The story of me and Tong Chen's confession is not romantic

  Although I experienced a bumpy and bloody date, thanks to this breakthrough, my dating life with Tong Chen became unstoppable. Our daily fixed phone calls and text messages before sleep also became an essential element in our lives. Seeing my suspected romantic sweet moves, the brothers in the dormitory looked at me with admiration for being able to get into a relationship so efficiently as a newcomer to university, and regarded me as a model and example for everyone in the dormitory. However, behind the enviable sweetness and warmth, I had a monthly financial deficit that grew exponentially, which led to an additional figure in a corner of the cafeteria - a young man who was willing to eat pickled vegetable buns while silently reciting "the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from bitter cold" with a miserable look on his face.

  Tong Chen, who seemed to have noticed my recent predicament, added a condition to our already planned weekend date: "all expenses must be paid by her". Although this didn't quite align with my usual principles and made me feel a bit awkward, I eventually agreed to her request under her persistent asking. So on a snowy evening, I met Tong Chen at the entrance of the cinema on Central Street, where she stood in front of me like an immortal fairy under the light dancing snowflakes in the sky, her pale skin glowing with a faint blush, leaving me once again entranced and dazed.

  "What are you staring at?! Aren't you cold?!?" Tong Chen said with some embarrassment, which made me recover from my daze and start to feel very awkward. At this time, Tong Chen's phone rang timely.

  "It's Jiajia!" Tong Chen said to me with a tense expression, holding her mobile phone. For some reason, Tong Chen and I both thought it was best not to let Zhao Lijia know about our recent frequent encounters, so what could have been sweet and warm dates sometimes felt like clandestine affairs in my eyes because of Zhao Lijia.

  "Hello...... I'm outside...... I have something and won't be able to come back...... Alright...... Okay...... Bye......" Tong Chen and Zhao Lijia were talking back and forth on the phone, after hanging up, they smiled at me, just as they were about to say something, my phone rang again at the right time.

  "It's Zhao Lijia..." I said to Tong Chen in surprise after looking at the phone number displayed, and then picked up the call.

  "Hey! Kang Jian! Where are you?!" Zhao Lijia's voice coming from the phone could tell that she was either on her period or extremely bored.

  "What's wrong?!" I asked in surprise.

  "I'm so bored! Will you go clubbing with me?"

  "I have evening self-study soon!"

  "Alright! Isn't skipping class as frequent for you as going to the bathroom?"

  "Your behavior is outrageous! You're leading a young and promising student step by step towards the abyss of depravity!" I said with a straight face.

  "Damn it! How shameless can you be?! Who the hell was it that always egged me on to skip class with him in high school?! If it weren't for you, I'd probably be a blooming flower on a university campus right now!!" Zhao Lijia yelled loudly over the phone.

  "It's precisely because of the lessons I learned in high school that I clearly recognize how precious the current learning opportunities are. Moreover, as a young generation bearing the weight of our country's four modernizations, we shouldn't waste our valuable energy on eating, drinking and having fun! Let's talk about you! As a flight attendant, you will constantly come into contact with people from different countries, so in your spare time, shouldn't you learn a few foreign languages? Just knowing English is not enough, you should understand the difficulties that non-English speaking people face when learning English..."

  "Alright! I was wrong! Stop nagging, okay? Please!" Zhao Lijia pleaded painfully before hastily hanging up the phone. In response to my profound education, I could deeply sense from her tone that she was like Sun Wukong in "Journey to the West", collapsing in despair when facing Tang Monk.

  "You're really something! You've made me want to go back and learn another foreign language right away!" Tong Chen said with a smile.

  "Alright! I don't object! But whatever you want to do, let's finish watching the movie first!" I said with a smile to Tong Chen. After giving me a white eye, Tong Chen turned around and walked into the cinema with me.

  The upcoming movie is a magnum opus of a director who has been hailed as "great director", "role model for Chinese directors" and "flagship of Chinese directors in the international film industry" on many inexplicable media outlets. Even before the movie was released, its promotional campaign had already spread like wildfire across China, almost every descendant of the Yellow Emperor's ears and eyes having been brutally molested by it. As a result, during the initial stage of the movie's release, it once caused a spectacular phenomenon of crowded cinemas, which also led to the film's investors saying in the newspaper with an even more stupid smile, "As an investor, I think it's a success if audiences can go into the cinema to watch."

  Several brothers in the dormitory were also tortured by the promotion of this movie and went to the cinema together with curiosity. When everyone came back from the cinema, they all exclaimed "This film is really rubbish!" After watching it, I was glad that the great director did not disappoint me.

  So I took the opportunity of this date with Tong Chen to go into the cinema, despite almost everyone around me and in the media being fiercely critical, just to see "what a mess it is" so as not to face the danger of not being able to participate in urban topic discussions.

