How Did the Top-Tier Male Lead Fall in Love With Me? 82

Chapter 82 – Extra: Another Reason I Like Summer

“Huaizhi-ge, tomorrow is my eighteenth birthday, but a friend of mine is going abroad, so we’re celebrating at a KTV tonight. Are you coming?”

Shen Wu held the phone, his youthful features, somewhere between naive and mature, sharp and flamboyant.

Last year, Meng Huaizhi had become a hit with his first album and was no longer the neighborhood gege who could freely come and go with Shen Wu.

Considering this, Shen Wu added a sentence to reassure Meng Huaizhi, “I’m not asking you to come and sing and perform. A few of my friends are all straight as an arrow, they don’t chase stars or gossip… By the way, it’s the few who went with me to your campus singer competition two years ago.”

On the other end of the phone, Meng Huaizhi readily agreed, “Mm, you guys go ahead and play. I’ll go over later to give you a gift.”

“Okay, Shengshi KTV. Call me again when you get there,” Shen Wu hung up the phone, the corner of his mouth unknowingly curling up a little.

The buzz-cut boy who loved to watch a show the most came over with his prickly head and teased with a squint, “Who are you calling? Your girlfriend?”

But just a tease, Shen Wu reacted extremely fiercely, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, “I don’t have a girlfriend! Are you crazy?!”

“Campus singer competition?” a boy with a refined look pushed his glasses. “Is it the one we went to see at the Beijing Conservatory of Music in our first year of high school?”

The buzz-cut boy suddenly realized and exclaimed, “Huh? Then the person you were just calling… could it be Meng Huaizhi?! He’s so popular now, wow, you’re still in touch with him?”

“Of course,” Shen Wu smiled proudly. “I won’t forget you guys when I’m famous.”

The topic immediately opened up.

“Let me say, Wu-ge should have debuted as a celebrity a long time ago. Look at that person from the performing arts high school next door. Everyone knows what he looks like in real life. He just puts on some heavy makeup and dances casually on stage, and he can actually have so many people like him…”

“Wu-ge, Wuwu, come, come, come, write me a personalized autograph.”

“Crap! Why are you taking a sneak shot… crap, you took such an ugly picture of me too.”

“Don’t dislike each other. We’re all just toads surrounding a swan.”

“Happy birthday, swan. Sign here.”

In the chaos, Shen Wu’s excited shout suddenly sounded, “Don’t smoke!”

The buzz-cut boy took the cigarette out of his mouth in a daze, his face full of innocence, “I got this cigarette from your coat pocket. We’ve all graduated from high school. Even if Old Ma pushes the door open now, he can’t do anything to us. Your stress reaction is a bit scary…”

But Shen Wu’s stress reaction was still going on. He quickly took away the cigarette pack on the sofa, which was the evidence of his crime, and walked around the private room in a fluster. In the end, he threw it into the trash can.

Then he picked up the trash can and put it in front of the buzz-cut boy, his face full of panic, “Quick, quick, throw it away.”

“…What’s wrong?” The buzz-cut boy was puzzled. Purely for the sake of the birthday boy, he reluctantly threw away the cigarette he hadn’t even taken a puff of.

“Huaizhi-ge doesn’t smoke, and he hates the smell of smoke,” Shen Wu was relieved and only then explained.

“Your own brother doesn’t care about these things, but he does? Is it necessary to make a mountain out of a molehill? We’re all adults…”

“That’s because my brother smokes himself,” Shen Wu rolled his eyes. “When you’re in a relationship and get married in the future, and your wife is pregnant, will you say that to her? See if she kicks you out of the house.”

Someone happened to seize this opportunity and continued to tease, “You can’t say that. Brothers, how can you compare them to husband and wife?”

…

Meng Huaizhi’s arrival caused a lot of commotion.

The few young people were all quite straightforward and generous, and immediately wanted to call the waiter to bring another pitcher of beer.

Shen Wu quickly stopped them, “Huaizhi-ge doesn’t drink. You guys shouldn’t drink either. How old are you to drink so much?”

In the end, everyone accompanied them to drink healthy freshly squeezed fruit juice.

