Chapter 8

In the second half of dinner,

our former sports representative ordered two crates of alcohol.

“Come on, truth or dare! If you lose, or can’t handle it, you drink five glasses!”

Ji Yan drew a dare.

“Choose someone of the opposite sex here and kiss them for one minute!”

Whoops, teasing cries, and scattered applause set the room buzzing.

“As if we need to ask who he’ll choose.”

“Today’s the day they get back together!”

“I hereby announce that our university’s famous model couple is about to reunite!”

Even Xie Yanzhuo was watching them with easy amusement.

He really did love a spectacle.

I tapped him.

“Move your arm, please. I can’t reach the coconut chicken.”

Xie Yanzhuo glanced at me from beneath his thin eyelids.

“Your husband’s about to kiss someone else. Aren’t you going to look?”

My expression didn’t change.

“Since we’re getting divorced soon, whatever he does has nothing much to do with me.”

I couldn’t remember the day I had become certain I no longer loved Ji Yan.

I had realized it not long ago, when he spent a whole night at Cheng Shu’s without coming home.

In the morning, I had looked at the cool space beside me in bed.

I hadn’t felt a ripple of emotion.

I had gotten up as usual and squeezed onto the subway to work.

Then, as the train pulled into a station,

it had belatedly dawned on me that I didn’t care about him at all anymore.

Xie Yanzhuo didn’t answer. He looked back at Ji Yan, the center of attention.

But he lowered his hand, pressed it against the turntable, and spun it.

He brought the coconut chicken around in front of me.

Sounding rather pleased with himself, as though he was granting me a favor, he said,

“Eat.”

I stared at him in confusion.

It felt as if I had been handed charity.

Cheng Shu’s cheeks were red from everyone’s teasing.

Ignoring them all, Ji Yan poured himself five glasses and drank every last drop.

“Keep shouting like this, and the restaurant will call the police.”

The sports representative looked at Ji Yan in disdain.

“Can’t handle it, huh?”

“It’s not that he can’t handle it. He just doesn’t want to put their private moments on display.”

Ji Yan’s features lay under the cool white light.

It lent an additional chill to his expressionless face.

The atmosphere became visibly tense.

Our class representative smoothed things over and had the next person draw a truth card.

I was debating whether to take the last wing from the coconut chicken

when my phone chimed with a message.

I opened it.

[Ji Yan: Did you come here purely to eat?]

I instinctively looked at him.

Ji Yan watched me across the crowd, looking dispirited.

I had no idea how I had offended him.

It was Xie Yanzhuo’s turn.

[Truth: Have you ever had feelings for the person of the opposite sex currently closest to you?]

That person was me.

Xie Yanzhuo and I abruptly became the center of attention.

I put down my chopsticks.

There went my chicken wing.

“Wait! Zhuo, don’t answer yet!” the sports representative suddenly said.

With a chuckle, he opened his bag.

“I almost forgot this.”

He took out something black and about the size of a hand.

“I knew we’d play truth or dare today, so I brought my new lie detector.”

“Let’s see if it’s accurate.”

He pushed it in front of Xie Yanzhuo. “Here. Put your hand on it before you answer.”

“If you lie, it’ll sound an alarm.”

Xie Yanzhuo looked up. “How old are you, believing in something like this?”

“Just give it a try.”

Ji Yan looked toward him as well.

For some reason, Xie Yanzhuo no longer looked quite so relaxed.

When the sports representative urged him again, he put his hand on it.

He uttered a few words flatly.

“I’ve never had feelings for her.”

The moment he finished, it beeped.

The private room went silent.

Everyone instinctively lowered even their breathing.

I turned to look at Xie Yanzhuo.

With drooping eyelids, he looked as though he would let them stare as much as they liked.

Suddenly someone said, “Is the lie detector broken?”

The remark seemed to wake everyone up.

Another person took the detector. “Let me try.”

“Uh… I hate my new job.”

It beeped.

“It really is broken! My new salary is two thousand higher than before. I couldn’t be happier!”

Across from me, the tension eased from Ji Yan’s brow.

Cheng Shu’s best friend said,

“That’s what I thought. Xie Yanzhuo’s standards are so high that even the dance department’s prettiest girl didn’t interest him.”

“Besides, those two never had much to do with each other at university.”

I let out a breath too, patting my chest in relief.

Xie Yanzhuo turned and watched me do it.

Then, expressionless, he took the coconut chicken’s last wing and put it in his own bowl.