  The movie had only been on for a third of its length, and the plot was already almost completely outlined in my mind. So for the rest of the time, I started to sit idly in my seat, yawning from time to time, occasionally sneaking glances at several couples nearby who were also bored by the stupid movie and had begun to make out under their seats.

  Just as I inadvertently lowered my head, I found that Tong Chen's hand was placed on the armrest of my seat, snow-white and slender, making any normal man have the urge to go up and hold it. Having been in contact with Tong Chen for so long, I didn't dare to confirm whether she liked me or not, but I dared to be sure that she didn't dislike me, which gave me a certain psychological guarantee about "holding Tong Chen's hand". As a result, Tong Chen's hand became the focus of my visual attention, and my mind began to engage in intense ideological struggles such as "whether to hold her hand", "how to make a move" and "when to make a move".

  Because I was so focused on thinking about these issues, time passed very quickly. It wasn't until the lights in the cinema suddenly turned on and I saw Tong Chen and others getting up that I realized the movie had ended. So I also stood up and followed behind Tong Chen as we walked out.

  "How's this one?" Tong Chen suddenly turned his head and asked me.

  "Pretty rubbish!" Since I only watched one-third of it, with a responsible attitude, I can only quote the comments from my dormitory brothers on this film. At this time, people around me also made comments similar to mine, as if they were strongly supporting me.

  People flocked to the entrance of the cinema, and the not-so-spacious door made the crowd congested, also making Tong Chen and I infinitely close. So the sudden surge in the cinema just now once again plunged me into a mental struggle.

  I and Tong Chen slowly followed the crowd towards the gate, at the speed at which the crowd was passing through the gate now, I and Tong Chen's infinite approach had only a few seconds left, so after my bitter struggle, I decided to use these precious few seconds to decide my future emotional life.

  I pretended to be unintentional, bringing my hand close to Tong Chen's hand, lightly touching the back of her hand, and then secretly observing Tong Chen's expression with my peripheral vision. After confirming that she didn't have any reaction, I took a deep breath and touched Tong Chen's hand again, intentionally increasing the contact time and area. When I found out that Tong Chen still didn't have any reaction, I made a gamble with the most challenging significance in my life. After taking another deep breath, just as we were about to pass through the cinema entrance, I suddenly grasped Tong Chen's hand and started waiting anxiously for her reaction, while pretending to be calm on the surface.

  Time was passing second by second, and my heart was beating more and more violently, but unexpectedly, Tong Chen didn't have any reaction. We walked down the steps in front of the movie theater like a tacit couple, holding hands very naturally.

  "Ah……” Just as I was slowly relaxing my tense mood and starting to enjoy the joyful feeling of happiness, Tong Chen suddenly let out a sharp cry, making my heart tense up again, and with a guilty conscience, I looked at Tong Chen very nervously.

  "Look, fireworks are being set off over there, how beautiful!" Tong Chen didn't look at me but excitedly pointed to the sky, which made me breathe a sigh of relief and also start looking up at the sky.

  The fireworks were indeed beautiful, but at this moment, Tong Chen's every move was even more captivating to me. So when Tong Chen looked up at the fireworks in the sky, I quietly admired her, admiring each of her charming movements, each of her enchanting smiles.

  I don't know if holding Tong Chen's hand at this moment means that our emotional life is about to begin, but this move at least makes me feel that the days of being with Tong Chen are just around the corner. At this time, looking at Tong Chen's tempting lips, I had an even crazier impulse... So, just as Tong Chen was excitedly raising her head to admire the beautiful fireworks, I suddenly hugged her waist without any warning and deeply kissed her lips under her surprised gaze...

  Under the streetlights, with snowflakes gently falling, it was a romantic scene. On this romantic night, I confessed to Tong Chen in an unromantic way. Although we didn't say anything, Tong Chen's attitude seemed to give me a good answer.

  I was walking hand in hand with Tong Chen on the street, quietly. Although it's not very close from Central Street to her place, neither of us suggested taking a car, we just walked silently, holding hands. When I first held Tong Chen's hand, it felt very cold, but under my careful care, it had gradually warmed up, and my heart at this time also gradually felt warm.

  It's unknown how long it took, but we had unknowingly walked to the bottom of Tong Chen's building. This was also the scene I least wanted to face tonight. On my way back, I even fantasized about Tong Chen and me walking silently hand in hand like this forever.

  "I... am going up... you don't need to see me off... hurry back to the dorm, it's almost curfew..." Tong Chen and I stood silently at the bottom of the stairs for a while before he said this with some embarrassment, but our hands still didn't seem to want to let go.

  "Uh-huh!" I gazed at Tong Chen with deep emotions, nodded slightly, and then she started to slowly back away, seemingly reluctant to leave my hand. Her fingers slowly withdrew from mine, one by one, giving me a bittersweet feeling that made me realize how wonderful it was. Only after completely letting go of my hand did she turn around and walk towards the stairs. I stood silently in place, watching Tong Chen's figure disappear into the stairway. At this moment, I really wanted to say something to her, but didn't know what...