The restaurant was almost empty. There were only few people left, who were still drinking and chatting joyfully.
Yan Yan let out a very gentle smile at him, and then he saw the three of her friends harmoniously turned their head around to the direction she was smiling at.
The air surrounding the four people on the table was full of silence as they watched this tall man walked towards their direction.
Li Xiqing swept a glance around everyone on the table, while maintaining his neutral expression. More or less, he could recognize their faces from the picture he saw back in Eternity Frame shop.
But the only face he wanted to meet was not here. Li Xiqing was not sure if he should feel relief or disappointment.
The second person that he saw was looking at him, was the girl next to Yan Yan.
Feifei eyes went so big and round in shock. She was ogling at this tall, handsome man who was walking in full confidence towards their table. His whole bearing was on a totally different level than Liwei.
Dressed in a plain blue and white striped s.h.i.+rt and black jeans, the man looked so simple yet stunning. He looked to be only in his mid thirties. Dark hair, very neatly styled and the texture seemed to be soft to touch. It triggered any women"s fantasy to run their fingers through his hair.
Cleanly shaven; he had tall, sharp nose, with chiseled jaw. He was blessed with deep, dark eyes that could drown people into abyss of mystery when he stared at you. Long legs with lean waist; sculpted with all the right muscles in his body. He was not thin, and yet not bulky. Just the most perfect shape.
Actually, Liwei was already good looking. Liwei also had a tall physique and he was skinny. But if both of them were to stand side by side to compare, this man would totally outs.h.i.+ned Liwei.
Liwei had a friendly face, so everyone was easily drawn to him, and Liwei had a friendly personality so he would easily make conversation with anyone and entertain them all day with his jokes and charm.
While this man - he seemed to have built a sharp and strong barrier around him that caused others to unconsciously steer away despite of his good looking face. No nonsense att.i.tude, even when he did not do anything right now, automatically pulled people"s attention into him.
He was looking at Shao Yan with his eyes slightly curved. His gentle eyes radiated his face with more charisma than expected. Feifei was stunned silly.
Feifei saw his adonis face became more and more tender as he walked closer, and finally broke a small smile at Shao Yan. And her jaw dropped.
He placed his palm lovingly behind her head and gently rubbed her hair, "Sorry I"m late. Are you done eating?"
Shao Yan gave a very gentle smile at him, she nodded docilely, "Yes" and then she gestured to her side, and then moved around the table clockwise, "Oh let me introduce you, these are my friends from university. Lu Feifei. Her brother, Lu Qian, and Zhong Yu."
Li Xiqing turned to look at everyone, and started to introduce himself, "h.e.l.lo. Nice to meet you. I"m Li Xiqing."
He shook hands with everyone, who was looking at him distractedly; but he only received a strong grip from Zhong Yu. Li Xiqing was ready to cast his eyes away but turned to look at him again and returned the gesture with a more firm grip.
Li Xiqing looked at their hands, he reflexively clenched his jaw while lazily released a smirk, "You must be Zhong Yu."
Both men decided to intently stare at each other, while testing one"s patience through the grip.
Lu Qian kicked his sister"s foot under the table, and Feifei slowly came back from her bold stare. She glared at her brother, before exclaiming, "Oh. Mister Boyfriend, sit here for a while and chat with us. It has been few years since we last saw Xiao Yan anyway."
Feifei was thinking of a word to describe Li Xiqing. She was a pastry chef, but "delicious" or "exquisite" were all she could think of. She ran out of words.
Shao Yan swiftly replied her, "Next time, Feifei. Let"s meet again next time. I have early morning meeting tomorrow," she decided to answer Feifei on behalf of Li Xiqing while slowly standing up from her seat.
She knew Li Xiqing would hesitate in order to give her a face in front of her friends. So she decided to lead the pace for once.
When Shao Yan stood up, the two men swiftly let go of their intense handshakes. Li Xiqing brought his focus back to Shao Yan right away, he put his hand on the small of her back and stepped back a little to give her some room to move around.
Shao Yan opened the cover of her chair, and before her hand even touched it, Li Xiqing had bended down and took out her purse. He held it in his hand and then smiled at Yan Yan.
She returned his smile and swiftly turned around, and looked at Feifei and then Lu Qian and Zhong Yu, "Then, we shall take our leave first. I will see all of you again next time."
Li Xiqing nodded to everyone and then he stepped to the side, naturally grabbed hold of her hand. Shao Yan followed beside him; she spread their fingers and linked them. Together they walked hand in hand to the exit.
Because it was almost midnight, and the restaurant was already almost empty, all of them could hear what Shao Yan say to her boyfriend, "Xiqing, are you hungry? Where should we go to have the midnight snack?"
They also heard him chuckled softly while he poked at her tummy playfully with his index finger, "Aren"t you full already? Can you still eat? Let"s just go home, and cook me your killer noodle, alright?"
Shao Yan swatted his arm away while feigning annoyance, "It"s delicious, not killer! Then maybe you should cook it yourself, I"m going to sleep right away, I"m dead tired." and then she stuck out her little tongue cheekily towards him.
All of them heard her adorable sulking voice and his thundering laughs as they exited the door.
She was in a rush to leave her friends who she had not met for a long time; because she was worried that her boyfriend was hungry?!
Spread out dog food even when she was leaving.
"What a friend, Shao Yan!" - Feifei complained inwardly.