You and I Go Home Together

They chatted over drinks, and half an hour later, another white guy arrived.

Su Yang had seen him before. He was one of the friends who had gone to the basketball court with Holland earlier that day.

Once everyone had arrived, Holland suggested playing a few simple games. Drinking games in Europe tended to be straightforward and relatively quiet.

They took a pen and spun it. Whoever it pointed to had to drink. If they didn’t want to drink, they had to choose someone to ask them a question—something similar to a game of truth or dare.

The drinking picked up once the game began. At first, nobody wanted to be asked questions, but after downing several shots of hard liquor, they had no choice but to answer.

The atmosphere wasn’t as lively as it would have been in an ordinary bar, but the change of pace was quite pleasant.

Before long, everyone except Su Yang and the dark-skinned girl had a noticeable flush on their faces.

“These people really can’t hold their liquor,” Su Yang thought as he glanced at them. “This is nothing. I haven’t even gotten started yet.”

It was already eleven-thirty at night. They had begun drinking at nine, and after two and a half hours, the six of them had consumed only one and a half bottles of whiskey and one bottle of red wine.

The three women present were all poor drinkers, so they had temporarily stopped drinking. Emma was slightly tipsy, propping up her chin as she chatted with Holland’s cousin, Karina.

Su Yang, meanwhile, continued drinking with Holland and his friend Andy.

After a few more drinks, Holland seemed unable to keep going. Holding his glass, he looked at Su Yang with a smile and said, “Su, you’ve got a pretty good tolerance. You’ve had so much to drink, but your face isn’t even red.”

“Haha, I can hold my liquor pretty well. But you’re doing fine too.”

“To be honest, I’m already a little dizzy. Look—my face and neck are both red.”

“You are looking a little flushed. How about we stop drinking? It’s getting late.”

Hearing that, Holland raised his wrist and checked the time. “It’s eleven forty. Whew... All right. Why don’t we call it a night?”

“Sure. Emma, we should get going,” Su Yang called, turning toward her.

“Hm? We’re not drinking anymore?”

“You can’t drink any more anyway.”

Emma rubbed her eyes. “All right, then.”

At that moment, Holland took out his phone and called to Su Yang, “Su, I almost forgot. Come on, let’s exchange contact information. If I ever get the chance to visit China, we’ll meet up again!”

“Sounds good!”

Su Yang took out his phone as well, and the two of them followed each other on Instagram.

As soon as they were done, Karina and Madeline also exchanged Instagram accounts with Su Yang.

After that, the group sat in a row and asked a waiter to take a group photo. That brought their somewhat dull drinking session to an end.

They got up and walked together toward the elevator hall, then rode down to the lobby on the first floor.

Su Yang looked at Holland and asked, “Old He, aren’t you heading back to your room?”

“I’m going to take my cousin and Madeline back to their hotel first.”

“Oh, all right. See you, then.”

“Sure. See you.”

After saying goodbye, Holland and the other three left first.

That left only Su Yang and Emma. Su Yang rolled his neck and asked, “Shall we go back and get some rest?”

At that, Emma grabbed his hand and stammered, “I...”

“What is it? Do you want to go home?”

Emma nodded. “Mm, but...”

“But what?”

“My sister went out on a date tonight, and she probably won’t be coming back. So come home with me!” Emma bit her lip, then shot Su Yang a flirtatious look as she spoke in a low voice.

Su Yang smiled. “I suppose that’s fine. But aren’t your parents at home?”

“They don’t live with the two of us.”

“Really? Then why don’t we just stay at the hotel? Going to your place seems risky. What if your sister suddenly comes home and catches us? Wouldn’t that be awkward?” Su Yang gave her a playful wink.

“She won’t come back. Whenever she goes on a date with her boyfriend, she never comes home until at least noon the next day.”

“Hmm... The main thing I don’t understand is, why don’t we just rest at the hotel?”

