As if disturbed by the noise, Sang Yan turned his head slightly and lazily opened his eyes.
Their gazes met.
An awkward tension seemed to fill the air.
Sang Yan remained silent, quietly observing her. His eyes were clear, without a trace of the unfocused look one typically has upon just waking.
His features were exceptionally handsome. Slightly hooded eyes with upturned outer corners, combined with his perpetual air of disdain for everything, always gave him a sharp edge.
In that moment,
Wen Yifan had the feeling that he was about to mercilessly mock the phrase “first love.”
Wang Linlin spoke up: “Do you two know each other?”
Su Hao’an: “Mm, we were high school classmates.”
Wen Yifan was about to say something to change the subject when Wang Linlin, with utter lack of tact, added: “What does ‘first love’ mean? Is it that your friend used to pursue Xiao Fan but didn’t succeed?”
Su Hao’an, dense as ever, laughed: “That’s right, that’s right.”
“…”
No wonder these two were a couple.
In this situation, no matter how much Wen Yifan wanted to play dumb and gloss over it, she couldn’t.
She realized that the masks they had tacitly agreed to wear on their faces had just been torn off by the two in front, with only fragments remaining.
She didn’t expect Sang Yan to say anything to salvage the situation.
Knowing his pride always came first, Wen Yifan calmly said: “Is that so? How come I, the person involved, don’t know about this? Su Hao’an, are you sure you’re not misremembering?”
“How could I misremember? You two—” At this point, Su Hao’an belatedly sensed something was amiss. “Hey, are you two feeling awkward or what? No way, it’s been so many years, you’re still hung up on this? I was just mentioning it casually as an interesting anecdote.”
Wang Linlin: “How long has it been since you last saw each other?”
“I can’t calculate that off the top of my head. Wen Yifan, you only stayed at our school for a year, right?” Su Hao’an said, “I remember you transferred out in either first or second year of high school.”
Wen Yifan replied seriously: “I transferred in the second semester of my second year.”
“By that calculation, it must have been seven or eight years,” Su Hao’an noticed Sang Yan’s continued silence and added, “Sang Yan, why are you so quiet? It’s been seven or eight years! You’re not still hung up on this, are you?”
Sang Yan lowered his eyes again, ignoring him.
“Unbelievable.” Su Hao’an gave up and started ranting, “Wen Yifan, don’t mind him. You know what kind of person he is, nose in the air, probably thinks you must have been blind back then not to fall for him, but he doesn’t realize how annoying he looks like this—”
Wang Linlin interrupted him: “Oh come on, just focus on driving and don’t talk about your friend like that.”
“…”
Su Hao’an swallowed the rest of his words, furrowing his brow and glancing at Wang Linlin.
“You need to concentrate when driving, it’s not safe otherwise,” noticing his mood, Wang Linlin quickly added, “Don’t be upset, I was just reminding you. If you want to keep talking, go ahead.”
Su Hao’an finally smiled: “I’m not angry, thank you for the reminder, darling.”
Before they knew it, they had arrived at the restaurant.
Having come this far, Wen Yifan felt it wouldn’t be right to say she wanted to leave now. After all, Sang Yan hadn’t said anything, and it would make her seem overly concerned about past events if she couldn’t even manage to share a meal at the same table.
Thinking that a meal would only take about an hour, she decided to just endure it.
But what Wen Yifan hadn’t expected was that the “friend” Wang Linlin had mentioned earlier when she said “My boyfriend will bring a friend too” didn’t just refer to Sang Yan alone.
It was a whole group of people.
They had reserved a private room, which was already full of people when they arrived.
Logically, since Wen Yifan had come with Wang Linlin, she should have sat with her. But the remaining four seats were in pairs, so Wang Linlin promptly abandoned Wen Yifan and sat with Su Hao’an.
This forced Wen Yifan to be seated with Sang Yan.
From the outside, it looked as if Wen Yifan had come with Sang Yan.
One of the men teased: “Sang Yan, you’re not being fair. How come you suddenly got a girlfriend?”
Su Hao’an clicked his tongue: “Don’t talk nonsense. How could this idiot Sang Yan be worthy? This is our old classmate, our high school’s famous beauty! — Qian Fei, you remember, right? Didn’t you also attend Nanwu No.1 High School?”
