(1)
Chenhui's head had gotten a lot better, and that day, he finally took off the bandages. Maybe to make it easier to manage, he even got a haircut. It made him look sharper, honestly.
What made me more and more curious that day was what Mr. Zhang had actually said to Wenfei in the office that day. Not only did he avoid eye contact when he saw Chenhui and me, but his usual loud voice was nowhere to be heard during breaks. Frankly speaking, it was only in these past few days that I realized our class could actually be this quiet during breaks.
Just like we had agreed when I first got better from the fever, after class Chenhui insisted on taking me to a fancy-looking Sichuan restaurant near the school and treated me to a meal. Although I'd loved Sichuan food since I was little, he really didn't have to do this. Because for me, even eating instant noodles with him was something that would make me really happy.
After the meal, thinking that the next day was the weekend, we strolled along the road from the restaurant without rushing home. I figured I wouldn't get lost as long as I was with him. But to my surprise, we ended up at the place where he had found me that day. It amazed me that even in my feverish and dazed state, I had managed to walk so far from school. I was also curious about how he had found me.
I stopped and looked up the stairs where I had been sitting that day and saw the name of the place: The Joker's, on a green neon sign flickering on and off above the glass door. On the blank wall to the left of the door was the Kung Fu Panda poster that I had seen at the time. Back then, I was so feverish that I couldn't think straight. It only struck me as strange that day – Why would a bar have a movie poster? Was it some weird promo stunt from the movie company?
Noticing me staring at the poster, Chenhui also stopped and teased me, "Does this place look familiar?"
"How did you find me that day?" I asked him.
"Psychic connection, of course," he said, climbing the steps to get a closer look at Po's face on the poster.
"Were you following me the whole time?" I joked.
"Come on. Let it go. It's all in the past," he said, waving his hand dramatically at me without turning around.
I let out a snort. I had never seen Chenhui embarrassed before. If he didn't want to talk about it, then fine.
"Want to go in for a drink?" he spun around suddenly and asked.
"What?" I walked up the steps too, curious, "Now?"
"Yeah," He peered through the door at the bar's interior, "We've got nothing better to do today."
"We could do something else even if we've got nothing to do," I said. Wouldn't it be more like us to go see a movie or sing karaoke on a Friday night?
"There aren't any good movies around lately anyway," Chenhui said, as if he'd read my mind. "Plus, we're both 18 now, right? Let's consider it like a celebration." He looked at me expectantly, waiting for my reaction.
Before I could say anything, the bar door swung open. A man with a scruffy beard and a huge belly that was about to burst the buttons of his Hawaiian shirt walked out. He was yelling into his phone, dropping swear words every other sentence, laughing loudly at his own joke. Meanwhile, we were dressed in our summer school uniforms, with backpacks on our shoulders and running shoes on our feet because of the physical fitness test that day.
"See that? That's what adulthood looks like," I said to Chenhui after the man had walked away.
He burst out laughing and said, "Nah, no way. You've got to trust me. We won't end up like that even in another 10 or 20 years."
"You never know," I said, pretending to be serious. "I've noticed you've been swearing more since your 18th birthday."
"Bullshit. When have I ever sworn in front of you?" Chenhui asked.
"3 seconds ago."
He took out his phone, playfully tapped me on the head, and then turned on the front camera. "How about this. Let's take a pic here today. I'll get it printed. And if I ever turn out like that guy, you can come shame me with it."
"And do what with it?" I asked. "Unless you write on the back of the photo: 'If I turn slobbish, I owe Yang 1 million.'"
"Sure, sure, sure. Whatever you say," he replied, half-heartedly. "Look at the camera, say cheese." He hooked one arm around my shoulder and took the photo with the other hand.
Click.
The glass door looked brand new, but when we pushed it open, it made a huge creaking noise. The soft music playing inside the bar was so low that the noisy door instantly drew everyone's attention. The lighting was dim, but I almost instinctively scanned the room to see if any of our teachers from school were there, before I remembered we were actually legal adults now.
