Hard To Escape • LK Adaptation

15.2

Even upon arriving at the hot pot restaurant and meeting up with Wu Mina and the others, I was still somewhat out of it. The restaurant was especially busy on Sunday, and we had to wait more than ten minutes for a private room. Sadly, these ten minutes for me were filled with suffering. Around me, everyone had brought either a friend or lover. Though it was noisy, the sweet air was undeniable. Many of the female students had their elbow hooked around their boyfriend’s arm and were dolled up beautifully for the occasion. The contrast made me seem all the more lonely.

“Yan Lisa, Wei Sehun had a deadline for a document translation so he couldn’t make it. But why are you alone too?” Su Sana had a pair of pumps on. When she lifted her chin, she looked like a proud little hen. The other girls were also subconsciously paying attention to us. Besides looks, studies, and family background, they were also silently comparing each others’ boyfriends. Though only Su Sana was blunt enough to ask directly, the rest were all curious too.

“My boyfriend is also busy with work. He’s a workaholic.”

Su Sana laughed when she heard my response. She clearly didn’t believe me. Her expression said, “You either don’t have a boyfriend or don’t have the face to show him.”

Thankfully, the hot pot arrived. Everyone ate heartily and no one bothered to bring up the topic of my boyfriend anymore. We had ordered a spicy mala1 soup base, so we all ate especially vigorously. Around the table, we chatted about which seniors had found good jobs, which personal connections we could rely on, and about all the gossip in the foreign language department. Some English major had dumped a German major, and the Japanese professors were currently fiercely duking it out for the position of department head.

1 mala is a type of spice that’s especially oily and numbing, often used in Sichuan cuisine.

But tragically, after all those topics were exhausted, the girls started to introduce their boyfriends.

“Mhm, that’s correct. I work as lawyer in China and America. Yes, yes, at that law firm, this is my business card.”

“Aiya Yeri, your boyfriend is a lawyer, that’s so impressive!”

“Forget it, it’s just tiring. When he has a lot of cases, he’ll have meetings nonstop. The last time when he worked on an IPO, he didn’t have time to talk for half a month. Your boyfriend still has it better as an civil servant.”

“How can it compare to Momo’s boyfriend? They’re in the same year. He’s one of the top students in the architecture department. Getting to attend school together is the best, you can see each other every day. Even if my boyfriend is a civil servant, he still has to go to work every day and can’t stay with me!”

Only Su Sana and I had nothing to contribute to this topic. Everyone else was busy with introductions, networking with each other and expanding their circle. Su Sana silently played with her phone while I diligently cooked the beef.

“Ai, if I knew it would be this boring, I wouldn’t have come,” Su Sana grumbled under her breath.

I vigorously blew on the beef to cool it while stuffing my mouth, and at the same time shot her a glance. “Just be content with our lot. If this group had people who’d married and had kids, I’m afraid that instead of comparing our boyfriends we’d be talking about all the troubles we went through to raise our children.” It was natural for people to want to brag about what they had.

Amidst the chatter, there were surprisingly still some girls who were nice enough to talk with me. “Yan Lisa, my boyfriend has a coworker who’s a pretty good person. He thinks the pair of you would be a good match. Want me to introduce you? The guy also comes from a pretty good background.”