What amazed us most was that Roger actually only discovered his true sexual orientation when his son was already two years old. This made us all a bit anxious—maybe none of us have truly realized our own orientation, and that orientation has always been lurking inside us. The most anxious was Tyler; his daughter is only a year and a half old, and he’s afraid that when she turns two, he’ll suddenly discover that he also likes men.

　　After some extended discussion, we finally accepted the brand-new setting about Roger.

　　Then Tyler said something that made the atmosphere a bit sentimental.

　　It started because Warren decided to treat us tomorrow and take us to see something new. Tyler immediately shook his head: “No way, I only took one day off, and besides, my wife and daughter are still waiting for me at home.”

　　Ben immediately chimed in, “Same here, just one day off, I have to rush back early tomorrow.”

　　Ben said, “I’m a bit better off than them, I can leave tomorrow afternoon.”

　　Luke has always been at odds with Ben: “At the very least, I can hold out until tomorrow night.” As he spoke, he pulled out his phone and searched for a bit, then boasted, “There’s a flight to Kunming tomorrow night, I’ll leave in the evening.”

　　We had just reunited, and now we were already talking about parting.

　　This is another problem we have to face at our age.

　　Work, family—you just can’t give them up.

　　This time, they didn’t treat me as a bystander; they all looked at me, wanting to know when I would go back.

　　I said, “I don’t plan on going back.”

　　They all knew my situation, so no one was surprised.

　　Warren smiled, “Good for you. With you staying, I feel safer. Otherwise, if I go out with Roger in the future, I’d really be afraid he’d suddenly go wild and pick my tender little flower. So, tell us, what do you want to do now that you’re staying?”

　　I didn’t answer, but raised a new question: “How do you guys view dreams these days?”

　　Everyone’s opinions were all over the place; each person had a different answer.

　　“Dreams are always out of reach, maybe we should just give up.” Luke was the first to answer, quoting a song lyric.

　　“Dreams are just things you think about in your sleep; once you wake up, don’t think about them anymore.” Back in school, Ben was pretty rough, and to balance that out, he learned to act deep. He still hasn’t shaken that habit.

　　“It’s better to have dreams; with a goal in your heart, you have motivation to live.” Warren’s words were full of positive energy.

　　“People should have dreams. My dream is always ten characters: eat meat every day, sleep with girls every night.” Compared to Warren, Ben’s dream was full of negative energy.

　　“I don’t know if I still have dreams, but I hope my child does. Hearing your question, I’m also thinking about how I can set an example for my child in the future.” Tyler truly lives up to his status as a civil servant—he always speaks thoughtfully and is always the last to share his opinion.

　　I asked again, “What do you think made Roger go all out?”

　　“Isn’t it obvious? He said it himself—it was because of the car accident. Just like in the movies, after experiencing life and death, his thinking evolved, and now he’s not afraid of anything.” Luke is always eager to share his opinion.

　　“It’s not that simple; there are other reasons.” Ben basically never agrees with Luke’s views.

　　“That’s just your imagination. Things aren’t as complicated as you think.” Luke would never agree with Ben’s views either.

　　“If he doesn’t say it today, he’ll say it sooner or later. The car accident was just a trigger.” Warren lives in the same city as Roger, so they meet often, and his analysis is deeper: “Last year, I saw a pile of Crazy English textbooks at his place, and later found out he’d even signed up for an English training class. For someone like him, who used to not even be able to tell Li Lei from Han Meimei, now he can spit out a few English curse words—can you imagine? I don’t think he’s just blindly worshipping the West. Honestly, I really hope he can go abroad. In our country, he won’t be accepted. Going abroad is his way out, his backup plan. The reason he told us the truth today is because he has a way out now, so he’s fearless. I bet, even if all of us opposed him, he’d still stick to this path.”

　　I said, “I don’t think this is his backup plan—this is his dream. Dreams are abstract things. To put it bluntly, they’re desires or ambitions; to be more neutral, they’re wishes; to put it nicely, they’re aspirations or ideals. But in essence, there’s no real difference—they’re just things we long for in our hearts and strive for. Roger just happens to have something to strive for. In my view, his ten-year plan is his dream.”

　　Under their thoughtful gazes, I continued, “Actually, Roger’s situation is harder than any of ours. His sexual orientation determines his circumstances—you could say he’s been pushed to a dead end. But to us, it seems like he’s doing pretty well. Why is that? Just like Warren said, he’s fearless now. When he confessed to us tonight, I could feel that aura about him. He can risk everything for his dream, even if it means breaking off with us. After this, I was deeply moved—Roger made me believe that dreams really can give people infinite strength.”

Chapter 015 Daydream