Chapter 96: N. Replicating a Date

Su Hui suddenly transitioned into a manic episode on his way home after finishing a psychological counseling session.

Originally silent, he had been sitting in the taxi without uttering a word, staring at the scenery sweeping past in the wind outside the window. Suddenly, the originally dull-toned landscape seemed to have a bright filter instantly added to it. Everything became brand new and wonderful. He even unexpectedly caught the melodious chirping of birds outside the window while waiting for a green light, as well as many noisy sounds filled with the bustle of daily life.

The world was like a greeting card that had originally been folded shut, snapping open at this exact moment of transition.

Su Hui began to chat with the driver, first praising his watch, and then noticing the photograph hanging from his rearview mirror, which looked like a very happy family of five.

“Are these all your children? They look so cute, how old are they? Your wife looks very elegant too, you guys are so happy.” Su Hui leaned forward slightly, his attention quickly drawn to a handmade doll in the car. “This pair of dolls is so beautiful!”

The driver was clearly startled by his sudden enthusiasm. After all, Su Hui had looked to be in a bad mood just moments ago, sitting silently for fifteen minutes without saying a single word.

When Su Hui got out of the car, his entire being was refreshed. He paid the driver a lot of extra tips and stood by the roadside, smiling and waving goodbye to him.

He took off his hat, feeling that the sunshine was bright and beautiful—perfect weather to head to the seaside. Remembering that his counselor, Grace, had said not long ago that he had recovered a lot recently and that his emotional control was visibly better than before, his mood grew increasingly excited. Returning home, he ate three tubs of ice cream in one breath until his teeth ached from the cold. Covering his face, he placed a video call to Ning Yixiao, who was far away on a business trip in the UK.

“Your depressive episode this time didn’t seem very long.” Ning Yixiao spun a fountain pen in his hand, calculating the time in his mind. “Two months, and half of it was a stable period.”

“The doctor said I’ve recovered a lot too, but she still instructed me not to stop my medication carelessly. She even gave me a few psychology books to read at home.” Su Hui displayed his bag. “She also recommended that I learn meditation or stick to exercise, like long-distance running, but I really dislike running.”

“Then don’t run.” Ning Yixiao’s expression was quite calm, but a smile flickered in his eyes. “Don’t let these things become a source of pressure; it’ll backfire. Do whatever you want to do, and there’s no need to force yourself to do things you don’t want to do.”

Su Hui agreed entirely. “You’re absolutely right. But I’ve accumulated a lot of work, and it’s time to pick it back up. Just now, I also made an appointment with Geisha to hold an online meeting first, intending to take this opportunity to finalize the plan for the online exhibition. I drew some sketches a while ago, so I need to hurry up and build the framework too. Oh right, Bella reached out to me as well, asking if I have time to participate in the shoot for her autumn/winter line. I’ll have to consider it.”

Ning Yixiao listened patiently as he spoke a long string of words, his pen-spinning motion coming to a halt. “Is there no slot left in your schedule for our wedding, busy man?”

Only then did Su Hui realize. “Oh right! I almost forgot.”

His mode of interaction with Ning Yixiao was entirely still that of a couple in a passionate love phase, which always made Su Hui forget the fact that the two of them were actually married.

“Then… then should I book a wedding planner first? Or should we plan it ourselves? You probably don’t have the time for this, how about I do it myself…”

“Su Hui.” Ning Yixiao called a halt to his racing thoughts.

“Mm?” Su Hui looked up, gazing at him across the video screen. “Do you have any ideas?”

Ning Yixiao shook his head, setting the pen in his hand down onto the desk. “Put all of these aside for a moment. I want to go on a date with you, this very weekend.”

Su Hui’s eyes lit up instantly. Leaning his entire body forward, he propped both hands on the desk. “Sure! Can you make it back on Saturday then?”

“Of course.”

Filled with anticipation, Su Hui hung up the video call and excitedly made another video call to his grandmother, who was currently undergoing rehabilitation and convalescence. They chatted for several hours, and by the time they finished, the sky had already turned dark.

He took Xuegao out to wander aimlessly, picking a ramen shop to sit by the window alone and eat ramen, chatting with a Japanese girl in the adjacent seat about Latin American literature with immense joy.

Returning home, Su Hui was bursting with drive, plunging into his work full of vitality without needing any sleep at all. But keeping his doctor’s words firmly in mind, he still tried his best to maintain a healthy routine. Even if he couldn’t fall asleep, he would lie on the bed, closing his eyes to meditate.

