Blind Date (Part 2)

A Blind Date (Part 2)

Xiang Kun replied:

"I'm already here, sitting in the corner. I'll be easy to spot—the one with the least hair."

Sure enough, the girl with twin ponytails lowered her head to check her phone. When she looked up, she scanned the café, and her gaze quickly settled on Xiang Kun's bald head.

So it really was her?

The girl smiled and waved at him, then went to the counter to order something first.

She seemed to have a pretty good personality. Her smile, especially, was infectious. When she smiled, Xiang Kun found himself smiling along with her.

She did look far too young, though. Rather than a twenty-six-year-old office worker with three or four years of experience, she looked more like a college student who had just started university.

After ordering, the girl walked over to Xiang Kun and held out her hand in greeting. "Hello, you're Brother Bin's classmate, right? I'm Tang Baona."

Xiang Kun stood and smiled. "Hello, I'm Xiang Kun." He lightly shook her tender, scallion-like hand.

The girl sat across from Xiang Kun and said in surprise, "I thought I was already early, but I didn't expect you to be even earlier than me. I just checked our chat history—we really did agree on three in the afternoon! For a moment, I almost thought we'd agreed on two and I'd read it wrong!"

Xiang Kun smiled. "I had nothing to do anyway, so I came early. The environment here is nice, plus they have air conditioning and Wi-Fi. Playing on my phone made the time pass quickly."

Following up directly on his earlier WeChat reply, the girl said, "You really weren't kidding. That 'hairstyle' of yours really is 'easy to spot.'"

"Does it shine? The brightest star in the night sky? The brightest head in the corner?" Xiang Kun joked at his own expense. He had taken off his hat after entering the café. He had not held out much hope for this blind date in the first place, so naturally, he did not care whether other people thought his bald head looked good or bad.

"That joke was so cold..." Tang Baona laughed. "Why did you shave your head? Did you think taking care of your hair was too troublesome, did you want to stay cool now that summer's here, or is this some new trend in the IT industry?"

"To be honest, I didn't want to shave my head. I just woke up one night and found I'd gone bald."

Tang Baona froze. "Seriously?"

"Ha, just kidding." As Xiang Kun spoke, he took out his phone, found a group photo from a company team-building event a few years ago, and showed it to her. "Mainly, my hairline had become a little too lively. At the rate it was going, I'd turn into a horseshoe bald man before long, so I just dealt with it myself. That way, I wouldn't have to keep paying attention to all those hair-growth products..."

Tang Baona held his phone and studied the picture for quite some time, comparing it with Xiang Kun over and over before finally confirming that the person in the group photo was him. She exclaimed, "This is what you looked like before? Why does it look like you ten years from now...? The difference is way too huge. It's not just the hairstyle either. Um, your whole aura, and your build too. You look like you work out regularly..."

"That's true. Before, I put all my time into work, and over the past few years, I aged a lot. So after the company went under a while back, I spent all my time at the gym getting myself into shape. After all, my hair's gone, and I'm not much to look at, so I can only rely on my body to keep up appearances. Oh, right, Chang Bin didn't tell you, did he? I'm temporarily unemployed."

Tang Baona handed his phone back and nodded with feeling. "That's true. Life lies in exercise. If your health falls apart, there's no point in making all the money in the world! Oh, right, besides going to the gym, are there any sports you usually enjoy?"

Clearly, Tang Baona did not care much about whether he was unemployed or how he had lost his job.

Xiang Kun shook his head. "In high school and college, I occasionally went to the track for a few laps, but after I started working, I really didn't exercise much."

"I see. Then if you have time, you could try hiking. Getting back to nature is really nice!"

Tang Baona was clearly a hiking enthusiast. She took out her phone and showed Xiang Kun photos of her group hiking and trekking in various places.

As she showed him the photos, she told Xiang Kun amusing stories from their hikes, embarrassing incidents involving her companions, then moved on to her college major, her hobbies, and ACG.

Just as she was talking about several anime series she had been following recently, Tang Baona suddenly stopped. She stared at Xiang Kun's bald head for a moment, then could not help laughing.

"Have you watched One-Punch Man? I suddenly think you look a little like Saitama-sensei! Can you take off your glasses and let me see?"

After starting work, Xiang Kun had not had time to watch anime, so he had never seen One-Punch Man. Still, he took off his glasses as she asked and looked at Tang Baona. "Do I look like him? Is this Saitama a hero or a villain?"

"He's the male lead!" Tang Baona searched up pictures of Saitama for Xiang Kun to see, then gave him a rough overview of the manga's story and setting. As she spoke, she could not help laughing again. "Saitama honestly said, 'I went bald, and I got stronger too'... Didn't you just say that after shaving your head and going to the gym, you felt like you'd gotten a lot stronger too?"

Xiang Kun smiled and waved his fist. "Unfortunately, I don't have that one-punch invincibility from the manga." Still, she had successfully sold him on it, and he planned to check out the manga later.

The two of them chatted from a little after two until around five twenty before Xiang Kun finally bid Tang Baona farewell, saying he had something to take care of. Neither of them mentioned meeting again.

Honestly, judging from this blind date alone, it had probably been the best atmosphere and the most natural flow Xiang Kun had ever had during a first meeting.

But the two of them were clearly not from the same world.

Their hobbies and interests barely overlapped.

Yet strangely, whether Tang Baona was talking about hiking, ACG, games she had played, manga and anime she had read or watched, product experiences she found interesting, funny jokes, everyday observations, or even different color combinations for nail polish and lipstick, Xiang Kun listened with great interest.

Likewise, whenever Xiang Kun talked about amusing incidents from work, embarrassing stories involving Chang Bin from their school days, or interesting tales from his hometown, Tang Baona was equally engrossed and often covered her mouth as she laughed.

If he had been the old Xiang Kun, he definitely would have pursued Tang Baona. Setting everything else aside, just the fact that she was pretty and had a good personality was already very appealing—yes, Xiang Kun was that shallow.

But now, before figuring out what was going on with his body, Xiang Kun could not possibly start a relationship with anyone.

He could not even eat meals or drink beverages, did not know when he would next be able to sleep—how could he date someone?

Besides, Xiang Kun felt that although they had seemed to get along quite well that afternoon, given Tang Baona's qualities, she surely had plenty of pursuers. She probably preferred someone more handsome, closer to her in age, and with more hobbies in common.