"You should come to me, I'll be busy for a while," Raj thought for a moment and said to Howard.
He hasn't finished memorizing the main points of the thesis, and he doesn't want to give up halfway. Otherwise, if he forgot the details later, it would be too late for him to cry.
"Okay," Howard hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
After hanging up the phone, Raj continued to write, his pen moving steadily across the page as he committed each crucial detail to memory.
After about half an hour, he heard a knock on the door.
Raj quickly hid the notes away, went to open the door, and saw Howard standing outside with a smile on his face.
"Hi, come on in," Raj said with a warm smile. "Sorry, I really forgot about our date."
"It's okay, you already apologized," Howard waved his hand dismissively and smiled, then walked into the room quickly. "So tell me about your new discovery."
"It's a planet, located about a hundred light-years away from us, in the Magellanic Cloud constellation Doradus, revolving around a red dwarf star," Raj explained enthusiastically. "I boldly guess that it's probably an Earth-like planet."
"Earth-like planet?! Wow, congratulations!" Howard smiled sincerely after hearing this, genuine excitement in his voice.
Earth-like planets, as the name suggests, are planets similar to Earth, and they are also the celestial bodies that astronomers are most keen to find.
On the one hand, terrestrial planets are similar to Earth. The so-called stones from other mountains can be used to polish jade—by studying them, scientists can better understand the origin of Earth and life itself.
On the other hand, terrestrial planets may harbor life, which is of tremendous significance to the search for extraterrestrial civilizations. Moreover, they may become future interstellar colonies for humanity.
From ancient times to the present, humans have discovered fewer than 5,000 terrestrial planets, and there are only just over 50 habitable planets similar in size to Earth.
So if a terrestrial planet is found, especially if it's a habitable one, it is truly a great honor for any astronomer and represents a major breakthrough for the scientific community as a whole.
"Thank you," Raj smiled gratefully. "I also want to thank you. Without the telescope bracket you designed for me, I wouldn't have found it so smoothly. If I'm lucky enough to be interviewed in the future, I will definitely praise your contribution."
In the original sitcom, when Rajesh was selected as one of the "30 Most Noteworthy People Under 30 in the World" by People magazine because of his discovery of an asteroid (2008-nq-sub-17), he acted like a villain—arrogant and rude, which made his friends very unhappy.
Raj naturally wouldn't make the same mistake or display such low emotional intelligence.
Hearing what he said, Howard was genuinely happy.
He hugged Raj hard. "Thank you, good brother."
"You're welcome, you deserve it," Raj laughed, returning the embrace.
"Well, we should go to Leonard and let him be happy for you," Howard suggested. "Wow, if Sheldon knows that you have made such a big discovery, he will be jealous of you."
Raj nodded with a smile.
Sheldon does not like being surpassed, whether that person is his friend or his competitor. His competitive nature was legendary among their group.
"Okay, but wait for me to change my clothes first," Raj said, waving his hand with a smile.
After crossing over, he had been busy with work and hadn't had time to change his clothes yet. He was still wearing Rajesh's favorite three-piece outfit: shirt, sweater, and jacket—a decidedly conservative combination that screamed "third world working professional." Such rustic attire certainly wouldn't help attract girls.
"OK!" Howard readily agreed.
Raj immediately walked into the bedroom and began to change his clothes.
Actually, Rajesh still had a lot of good clothes in his closet. After all, he was born into a wealthy family, and there were many designer brands hanging in the wardrobe. Raj took off his three-piece ensemble and put on a crisp dress shirt, a stylish tie, a well-tailored suit, and a pair of polished leather shoes.
He turned to look in the mirror and saw that he appeared much more energetic and sophisticated.
With Raj's appearance, figure, and natural temperament, the yuppie-style outfit suited him perfectly. Before Kai Jun had crossed over, he had specifically looked up photos of Rajesh's actor, Kunal Nayyar, and found that his daily attire in real life was exactly this yuppie style—very handsome and very gentlemanly. Coupled with his distinctive dark complexion, the look was genuinely attractive. Even Jim Parsons, who plays Sheldon, had praised him, saying "he is the most handsome man I have ever seen."
After changing his clothes, Raj came out of the bedroom.
"Wow, why are you dressed so grandly? Where's your sweater, where's your coat?" Howard asked in surprise when he saw him.
He only saw Raj dressed like this when attending important occasions. Today they were just going to Leonard's house as guests, so it didn't make sense that he would wear such formal attire.
"I don't want to wear it like that anymore," Raj said, waving his hand with a smile.
"Why? What have you figured out?" Howard asked, his surprise evident.
Rajesh had always been so confident in his aesthetic choices. Howard had tried to persuade Raj countless times before to stop wearing sweaters and old-fashioned coats, but he never listened. Unexpectedly, today, he had actually changed.
"Yes, I have been dressed like that for more than twenty years, and no girl has ever liked me. I should have thought of this earlier," Raj said matter-of-factly.
Howard nodded after listening, unable to argue with that logic.
"Actually, Howard, you should also change," Raj suggested with a friendly smile.
"Me?! My outfit is cool, why do I need to change it?" Howard asked, puzzled and slightly defensive.
Raj smiled knowingly.
Howard typically wore tight pants, brightly colored shirts, high turtleneck sweaters, alien badges often pinned to his collar, and exaggerated belt buckles. The overall effect made him look naive and overdone, like a child who refused to grow up. In fact, the reason he dressed this way was largely because his mother had arranged it for him years ago, and he'd never questioned it.
"Dude, you are like me—you also can't find girls year after year. Why don't you think about it?" Raj said with a laugh. "If you really look as cool as you think, why don't girls chase you?"
Howard couldn't help being stunned by Raj's straightforward question.
He had been dressed like this for more than twenty years. During this entire period, no girl had ever pursued him. On the contrary, his style had provoked quite a lot of ridicule from others. He had always thought it was because people didn't know how to appreciate his unique fashion sense, but now, hearing what Raj said, his long-held belief was suddenly shaken.
"We are all scientists, we know how to falsify hypotheses. When a theory is proven wrong, we should have the courage to give it up," Raj said, patting Howard on the shoulder meaningfully.
Seeing Raj say such insightful words, Howard was speechless for a moment, his mind racing through years of fashion failures.
"Okay, let's go," Raj said with another smile. "I'm going to buy new clothes tomorrow. If you're determined to change, please come with me."
"Yes," Howard nodded, his emotions complicated, and then walked out of the room with Raj.
Going downstairs, Raj found his car in the parking area.
It was a sleek silver BMW, a gift from Rajesh's father—very beautiful and relatively new.
Then, he drove Howard to Leonard's home, both men lost in their own thoughts about the changes ahead.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi everyone,
Thank you so much for your support!
I hope you're enjoying the story so far—your feedback truly means the world to me. I'd love to hear your thoughts on where you'd like the story to go next, so feel free to share any ideas or suggestions in the comments.
If you'd like to support my work and gain access to advance chapters, exclusive artwork, story polls etc please consider visiting: patre on. com (slash) Maggie329