They did it. They survived cooking fried rice for the potluck, which in Minghao's opinion, is an achievement in itself. Now the question is whether people actually could manage to wolf it down without their tongues burning from the excessive salt. Junhui had tried his best to make up for the overload of salt that Yibo had generously poured onto the dish by cooking extra rice and mixing it in with the ultra-salty rice. Fingers crossed. 

The evening arrives, and they stream into one of the club member's big apartment, marveling at how new and large it is. It's one of those new building developments downtown, in the midst of the bustling city with actual wide streets and nice sidewalks. The living room is twice the size of Junhui's, and the kitchen is fitted with the newest shiny appliances. Junhui is immediately attracted and makes a beeline for the kitchen, setting down his dishes while also talking with the apartment owner about the fancy stove. Minghao wonders what fortune the rent must be. Rent is always so freaking expensive, and he's already getting anxiety from thinking about possibly having to find his own housing for next year once he moves out of the dorms. 

"Everyone!" Yixuan shouts once mostly everyone has filed in and has sprawled out throughout the dining and living rooms. Yibo's banging a spoon against a glass cup to help Yixuan get everyone's attention, and Minghao low-key thinks it's the most annoying thing ever. But it's Yibo, and Yibo has had a rough day (he chuckles to himself at that), so Minghao helps shush the people around him. "Welcome to the Chinese New Year potluck!" Yixuan shouts, a little too enthusiastically. 

Everyone claps and cheers. The aromas wafting from the kitchen are way too tempting. Minghao's stomach growls. Oops. He looks around subtly to see if anyone noticed. Nope. He breathes. 

"As some of you may have heard, some of our club alumni are going to dropping by to visit. Both of them are very successful at what they do, and since they sort of live around the area still, we invited them to come," Yixuan says, his eyes twinkling with excitement. "But in order to preserve the surprise, I won't be telling you who they are." A communal groan from everyone in the room. "What? We like surprises, don't we?" His grin is wider than the length of the Great Wall. 

Immediately afterward, Minghao's phone buzzes with a text from Wenhan. "LOL he thinks he's so cool, doesn't he" - Minghao only sends an amused glance in Wenhan's direction. 

"Pretty sure most of us already have an idea of who they are," mutters one girl leaning against the kitchen counter.  

"In any case," Yixuan brushes it off, unfazed. "They'll be coming sometime in the night, so for now, dig in and socialize and have fun!" 

Minghao finds himself next to Wenhan in the line for food. "Wait, so who are the alumni that are coming?" He's only a freshman so he obviously never got a chance to meet any of them. Maybe one of them is a doctor. That'd be pretty cool. 

Wenhan shrugs. "My guess would be those who still live in the Bay Area..." he thinks for a moment. "Well there's this one guy named Lu Han. Super smart guy and now works at Google." 

"Wow." 

"Yeah," Wenhan agrees.  

"Maybe we can get Yibo to talk to him. Computer science buddies!" Tzuyu butts in. Minghao hadn't noticed that she had slid into line next to them.  

Wenhan laughs. "Maybe some of Lu Han's work ethic will rub off on Yibo," he jokes. 

"But who else is coming? Do you have any idea?" Minghao asks. 

Wenhan suddenly gasps. "Oh, how could I forget? Wu Yifan! He went to our college's business school and is now working at a financial firm in downtown San Francisco. He's super chill. And athletic," Wenhan gushes. "Wait, I actually really hope he comes," he says, his eyes lighting up in anticipation. 

"He sounds sort of like you," Minghao comments. "Except you're not a business major. You're just an econ major." 

"And stats double major, thank you very much," Wenhan corrects, a little too vehemently. 

"...And possibly slightly less chill," Minghao finishes, noting the other guy's overly petty response. He gives Tzuyu a high five when Wenhan just sort of scowls.  

"Majoring in business isn't everything," Wenhan mutters under his breath, subtly throwing glances at Tzuyu next to him. 

"Sheesh, he never said that anyway," Tzuyu points out, placing a hand on Wenhan's shoulder.  

Minghao observes the interaction before him with much interest. The wheels start turning in his head, but soon he finds himself finally where the food is, and so he shoves it out of his mind momentarily. 

By the time he's curled up on one corner of the couch next to Yibo with his plate of delicious food, the doorbell rings and everyone tries to tone down their freaking out, but it doesn't exactly work. Yixuan still looks like he's about to jump out of his skin from excitement, and Junhui sort of yelps and rises to get the door. When the door swings open, everyone screams, mainly the girls in the club. 

"YIFAN ge!!!!" Wenhan tackles the older guy with a hug and almost knocks down the bag in his hand. "I knew you would come!" 

The way Yifan dresses is very simple but chic, with a trench coat look fitting for winter and nice black-rimmed glasses to finish it off. Besides that, his limbs are quite lanky and for some reason, Minghao tries to imagine him dancing and can't muffle the laugh that escapes his mouth.  