After Meng Huaizhi arrived, Shen Wu immediately became reserved, not smoking, not drinking, and not daring to sing.

Meng Huaizhi even deliberately asked him, “You’re not singing?”

Shen Wu: “…”

His bad friend smiled and replied for Shen Wu, “Wu-ge is probably afraid of losing face in front of you.”

This was meant to be an excuse for Shen Wu, but it had sold out his tone-deaf attribute completely.

Meng Huaizhi thought for a moment, turned his head, and whispered in Shen Wu’s ear, “You even performed on the show stage at a party when you were a child, singing and dancing. Have you forgotten?”

Shen Wu’s eyes widened in shock, but a few fragments of memory were stirred up by Meng Huaizhi’s words.

…It seems to be true.

But Meng Huaizhi had never seen him sing loudly after his voice had changed, which had saved him a bit of face.

Now, as long as Meng Huaizhi was here, Shen Wu would not only not take the microphone, but even his sitting posture was extremely reserved, like an elementary school student with his two fists on his legs.

Meng Huaizhi thought for a moment, took out his quiet phone, and waved it, “I’m going out for a bit.”

Shen Wu said in a daze, “Okay…”

His friend immediately bumped Shen Wu with his elbow, “Alright, you can sing now, right? The next song is yours.”

Shen Wu mechanically took the microphone, absent-minded the whole time.

Meng Huaizhi was hiding by the glass outside the door, occasionally casting a glance in, and stood quietly until the song was over.

Then he turned around, passed through the long corridor, and went to the bathroom.

Shen Wu had not come back to his senses after singing a song. He was poked by his friend again. He immediately glared over, but received the other person’s meaningful gaze.

His friend winked and clicked his tongue a few times.

The few people next to him also joined in, and the clicking of tongues was endless.

Shen Wu was so guilty that his cheeks were flushed. It was all thanks to the dim light in the private room that he was able to straighten his back with the little bit of confidence he had left and pretended to be angry, “What are you guys doing?”

“Let’s see the gift Singer Meng gave you,” one of them suggested.

Shen Wu took this opportunity to lower his head. Unexpectedly, when he opened the gift box Meng Huaizhi had given him, the exclamations and sighs in the private room increased.

It was a brand-name watch, sparkling in the dim private room.

“Holy crap, holy crap, Wu-ge, can I see it?”

Shen Wu nodded, but he still held the paper box in his own hands and brought it to him, politely but not without a hint of stinginess, “You can look, but don’t touch.”

Another person bent down and craned his neck, carefully examining the box lid that had been placed on the side, and murmured to himself, “Is this the legendary… Patek Philippe?”

Shen Wu was taken aback for a moment and then quickly explained, “Meng Huaizhi’s family is very rich in the first place, and now he’s a big star. He definitely wouldn’t even blink if he gave me a luxury car.”

“Being able to afford it and being willing to give it, and who to give it to, are completely different things.”

“Stop guessing. He’s just like my brother. My brother would also give me these things…”

“But he’s not your own brother.”

“Is blood relationship that important? How shallow!”

“And you’re so disrespectful, you don’t even call him ge.”

“You’re the one who’s disrespectful! Crap! Don’t touch my watch…”

The private room was in a mess.

After a while, Shen Wu remembered the departed Meng Huaizhi. It seemed to have been more than ten minutes, but he had not seen him come back.

“It must be because you disrespectful things annoyed him away!” Shen Wu was furious.

His friends were noncommittal and clicked their tongues one by one.

Shen Wu held the watch box tightly and looked towards the main entrance, “He didn’t leave, did he…”

He paused, turned back to give an instruction, and immediately stood up, “You guys sing first. I’ll go and find him.”

But his friend asked, “Are you coming back?”

Shen Wu was slightly taken aback. He thought, how could he not come back after just looking for someone? But he had a strange feeling and didn’t answer, but turned and left.

Behind him were endless jeers.

Shen Wu walked alone in the long corridor, his heart full of anxiety.

Those guys loved to spread rumors. From time to time, they would say that some little girl—or even a little boy—had a crush on him, the reason being that they would always blush and stammer in front of him.

He had always been unconcerned.