“Of course I remember, Wen Yifan. Plus, I was in the same class as your friend before, Zhong Siqiao.” The chubby man sitting next to Sang Yan looked at Wen Yifan, smiling a bit bashfully, “I’ve seen photos of you two together on her social media.”
Wen Yifan smiled and nodded.
The next moment, another man said: “Whoa, Fatty, why are you blushing?”
Sang Yan hadn’t participated in their conversation at all, seemingly deaf to how many times his name was mentioned. Only now did he show a slight reaction, raising his eyes to look in Qian Fei’s direction.
Su Hao’an: “Isn’t he always like this? He becomes speechless when he sees a beautiful woman.”
Perhaps feeling ignored, Wang Linlin became displeased and interjected: “What’s this about? How can you talk about someone else being beautiful in front of me?”
After a moment of silence, Su Hao’an coaxed: “Baby, how did you interpret that? Don’t be jealous for no reason.”
…
The restaurant was slow in serving dishes. The group of men at the table chatted idly, but even after a long time, not a single dish had been served. However, the topic gradually shifted, and the attention caused by her arrival as a stranger began to dissipate.
Wen Yifan relaxed a bit and inadvertently glanced at Sang Yan.
Sang Yan wasn’t participating in the conversation, currently lowering his head to play with his phone, looking as if he cared about nothing.
He was indifferent even when others called out to him.
Wen Yifan lowered her head to drink some water.
She felt out of place here.
After a while,
Wang Linlin suddenly kissed Su Hao’an’s cheek and stood up, walking towards Wen Yifan’s seat. She tugged on Wen Yifan’s wrist, smiling sweetly: “Xiao Fan, come on. Accompany me to the restroom.”
Wen Yifan stood up. Noticing her bag on the chair, she quietly picked it up.
Following the signs, the two entered the restroom.
Wang Linlin took out her lipstick to touch up her makeup, chatting casually: “So you rejected that Sang Yan before?”
Wen Yifan didn’t answer.
Wang Linlin took her silence as confirmation and said in great surprise: “You know the ‘Overtime’ bar near our company? That’s co-owned by him, my boyfriend, and another guy.”
“…”
“His conditions are so good, tall and handsome, and rich too. How could you reject him?” Wang Linlin shook her head, unable to understand. “Your standards must be too high. But it’s been so many years, and judging by his attitude just now, he doesn’t seem to have any interest in you anymore.”
“It’s all in the past,” Wen Yifan smiled gently, then looked at her phone. “By the way, Sister Lin. I’m sorry, but I have to go back. Teacher Qian wants me to submit a draft to him tonight. Could you please help me explain to your friends?”
Wang Linlin let out an “Ah” sound, looking a bit unhappy: “It’s just one meal, it won’t take much time.”
“The teacher is in a hurry for it,” Wen Yifan said. “I don’t dare to delay. I’m still in the probation period, you know?”
“Oh, alright then.” Wang Linlin pouted, “Be careful on your way back. I’ll head back first.”
“Okay, thank you, Sister Lin. See you tomorrow.”
After Wang Linlin left, Wen Yifan turned on the faucet and washed her hands. She wasn’t sure if this counted as upsetting Wang Linlin, but she didn’t want to continue staying at a gathering where she knew no one.
Wen Yifan sighed in relief and pulled out a paper towel to dry her hands.
Just as she walked out, Wen Yifan bumped into Sang Yan, who was simultaneously exiting the men’s restroom opposite. This time, contrary to Wen Yifan’s expectation, he didn’t ignore her as if she were air.
Sang Yan stopped, his expression indifferent, standing there looking down at her.
Wen Yifan found this scene strangely familiar.
It reminded her of their first encounter at the Overtime bar when they met in the corridor.
But this time, the situation was completely different from then.
Like a do-over.
Returning to the normal course of development.
Judging from his silence all evening, Wen Yifan felt there was no need to mention their previous encounters. She nodded to him, treating it as their first meeting after many years, and politely greeted him.
“Long time no see.”
But unexpectedly, Sang Yan didn’t seem to want to maintain a facade of peace with her. He maintained that scrutinizing attitude and leisurely repeated: “Long time no see?”
His tone left Wen Yifan unsure whether it was a question or a statement.
Then, Sang Yan continued: “It’s only been a few days since New Year’s Eve, not seeing me—” He paused, methodically tearing away the remaining pretense.
“Surely hasn’t felt like an eternity, has it?”