Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Don't laugh
"Okay, buckle up."
Li Jun stared at the open car door in front of him in dismay. Clutching his backpack in one hand, his feet were rooted to the ground while he heard the traffic Iris had shamelessly stopped to pull her car right in front of the entrance on the café. Iris' vehicle wasn't as flashy as he thought it would be. Instead of the sports or luxury car he had been expecting, a simple black sedan stood before him.
"Hurry up, or they won't stop honking."
He finally resigned himself to his fate, and landed on the leather seat. After closing the door, he immediately opened the window, feeling the wind brush across his face as he closed his eyes. Li Jun tried to ignore the fact that this was the closest he had ever been to Iris. He could hear her shifting the gears right next to him, making his pulse rise.
He breathed slowly through his nose, softly tapping his fingers on his thighs to a steady rhythm. Her sweet scent drifted into his nose. Iris noticed he seemed uncomfortable for some reason, so she initiated a conversation to lighten the mood.
"So, Li Jun, since the goal is to get to know each other better, how about we go to your favorite restaurant?"
She flashed him a cheeky smile when he turned towards her. Her eyes were on the road, but her profile presented him with her smooth nose and lifting lips.
"Don't tell me you already forgot our previous conversation?"
He looked at her for a couple of seconds. If he told her he did, would she believe him?
"No, I didn't forget."
"Great! Where is it then? You can guide me."
The rest of the ride passed smoothly, with him softly instructing her where to turn, and her swiftly maneuvering through the weekend traffic.
"Is this it?"
"Yes."
The car rolled to a stop in front of a simple noodle shop in the Huisu University neighborhood. Not wanting to deceive her after the help she had offered him today, he had decided to bring her to his actual favorite diner. The shop was old, but well maintained, and although most of its clientele consisted of university students, it was still full despite of it being a Saturday.
"Could you open the glove box for me, please? Inside there should be a cap and some glasses."
Li Jun followed her instructions, passing her the objects she requested. She was careful not to let their fingers touch, as she felt he was conscious of physical contact.
Donning her new accessories, Iris looked like a regular young woman, completely inconspicuous and totally erasing her CEO persona. She patted her hair down while staring at her reflection in the side mirror.
"This should be enough."
They both stepped down from the sedan and began walking to the restaurant.
"I still haven't tried Huisu's noodles, so I must admit I'm a little excited."
Li Jun was a bit surprised.
"Didn't you arrive weeks ago? How come you still haven't tried the city's staple dish?"
Her eyes looked at him through the dark lenses.
"I have been extremely busy in the office since I arrived, so I haven't had the time. Besides, I had no one to come eat with."
Her cheeks became rosy from the cold, but the corners of her lips still rose.
"But now, thanks to you, I can finally try the infamous Huisu noodles."
Li Jun walked a couple of steps ahead and pulled the door open for her.
"Oh, such a gentleman. Are you trying to impress me, Mr. Li?"
"Uh, no I-"
He had just done what he had been taught since he was a child. Opening the door for a lady was an internalized reflex at this point.
"I'm joking, Li Jun. No need to be so flustered. Don't feel like it is your duty to open the door for me either, I have two capable arms right here, and although they might not be as firm as yours, they still work just fine."
Before he could even refute, she stepped into the noodle shop, receiving a warm greeting.
"Hello, young lady! Table for one?"
"Hello! No, actually a table for two."
Iris pointed a finger to Li Jun, who was just emerging from the door.
"Li Jun! How have you been, young man? It's been a while since you last came!"
He chuckled at Wang Junfeng, the store's owner and cook, who's voice resounded through the building catching some of the customers attention. Noticing their stares, he turned with a worried look towards Iris. Would her simple disguise be enough?
Seeing the young man glancing at his companion, Wang Junfeng couldn't help but tease him a little.
"And who is this pretty young lady, might I add? A girlfriend?"
He opened his mouth to explain, but Iris beat him to it.
"Our relationship is still undefined, uncle, but who knows what the future has in store?"
A bellow of laughter rocked Wang Junfeng's belly.
"Ha ha ha, I like this lady! Keep an eye on her, Li Jun, otherwise someone might snatch her away! Now go sit! I will bring you a couple of bowls of noodles."
By now, most of the people inside the store had their eyes on them, so to avoid getting any more attention, Li Jun decided to just stay quiet and walk to one of the tables.
Iris merrily followed behind him, sitting across him in the table for two.
"I really like this place. I can already tell why you come here so much."
Her eyes darted from the tiles on the floor to the decorations on the walls, soaking everything she could into her retinas. Iris' joyful demeanor took him aback, as it contrasted with the domineering attitude she carried most of the times he had seen her. It was strange to see someone in that kind of position letting their hair down in such a careless manner. The contrast between both dispositions confused him a bit.
"So you must attend Huisu University."
Li Jun's eyes flew back to hers in an instant. Her sharp gaze reminded him that she was still that brilliant woman all those tabloids spoke about all the time.
"Did you guess that only from coming to this place?"
She rested her chin on her palm.
"Well, yes, that and the fact that all your weekly shifts at the café seem to accommodate to free up from mid-morning to afternoon, and how heavy your backpack looks, so I assumed it is filled with books."
Iris watched in amusement as his brows furrowed while he thought. Wanting to know what was going inside his head, she prodded:
"So, was I right?"
Li Jun pondered about the dangers of Iris knowing where he studied, but eventually gave up that train of thought. Even if he denied it, with her resources she would find out eventually anyway, if she didn't know already and was only testing him.
"Yes, I study at Huisu."
"Impressive. I heard that it is one of the top universities world wide. What is your major?"
"Business and economics."
