Seventh Year Of Separation chapter 49
The Taste of a Kiss
Gu Jiahe never expected that this expensive outfit would come in handy so quickly.
When they returned to Li Zhao’s home, it was already three or four in the afternoon. Gu Jiahe wasn’t hungry, so he sat on the sofa in the living room and played games on his phone.
After a while, Li Zhao approached him with his phone. “There’s a dinner tonight. Let’s go together.”
Gu Jiahe was a bit puzzled. “What dinner?”
“It’s a gathering organized by that senior brother I just met. He said since it’s the holiday season, he arranged a dinner tonight and asked me to bring you along.” Li Zhao showed him the chat history.
Gu Jiahe thought for a moment and agreed. However, he hadn’t met many of Li Zhao’s friends before, so he felt a bit nervous. He spent more than half an hour just getting ready to go out.
Standing in front of the mirror in the hallway, Gu Jiahe hesitated, unsure. “Is this outfit okay?”
“It’s more than okay. It’s perfect.” Li Zhao smiled and pulled him out of the door.
Gu Jiahe looked particularly good in light-colored clothes, and with his naturally gentle demeanor, he appeared exceptionally handsome.
Thirty minutes later, when Li Zhao’s car stopped at the entrance of the restaurant, Gu Jiahe realized what kind of gathering it was. The signboard of the restaurant displayed only a few English letters, and its facade was dark gray, with delicate wooden grilles beside it.
Glancing at it, Gu Jiahe felt like the words on the storefront were saying: “Very expensive, enter with caution.”
He got out of the car, subconsciously straightening his clothes to avoid any wrinkles.
When they entered the restaurant, there were already four or five people present. Qun Ge reserved a semi-open lake-view private room.
It was Gu Jiahe’s first time in such a restaurant. In front of the long table was a huge iron plate, and behind it stood a chef in a chef’s uniform, smiling warmly as he welcomed them.
After Li Zhao approached, he greeted everyone, while Gu Jiahe stood behind him feeling a bit awkward. However, he managed to force a smile and nod in greeting.
“Oh, Li Zhao!” Qun Ge, seated at the head of the table, greeted Li Zhao.
“Let me introduce this gentleman to everyone.” Qun Ge gestured for Li Zhao to introduce Gu Jiahe.
Li Zhao was quite straightforward. “This is my boyfriend, Gu Jiahe.”
The three or four people sitting at the table showed surprise on their faces but quickly maintained a polite demeanor, smiling at Gu Jiahe. “Hello, Mr. Gu.”
Gu Jiahe felt a bit overwhelmed. Clearly, their expressions indicated that they hadn’t expected Li Zhao to suddenly introduce a so-called “boyfriend.”
“Li Zhao, what does your… boyfriend do?” A relatively friendly-looking woman beside him asked Li Zhao.
“Oh, he works in legal affairs.” Li Zhao smiled.
“Ah, then we’re half colleagues. Is he also a graduate student from the School of Law?” She asked further.
Gu Jiahe shook his head quickly. “No, no, I’m just a regular law graduate.”
The people at the table fell silent for a moment, seemingly unsure how to continue.
Gu Jiahe took off his coat, feeling a bit at a loss, and looked around to see that they had all hung their coats on a standing coat rack across the room.
“Give it to me.” Li Zhao reached out at the right time and took his coat.
Soon, the conversation shifted away from Gu Jiahe, and everyone began talking about their own lives.
Gu Jiahe sat next to Li Zhao, his eyes gazing out at the lake view outside the window. The lake surface was quiet at night, but he felt as though there were sleeping monsters lurking beneath, waiting to be awakened. It seemed that as long as a piece of tile was thrown down, it would immediately emerge from the water, breaking the calm surface and tearing through the black night sky.
As he drifted off in thought, he roughly listened to their conversation. Basically, the people present were either lawyers from well-known law firms or rich second-generation individuals with family wealth.
They talked about their work and connections, seemingly complaining to each other, but with a hint of superiority.
For example, how much money they raised for their start-ups, the gaps they still had at the end of the year; which new clients they had signed, although they brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars, they were still difficult to deal with…
This sense of superiority felt like tiny needles pricking Gu Jiahe’s skin, making him have the impulse to stand up and escape from this restaurant countless times.
Gu Jiahe looked up at their carefree, beautiful faces. They sat in such a restaurant, relaxed and at ease. It seemed that this city belonged to them.
“Sir, how well done would you like it?”
Gu Jiahe’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a voice. Looking up, he saw the chef behind the iron plate smiling and asking him.
Gu Jiahe was taken aback, and several people at the table turned to look at him. He felt a slight tingling sensation on his back and subconsciously shrugged his shoulders, unable to respond for a moment.
“Medium, please. Thank you.” Li Zhao’s voice came, finally relieving Gu Jiahe from the encirclement.
Soon, a waiter came over to pour wine into their glasses. The clear liquid flowed into the slender glasses.
Qun Ge picked up his glass first and was about to propose a toast to everyone.
