look momentarily startled, Su Yun felt like retreating and sheepishly let go of the sleeve. But since he had already gone this far, he forced himself to press forward. “Your look matches a character design I am working on recently. Would you mind if I drew a few portraits of you?”
Si Yan’s lowered gaze fell upon the hand that had just grabbed his sleeve, completely missing whatever Su Yun said next. He nodded and replied, “Sure.”