Ethan Young originally didn’t want to go, but seeing how happy Luke Carter was, and not having figured out how to refuse, Henry Howard just patted him on the head and said in a tone that sounded like he’d expected it all along, “Go, he’s going.”

Ethan Young thought to himself, screw you.

For this classmate’s birthday party, Ms. Miller was even happier than Luke Carter.

All of Ethan Young’s old acquaintances were from the Heishui Street area, and after moving away, he hadn’t made any new friends.

Back then, it took quite a while for him to start hanging out with Ray Jones and the others. Ever since the incident at home when he was a kid, when everyone turned their backs on them and relatives and friends all pushed them away, Grace Miller now thinks back to those years of dragging Ethan Young around, being looked down on everywhere, thinking he didn’t understand, but in fact, the child saw it all.

So Ethan Young gradually became less talkative, instinctively guarded around people, and very wary.

“Your classmate, the class monitor,” Grace Miller said with a smile, “Did you buy a gift? Be polite, wish them a happy birthday, be a little sweeter. Isn’t it nice? Go out and have fun with your classmates more often, take more photos—do you have enough money on you?”

Before leaving, Ethan Young got nagged for a while and was a bit annoyed. He changed his shoes and headed out: “I have enough, that’s enough, Mom, I’m leaving.”

Usually at school everyone wears uniforms, even hairstyles are strictly regulated, and all they talk about is homework and exams and such. This time, everyone went wild.

Quinn Shaw wore overalls, her long hair down, carrying a small shoulder bag. When she showed up, everyone was surprised: “Wow, who’s that? Do we have this person in our class?”

Quinn Shaw smiled and said, “It’s me, your bro Qing.”

Henry Howard had arrived early, squatting by the street, head down playing on his phone.

Luke Carter and the others quickly realized that bringing this guy along meant they got a ton of attention—almost every girl they passed would sneak a glance. And when Ethan Young showed up, they could hardly imagine.

Ethan Young hadn’t even left the subway when this guy started bombarding him with texts.

—Are you here yet.

—We’re at the subway entrance, the north one.

—Where are you now?

Ethan Young looked down, replying as he walked out: Keep bothering me and I’ll block you.

Henry Howard went quiet.

But after a few steps, he sent another message: I look especially handsome today. You’ll see me as soon as you come out, the most eye-catching one in the crowd.

“”

Wanda had changed his hairstyle and was bouncing on the steps. When he jumped up, he caught a glimpse of Ethan Young: “I see Yu-ge! Wow, Bro Henry, you two today—black and white combo.”

As soon as Wanda said that, everyone looked toward the subway entrance.

Henry Howard was wearing a black jacket today, Ethan Young was in white, head down doing who knows what.

Ethan Young’s finger was right on the “block friend” option, but before he could press it, he heard a cheer up ahead. Looking up, he saw the classmates from Class Three waving at him in a big group: “Yu-ge, over here—”

Henry Howard stood at the very front, smiling and calling out “Old Young,” and he really was the most eye-catching one in the crowd.

Not everyone from Class Three came, just twelve of them. The others were busy with extra classes and couldn’t make it.

“Are we going to karaoke after dinner?” Luke Carter said as he collected gifts, his hands almost too full. “Hey, don’t give them to me yet, wait until we have cake, let’s have a bit of ceremony, plus it’s hard for me to hold them all.”

This meal was like a battlefield.

Every dish that came out had to be fought over. Logan Wright didn’t even try to hide that he’d skipped dinner last night just to save up for today.

Ethan Young frowned at the scene, not joining the battle, but instead took out his camera to take a picture.

“You guys are too much,” Henry Howard was also fighting for food, almost getting oil on his sleeve. He finally managed to grab a piece of fish from the belly and put it in Ethan Young’s bowl. “Are you all trying to starve my deskmate?”

His hand shook, and the camera angle went off.

He didn’t get anyone in the shot—just six or seven pairs of chopsticks tangled together on the phone screen, and the pitifully battered steamed fish in the middle of the table: “”

Henry Howard was like a wolf dog hiding meat in its den, except this den was Ethan Young’s bowl.

Henry Howard somehow snatched a piece of sweet and sour rib from someone else, tossing it into his bowl as he said, “Old Young, don’t be so hung up on your idol image. Kids who care too much about their image don’t get to eat.”

