ACBAM 51: Clown

Around nine in the morning, Su Shijin drove into an older residential complex. After circling twice, he finally found a parking spot, then sent Jian Lexin a voice message: “I’m here, parked in the space under the building behind yours.”

Three minutes later, an omega with dyed white hair and a pink hoodie came bouncing up to Su Shijin’s car, giving him a cheerful “hey” through the window.

It was, of course, Jian Lexin.

Su Shijin unlocked the door, and Jian Lexin happily hopped into the passenger seat, chattering away. “Not easy, Dr. Su—finally managed to catch you.”

Su Shijin glanced at the bright and lively white hair. “Dyed it again?”

Jian Lexin nodded. “Yeah, it’s just a temporary dye.”

After all, he was a lawyer. He couldn’t exactly walk into court with a head of pink or white hair. So he only used temporary dye during holidays to color it however he liked, then found a way to wash it out before going back to work.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Jian Lexin flipped open the little mirror above and checked his handsome face. “When you called, I’d just woken up. I only had time for a quick shower and didn’t even get to put on makeup.”

Su Shijin studied his face carefully and said, “You still look great.”

His tone was so serious that even the usually vain Jian Lexin felt a little embarrassed by the compliment. “Alright, alright, stop praising me with that pretty face of yours.”

Su Shijin let out a soft laugh and asked, “Have you had breakfast yet?”

Jian Lexin replied, “Not yet.”

“Then I’ll take you to get breakfast first,” Su Shijin said.

Jian Lexin asked, “What about you? Have you eaten?”

“Not much,” Su Shijin answered. “I could eat a little more.”

Such gentle and thoughtful words.

Jian Lexin’s face lit up with happiness. After fastening his seatbelt, he sighed, “When I look for a partner in the future, I’ll probably compare them to you without even realizing it. Tell me, do you think I’ll end up alone for life?”

Su Shijin said, “Probably not. Even if you never find someone, with how often you stay up late, I’ll most likely outlive you.”

To put it simply, as long as Su Shijin outlived Jian Lexin, Jian Lexin would never be alone.

After all, he would divorce Gu Weiyang a year from now, and there was a 99.9% chance he would never remarry. Even if Jian Lexin stayed single forever, he could still keep him company.

The happiness that had just bloomed instantly shattered. Jian Lexin stared at him blankly. “So I should be thanking you, then.”

Driving out of the complex, Su Shijin replied, “You’re welcome.”

—

About fifteen minutes later, Su Shijin drove Jian Lexin to a dim sum place. It was the same one Gu Weiyang had once brought takeout from.

Su Shijin thought the food there was pretty good, so he brought Jian Lexin to try it.

Inside, the menu was full of all kinds of dishes. Jian Lexin felt like he liked every single one of them, and wanted to try every single one.

But since it was just him, he probably couldn’t finish that much, and ordering too many would only lead to waste.

Jian Lexin nervously bit his thumb, trying to pick just a few favorites from the dazzling menu, mumbling under his breath. “At least the signature dish, and then maybe…”

Su Shijin tapped the menu in front of him as a reminder. “Order whatever you want. If you can’t finish, we can take it out.”

Jian Lexin’s eyes lit up in sudden realization. “Right! If I can’t finish, I’ll just take it to go~”

Jian Lexin hummed a song that Su Shijin couldn’t understand as he happily ordered a whole table of breakfast dishes.

Fortunately, there weren’t too many of each—just three shrimp dumplings in a small basket, and only a small portion of steamed ribs and chicken feet.

Since he had ordered quite a variety, Jian Lexin still had to pack up two boxes of leftovers by the end, planning to save them for breakfast at work tomorrow.

After placing the packed breakfast in the back seat, Jian Lexin glanced at the map. “There’s an entertainment street nearby. Want to check it out?”

“Is it far?” Su Shijin asked.

“Not really, about a kilometer. How about we walk?” Jian Lexin rubbed his stomach through his hoodie. “Feels like I ate too much, this’ll help me digest.”

“Alright,” Su Shijin replied. After shutting the car door, he followed Jian Lexin on foot toward the entertainment street.

As the name suggested, the entertainment street was all about fun. There’s trampoline parks, haunted houses, role-playing murder mysteries, escape rooms, arcades, and more.

And where there was fun, there was food. Both sides of the street were lined with snack stalls and milk tea shops.

The weather wasn’t really hot yet, but Jian Lexin still ran off to buy two ice creams, handing Su Shijin a vanilla one.

Su Shijin took small licks of his ice cream, his gaze drifting over the nearby shops. “So, what should we play?” he asked.

Su Shijin had never tried role-playing murder mysteries, and since it was rare for Jian Lexin to have a day off, he didn’t want to tire his brain either, so anything that required thinking, like murder mysteries or escape rooms, was ruled out.

“The haunted house is out too. We just ate, and I’m afraid getting scared might make me throw up.” After carefully considering, Jian Lexin laid out their plan for the day. “First the arcade, then the claw machine shop. Once we’ve digested a bit, we’ll hit the trampoline park, then the haunted house. I see there’s also an indoor ski park up ahead, we could check that out too.”

Su Shijin agreed with a simple “okay” and followed him into the arcade.

Since it was the weekend, the entertainment district was crowded, and the arcade was packed as well. Even just the line at the counter to exchange tokens was long.

Jian Lexin finished off his ice cream in a few quick bites, then shivered hard. “I’ll go line up for tokens. You just find a spot with fewer people and wait for me.”

So Su Shijin, still holding his ice cream, turned and headed toward a quieter corner.

Just then, a noisy group came laughing and chatting through the arcade entrance, barging straight in without looking, nearly crashing into Su Shijin.

Instinctively, Su Shijin stepped back to avoid them, only to accidentally bump into someone behind him.

“Damn, who the hell doesn’t have eyes?”

A vaguely familiar voice sounded from behind. Without thinking, Su Shijin turned and apologized, “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

When he lifted his eyes, he met a gaze he recognized.

“Ah, clo…” Su Shijin quickly searched his memory for the name.

But before he could get the word out, the alpha he had bumped into exploded, “You bump into me and now you’re calling me a clown?”

Su Shijin forced himself to change the word mid-sentence. “…Comrade.”

The atmosphere instantly turned awkward and tense. The alpha’s expression shifted again and again, his lips moving several times, yet he couldn’t come up with any response to that form of address.

Maintaining a calm expression, Su Shijin apologized, “Sorry, I accidentally bumped into you just now. Did you get hurt anywhere?”

Even though it was clearly an apology, Fan Zeyou couldn’t shake the feeling that something about it was off.

With that little omega’s build, how could he possibly hurt an alpha like him?

Was this omega mocking him on purpose?

Heaven and earth as witness, Su Shijin honestly had no such intention.

Although this alpha had left him with a terrible first impression, Su Shijin still believed in keeping things separate. It really had been his fault for bumping into the other today.

One of Fan Zeyou’s companions, hearing the commotion, glanced over. The moment his eyes landed on Su Shijin, they lit up. “Hey, I remember you! You’re that omega from the café! The one Fan-ge tried to hit on, but you called him a clown instead!”

Su Shijin: …

Fan Zeyou: …

“If you don’t know how to talk, then just don’t, alright?”

Couldn’t he at least learn a bit of the art of speaking properly?