Gu Jiahe’s heart tightened, and he quickly looked at Li Zhao, following his example by lifting his glass. His pinky finger trembled slightly, almost spilling the wine in the glass.
Just as a few people finished drinking, the waiter brought over several small plates, placing one in front of Gu Jiahe.
Looking at it, Gu Jiahe saw two pieces of bright yellow substance in the shallow gray ceramic dish. For a moment, he didn’t know how to eat it. He leaned in and quietly asked Li Zhao beside him, “What is this?”
Li Zhao glanced at it. “Sea urchin.”
“Ah…” Gu Jiahe could only push his plate gently towards Li Zhao, saying, “I can’t eat this.”
This was probably the most uncomfortable meal Gu Jiahe had ever had in his life. After half an hour, he finally found an opportunity to join the conversation, stood up, said he needed to use the restroom, and hastily left the restaurant as if fleeing.
He came out in a hurry, didn’t even put on his coat, just wearing that off-white cashmere sweater, exposing his clean neck.
Standing in the biting cold wind outside, he felt relieved. He reached into his pocket, thankfully finding the last cigarette in the pack.
He found a sheltered spot under the eaves, then took out his lighter and lit the cigarette.
His mind was a bit chaotic, and the embarrassing scenes just now seemed to replay like a slideshow. Gu Jiahe couldn’t help but shake his head, trying to stop himself from thinking about it.
As the smoke curled around him, he felt as if the lake in front of him was also swaying.
However, he didn’t stay alone for too long. Suddenly, the door behind him was pushed open.
Gu Jiahe turned his head and saw that Li Zhao had also come out.
“Why aren’t you staying with them?” he asked Li Zhao.
Li Zhao didn’t answer directly but instead asked him, “Why are you out here alone?”
“Uncomfortable,” Gu Jiahe said truthfully, lowering his head.
He lightly tugged at his collar. “I feel like I stole this outfit.”
But Li Zhao laughed, leaned against the restaurant’s outer wall, and met Gu Jiahe’s eyes. “Really? Why do I feel like this outfit was made for you?”
“Don’t tease me.” Gu Jiahe knew Li Zhao was intentionally trying to cheer him up when he sensed his mood wasn’t good.
“I’m serious,” Li Zhao suddenly sounded earnest, “You look really good.”
Looking through the restaurant’s glass window at his reflection, Gu Jiahe asked, “Really?”
“Yeah,” Li Zhao nodded.
Gu Jiahe breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Ge, I really feel uncomfortable in this kind of situation. I’m afraid of embarrassing you. I don’t know how cooked the beef should be, or how to hold those narrow wine glasses.”
Li Zhao exhaled a breath of white air and looked at him. “You don’t need to know.”
“Huh?” Gu Jiahe raised his eyes.
“You don’t need to know how to order dishes, and you don’t need to care about how to drink wine. No matter how fancy the restaurant is, it’s still for people to eat, and the utensils are still for people to use. However you use them is right. You’re the consumer, understand?”
After Li Zhao finished speaking, he seemed to realize his tone was a bit heavy, so he changed it slightly. “Got it, baby?”
Gu Jiahe’s entire body broke out in goosebumps from his endearment, but he felt deeply touched.
His shoulders finally began to relax slowly. “You know, that beef was barely cooked on the iron plate. The blood barely cooked at all.”
“Yeah, next time just say, ‘Chef, give me a well-done.’ And sprinkle some cumin on it,” Li Zhao tousled his hair.
“I might as well ask him for a pair of chopsticks next time and cook a stir-fried beef myself.”
“Okay. Let’s do that next time!” Li Zhao laughed.
Gu Jiahe’s mood finally improved a bit. He had smoked about a third of his cigarette, and the flickering flames burned in the dark night.
Li Zhao sighed and stood beside him, side by side. “Lawyers, they’re all surface appearances. Look at them boasting about this and that. But when they go back, they’re still at the mercy of their clients. If the clients ask them to work overtime, they don’t dare to leave a minute early.”
After saying this, Li Zhao seemed to think of something else. He patted Gu Jiahe’s shoulder. “Hey, look, you’re the only client at our table. Later, they’ll all have to nod and bow to you, begging you to sign the agency contract.”
Gu Jiahe couldn’t help but laugh and pushed him. “You’re making it up.”
As the night grew deeper, the cold wind blew in from the end of the alley, creeping into Gu Jiahe’s collar. Gu Jiahe shrank his neck, feeling a bit cold, and raised his hand to take another puff of the cigarette.
“Hold on, don’t smoke. Cashmere absorbs the smell,” Li Zhao took the cigarette butt from his hand and put it between his own lips.
“Huh?” Gu Jiahe was taken aback by his actions.
Then, the next second, Li Zhao took a puff, lifted Gu Jiahe’s chin, and kissed him on the lips.
The taste of tobacco flowed between the lips of the two. Li Zhao’s lips were warm, becoming the only source of warmth in this dark night.