Taming The Tiger

44. The Seaside

"What is in the backpack?" Hu Jing Yao asked in order to break the unceasing silence inside the car.

Only then Yu Hua realised he was holding his bag tightly as if there was something fragile in it. Loosening his hold, he counted "the script, some band-aids and my scarf."

"Hmm," the CEO hummed, "do you carry the script everywhere?"

Yu Hua nodded as he watched the trees appearing and disappearing from his vision, "I study it on the bus and at work when I have time," he answered, then frowned and added, "I used to study at work."

"Used to? Not anymore?" Hu Jing Yao asked right away, miserably failing to hide his curiosity.

"We..." Yu Hua hesitated for a second before finishing, "... are fired."

"What?" Hu Jing Yao exclaimed with frustration as he could link the firing to the incident, "the owner should have rewarded you, not firing you!"

The actor smiled cutely, seeing the CEO was getting mad for him. Looking at the side profile of the handsome CEO, he said "it is okay, we can find a better job."

"Oh." Right! It was a blessing indeed! Now, they didn't have to work on that dangerous street. Good!

Seeing the brooding expression on the CEO's face, Yu Hua hastily said, "I will pay the debt regularly, I am already looking for a new job."

That remark irritated Hu Jing Yao, who pulled the car over. Half-turning towards the startled actor, he said "do you think I care about that money? It is nothing to me, so there is no way I am concerned about when you are gonna pay it. You don't even have to pay it back."

Yu Hua listened to the breathless words of the CEO with a slightly opened mouth and wide open eyes. He didn't understand why the CEO got so heated up, but he was still grateful for the nice words. Trying not to blush, he said "thank you so much... again... but I will pay it back, maybe slowly but I will."

As there was no use arguing with the actor, the CEO just nodded and started the engine again. At least Yu Hua understood the message he gave. Jeez, why was it so hard to convince him that he wasn't evil?

The rest of the drive was silent because Yu Hua fell asleep soon, his head resting on the window. Taking a glance now and then towards the peacefully sleeping figure, Hu Jing Yao reached the destination in a bit less than two hours.

After parking the car closer to the beach, Hu Jing Yao gently shook the actor's shoulder to wake him up.

"Hmm?" Yu Hua opened his eyes and covered his mouth as he yawned.

Inwardly chuckling at his cute groggy state, the CEO announced "we are at the seaside."

Sleep left Yu Hua immediately. He took an upright position on his seat and looked out of the window with searching eyes.

"So beautiful," he said dreamily, his eyes tearing in front of the magnificent view.

Trying his best not to ruffle the mesmerised man's hair, Hu Jing Yao left the car and went to Yu Hua's side. He opened the car door and reached his hand to the actor, "come, let's get closer."

Nodding avidly, Yu Hua took the hand and hopped out of the car with his backpack, which he didn't even realise holding. He followed the CEO to the empty beach and filled his lungs with the salty fresh air.

"So beautiful," he repeated again as if his mind couldn't produce any other compliments. With keen eyes, he watched the dark blue waves hitting on the shore, creating different patterns on the sand for a second before the other wave hit. Unwittingly, he opened his eyes wider to engrave the eternal scene into his mind better.

"Indeed," Hu Jing Yao replied after a minute, but his focus wasn't on the sea at all.

"Why is there no one?" Yu Hua asked after a while when his trance was broken and shifted to the empty beach, "how come no one wants to sit here and watch the sea?"

His child-like excitement made Hu Jing Yao chuckled, "you may not notice it yet, but it is pretty cold. If you come in spring or summer, you will see there is no place even to sit here."

"Oh... right," Yu Hua mumbled, embarrassed. He fidgeted a bit and asked "are you cold?"

The CEO turned his head towards the actor and stared at his light eyes which were imploring not to go yet. Although he was cold to his bones, he shook his head with a smile and sat on the greyish-golden sand, crossed-legs.

Beaming at the response, Yu Hua immediately mimicked the CEO's action and slumped next to him. Together, they watched the restless waves and listened to the crashing sound, which was sporadically accompanied by the squeaks of the seagulls.

For the first time after so long, Yu Hua felt at complete peace. His mind let go of all the bad memories and distress, and allowed him to breathe. As he was beyond content, he had the potential to stay in that position until dark. However, soon he realised the CEO was squirming silently next to him.

He is cold, Yu Hua thought as he paid attention to the shaking figure. He wanted to suggest leaving, but knowing the CEO better, he knew the older man would refuse it. As he didn't want to leave as well, he decided to help the CEO keep warm.

"I will be back in a minute," Yu Hua declared all of a sudden and rose to his feet. Without waiting for the CEO's response, he started to walk towards the small cafe he saw near the parking lot. However, after taking ten steps, he turned around and came back.

"What's wrong?" Hu Jing Yao asked through his chattering teeth with worry.

"Nothing," Yu Hua replied as he took out his dark green scarf from his backpack and wrapped it around the CEO's neck. Then he rushed back to his destination.

Lovely... and smells like lavender...

When he came back ten minutes later, Yu Hua was holding two big paper cups of hot coffee. Clumsily, he sat back and reached one cup to the CEO, "just a little bit more, then we can leave," he said half apologetically half imploringly.

"No problem and thank you," Hu Jing Yao smiled at the actor and twirled his cold fingers around the warm cup gladly. They seemed to change roles, but the CEO was happy with the attention anyway.

As Yu Hua wished they stayed there, watching the waves in a blissful silence until they felt numb because of the chilly cold. Then Hu Jing Yao almost dragged Yu Hua to the closest restaurant and they had lunch. After the good lunch, the CEO made a surprise and took the actor to a cafe which had the sea view.

While Yu Hua was lost in the view, Hu Jing Yao handled some work through his phone. Well, actually Yu Hua's attention wasn't solely on the sea view. The moment he was sure the CEO was busy with work, he fished out his phone and took a secretive shot of the sexy man across from him. Indeed, it wasn't nice to do such a thing, but Yu Hua wanted to have a solid memory in his hand when they parted their ways for good.

"What are you doing?" Hu Jing Yao suddenly asked, his eyes fixed on the phone in Yu Hua's hand.

"N-Nothing," Yu Hua stuttered and took a few pictures of the sea hastily.

Catching him red-handed, Hu Jing Yao chuckled silently and pushed his chair towards Yu Hua's. Turning on his own phone's camera, he said "we should take some pictures."

Yu Hua flustered at the proximity, but managed to nod with a smile. Then the CEO raised his phone and took several selfies with the sea in the background.

When it was time to go back, Yu Hua was smiling genuinely, making strange things to Hu Jing Yao's heart.

Thank you, Mr. Hu... this was all I ever wanted...