Manhattanhenge

Su Hui was exhausted easily, and only needed six short words, a few seconds.

Ning Yixiao didn't say I hate you to him, he could have said that, and he is the most qualified person in the whole world to say that.

Su Hui was hot all over, his mind was blank, his body and mind seemed to be disintegrating, and he refused to listen to each other's instructions.

Etiquette, he should at least reply "Happy New Year", but couldn't say a word.

The next second, the punishment call was hung up.

Su Hui's breathing almost stopped, and the moment he heard the "beep", it was like a drowning person seeing the sun again.

Ning Yixiao turned around, looking quite calm, he walked back through the floor-to-ceiling windows, sat on his original seat, glanced at Jingming, "Is it all right?"

Jing Ming was already overjoyed, and laughed so hard that he shrank back on the sofa, Chloe had a look of disbelief, and Bella was completely shocked by what happened just now, "So... Shaw's ex is Eddy? "

Jing Ming picked up the pillow and hit Bella's arm, "Why are you so slow? Isn't that obvious enough?"

Bella covered her forehead, "I found a fake fiancé, and I also found his ex to do installation art...God, what kind of luck is this?"

Chloe suddenly reminded, "It seems that Eddy didn't want to come out after hearing that sentence."

Bella suddenly raised her head and asked Ning Yixiao, "Did you just speak Chinese? Didn't you really say 'I hate you'?"

Jing Ming took the lead in smoothing things over, "Yeah, I can understand it, it's in Chinese, I hate you, it's murderous, and you say this in your mother tongue to your ex."

"It's too much!"

Ning Yixiao was too lazy to talk to him, and accepted Bella's merciless accusation. He glanced in the direction of Su Hui's room. Coincidentally, Su Hui just walked out of it, so he looked away and poured himself a glass. Riesling.

Jingming was about to start a new round of games, but when he saw Su Hui coming out, he said enthusiastically, "Eddy, come here!"

Su Hui was already a little drunk, and his footsteps were sloppy. He nodded slowly, walked around the sofa and returned to his seat, and put on the blanket Ning Yixiao gave him again.

Fortunately, the few people present were very friendly and understood the social sense of proportion. No one deliberately made fun of Su Hui about their ex. They really just treated the game just now as a game without any extension.

But Su Hui didn't know his own heart. It seemed that a certain person was looking forward to being teased by them, asking Ning Yixiao to talk more about his "ex" as if it would bring him happiness.

But the other self keeps refusing and avoiding, and is very afraid of the next step.Everything was very strange that night, as if something was faintly changing.

Su Hui was afraid of changes.

With a dry mouth, he saw that there was still some red wine in the decanter, and he reached out to pour it out, but Ning Yixiao stopped it.

"If you drink any more, you'll get drunk." Ning Yixiao whispered in Chinese.

Su Hui didn't have the guts to look up at him, but she was a bit stubborn, and she still reached out to take it. The next second, Ning Yixiao pushed another glass of wine, a light golden liquid with a little apricot and citrus fragrance.

"Drink this, lower the degree."

Facing such an arrangement, Su Hui was stunned for a while, but still obeyed Ning Yixiao.

He's weird when he's drunk, and he follows orders easily, especially with this ex-boyfriend who's been very aggressive at times.

Picking up the cup, Su Hui took a small sip. It was a sweet white Riesling with a refreshing taste, full of floral and fruity flavors, with a hint of grass.

It is Su Hui's favorite taste.

He glanced at the glass and took another sip.

But he didn't notice that it wasn't his own cup.

Ning Yixiao naturally picked up Su Hui's empty glass, poured out the little red wine left in the decanter, and picked it up.

"Ah, it's me!" Jing Ming was selected by the bottle mouth, and he lifted a rock and shot himself in the foot.

Bella was very excited, "Choose quickly, truth or dare?"

Jing Ming thought for a while, "Let's tell the truth."

Chloe complained relentlessly, "It may be that there are too many ex-girlfriends, and there will be troubles in choosing a big adventure."

"Exactly." Jing Ming shrugged.

Soon, the software gave the question of [truth], and Bella read it out, "Please tell me a romantic thing that you have personally experienced."

"Romantic?" Jing Ming looked puzzled, "Let me think about it."

Ning Yixiao sneered, "You are also half French, how can you be troubled by romance?"

Bella laughs. "The stereotype emerges."

Su Hui listened, looking forward to his answer very much.

Jing Ming was a little distressed, but he still thought of one, "I was on vacation in Los Angeles last fall. I drove around that day and turned to the Griffith Observatory. Then I went up. It was almost dark. There is a girl with dark brown curly hair, green eyes, and a big warm orange scarf, very beautiful."

