Breakfast was soon over. Ye Erlan was thinking that this guy had come under the pretext of celebrating his birthday, but he himself had made no preparations at all. He wondered what to do next. He couldn't just push the guy away rudely.
While he was still in a dilemma, he heard Lin Xian tentatively speak up. "Um... Do you have any other plans this afternoon?"
"Nope. I'm taking a day off for myself today."
"Then... I'll take you somewhere."
Ye Erlan was about to refuse instinctively, but somehow he just couldn't say the words. Thinking that this guy had been quite dedicated to celebrating his birthday and that this was actually the first time Lin Xian was celebrating his birthday for him, he stammered a reluctant agreement and was then pulled into the car by Lin Xian.
"You can take a little nap in the car. It'll take about half an hour to get there," Lin Xian had learned a bit about Ye Erlan's situation from Yu Nian. He knew that this guy often stayed up late to meet his writing deadlines and had even damaged his eyes.
It was quite early when he went to find Ye Erlan this morning. Judging from his appearance, he must have just gotten up. Anyway, the journey was quite long. It would be great if Ye Erlan could take a nap in the car. Otherwise, Lin Xian really didn't know what to talk about with him all the way. He was afraid that Ye Erlan might suddenly get annoyed and turn around and leave.
Ye Erlan didn't show any reaction to Lin Xian's words. However, sitting in the car really made one feel sleepy. Within a few minutes, he leaned against the backrest and fell asleep. The car was deathly quiet. All that could be heard were Ye Erlan's gentle breathing and Lin Xian's own heartbeat.
He stared at Ye Erlan for a second or two, then suddenly shook his head. He was driving! How could he be distracted looking at him? He let out a soft sigh. He didn't know what was wrong with this guy. He had really hurt Ye Erlan back then, but Ye Erlan shouldn't have just left without a trace and disappeared for so many years without any contact.
Finally, Ye Erlan had returned to the country. Lin Xian had already expressed his feelings, but Ye Erlan had kept him at arm's length. Fortunately, the drunken incident last time had unexpectedly brought them closer. He had planned to seize the opportunity to further ease their relationship, but then he was told that he had urgent work to do and couldn't get away for a while. He had stayed up late these past few days to finish his filming so that he could get a day off to come back and celebrate Ye Erlan's birthday.
The red light gave him another chance to take a close look at the boy he liked. Ye Erlan was truly as handsome as a jade - like young master.
Seeing Ye Erlan rub his shoulder, as if feeling a bit cold, Lin Xian quickly turned up the temperature of the car's air - conditioner. A faint smile played on his lips.
Due to the traffic jam on the road, it took much longer than the originally estimated half an hour to reach the destination. After parking the car steadily, Lin Xian leaned over and woke Ye Erlan up. "Yezi, wake up. We're here."
"Um." Ye Erlan wasn't sleeping very deeply. As soon as Lin Xian spoke, he woke up. He rubbed his eyes slowly, then remembered that he hadn't brought his sunglasses. He hadn't noticed it when he left home in the morning, but at this time of the day, the sun was really strong.
He started to be in a dilemma. He couldn't just say he wanted to go back home now that they had already arrived. But if he got out of the car, he might hurt his eyes, which would be a big loss. Then he thought that he had been taking care of his eyes for a long time and had been back in the country for a few months. Maybe he could...
At this moment, a pair of sunglasses was handed in front of him. Ye Erlan turned his head in surprise and looked at Lin Xian. The latter smiled faintly and said, "Boss Yu told me about your eyes. I've always kept a pair for you."
"Are you so sure I'd get in your car?" Ye Erlan took the glasses and joked with a smile. He thought to himself that this guy was really thoughtful. For some reason, he felt a little touched.
Lin Xian suddenly grinned playfully. "Too bad you've already boarded my pirate ship. It's too late to run now."
Hearing this, Ye Erlan burst out laughing. This guy was so talkative! But just talking tough was useless. He was going to see where this guy had brought him.
As soon as he opened the door and got out, he stood still on the spot. This was... a playground?!
"Why... Why did you bring me here?"
Lin Xian pulled him directly towards the entrance. Ye Erlan was about to remind him to put on his mask. There must be a lot of people in the playground. Didn't he want to be surrounded by those little girls within minutes and have a hot topic like "Lin Xian and an unknown man visit the playground together" on the trending list? That would be so weird!
"I've rented out the whole place. I'm not the big - star Lin Xian today. To hell with being an idol."
Ye Erlan also relaxed and ran along with him. Let them have a crazy day today. There was no big - star or genius designer. They were just two ordinary people living ordinary lives and doing ordinary things.
"I remember that we always wanted to come to the playground back then. Finally, when our class had a get - together and came here, but..."
