Loneliness

Chapter 15

Two days after Yuan Yuan returned from A city, Xiao De and Olivia returned to T city. This time, they didn't stay there for long because there weren't any direct flights to places where they could have fun.

They went there and sunbathed every day. It was about to snow in T city, and it was so cold that everyone was frozen stiff. So they hurriedly booked return tickets.

Xiao De said that he wanted to treat Chen Dong Lan to dinner to thank him for taking care of him these past few days.

This wasn't Xiao De's style, and after asking carefully, he found out that it was his father, who was also Chen Dong Lan's stepfather, who had told him to do so. He also said that if he didn't bring back the receipt from the restaurant at which he treated Chen Dong Lan to dinner, he would be beaten till he wouldn't be able to step on the clutch of his car.

As the older brother, Chen Dong Lan's first reaction was to refuse. But after finding out Uncle Xu's intentions, he agreed.
Because they weren't close, appropriate formalities needed to be carried out.

Dinner was set at seven that night, so Chen Dong Lan wasn't in a hurry.

After work, he went as usual to buy vegetables, then cooked.
Yuan Yuan was washing the vegetables with him. Noticing that Chen Dong Lan only cooked a cup of rice, he asked doubtfully, "Why are you only cooking for one person?"

Chen Dong Lan had not told Yuan Yuan yet. "My brother is going back.Today, we'll be eating out."

"No need." Chen Dong Lan said naturally.

Yuan Yuan was helpless. He couldn't be as stubborn as him.
When it neared eight o'clock, Chen Dong Lan put on his coat, and with an

'm going out", he prepared to leave. Yuan Yuan recalled the weather that day and went to the room to get a scarf. He walked directly to Chen Dong Lan, pulled at his shoulder and wrapped the scarf around his neck.

Half of Chen Dong Lan's face was buried in the woollen scarf, with only a pair of eyes visible and an expression so blank it was laughable.

"Don't get a cold again." Yuan Yuan helped him adjust the scarf, pressing it below his chin.

Instead, Chen Dong Lan bent his head and pulled the scarf up again, hiding half his face. "Thank you..."

He opened the door to leave and almost tripped over the threshold.

Chen Dong Lan walked in the cold wind, but his face was hot. Even by the time he met up with Xiao De and Olivia in the restaurant, it hadn't completely returned to normal.

"Ge." Seeing him, Xiao De's mouth lifted into a smile. He pushed a finely-packaged box towards him. "We bought something for Ge when we were there. Olivia chose it, and she said you would like it."

Xiao De was not such a considerate person, and Chen Dong Lan knew that this was Uncle Xu's intention. Not refusing, he accepted the box. "Thank you. You've gone through a lot of trouble."

Olivia clung to Xiao De and said sweetly, "Gege open it and see."
Frankly speaking, Chen Dong Lan didn't really like Olivia, but in the end, she was Xiao De's girlfriend. He said politely, "Let's eat first. We'll take a look after we finish eating. Thank you."
Olivia pouted but didn't say anything.

This time, Xiao De and Olivia again ordered some imported liquor. Chen Dong Lan wanted to order plain water as usual, but Olivia held down Chen Dong Lan's menu and said smilingly, "I know this restaurant has a type of famous fruit drink. I'll help Gege to order it."