"And you sang with her?" Chloe joked.

The others hadn't gotten the meme yet, but Su Hui was the first to laugh out loud.

Ning Yixiao turned to look at him, Su Hui's face was pink and fluffy, wrapped in a beige wool blanket, a few strands of hair were hanging down the side of her face, she held a cup to cover her smile.

"You have watched too much La La Land." Jing Ming continued, "Then I struck up a conversation with her. She is Spanish. We chatted in English for a whole night. Her accent is very cute. Later we chatted with her. Went to buy wine and planned to watch the sunrise in Los Angeles together."

Bella held her forehead, "God, so it's not La La Land, but Love Before Dawn Breaks."

Su Hui smiled and interjected, "I like this movie very much."

Ning Yixiao suddenly remembered that he and Su Hui had watched this movie together. In the small room where they lived, a man and a woman kept walking and chatting with each other in the projection.

But Ning Yixiao has forgotten the general plot, he only remembers that Su Hui kissed him when the hero and heroine walked into the audio-visual store together and listened to the records in the small closed trial room.

The following plots are all submerged in that sweet kiss.

"But—" Jing Ming changed the subject, "I actually didn't see the sunrise that day, because I was very tired, drank again, fell asleep, and missed the sunrise in Los Angeles."

Bella was curious, "What about that girl?"

"She also disappeared." Jing Ming said, "but she left her scarf to cover me."

Bella showed a very girlish expression, "It's really romantic!"

Chloe was not impressed, "A very classic French movie script."

"Did you not leave your contact information?" Bella couldn't help asking.

Jing Ming shook his head, "She just disappeared completely. I tried to find her, but later I found out that the world is much bigger than I imagined. It is really difficult to find someone."

Su Hui suddenly spoke up, imagining another possibility, "If she hadn't disappeared, it wouldn't be so romantic."

Ning Yixiao glanced at him from the corner of his eye.

Su Hui's words suddenly became more frequent, and the speed of speech was much faster than before, "Because you lost, you will miss you very much. If you really develop into a relationship, you know very well that this is just a relationship. The many stages you have experienced before are all temporary and unstable, but you lost her on the most beautiful night, and the loss is eternal, and the regret is also eternal, so it is very romantic."

Jing Ming was a little surprised by Su Hui's words, he felt like he changed suddenly in an instant, but it was just a subtle feeling, so he nodded, "You're right, loss is eternal. "

Su Hui smiled and took a big gulp of wine.

Only Ning Yixiao found out that at that moment just now, he suddenly changed from the depressed stage to the manic stage.

But he wasn't sure whether Su Hui's words simply explained Jingming's romantic encounter, or contained other overtones.

In the third round of the truth or dare game, Su Hui was selected. He leaned on the chair, stepped on the edge of the chair with one leg, rested his arms on his knees, and supported his chin in a lazy posture.

"I choose... a big adventure."

Jing Ming was very satisfied with his choice, "Okay." He clicked [Big Adventure] on the screen, and soon the system began to scroll the entries, and finally stopped at a line of words.

He repeated, "Please take out your mobile phone, find the second item in the call log, dial it back, and say to the other party 'Actually, I have liked you for a long time'."

Bella covered her mouth, "Wow..."

"Your luck is really metaphysical." Chloe said with a smile, and also refrained from saying "no wonder it's the ex".

Su Hui pinned her broken hair behind her ears and smiled, "Is it too late to regret choosing the truth now?"

"Of course not!" Jing Ming emphasized, "And if the big adventure fails, there will be punishment."

"What punishment?" Su Hui asked.

"Eat a whole lemon." Jing Ming casually said something.

Ning Yixiao knew Su Hui very well, what he was most afraid of was sourness, let alone a whole lemon, he couldn't stand a slice.

"Okay." Su Hui paused, and took out his mobile phone. To be fair, he put the mobile phone on the coffee table where everyone could see, and counted to the second one from top to bottom.

Unfortunately, Ning Yixiao's call log happened to be the first one, just now, only one.

His mood deteriorated as a result.

"Eh?" Jing Ming discovered the most dramatic point, "The note in this call log...isn't it the Ryan you guys are talking about?"

Bella found out too. "Really, Lane Forester."

Su Hui's attention was completely focused on the three characters [Ning Yixiao] in the line above, almost distracted.

But Ning Yixiao's voice woke him up, "Let's get started."

His tone was not good, and he could even hear his unfriendly side, but Su Hui couldn't play tricks until now.

