Gege, Will You Be My Bride?

three

When he tried imagining his day without her cheerful interruptions, he was not surprised to find that it would feel empty and bland without her. Shi Qingxuan was like a force of the nature, strong and unrelenting and impossible to ignore. He Xuan had tried to, and failed miserably. He was a weak man in comparison, easily carried away by the winds as if he weighed nothing. 

Partnering up with Shi Qingxuan for the project, and spending time with her for the past few days had turned out to be a welcome change. Her juvenile behaviour, as irritating as it was, was like a balm that soothed the ache of loneliness which often tormented him. Which was perhaps why he subconsciously gravitated towards her, longing to be soothed and comforted. But He Xuan would rather die than admit to something like that! Hua Cheng, the devil in disguise, had noticed his slight change in behaviour, and teased him mercilessly about his 'dates with the Shi sister'.

"It— it is not like that," He Xuan had slammed his aquatic encyclopedia shut as he glared at Hua Cheng.

"You never voluntarily hangout with anyone unless you have ulterior motives," Hua Cheng quirked his eyebrow in that annoying trademark way of his. He Xuan briefly contemplated shaving the offending eyebrow off. What a sight that would be, one eye covered and the eyebrow of the other missing!

"And judging by the way she is texting you, it is easy to guess what exactly that motive is."

"Why the fuck are you reading my texts you fucking creep!" He Xuan said, feeling genuinely unsettled. Suddenly struck by an idea, he continued. "Also, I do have an ulterior motive. It is all a part of my grand revenge plan."

That bastard Hua Cheng actually had the audacity to look bored of a conversation that he started in the first place. "Oh?" he yawned, exposing his sharp, feline canines. "And what exactly do you plan to achieve?"

"Easy, her brother dared to switch our places and land her my seat back in high school. So I will sabotage all of her projects to get back on her."

"..."

"I will delete all the pictures that we take for the photoshoot!"

"You," Hua Cheng actually looked at a loss for words, "are the biggest fucking idiot I have ever seen. And I've seen a lot."

.

Now that the photoshoot was actually done, He Xuan was not going to delete the pictures. For one, Hua Cheng would actually kill him. And two, Shi Qingxuan seemed genuinely so proud of herself and... AS IF THAT MATTERED AT ALL! No, He Xuan was just not particularly in the mood for revenge, yes. Come to think of it, deleting photos did not sound very intimidating. He resigned himself to come up with a better plan. Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to think about revenge when Shi Qingxuan sat right next to him.

Thus, he did what he was best at— distracting himself from his complicated feelings by stuffing himself full with all sorts of food.

"I'm done," he declared to no one in particular, pushing his empty plate away from himself.

"I'll get the bill then," Shi Qingxuan languidly sat up straight and stretched her hands. A waitress noticed their signal, and hurried over with their bill. She had been eyeing He Xuan the entire time and she eagerly jumped at the opportunity to approach him. When she reached their table, her eyes flickered between the two of them, and she smiled in satisfaction when she noticed the tell tale distance between the two customers that suggested that they were no more than mere acquaintances.

"Was the food to your liking, sir?" she ignored Shi Qingxuan's existence entirely and batted her eyelashes coquettishly at He Xuan. Unfortunately for both Shi Qingxuan and the waitress, He Xuan was unbelievably dense when it came to matters of the heart.