"So...?"
I stood in outside with Mimi as he adjusted his jacket, looking up at me.
"What's the point of this again?"
"I'm a p-part of a photography group. W-Where we post o-our pictures on Weibo and a-also hand them in to our school for catalogues th-that can be a part of their school w-website, catalogue, news...all of that." Mimi tells me, and I stay silent on the matter right now.
Because I could see that girl skip over to his side, tapping his shoulder. He turns around and she smiles brightly at him.
"Ting, nín zhǔnbèihǎo liǎo mǎ?" (Ting, are you ready? ) Mimi says to her, and she nods ecstatically. "Okay, ràng wǒmen-." ( Okay, let's-. )
I grab his arm, and I pull him away from her. I saw him look in confusion as she just narrowed her eyes at me.
"Mimi you need to be careful." I whisper to him, and he frowns. "That girl, Ting, she likes you - it's obvious."
"No, sh-she does not. No girl likes m-me." He shook his head fast as if I was lying to him. "It'd be c-cool if someone did th-though."
"Yeah, her-."
"Min-Jun! Wǒmen bìxū zhème zuò, lái bā!" ( We have to do it, come on! ) She says to him quickly, and he pats my chest. Before I can stop him again he was already walking away.
I just walk behind the cameras now, my arms folded in discontent. Though to see them both together as if this was some Chinese romcom or romance-drama was off-putting. This seems to be something Mimi enjoys...but why does it have to be like this?
I see them both take one another's hand, beginning to walk together down the sidewalk. He just looked forward and seemed to be trying to immolate a tough guy. That girl was gawking at him, ogling him, and even if this was supposed to be fake admiration and liking...it was obvious it wasn't fake for her.
=
"You're here?"
I look over my shoulder, seeing Jian at the urinal too. His eyes narrowed on me as I just smile awkwardly.
"Are you..following me?" He jokes, and I just snort as I pull my pants up now. "But seriously, why are you here?"
"I don't even know myself-."
"Well, you're obviously not here just to be here...so I'm assuming Min-Jun is having one of his iconic shoots, right? With the 'all-pretty TingTing'?" He smiles, and I face forward as I try not to barf.
So her name is TingTing? Or is that her nickname because Mimi's nickname is...Mimi. They both have repetition of the first part of their name. I don't know if that's a coincidence or on purpose.
"Yeah, if you say so."
"It's not me calling her all-pretty, it's the nickname she was given. Like how Min-Jun is the Wǎng Qiú Wáng Zi, she's the Fēicháng-Piāoliàng." ( All-Pretty ) He tells me casually but if there's anything on that girl...
"I don't care." I say to him straight up as he comes next to me to wash his hands.
"My bad! I was just informing you. They both are quite idolized for their...everything. Min-Jun: his kindness, soft, but handsome looks, and skilled at all he does. While TingTIng: her sweetness, all-pretty looks, and she's supposedly a very good swimmer. The last one is a rumor, but here people gobble up those rumors and take it for fact." He explains and I just didn't care about anything that had to do with Tinkerbell.
I leave the bathroom's, going back outside to where Mimi was. While I am doing so I hear Jian rushing to my side.
"Don't you have classes?"
"No, I was here to turn in one of my bandmates instruments because he's going to visit his family. Just being a good friend, it's what I do." He shrugs and I snort at his cockiness over something as simple as that. "I'm also intrigued on how they get those picturesque shots! They both are so perfect."
Once we were before them, I saw Mimi and her quite close. He sat crouched on the ground while she laid fully on her one side. They gazed into each other's eyes and I just was...aggravated.
Everyone spoke in Mandarin so I didn't know what they were saying, but I am fluent in facial expressions. Their facial expressions are telling me they are gobbling this up and loving it. I don't know why.
"Wow...their chemistry is through the roofs!" Jian exclaims, shaking his head in amazement.
"Is it now?" I mutter, annoyed that these people were seeing something. All I see is some girl fawning over him while he's doing his job. Or...is he?
No, I can't doubt him like that! There's no point, I know he doesn't like her.
"Know what I have come to notice?"
"No." I mumble with evident irritation in my voice.
I see Jian look at me, and his eyebrow was raised. He didn't seem to realize why I was annoyed, of course he wouldn't realize! Who would think that Mimi and I were together?
No one here would think that!
"This might not be my place, but are you two together?"
I flinch, looking at Jian with wide eyes. He nods at my ring, and then looks over his shoulder at Mimi who had his ring hand on his shoulder. He looks back at me and I kept my lips shut.
"That would make sense because I saw Min-Jun glaring at me yesterday. Not to mention now you seem to despise everything about this..." Jian gets close, patting my chest kindly. "I respect you both if that is the case."
Before I can say anything I was surprised to see Mimi walk between the both of us. He stood in front of Jian who looked down at him. Only to look amazed by his beauty probably.
I knew he had no bad intentions touching me that way, but my chest seems to be a place he goes for the most. To see someone like Jian touch it...?
I wouldn't be surprised if I was in trouble.