He took a deep breath and chose to call back. The call was connected much faster than expected, almost in seconds.

Ryan's energetic voice came through, like a passionate mushroom cloud, rushing to everyone's faces.

"Hi! Eddy, what can I do for you? Oh yes, it's Chinese New Year's Eve tonight, I wish you a happy holiday! Can I go and play with you? I just got a super cool book..."

As soon as he spoke, he didn't stop, so Su Hui had no choice but to interrupt him, "Lian, I have something to tell you."

"Huh?" Ryan paused, "What?"

Su Hui was caught in a dilemma, clenching his fingers uneasily, and the room suddenly became very quiet, as if the air had solidified into a semi-colloid.

Suddenly, Ning Yixiao beside him stood up, left the table without warning, went to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator door to get ice, there was a lot of movement, the sound of ice cubes rubbing against each other was very distinct in the silent room.

He came back and met Su Hui who was looking up.Ning Yixiao's eyes were very cold, and he couldn't hide his aggressiveness at all, which made Su Hui feel confused and blank for a moment.

"Eddy?" Ryan on the other end of the phone tentatively called his name again.

Only then did Su Hui regain his senses, but most of his attention was given to Ning Yixiao, who was seated again.

"Excuse me."

He cleared his throat, and under Jing Ming's urging gesture and everyone's expectation, he opened his mouth, "I want to say—"

Ning Yixiao took a sip of the wine calmly, shaking his wrist, the red wine in the glass also shook.

"Come on, your work deserves to be seen by more people."

After Su Hui finished speaking, she raised her hands and mouthed to Jing Ming that she had surrendered.

Ryan on the phone was obviously at a loss, but he still accepted Su Hui's blessing, "Thank you, I will work hard."

At the end, he even said loveyou.

Su Hui ignored this sentence, and didn't reply casually like Westerners. He just smiled, told him to go to bed early, and hung up the phone.

"Your big adventure failed!" Jing Ming said with a look of hatred, "Accept the punishment."

Bella smiled, "Actually, you can finish talking and then explain. He will definitely understand and won't care too much."

For Su Hui, what he cares about is not whether Ryan cares or not.

At a certain moment when the phone was connected, he was really dazzled by the alcohol, and thought about whether he should just speak out, as a temptation.

But he soon sobered up, such a temptation is not responsible to anyone.

He was afraid that Ning Yixiao would care, and even more afraid that he would not care at all.

Su Hui smiled and said nothing. Chloe had already cut up the lemon and brought it over. She felt that such a plate was too cruel, so she suggested, "Actually, you can only eat half of it."

Jing Ming also nodded, "It's really too much, half of it is very sour."

But Su Hui fulfilled his promise, and ate one piece at a time, his teeth were so sore that his teeth felt a little uncomfortable, so he covered his cheek with his hand, trying to relax.

Just then, the plate was removed.

Ning Yixiao said, "I just need to use these tablets." After speaking, he picked them up and squeezed them into the gin and tonic in his cup.

"When did you get the gin and tonic?" Jing Ming saw it and asked him to ask for it, "Pour me some."

Ning Yixiao squeezed out the remaining pieces, took out a tissue and wiped his hands carefully, "Go to the wine cabinet to get it yourself."

Su Hui still covered her cheeks and lowered her head, looking very frustrated.

Bella thought of the call records she had just seen, and deliberately teased, "If I had known earlier, I might as well call the first person."

Chloe smiled, "Then I might have to eat another lemon."

Su Hui's cheeks were red, she took the wine glass and turned her face away, her tone unconsciously carried a hint of coquettishness, "I can't eat even one slice."

For some reason, this sentence made Ning Yixiao's mood obviously float, like some kind of hint.

If it is really dialed to the first person, don't you want to eat lemons?

Will you obediently follow the challenge of the big adventure?

Ning Yixiao's imagination is not good enough, but she is still very satisfied and happy for what didn't happen.

The game gradually turned into a pure chat. They chatted from political events in the Times to astronomy, and then from astronomy to art. Su Hui also gradually let go of the shackles of social interaction and talked freely, especially in the fields he knew.

His conversation showed a kind of relaxation and clarity. The previous timidity and slowness faded away because of the end of the depression period, like a snake putting on new skin, completely changing its appearance.

Chloe said that "the beauty of bondage is also an art", but Su Hui objected.

"But art has no rules." He smiled softly with a prey face, and with drunkenness, he firmly grasped the hearts of every potential hunter. "If there is not enough freedom, all sensory experiences will be suppressed." kill."

Bella, who was almost drunk, straightened herself up again, and asked him one last question.

