The golden light downstairs disappeared, An He pressed his eyes and saw Na Chen still sitting in the car, looking up.
"Are you bleeding from your nose?" An He asked into the phone.
Na Chen chuckled twice, still looking up: "What did you just say?"
"Are you bleeding from your nose?" An He smiled.
"Are you annoying?" Na Chen honked the horn. "It's so unprofessional to act stupid."
"You were the first one to pretend, and you didn't do it very well," An He leaned on the window, "Are you going to come up or not?"
"Go ahead," Na Chen parked the car to the side, "You can say it or not, I heard it anyway."
An He smiled, hung up the phone, closed the window, and stared at the glass for a while.
It was not easy to say this. If Na Chen hadn't suddenly done this, he didn't know when he would be able to say it.
He has never deliberately thought about whether he loves or not. No matter who he has been with before, he has never said this sentence. He doesn't know what love is and what it means to be in love.
However, Na Chen was the first person who could make him blurt out these words. Whether it was because of impulse or because he was moved, the moment he said it, he felt excited, excited, and uneasy.
This uneasiness does not come from the feelings themselves, but from oneself.
It was impossible for him to adjust himself to a perfect state in just two or three months, and the same went for Chen. These three words were more than just a simple expression of emotion for both of them.
Na Chen rang the doorbell. An He wiped the mark on the glass left by his forehead and went over to open the door.
Na Chen came in with a gust of wind and hugged him. The inertia made Na Chen unable to stop, and An He was dragged back several steps by him. Finally, the two of them fell on the sofa.
"Kiss me quickly," Na Chen's hands were rubbing randomly on his body, kissing him on his eyes, nose, and lips, "Kiss me so I can work."
An He didn't say anything. He put his arm around Na Chen's back and touched him, then pinched his butt, then raised his head and pressed his lips against Na Chen's.
Na Chen hummed softly, and his unbridled breath felt warm on his face. An He closed his eyes.
Never mind. There’s no point in thinking too much. Once you’ve taken the first step, just keep moving forward.
After a long while of kissing and touching each other on the sofa, Na Chen knelt on the floor with one leg, panting: "Uncle An is really good, he finally pushed me off."
An He licked his lips and smiled: "How about you lie down and I'll press on you to see if you will be pushed down."
"What?" Na Chen narrowed his eyes and touched his lips with his fingers. "Now that I'm collecting the bill, you don't want to eat?"
"Eat, why not?" An He imitated him and patted his crotch, "Eat here."
"An He!" Na Chen jumped up and turned to walk towards the kitchen. After two steps, he suddenly turned around and pointed at him with his orchid finger, "You bastard!"
"Are you stupid?" An He laughed. "You are such a scoundrel and you have the nerve to criticize others."
"Come and help." Na Chen carried the bag of flour into the kitchen.
"Will you pay me?" An He stood up, straightened his clothes and followed in.
"Pay with your body," Na Chen handed him a small basin, "Do you know how to knead dough?"
"Yes." An He nodded with a smile.
Na Chen raised his eyebrows: "I'm surprised that you can actually knead dough? Is it the same level as your cooking skills?"
"And bread dumplings, these are the only two I know how to make," An He knocked on the bowl, "I can't chop the stuffing, but I can wrap stuffing if it's available. >﹏雅文8w=ww=.·"
"Then you can make dumplings with steamed bun fillings." Na Chen scooped flour into the basin with a measuring cup and added salt, sugar and water. "Mix it. Add more water if necessary."
"Yeah." An He washed his hands and started kneading the dough.
Na Chen also took a basin, poured flour into it, and started kneading the dough while humming a song.
"Why do we have to make them separately?" An He glanced at him and didn't feel any difference between the two bowls of noodles.
"Do you know what water-oil noodles are?"
"have no idea."
"Do you know what puff pastry is?"
"… have no idea."
"Yours is water-oil dough, mine is oil-flavored dough, and the water-oil dough is wrapped outside the oil-flavored dough," Na Chen said like a tongue twister, "Do you understand?"
