(1)
Right after Yun and Lili have got off the car and shut the door at the movie theater where the two girls are planning to watch Yip Man 4: The Final before dinnertime, Lee turns to look at me, permitting himself a wry smile. His hands are still holding the steering wheel tightly, as though Yun would come back again at any second, bombarding him with more embarrassing questions if he didn't drive off right away.
"You know if I'm looking at you with that smile, I'm telling you I may need to answer nature's call." Looking at him, I do feel sorry that I forgot to warn Lee what kind of person Yun is before picking her up at the airport. But seeing him like this is incomparably entertaining, given that Lee has always been the one who is, or at least is able to act, compatible with anyone he meets. But today, Yun must've brought his comprehension of human beings to the next level.
"Wait a sec. Let me recap. The whole conversation started with how we two had met at college and ended with Chenhui being a cheater. How did Yun make it?" Lee asks, the frown on his face getting deeper.
"And that's why Lili should never be absent when Yun talks." It's hard to explain, but Yun does have the magic to manage that. She just can. So I simply laugh off Lee's confusion.
This reminds me of how Lili, Yun, and I used to get along in high school. I have to admit that even though Yun often made the rest of us speechless, I kind of enjoyed being with both of them. Lili, no matter how old she is, has always been the most rational one among her peers, thus never failing to help me keep away from being too stupid, too emotional, or merely too dull. She is like Hermione Granger in Harry Potter, as I once told her, though she believed she was a Slytherin and would eventually marry Draco Malfoy.
"But his family are the Death Eaters," I reminded Lili.
"You think you know me well?" she sneered.
Yun, however, is more or less like the dark side of me who is never willing to play hide and seek, cutting to the chase all the time and burning down bridges and everything but the elephant in the room. I envy her to a certain degree, to be honest.
"So, where are we heading now?" I ask Lee, taking a glance at the time shown on the navigation screen. "There's still a few hours to go before dinner."
"Remember I told you I'm running a painting studio? How about we go there? That's also where I live now," Lee suggests.
"Sounds good," I nod. "And just out of curiosity, do you dare to have dinner with Yun tonight?"
"I'll try my best to get used to her way of talking," Lee laughs. "But is there any possibility of us driving to a whole new city and never seeing her again?"
"Her baggage is still in your trunk, man."
"Shit." Lee starts the car.
It was still overcast when we were on the way to the airport this morning, but now the clouds have begun to disperse. So I take off my jacket and toss it onto the backseat.
"How come you still remember I was wearing a Levi's jacket that day?" Lee stops the car at a red light, asking the question so carelessly that I don't really think I need to answer.
"I don't know." From the rearview mirror, I look him in the eye. "And also the pink hoodie beneath it."
"My goodness," Lee sighs. "Did they look that weirdly memorable?"
"Of course not." The thing is, there was a time when I believed the day I'd met Lee would be the start of my new life, so I thought every detail was worth remembering. The temperature, his clothes, the broken CD box, and the hardcover book named Thinking, Fast and Slow. Everything. "You just… looked too good to forget."
"Yeah. I knew it." He titters, looking back to the front and waiting for the last pedestrian to cross the road. I think he knows I'm not telling the truth. I always have the feeling that Lee is much more sensitive than he appears to be. Or maybe it is simply my stereotype of artistic people.
It took us almost half an hour to get to his studio. After Lee has parked in front of a two-story house, I get off the car and stretch. The sudden exposure to the cold gives me chills.
"VELVET CANVAS?" The name, painted golden in all capital letters, looks quite evident on the gray wall under the second-story windows. "Interesting name. Does everyone going past know what this place is for?"
"Dunno. But some people actually thought it was a curtain shop." Lee stuffs the car key into a pant pocket, then trots in front of me, leading me to the door. "I painted the name myself, if you can tell."
I nod. Of course, I can. The way he painted the letter N was the same as the ones on the card slipped under my dormitory's door one morning when I got up.
HAPPY FIRST ANNIVERSARY
The card read.
"Welcome." Lee opens the door and ushers me into the house. Without the ceiling lights burning, it is a bit darker in the room than I expected, the oyster-white sheer curtains drawn in front of the French sash windows, which don't allow much sunshine in. Looking at the line of easel stands placed by the windows, I think I can imagine people sitting there putting effort into their paintings, portraying a basket of fruits or whatever in their mind.
"You teach painting here?" I ask while ambling towards the stands, wanting to see if there are still some unfinished paintings on them.
Nothing but new canvases.
"Yeah, I do. But only when students are too many to handle," Lee turns on the lights. "I have some partners here who are the artists I really admire. They mainly take care of the teaching part."
"And you…?"
"I, by and large, am responsible for the online store section selling the art we create," Lee points at the wall opposite the windows, on which hang paintings in varying sizes. I kind of forget his style, thus having a hard time recognizing which ones are from him. "I can teach you if you are interested," Lee continues.
"You tried but failed. Remember?" I laugh.
Lee freezes for a second and then breaks up, "The day when we were drunk?"
"You tried to teach me to draw the forehead with receding hairline of one of your dormmates."
"On his sheet. Oh my god. That was a terrible night." Lee shakes his head slightly.
That was fun, huh? Miss it? I ask myself.