An awkward silence fell over the table at that moment. Iris simply stared at him without saying anything, to the point where Li Jun wondered whether she was displeased with his career choices.
"Are you not going to ask what I majored in?"
"Huh?"
She sighed, looking at him with pity.
"Jeez, Li Jun. You really suck at this. How come you have such a pretty forehead but there's nothing behind it?"
Seeing him paralyze from her statement, she huffed.
"Fine. I majored in Computer Engineering back at my home country, thank you so much for asking. I might have to give you lessons on how to flirt with a girl. You're completely hopeless."
Her eyes looked forlorn, as if truly entertaining the idea and not liking the expected outcome.
"No, forget it, I don't have that much time to spare. You'll have to learn how to do it on your own, Mr. Li."
Iris' gaze fell back on Li Jun, who just looked disoriented. She couldn't help but chuckle.
"What are you thinking with that expression on your face?"
He stared at her smiling countenance, and finally decided to answer.
"Honestly? I am extremely confused with this conversation. I don't think I can keep up with the way your mind works, Miss-"
"Iris."
"Iris, sorry."
A soft laughter escaped from her lips, bewildering Li Jun even more, but before she could keep torturing him, Wang Junfeng arrived with two steaming bowls of noodles.
"Here you go! Be careful with the soup, it might be too hot."
"Thank you."
"No problem! Enjoy!"
After the owner left, Iris looked at her plate excitedly.
"This looks amazing. Do you eat this every day?"
"No, not every day. Only on the days when my classes finish late at night and I don't have the time to cook at home."
"Oh, you cook?"
"Simple dishes, mostly."
"That is a nice skill to have. Your score is rising Mr. Li."
This time, Li Jun chuckled a bit. His uncle would strongly disagree. He could bet no one in the Li house had ever cooked a single bowl of rice in their lives, and they were proud about it.
Perceiving his drifting thoughts, Iris decided to recall his attention.
"Okay, now teach me how to eat this."
"What? You don't know how?"
"I obviously know how to eat some soup with noodles, Li Jun. I'm asking you to teach me how it's done here, in the Huisu custom."
Iris grabbed her chopsticks and held them in one hand with an expectant look on her face.
"Okay then, you have to hold your chopsticks like this. You're holding them from too far ahead."
Li Jun seriously considered her request and began to instruct her, showing her the correct way of placing her fingers around the sticks and allowing her to mirror it on her own.
"Now you grab some noodles, blow on them because they're hot, and pull them in your mouth."
"Like this?"
"Yes, but you have to slurp more."
"More?"
"Yeah, like this."
Wang Junfeng watched from afar as Li Jun showed the girl by his side how to correctly slurp her noodles with a toothy grin on his face.
Li Jun had been coming once a week for almost a year now, staggering through the doors of the shop with bags underneath his eyes and mountains of reference books on his back. He usually sat alone in a table at the corner and ate his noodles leisurely, staring outside the window into the nighttime view of the street. He had once told him the reason he was so tired was because he worked and studied part time, so he barely had any free moments, making those slow nights of drinking the warm broth that more comforting for him.
This was the first time the young man had ever brought anyone other than that crazy-haired friend of his, and even he came scarcely. But what pleased the man even more, was the smile that shone on the boy's lips every time the noodles slipped from the girl's chopsticks, or she failed to pull them into her mouth.
She seemed oblivious as she was extremely focused on the task at hand, but Li Jun's eyes roamed her face every time she directed her gaze to her bowl and tried again. Wang Junfeng found it a bit odd that she decided to wear sunglasses and a cap indoors, but who was he to judge anyone's fashion choices?
Seeing Li Jun laugh after the girl finally succeeded and chewed a mouthful with a satisfied face, he decided to let them be and resumed his work in the kitchen.
After getting the hang of it, Iris quickly slurped her noodles, intermittently drinking the delicious chicken broth without noticing the fatal mistake she was committing. By the time she felt how bloated and sore her abdomen had become, it was too late.
"I think I ate too fast."
"Does your stomach hurt?"
"Yes."
Li Jun bit the inside of his mouth to stop the corners of his lips from rising.
"Don't laugh."
Iris pierced him with a deathly glare that in any other situation would've looked extremely terrifying, but now, with one hand rubbing her stomach, she didn't manage to appear as menacing as she wished. Still, to save her some face, Li Jun cleared his throat.
"Don't worry, I'm not laughing."
She squinted her eyes at him, closely watching his face until she was entirely sure what he had said was true before relaxing her gaze. Reaching into her pocket, she threw something at him which he somehow managed to catch.
"Nice reflexes."
"What is this?"
"Can't you see? They're my car keys."
"Yeah, but why are you giving them to me?
"Unless we both have a death wish, I am obviously not going to drive in this state. And let me tell you, I am not willing to die. We haven't even gone on a proper date yet."
Seeing his brows scrunching on his forehead again, Iris' mischievous smirk returned.
"Don't tell me... You thought this was a date? And here I thought I was the most eager one. You never cease to surprise me, Mr. Lin."
"No, I-"
"There's no need to be so flustered, Mr. Lin. I appreciate your honesty, but I will not consider it a proper date until you show the same level of interest in me as I do in you."
Li Jun was amazed at her blatant recognition of the disparities in their feelings.
"You are quite different from what I expected."
Iris' who was busy standing up from her chair, stopped midway.
"What does that mean?"
"Well, with how successful and beautiful you are most people would assume that you would be very distant from others, but it turns out you are quite... Grounded, honest and nice to be around."
After getting up entirely, Iris adjusted her sunglasses and quickly turned towards the door.
"Just hurry and get to the car."
He stared at her back, completely ignorant of the slight blush that crept on her cheeks.
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