After that, he emphasized, “My chopsticks are clean, hurry up and eat. Did you see the way the PE rep is eyeing you like a wolf?”

Ethan Young opened his mouth, not sure what to say, and finally just called out, “Henry Howard.”

Henry Howard was still fighting Logan Wright for the last piece of corn pancake, not paying much attention, and distractedly replied, “Hm?”

Ethan Young paused, then called again, “Bro Henry.”

------------

49. Chapter Forty-Nine

Ethan Young often called him idiot, moron, and all sorts of other insults. The only time he called him “ge” was “sao-ge,” but even that didn’t sound like a compliment.

So when Ethan Young said “Bro Henry” this time, his tone was flat, no ups or downs, but Henry Howard was stunned for a moment.

He almost couldn’t hold his chopsticks.

By the time he snapped out of it, the last piece of corn pancake had already been snatched by Logan Wright.

Logan Wright had one foot on the chair, looking especially heroic, going all out for food, giving up on chopsticks and just grabbing with his hands: “Hahahaha Bro Henry, admit defeat!”

Quinn Shaw said, “PE rep, I really didn’t expect you to be this kind of person.”

Luke Carter shook his head too: “I didn’t expect you to go to such lengths for food. Tell me, did you really only skip dinner last night? Didn’t you actually skip eating all day yesterday?”

Logan Wright bit into the corn pancake, defending himself: “Not that bad, not that bad, I just have a big appetite.”

Henry Howard cleared his throat, about to ask why he was calling him “ge.”

Then Ethan Young said, “I don’t like corn pancakes.”

“Good, I didn’t get any either,” Henry Howard said. “So what do you want to eat?”

Ethan Young pointed at the pot of steaming three-delicacy soup across the table.

The table was already a mess. There were a few shrimp piled on a plate of greens, and a small piece of rib that had somehow flown out of another dish.

Henry Howard stared at the mess, thinking, forget a bowl of soup, he’d do anything for this guy!

Henry Howard reached out to spin the lazy Susan, but halfway through, a thought popped into his head and he stopped, casually saying, “Want some? If you want it, call me again.”

After saying that, Henry Howard figured this little brat definitely wouldn’t play along. He might just kick him, or if he got annoyed, roll up his sleeves and coldly say, “Get lost.”

But the little brat called out again without a care, “Bro Henry.”

“”

Henry Howard felt his throat tighten.

Almost everyone he knew called him Bro Henry.

But when those two words came from Ethan Young’s mouth, it was different.

Just one call, and his heart felt like it caved in a little.

His mind was a mess, and in the end, all his thoughts boiled down to one thing: Damn, this is so unfair.

Ethan Young’s mind was a mess too.

He stared at that bowl of soup for a long time, finally stirring it with the ladle.

Actually, he didn’t dislike corn pancakes, nor did he really want the three-delicacy soup.

So what did he really want?

Was it just that, for some reason, he wanted to call him?

“Should we order more drinks?” Luke Carter asked.

Logan Wright said while eating, “Yes, yes, yes! That little bit just now wasn’t even enough to fill the gaps between my teeth.”

This group rarely got to go out together, and with no one to supervise them, they all acted like little adults, ordering food and drinks. Especially when it came to drinking, they had some inexplicable obsession—as if once they started drinking, all the usual rules and restrictions disappeared.

Henry Howard and Luke Carter had already downed a few bottles together.

Ethan Young had a bit too, not daring to drink much, but still feeling a little tipsy.

The hotel Luke Carter booked had great service. When the birthday cake was brought in, the lights in the private room automatically turned off. Ethan Young was still drinking soup when suddenly everything went dark.

Someone shouted, “Power outage?”

The next second, the door was pushed open by a waiter, and on the cart was a big cake with seventeen candles. The candles gave off a faint glow, flickering in the breeze as the cart moved forward.

No one knew who started singing the birthday song, but soon everyone joined in: “Happy birthday to you~”

Ethan Young sang a couple of lines too, but his voice was drowned out by Wanda and the others. Henry Howard, being closer, managed to catch a few syllables.

It sounded pretty nice.

After the song, everyone clapped and shouted, “Make a wish! Blow out the candles!”