The two stood in a stalemate for a while, Allen remained silent, still looking at Su Bin with an expression of “I’m very angry.”
Su Bin suddenly remembered his previous job at the football club. That night, he had promised to return home before nine, but he repeatedly violated the agreement with Allen, which led Allen to come knocking on the door.
Afterwards, Su Bin apologized profusely, but Allen remained expressionless… until the evening when he spanked him twice as a “punishment” before relenting.
Back then, Allen and he were just roommates, yet the situation was serious enough to resort to “punishment” to resolve conflicts. Now, what about this time…? Sweat dripped down Su Bin’s forehead as he realized he didn’t even know where the problem lay this time!
—The situation was dire, the consequences severe.
When Su Bin was dating Chen Xiaotian, she would often inexplicably ignore him. Whenever this happened, Su Bin would rush to please and act cute, and after a while, Chen Xiaotian would naturally return to normal.
Su Bin had once explained all this with “a woman’s heart is like the sea’s needle,” but now he understood that Chen Xiaotian’s sudden coldness back then wasn’t because he didn’t do well enough, but because she didn’t like him.
Playing a role could be exhausting, leading to weariness and slackening.
Su Bin realized that Allen’s heart wasn’t much bigger than a sea needle either. Sometimes, he couldn’t fathom what the other was thinking, leading him to habitually use the same methods he used to deal with Chen Xiaotian when dealing with Allen—apologize, appease, please, regardless of the reason.
However, this method didn’t work with Allen. No matter how bad his temper was, his anger never came without reason. If Su Bin didn’t find the root cause, even kneeling before Allen wouldn’t help!
The two remained in a stalemate for a while until Su Bin couldn’t bear it any longer. So be it, better to die than to live in torment.
“What did I do wrong?” he asked nervously.
Allen glanced at Su Bin’s phone lying motionless on the bed, serving as a hint.
The phone itself wasn’t the issue. If there were any problems, they would be in its contents.
Since the day the spiritual contract took effect, Su Bin had no privacy in Allen’s place. Even his personal belongings and files were with Allen, let alone the contents of his phone.
Su Bin didn’t mind Allen looking at his phone; after all, he had nothing to hide.
Su Bin checked the call logs but found nothing amiss, all recent calls were to Allen. He then opened his messages, the first three contacts were Li Meihan, Allen, and Sun Yujie, everything seemed normal…
Huh, Li Meihan replied again? She’s coming this weekend? Is Allen angry because of this?
No, that doesn’t make sense. The messages were in Chinese, Allen couldn’t read them, and besides, Allen didn’t know Li Meihan… Hmm, could it be because “he didn’t know”?
“This person is my high school classmate,” Su Bin explained immediately.
Allen snorted, indicating for him to continue.
Looks like he’s on the right track! “She’s studying at L University now. She came to M City to see me today because she had visited before.” Su Bin explained further.
“Saw her before? Was it the day before Joe left the country?” Allen recalled the farewell dinner Su Bin had missed.
“Yeah…” You’ve got a good memory, Boss…
“Did that girl tell you about being betrayed by your friend?” Allen hadn’t forgotten Su Bin’s unusual state after he came back that night.
“Yes…” Boss, your analytical skills are impressive…
“Was the Burberry scarf a gift from her?”
“Um… yeah.” Boss, your gaze is really sharp…
Allen narrowed his eyes. “I’ll ask you one last question, does she know about our relationship?”
Su Bin shivered. “…I don’t know.”
Allen frowned, ordering, “You’re not allowed to contact her in the future.”
Su Bin was puzzled. He exclaimed, “Why? Didn’t you say I can make friends?”
He had explained everything; why was Allen not allowing it? If Allen was upset about him “hiding the relationship,” he could explain to Li Meihan… But Su Bin didn’t think that was necessary.
“You already have enough friends,” Allen said solemnly, “Useless socializing will distract you and disrupt your focus.”
Where are the many friends? He could count the people he considered friends in Country B on one hand! And how did Allen know Li Meihan was useless? She’s a very nice girl! Su Bin felt a little flustered and a hint of anger rising within him.
Allen looked at him and asked, “What kind of relationship do you want to develop with that girl?”
Su Bin instinctively replied, “Just friends.”
A cold smile curled at the corner of Allen’s mouth. “What kind of friend? A confidant? A playmate? A companion in struggle? Have you shared any experiences with her? Regardless of your wealth or poverty, would she still be your friend? Regardless of your ugliness or handsomeness, would she still be your friend?”
Su Bin was dumbfounded by Allen’s series of questions. He had indeed never considered Li Meihan’s position or what might happen in the future.
Allen asked, “How many close friends do you want? If I only allowed you five friends, who would you give those slots to?”
