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The two have been out for the entire day, and now they are walking home. Mai Ding"s phone started ringing, when he looked at the phone, it was his old friend, Huang Hai. Mai Ding had earlier texted some of his old friends, asking for a get together. He was a little surprised that Huang Hai replied to his text message so soon.
 
"This b.u.g.g.e.r. Calling me when it"s already so late into the evening." Mai Ding pretended to complain.
 
"You texted something about a get together? I tell you, if it has anything to do with Zhu, I am not going." Huang Hai was usually a merry and easy going guy. Today, however, he was not the same person.
 
Zhu was another of Mai Ding"s friends. The three of them used to get along very well
and were often together but during high school, the two of them decided to get a job and the group slowly broke up. "Why? What happened?" Mai Ding tried to find out.
 
"That person." Huang Hai began. "To think that I treated him like a brother of my own.
He actually stole a customer of mine. Does he think he can use me just like that for his own good? My dear Ding, if he is going to be around at this get together, I"m definitely
not going. If he"s there, I‘m not." And with that,he cut the line, leaving Mai Ding a little heavy-hearted.
 
Why did this have to happen? Mai Ding thought to himself. The two of them used to be so close. Can people really change so fast?
 
"An Ziyan." Mai Ding called out. "Do you think being in school shelters us from the complications of society? The three of us used to be close friends. We would even die for each other, yet today we have become enemies." Mai Ding couldn"t accept the fact that his friends were no longer together.
 
Even without knowing what had transpired on the phone, An Ziyan could roughly guess what had happened. He knew Mai Ding treasured his friends deeply. Friends to Mai Ding were very important and he knew that this incident had a huge impact on his guy. "This is a cruel dog-eat-dog world. Don"t think too much about it. Just stay by my side and let"s quietly live our own lives. Can"t we just escape to some beach paradise? And both of us go topless, wearing only gra.s.s skirts?" An Ziyan chirped in sarcastically.
 
Mai Ding suddenly thought of something worth sharing. He took his new driver"s license out, and showed it to An Ziyan. "Look here. What is this? It"s my driver"s license! So next time, I"ll be the one driving."
 
An Ziyan looked at the license. Mai Ding thought that he was definitely going to praise him. After all, Mai Ding actually got his driver"s license even before An Ziyan. Mai Ding was wondering how An Ziyan was going to praise him.
 
"Mai Ding." An Ziyan began.
 
"Yes?"
 
"I remembered very clearly that you said you were only eighteen years old." The license said something different all together. Mai Ding was actually the same age as An Ziyan!
 
An Ziyan drove Mai Ding back home, but because it was still early, Mai Ding was afraid that his neighbours would see the both of them. He hurriedly got off without even a proper goodbye.
 
Once he was at home, Mai Ding"s father caught hold of him and began his
interrogation. "When are you ever going to get a girlfriend?"
 
Ever since Mai Ding turned twenty, Mai Ding‘s dad would hound him with this question. Mai Ding did not understand why his father was rushing him to get himself hooked. He suddenly thought of An Ziyan and started to laugh to himself.
 
"What are you laughing to yourself about? I"m talking to you."
 
"Why are you in such a hurry? Give me time to choose a proper girlfriend." Mai Ding said to placate his father.
 
"With your caliber, what kind of choice do you have? Our neighbour"s daughter, Zhao, is around your age and she is already engaged! She is going to have her wedding next year."
 
"But I am still in college. I really don"t understand why you are in such a rush for me to get married."
 
"No matter what, you have a duty to carry on the family line."
 
"Please don"t force me, else l"ll just get attached to a guy." Mai Ding was testing water. Mai Ding"s father was shocked by his words, but after a while, he treated it as if it were a joke. "Because no girl would ever want you, you have to resort to men." It was jokes like these that fuelled Mai Ding"s insecurity.
 
"What"s wrong with the current me? Don"t regret it if I ever find a boyfriend one day." Mai Ding"s mother who was in the kitchen came out to see what was going on.
 
"What"s wrong here? Have you lost your self confidence or what? Why are you talking
about finding a boyfriend? Don"t you know that your dad is waiting to carry his first
grandchild? If you can produce a grandchild for us, I don"t care if you"re attached to a
guy or even to a transvest.i.te."
 
Mai Ding went up to his mother, took out his mobile phone and showed her a picture
of An Ziyan. "Mom, what if I got attached to a guy like that?" Mai Ding"s mother couldn"t understand why her son was constantly bringing up men. She looked at the photo and said, "What"s the name of this celebrity? I don"t remember seeing him on TV." Mai Ding was rather pleased by the comment becaus he knew his boyfriend was super good looking.
 
"He"s my dorm neighbour. He and I get along really well." Mai Ding said proudly. Mai Ding"s mother looked at him suspiciously. "Yes, and Aniki Jin was my first love. What are you insinuating?"
 
"Stop trying to change the subject. Since it"s the holidays, I might as well arrange a date for you." Mai Ding"s father interjected.
 
