Because I Cannot Hurt You

As the drinks and refreshments were served, the group huddled together at the center. For the first half an hour, they were busy looking at the older pictures clicked in college. They laughed as they reminisced about their younger self.

"Liang still looks like a monkey haha!" Lai Gen laughed.

Liang threw the pillow at him. "Shut up! You are just jealous of my handsomeness!"

"Ah Cy. Tell me, just how did you fall in love with this narcissist?"

Ah Cy chuckled. "What can I say? Love is blind~"

Liang felt betrayed. "Ah Cy you…"

"Hey look at this picture! Haha, Caihong had won the beauty contest. That takes me back," Xiong Meilin giggled.

Qi Xia eagerly said, "Yes, yes! Caihong was simply breathtaking."

Caihong coughed in embarrassment. "That was so long ago...you all just forced me to be a part of it."

Shao Meihui laughed. "Well but that worked in your favor, right? You were the campus belle of our college."

She shrugged.

Qin Fuhua and Huang Rong were seated opposite Zhiyuan and Xinyi.

"Hey, bestie!" Qin Fuhua grinned as he looked at Xinyi. His over-enthusiasm made her dryly glanced back at him. "Hi, Qin Fuhua."

Huang Rong silently glanced at her and then looked away.

Zhiyuan cleared his throat, making him raise his brow.

"Haha Zhiyuan, are you still jealous?"

"Shut up!" His mouth twitched.

Zeng Ru chirped. "Okay! What game should we play first?"

Zhou Gang said, "Let's play cards!"

Ding Cuifen grimaced. "Don't be such an oldie!"

He was speechless. "Since when did playing cards become an old thing?"

"It was always an old thing. This is a reunion, not some lounge where you are gathering with your old friends as if you are in your eighties."

"..."

Yan Jian rolled his eyes. "You guys just shoo. I have tons of ideas! First, let's start with the 'Guess who the owner is' game! Clap clap!"

Hou Nuying curiously asked, "What is that?"

He smirked. "Well do you remember that I asked all of you to bring something that you used to bring in college? I will set out the items here on the table and you have to guess who it belongs to. That way we'll know who remembers us the most haha!"

Zeng Ru raised his brow. "Interesting."

Yan Jian placed some items on the table. "Okay! Let's start with this! Who do you think would have brought this game console to college?"

"Shuaaaaaaang obviously! Hahaha!" 

Shuang peeked in and shrugged. 

Qi Xia chuckled. "She did nothing but play games all day."

"Even during lectures hiding her console behind her book!"

Shuang said, "Who pays attention to the lectures anyway?"

Yan Jian then brought out another item. It was a small drawing book. Lai Gen scratched his head. "Who would bring a drawing book to college?"

Shao Meihui touched her chin. "I didn't know that there was an artist among us…"

Shuang immediately recognized the drawing book and narrowed her eyes. Before she could say it, a voice came, "It's Xinyi's drawing book."

Xinyi coughed a little, feeling embarrassed.

"Huuuuh???" Everybody was speechless.

"Really?"

"When did this happen?"

"Xinyi, you are an artist? You never told us!"

She quickly said, "I-I am not. It's just something I used to like doing as a hobby…"

Zeng Ru shamelessly grabbed her book and grinned. "Let me see!" He flipped open the book and everybody eagerly peeked in.

"Hey, these are not half bad!"

Her face flushed red. "D-Don't see it!"

Zhiyuan smiled. "She is not just good. She is a great artist. She is helping Shuang with her project too for designing game characters."

"Wooooo! That's awesome! Wow Xinyi, you are really a hidden gem."

Qin Fuhua sobbed and glared at her. "You! Where were you when I needed help in my art classes? The talent was right beside me and I suffered for nothing! Didn't you feel even a little bit bad for me when professor Hu scolded me for my...my…"

"Horrible drawings that were torture to the eyes?" Qi Xia mocked him.

"Shut up!"

Xinyi shook her head.

Shuang sneered. "And? You would have just bullied her to do all your assignments, wouldn't you?"

Qin Fuhua cleared his throat. "O-of course not! I meant just some help!"

"Sure if you say that."

Huang Rong felt uncomfortable. She said, "Let's move onto the next item already."

Qin Fuhua blinked his eyes and whispered. "Hey, are you okay?" He felt that something seemed off with her.

She smiled. "I am fine, Fuhua. Why wouldn't I be?"

"No, you just…seem a little irritated."

"Not at all. It's just that why are we focusing on Xinyi's book for so long? Zhiyuan already guessed it, right?"

