The Date (7)

Jun Yang's first reaction to Feng Qi's comment that seemed to pour out endlessly was to counter verbally or to do something to make him stop. However, he caught himself because there were two things that he needed to consider.

One, interacting with Feng Qi would probably prod the young man further, thus lengthening the interaction. That was not something that Jun Yang would want. He needed to snip this in the bud.

Two, they were at a public place and Jun Yang realized if he did any of those things they would really appear like a quarreling couple. Jun Yang even had a sneaking suspicion that was exactly why Feng Qi had been dropping these shameless proclamations. Well, he was not going to fall for that, not this time!

Therefore, the only thing Jun Yang could do was to pretend not to hear anything and turn his head away. Simultaneously, he prayed that the cashier would not hear anything that was mentioned by Feng Qi.

Fortunately for Jun Yang, the cashier was too tired from serving disgruntled customers to be fed any dogfood. He just focused on doing his job and hoped that time could travel faster so he could get off work and head back home to sleep.

Jun Yang snatched up the food and swiftly escaped from the scene. Feng Qi followed behind him.

Jun Yang had to wait for Feng Qi to catch up because it was the latter who carried the tickets. Feng Qi helped Jun Yang carry some of the food when he reached his side and the two headed to the viewing hall together.

Feng Qi handed the tickets to the worker who was stationed at the entrance to the viewing hall to be checked. The worker, a young man, who looked to be around Jun Yang's age, took the tickets, looked at them and his eyes lingered on Jun Yang and Feng Qi for a few more seconds than necessary before handing the tickets back to them. "Enjoy the movie," he said.

This strange interaction caught Jun Yang's attention. His sense tingled and he had a feeling Feng Qi was up to something again. The young man handed the tickets back to Feng Qi but Jun Yang snatched it away.

Feng Qi shrugged and smiled rather apologetically to the worker, as if trying to excuse Jun Yang's rude behavior. Then, he led Jun Yang into the viewing hall while the latter was still studying the tickets.

The movie was going to start in another 5 minutes so the lights inside the hall were still open.

"Careful." Feng Qi reminded Jun Yang as they went down the steps, seeing as Jun Yang was busy reading the tickets. The young man was sure there was something wrong about them. They did not take that long to travel down the stairs because the seats Feng Qi bought for them were at the back of the hall.

When they stopped at the row for their allocated seats, Jun Yang noticed what the problem with the tickets was.

Jun Yang turned to Feng Qi to demand in a whispered hiss, "Why did you buy us tickets for the couple seats?!"

The couple seats were about twice the size of normal seats because they were deemed for two people, hence its name. They were also located at the back part of the hall because even the operator knew the main purpose of couples coming to the movies was not for the movie but for spending time with each other.

Due to this strategic position as well, many couples made use of this opportunity to do other things that were definitely less innocent than enjoying a movie.

Jun Yang should have known Feng Qi had other tricks up his sleeves. He would not stop at any opportunity to make him feel uncomfortable.

Without a twitch of emotional change to the expression on Feng Qi's face, the young man admitted, "Because there are no other seats available."

Feng Qi said that with such a straight face that Jun Yang, for a moment, believed him. Then he remembered what he saw when he walked in earlier. Jun Yang turned around to confirm. Yes, his memory had not failed him, practically half of the hall was empty.

Then again, Feng Qi did not show any shame from having his lie caught. If anything, he doubled down on it. He sat down on the seat and called after Jun Yang, saying, "Come here. Plus we're on a date, so of course, we're getting a couple seat."

Jun Yang found himself unable to argue with that logic… provided if they were on an actual date.

Jun Yang stood there on the steps, wondering if he should walk out and get another set of tickets on his own. However, before he could make a decision, Feng Qi reached out to grab him and pull him down. At the same time, Feng Qi said, "Jun Yang, you're blocking the aisle and I'm sure people will come later to fill up those seats."

To be fair, Jun Yang wasn't really paying Feng Qi's words much attention because when he was carried by the forward momentum in Feng Qi's pull, he toppled over and fell right into the man's chest.

Even though Jun Yang pulled himself up as fast as he could, for that brief moment, he could have sworn he could hear the sound of one's heart beating. However, he was unable to tell whether it was Feng Qi's heart or his own.

Due to all these flustered movements, the box of popcorn Jun Yang was holding jostled and several kernels fell onto his pants before landing on the ground.

To prevent a bigger accident from happening, Jun Yang quickly calmed down and moved as far away from Feng Qi as he could on the couple seat. Then, he placed the box of popcorn between them as a barricade.

Before he could decide what to do next, the lights in the viewing hall went off because the movie was beginning.