"Go on an arranged date? That"s so... old fashioned! Who goes for such things nowadays?"
 
"You don"t have to worry whether it is in fashion or old fashioned."
 
As a matter of fact, both of Mai Ding"s parents were actually rather free, and had a lot of free time to spare. That explains their desire to have a grandchild as soon as possible.  "I"ve already planned this with your mom. Tomorrow we"ll head to one of those nice cafes in town for this. And if you decide not to go, you will see what I"ll do to you."
 
After careful consideration, Mai Ding decided to agree. It wasn"t going to kill him anyway, but he thought that it would be good to let An Ziyan know. It was his responsibility as An Ziyan"s lover. Between lovers, being truthful was a good thing. Yet, he wondered why he lied to An Ziyan about his age before.
 
"Alright. Just this once. If this doesn"t work, I won"t go for another one." Mai Ding concluded.
 
"I am actually introducing you to a lovely lady. I have full confidence that it will work. Fine, I promise you that this will be the first and last." His father said firmly.
 
Suddenly the door bell rang. Mai Ding"s mother ran to see who it was, saying, "Ding Ding, please watch the stove for me. I"ll open the door to see who it might be. It might be Auntie Hui pa.s.sing us some stuff as usual."
 
When Mai Ding"s mother opened the door, she saw a guy standing at her door step, and he had a golden aura about him. He looked familiar and she finally recalled where she had seen him. Mai Ding had earlier shown her his picture. She had never seen someone as good looking as this guy standing before her. He was, of course, An Ziyan.
 
"h.e.l.lo. Are you Mai Ding"s sister? I"m looking for Mai Ding." An Ziyan said politely.
 
"You have such a glib tongue. What sister are you talking about? I"m his mother." she laughed.
 
"That cannot be. You must be joking. You look really young." An Ziyan added.
 
Mai Ding"s mother smiled like a little girl.
 
Mai Ding thought he heard An Ziyan"s voice and nearly puked blood. He ran to the door and the look of fear on his face was unmistakeable. "Why are you here?" he asked curtly. "Is that the tone you use on a friend?" Mai Ding"s mother rebuked him.
 
An Ziyan pa.s.sed him a paper bag of stuff. "You dropped this in my car just now"
 
He definitely did this on purpose. He could have just called me but he just had to come here, Mai Ding thought to himself. "Thank you my dear cla.s.smate. You can leave now." Mai Ding"s mother kicked him aside. "I"m so sorry, handsome."  Handsome?
 
"It"s ok Auntie. I gave Mai Ding a lift home just now because I had an appointment around here and so it was on the way. I"m sorry to intrude."
 
"No no no. There"s no intrusion. Our Mai Ding is usually more polite than this. I"m not sure what"s up with my son today. Perhaps it"s because he"s going on an arranged date tomorrow"
 
"Oh? An arranged date?" A chill ran down Mai Ding"s spine."
 
"Yes, our dear Mai Ding can"t compare to you, and so his Dad and I have arranged for him to meet his sweet girl, and I"m so glad our Mai Ding agreed to go along. Maybe he"s just happy about it." she added. What she didn"t realise was that she had just sealed Mai Ding"s fate."Oh really?" Every word made Mai Ding worry even more.
 
"Anyway, handsome boy, do you want to stay for dinner. I"m so sorry for troubling you, having to send our dear son home."
 
"It"s ok, Auntie. I have something on later." After saying this, he turned to Mai Ding, still smiling.
 
"Won"t you come out for a while for..a.. chat?" There was a pause and then An Ziyan shouted, "Right now!"
 
Mai Ding ran out obediently. Mai Ding"s mother waved goodbye to him, "Please come by more often, handsome."
 
An Ziyan was now walking in front, and Mai Ding was trailing behind. "An Ziyan, it"s not how you think it is. I hope you don"t misunderstand. I wanted to tell you about it. How would I know that you would show up at my place suddenly?" An Ziyan stopped. Mai Ding didn"t and b.u.mped into him, hurting his nose.
 
"So you were just going to tell me about it. You mean you are actually intending to go?"
 
"Yes I did agree but I only did it to appease my parents."
 
"Are you intending to do this forever?"
 
"My family is not like yours. I need time."
 
"How much time do you need?"
 
"How would I know?"
 
An Ziyan continued to walk on. "Please don"t be angry. Please don"t just walk away. I will always stay by your side. But my dad is a very conservative man. If he forces me to make a choice between you and my family, I"ll be in a dilemma. Between the love of my life and my family, must I really make a choice? Can"t I have both?" But An Ziyan never intended to force Mai Ding to choose him over his family. He knows that it was pointless to deal with the ordeals of the future. After all, the both of them should just count their blessings and live each day as if it were their last.
 
"I just don"t want you to go for these arranged dates."
 
"But..."
 
"There is no "but" here. I don"t need you to make a choice between your family and me. But I cannot accept that the fact that my boyfriend is going on an arranged date. It"s me or that date."
 
"I definitely choose you. As long as you are one of my options, I will always choose you."
 
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To be continued...