Su Bin hesitated. Based on their current relationships, Jin Fei, Yang Chengzhe, and Sun Yujie already occupied three slots. If he included Qin Chao, with whom he had been getting along better recently, that would leave only one slot… Dani? They had only known each other for a few days, so she didn’t count.
Were there any suitable candidates back in his home country? Shen Junfeng? Oh no, they hadn’t been in contact for so many years, just occasional barbecues when he went back.
Because there was only one slot left, its allocation became particularly precious.
Allen asked again, “Does that girl have a place among those five slots?”
Su Bin fell silent, the answer was obviously no.
To be honest, he and Li Meihan didn’t have a deep relationship. They weren’t classmates before, and they had their own circles of life in Country B. Although Li Meihan seemed interested in him, he had politely declined her advances, so he hadn’t thought about developing a deeper relationship with her. Originally, he just thought that since they had contact, he would let things develop naturally, as having more friends couldn’t hurt…
But at this moment, he suddenly realized he was wrong.
He who once prided himself on having many friends couldn’t even find someone to call when feeling lonely!
He hadn’t forgotten about that experience, but Allen’s reminder made the realization particularly clear.
Allen was right; useless socializing would only distract him. Clearly defining the direction of development before socializing was a mature approach.
If these five slots were truly meaningful friends, they weren’t few at all; in fact, they were many.
Some people could only meet one such friend in their lifetime, and that was already quite good.
Su Bin now had four, and for the last one, he’d rather keep it vacant than allocate it casually.
“I’ll keep my distance from her, but not contacting her might not be possible, because I’ve already asked her to help out at the L city branch as a part-timer, so… it’ll be an employer-employee relationship,” Su Bin said softly, hanging his head, as he shuffled like a tortoise to the edge of the bed and reached out to hold Allen, who was standing nearby. “I was wrong, please don’t be angry.” Admitting one’s mistake was an excellent attitude.
Allen: “…”
Su Bin: “You’re the most important person to me.” His ability to please verbally was improving.
Allen: “…”
Su Bin: “I’ll focus more on you.” His determination was expressed quickly.
Finally, Allen moved, extending his finger to gently lift Su Bin’s chin.
Su Bin looked up at him, seeing that his expression had softened considerably. Just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Allen used his thumb to push apart his lips…
Su Bin: “…” What… what are you doing…
Allen narrowed his eyes, and as his gaze deepened with the movement of his finger, Su Bin couldn’t help but tear up from this action.
Su Bin breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he had escaped unscathed. However, he was still too naive. What happened next left him speechless.
During the break, since there were no early classes the next day, Allen tormented him all night long. Su Bin couldn’t remember what he had cried and whimpered about towards the end.
For the next three days, Su Bin’s waist ached faintly. He didn’t dare to reply to Li Meihan’s messages anymore. But for the first two days, that girl still stubbornly said goodnight to him every day, making him feel like he was stepping on a landmine every time he heard the message tone, silently deleting the messages while sweating nervously behind Allen’s back.
On the weekend, Li Meihan still came, alone.
To avoid suspicion, Su Bin invited Sun Yujie and his new roommate Andy over to his place, planning to have a hotpot together.
Back in his home country, weekends were often spent with roommates or friends, usually with a hotpot. Even on hot days in June or July, they wouldn’t hesitate, because the atmosphere of everyone gathering around cooking and enjoying the food was particularly warm and lively.
Although there was a Sichuan restaurant in City M that served hotpot, Su Bin had been there once and felt it wasn’t authentic, lacking in flavor. So he decided to prepare the base and ingredients himself.
He had informed Allen in advance about the hotpot. Although Allen knew about “hotpot,” he had never tried it. After hearing Su Bin’s description, he frowned deeply.
“Everyone eats from the same pot?”
“Yeah,” Su Bin thought Allen found it unhygienic and explained, “But we don’t directly use chopsticks to take food out. I’ll prepare a ladle, and each person will use it to scoop the food into their own bowl to eat.”
Allen asked in confusion, “Then why not cook everything and then serve it evenly into bowls?”
“Oh, because there are a lot of vegetables, so we cook a little and eat a little, otherwise it’ll get cold if everything is cooked at once.”
With a disgusted expression, Allen said, “Won’t the soup get dirtier the longer it’s cooked? And there are also animal organs…”
“It might…” Su Bin hesitated, “but hotpot is about enjoying the process of cooking, ladling, and eating.”
Allen fell into deep thought. Su Bin felt that Allen, who usually even scooped out his portion of stir-fry in advance before eating, probably couldn’t understand the essence of hotpot…
Su Bin empathized, “I’ll help you scoop when the time comes.”
Wearing a proud face that said “I don’t want to eat,” Allen said, “You make me a salad, and I’ll just have some wine.”
Su Bin: “…”
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