Don’t Ignite It chapter 28

Pitiful

The movie theater was located in a relatively remote area.

Even on the weekend, there wasn’t much of a crowd, and Xia Yu and Lu Zhao sat in the last row.

Xia Yu didn’t ask what movie it was.

He sometimes watched movies very casually, liked opening mystery boxes, and didn’t get angry even if it was a bad film. Instead, he would think about what was bad about it. But he didn’t really like watching tragedies.

So, Lu Zhao had checked reviews in advance. This one had an open-ended ending, where the female lead, who was in her thirties, met her first love on an airplane, and the story abruptly ended.

Xia Yu watched with interest.

But when he saw the female lead celebrating her twenty-ninth birthday, he turned to look at Lu Zhao, who was sitting next to him.

Lu Zhao was also twenty-nine.

But compared to the destitute and dispirited female lead in the movie, Lu Zhao was full of vitality.

The female lead lost her job, had a troubled family relationship, and her best friend had just passed away, making her extremely unlucky. Her lover even said goodbye to her and left in the early morning without looking back.

Xia Yu heard the couple in front of him sigh softly and say, “How pitiful.”

But perhaps he had passed the time of being sentimental, as he no longer had the heart to sympathize while watching a stranger’s story.

With popcorn crumbs sticking to his lips, Xia Yu said to Lu Zhao, “You’ll probably never be called pitiful in your entire life.”

Lu Zhao didn’t understand what he meant.

With a roll of his tongue, Xia Yu licked up the popcorn crumb and casually said, “The girl in front said the female lead is very pitiful. I suddenly thought that you’re also twenty-nine, but you naturally have an aloof face, like the antagonist who survives until the end in a doomsday movie, exiting the stage with swagger.”

So that was what he meant.

Lu Zhao glanced at Xia Yu, and after Xia Yu finished speaking, he leaned back and continued to focus on the screen.

After a while, he spoke softly, “Someone has said that about me too.”

Xia Yu didn’t understand. “Hmm?” he uttered.

Lu Zhao repeated, “Someone has also said that I look very pitiful.”

Xia Yu chuckled. “Who said that?”

Lu Zhao shook his head and didn’t say.

Xia Yu didn’t press the matter further.

The movie had reached a crucial point, and he immersed himself in the plot once again.

Lu Zhao also stared at the screen.

He didn’t care about what was happening in the movie or the chaotic life of the female lead. What he cared about was “watching a movie with Xia Yu.”

Sitting in the dark cinema with Xia Yu in the last row, unnoticed by anyone, felt like a typical college date.

In their early twenties, he had accompanied Xia Yu to the movies many times before.

He wasn’t particularly romantic, but being together like this, with the whole world quiet, enjoying someone else’s joys and sorrows, felt like silent romance to him.

Two hours passed, the movie ended, and people began to leave the theater one by one.

The mall was nearing closing time, but the cinema area was still open.

When Xia Yu and Lu Zhao came out, they stopped by the claw machine.

There were always many such machines next to the movie theater. The young couple who had been sitting in front of them were also playing. The guy was operating, and the girl was directing, aiming for the small dolls in the corner.

Xia Yu stared at the dolls in the machine for quite some time, and Lu Zhao asked him, “Do you want to play?”

Xia Yu nodded.

He had liked playing these machines since college. It wasn’t that he liked the dolls; nine times out of ten, he couldn’t catch anything, but he would still play again next time.

Lu Zhao also recalled this. He said as he exchanged some game tokens for Xia Yu, “I remember one time, we also came out after watching a movie, and you spent over an hour trying to win a doll.”

Thinking back on it now, Lu Zhao found it incredible. Given his personality, why would he be willing to waste so much time on such a boring game? Not to mention, at the time, he was also working with his mentor and interning at his own company, so he had very little free time.

Yet, he had still accompanied Xia Yu for a long time, waiting for him until the mall closed.

In fact, he never really thought about why.

………………………………………

Xia Yu failed repeatedly as he tried to catch a doll. Finally, after a long struggle, he managed to catch a small cat, which he reluctantly held.

The small cat looked grumpy, and Xia Yu was not too pleased either. He looked at Lu Zhao and said, “Do you like it?”

Lu Zhao asked him, “Do you?”

Looking at the not very delicate dolls in the claw machine, all of which were identical cats, dogs, and penguins, Xia Yu replied, “It’s just okay. I like playing the game, not particularly the dolls inside.”

Moreover, how exquisite could the dolls inside these machines be? They were all mass-produced, with identical cats, dogs, and penguins.

“Is that so?” Lu Zhao said in a flat tone and then asked Xia Yu, “Do you want to keep playing?”

Xia Yu shook his head.

He and Lu Zhao waited for the elevator together. There were only a few people in the mall, and the young couple who had been sitting next to them from the movie theater earlier were still there.