"What's up, bro," Yifan high-fives and grabs Wenhan's hand to pull him in for another quick hug. He sets down the food he brought on the counter before grabbing a plate of his own, followed by an overly eager Wenhan. 

"You know, Wenhan, I think you'll do completely fine," Yifan is saying. 

"Really? I'm not in business like you were -" 

"That isn't everything," Yifan's eyes are twinkling, and Minghao thinks he's heard this before. "Dude, just enjoy college while you can. Your grades aren't too bad, right? How's swim going for you these days?" 

Tzuyu's getting seconds right next to them and helpfully says, "He's doing quite great. Breaking personal records everywhere. Everyone's all over him."  

Wenhan smirks. Yifan grins. "Is that so? You must be hiding lots of toned muscles under that sweater of yours then," the older one winks. "Have you seen them?" He turns to Tzuyu, who blushes and quickly takes her leave. 

Yifan sighs. "You're lucky." 

"Why?" Wenhan pops a grape into his mouth. 

"You do realize that the only reason I even considered applying for Haas is because my leg got injured and I couldn't play basketball anymore," Yifan says with a regretful smile. "Treasure it, man." 

At that point, the doorbell rings again, and Minghao wonders if it's the coding genius, Lu Han. The door opens, and it's like déjà vu with the way the girls squeal in happiness at his arrival. Minghao observes the guy who walks in, sporting a backwards baseball cap but otherwise looking like quite the normal software engineer - except he has to admit that his eyes are quite pretty.  

Tzuyu leans into Minghao's ear and whispers, "Make Yibo talk to him," and she giggles. It sort of tickles his ear.  

What follows is Tzuyu and Minghao's masterful plan to make it so that Yibo is the only one in the kitchen when Lu Han gets food, courtesy of Minghao's fake-whining that he's hungry and dragging Yibo into the kitchen while Tzuyu makes a commotion in the living room by projecting her laptop on the TV and scrolling through Zitao's Weibo. Zitao is one of the recent graduates who moved back to China after college - he was a media studies major but no one knows what exactly he's doing with his career; all they know is that he posts very aptly-angled selfies on social media. Minghao almost envies him. Seems like a good life, in his opinion. 

When Yibo emerges from the kitchen, he is slightly more pale than usual, and Minghao has to hold back a chuckle. "It wasn't that bad, was it?" Minghao whispers when Yibo curls back onto the sofa next to him. 

Yibo falls silent for a moment. "He's really admirable. Just, intimidating," he answers, hushed. "He works on freaking Google maps. Legendary." 

Tzuyu joins in after finishing her fangirling over Zitao's perfectly lighted photos (#goals to be honest). "Wow," she breathes, not-so-subtly looking at said person as he socializes across the room. This is when Minghao notices that the snapback he's sporting has the Google logo on it. Man, tech companies surely have all the cool new-fangled stuff.

Yibo starts fidgeting with his yo-yo again. Minghao pats him on the shoulder. "It's okay, Yibo. No pressure," he gives him a cheeky smile. "We've still got three and a half years to make it." 

Tzuyu leans her back against Yibo's. "Yeah, and I'm stuck with you guys for all of it," she jokes. 

Yibo perks up, half-scowling. "We're the ones stuck with you. And plus, it should be a privilege, to have our company - right, Minghao?" He fist-bumps his roommate. 

"Right, if that means dying from sodium overdose from your fried rice," Tzuyu sticks out her tongue, and the two boys are thoroughly offended.  

"Excuse you, we tried so hard," Yibo defends. 

Tzuyu laughs. "I'll give that to you. Try you did." She smiles good-naturedly.  

Minghao likes these moments the best, the times when he has a full stomach, surrounded by friends at a home away from home, laughing and curled up together on a couch, warmth in the middle of winter (or whatever winter exists here). They all receive red envelopes courtesy of Yixuan (that grandpa has a kind heart), and the three freshman giddily walk back to the dorms at the end of the night, Minghao and Yibo making sure that Tzuyu makes it in her building okay.  

The two roommates are riding up the elevator to their floor when Minghao finds Yibo studying him curiously. "What?" Minghao asks. 

"Have you ever considered switching to computer science?" 

"Where'd you get that idea from?" Last time he braved a glimpse at Yibo's program files, Minghao's eyes had almost bulged out of their sockets from all the gibberish. He doesn't know if he'd be able to stomach doing that for his job even if he got free Google swag.

He shrugs. "It's a shame. Your smarts would surely be useful in this stupid project of mine, is all." 

"I don't even code. I like things like molecules. Mitochondria. DNA polymerase." 

Yibo makes a face at each word he throws out. "Whatever," he starts playing with his yo-yo again because the weird gravity in the elevator amuses him.  

That night, Minghao collapses in his bed (reason: food coma) while Yibo slaves away on the coding project he had procrastinated on. A day in the life, Minghao thinks to himself, a smile resting upon his lips.

a/n: finally back! I hope you all still have interest in this story of mine :P