I do. I don't think I can imagine how much fun would've been lost if I hadn't met Lee at college. It was he who I once thought would light up my world again. All of a sudden, I have a specific curiosity to ask him if he has always been single since our breakup or how many boyfriends he's had. But in case of any misunderstanding, I resist the urge.
"Coffee?" Lee breaks the silence before it becomes too long and weird.
"Sure. Thanks."
"Iced?" He still remembers.
"That would be nice." The room is warm enough, so I think having an iced coffee will be fine.
"Always iced coffee, even in winter." Lee murmurs, "It's amazing how little you have changed."
While Lee is making coffee at the kitchenette next to the stairs leading to the second floor, I take a seat at the table behind him, and that's when it occurs to me that he said he also lives here.
"Do you live on the second floor?"
"Yup." Lee answers carelessly. Then he suddenly turns back to look at me, "But please don't go there today."
I'm tickled. Actually, I wasn't thinking about having a tour there before he said that, so I ask him, "Why? Is your room a mess, or do you also have a girlfriend that you haven't told me yet?"
He hands a cup of coffee to me and sits next to me.
"Really messy." He takes a sip of his coffee and continues, "But more importantly, it may sound stupid though, after we met at the party the other day, I started working on something that I wanna give to you as a gift when it's done. But you will see it the moment we open the door upstairs."
"A gift for me?" I'm surprised, "But why?"
Why? My brain sometimes just stops working properly when astonished. What answer am I expecting him to say by asking why?
"Because…" Lee seems a little tongue-tied.
"Why… do you… I mean, didn't you… put it away before we got in?" I chime in, extending my question almost word by word.
Lee begins to giggle, "I really forgot about it."
"Fair enough. That happens." Then I gulp down all my coffee. Too much milk, but it's OK.
(2)
When I get the message from Lili which informs us that they've finally done watching the movie, Lee and I have almost finished watching the third episode of Prison Break: Resurrection. Prison Break used to be our favorite TV show at college. It still sounds rational to me that the reason why we spent the whole National Day Golden Week in 2012 doing nothing but binge-watching the show was simply because we both agreed that "it'd be a shame if we died in the 2012 catastrophe without having seen how Michael, Lincoln, and Sara finally live through the plot that has been getting unreasonable since the third season." To our surprise, the fifth one has exceeded our expectations so far, and I hope it ends well this time.
It's much darker and colder outside at this time of day, so I dash off to the car and buckle myself up in the co-driver's seat.
"Put on your jacket." Lee opens the rear door and takes up my jacket that was tossed in the backseat. Before I take it from Lee's hands, however, a piece of something falls from its pocket, landing by the front door.
Lee picks it up, looking at its front and then the back.
"What's this?" He asks, a quizzical look on his face.
It's the photo I ripped off from the wall in ACE.
"I got it at ACE the day I went on my blind date there." I have to tell the truth even though part of me still doesn't think it's time.
"Leave him alone…" Lee reads the words on the back under his breath. The bold capital letters written in red must've made it much easier to read almost without sunlight. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I don't know if I should." Frankly speaking, I did think about talking with him about it today but failed to take a moment and have the day spoiled.
"Of course, you should." Lee strides to the other side and gets in the car. Instead of starting the car, Lee just drapes his hands on the steering wheel, seemingly trying to figure something out in his mind.
"Do you have any idea who did it?" I ask quietly.
Lee shakes his head slightly, but from the look in his eyes, I somehow get an impression that he's got a clue at least. There's a brief moment where neither of us says anything, only sitting in the dark.
Before long, both of our attention is drawn by the sudden buzz of my phone. It's a new message from Lili.
Are you guys on the way? Yun is getting hangry.
I show the message to Lee.
"How about this," He turns on the dome light, talking with me with a much lighter tone, "you go have dinner with the girls and I'll… catch you guys later."
"I'll go with you." I don't know what his plan is or what I can do if going with him, but it just seems wrong to let him deal with it alone.
"Do you think it'll come to any good if both of us stand them up?" Lee smiles, "Throwing yourself on Yun's mercy doesn't sound like a wise decision."
"That's true, but…"
"Just go have fun," Lee pats my shoulder consolingly, interrupting, "and leave the rest to me. Don't be bothered with something that isn't your fault."
I nod. For a second, I feel like I'm engaging myself in a total stranger's life, beginning to doubt if he's still the one that I used to know at college. He said it was amazing how little I'd changed. So how much has he changed all these years?
When Lee drives me to the restaurant, Lili and Yun have just started ordering. Yun says she's got a little something for Lee and me that I'll "definitely feel grateful for" and wants me to take a guess what it is. Judging from the weird smile on her face, I think the answer is a no-brainer.
"Condoms." I say, sitting down across from them without even looking at Yun, who's rummaging through her bag for the small gift.
"How did you know?" Yun's face lights up with surprise.
"Not the first time." I say with a shrug.
As for Lee's absence, I have to excuse him by telling them Lee has to go off on some urgent errand for the studio.
"Will he join us later?" Lili asks while passing the menu to me.
"I don't think so." I answer without hesitation, for my intuition's been telling me Lee can't make it tonight.
And, sadly, it turns out that I'm right.