𝙋𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙝 ➝ Zhuo Zhi

37: A Date

The sidewalk was barren of people, no voices were heard except for the rustling of leaves falling down from the branches. Jia Li was slowly dragging her feet, hands gripping the strap of her camera bag. Her mind was in a treadmill, random thoughts running all around her head. She could still feel the tension from earlier even if the game had already ended. Nervousness was still creeping inside her as the members looked questioningly at Jing Wu's reaction upon seeing her. Thankfully, the team sitting a few blocks away from Yu Qing caught the members' line of sight, diverting their attention from interrogating her to send an intimidating look to that team.

Zhuo Zhi was a few steps behind her, hands tucked inside his pockets as he frowned at the girl. Ever since the team had dispersed their ways, Jia Li had been quiet — too quiet for his liking as if something was bothering her. Her face was morphed into seriousness, lips formed into a deep frown and her eyebrows were unknowingly crossed as her eyes stared blankly ahead. He wanted to ask her a lot of questions, starting from how Ji Jing Wu knew her. And with the way Jia Le acted protectively, Zhuo Zhi concluded some history between them must have gone down the drain.

"Hey," he gently held her arm to which Jia Li flinched, stopping in her steps. She let out a relieved sigh upon seeing that it was Zhuo Zhi. "Are you okay? We could move our date next time if you're not feeling well."

"No, it's okay," Jia Li shook her head, feeling bad that she was in a sour mood when she was supposed to be enjoying their date. "I just got a lot of things in my head."

He held her hand, caressing it — a new favorite thing he liked to do when he's with her, "Do you want to talk about it?"

She puckered her lips, "I want to but at the same time, I don't want to dampen the mood even more."

"How about this?" Zhuo Zhi suggested. "We'll enjoy the date first then we'll make time to talk about it later."

"Later?" Jia Li tilted her head. "I have curfew at 8:00 pm sharp if you didn't know."

Zhuo Zhi smirked, "I might have pulled a few strings to allow you to stay out until 10:00 pm."

Jia Li squinted her eyes at him, skeptical at how he was able to make Jia Le agree, "Did you blackmail my brother?"

"Maybe."

"That doesn't sound reassuring."

Chuckling at her, he held her hand and tugged her beside him as they resumed walking, "Let's just get going."

To say Jia Li became relieved was an understatement. Zhuo Zhi had managed to completely divert her thoughts from the incident earlier to their date. He had brought her to a 3D art museum, knowing her love for photography despite that it wasn't his cup of tea. She was laughing the entire time as he goofed around the 3D paintings, resulting to photos that made him hilarious among the illusions. Jia Li was even pushed by Zhuo Zhi to at least pose in some photos, which she was hesitant to do, considering how she was used behind the lenses instead of the front.

She never expected herself to enjoy this much. Her cheeks were aching from smiling and she even started coughing after laughing too much. Zhuo Zhi stole a snap of her grinning widely, causing her eyes to shrink so small, her dimples slowly showing. It was his favorite photo of hers, proud of himself for making her smile that hard.

After sweeping the place with tons photos, Zhuo Zhi led Jia Li to a coffee shop near the museum. Their hands were unknowingly intertwined together for how many hours and the only time they separated was when he took photos of her and when he stood up to give their order.

"Did you have fun today?" He asked as he seated himself opposite of her.

Jia Li nodded excitedly, her palms pressing her warm cheeks, "I enjoyed a lot. My cheeks even hurt from smiling." Zhuo Zhi fished out his phone and snapped a photo of Jia Li squeezing her cheeks, chuckling as she sat upright, "Hey! You're not supposed to take photos."

"I'm not?" He raised his eyebrows in amusement. "I don't recall any rule about forbidding to take photos."

"You're not allowed to take stolen shots of me." Jia Li pressed her lips, self-conscious at how she would look like.

"Too late," Zhuo Zhi chuckled. "I already have lots of stolen photos of you in my phone's gallery." He pushed a plate with food towards Jia Li. "Now eat so I can bring you home earlier before your brother kills me."

When both finished eating, Zhuo Zhi decided to take Jia Li home. They boarded the subway and situated themselves just near the door with Jia Li taking a seat between the window and Zhuo Zhi. The moment she sat down, Jia Li felt the tiredness of her body from walking around the past few hours. She let out a small yawn and comfortably leaned against the window, slumping on her seat.

"Tired?"

"A bit." She yawned again, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Take a rest." He urged her. "I'll wake you up when we arrive."

She nodded and allowed him to pull her head to lie on his shoulder, slipping his hand to hold hers. Jia Li placed her free hand on his arm, slowly slipping to darkness.

He awoke her an hour and a half later and she groggily sat up, looking outside through the window. Zhuo Zhi didn't let go of her hand even until they reached the front gate of her house. He traced her knuckles with his thumb as she began bidding him good night.

"Um, thank you for today, I really enjoyed it." Jia Li smiled shyly, still not wanting to let go of his hand.

"I'm glad." Zhuo Zhi smiled, staring at her. For a moment, none of them spoke, just letting silence embrace them. But as Zhuo Zhi opened his mouth to say something, the front gate opened and out came Jia Le with his arms crossed.

"No PDA in front of my house."

Jia Li rolled her eyes and turned to her brother, "We weren't even doing anything."

"And what do you call that?" Jia Le gestured at their hands laced together. "Get in, now child. It's getting late."

Sighing, Jia Li faced Zhuo Zhi, "I'll see you on Monday then." He nodded and watched as she gave him one last smile before disappearing inside.

As soon as his sister had gone, Jia Le shifted his demeanor to an eager one, excitedly jumping in front of Zhuo Zhi, "So, did you ask her?"

Zhuo Zhi tucked his hands inside his pockets, shifting on his feet and lazily smiled at Jia Le, "No, I wasn't able to."

"Why?" Jia Le frowned in disbelief.

"You interrupted and told her to get in already." Zhuo Zhi deadpanned to which Jia Le sheepishly step back.

"Oh."