THE PITIFUL BOWL OF NOODLES

Xuan Tianyi was a bit confused when he stepped into the apartment. Hua Zhendan had promised him dinner so he had expected candles and flowers and well, food. What he saw however, was Hua Zhendan emptying the contents of an instant noodles sachet into a pot.

"You're back," Hua Zhendan's eyes lit up with a small smile as he noticed Xuan Tianyi. "Welcome."

Xuan Tianyi smiled at the warmth in Hua Zhendan's voice and eyes. Softly, he whispered, "Baby?"

"En?" Hua Zhendan answered with the same softness in his voice.

"What are you doing?" Xuan Tianyi asked as he sat himself on a dinning chair in the kitchen.

"Making noodles."

"Oh!" Xuan Tianyi couldn't hide the disappointment in his voice.

Hua Zhendan covered the pot. He walked towards the dining table so he was standing opposite Xuan Tianyi. Hua Zhendan leaned on the table and rubbed Xuan Tianyi's cheeks, "What's wrong?"

"Well... Nothing. It's just that you said you'd be making dinner so I was thinking you would cook something a lot more sophisticated. And that it'd be ready by now, I'm very hingry."

Hua Zhendan smiled and straightened his back. "This is just noodles. But it has a special meaning."

Xuan Tianyi raised an eyebrow. Mockingly, he asked, "Really?"

"Yeah," Hua Zhendan nodded as he spoke. "This is the first time I'm cooking for you. The first time you cooked for me, you made noodles. So, I'm recreating that memory."

Xuan Tianyi's heart skipped a beat, "God, that's romantic."

Hua Zhendan had an amused grin on his face. He had guessed, rightly that that answer would satisfy Xuan Tianyi; his lover was such a simpleton. "And you know I can't eat cold food. So, I had to start when I knew you were close to home."

Xuan Tianyi nodded, then frowned. "How could you possibly know when I was close to home? You didn't call me."

"Well, call it instinct."

"Hmm," Xuan Tianyi nodded.

"Do you want to eat now or after you've taken your bath?"

"Right now. I can't wait a moment longer."

Hua Zhendan strolled back to the oven, turned off the gas, and wearing oven mitts, poured the contents of the pot into a bowl. He placed two boiled eggs inside the bowl and carrying two pairs of chopsticks, placed the bowl on the dining table.

The first thing that caught Xuan Tianyi's eyes were the eggs. The egg was roughly peeled, and the white was barely hard. As soon as his chopsticks touched the egg, the egg fell apart and an undone yolk poured from it, surprising both himself and Hua Zhendan.

"The egg isn't done," Xuan Tianyi pointed out to Hua Zhendan.

"Oh! I didn't want to overcook it. I know you like your eggs easy."

Xuan Tianyi smiled again. Hua Zhendan was extravaneously romantic tonight. He pushed the undone egg aside and shoved some noodles inside his mouth. Slowly, he chewed, then swallowed.

Hua Zhendan, who had been watching Xuan Tianyi the whole time, rose a brow at him, "How's it?"

"You... Didn't put in the spice."

Hua Zhendan scratched his head, "I—"

"And it's not well-cooked," Xuan Tianyi interrupted him.

"I—"

"You can't cook," Xuan Tianyi said in an accusing tone.

Hua Zhendan scoffed, "I can. It can't be that bad."

"Baby," Xuan Tianyi put down his chopsticks. "I don't want to hurt your feelings but it is that bad."

"Oh!" Hua Zhendan dropped his chopsticks as well. "So, let's order something to eat."

"You've haven't cooked a day in your life before today," Xuan Tianyi wouldn't let it go.

Hua Zhendan rolled his eyes. "Of course, I can't cook. Happy now?"

Xuan Tianyi shook his head in dismay.

"What? You're not that much better at cooking yourself."

"No, I'm not. But I can cook noodles. And I can definitely boil eggs. I mean, who can't boil eggs?"

"Me!" Hua Zhendan's voice was rough. "What do you want to hear? I didn't even know how to turn on the stove thing till this evening."

"Oh my God."

