Food Preferences (2)

AHHHHH! WTF! Xie Mingze woke up from his dream shouting, then he felt something stuffed in his mouth. 

While Zheyan was playing, he was shocked by his friend shouting inside the library. Immediately, he grabbed his handkerchief and stuffed it inside his mouth. It was a desperate measure.

All of a sudden, something was stuffed in his mouth. Mingze squirmed, but then glared at Zheyan after realizing what happened.

"Shhh…We're at the library."

Pweh!

Mingze spitted the handkerchief out of his mouth in disdain.

"You can keep that, I don't want to keep your saliva even though we're friends."

Well, it's not like he wanted to return the thing he stuffed on his mouth to someone else. This time he just put it inside his bag to wash. 

"I'll wash it, but do you still want it."

"Take it, take it. Not like I would lose a limb for losing one handkerchief."

This boy really knows how to exaggerate. He was really acting like this piece of cloth was gold given to a commoner. Still, since it did help them from not being kicked out from the library then it is helpful. 

"What are you even dreaming about? You keep groaning in your sleep. W-wait don't tell me its something r-18+. "

"I dreamt of getting married in a wedding dress. It was totally crazy and the groom was-"

"Who's the groom?" Feeling someone's breath on his ears Mingze fell off the chair, luckily that someone supported him by the waist and prevented him from falling.

The groom was you! It's not like Xie Mingze could just openly say that, so he shut his mouth.

"His face was blurred so I didn't see. Anyways, why are you sneaking around like an assassin? You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"You guys were talking with serious faces, I don't want to disturb you."

His heart was thumping so loud in his chest, it wouldn't be a surprise if it just leaped out like that. Looking at the time, despite his short dreams, it looks like at lot of time had passed. According to Zheyan he played a lot of matches because Fen Yichen took a long time doing his project.

"What happened with that thing."

The 'thing' he was referring to was obvious. It was about Mu Bai, leaving the group. Just remembering him and Oliver joining forces was enough to annoy him. It was like two enemies joining together to annoy him.

"It's fine, I already told him everything and he had no choice but to agree. Though Oliver was there with him."

"You should be careful of that Oliver, I still suspect he was the one who did that thing."

Since it was only the three of them, there were no filters. Nobody said anything, but Mingze did suspect him too. 

"I wish we could've secured some evidence before the cameras were broken. I panicked and went to Aunt's house."

"Maybe, this was for the best." Mingze said with a sigh.

"I'll just steer far away from the two of them."

***

 "Two dual hotpot for table 2."

They ordered their usual hotpot and started to dig in. Mingze decided to observed what Fen Yichen was eating while his meat cook in the pot. He put meat, tofu and some crab inside. While Yichen was just eating his vegetables, rice and nori on the side?

What's this? Is he a rabbit? Why is he eating only vegetables? He never once touched the hot pot, but he actively get food for Xie Mingze whenever his bowl was empty. He was always busy eating; he never realized this.

Mingze thought he was just warming up but thirty minutes in, he was still only eating the sides. He couldn't stop his mouth anymore and spoke to Yichen.

"Why aren't you eating anything? Are you full? Did you eat something on the way?"

"I don't like spicy foods."

The words I don't like spicy foods echoed inside his head. It keeps on echoing in repeat like a broken record. Both Zheyan and Mingze were fan of spicy and hot foods, Yichen always joined them without saying anything. It was a bit surprising to know he never once liked eating it.

"Then you should've said so, we could order a dual soup. One clear and one spicy."

"I can just eat the side dishes I don't mind."

Not knowing was different from knowing. He didn't knew before so it didn't bother him, but now that Mingze was aware of it, it was bothering him so much. 

"Eat this octopus takoyaki then. It's their specialty."

"..."

Fen Yichen did not move his chopstick and was frozen deep in thought. Hai Zheyan snatched the small plate back to his side.

"Brother Ming, Brother Yichen is allergic to octopus."

There were dark clouds on Xie Mingze's head. Even Zheyan was aware of Yichen's allergy, but how come he doesn't know? It was embarrassing to offer him food he can't eat. Mingze only knew that Yichen likes sweets and hate bitter things. That's the extent of his knowledge. 

"You didn't eat much, so I'll just buy you ice cream after."

"Mmmm"

Fen Yichen agreed. This was his poor attempt to salvage the embarrassing situation he was in, "Don't worry, you didn't know. Here, eat your shrimps."

A bowl of peeled shrimps was placed in front of him, making Mingze feel more guilty. 

"Wow, let me have some!" Seeing the completely peeled shrimps, Zheyan reached out his paws to grab some, but the bowl was pulled back by Yichen.

"There's shrimp on your side. This is for Mingze."

"You're so biassed I'm hurt. This is discrimination! Inequality at its finest."

"Zheyan, just eat your kimbap. I'll be paying for your meals so shut up." Mingze glared at him, throwing tantrums like a child. 

He opened the coke in a bottle with one hand then it exploded with the cup floating up. Mingze was so surprised he froze like that.

"Why did you open that bottle? I might've shaken that hahaha" Zheyan said on the side while laughing awkwardly.