But just now, he had behaved just like those boys and girls whose thoughts had been exposed. He knew from the looks and jeers of those stinky boys.

In the past, the object of the jeers had always been others. One day, it was finally his turn.

Shen Wu used his watch to test the temperature of his cheek. It was so hot that it was scary. He immediately changed his course to the bathroom, planning to wash his face with cold water to cool down first.

On the way to the bathroom, he ran into Meng Huaizhi.

Meng Huaizhi hadn’t left.

He was happy for a second, and then he felt the burning temperature on his face.

Before he could turn and run, Meng Huaizhi had already discovered him and was walking towards him.

Meng Huaizhi saw the extra watch on his wrist and asked, “Do you like it?”

Shen Wu was slightly relieved, took down the hand that was covering his face, and smiled, his eyes curving, “I like it. Does it look good on me?”

“Mm,” Meng Huaizhi nodded, and then asked again, “Where were you going just now?”

Shen Wu swallowed back the words “to find you,” “They’re so annoying. I’m going back.”

“Then I’ll take you. I was about to leave too,” Meng Huaizhi said.

Shen Wu followed him. After the two of them had walked a few steps, Meng Huaizhi turned back again and finally asked about the undeniable blush, “…Did you drink?”

Shen Wu lowered his head guiltily, “No.”

Meng Huaizhi frowned.

Shen Wu’s eyes flickered, and he avoided the important and focused on the trivial, “The beer on the table, I drank a little. Just one can, pineapple-flavored.”

Now he just looked a little red in the face, and his words were still quite clear.

Meng Huaizhi did not suspect him, “Mm, let’s go.”

When they arrived at the Shen family, Meng Huaizhi naturally accompanied Shen Wu into the house.

“You sit here and rest for a while,” Shen Wu said. “I’ll go and change my clothes first. Mom, can you pour him a glass of water?”

Meng Huaizhi and Xu Qiongya both nodded.

Seeing Shen Wu leave, Xu Qiongya sighed without hiding it, “Didn’t he say that his friend was going abroad tomorrow? Why did he come back so early?”

Meng Huaizhi asked strangely, “Auntie, is there something you need?”

Xu Qiongya mysteriously took him to see the large and small bags hidden on the balcony, which looked like birthday decorations.

Xu Qiongya introduced to Meng Huaizhi, “It’s his eighteenth birthday. I was planning to celebrate it for him. I was originally thinking of decorating these things at night, so that he could see them at the first moment of midnight.”

Meng Huaizhi suggested, “I can take him out for a walk, and you can decorate.”

Xu Qiongya smiled, “That would be great!”

Shen Wu, who was supposed to be changing his clothes, had not come back after a while.

Meng Huaizhi was also a little worried about him. He found Shen Wu’s room on the second floor. The door opened with a push. The light was on inside, but it was quiet.

Meng Huaizhi’s footsteps paused.

Shen Wu had changed into comfortable home clothes, but he was lying on the bed in a relaxed star shape, motionless.

He had actually fallen asleep.

Xu Qiongya’s worry was completely unnecessary.

Even if they started to decorate in a grand manner downstairs now, the soundly sleeping Shen Wu would most likely not notice a single bit.

Meng Huaizhi tiptoed over, thinking that Shen Wu might have been unable to walk when he saw his pillow, and after a struggle of man versus heaven, he had thought, “I’ll just lie down for two minutes,” and had fallen into a sweet dream as soon as he had touched the pillow.

Meng Huaizhi looked at his peaceful sleeping face, and the corner of his lips curled up unconsciously. He said in a barely audible voice, “Happy birthday.”

After he had finished, he stared at the eighteen-year-old teenager on the bed for a long time.

Suddenly, he bent down low.

This year, he was twenty-two, far from being as mature and steady as he was at twenty-seven.

He was so overwhelmed with emotion that he couldn’t control himself. He had endured it until the end and was no longer willing to endure it. He used his own lips, trembling, and lightly touched Shen Wu’s lips.

It was a kiss that was like a dragonfly touching the water, not even a kiss.

At that time, he had thought that he would only indulge himself this once in his life.

Unexpectedly, it turned out that this was just the prologue to their story.

-THE END-