Perhaps because of Ning Yixiao, he no longer resisted taking his medication. Instead, he looked forward to completely breaking free from them on some future day. He knew this was entirely possible; he had already caught a glimmer of dawn. As long as he persisted, there would be hope.

For several days straight, Su Hui was immersed in a high-surging pool of energy, shedding his bashful, flinching, exhausted, and negative sides to spend every single minute and second amidst vivid colors.

On a whim, he bought hair dye and dyed his hair a dark shade. Yet feeling it was a bit too plain, he selected the sections close to the back of his ears and the hair ends, dyeing them pink.

The new attempt left Su Hui feeling extremely satisfied and in a great mood. He even tried to learn how to swim by following videos online on his own, wearing that little duck swim ring Ning Yixiao had mentioned.

Of course, it wasn’t successful.

On Friday evening, Su Hui received a message from Ning Yixiao.

puppy: Time is a bit tight. Let’s meet directly at the cinema entrance at 9:30 tomorrow morning.

Su Hui was so excited that he couldn’t sleep all night. He climbed out of bed very early in the morning, picking through every single piece of clothing in his wardrobe before finally choosing a pink short-sleeved shirt. He even specifically selected a bunch of freshly blooming Gabriel roses from the early morning garden, tying them into a small bouquet to bring along.

The agreed-upon cinema was in the city center, and it was crowded on the weekend, but Su Hui caught sight of Ning Yixiao’s figure at a single glance while crossing the street. He was dressed very differently from his usual style—not wearing his glasses, with a deep gray micro-plaid shirt layered over a white short-sleeved t-shirt, a black baseball cap, blue jeans, and a pair of old sneakers. He looked like a university student in the crowd.

Su Hui found this outfit familiar, but couldn’t recall it immediately.

Ning Yixiao’s hand was also cradling a small bouquet of blue cornflowers, which was the most brilliant splash of color on his entire body.

They truly shared a mutual affinity.

Su Hui hid the Gabriel roses in his hand behind his back, running over with his hands behind him to bounce in front of Ning Yixiao.

“Hello there.”

It was the first time Ning Yixiao had seen his new hair color. His eyes lit up, a smile spreading across his face. “Good morning.”

On a sudden whim, Su Hui decided to tease the puppy. “What’s your name?” He shifted to Ning Yixiao’s left side, sizing him up, and then shifted to the right. “You look so handsome. Which school are you from? Do you have a partner?”

He had originally thought Ning Yixiao would tell him to stop, but he hadn’t expected him to cooperate and play along very fluidly.

“Thank you for the compliment. I’m from Stanford nearby. I have a boyfriend already; he’s an art student.” He spoke with absolute gravity.

“Is that so?” Su Hui pursed his lips with a smile, putting on a look of simulated regret. “As expected, all the handsome guys belong to someone else. What do you think of me? How about dumping your boyfriend to be with me instead? Your boyfriend definitely isn’t as good-looking as me, and I’m very good at dating…”

He was acting with great gusto, completely failing to notice that several people around them were staring at him.

Ning Yixiao noticed it, however, using the cornflowers in his hand to tap Su Hui’s forehead gently. “Have you played enough?”

He looped his arm around Su Hui’s shoulder, explaining to the onlookers standing very close by, “He’s joking. We’re already married.”

A girl nearby who had been enjoying the drama froze for a long moment before nodding foolishly.

After speaking, Ning Yixiao pulled the flowers Su Hui had hidden behind his back and sniffed them. “For me?”

Su Hui hadn’t had his fill yet. “If you promise to dump him and be with me, this will be yours.”

Helpless, Ning Yixiao said, “Fine, I’ll call him to break up right now.”

“You’re so unfaithful.” Su Hui took the cornflowers from Ning Yixiao’s hand, linking his arm through his to pull him into the cinema building.

“All thanks to you.”

The moment they stepped inside, Su Hui caught a rich scent of caramel. “It smells so good.”

“I’ve already bought a portion.” Ning Yixiao glanced at his phone, leading him toward the snack counter. “It happens to be ready for pickup now.”

The sweet scent of caramel popcorn triggered a few fragments of memory deep in Su Hui’s heart, though they were very scattered. It wasn’t until he saw the two movie tickets Ning Yixiao had booked—an indie film he had always wanted to watch but had later missed due to the sudden arrival of a depressive episode—that everything was truly confirmed.

Su Hui took a large gulp of cola. “Ning Yixiao, you couldn’t possibly be replicating that failed cinema date from six years ago, could you?”

Ning Yixiao offered a more precise definition, “It should be called filling in the blanks.”

