“No…” Right, as after that, he was completely despised. If Duan Shurong had still remembered him, she would never go on a blind date knowing that the guy would be He Jin. Therefore, even though the name was familiar to him, He Jin hadn’t connected the girl in secondary school with the one in front of him.
Duan Shurong smiled with her arms across her chest, “initially, I hadn’t wanted to come, but I was still curious to find out how you’ve changed after so many years. So, it’s not a blind date, more like a reunion with an old classmate.”
He Jin lowered his eyes and took a sigh. He handed her the menu and said, “let’s order first.”
Duan Shurong glanced at him with a smile, she was reading the menu and said, “you really haven’t changed much.”
He Jin pushed his glasses, “how is it possible? It’s been over ten years.”
“I mean your facial features and your style.” Duan Shurong ordered a few dishes and asked for a drink. He Jin called the waiter and placed the order. Duan Shurong saw the coffee in front of He Jin and said, “do you drink coffee before meals? It’s not good for the stomach.”
He Jin smiled a little. Every time, he had to order a cup of coffee before going on a blind date. It has become his habit, since he wanted to keep his mind clear.
The two then talked about what had happened during all these years, which University they went to, and what they were doing in life. After the dishes were served, the two cheered to each other, and He Jin suddenly said in a serious manner, “Duan Shurong, I’m sorry.”
Duan Shurong, “…um?”
“Back then, I didn’t hand in the letter to my mother, she found it herself, since she liked to check my schoolbag. I put the letter inside the cover of my Chinese book, but she still found out in the end. I was probably too nervous and I couldn’t hide it.” He Jin smiled, “I really didn’t expect her to do something like that. It’s good that I’m seeing you today, and I still have a chance to explain this to you.”
Duan Shurong was stunned, but she was a bit touched by He Jin’s apology. She looked around and said, “what kind of a person your mother is? No wonder you don’t have a girlfriend after coming back for three years!”
He Jin, “…”
Duan Shurong coughed lightly, “honestly, the reason why I came was out of some bad intention too. Since I wanted your mother to know that the girl her son is seeing now was the one scolded by her many many years ago. You know what she said? She said that I’m evil, and I’m shameless. I’m not sure how she’ll react…but I don’t want to see her reaction anymore. Who wants your mother as a mother-in-law anyway?”
After He Jin listened to that, not only wasn’t he mad, but he even laughed out loud. Although Duan Shurong was a bit rude, she was telling the truth. He nodded, “you’re right.” The only person who could bear with her would be her son.
Duan Shurong took her cup and was checking out He Jin with her beautiful eyes. It’s quite hard for her to imagine that such a mad woman could raise such a calm, quiet and gentle son.
Actually, there was another reason which she didn’t mention – the reason why she’d see He Jin was because she was still admiring him a bit like when she was a teenage girl.
He Jin pointed the dishes with his chopsticks, “hurry up, don’t let the dishes get cold. It looks like I’ll have to treat you to apologize on behalf of my mother.”
Duan Shurong snorted, “even though it’s a blind date, you should treat me.”
He Jin seemed to be bearing with an angry girlfriend and smiled, “of course, thanks for coming. Eat more.”
After Duan Shurong took a few bites, she couldn’t help but say, “hey, in fact I’ve heard something about you. The auntie who introduced you to me said that you’ve been rejected many times…” she lowered her voice, “you see, Q city is a small place. There aren’t many single people with good criteria. How is it possible that they keep rejecting you? Is it all because of your mother? The auntie also wanted me to be more careful and check whether you have some kind of disease!”
He Jin raised his hand, laughed and raised his eyebrow, “do you really want to know?”
Duan Shurong put her chopsticks aside and looked prepared, “tell me.”
He Jin swallowed the food, sipped his coffee slowly before he started explaining to her, “when I met each girl, I always told them whatever I was going to say is true, and it’s not an excuse just to shove them away. I also begged them to keep it secret for me, because I don’t want my parents to know, especially my mother…so, I hope that you could do the same…”
“Sure, I’ll keep it secret for you!” Duan Shurong interrupted him. She had a fast temper and she couldn’t wait to know the truth.
He Jin looked at her and said in a serious manner, “I was once dating a man.”
Duan Shurong looked petrified, she lowered her voice, “are you gay?”
“I’m not sure, as I have only fallen in love with him in my life, I guess you could call it gay. Honestly, I don’t know if I can still be with a girl. I want to try too, but once the girl knows that I was dating a guy, none of them could accept it.” He Jin smiled, “however, I must say that they’re really trustworthy, since they hadn’t told anyone about my secret.”
Duan Shurong, “you know what? It has nothing to do with keeping promises. I know women, we all like gossiping, the reason why they haven’t spread it out is because you…”
He Jin, “me?”
Duan Shurong started to be a bit emotional, “what you’ve just told me gave me a really sincere feeling.”
She didn’t know how to describe. She only thought that He Jin was very weak at that moment, and he was in pain…and it’s easy for women to be touched by sensitive men.
“Hey, He Jin.” Duan Shurong said courageously, “actually I don’t really care what happened to you in the past. Would you like to try with me?”
There’s a sense of gratefulness in his eyes, “Duan Shurong, there’re actually a few girls who still wanted to try dating me after knowing this truth, I guess they want to help me out…but…” he raised his eyes and looked at her, “what if I tell you that I still haven’t forgotten about him?”
No woman could tolerate her boyfriend still thinking about his ex, let alone mentioning that the ex was a man.
Seeing her silent, He Jin sighed. He looked at his finished cup of coffee and said with a bit of struggle, “thank you, Duan Shurong, but I can’t do anything that will hurt you.”
It’s been three years. The curse that he had made to himself on the letter to Qin Yang seemed to be turning real.
There’s just no way for him to start over with a woman. He had tried, and he was working so hard to be normal again. After dating his first blind date, he almost lost sleep every night, he had taken countless sleeping pills, and even had to consult a psychologist for a half a year. It took him so much effort to pretend to be happy…
He could fool everyone in the world, but he couldn’t fool himself.