"Jianyu...wasn't it?" He asks him, and Jian nods fast in excitement. "Why are you t-touching him?"
Jian frowns at that question, looking up at me only for Mimi's arm to raise up so that his hand was shielding my face from his view.
"I was just asking a question, I met nothing by it - promise." He affirms and I felt a chill go down my spine when he said the word 'promise'... I don't think I should any reaction as Mimi looks over his shoulder to see if I do.
"You're in a band. No one is really on the campus, so why are you? These are private photoshoots so that we can surprise people." Mimi states, and that's when little Ting rushes up.
"Nǐ bù yìnggāi zài zhèlǐ zhè shì wǒmen zàiyīqǐ de shíjiān! Bié gěi wǒmen Jiànyǔ huǐ liǎo!" ( You shouldn't be here this is our time together! Don't ruin it for us Jianyu! ) Ting whines as Jian looked at her in disbelief.
"Wǒ bù shì lái zhèlǐ kàn zhè gè de. Wǒ shì lái bāngzhù yī gè péngyǒu de, túzhōng pèngqiǎo yùdào liǎo lìng yī gè péngyǒu. Zhè yīqiè dū shì guānyú huánjìng de, ér bùjǐnjǐn shì wǒ qiángpò tā fāshēng." ( I didn't come here and intend to see this. I came to help out a friend, and happen to meet another friend along the way. It's all about the circumstances, not just me forcing it to happen. ) Jian tells her calmly but she just pouts as if he was lying.
He looked taken aback by that as he looks away from her fast.
"Friend? What friend?" Mimi asks very fast and Jian nods up at me. "B-But you just met him."
"He's still my friend Min-Jun. Oh, I've been meaning to ask. Would you and Travis like to come to one of my band's practices once Christmas passes?" He just asks him politely only for Mimi's lips to tighten together. "I mean...I don't need a definitive answer at the moment. Travis, you can just message me the answer later."
I see Mimi turn around so fast, looking up at me in shock. I don't know why because he saw me get his WeChat username yesterday.
"Okay, I'll go, sorry for the disruption." He bows deeply and then bows at Ting who rolls her eyes at him. I hear him snort at her rudeness as he pats my shoulder, then walks away.
Now we just stood here...awkwardly.
"You a-actually...a-added him?"
"Yeah? He's real chill." I just tell him because I don't see the problem with that.
"Kyler g-gave you his."
"Yeah, but Kyler is also annoying, nosy, and he talks too much." I shake my head fast. Just the very thought of even possibly adding him put me off.
"B-But...'he's real chill'." Mimi mocks me, and I raise my eyebrow at such a thing. He then stuck his chin up at me as he turns away fast. "Lái bā, Tīng, ràng wǒmen wánchéng wǒmen kāishǐ de shìqíng." ( Come on, Ting, let's finish what we started. )
He grabs her hand, and I see her begin to blush. As they walk off she looks over her shoulder at me and gives me a smug look.
This is just ridiculous at this point.
Now someone who was chill and I could talk to just was shooed away practically. I don't know why Mimi is being that way when he literally knows Ting likes him, it's obvious!
That's when I turn around fast, running the way Jian went. As I ran I saw him going down the steps a few feet away towards the cars.
"Jian wait!" I shout, and he stops as he looks over at me. He jogs over towards me with a raised eyebrow. "Sorry...about him."
"Ah, that? It's fine, I am mostly surprised by Ting though. That was entertaining because she's known to be very soft-spoken and sweet. She was very quick and sharp when she spoke, took me by surprise; but it honestly just entertained me." He snorts, folding his arms. "Min-Jun didn't really do anything rude to me besides just being a jealous boyfriend is all. No one would probably catch on here to it unless you guys were literally feeling on each other and openly flirting. I just noticed because I've seen two different cultures."
I just smile shyly, wondering if I should say that's true. He practically guessed it on his own.
"Okay then...I just wanted to apologize on his behalf. Most people today are-."
"Sensitive? Yeah, I can agree with you on that one." He snorts, nudging his elbow against my arm. "I can agree with that one-hundred percent. It's fine though, don't worry."
"I'm not really worrying...I just don't want to watch them fake flirt on his end and Tinkerbell really mean it."
Jian laughs, shaking his head, "Tinkerbell? That's a good one, I'm going to start using that."
The both of us chuckle at that and continued to make more jokes on the matter. The more we did so I began to realize that there were people leaving from the area I came. There was wrapped up cameras and camera equipment being taken away.
The both of us just sat on the stairs as I look and see Mimi walking towards us. Ting right on his tail.
He got up to us and just looked down at me. I grin up at him and see Jian nod politely, soon facing forward. That's when Mimi grabs my arm and pulls on it.
"Travis w-we need to go home s-so that we can pack. G-Going to my grandparents, remember?" He says, and I don't say anything because I thought we were packing tomorrow for that.
I just stand up as Mimi begins to pull me down the steps. I saw Ting rushing behind us and Jian just waved goodbye at me. Just when I was about to wave back Mimi turns an abrupt corner and stops. Could still see Ting following and she tried catching her breath.