"Hahaha, but you were like a fool. You screamed louder than those kids. You even dared not go into the haunted house."
"You're talking nonsense. When didn't I go?"
"Yeah, someone was clinging to my clothes from start to finish. Hahaha, aren't you ashamed, Lin Xian? A big man being so timid."
Lin Xian ignored him and walked straight ahead. This guy was really bringing up his embarrassing past. Humph, he'd show Ye Erlan later whether he was a real man or not. Did Ye Erlan really think he was still that extremely timid guy back then? Those were all painful memories.
Ye Erlan was just joking with him on a whim. Thinking about those days really brought back a lot of fun memories. Just as he was thinking, he saw Lin Xian walking straight towards the haunted house and waving back at him.
This guy, was he starting with such a big challenge?
If they got stuck at this stage, they might as well not play the rest of the games. He didn't know what this guy was thinking. Others might not know, but Ye Erlan knew Lin Xian well. He was the very definition of a coward.
"Hey, do you really want to go into the haunted house?"
Hearing this, Lin Xian immediately guessed what Ye Erlan was thinking. This guy must think he was scared. Humph, who did he think he was looking down on!
"Let's go. Are you scared?"
Ye Erlan smacked his lips. Since this guy was so determined to go, he'd just accompany him. He was also curious to see if this guy had improved over the years. If not, he'd have something to laugh about for a while.
As soon as they entered, it was eerily quiet and pitch - black. They could barely see the path. After walking a few steps, a strange piece of music suddenly started playing.
"Ah!"
Ye Erlan was almost startled by Lin Xian's scream. What was this guy doing? Didn't he say he wasn't scared? This scream came even earlier than he expected.
Maybe seeing Ye Erlan's disgusted look, Lin Xian tried to explain, though rather weakly. "I... I'm not scared. I was just startled by the sudden music. It's not the same as being scared."
"Yeah, you're not scared." Ye Erlan's mouth kept twitching. He was trying so hard not to burst out laughing.
Lin Xian didn't say anything else. Anyway, Ye Erlan didn't believe him. He'd show Ye Erlan once they went deeper.
The lights started to flicker on and off. Suddenly, a door beside them slowly opened, and a cold chill rushed towards them. Although Lin Xian had been abroad for many years and hadn't been in a haunted house for a long time, he remembered that in the past, in the small - city haunted houses, following the light was the right way. Haunted houses were all about scaring yourself. In essence, they were just full of dummy dolls.
But that was the haunted house in a small city years ago in his memory.
"Lin Xian, stop holding my shoulder."
"I'm not. I've already said I'm not scared. Don't try to scare me with such words." As he said this, Lin Xian waved his hands in front of Ye Erlan.
His hands... his hands were in front of him. Then what was the hand on his back?
A miserable voice suddenly rang out. "It's not his hand. It's mine."
"Ah!"
This time it was Ye Erlan's turn to scream. He grabbed Lin Xian's hand and ran a few steps forward. But after just two steps, a figure emerged from the other end. No, to be exact, a figure crawled out. Faintly, they could see the red blood on his face.
Ye Erlan finally understood. These were real people. Nowadays, haunted houses were no longer as low - end as before. Now they were full of real people in cosplay, real "ghosts".
Once he figured this out, he calmed down a bit. However, he still dragged Lin Xian forward at a fast pace. He just wanted to get out of there quickly. Why did they have to torture themselves like this when they came to the playground? Wasn't the pirate ship or the roller - coaster fun enough?
They walked quickly and got out of the haunted house in just a few minutes. Ye Erlan took a deep breath of the fresh air outside and finally relaxed. Then he suddenly realized that he had been holding Lin Xian's hand for such a long time. How embarrassing...
Seeing Ye Erlan let go of his hand, Lin Xian didn't say anything. Instead, he seriously started talking about Ye Erlan's performance in the haunted house. "Tell me, what on earth was it that made our genius designer scream? Ah, is it the decay of humanity or the loss of morality?"
Ye Erlan rolled his eyes at him. Didn't this guy have any mercy? He knew Ye Erlan had been really scared, yet he still came to mock him. He didn't even remember who had screamed first inside. However, he suddenly became curious. Why wasn't Lin Xian scared of these things anymore? He used to be so afraid of them. But just now, he had been so calm inside.
"Cough, well, people grow up," Lin Xian saw what he was thinking at a glance and explained like this.
What he didn't say was that in the years when he couldn't find Ye Erlan, he had frantically searched for memories related to him. He had come to places like this so many times that he had gradually stopped being scared. Before Ye Erlan came back, Lin Xian had always been wondering if what he was doing was right, because he was no longer scared, not the same as in his memories. Those scenes were really fading away.
But now, that boy was back.