The dinner felt incredibly awkward for me. Linda smiled the whole time, chatting with her parents as she ate. If it wasn't for the occasional side glance she shot at me, I might have thought she'd forgotten about the little gift.
I felt more and more uneasy. Seeing that Linda and the others hadn't finished eating, I put down my bowl and chopsticks first, saying that I was full and was heading back to school, leaving them to eat at their own pace.
Just as I was about to stand up and leave, Linda also put down her utensils and called out to me. "Andrew, wait a minute. I need to talk to you. Come into the room with me."
Hearing Linda's words, I felt a wave of frustration wash over me, knowing I couldn't escape now. I had no choice but to follow her into the bedroom, feeling dread in my chest. I glanced at Linda as I walked, and though she appeared calm on the surface, the way she tightly gripped the little gift box I had given her betrayed her anger. It seemed like once we got to the room, I would be in for some trouble.
Inside, I felt like a thousand curses were running through my mind, cursing the gift shop owner's ancestors. Wasn't the point of the gift to surprise my girlfriend? Why did I only see Linda's anger and not the surprise?
Linda followed me into the bedroom, and as the door clicked shut, her face hardened with ice. She threw the small gift box at me and said angrily, "Andrew, you're really getting more and more brazen."
"This is all just a misunderstanding, Qingqing…" I quickly dodged, but the box hit the wall with a loud thud and fell to the ground. The new pink cover rolled out, landing right in front of us, clearly visible.
Linda saw the little object on the floor and her anger flared even more. With a cold stare, she said, "A misunderstanding? Do you think I'm an idiot? I'm going to teach you a lesson today."
She was so angry that she jumped at me, aiming to grab my arm, a common move women use on men. I quickly grabbed her wrists and said, "Let's talk this out, you're a teacher. You always teach us that a gentleman uses words, not force..."
"I'm a woman, not a gentleman, and you're not one either. I'm going to deal with you, you shameless scoundrel."
After that, Linda suddenly stomped on my foot with her high heel, causing me to groan in pain and release her. But she didn't stop; she kept charging at me, trying to grab me. In the chaos, we both fell onto the bed.
In that moment, our positions were awkward. I was on top of her, holding both her wrists, looking like a typical TV villain about to take advantage of a helpless woman.
"Let go of me!" Linda cried in pain.
"I'll let go, but you have to promise me that we'll never argue about tonight's birthday gift again," I said, still holding onto her hands. I felt completely wronged about the whole situation.
"Not a chance!"
Linda, like many women, had a tendency to hold grudges. No matter what I said, she refused to forgive me. She struggled, her body sweating, and in that moment, I couldn't help but feel an urge to tease her.
Just then, Linda's foot shifted and accidentally kicked me in a very sensitive area…
"Ugh!"
I groaned in pain and quickly released her. Linda, triumphant, said, "Hehe, now it's my turn to teach you a lesson."
She jumped on top of me, pinning me down and digging her hands into my arms, saying, "This is for pretending to be drunk and crawling into my bed last time, and for giving me these ridiculous gifts as a birthday present today…"
Just as Linda was having her way with me, the door suddenly clicked open. We both turned quickly to see my mother-in-law, Xu Shuqin, standing in the doorway with a plate of cut fruit in her hands.
Xu Shuqin froze when she saw us both on the bed, panting.
"I brought you guys some fruit for after dinner," Xu Shuqin said, placing the plate on the table. She glanced at us and added, "You young people are so eager, it's not even dark yet…"
Linda's face turned bright red, all the way down to her neck. She jumped off me like I was a venomous snake. Even goddesses have moments of embarrassment.
I realized we had been misunderstood, and I felt awkward. I quickly straightened my clothes and awkwardly chuckled, "Mom, Qingqing and I were just playing around."
Xu Shuqin, who usually didn't show me any warmth, didn't seem angry this time. Perhaps it was because she was eager for a grandchild. She gave me a thoughtful look and said calmly, "Looks like your condition is improving. That's good news. Young people are always in a rush, we were the same when we were young..."
In the living room, I heard my father-in-law, Zhang Daguo, clear his throat loudly, likely because he heard Xu Shuqin's words and wanted to remind her to keep quiet.
Linda, still red in the face, said, "Mom, you've misunderstood. Andrew and I were just fooling around. It's not what you think."
Xu Shuqin's gaze shifted to something on the floor, and we followed her eyes to see the little object that had fallen out of the gift box. Both Linda and I were now even more embarrassed.
"Hehe, you really don't need to hide it," Xu Shuqin said knowingly, giving us a meaningful look. "By the way, you don't need to use that thing. Your dad and I are eager to have a grandson..."
Linda turned bright red, unable to defend herself, and all her frustration was directed at me. She shot me a murderous look.
Xu Shuqin then mentioned that she had a Mahjong game with the neighbor and left the room. Before Linda could say anything, I quickly yelled, "It's Sunday, and I almost forgot I need to go back to school. I'll leave now."
Without waiting for Linda to react, I bolted out of the room and hurriedly left the house.
As I left the neighborhood, my phone rang. Looking up, I saw Linda at the window on the fifth floor, glaring at me while holding her phone.
She had a stern look on her face, pointing at me and then at her phone, clearly signaling for me to answer, or else she'd never let this go.
At that moment, I didn't dare provoke her, so I turned off my phone and ran out of the neighborhood. I decided I'd apologize to her later when she had calmed down.
Back at the school dormitory, Mia and the others were eating instant noodles. It turned out they had slept most of the day and hadn't gone out to eat, so they just grabbed some noodles for dinner.
"Andrew, you're back just in time. We're heading to the internet cafe to play games. I only have one more match in my ranking."
Mia, a serious League of Legends player, often dragged us along to play. I didn't care about class on Sunday night, so I agreed to join him. We left the school and went to a nearby internet cafe.
It was crowded, probably because it wasn't a regular internet cafe. There were all sorts of people, from students to street thugs. It was noisy and chaotic, but at least it was cheap.
We set up four computers and started playing. Halfway through, someone tapped me on the shoulder.
I was deep into the game and didn't appreciate being interrupted, so I cursed, "Who the hell is bothering me? Don't interrupt my game."
Before I could finish, someone yanked the headphones off my head, grabbed my hair, and a large head appeared right in front of me, sneering. "Who the hell do you think you are? You wanna die?"
It was Big Head Buddha, one of John's right-hand men.
I was both startled and angry. Looking around, I saw a dozen or so thugs surrounding me and Mia. Leading the pack was my nemesis, David Yong, and the guy Mia had beaten up last night, Wei Shengjin.
I immediately realized, John and Wei Shengjin were here to get revenge for what happened at the KTV.