"Whatever you want, dinner's on me tonight!" Victoria said to them.
"No need, Victoria. Really, don't bother," Emily politely refused.
"Since you call me sister, there's no need to be polite. Evie, say hi to your friends. I have plans with my own friends, so I won't chat longer. Give me a call after you eat!" Victoria told Evie.
"Okay, thanks, sis!" Evie said with a smile.
Victoria nodded again at Emily and Stella, then walked away.
"Evie, your sister is gorgeous!" Emily said, pulling her gaze back to Evie.
"Of course, how else could she be my sister!" Evie answered loudly.
"You're so lucky to have a sister," Emily said enviously.
Then the three of them linked arms and walked to their seats.
After they sat down, they started ordering food.
A mandatory dual-flavor hot pot base was a given. Whatever they liked to eat.
"My sister's treating. Don't be polite with her. Order whatever you want," Evie said after ordering what she wanted, then turned to Emily and Stella.
"Evie, every time I eat out with you, we run into someone you know who ends up paying for us! How lucky is that!" Stella said with a laugh.
"That just shows how popular I am!" Evie raised her chin and said with a grin.
Lately, she did seem to be quite popular. Last time she ran into Alexander, this time she ran into her sister Victoria.
But running into her sister was fine. She'd better not run into Alexander, or it would be really awkward.
When her phone rang with Alexander's call, Evie was in a battle with a fish ball.
She was playing cat and mouse with it in her bowl, unable to scoop it up.
Evie had to put down her chopsticks and pull her phone out of her bag. Seeing it was Alexander's call, she hesitated for a moment before answering.
"Hello—"
"Busy?" Alexander heard Evie's low voice and asked.
"No, I went out to eat hot pot with my classmates," Evie answered truthfully.
"All done with your exams?"
"Yeah, I finished my last subject this afternoon. Winter break starts tomorrow."
"Coming back tonight or tomorrow? I'll have Grace pick you up," Evie said.
"Clean up, call Grace and ask her to pick you up."
"Okay. Have you eaten enough?" She originally wanted to ask if he was still working overtime, but she changed the sentence in front of Emily and Stella.
"Yes, I'm not working overtime tonight. I have a business trip tomorrow, about a week," Alexander said.
He told Evie what she wanted to know.
"Oh, okay!" Evie answered, thinking how did Alexander know what she was thinking!
"Go eat. Call me if anything comes up."
"Okay!"
After hanging up, Evie couldn't help but send a text message to Alexander, "Be safe, and good luck with work!"
Then she put her phone away.
Looking up, Emily and Stella were staring at her with ambiguous expressions.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Evie asked, startled.
"Who was on the phone just now? You had a dreamy look on your face," Emily said, propping her chin on her hand and looking at Evie.
"My family!" Evie answered after a long pause.
Alexander was her family, wasn't he!
"Oh, we thought it was your boyfriend!" Stella replied, suddenly enlightened.
"No, I don't have a boyfriend!" Evie shook her head.
She didn't have a boyfriend. Alexander was already her husband.
There was nothing to gossip about, and Emily and Stella weren't interested in asking further.
They changed the subject, talking about how to spend winter break and the internship work next semester.
Evie hadn't thought about how to spend winter break, because in another week, she would be holding a wedding with Alexander.
Almost when Alexander came back from his business trip, it would be just in time for the wedding.
Time passed quickly. When she registered with Alexander, she still felt the wedding was a long way off, and now it was just around the corner.
After eating the hot pot, Evie went to pay the bill herself, and then called her sister Victoria.
"Sis, we're full. We're heading back first!"
"Okay, hold on, I'll pay for it," Victoria said on the other end of the phone.
"No, I already did. Who are you meeting?" Evie asked curiously.
"My friend, why do you want to know?"
"Just wondering if it's a special friend. You should introduce me," Evie said with a smile.
Before, she didn't know her sister had broken up with that guy. She didn't know if her sister was too careless or the guy was too unreliable!
"You're overthinking it. Since you're full, go back to school early. By the way, Mom asked today, when are you going on break?"
"Tomorrow. I finished my last exam today."
"I'll come pick you up tomorrow!"
"Sis, no need. Alexander already sent someone to pick me up!"
"You don't want to come home?"
"I do. I mean you don't have to come specially to pick me up!"
"Okay, let's go home tomorrow!"
"Okay!"
"When you're done paying the bill, just go home. Ask me for reimbursement tomorrow!"
"Okay, thanks, sis!"
"Go back early, take care of yourself!"
"I know, sis. Don't come home too late, bye!"
"Okay!"
After talking with her sister Victoria on the phone, Evie returned to her seat.
Emily and Stella were already sprawled out on their seats, not wanting to move.
"Should we walk back?" Evie asked with a smile.
"I'm too full. I don't want to move now. Let's walk back!" Stella shook her head directly.
"Let's rest a bit and go back later!" Evie said and sat down on the side.
"I'd better take a walk, digest, and then just take a taxi back," Emily suggested.
"Stella, can you walk?" Evie said with a smile.
"Forget it, you'd better walk, or you'll get fat and turn into a pig!" Stella decided to take a walk with them to digest.
So the three walked out of the restaurant and along the sidewalk, chatting.
"Time flies. We're all seniors now," Emily suddenly said with emotion.
"Yeah, I always feel like we just came to the school, and now we're about to graduate," Stella followed.
"We used to have four people in our dorm, now we have three. I wonder how Emma is doing now?" Evie asked.
"I haven't seen her for a long time either," Emily said.
On a whim, she said, "Let's call her!"
"Don't want us to bother her!" Stella suddenly seemed a little excited and stopped her.
A little depressed, maybe a little disappointed.
Later, they started singing, familiar and unfamiliar songs, whatever came to mind.
There was a sense of loss that youth was gone after graduation.
They got so tired that they had to take a taxi back.
As a result, ten dollars got them to the school gate.
Stella also said she knew she should have just walked back to school.
Emily laughed and scolded, but wasn't it her who insisted on taking a taxi, saying she couldn't walk anymore!
After returning to the dormitory, she washed up well, climbed into bed, and continued to have a lie-in talk in the dormitory.
She always felt that this time it wasn't so easy to separate, and it would be harder to get together again later.
While Evie was lying in bed, thinking about her married life, could she still be the same as she was now?