True, who would replicate a failure?

Su Hui suddenly discovered that Ning Yixiao’s obsessive-compulsive tendencies were actually quite endearing. He would remember every single minor detail they had missed, just like assembling a jigsaw puzzle, filling them in one by one with brand new and beautiful memories.

“So you wore clothes that look very similar to that day.” Su Hui looked at the blue cornflowers in his hand. “What about this? Did you buy it back then too?”

“Mm.”

“Why didn’t you bring it to my house?” Su Hui blinked, certain his memory wasn’t failing him. “You went empty-handed.”

“I was in too much of a rush, I left it at the cinema.”

Su Hui suddenly felt he was a bit pitiful, so he grasped Ning Yixiao’s hand to rub it. Suddenly noticing something, he looked down. Ning Yixiao wasn’t wearing their wedding ring.

“Eh? Where’s the ring?”

“In the car,” Ning Yixiao said. He then took off the ring on Su Hui’s ring finger as well, slipping it into his own pocket. “Since we’re filling in the blanks, let’s pretend we aren’t married yet today.”

Su Hui let out an “oh.” But having grown accustomed to wearing it, he always felt his hand was empty, straightening his ten fingers to stare at them for a moment. “It feels so strange not wearing it.”

“Wear this.”

Ning Yixiao pulled out another small velvet box. The moment it opened, Su Hui nearly wished to die of shame and indignation.

“How do you have this!” He couldn’t bring himself to look straight at the paper ring he had folded previously.

“Grandma gave it to me.” Ning Yixiao slipped the slightly larger one onto his own ring finger and placed the other onto Su Hui, taking his hand to snap a photo. He then evaluated it very calmly, “This looks more like a university student.”

Su Hui narrowed his eyes. “Are you implying that only students would do something as childish as folding paper rings?”

“It’s a very lovely thing,” Ning Yixiao said softly.

Before they could chat much longer, the movie began. Ning Yixiao led Su Hui inside to check their tickets, finding their seats in the darkness.

Ning Yixiao was too tall; if he sat too far forward, he wouldn’t be able to enjoy the movie properly at all, and he would always be reminded in a low voice by the row of people behind him, hoping he could sit a bit lower. Therefore, to ensure a normal viewing experience, he could only buy the very last row.

This indie film had been granted a re-release opportunity because the director had recently won an award. But after so many years, its target audience was very small to begin with, and there weren’t even ten viewers in the entire theater. The last row, in particular, had only the two of them.

Ning Yixiao had missed it during the premiere. Afterward, even though he always remembered the title, he had never tried searching for it. Even if he caught a glimpse of it occasionally, he would close it quickly to avoid touching a sore spot. Consequently, he had absolutely no idea that this movie featured so many passionate scenes.

When the male and female leads kissed each other for the second time, Su Hui’s hand strayed over restlessly. He wasn’t reaching for popcorn, but had crossed the safety line, heading straight for his waistline.

Ning Yixiao feigned ignorance at first, but he had to bear the consequences of letting him have his way. Thus, he gripped Su Hui’s wrist tightly, his movement carrying a touch of force.

“Don’t move around recklessly,” he stopped him in a low voice.

Su Hui leaned closer because of this, resting his chin on Ning Yixiao’s shoulder as he exhaled a breath. “You might as well just tie me up.” After speaking, he stole a glance. “What a pity you aren’t wearing a tie today.”

With that, Su Hui picked up the bouquet of Gabriel roses to shield his face, leaning over to kiss the side of Ning Yixiao’s neck. He even mischievously left a red mark on it, then tilted his head, intentionally staring at Ning Yixiao with a smile.

However, he tasted the flavor of retaliation very quickly—it was a dominant, deep kiss that tasted of a mix of caramel and carbonated soda.

The metal tongue piercing clinked against his teeth, the sound escaping during the brief separations of their lips, yet muffled again by the movie lines and the lingering piano melody.

Someone could stand up or turn around at any moment in the cinema. The two of them sharing an unhidden yet restrained kiss was even more heart-stirring than the scenes on the large screen. After they finished a kiss, Su Hui turned back, pretending as if nothing had happened to continue watching the movie, with only his heart rate and difficult-to-settle breathing transmitting the agitation from just now.

He enjoyed this kind of thrill immensely, as if drowning in syrup.

As the movie played into its second half, the male and female leads faced a separation. Su Hui suddenly found himself disliking this kind of plot line, so he stood up, saying he needed to use the restroom, and left his seat.

