“Click…”
A bottle of coconut water appeared on the wooden table in front of me, its surface beaded with droplets from the cold, the cap half-twisted open.
Gu Fan carried an orange soda in his hand, sitting down in the seat across from me, his gaze falling lightly upon me.
“Have you decided yet? Zhi Nian, how would you make those three wishes to the gods?”
“Uhh, um, can I think about it a bit longer? There are too many things I want… I can’t decide which ones to choose.”
I hurriedly made up this excuse to dodge the question. Luckily, Gu Fan didn’t press me—he just nodded lightly, then rested his cheek on one hand, his gaze lingering on me, calm and wandering.
What Gu Fan had just asked was: if a god descended to the world and kindly offered to grant you three not-too-excessive wishes, what would ‘I’ choose?
Questions like this I’d often seen in videos online, especially on knowledge Q&A sites.
The respondents, usually with all kinds of prestigious university degrees or industry expert titles, always gave answers brimming with the allure of rationality, aiming to maximize their own benefit.
Seeing the perfect lives they imagined after making their three wishes—endless wealth, superhuman physical prowess, an IQ higher than Einstein, and a flawless soulmate—would always spark envy or self-doubt deep within me.
My greedy nature would unconsciously pull me in, as if such a perfect life was truly meant for me.
Only after calming down would I realize those were nothing but illusions they’d crafted, not reality.
There were also many storytellers among the answerers; whenever I read about their tragic experiences, those three wishes seemed like timely rain, mending their shattered lives back to that of a normal person. They’d always end with, “That would be enough for me,” making me too embarrassed to keep reading, suddenly feeling how ridiculous my desire-driven self had been before.
“Clack!”
A crisp sound rang out as something landed heavily on the table—this time, it was the server bringing our ramen. Gu Fan and I had ordered their signature delicious ramen, and it was ready.
Mine was the ‘baby spicy’ version, the broth’s surface barely showing any chili oil at all. Gu Fan’s was a bit spicier, sprinkled with chili flakes, so it was easy to tell them apart.
I quickly stood up, pushed Gu Fan’s bowl over to him, tore open the disposable chopsticks for him, and set them up. Then I heard him say softly, “Thank you,” and instantly my heart blossomed with happiness, feeling sweet as honey.
I really wanted to boldly say, “It’s what I should do as your fiancée,” but I was afraid he’d think I was being presumptuous, so I could only secretly curl my lips into a tiny grin.
The ramen bowl’s sides were a bit tall, and as I leaned forward to pick up my bowl, I accidentally let my uniform brush against the rim. Luckily, my school uniform was a dark color and didn’t stain easily. As long as Gu Fan didn’t look too closely, he probably wouldn’t notice anything amiss…
Unexpectedly, while holding his bamboo chopsticks, Gu Fan’s eyes weren’t even on his own ramen bowl.
He saw me, head half-lowered, trying to wipe myself with a wet tissue, so he stopped stirring his ramen toppings and asked,
“What’s wrong? Did you drop something on yourself? Want me to help you clean up?”
“Ah… no, it’s nothing. When I was picking up the bowl just now, my chest felt a bit heavy… uh… and then I accidentally brushed it. It’s nothing, really, Gu Fan, don’t mind me, you just eat.”
Being stared at so openly by the boy I liked, I couldn’t help feeling shy. It wasn’t that I minded him looking, but in a public place like this, it was just… too embarrassing to put into words.
If we were alone in the bedroom or living room, Gu Fan could look as much as he wanted. He could even ask for a lap pillow in a special way, or ask for a mom-style hug—that would be totally fine~
Without realizing it, my mind drifted again, conjuring up all sorts of inappropriate daydreams. I squeezed the wet tissue in my hand too hard, and water dripped onto my dark school uniform.
When I finally came back to my senses, the undergarment supporting the cotton pads inside my uniform was already soaking wet from my carelessness. Ahhh… I really am good-for-nothing, always messing things up.
In frustration, I decided to just give up on cleaning, tossed the wet tissue onto the table, and started devouring my candle-less dinner.
At lunchtime, I’d been waiting for Gu Fan’s message, feeling gloomy. I barely ate, only opening a bag of snacks to fill my stomach, curled up on the bed with Gu Fan’s chat window open, just like the “longing stone” from those old legends, staring blankly for dozens of minutes.
Though my stomach growled from hunger now and then, once I finally got Gu Fan’s message, my entire mind was consumed with how to reply and how to use dinner as an excuse to invite him out—greedily soaking up all of Gu Fan’s energy—so I didn’t even care about my own condition.
Now that the ramen had awakened my appetite, I realized I really was starving—my belly felt so flat, it was almost as if it was drawing a visible line of separation from the nearby cotton pads.
From an aesthetic point of view, it might highlight my slim waist and large bust, but it couldn’t be good for my health.
I still want to have a cute baby with Gu Fan, so I have to take care of myself.
Hmm, but if I said something like this online, I’m sure a bunch of people would call me a love-obsessed fool. But since I’ve decided that he’s the one I want to spend my life with, no matter what I give, it’s worth it.
As these thoughts filled my mind, I ate much faster, and by the time I snapped back to reality, the big bowl of ramen was down to just the salty broth.
I’m not a glutton, and my appetite is usually pathetically small—no matter how delicious the food is, it all tastes ordinary to me, so I almost never finish my meals. Whenever I go out to eat with Gu Fan, there’s always something left in my bowl.
Whenever that happened, I’d try to push the bowl aside while Gu Fan wasn’t looking, so he wouldn’t see and think I was some wasteful, spendthrift girl. If I couldn’t avoid it, I’d force myself to finish off whatever was left.
“Are you full? You had such a good appetite today—you actually finished everything. Want another bowl?”
“No, no more… I’m already full…”
Ah, so Gu Fan always knew, didn’t he?
Embarrassed, I lowered my eyes, my hand hidden beneath the table gently patting my newly rounded little belly.
That little bit of extra fat girls get when they’re full was even more noticeable now. People online say it’s evolved to protect children, so maybe it’s okay to look a bit chubby, right? Hmph…