“Actually, I just don’t like sleeping in hotels. I never feel safe there. Apart from when I’m traveling, I rarely stay in hotels. Come home with me, okay?” Emma tugged on Su Yang’s hand.

Looking at Emma’s flushed face and her soft, delicate expression, Su Yang nodded. “All right, all right. Let’s go. You lead the way.”

“Okay!” Emma beamed happily and pulled Su Yang toward the entrance.

They soon reached the roadside and hailed a taxi. Before long, an empty cab pulled up.

Su Yang opened the door, and he and Emma got into the back seat. “Hello. Please take us to 108 Lane Street.”

“Sure,” the driver replied before starting the car and pulling away.

During the ride, Emma kept hold of Su Yang’s hand, resting her head against his shoulder.

The two of them didn’t say much in the car. In less than twenty minutes, the taxi arrived at a relatively quiet street.

After driving a few dozen more yards, the taxi stopped.

“Miss, we’ve arrived.”

“Thank you.” Emma took out some money and handed it to the driver, then got out of the car with Su Yang.

The street looked more or less like the area around the Peninsula Hotel. Actually, most of central Paris looked like this.

On both sides of the street stood many European-style buildings, most of them fifty or sixty meters high. The apartments inside were generally not very large—around a hundred square meters—and the buildings themselves weren’t especially tall. Some of the newer ones, however, were equipped with elevators.

Most of the buildings in the very center of the city were century-old residences. Their interiors were not only cramped but often lacked elevators, and they were ridiculously expensive. A small apartment of just sixty or seventy square meters could sell for more than a million euros.

Despite the prices, these old, run-down century-old apartments were highly sought after by Parisians. Even if someone could afford one, they might not be able to buy one, because most of these older homes were located in a few of Paris’s most central districts. Being able to live there was itself a symbol of status and prestige.

Of course, housing in Emma’s eighth arrondissement was not cheap either, but the buildings there were much newer.

In any case, homes here were completely different from those in China, with a vastly different architectural style.

Su Yang looked up at the building in front of them. “You live here?”

“Yes. Come on, let’s go upstairs.”

“All right.” Su Yang followed Emma toward the entrance.

Emma entered a code to unlock the iron gate, and the two of them quickly stepped inside.

The building wasn’t particularly old, and it had been completely renovated inside and out, so the interior was not as cramped as it might otherwise have been.

When they reached the elevator hall, Emma pressed the button for the seventh floor. The elevator doors slowly opened.

The two of them soon arrived on the seventh floor. There were three apartments on each floor, and the hallway was somewhat narrow. Emma’s apartment was at the far end on the right.

She led Su Yang to the door, took out her key, and unlocked it. Then she reached in and switched on the lights with a smile.

“Come in!”

“All right.” Su Yang changed into a pair of slippers and entered.

The apartment had a simple, modern interior. The living room and dining area were connected. Although the space wasn’t particularly large, it felt warm and cozy.

Su Yang looked around before asking, “Emma, how big is your apartment?”

“One hundred and ten square meters. Is that enough?”

“It’s great. It’s beautiful.”

“We renovated it based on the original layout. I didn’t like the old-fashioned style it had before.”

“It looks really nice now. This place must have been pretty expensive, right?”

“More than 1.2 million euros.”

“Over a hundred and twenty square meters—that comes to more than ten million RMB.”

“Yeah. In other cities, you could buy a huge villa for that price. I hesitated for a long time when I bought it, wondering whether I should move to the suburbs, but my sister lives with me, so I couldn’t make the decision on my own.”

“After all, this is downtown Paris, where every inch of land is precious, so property prices are bound to be high. It’s the same in our country—for example, Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong. Housing prices are very expensive in those places too.”

“But living here is convenient no matter what you want to do.”

“That’s true. Enough about this—let’s hurry!” Emma didn’t want to discuss the house with Su Yang any longer. She was growing impatient, so she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the bedroom.

The two entered the bedroom. Emma turned around and closed the door, then pushed Su Yang against it. Rising onto her tiptoes, she leaned in close.

......