"Did you… bring your ID?" Chenhui asked me without moving his lips.
"Yeah, I did." I nudged him toward the nearest table by the window, where we could keep an eye on the outside and make a quick exit if it got too late.
After Chenhui sat down, he looked at me with a hint of surprise and asked, "How come you thought to bring it?"
"Exactly for situations like this," I smirked at him, pushing the menu in front of him.
"What do you wanna try?" He asked while quickly looking through the menu.
"Dunno." It was our first time in a bar.
Then he handed the menu to me after deciding to order a pint of draft beer. The sheer variety on the menu took me by surprise. The types of alcohol were listed in such detail, and even though many of the names had been translated into Chinese, they still didn't make any sense to me. Besides that, there was a wide range of Western main dishes and snacks. I wondered if all bars were like this, or if business was just really tough these days. If I'd known, I wouldn't have eaten so much for dinner.
"How about this one…" I pointed at a name that I really liked.
"Arrogant… what? Arrogant Bastard Ale? Seriously?" Chenhui tilted his head to look at the menu again. "Is that even a drink?"
After that, we carefully went through all the names on the menu one by one, but we still ended up choosing that bastard.
However, what was even more unexpected than its name was its taste.
"This must be pee." Chenhui's face scrunched up after the first sip, his mouth twisting like he'd bitten a lemon. "That name must have been the first thing a customer shouted at the bartender after tasting this drink."
It was funny, and I laughed so hard, even though I had to admit it did taste terrible. Would people's tastes change after they turned adult? This was really far from pleasant.
Well, since I ordered it, I had no choice but to drink it slowly.
Chenhui took several big gulps of his draft beer, as if trying to rinse his mouth out.
"No, no, no, Mr. Captain. Slow down. We're not in a soccer game here." I put my tin down on the table, spilling a bit of ale.
"How dare you question your captain," He put down his glass and said it in a cartoonish villain voice.
I don't know if it was the alcohol or the thought that the weekend was just around the corner, but Chenhui seemed more cheerful and talkative than usual. And with the pink on his cheeks, he also looked… adorable, ahem, I had to say. He was like a broadcaster sitting in front of his microphone, spilling stories about our school, his mom, who he liked and disliked in our class, how silly he was when he was caught climbing over the wall by our dean that day, and all the stuff he'd never talked about before.
And I, popping my chin in one hand and holding the tin with the other, was more than happy to be his one and only listener. Looking back on the time when we first got to know each other, it was kind of funny now. That awkward feeling of wanting to be around him but also being afraid I wouldn't have anything interesting to say, really bugged me for quite a while. It was like I'd given myself this invisible mission: I wouldn't go up and talk to him unless I had something truly fun, exciting, or important to share. But looking at us now, we were doing just fine, weren't we? Perhaps our life was like that – there weren't that many sensational things happening every day at all.
(2)
"Hey, why the hell does neither of us have any brothers or sisters?" Chenhui suddenly asked me while taking lazy sips from his second beer.
The alcohol was making me feel all light and weirdly relaxed, and I even felt like humming a tune while listening to him talk. So, I wasn't expecting a question like that at all.
"Uh, the One-Child Policy?" I shrugged.
"I wasn't really asking," he smirked. "It's just so unfair… Sometimes I feel like if I had a sibling, home might be a bit livelier, you know?"
"What kind of sibling would you want then?" I asked. I'd never thought about it myself. Maybe I sort of enjoyed being an only child, especially when I had to spend Spring Festival holiday with my twin cousins at my grandparents' place. Those two could get so loud that I seriously wanted to cut ties with the whole family sometimes.
"I really want a big brother… or a little brother," he said.
"So basically, just a brother." I laughed at his answer. "To play soccer with you? Wait, so you're trying to see me like your big brother or something? But I'm only, like, a couple of days older than you."
Chenhui put down his glass and slowly leaned forward, resting his face on his arm on the table. I couldn't tell if he was getting sleepy.