"There is a question that has become very popular on the Internet recently. It is to give you four words and rank them in order of importance. How would you rank them?"

"Which four?" Su Hui was drunk, with a lazy tone.

"Life, life, freedom, love." Bella finished, snapping her fingers.

Su Hui hardly hesitated, he tilted his head, "Love, freedom, life, life."

"I'm just like you!" Bella was surprised.

Jingming said, "It's completely opposite to me. Why do you put love first?"

Bella sat up all of a sudden, "Because this love is not just love, it is all love, for friends, family, pets, everything that accompanies you, civilization, art, even nature and the universe. If people do not have love Ability, not feeling any love, how scary."

Chloe smiled, "Bella and Eddy are really in tune."

The night passed quickly and they both drank too much and passed out on the sofa.The whole fragment of Bella, unconscious, leaned against Chloe's arms, and Jing Ming also died of drunkenness, and fell asleep directly on the single sofa.

Probably because he didn't drink too much alcohol, Su Hui hasn't completely broken down yet, but it's almost there. Only 5.00% of his sobriety remains, and he will easily slip into the abyss.

He saw Ning Yixiao get up and turn off the light in the living room.The room darkened suddenly, and the night of Manhattan spread out like a painting, enveloping them through the glass.

The kitchen was still dimly lit, and Ning Yixiao stood by the sink washing his hands.

Su Hui was controlled by a complex emotion without origin, stood up, and staggered to the kitchen.

The refrigerator is hidden, and the door is exactly the same as the cabinet in the kitchen. For a person like him who is almost completely drunk, it is too difficult to identify which door is the refrigerator door. Su Hui fumbled for a long time.

A watery hand gripped his wrist, leading him to find the correct answer, and then let go.

Su Hui didn't look at him, and opened the door of the refrigerator by herself, and the warm yellow light suddenly filled her whole body, like a special arbitrary door, which could take them back to six years ago.

Su Hui was very obsessed with celebrating his birthday, and immediately took out the cake box, but couldn't do it, so she sat on the floor.My hands were shaking a little, and I didn't untie the bow on it for a long time, feeling a little frustrated.

Ning Yixiao also sat down, right next to him, reached out, untied the bow tie very slowly, and opened the box.

The cake is very beautiful, worthy of Su Hui's hard work during this time. In Ning Yixiao's eyes, it is better than any one in the windows of all the expensive dessert shops in New York.

"Ning Yixiao." Su Hui called his name.

Ning Yixiao was almost amused by him, reminding him that they were all asleep in the living room, "Keep down."

So Su Hui really called out again in a low voice, "Ning Yixiao."

"Ok?"

"It's your birthday, 21st birthday."

Ning Yixiao guessed that he was too drunk. Although he was a little sad, he corrected him gently, "It's 27 years old."

Su Hui suddenly turned her head and stared at his face, her eyes blurred with disbelief, "Are you 27 years old?"

Ning Yixiao nodded, "Yes."

Su Hui reacted for a while, then lowered his head in disappointment, "Okay, then we need to put 27 candles, I don't know if we can make enough..."

His focus is weird, but very much like him.

Ning Yixiao didn't think he could count them all now, "Just plug in one."

Su Hui tore open the candle box with great effort, and took out one. It was correct for a long time, and it was inserted in the center of the cake.

"lighter……"

Ning Yixiao found one and handed it to him.But this lighter didn't seem to work very well, Su Hui pressed it several times before finally lighting the lonely candle.

Perhaps this candle looked too lonely, so he suddenly thought of finding another one, plugged it in next to it, and lit it.

"Make a wish." Su Hui smiled at Ning Yixiao.

Ning Yixiao said, "I don't have any wishes to make now."

Su Hui frowned, unwilling to let go, "You can think of any one."

"Will it come true if you think about it?" He asked Su Hui back.

Su Hui paused, the effect of alcohol made it difficult for him to express, his tone and tone of speech were floating, he could not speak clearly, but he was very serious, "Not necessarily, they say, it will not be effective if you say it... ..."

Ning Yixiao smiled.

As if afraid that he would not make a wish, Su Hui immediately made amends, "It's fine if you don't say it, it will come true."

So Ning Yixiao followed his advice, closed his eyes, and a thought briefly popped up in his mind, and it disappeared in a flash.

Opening his eyes, Ning Yixiao blew out the candles, but it happened that only one was extinguished, and the other flickered for a moment, but stayed there.

"You do this." He said to Su Hui.

"...Why?" Su Hui was so drunk that she subconsciously reached out to grab the candle.

Ning Yixiao's heart tightened, he reached out and grabbed his wrist.

