[Padma].
In New Delhi at night, spotlights shone on the white bricks on the outer wall of the villa area, and the broad-leaved plants were in season and green. Shen Xu took me to find an Indian restaurant, because it was located far away, Shen Xu was worried that he would not have a car when he went back, so he specifically instructed the Bumper driver who brought us to wait at the door for a while, and repeatedly promised to pay. Give him enough tips.
"There are a lot of people eating." I probed into the lively restaurant, "What if the master was taken away by others when we came out?"
"Then walk back with me." Shen Xu pushed open the door and said in a joking tone, "Just walk for forty minutes."
When he said that, I was relieved, looking at the picture on the menu and ordered red chicken and two naan, one coconut naan and one mushroom prawn naan, which are their signature dishes.
"What else is delicious?" I looked at Shen Xu for help, he reported several other dishes and asked me to find out if there was anything on the menu.
"Yes." I struggled for a while, "Will it be too much?"
"Let's order it." Shen Xu put his arm flat on the table and looked at me frankly, "Order if you like."
I hummed in response, avoiding his gaze, I had a hunch that it would be a temperature I couldn't bear. The antique clock in the corner of the restaurant shows that it is 6:30 in the evening, and it should be 9:00 in the country. I don’t know if my boyfriend has dinner. His work and rest have always been disordered. After the college entrance examination is over, it is time to adjust.
However, when he was at work, every time I cared about whether he had eaten or not, he would wait until the next night for self-study, that is, at 10:30.
—Meaning that there is no time to send me back messages, so many messages I sent him before "Have you eaten dinner?" have turned into air.
In fact, I was also sitting in the car waiting for a left turn at a red light. While holding the steering wheel, I swiped up and down the chat page. Finally, I locked the screen irritably, threw the phone to the co-pilot, and stepped on the accelerator.
Our design institute is also very busy. If you are unfortunate enough to meet a top-quality Party A, your attitude can drive people crazy, but whenever I come home full of anger and his breath surrounds me, I suddenly don’t want to care. So much. I told myself to be considerate of each other and not to torture each other.
[Did you have meal? ] I bowed my head in the lively Indian restaurant, pressing word by word, [Forget it, you can come back to me whenever you want to eat. ]
But who is not a living, flesh-and-blood human being
"... I'm going to the bathroom." I still lowered my head, and was stopped by an arm when I passed by Shen Xu. I stood quietly for a while, and the hand dropped by itself.
The bathroom is a good place to ease emotions. It has a modern log style, warm chandeliers, black tiles and a black washbasin. It is very similar to the decoration at home in China. I also accidentally found several bottles of different brands of perfume on the table. India The guests liked to use Hermès earth the most, and the perfume in the bottle was about to bottom out, but my hand involuntarily crossed the Hermès and picked up Issey Miyake. It was full, unopened, and seemed to be waiting for me on purpose.
Japanese brands appear in India, which is really rare.
"One house, three lives?" My boyfriend's voice sounded in his ears in a trance, "Is the designer an otaku?"
"It's Issey Miyake!" I supported my forehead.
"That's right, it's Issey Miyake. I've been really forgetful recently, and I even forgot the student's name... Xiaojin, I remember you like this brand of lotus perfume?" At the door of the store, my boyfriend took my hand To go in, "Let's go buy it."
"It's not 'Lotus Perfume', it's 'Water of Life'." I corrected my boyfriend again and dragged him back, "Don't buy it, don't buy it."
"Why? Don't you like it?"
The mall was bustling, so I pulled him aside so as not to block passers-by, "It's expensive, and aren't you going to buy a house for your mother? Save it."
My boyfriend's expression became visibly lonely, "She recently took a fancy to a house by the river, and the down payment she had saved before was not enough."
"Is that set more than 100 square meters?" I was surprised.
"Well, she said that Liuping was too small and that I abused her."
I can't think of anything to say, my boyfriend and I bought a small house of 50 square meters after working together - we can only afford 50 square meters. The house is written in our names, and even if we put together a down payment, the monthly mortgage is not enough. Now he has to bear the pressure of another house, which makes him shudder to think about it.
"Xiaojin, can I discuss something with you?" The boyfriend leaned against the sign of the safety exit and looked at me sideways, "Last year I was awarded a senior professional title, and I was in it. This year, the school wants me to lead the class, that is, to be the head teacher. Salary...will go up a bit."
"How much?" I quickly got to the point.
The boyfriend hesitated to say a number, and I frowned, "Are you sure? It's too hard."
"You know my mother." My boyfriend just said six words and beat me. It was precisely because I knew that auntie so well that I couldn't say anything to refute it. I took his hand and said, "Okay, I don't buy Issey Miyake anyway, just go in and smell it!"
"Yeah." My boyfriend led me in, and then came out fragrantly. The two of them smelled like two water lilies, and both were immersed in the watery night.
"I like you to wear this perfume." He breathed into my ear, "Xiaojin, wait for me to buy it for you."
The lights flickered, and I realized that I had been in the bathroom for too long, and I double-pressed the perfume pump, intending to stop being a slave to memories. The dishes on the table were already ready, steaming hot, Shen Xu didn't move a mouthful, waiting for me in the same posture when I left.
"It smells good, lotus fragrance, right." He raised his head and smiled, poking at the tip of his nose, "I have a good nose."
The shadow of his eyelashes stretched longer under the light. I was stunned, walked around him, and sat back in my seat, not avoiding his gaze any longer, "Mr. Shen, do you also like a house with three lives?"
"Well, I like it." Shen Xu nodded and reiterated: "Sansheng Yizhai smells good."
I bowed my head and smiled. The colors of the dishes on the table were bright and beautiful, but they were too bright and delicate, like a kind of pretentiousness. The piercing made my eyes sore and painful.
"So small..." Shen Xu clenched the knives of the knife and fork, looking at me as if looking for praise, "I want to eat."