But when he left, his gaze lingered reluctantly on Ning Yixiao’s face, only drawing it back once he had completely stepped out of the theater room.

The restroom was very large, with a rosemary-scented aroma diffuser placed inside. Su Hui was a bit sensitive to this scent, feeling a touch dazed upon entering. He stood before the mirror, gathering half of his hair to tie it up while leaving the rest loose. His hair had unconsciously grown to his collarbone again, the ends curling slightly and refusing to straighten out.

After washing his hands, Su Hui placed them under the dryer, turning them over and over. By the third time he blew them dry, Ning Yixiao walked in.

“You too…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Ning Yixiao dragged him into the innermost stall, closing the door, and pressed Su Hui against the door panel to kiss him blindly.

“Mph…”

This kiss arrived ten times more dominant than the one in the theater room just now. Su Hui could barely catch his breath, yet his hands unconsciously climbed upward to hook around Ning Yixiao’s neck, his tongue piercing scraping against his teeth. The sounds of sucking and fluid were exceptionally distinct in the quiet restroom.

Before long, however, two male voices broke in, entering the stalls adjacent to and across from theirs respectively.

Ning Yixiao restrained himself significantly, drawing back to peck at his lips quietly and softly.

Yet Su Hui developed a mischievous streak, crouching down directly, his teeth biting down as the tip of his tongue tasted the flavor of metal.

Ning Yixiao covered his face, but Su Hui didn’t stop there. Instead, he simply took Ning Yixiao’s fingertips into his mouth, his hands not ceasing their movements.

The two guys in the adjacent stall actually struck up a conversation, speaking with heavy California accents, throwing out “dude” and “chill” left and right, every word laced with vocal fry.

“I feel like this franchise is getting worse and worse.”

“I think so too. The first one was still the best; the plot is getting worse.”

“Exactly. Had I known, I wouldn’t have come. The tickets are so expensive, and the theater environment can’t even match the restroom.”

“Hahaha, true. The restroom smells better than the theater.”

The other party suddenly paused. “What’s that sound?”

“What sound?”

Ning Yixiao freed the hand that had originally been controlling the back of Su Hui’s head, reaching back to find the sensor switch of the toilet.

The sound of flushing echoed.

“Maybe I misheard.” The other person’s voice sounded a bit uncertain, but he still let out a foolish laugh, flushed the toilet, opened the stall door, and left with his companion.

The sound of footsteps gradually faded into the distance until it completely vanished.

Su Hui finally couldn’t hold it in any longer, coughing severely from being choked.

Ning Yixiao pulled him up, kissing his collarbone repeatedly. His original body temperature was always a bit lower than Su Hui’s, but now his entire body was burning hot, and his breathing was too.

“You are so difficult to handle,” Su Hui kissed his ear.

Ning Yixiao let out a very low murmur. “First day knowing it?” He intentionally teased Su Hui, not just through words. “You really are going on a date with someone else’s boyfriend, being so…”

His hesitation in choosing an adjective visibly lengthened. After all, he had almost tread down the path of dirty talk.

Yet Su Hui insisted on asking despite knowing the answer, even applying the California accent he had just picked up. “What?”

“Nothing.” Ning Yixiao intentionally kept it to himself, simply holding his neck halfway to kiss him, kissing Su Hui into a state of disorientation before letting go again to stare into his eyes.

He repeated this several times.

Su Hui lost his patience, gripping him. “Are you going to keep being like this?”

People came and went in the restroom of the popular commercial district, and several people broke in again very soon, making loud playful noises.

“Relax, you couldn’t possibly be wasted, could you? It’s just a kiss!”

Ning Yixiao lowered his voice, “Whose fault is it?”

“The main thing is it’s too bizarre, that’s my friend!”

Su Hui knew what he was hesitating about. Smiling, his lips pressed against his earlobe as he whispered, “Ning Yixiao, you really do look like a righteous male college student right now—the type who would get conflicted over just a kiss.”

“What about friends! Isn’t it normal for friends to develop into lovers? Going on a few dates will guarantee it won’t be bizarre. You clearly like it, give it a try!”

Ning Yixiao was pushed halfway down to sit by him, and very quickly, those hands climbed up habitually. Su Hui’s lips were moist as he lowered his voice, “That’s right, give it a try.”

“Try what! Stop egging me on.”

Ning Yixiao raised an eyebrow, his hand pressing against Su Hui’s lower back as he mouthed the question, Try what?

Su Hui kissed the side of Ning Yixiao’s neck amidst the sound of banter outside the stall, his moist whispered breath acting as the true instigation.

“Creampie.”

