Assistant Architect

Assistant Architect by Xi He Qing Ling

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At that moment when Gu Yu mentioned taking him to KFC, Zhang Siyi was aboutto blow his top. Zhang Siyi clenched his fist and mustered his cheeks. Hispatience has been pushed to the limit. He must resist! He must refuse! He’sgoing to say what's on his mind or he will go crazy!

But before Zhang Siyi burst out, he heard Gu Yu laughing: “Ok, ok.I'll stop teasing. What do you want to eat? You can pick it yourself.” Asif he had encountered something particularly interesting, Gu Yu's smile grew.From a slight upturn of the corners of his mouth to a smile from ear to ear, heexpressed pure enjoyment.

Even though Zhang Siyi tension was to the max and he wanted to complain,when he saw Gu Yu heartfelt joy and smiling face, he was like a fast-exploding balloon.The air suddenly being released, twitching in the air, snoring and deflatingand finally flattened on the ground spent, and dying.

Gu Yu seems completely aware of Zhang Siyi emotional stress and at thismoment, Zhang Siyi really-really -hates-him.

Zhang Siyi angrily took out his phone and looked at a review app. He lookedup the mall and he chose a relatively expensive restaurant with the highestrating. It was a mixed Spanish Chinese restaurant with a very good evaluation.It's not extravagantly priced, but still quite high. No matter, even if Gu Xiaodoesn't invite him to eat, Zhang Siyi will pay to eat something good otherwisehe is going to die!

Gu Yu was silent. When Zhang Siyi reported, they immediately went upstairs.Into the restaurant, the host lead the two men to a double sofa position by thefloor-to-ceiling window.

There were very minimal decorations in the place. From the window, one can viewthe entire center of Union Square. The environment is very good, but it'salready passed peak hours, so there are fewer people around and it seems a bitdeserted.

Gu Yu ordered a piece of char-grilled steak and Zhang Siyi asked for one ofhis favorites; a cuttlefish noodle dish prepared Western style.

The dishes were served very fast and Zhang Siyi was famished. He tended toturn his emotional grief and stress into appetite. Digging in, it didn't takelong for him to finish his meal. When Zhang Siyi finished his portion of squid,Gu Yu's steak was only one-third eaten. He touched his stomach, but he feltlike eating more. He ordered crispy squid rings and sweet and spicy chickenwings. The waiter asked them if they wanted dessert or after-dinner drinks. GuYu ordered a cup of coffee. Zhang Siyi didn’t like to eat sweet, so he said no.

Gu Yu excused himself to use the restroom. Zhang Siyi ignored him, turnedto the window and pouted. Now, the rain was pouring down. In the early winterit was common to have heavy rain storms accompanied by a cold front. It feltlike the coldness was penetrating the glass.

Zhang Siyi's mood is also badly affected by this bad weather. Even if herushed home, it is estimated that no one will want to go out in such a storm. "Iwas ravaged by day, and I couldn't see friends at night." Zhang Siyi thought.

This day was probably the worst birthday of his 23 years! If he had knownthe day would be like this, he would have sleep at home all day! Maybe Gu, thebastard, didn't even know that today was his birthday… Since he picked therestaurant this time, there aren't any surprises. There wouldn't be anopportunity for him to forgive Gu Yu.

Feeling petulant, Zhang Siyi wants there to be a reason to feel even morewronged. He doesn't know what kind of expectation he has in his heart. After awhile, Gu Yu came back. He took the hot coffee that the waiter had just sentand held it in his hand. He took a sip and looked at Zhang Siyi's profile andsaid slowly: “You aren't happy?”

Zhang Siyi turned back, and answered with a rhetorical denial:“No.”

Of course, he is not happy! But he can’t say why. Can you tell your Bossthat “It's my birthday today and I'm very unhappy with you?"

Gu Xiao tilted his head in thought. Zhang Siyi lowered his head and stabbeda squid ring to eat with his fork and noticed the steak that Gu Yu had notfinished eating. He asked, “Why don’t you eat it?”

Gu Yu said: “I'm full.”

Zhang Siyi thought, does Gu Yu not like Western food? Many people in thecountry are not used to eating western style foods. When they were in the UK,they didn’t like it at first, but after eating it more, they slowly liked thetaste of fresh beef. He selfishly chose this place to eat without asking Gu Yuwhat types of food he likes.

Gu Yu asked: “Do you have any plans for a while? Do you want to goback?”

Zhang Siyi is lazy and can’t afford anything so there is no point inshopping: “Well, I want to wait until the rain lets up some. What aboutyou?”

Gu Yu looked out the window and whispered: “Then I will sit with youfor a while.”

Zhang Siyi: “………” Damn, why does it sound like I’m askingyou to stay with me? Even with a car, isn't it still difficult to leave withsuch a heavy rain?

Just as Zhang Siyi was arrogantly going to shout, “If you want to go,then go!”, the waiter came over and interrupted him by placing a smalldish of cheesecake in the middle of their table.

Zhang Siyi startled, said: “We didn't order cake.”

The waiter smiled and pointed to Gu Yu: “It was this gentleman whoordered it.”