"Isn't that the same as dumplings stuffed with steamed buns?" An He couldn't understand.
"Are you still going to eat?" Na Chen sighed and looked at him.
An He smiled, stopped talking, and concentrated on kneading the dough.
An He had seen Na Chen making snacks, but he didn't expect that an ordinary shortbread would be so complicated. After kneading the dough and letting it rest, he divided the two kinds of dough into small balls of the same size, then wrapped one dough around the other, and then flattened them one by one and rolled them into long strips, then rolled them up, let them rest, and then rolled them into strips again, and then rolled them up to rest, and then pushed them into a small ball and flattened...
"Is it necessary to divide it into two sides? After all this trouble, you are in me and I am in you..." Before An He finished speaking, Na Chen looked up at him.
"It still needs to be rolled," Na Chen smiled, "What are you doing? Roll it all into dough sheets."
An He took the rolling pin and rolled the dough into sheets. He looked at the time and it had been more than two hours. "Can I eat it before going to bed tonight?"
"Yes, you can bake it after wrapping the stuffing. It will take half an hour." Na Chen took the coconut flakes, mixed them with butter, sugar and milk, and then started to wrap the stuffing.
The filling was very fragrant. An He felt a strong sense of hunger in the aroma. He stretched out his hand and pinched a ball of coconut flakes and put it in his mouth, shouting, "Delicious!"
Na Chen took a small bowl and scooped two spoonfuls for him, with a sympathetic look on his face: "Eat it, someone with such a greedy mouth actually doesn't know how to cook, and eats instant noodles every day, how can you bear it."
"You know what it feels like to be too hungry? You don't want to eat anything. I've always been like this, but now my appetite has been aroused," An He took a bite of the coconut filling, thought for a moment, and added, "It's like when a person who has been cooped up for a long time suddenly breathes and smells the sweet air."
Na Chen smiled, lowered his head and said as he wrapped the stuffing: "Someone who has not dared to fall in love for a long time suddenly falls in love with someone. He looks like a god, right?"
"You are so shameless." An He raised his middle finger at him.
Na Chen sighed and reached out to open his hand: "Don't learn from me. If you want to learn, learn something good."
"What's so good about you?" An He finished the stuffing in the bowl, stood up, walked behind Na Chen and hugged him, his hand touching his arm, and he could feel Na Chen's muscles tightening and relaxing with his movements.
"Please help me think about it." Na Chen slapped him on the butt with his backhand.
"She's good-looking, has a nice body, and is pretty sexy," An He put his chin on Na Chen's shoulder, "She's good at both white and red cases, can play drums, guitar, sing, and even sing opera. She's pretty cute when she's not acting crazy, and when she's acting crazy... she's pretty okay, what else?"
"Damn, I didn't know I was so charming," Na Chen snapped his fingers, his voice full of pride, "I'm simply a charmer. Yawen bar w·w`w·.·y=a·w·e=n8"
"It's okay," An He smiled. What on earth attracted him? He lowered his eyelids to look at the work in Na Chen's hands, and his thoughts suddenly paused. "What are you doing?"
"Flowers," Na Chen pressed the stuffed dough into round cakes, cut them into petals around the center, and twisted each petal 90 degrees. "It's said that this would look better with red bean paste, but the color wouldn't be so distinct with coconut paste..."
"What flowers?" An He walked to the table and bent down to look at it.
"Chrysanthemum, this is called Chrysanthemum Crisp." Na Chen put the prepared cakes into the baking tray.
"Oh." An He couldn't help laughing. He sat on the chair and couldn't stop laughing.
After Na Chen put the pancakes into the oven and set the timer, he was still laughing. Na Chen walked up to him and pinched his chin: "Teacher An, what are you thinking about? It's not unfair to say that you are a hooligan."
"Why," An He smiled and leaned back in his chair, "What do you think?"
"An He," Na Chen stroked his chin gently with his fingers, lowering his voice, "You know, I really like you like this."
"Don't you like the way I groan when you press me on the bed?" An He grabbed his waistband and pulled him towards him.