"You're different," he said without looking at me, more like talking to himself. "I'd already been paying attention to you here and there before we got to know each other. I thought you were interesting. Sometimes you seemed super outgoing – laughing and joking around with everyone. But other times, you'd just sit there quietly reading, like you didn't care what was going on around you."
So that was how I came across to others. It even made me a bit curious about myself.
He went on, "Back then, since we weren't really close, I always felt like it'd be kinda weird to randomly talk to you. I mean, we didn't have any mutual friends or anything. Especially when I saw you deep in conversation with Lili and Yun all the time… I didn't want to interrupt."
"Alright then, I'll cut them off tomorrow," I joked.
Chenhui chuckled, glanced back at me, and said, "Even though we hadn't talked much before, I always had this weird feeling like we'd get along really well… like we'd actually known each other for ages. That's why when I got injured and couldn't go to PE class that day, I finally had the chance to come talk to you."
After that class, we watched movies together, rode bikes, and even had a sleepover in my bedroom. But he'd never told me any of this before. If I were thinking more clearly, I might've been able to figure out why he was saying all this.
"So, that day you came up and talked to me – were you satisfied with how that turned out?" I asked him.
Chenhui slowly propped himself up and looked at me, "What do you think?" Though he was smiling – I didn't know if it was because I'd had a bit too much to drink – I felt like there was a hint of sadness in his eyes. "I just feel a bit… wistful. Wistful that we… uh, I don't even know how to say it. My mind is a mess. I've never had this much to drink before."
Then he dropped back down, same position as before.
"Wistful about what? I don't feel that way," I said, not even knowing why he brought up this word. Weren't we together every day? Why did he make it sound like we hadn't seen each other in forever or something and was getting all sentimental?
"I don't mean wistful exactly… It's just, I can't think of a better word right now. And maybe this word doesn't even fit. I just feel like… we…" He trailed off again.
If it had been anyone else talking to me like this, I probably would've lost my patience. But this wasn't just anyone.
"We…?" I prodded, trying to get him to continue.
"Do you… like anyone?" he suddenly asked.
The topic switched so fast that I didn't know how to respond.
"Well, do you like your girlfriend?" It sounded like I was deflecting his question, but I had to admit maybe deep down I'd been waiting for the right moment to ask him that. And even if I'd known the moment had come, I probably wouldn't have had the guts to say it out loud when I'd been totally sober.
Chenhui didn't look up. From where I was, I couldn't even see his eyes.
He didn't say anything.
"I was just kidding. You don't have to answer that," I took a swig of the ale, pretty sure I wasn't getting used to the taste. "How about we head home? It's getting dark."
I glanced outside. It had been cloudy all day, so it looked darker than usual at that time.
As I reached for my backpack, I suddenly heard a really faint voice.
"I like you."
The rustling sound of my bag brushing against the couch made me wonder if I'd heard it wrong.
"What?" I stopped to ask.
"I, like, you," he said slowly, enunciating each word. It was still soft, but I heard it clearly. Then he turned to me and pursed his lips. His face had gone even redder now. I'd heard that people who flushed easily from alcohol shouldn't drink too much. Or maybe he really had drunk a little too much.
"Who'd have thought you'd be the one to confess first?" I tried to play it cool, forcing a smile, then got up to pull him up. When Chenhui stood up, he swayed a little and leaned against my shoulder. If he'd slumped just a bit lower, he probably would've heard my heart pounding like crazy.
Maybe he already could.
A few seconds later, he suddenly sprang up and said, "Alright, I'll go pay the bill first. It really is getting late."
In this place we'd never been to before, watching his back as he walked to the bar counter, I suddenly found it hard to believe those three words were real. I couldn't tell if he was joking to avoid my question or if he was using the buzz to say something he really meant.
No worries. There's plenty of time to figure it out. I thought to myself.
But what I didn't know was that there wasn't actually much time left for me and Chenhui to keep being this close.