Xia Yu only now got a clear look at their appearance.

It was evident that they were deeply in love. The boy’s gaze was glued to the girl’s face, making a somewhat foolish smile, while the girl, though Xia Yu couldn’t hear what she was saying, kept smiling.

How nice, Xia Yu thought absentmindedly.

Perhaps, as he entered society, he increasingly felt that the innocent love of students was more sincere. Watching young boys and girls cling to each other without getting tired of it felt cute rather than annoying.

Maybe he was a bit envious as well.

After all, he had never experienced such a happy mutual affection during his high school and college days.

With these thoughts in mind, Xia Yu glanced at Lu Zhao, only to find that Lu Zhao was also looking at him, his gaze unwavering.

Xia Yu pursed his lips, and that uncomfortable feeling resurfaced. “Is there something on my face?” he asked.

“No,” Lu Zhao replied.

Then what are you looking at, as if you want to examine my face closely?

Xia Yu thought but didn’t say it. The elevator arrived.

Lu Zhao held his hand and entered the elevator, and he didn’t resist. Perhaps his movements had caused a slight disturbance, as the girl from the adjacent young couple turned to look at them, her gaze first landing on their intertwined hands, then on Xia Yu’s face.

In that brief moment of eye contact, the girl smiled friendly and then turned back to her boyfriend.

With a stuffed kitten toy in his arms, Xia Yu suddenly wondered, in that girl’s eyes, were he and Lu Zhao perhaps also a loving couple? Two adults, coming to watch a movie after work, clearly adults, yet still playing the claw machine and holding hands in the elevator.

What might she think? Did she see them as childish but sweet?

But in reality, they were just secret lovers, no matter how much they pretended to be a couple.

Xia Yu smiled to himself.

The elevator doors opened, and he and Lu Zhao stepped out. Since he hadn’t driven here, he got into Lu Zhao’s car.

“Aren’t you coming to my place?” Lu Zhao asked.

“No,” Xia Yu replied, looking out the window. He added, “I can’t always sleep at your place.”

Lu Zhao didn’t say anything more and drove in silence.

Meanwhile, Xia Yu played with the small doll in his hand.

The toy cat was all black, with only its eyes made of cheap green plastic.

Xia Yu had thought about getting a cat. When he was with Lu Zhao, he had planned for the future many times. After he graduated, had more free time, and didn’t have to run around all the time, he wanted to get a cat.

He would bring the kitten into bed, slip it into Lu Zhao’s pillow when Lu Zhao was asleep, and snuggle with both the cat and Lu Zhao.

He had beautiful thoughts, but he never told Lu Zhao once.

Because he knew Lu Zhao wouldn’t like it.

Not only that, Lu Zhao would probably ask him, ‘What does raising a cat have to do with me?’

And now, by some twist of fate, Lu Zhao had caught a little black cat for him.

The car stopped outside Xia Yu’s house, about a dozen meters away.

Xia Yu unbuckled his seatbelt and was about to get out of the car, but before his hand could touch the door handle, Lu Zhao stopped him.

“Xia Yu.”

Xia Yu turned around and before he could react, his face was kissed.

He was kissed by Lu Zhao.

Their lips pressed together, and Lu Zhao’s tongue slipped in, kissing passionately.

The car’s interior was spacious, but it was still a closed space.

The car’s roof light was on, and they kissed in this dim yellow light.

It wasn’t clear how long it took, but Lu Zhao finally let go, slowly increasing the distance between them.

Xia Yu was bewildered, unsure if he should scold Lu Zhao. After all, his house was very close by, and what if Xu Zhan or one of the neighbors saw them?

But Lu Zhao reached out and touched his cheek.

“Goodnight,” Lu Zhao said, “See you tomorrow.”

Xia Yu didn’t reply. He turned and got out of the car, taking the stuffed cat with him without thinking.

But when he was about to enter the villa garden, he stood at the entrance for a moment.

The villa was lit up, Xu Zhan was at home, but for some reason, maybe because he had just come down from Lu Zhao’s car, Xia Yu felt a bit uneasy.

He probably shouldn’t have agreed to go watch a movie with Lu Zhao.

Before this, his relationship with Lu Zhao had been purely physical, just meeting for intimacy.

But today, they didn’t have sex.

They watched a movie, Lu Zhao won him a stuffed toy, and when they parted, Lu Zhao kissed him and said they would meet tomorrow.

This felt too much like a date.

And he didn’t really want to date Lu Zhao.

Xia Yu looked at the stuffed cat in his hand, and for a moment, he suddenly wanted to throw it away, as if disposing of evidence.

But what had the little cat done wrong?

It had been chosen from a pile of toys, brought home, and then thrown in the trash. It was a bit pitiful.

After some thought, Xia Yu still carried the stuffed cat into the villa.