The candle went out by itself.

Su Hui's heart was beating so fast that she almost jumped out, as if she didn't belong to her.

He thought of the four words of what his heart wanted, but quickly pressed them out, and drew out his hand.

"Happy birthday." He was a little at a loss, he didn't dare to look at Ning Yixiao, and whispered his blessings to him.

Feeling dizzy, Su Hui put one hand on the ground, fearing that she would fall down in a second, "...don't you want to try the cake?"

"Okay." Ning Yixiao took the knife, cut off a small piece of cream cake, divided a small piece with a fork, and tasted it.

"delicious."

His adjectives are always lacking, Su Hui is used to it, but he is different from usual when he is drunk, so he deliberately asked, "What else?"

"Very sweet." Ning Yixiao said again.

Su Hui smiled. He picked up the cake knife and wanted to cut a small piece to try, but suddenly found that there was a lot of cream on it. Without thinking about it, almost subconsciously, he took it over and licked it with the tip of his tongue.

His consciousness was close to slack, with snow-white cream on his lips, his hair loose, hanging lazily by the side of his face.

"It's a little sweet."

Putting down the cake knife, Su Hui lowered his head and fumbled in his pocket.

"What are you looking for?" Ning Yixiao looked at him and asked.

"I want to smoke..." Su Hui said in a low voice, "There are no more cigarettes."

Ning Yixiao took out a pack from nowhere, it was the Marlboro Aurora he used to smoke very much.He took out one and handed it to Su Hui.

Su Hui brought the cigarette to his lips, and reached out to touch the difficult-to-use lighter. After trying for a long time, he finally lit it.

A cluster of red lights lit up, and Su Hui held the thin white cigarette between his slender fingers, turned his face sideways, and exhaled gray mist.

"Su Hui."

When he heard Ning Yixiao calling him, he turned his head slowly, his voice was soft and loose, "Huh?"

In the dark night, Ning Yixiao's eyes were deep and bright, and they completely reflected Su Hui's face, and only his face.

"Where's my gift?" he asked.

Su Hui felt that he was drunk too, obviously he had said so.

"I said it, I haven't finished it yet...don't keep asking me, change the question." His tone seemed to be coquettish again.

Ning Yixiao really did what he said, and changed another question.

"You said my birthday wish would come true, did you?"

Su Hui smiled and shook her head, "I don't know."

"So you lied to me." Ning Yixiao stared at him.

"I don't know." He repeated this sentence vaguely, "It will come true, you have everything you want now, you are very powerful."

The mist curled around his face, covering his face, like a beautiful island surrounded by mist, which only appeared in dreams, and disillusioned when he woke up.

Ning Yixiao looked at him, "If you say it, it will be invalidated?"

Su Hui said in a very low voice, almost out of breath, "It should be like this."

He showed a childish smile, and leaned closer to Ning Yixiao's face, "Anyway, you definitely won't tell me."

But in the next second, Ning Yixiao also approached, and the distance suddenly shortened, leaving only a negligible few centimeters between them.

The cigarette between his fingers was sucked away, and Su Hui seemed to have been sucked out of his last sanity, leaving only his feelings.Ning Yixiao's warm breath surrounded him, very close, with the rich aroma of wine.

The refrigerator light illuminates Ning Yixiao's side face, the lines, outlines, edges and corners, every inch is so familiar, it has been touched and kissed countless times, lost, and it doesn't belong to anyone else in these six years.

But it should not and will no longer belong to me.

"In this situation, I should actually ask you first."

Su Hui couldn't understand, so she uttered a very simple monosyllable, "Huh?"

"However," Ning Yixiao stared into Su Hui's eyes, "If I must realize this wish, I can't ask your opinion first, or it won't work, you said."

Su Hui was a little confused, his thoughts were chaotic, and he didn't fully understand this sentence, so he just looked at it like this.

Ning Yixiao raised his hand to take off his glasses, and kissed her.

It was a kiss of lemon juice and cream, wrapped in alcohol and cigarettes.They hid behind Nakajima, in front of the refrigerator, doing what they did six years ago.

Very dangerous, but also very short.

It was so short that Su Hui's subconscious refusal and push away were meaningless, and Ning Yixiao let go.

Su Hui could hardly breathe, her lips were still slightly parted, only half of the cream remained on her lips, her chest heaved and heaved, she lost her mind and only gasped.

"That's my birthday wish."

He was very frank, with the corners of his mouth hooked, he smoked the cigarette he snatched from Su Hui, and spit the smoke ring on Su Hui's face.

"It has been realized, and I can tell you."