What?! The Gamemaster And The Top Player Are Dating?!

When Zhihao woke up, the first thing that he did was check his phone to see the time and to go through all the notifications that he had received. Just like he had somewhat expected, it was seven in the evening when he woke up. He quickly swiped through all the notifications and got up from the bed. 

It felt weird for him to brush his teeth so late. It felt so out of place that he found it to be a bit funny. By this time around, most people were getting off from their work while Zhihao was just waking up from his sweet sleep, getting ready to do his morning routines when it wasn't really morning. 

He brushed his teeth, took a quick shower, and with only a towel wrapped around his torso, he came out of the bathroom to sit on his bed as he dried his hair with a hairdryer in one hand while his other hand was clutching his phone.

He felt a bit shocked and a bit disappointed to see that Li ling hadn't sent him a single text. In the end, he was unconsciously looking through his phone in search of that one text with the excuse of checking through his notifications so when he saw that his inbox was rather empty, he was a bit dejected. His hand, which was holding the hairdryer paused as he looked at the text button, wondering if he should send the man a message first. 

Only when the heat from the hairdryer started to hurt him did he realize that he had almost burnt all his hair off.. He immediately turned the damn thing off and rubbed his head. One side of his head was completely dry while the other side was still a bit damp. He frowned as he looked at the hairdryer in annoyance. The poor thing hadn't done anything to him, yet it received all his hate and was blamed for Zhihao's own carelessness. 

Zhihao decided to leave it at that, with half-dried hair and half wet, looking rather funny. He moved towards his closet where he found his white-colored suit that was neatly packed in a plastic bag to keep dirt and creases away. 

This suit had been hanging there for more than a week in the same condition as it was right now. It was sent over to him by his mother who wanted him to wear it tonight. 

At first, he wasn't really interested to go to the party, but he suddenly changed his mood and got dressed to attend the high-end party that was quite pointless according to him. The only good thing about such parties was the food. Really delicious food that he would have a hard time finding if he were to go to a restaurant. Parties were unique if you were to consider the food there. It was like a place that would collect delicacies from different types of restaurants and place them all together so that he could choose whatever he liked. He loved that! It was, in fact, the only thing he loved about parties. 

If food wasn't involved, he was sure that he wouldn't be tempted away to go to such meaningless gatherings. What was so fun about meeting a bunch of people who would smile in front of you and spit at you behind your back? It was all a waste of time, precious time that he could have used to play T.I.A.D. 

He put the suit on and looked at his reflection in the mirror. He looked... Weird. One side of his head had fluffy hair that was dry while the other had damp, flattened hair that was still sticking to his scalp. He wanted to laugh at himself as he saw this. He put on his silver analog watch and searched for his socks, which always seemed to go missing when he needed them the most.

Once he had finally found the socks and decided on what shoes he was going to wear, he was now ready to take care of the disastrous hairstyle he currently had.

He turned the hairdryer on once again since there was no other way he would be able to dry his hair without it. If he didn't use the hairdryer, it would take him hours to get ready and he would only end up angering his father because of his carelessness with time. His father wasn't a very patient man so if he got to know that his son was going to come late, he was surely going to get angry at him. It was better not to come at all rather than coming late, that was what his father had always taught him.

Zhihao dried his hair and looked at the reflection of his phone that was carelessly thrown on his bed. He was trying to see if he had received any messages, but his screen was still black meaning he hadn't got any. He finished drying up his hair and looked at himself once again, finally feeling satisfied with how he looked. He put on a bit of hair spray and set his hair to avoid flyaways and he suddenly looked very different from how he normally appeared.

Zhihao wouldn't usually mind how he looked, but when he groomed himself this well, even he was confused if the reflection in the mirror was him or not. He looked so different that it was quite shocking to know that this was the same guy who was holed up in his room every day, playing online games. His face looked clear and his dark brown hair seemed to complement his face as the bangs rested on top of his forehead.

His father had always told him to get rid of these bangs or to at least style them up when he was attending such parties, but Zhihao wasn't a person who liked to show his forehead. He would rather be glared at by his father than style his bangs up. He didn't exactly hate the look, but it took a lot of time and he wasn't a person who would want to go through so much trouble to please people he didn't even know.

He heard his phone vibrating with a notification sound and immediately jolted up as he rushed to the bed and picked up the phone that had now finally lit up with a message. He had been waiting for a message, but when he saw the messenger ID of the person who had texted him, the smile on his face vanished.

All of the excitement died down as he saw the message which was sent by his mom.

[Huang Zhi Juan: You haven't forgotten about today, have you?]

[Huang Zhi Juan: Be sure to be here on time]

[Huang Zhi Juan: I have sent a car to pick you up]

Zhihao took a breath in as he cursed himself for being so silly. Of course, Li Ling wouldn't be texting him all day so why was he mad at the man for not doing so?

[Zhihao: Mom, you don't have to send a car.]

[Zhihao: I'll drive.]

[Huang Zhi Juan: What about when you go back home?]

[Huang Zhi Juan: You can't drink and drive]

[Zhihao: Then I won't drink. Problem solved.] 

[Huang Zhi Juan: You're gonna come to the party and not drink?]

[Huang Zhi Juan: Your father says that a lot, but in the end, he drinks more than me XD]

[Zhihao: I'm not him.] 

[Zhihao: I don't like drinking.] 

[Huang Zhi Juan: Well, I'll be happy if you don't drink but it is better to be safe than sorry.]

[Zhihao: If I drink, you can just call a car then]

[Huang Zhi Juan: Then... I'll trust you]

[Huang Zhi Juan: Drive safely honey]

[Huang Zhi Juan: I'm already here.]

[Zhihao: Okay]

Zhihao sighed as he closed the chat and opened Li Ling's chat page again. There were still no messages and when he looked up at the man's status, he saw that Li Ling was on his phone. He was active and wasn't working but he still didn't send Zhihao a text. 

Zhihao felt like it was stupid of him to be expecting a text when Li Ling said no such thing. 

He had grown a bit too accustomed to waking up and finding Li Ling sending him good morning texts so when he saw that he got none today, he was a bit saddened. Then again, it wasn't like it was morning when he woke up today. It was afternoon when he went to sleep and evening when he woke up so of course, Li Ling wouldn't send him a good morning message. 

Zhihao typed something on his phone, but before he could press the send button, he deleted what he had written and once again stared at the empty text box. 

A minute passed and he decided to let go of his ego and for once, send a message to Li Ling first, but before he could completely type out what he wanted to say, he received a message and this time it was from the person he was expecting to see a message from. 

[Li Ling: Are you awake yet?]