It was a very common post-dinner dessert cake in the shop, and Gu Yu noddedto the waiter to thank him.

Zhang Siyi: “………”

The waiter put another candle and a packet of matches on the edge, thenlooked at Zhang Siyi and said: “Happy Birthday" and left.

Zhang Siyi: “???"

Gu Yu used his slender fingers to insert a candle in the center of the cake.Then, he slowly pulled out a match, and with a match-strike on the ignitionstrip, the fire jumped up and the candle was lit.

Revealing a rare gentleness, Gu Yu looked atZhang Siyi: “Make a wish.”

Zhang Siyi is stupid. Gu Yu knew his Birthdayis today? Is this really a birthday dinner?

In the face of such a sudden change, becausehe has been emotionally abused so much recently, Zhang Siyi has a particularlyunreal feeling.

Zhang Siyi blew out the candle and said“thank you” awkwardly. Although he felt a little irritated for thelate blessing, he couldn’t help but show some gratitude towards Gu Yu.

Yes, Gu Yu's actions today made him feel thathis birthday was just extra, incidental and dispensable thing. Then, Gu Yu tookout the tape measure that they had been using in the parking lot from his pocketand put it in front of Zhang Siyi. He smiled and said: “There is nospecial preparation. This is for you. A birthday gift.”

Zhang Siyi: “…” What!? This iswhat shit gift! Why don’t you write a happy birthday on a napkin?

It is the kind of ordinary tape measure thatyou would find in any small shop. It can't be more than 10 bucks and its veryold, but it is the gift from the Boss. Zhang Si Yi can't find a reason to refuse.Feeling slighted, Zhang Siyi collected the present. He resentfully thanked himthen took a bite of the cake.

All the while, Gu Yu kept quiet. He waswatching and evaluating Zhang Siyi mood. His meticulous observations gave ZhangSiyi goosebumps.

Zhang Siyi wasn't particularly happy, so hedidn't pretend to be. After all, his mood wouldn't be resolved with a simplemeal. At this point, it wouldn't even be resolved by his favorite bowl ofsand-tea-noodles.

After themeal, Zhang Siyi didn't rush to pay the bill. Gu Yu took the initiative tocheck out. The rain had let up a little bit, so they headed downstairs. ZhangSiyi was too lazy to wait for the subway, so he went home directly by taxi. GuYu saw him leaving and took the subway himself.

When hegot home, he felt exhausted. Seeing Fu Xinhui sitting on the sofa in the livingroom, he collapsed on the couch beside him: "I'm too tired to do anythingtonight. I can't move."

Fu Xinhui expected this to happen: “Well, the weather is not good, soI bought some food at the supermarket yesterday. Let's make something."

In a feeble voice, Zhang Siyi replied:“All right, I'll listen to you.”

Fu Xinhui glanced at him and asked:“Why do you go out with your boss every time? More than once, when youcome home, you are sucked dry and hollow. Is he a Lich-Lord stealing yourlife-force?"

Zhang Siyi: “…”

He also wants to relax and beenergetic every day, but when he is with Gu Yu, he must constantly ward himselfmentally from Gu Yu's attacks. The constant state of defense gives him afeeling of exhaustion. Zhang Siyi, with a long sigh, lamented: “He is not aLich-Lord, he is the Great Devil.”

Fu Xinhui laughed rightaway: “You take him too seriously. What did he bring you there for? Toinspect the building?"

“Almost, but notquite. Do you know what he took me to see?” Zhang Siyi thought of his dayand got very angry. "The fucking parking lot! We’ve been watching the lot forfive fucking hours! Up and down, measure this, measure that…. My legs burn, andmy feet hurt. I can't move anymore!"

“Why didn’t youtell him it was your birthday today, so he could be gentler with you?” FuXinhui asked.

“He knew!” Talking about it made Zhang Si Yi even angrier: “When we ate at 2 o'clock in the restaurant, he gave me the cheapest kind of cheesecake to eat!"

“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”Fu Xinhui burst into laughter. He almost fell off the sofa.

ZhangSiyi kicked him barefoot, annoyed.

Fu Xinhui: “Your birthday isn't over yet. Don'tworry, you will be content."

Zhang Siyi took out the tape measure from his pocket andthrew it into the air. He laughed bitterly and said: “Yep. A broken tapemeasure as a gift and he didn't even tell me Happy Birthday. Don’t worry at all!”

Fu Xinhui glanced at him and said: “I also boughtyou a gift. It's in your room. Go and see if you like it or not.”

Zhang Siyi jumped up in excitement. Fu Xinhui, a nuevorich young master would never be soft! After he rushed into his room, a loudexcited scream came from inside: “Aaaaaaahhh! You actually bought me afixed focus lens of Zeiss 50!!!"

Fu Xinhui smiled, got up and went to the kitchen to bakepizza. Zhang Siyi was alone in his room jumping around in euphoria. He went tohis phone, and suddenly stopped. Looking at his social media feeds, he saw apost that Gu Yu had made half an hour ago:

"The first tape measure I bought for the firstarchitectural class at University."