EAY Chapter 45
by VolareYou actually have a crush on someone
45
When the day of the “date” arrived, Qi Ye dressed as usual, in a sweater and black jacket. Li Tianyi, however, felt he wasn’t paying enough attention to his appearance and scrutinized his clothes, “Too casual, there’s no sense of putting in effort at all. Wait a minute, I just bought a white down jacket that’s a bit too big for me, you can borrow it.”
“No need.” Qi Ye brushed him off, “I’m not going there for a date.”
Li Tianyi gave him that pitiful look again, “Just change into it, okay?”
Even Qi Ye, who usually prided himself on not having a temper, felt like hitting someone. He knew that if he didn’t agree, Li Tianyi would keep pestering him, so he sighed and took off his clothes.
Just as he put on Li Tianyi’s jacket, Shi Ran pushed the door open, holding a takeout of spicy hot pot for dinner. Seeing the two of them dressed up so nicely, he asked curiously, “Where are you two going?”
Li Tianyi blurted everything out, making Qi Ye feel a bit awkward. He had told Li Tianyi not to mention it these past two days, but it seemed someone’s memory only lasted that long.
In Qi Ye’s mind, it was just a simple dinner to avoid Li Tianyi bothering him, but it probably looked different to others, like a double date.
Sure enough, as soon as Shi Ran heard it, he said, “A double date, sounds great.”
“Hey, I think it’s great too. If Brother Qi really gets together with this girl, it’ll be great to hang out together in the future.” Li Tianyi said thoughtlessly, then turned his attention to Shi Ran, “Next time, I’ll have Xiao Ning introduce a girl to you too, how about that? I’ll try to make sure our entire dorm—”
“Let’s go, we’re going to be late.” Qi Ye frowned as he listened, this guy was too annoying, addicted to being a matchmaker.
“Yeah, hurry and go.” Shi Ran pretended not to care and returned to his seat, remembering Qi Ye saying yesterday that Li Tianyi was going to treat him to dinner. So it wasn’t just the two of them, there were other girls too.
Really, why didn’t he make it clear? He could have just said he was going on a date.
But for Qi Ye, this really wasn’t a date. Calling it a punishment was a bit much, but it was at least an uncomfortable dinner.
The girl Li Tianyi introduced to him was actually the girl with bangs who had sat next to him in class last time and kindly offered him a tissue.
The girl was a very nice person. Qi Ye was introverted, so she kept taking the initiative to find topics to liven up the atmosphere.
When Li Tianyi and his girlfriend went out to buy things, intentionally leaving them alone together, the girl noticed Qi Ye’s discomfort and said softly, “This is too sudden, asking you out like this. I know, it must be Xiao Ning’s boyfriend bothering you.”
Qi Ye felt like he was being a bit melodramatic. Since he had already come, why not be more enthusiastic? It was really his own shortcoming, always making the girl help him smooth things over.
“I’m sorry, my personality is just like this, it’s quite depressing.” Qi Ye touched the back of his neck, “I don’t know what Li Tianyi told you, but I don’t have any plans for a relationship right now.”
The girl nodded, “I know, there are many people who like you.”
“It’s not that reason, it’s—” Qi Ye hesitated for a moment, then told the truth, “Actually, there’s someone I’ve liked for a long time, but he doesn’t have any plans for a relationship, so I won’t consider these things either.”
“Really?” The girl covered her mouth in surprise, “You, are you single-sided or secretly in love?”
“Uh, the other person doesn’t know yet, anyway. I feel like even if he knew, it probably wouldn’t work out.”
The girl covered her face and said, “I didn’t expect someone as popular as you to actually have a secret crush. In comparison, my failed relationship isn’t much.”
The girl continued to encourage him, “Have a little more confidence in yourself, maybe the person you like likes you too.”
Qi Ye slowly shook his head, “That, seems unlikely.”
–
Shi Ran listlessly ate his spicy hot pot. After finishing, he threw away the trash, took a shower and washed his hair, then came out and looked at the time. It was so late, but they still hadn’t returned.
Well, they went on a date, so they should be going to sing karaoke or something after dinner. But Qi Ye probably doesn’t like singing, so maybe they’ll go for a walk or something.
How did this happen so fast? Qi Ye helplessly slumped on the table. It seemed like not long ago, Qi Ye didn’t know what type of girl he liked. Then, he determined his type, and now, he was dressed up nicely and going on a date.
Tonight, would he announce that he was no longer single!
He’s with Qi Ye every day, so why didn’t he notice these changes?
Could it really be like the song says, that love comes too fast like a tornado?
But this tornado only affects the people involved. Even though he’s Qi Ye’s best friend, he’s not affected at all.
Or, if he were more perceptive, he would have noticed the wind’s movement earlier.
Love isn’t a big deal, Shi Ran’s previous friends didn’t do any of the things students were supposed to do, but they were good at fighting and dating, especially dating.
Shi Ran had seen enough of it, so much so that he could give advice when Li Tianyi was in an ambiguous relationship. He didn’t really understand the process of being in love, nor was he very interested.
He didn’t feel much when his previous friends fell in love, he only knew that his friends would spend less time with him because they had someone more important to spend time with.
So, would Qi Ye be like that too, and spend most of his time with his girlfriend after falling in love?
Just thinking about it made Shi Ran very uncomfortable.
There was a sound at the door, and Shi Ran immediately looked over vigilantly, but it turned out to be Meng Nan, who had finished his part-time job.
Shi Ran forced a smile, “Dorm leader, you’re back.”
Meng Nan smiled and said, “What’s wrong?”
“Huh, what?”
“At first glance, I thought you were Li Tianyi after a breakup.” Meng Nan said casually.
Shi Ran was startled, and all those heavy and complicated emotions seemed to finally settle down.
–
“I had a great time meeting you today.” After dinner, Li Tianyi kept winking at Qi Ye, “If we have the chance next time, should we hang out again?”
Qi Ye ignored him. The girl smiled with relief, “It’s okay, I didn’t even think I could date my male god or anything. I’m already very satisfied with having dinner with him. In the future, we can be friends. My family runs a bed and breakfast, and the scenery there is beautiful. Next time we have a long vacation, let’s invite a few more friends to come to my house.”
Qi Ye nodded, “Okay.”
Xiao Ning also said, “Then it’s settled.” She smiled at Li Tianyi, “We need to buy some things for girls, let’s split up here. I’ll send a message when I get back to the dorm.”
“Call me.” Li Tianyi instructed.
On the way back to the dorm, Li Tianyi was still lamenting, “What a great girl, bright and lovely, and generous. Brother Qi, how high are your standards?”
“Be careful I don’t pass these compliments on to Xiao Ning.” Qi Ye warned.
“No, no, no, I was wrong.” Li Tianyi clasped his hands together, then said, “Anyway, after this, I won’t randomly play matchmaker anymore. You can’t even see such a good girl, I think you should just stay single.”
“It’s not bad.” Passing by a clothing store, Qi Ye was attracted by the scarf and gloves on the mannequin in the window, and without much thought, he pushed the door and went inside.
Li Tianyi followed, “You want to buy clothes?”
Qi Ye asked for the same gray scarf and gloves as the ones on the mannequin and asked the shop assistant to wrap them up.
“Don’t you have gloves and a scarf?” Li Tianyi looked at him and smiled, “Are you starting to pay attention to your appearance? You should learn from me.”
“It’s for Shi Ran, his gloves have a hole.” Qi Ye scanned the QR code with his phone to pay.
Li Tianyi rolled his eyes speechlessly, “If you put even a little bit of that effort into girls, why would you be single?”