Chapter 111

2025.

The villa.

Lin Yun'er, who was sitting on the sofa chatting with Krystal about returning to the past for a birthday on the 29th, suddenly noticed Krystal's gaze pass over her and look behind her.

She turned her head to look, only to see Lin Xiuyuan standing in front of that door, looking at the two of them with a strange expression.

Krystal, who was more familiar with him than Lin Yun'er, immediately furrowed her delicate brows upon seeing this, "Did something go wrong?"

"Yes, Park Hyomin and Sunny invited me out for dinner, and Little Zhiyan is coming too."

"So you came over to notify us?"

Hearing this, Lin Yun'er chuckled and gave him a look, helping Lin Xiuyuan find the right words.

Lin Xiuyuan lived up to expectations and quickly responded, "How could it be a notification? I came to ask for permission."

Sure enough, as soon as this answer came out, Krystal, who had been cold-faced, burst into laughter, "Ask for permission my foot. You make it sound like we're oppressing you. Go on, don't keep them waiting too long."

"Alright, then I'm off."

Lin Yun'er waved with a smile, signaling him to leave quickly, while thinking to herself: This kid's social awareness is still too poor; I must find a chance to train him well.

If it were an old hand, they would just open the door, state the situation, and close the door to leave.

As for her and Xiujing, since there was a complete and reasonable excuse, they weren't the type to be unreasonable, so they would naturally calm themselves down.

Standing there indecisively and being an eyesore was the worst approach.

Lin Xiuyuan clearly realized this too and quickly turned to close the door and leave.

After returning to the 2013 apartment and checking that his outfit was fine, he grabbed his phone and headed out.

It was the peak of the evening rush hour, and since it wasn't raining and a light breeze was blowing, the weather was exceptionally comfortable.

So when Lin Xiuyuan left the apartment and crossed the street to the nearby commercial district, there were quite a lot of pedestrians on the street.

And because the meeting place wasn't far from the apartment, Lin Xiuyuan simply chose to walk.

But as he walked, somehow, he took a turn and ended up in an unfamiliar alley.

"Where is this place?" He gave a wry smile, clearly a bit surprised.

When he finally found his destination, he looked up at the somewhat familiar sign and smelled the familiar scent of lemongrass in the air, and a strong desire to retreat rose in his heart.

Damn it~

I just finished eating this terrible Thai food at noon, and now I'm here again for dinner.

However, just as he was hesitating, Park Jiyeon's laughter suddenly came from behind him, "Oppa, why are you so fast?"

Lin Xiuyuan, whose shoulder had been lightly tapped, turned around to see Park Jiyeon standing behind him with a grin, followed by Park Hyomin and Sunny, both of whom nodded politely in greeting.

Since things had reached this point, he couldn't slip away, so Lin Xiuyuan had to return the smile.

Only then did he answer Park Jiyeon's question, "You know I live nearby; it takes less than ten minutes to walk."

"I thought you would take a while to arrive."

Park Jiyeon said, feigning surprise.

Of course she knew Lin Xiuyuan lived nearby, but if she didn't say something, how would they have a conversation?

Sunny, standing behind them, suggested, "Let's go inside and talk. It'll be troublesome if someone recognizes us."

"Mm-hmm."

"Let's go, inside."

The group then went inside.

And so, another moment passed.

Although the restaurant wasn't large and lacked private rooms, there were several booths separated by railings.

After the group exchanged glances, Park Jiyeon took the initiative to grab Lin Xiuyuan's arm, "Oppa, let me sit with you."

"Sure."

After Park Hyomin and Sunny took their seats first, Lin Xiuyuan let Park Jiyeon go in first, sitting on the outside himself, effectively blocking the aisle.

This way, even if passersby glanced inside, it would be difficult to recognize who was sitting there in an instant.

As soon as Park Jiyeon sat down, she happily smiled at Lin Xiuyuan, "Oppa, the food at this Thai restaurant is actually quite good. The Tom Yum soup and the curry are also very fragrant."

"Uh, I'll just have an order of stir-fried udon noodles."

Lin Xiuyuan, who really didn't want to try any more Tom Yum soup, immediately gave his choice and added an order of garlic chicken wings.

After ordering, he looked at Park Jiyeon with some curiosity, "Jiyeon, why did you use Hyomin-xi's phone to call me earlier? Don't you have my number saved?"

"I just wanted to see if you had Unnie's number saved."

As she said this, Park Hyomin across from them also laughed, looking at Lin Xiuyuan before glancing at Park Jiyeon's pouting face.

"That's because when Sulli and I came over last time, we exchanged numbers with Boss Lin. Jiyeon, you wouldn't be jealous over this, would you?"

Sunny watched from the side with interest, not interjecting.

As for Park Jiyeon, after hearing Park Hyomin's answer, she immediately huffed, "That's not it."

After huffing, Little Zhiyan looked at Lin Xiuyuan, her expression instantly turning cheerful, "Oppa, guess why I'm looking for you this time."

The speed of this expression change truly startled the two across from them, making them even more curious as to why Park Jiyeon's attitude toward Lin Xiuyuan was so intimate.

Could she really have taken a liking to this young man?

Lin Xiuyuan was counting the wood grain on the table out of boredom; hearing her question, he answered casually, "Any hints?"

"Yes, it's me."

Park Jiyeon patted her slightly raised chest hard, not at all afraid of flattening them further.

After witnessing this scene, Lin Xiuyuan subconsciously thought of the behavior of Little Tai Ruan during lunch, then inexplicably thought of Little Dragon Cub, and his expression stiffened.

No way!!!

The next second, the group, being so close, immediately noticed his drastic change in expression.

"Oppa, did you guess it?"

"Boss Lin, what did you think of to make your expression so strange?"

"It doesn't seem like anything good."

Listening to their laughter, Lin Xiuyuan carefully glanced at Park Jiyeon and probed cautiously, "Jiyeon, you... you wouldn't be wanting to tell me about your birthday, would you?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Park Jiyeon, who had been a bit nervous, immediately bloomed with a brilliant smile and triumphantly lifted her chin toward Park Hyomin, "See, Unnie, I told you Oppa would definitely guess it."

"How did he guess that?"

Park Hyomin looked at Lin Xiuyuan in utter astonishment, while Sunny smiled and offered her own thought, "Boss Lin must remember Jiyeon's birthday."

Compared to the excitement and curiosity of the people around him, Lin Xiuyuan only felt his scalp tighten.

He had just promised Little Dragon Cub over there at noon, and now Little Zhiyan was coming to him in the evening. If the Time Gate weren't truly in his own hands, he would have suspected that these two were setting a trap for him.

Shaking off those messy suspicions in his mind, Lin Xiuyuan asked, "Jiyeon, how do you want to spend your birthday?"

"Oppa, I want to hold a small party at the tavern. Everyone can sit down, chat, sing, and have a little wine. Just us few, keep it relaxed, is that okay?"

As Park Jiyeon finished speaking, Lin Xiuyuan nodded and agreed without hesitation, "Sure, there's nothing wrong with that."

He knew that he had to agree.

But what was truly fatal was the identical birthday appointment in two different time periods; his timeline was about to get knotted.

It seemed he needed to come up with a foolproof plan quickly, otherwise, he really wouldn't be able to be in two places at once.

And he definitely couldn't tell Little Zhiyan about this; if she found out that Big Zhiyan had invited him earlier than her, she would probably explode!!!

(End of chapter)