"I like everything," Na Chen sat on his lap, "I like listening to you talk, I like being close to you, whether you accompany me to go crazy or not, it makes me feel very... at ease, I only talk a lot when I'm with you, I always want to talk, and I want to be happy."
An He gently touched his legs without saying anything. Na Chen lowered his head and whispered in his ear against the back of the chair: "You ignored me at first, and I was very nervous. I thought maybe I was not popular..."
"That's my problem," An He scratched his hair, "It's none of your business."
"I've never liked anyone, but you make me panic all of a sudden. I feel like I can't catch you, and I can't catch up with you. You may disappear as soon as I turn my head. I don't know what to do at all," Na Chen said in a low voice. "I didn't care before. It didn't matter who came and who left. Everyone was like this anyway. I didn't know why those who came came, and I was used to those who left. My family didn't care about me, let alone others..."
"I'm not leaving yet," An He patted his back, reached out to the table, took the rope that was used to tie the flour bag, and tied it to their belts, "Tie your belts."
"Childish," Na Chen laughed, "Do you think of me as a child?"
"You're just a kid. Actually, I thought you had a lot of problems, but then I thought about it," Angel opened his shirt and reached in to pinch his waist, "You're just a kid. You can't be so picky. It's pointless to use the standards of a 30-year-old to judge a 20-year-old. You're much more obedient than my students anyway."
Na Chen didn't say anything else. He buried his face in his shoulder and hugged him quietly.
An He closed his eyes, and could hear Na Chen's gentle breathing in his ears. The air was filled with the aroma of shortbread. The neighbor next door took his child out, and faint laughter came through the door...
I feel a little sleepy and my body slowly relaxes.
After sitting there for an unknown amount of time, An He felt as if his legs had lost feeling. He moved them and said, "Baby, I now understand the feeling of a disabled person."
"Hmm?" Na Chen responded.
"My legs are numb," An He moved his feet, and his whole legs were instantly surrounded by numbness. He gritted his teeth, "You are so heavy."
"Hey!" Na Chen suddenly stood up, turned his head to look at the oven, and shouted, "Cake! When did it stop!"
"Hey!" An He was so frightened that his legs were numb all the way to his waist. "Why are you shouting when you can just stop..."
“You have to take it out when you stop, otherwise it will be overcooked at such a high temperature!” Na Chen jumped up and wanted to turn around and run to the oven.
An He felt his waist tighten and he was being pulled. Before he could figure out what was going on, Na Chen fell back on him.
"My legs..." An He's legs were so weak and numb that he almost cried, "I..."
Na Chen quickly stood up again, this time with great force, and pulled An He up from the chair, and then they stumbled and fell to the ground together.
"Rope!" An He lay on the floor, gritting his teeth and grabbing the belt.
Na Chen tried twice to untie it but failed: "Uncle An, you really love me too much. You tied a knot."
"I remember I tied a bow." An He was too lazy to struggle and lay on the ground with a sigh.
Na Chen untied the rope and went over to take the cake out of the oven. An He knelt on the edge of the table and looked at the cake: "How is it?"
"It was rescued in time, so it's not burnt. Take a look," Na Chen pushed the baking tray in front of him, "Is it beautiful? Chrysanthemum... crispy."
An He started laughing uncontrollably again. He didn't know why he became so happy as if a switch was on when he heard about Chrysanthemum Su.
"Are you okay? How about I take you to the Fifth Hospital tomorrow and let Doctor Chen check you out as well!" Na Chen looked at him with a sad face.
The shortbread was delicious, especially the ones fresh out of the oven, warm and soft, so crispy that they would fall apart as soon as you took a bite. While Na Chen was still cleaning up, An He ate three of them in a row.
"Chef," An He picked up the crumbs that fell on the table and ate them bit by bit, "I will treat you well. You must stay and cook for me."
"Well," Nachen glanced at him, "prepare some anti-inflammatory medicine. If you eat like this, you will definitely get a sore throat."
"It's okay, it's not fried." An He smiled. The taste of coconut flakes mixed with the crispy skin in his mouth was particularly sweet and not greasy.