Hua Zhendan sighed. His voice softened as he spoke, "There's no way I could've learned to cook growing up with Shen Rui, okay? My mum was obsessively protective of me as a child. This one time, as a child, with our cook's assistance, I wanted to prepare dinner for her birthday. While I was slicing onions, I cut my finger a little bit. Our cook freaked out and drove me out of the kitchen because she knew Shen Rui wouldn't be happy about it. As I didn't get my way, I went upstairs and cried till my eyes were swollen. When Shen Rui returned from work, like she always did, she came upstairs to look for me. She frowned so deeply when she saw my swollen eyes that it scared me. Before I could explain why I had been crying, she noticed the band-aid wrapped around my finger and all hell broke loose. The only thing she was interested in was how I had hurt myself. So she would calm down, I hurriedly told her the whole story, but the only thing she heard was that the cook let me handle a knife. She fired the cook and threatened to have her arrested. The way she made it seem like a big deal made me afraid of even stepping feet in the kitchen. It's no wonder I can't cook, is it?"

"So, she fired the cook because you cut your finger?"

"She fired the cook, alright. But I felt like it was my fault, so I threw a tantrum. I wouldn't eat until she rehired the cook."

"You're grown but you still throw tantrums to get your way," Xuan Tianyi shook his head.

"Err... I think you're talking about you. Among the both of us, you're the one who throws tantrums more."

Xuan Tianyi shook his head again but chose to let it go, "So she rehired the cook?"

"Yeah. But she mistreated her, and the cook got really uncomfortable so she quit."

"Wow!"

"Well... That's it."

Xuan Tianyi chuckled. "Fine, I understand you can't cook. But really, this was supposed to be a date. You could've bought candles and flowers to set the mood at least."

"Of course I bought candles. You said the scent of the burning candles turn you on."

"You'd remember that," a red color crept into Xuan Tianyi's face as he replied.

"Of course," Hua Zhendan had a sly smile on his face. "But I forgot to buy flowers." He scratched his head. "And I totally forgot to put on the candles."

Hua Zhendan smiled while Xuan Tianyi burst into a small torrent of laughter.

"You're such a mess," Xuan Tianyi shook his head amidst laughter. "The real reason you wanted to make noodles was because you thought it would be easy and not because you wanted to recreate the first time I cooked for you, right?"

"I'm a mess, yes!" Hua Zhendan nodded. "And you're an idiot for believing me earlier."

Xuan Tianyi smiled, "So, you just ordered food all the time you've lived alone. Including when you were at school."

Hua Zhendan wasn't dumb. He understood the real question Xuan Tianyi was trying to ask. His lover wanted to know how the romance was between him and his ex. If Xuan Tianyi really wanted to know, he'd tell him. "When I was in school, at first, I used to eat out. I hated the food. But when Qiu Dawei and I started to date, he would cook so I ate home-cooked meal all the time."

"Oh!" Xuan Tianyi's reply was hushed.

Hua Zhendan tried to cheer up his lover, "I never tried cooking for him though."

"That's hard to believe. You guys dated four years."

"Well, if you and I dated four years, as much as I love you, I'm not sure I would have tried cooking for you. It's not just about the incident from when I was a child, I'm really uninterested in that art."

"Then, why today?"

"Well, you were an awesome boyfriend today. You were very protective of me. And when Tan Yao said we didn't fit, you didn't let that get to you. I wanted to reward you so I thought I'd do the one thing I would never do for anyone."

Xuan Tianyi smiled and shook his head, "You're so dramatic about the whole cooking thing."

"I'm not. I just hate it."

As soon as Hua Zhendan said the last word, Xuan Tianyi's stomach rumbled. The rumble was so loud that Hua Zhendan heard it from across the table where he stood.

"God, you're hungry," Hua Zhendan pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

"What are you doing?"

"Calling Wang Zi to get us something to eat."

"Don't do that."

"Why?"

"Hello," Wang Zi's voice echoed from the other end of the telephone.

"Don't," Xuan Tianyi reached across the table, flung the phone out of Hua Zhendan's hands and hung up.

"What's that for?" Hua Zhendan's eyes wandered to Xuan Tianyi's hands holding his phone. It was the first time in years someone else had touched his phone. Hua Zhendan had forgotten how uncomfortable he was whenever someone touched his phone.