He enjoyed the moment a string snapped after being tightened to the absolute limit, regardless of whether that string was himself or Ning Yixiao. Especially after being suppressed for several months, that kind of deeply buried restlessness and excitement in his bones needed an extreme and stimulating method to pour out.

The most perfect match was that Ning Yixiao was willing to indulge him, and also enjoyed coordinating with his pace.

Time and sound were suppressed together between their fingers, slipping away slowly and excruciatingly. A few hours felt as long as a few years. The movie had long since finished playing, and history repeated itself once more—they hadn’t seen the ending at all.

Going to the cinema on a date with Su Hui never seemed to be a wise choice.

“The paper ring you folded for me is entirely wet.” Ning Yixiao stretched out his finger, displaying it for Su Hui to see.

Su Hui’s voice was lazy. Pushing the door open, he pointed. “Isn’t there a hand dryer over there?”

Ning Yixiao took off the ring, washed his hands thoroughly, and put it back on after drying them. “Let it be, let it stay wet.”

“Student Ning Yixiao, can you carry me out on your back?” Su Hui walked over to slump against his back, completely drained of strength. “Since you’ve already helped me clean up anyway, be a good person to the very end.”

“Aren’t you afraid of losing face?” Ning Yixiao helped him tidy his messy hair, removing the hair tie, gathering his hair together, and tying a small bun for him at the back again.

Su Hui shook his head. “No.” Indeed, one could do all sorts of absurd things during this kind of period.

Ning Yixiao crouched down. “Come on up.”

“Thank you, big handsome guy.” Su Hui climbed up contentedly.

The two left the restroom in this highly eye-catching manner, achieving a hundred percent turn-around rate.

“Do you think it’s very embarrassing?” Su Hui leaned close to Ning Yixiao’s ear. “Six years ago it wouldn’t have mattered, but now… it’ll be hilarious if we get snapped.”

Ning Yixiao pulled the corners of his mouth into a fake smile. So you do know.

“How about this—if we really get snapped, I’ll clarify by saying that I twisted my ankle while watching the movie, and then you helped me tend to it in the restroom, carrying me out on your back while you were at it.”

This excuse sounded completely absurd either way.

“Twisting your ankle while watching a movie?” Ning Yixiao retorted. “Were you clubbing inside the theater room?”

Su Hui laughed, talking absolute nonsense, “It’s not impossible either. There were so many empty seats in the back row, who would see me dancing?”

There are surveillance cameras.

“What do you think? isn’t this PR strategy pretty excellent?”

“Mm.” Ning Yixiao carried him, walking forward without looking sideways, sweeping past the sidelong glances of the crowd. “Come report for work at my company’s PR department tomorrow then.”

“Sure, does this count as an internal referral?”

Ning Yixiao spoke with a very serious face, “Count it as me abusing my public office for private gain.”

The two were just trading banter, but they hadn’t expected Su Hui’s words to unfortunately come true.

There really happened to be paparazzi tailing them that day, capturing photos of them on a date at the cinema complex. Moreover, it wasn’t just the final part where he was being carried out on his back, but even their initial encounter—the banter they shared while holding flowers was captured clear as day.

Not only that, the paparazzi actually took their nonsense talk during their encounter seriously, writing it into a report and even making a video. The traffic instantly soared to the number one spot on the trending list.

How could netizens who loved consuming gossip miss the love-hate entanglements between the currently highly popular artist and the MSN-F CEO?

Ning Yixiao truly hadn’t expected that he would actually get saddled with such an absurd rumor.

However, someone below noticed immediately that the timeline was incorrect. Traces of the two dating existed as early as last year, and the dialogue in the video was clearly just an established couple trading banter.

Seeing the heated discussions on social networks, Su Hui laughed uproariously, wanting to launch a livestream directly to make a statement. He hadn’t expected Ning Yixiao to beat him to the punch, specifically registering an account to attach their marriage certificate in his very first post.

ShawN: My first love of six years, married. He really likes to joke around, that’s all.

The social media platform instantly erupted into a frenzy, comparable to dropping a Mentos into a bottle of Coca-Cola. Overnight, a massive army of shippers emerged out of nowhere—a demographic Ning Yixiao was highly unfamiliar with.

Even Carl was dumbfounded, never expecting his boss’s first social media account to be used for debunking rumors, while gaining so many followers at rocket speed.

“Ning Yixiao, why didn’t you use my PR plan? We had an agreement!”

“Because humanity cannot comprehend the malice of a small cat.”

Su Hui bit his hand in a fit of pique. A total of three times.