A Round Trip To Love Volume 1 Chapter 31 109 Mar 13, 2020

He paused abruptly. We could hear the howling of the wind outside the window in the sudden stillness.

The sky was pelting rain, thundery dark clouds with strong gusts of wind.

” Freakish weather. ” He uttered under his breath.

It was already past dinnertime, we were both feeling hungry, it felt like too much of a hassle going out for dinner or calling for food delivery in this bad weather, so I got down to cooking.

I presented to him a few packets of instant ramen and inquired: ” Can you….. eat this? “

” I can eat anything that doesn't require me to make them myself. “

The kitchen is barely equipped for cooking, more suited to pile an assortment of junk. Two single men would never take the trouble to cook a full-on three course dinner with rice, a dish and a soup. An electric cooker tucked in the corner is an adequate appliance for me to whip up the occasional rice or noodles.

I managed to salvage some eggs from the fridge, along with some tomato which I eat for the sole purpose of replenishing some vitamins from my fruit-deprived diet, and lastly some long shelf life dried mushrooms. Without even a slice of ham, my task is comparable to reviving a dead horse.

Boil some water, soak the mushrooms, beat the eggs, slice up the tomato, my extensive experience in making instant ramen has finally come in handy, the end result looked fairly satisfactory lacking only in color.

I called Lu Feng over for dinner, and was immediately at a nonplus. I was so inexcusably lazy that I would simply eat out of the pot directly, and as such, bowls are non-existent in this household. Surely, I cannot possibly serve the food to him in a mug?

” Let's just eat it out of the pot together. ” Lu Feng said nonchalantly.

I passed him the single pair of chopsticks while I used the spoon, then sat down to eat Master Kang's authentic pork ribs noodles.

We ate slowly, chopsticks and spoon clashing from time to time, the impact making a slight clanking sound. The soup is very hot, steam rising up constantly, blurring our visions.

To be able to slurp noodles from the same pot with the person you love, heads inches apart, I genuinely felt very contented. Happiness is always such a frail and delicate thing, that I do not dare to wish for more.

" Give me the spoon. "

" Huh? "

" What do you mean by huh, are you expecting me to drink the soup using chopsticks ? "

I watched him take the spoon to scoop a spoonful of soup directly into his mouth.

" Ah, the soup is so tasty. You have quite a talent there making instant ramen soup taste so good. Xiao Chen you can just spend your whole life making it for me. "

" It's just instant soup, if it is just to fill the stomach now and then it's alright, but no one can eat it all their lives. " I had on a meaningless smile, "……….. there will be someone in your future who will make delicious meals for you everyday. " I am never under any delusion that I am qualified to fill that role.

After dinner we watched another movie, the rain showing no sign of abetting, and it was getting dark. Lu Feng looked at his watch and looked outside the window: " I will stay overnight here, do you mind? "

" Ah? " I shaked my head vigorously. " I don't mind, of course not. "

Even though it is a shabby place, at least my bed is clean, albeit messy, and definitely without any weird smell. The air conditioning unit in the bedroom is either second hand or third hand, sounding like a hidden generator when it is turned on. The noise it produce are way more than the warm air it can generate. I only pray that it works normally tonight, oh, no, better than normal and not give Lu Feng a fright.

I dug out a clean pair of pajamas for Lu Feng, boiled water for him to take a bath, tidy up the bed again, and went to the other bedroom, shook the dust off the sheets and got ready to spend the night there.

Lying there for a long time, I could not get to sleep. It was probably too cold, this fellow's blanket is thin and torn and flimsy, I do not know how he could made do with it. But….. two persons cuddling together….. then it makes sense.

" Xiao Chen, Xiao Chen. "

As I was about to doze off, I heard Lu Feng calling for me. I was fully awake instantly: " What is it? "

" The air conditioning seem to be broken. "

Fuck, a rare guest in the house, and you have to go on an all out strike.

I jumped up and dragged my slippers over. Lu Feng was standing at the door waiting for me, my pajamas looked small on him. Well he is a good ten centimeters taller than me. He left the first few buttons of his shirt undone, as if airing out his chest. I did not dare to linger my eyes on him any longer then necessary, hastily walked past him, entered the bedroom and picked up the remote control that was strewn on the floor and pointed it to the air conditioning unit, pressing the buttons to evaluate the problem.

" …….. it's not broken. Look, it is working. The temperature is going up……….."

An uncanny silence.

I heard the lock to the door behind me click.