Xuan Tianyi put the phone down on the table. Staring at his lover, he shook his head. "Baby, you promised to make dinner and you did. That's what I want to eat."

Hua Zhendan raised a brow and looked at the pitiful bowl of noodles, "If you wanna poison yourself, I won't be a party to that."

Xuan Tianyi picked up the bowl of noodles and walked to the stove, "I can make it edible."

"What are you going to do?"

"Cook it again."

"I'm not going to eat that."

Xuan Tianyi turned around, placed both hands on the counter and rested on it, "Let me guess, you got the not-eating-cold-or-reheated-food from your mother as well."

"She never ate cold food and she always made a big fuss about reheated food. So, I'm not used to it. All the times I've tried, I didn't like it."

Xuan Tianyi chuckled, "God, you're spoilt." He walked up to Hua Zhendan and holding his hands said in a reassuring tone, "You'll be able to eat this."

Hua Zhendan was sceptical, "Really?"

"I promise," Xuan Tianyi said as he stared into Hua Zhendan's eyes. 

Hua Zhendan's heart skipped a beat and although it didn't make sense to him, he suddenly believed Xuan Tianyi. As he stared into Xuan Tianyi's eyes, he had the urge to lean in and kiss his lover. So his lover would know that he trusted in his words. Just as he was about to succumb to his instinct, the doorbell rang, successfully ruining the moment.

Xuan Tianyi seperated his hands from Hua Zhendan's and said in a broken voice, "You should get that."

Hua Zhendan frowned but walked towards the door anyways. No one ever visited him. Why would anyone choose to do so at this exact moment?

Xuan Tianyi heard Hua Zhendan open the door. Although he couldn't hear what they said, he could tell the other person was Wang Zi. Then, he heard Hua Zhendan close the door after Wang Zi had left. But Hua Zhendan remained where he was for a while. It made Xuan Tianyi wonder.

When Hua Zhendan finally returned to the kitchen, his face was so black it almost terrified Xuan Tianyi.

"Ah! Is everything okay?"

Hua Zhendan threw something on the dining table.

Xuan Tianyi walked towards the dining table and smiled. The thing Hua Zhendan had thrown on the table was the month's issue of The Men Issue. With Godspeed, Xuan Tianyi flipped to the middle of the magazine and his heart almost dropped to the floor. His pale skin glittered in the light from the camera and added to the beauty of the city behind him. Every strand of his silky soft bang shone with an unspoken glory. The beauty of his long legs were only curtailed by the tragedy the bruises on his body narrated.

In spite of himself, Xuan Tianyi muttered, "Oh my God. I almost look animated. Who knew I was this beautiful?"

"Me!" Hua Zhendan's icy tone snapped Xuan Tianyi out of his reverie. "And now the whole world knows it too." Hua Zhendan walked to the living room and sat himself on a couch.

Xuan Tianyi turned off the cooker and hurried to Hua Zhendan's front. "Am I thinking wrong or are you mad at me?"

Hua Zhendan kept him quiet.

"Are you seriously mad at me? I didn't want to take that job. I fought against it and you had me arrested for that."

"I eventually asked you not to do it."

"Oh my God! I didn't think you meant that. I did this because I was trying to please you."

Hua Zhendan crossed his arms.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For whatever is upsetting you. I don't want you to be upset."

Hua Zhendan sighed and Xuan Tianyi's stomach rumbled again.

"Come eat. The noodles is ready."

"I don't have an appetite."

"Of course, you don't. Hua Zhendan, you know I have stomach ulcer, right? It'll only take a moment before it starts hurting. If you don't eat, I'm not going to eat."

"Are you forcing me to eat?"

Xuan Tianyi sat on a sofa adjacent from Hua Zhendan. "I'm not forcing you to eat. I'm just saying I don't have an appetite either."

Hua Zhendan sighed, "Fine. Let's go eat."

"I'm still not hungry. Unless you tell me you're no longer mad about the magazine."

Hua Zhendan smiled, "Fine, I'm no longer mad at you. Let's go eat."

Xuan Tianyi stood up with a triumphant smile.

"And you say I know how to throw a tantrum."

Xuan Tianyi bit his tongue to hold back the anger Hua Zhendan's last sentence had provoked.