The meal was all about pastries. After eating the sweet ones, Anhe wanted to eat something salty, so Nachen used the remaining noodles to cook some noodle soup.
After drinking, An He lay on the sofa and rubbed his stomach: "I really didn't expect it."
"What?" Na Chen sat down on the floor in front of the sofa and turned on the TV, clicking each channel.
"I can eat so comfortably in my own home," An He closed his eyes and twisted a strand of hair on top of Na Chen's head with his fingers, "I feel so safe and secure... so satisfied."
"Me too," Na Chen leaned his head back and rested it on his legs, "Cook me a meal tomorrow. I can eat dog shit."
"Get lost," An He laughed for a long time, "It's not like shit, it's just that I can't control the heat well. I'll make you a braised lion's head. If it's a mess, I can change it to mapo tofu."
"Can these two dishes go together?"
"Just smash it."
The two of them chatted until almost twelve o'clock, one lying down and the other sitting. When An He got up to wash up, he didn't remember what they talked about. Anyway, they just talked about this and that.
An He leaned against the sink and looked at himself in the mirror.
This is love, right? Do you remember it
In fact, maybe I have never really experienced this inexplicably comfortable feeling of liking someone or falling in love with someone.
Maybe there will be friction and disputes in the future, after all, the two of them have been alone all the time, but there is nothing to worry about.
No matter what, they have support behind them.
After lying on the bed, An He touched Na Chen's bare back and felt sleepy in just a few minutes. Na Chen was even quicker than him. When he just felt sleepy, Na Chen's breathing had already become heavier.
An He was woken up in the middle of the night. Chen was hugging him like an octopus, talking in his sleep in his ear. He couldn't hear what he was saying, but he just kept talking.
"Daqi," An He turned over, "You haven't said enough?"
Na Chen didn't respond and continued to mumble.
An He stared at him in the moonlight for a while. Na Chen's face was quite calm. He did not have the uneasiness and discomfort like the last time when he talked in his sleep at his house.
"Stop talking. You're making so much noise, you know that?" An He said softly, pressing Na Chen's lips with his fingers.
Na Chen fell silent, and started talking again two minutes later.
An He was a little helpless, so he leaned over and kissed him gently on the mouth, stroking his waist with his hand.
Na Chen snorted twice and finally quieted down.
When he woke up in the morning, Na Chen was no longer in bed as usual. An He stretched hard, yawned and walked into the living room. Breakfast was already on the table, and Na Chen was looking down at his phone.
"What's wrong?" An He asked.
"No, I just called Doctor Chen and told him to come over in a while," Na Chen put down his phone, "He said my mom has been pretty stable these past two days."
"That's good. I can chat with her for a while when I get over there."
"I'm a little panicked," Na Chen frowned, "I don't know why, but I'm a little scared when I want to go... I didn't have this feeling before... No, I do... I'm also scared, but this fear... is different from the previous one..."
"It's okay," An He went over and hugged him, "That's your mother, just your mother, don't think about anything else."
"Well," Nachen nodded, "quickly clean up and go after you finish eating."
When An He entered the bathroom, he added, "Maybe I'm nervous because I'm going to bring my wife with me this time."
An He turned around and glanced at him: "Why don't you wait until I collect the bills before going over? Then you won't be nervous if you bring your husband with you, right?"
"I'm not ready yet." Na Chen smiled and jumped on the spot.
"Want to default on your debt?" An He clenched his fists, and his knuckles cracked twice. "Are you forcing me to use force?"
"No, it's not bad," Na Chen walked to the calendar and took a look, "I want to pick one for my little daisy... I'm going back to school to hand in my thesis during the summer vacation, so I'll have about a week off. Uncle, let's go on a honeymoon, shall we?"
"Honeymoon?" An He was stunned. "Where are we going?"
"Have you ever been to the beach?" Na Chen hesitated for a moment and looked at him. "My mother's hometown is on an island. It's very fun. Do you want to go?"
An He thought for two seconds: "Okay."
The author has something to say: How much I love the sea.
Rest tomorrow and continue the day after tomorrow.