"Yeah…" he felt a little awkward. "Come on. Everybody is just curious to see the drawings."

She said nothing.

The next item that Yan Jian put forth was a wristwatch.

"Hey hey I remember! This is Zeng Ru's watch!" Xiong Meilin said.

Ah Cy chuckled. "Of course we cannot forget how time freak Zeng Ru was. If anybody was even a second late, he would simply walk away."

Liang said, "I remember he said that his Dad gifted him this watch on his twentieth birthday."

Zeng Ru proudly grinned. "Of course! Time is everything! If you don't respect time, then you lose a lot."

The next item was an old makeup kit.

Xinyi curiously said, "It is...Zizi's, right?"

Caihong smiled. "I remember those products. Zizi used to always lend me some whenever I ran out of my stuff."

Zizi sheepishly grinned.

Xiaosi raised his brow. "Why do you need any makeup, Mrs. Zhu? You are just fine without it. You weren't the campus belle for no reason."

Caihong widened her eyes and looked at him, shocked. It came so out of the blue that she was taken aback. "Y-you…"

"What? It's praise, Mrs. Zhu, if you didn't understand it."

Suddenly, the tip of her ears turned red and she looked away. Shuang quietly watched the couple and gulped down the juice in one go.

Zhou Gang teasingly whistled. "Oof! Stop throwing dog food here."

"Yes, yes or Lai Gen will feel jealous. I am sure he is already cursing you in his mind," Qi Xia grinned.

Ah Cy and Liang narrowed their eyes, seeing the different atmosphere between them.

When did this change…?

Lai Gen's mouth twitched. "Shut up! I am not that mean!"

Yan Jian took out a wristband and asked, "Whose wristband do you think-"

"It's Zhiyuan."

He rapidly blinked his eyes at her.

Yan Jian complained. "You didn't even let me complete it."

Xinyi realized that she spoke too soon and she blushed. "T-that Zhiyuan used to wear during his basketball matches…"

"Ooohhh~~ Mrs. Han is Mrs. Han for something huh~" 

Zhiyuan stared at her in a stupor and unknowingly, a soft smile lifted his lips.

"And here is another couple throwing dog food. That's just great!" Lai Gen rolled his eyes.

The game continued and one by one, everybody recognized the signature items that brought forth many memories as they laughed. 

As the game ended, Ding Cuifen asked, "What's the next game? What's the next game!?"

"Hey, I know! This is a game that will never bore anybody," Qi Xia grinned. "Truth and dare!"

"Ohhhhh spicy!"

"Yeah, let's go for it! Time to dig out some dirty little secrets~"

Zeng Ru brought an empty bottle and placed it at the center of the table. "Okay. The rules are simple. If the bottle points its mouth at you, you have to choose between truth or dare. The one who gets the base of the bottle gives the challenge or asks the question."

He spun the bottle. The first pair was Shao Meihui and Liang.

Liang smirked. "Truth or dare?"

She mumbled. "Truth."

"Hoho. You have asked for death. Reveal the name of your crush in college."

"You are so dead, Liang!"

"Don't be so mad just because he is present here~"

"What!? He is here?" Everybody shouted. "Say itttttttttt!!!"

She blushed hard.

"You cannot back out now," Liang teased.

"Fine! It was Lai Gen!"

Lai Gen froze. He looked at her with his mouth wide open. "Huh? M-me?" 

"Really? This dumb Lai Gen?" Yan Jian said in disdain. "Are you sure?"

"Shut up!" He glared at him.

Does that mean I might finally get a girlfriend tonight? He sobbed.

The bottle spun again and again with many questionable secrets revealed and many embarrassing dares to be done. The atmosphere was relaxed and warm until the bottle spun for the last time.

It was between Huang Rong and Xinyi.

Huang Rong smiled. "So, Xinyi. Do you choose truth or dare?"

Xinyi rubbed her chin. "Haha. Truth I guess..."

She stared at her. "Okay then."

Ah Cy wondered. "Wonder what she would ask? Her crush?"

Liang coughed. "You want to make it awkward by making her say Qin Fuhua's name?"

"...You are right. Chuck that out."

Huang Rong said, "Xinyi."

Xinyi felt nervous for some reason.

Hope she doesn't ask for my crush…Ah maybe I should have chosen for a dare! I am stupid! She lamented.

She peeked at Zhiyuan and quickly looked away.

Huang Rong asked, "Xinyi, is it true that you had gone for an abortion three years ago?"