"Min-Jun! Wǒmen néng yīqǐ chī wǔfàn mǎ? Wǒ xiǎng hé nǐ tántán yīxiē shìqíng..." ( Can we please get lunch together? I want to speak to you about some things... ) She seems to ask him something and I felt his grip on my arm tighten. "Min-Jun-?"
"Nǐ kěyǐ kàndào wǒ zhèng shìtú hé wǒ de nánpéngyǒu shuōhuà, qǐng yuánliàng wǒmen, hǎo mǎ?" ( You can see that I am trying to speak to my boyfriend, please excuse us, will you? ) He says very fast and I saw her face become red instantly.
I don't know what he said but it had her running away. That confused me, but when I look down I was confused even more to see him shaking his head at me. I notice him push me against the wall and I don't say anything.
"You...you said you d-don't want friends a-again. Except your b-becoming best friends with J-Jianyu...why?" He asks me and I was confused.
"I can't be friends with him? Mimi, you have friends - many friends. I come here and happen to get one and you're being like this?" I raise my eyebrow at such a thing.
"You can have f-friends...but he's c-cool." He whimpers, his hand rubbing against my chest. "And y-you let him t-touch your chest."
"He didn't mean anything by it. Just friendly touching. Mimi, come on though, you grabbed Ting's hand when you know she likes you and did all that."
"It was for the photography." He groans, folding his arms tightly to his chest.
I look away now because it was getting kind of awkward. I could tell he was upset even though we both were jealous. Who wouldn't be jealous?
"Okay, okay," I start, wrapping my arm around his waist and he looks up at me, "We both were jealous. I was jealous of Tinkerbell, and you were jealous of Jian. I really insist you do not be jealous of him-."
"And I d-double insist you do n-not be jealous of Tinkerbell." He giggles kind of after saying her name that way. "So silly, y-you're so silly."
I smile, wrapping my arms around his waist. I feel his arms go around me too as we hug one another tightly.
"So," I kiss his ear in the direction no one could see, grinning, "You're not upset anymore?"
"No, but if he's a-around I will get a l-little jealous. He's j-just so much cooler than m-me." He pours and I didn't even need to see his face to know that. I could hear it in his cute voice.
I pull back, gripping his shoulders. Looking him straight in the eye, I see him pouting up at me.
"Mimi, you literally are idolized at that school. Everyone thinks you're so cool, he even thinks you're cool. I don't think you understand that." I chuckle because his incredulity to that fact was the cutest thing.
"I can't s-see it. They just l-like me for my tennis skills a-and looks. Not for m-me as a p-person. If they knew the r-real me, I'd lose all of t-that supposed 'popularity'. If I am e-even cool, it's not for who I a-am as a person on the inside, it's for t-the outside and what's p-produced. I don't want th-that popularity, I want what y-you have." He confesses shyly, and I frown.
"What do you mean? People at my school like me for my looks and my basketball skills. It doesn't get anymore shallow than that, that's just how people are-."
"No! I saw w-what people liked about y-you. They did think y-you were attractive, b-but they saw something else. They liked y-your personality. It wasn't o-one to be messed with, and you were r-respected." He states adamantly.
"How do you think it got to that point? Remember, I wasn't the nicest person before you got there Mimi." I remind him softly, soon grinning.
He just looks at me, folding his arms like that didn't matter. Maybe it didn't, but I hate seeing him believe he doesn't amount to something there. I'm not exactly sure how he doesn't see it.
"My cute baby, you are the coolest-."
"No! S-Stop it!" He exclaims, yanking back from me and rushing away.
I rush after him as I grab his hand, pulling him back towards me. Only for his legs to crumble right when I got to him.
I pick him up into my arms, and he just begins to hug me.
"You're the coolest. You are cooler than everyone I have ever met. No one can amount to you, why doesn't baby believe me?" I whine as I walk us along the sidewalk.
"Y-You're just saying that b-because you're my b-boyfriend and we're e-engaged." He mumbles, folding his arms to his chest.
I chuckle because I wasn't going to argue against us being engaged. I don't mind even though we never said ourselves we were engaged.
Do we even need to say so? Who says we need to?
"I would still say such a thing even if we weren't. When I first met you I just...wanted to say as much sweet things to you because you deserved it. I wanted to see...you smile..." I found myself getting all mushy, and I see Mimi looking at me lovingly. "I just really love you Mimi."
"Can y-you tell me a story...?" Mimi murmurs shyly, and I raise my eyebrow. "On when y-you knew? When you knew y-you liked me?"
"Hmm...I would love to. If I remember correctly," I continue to walk us further, seeing him just gaze up at me lovingly, "It was a couple of days before we first kissed and did all of that stuff."
"Ooh~!" He smiles, and I snicker.
Now is when I decided to tell the story.
____last summer____
I sat beside Louis, on my phone as he was finishing up his end of the project. His eyes were back on me and I nodded at his work.
"That's due tomorrow. If you don't get that done I'm not taking the fall for it. I'm telling her straight up I did my half and you procrastinated-."
"Travis no! Don't do that, please!" Louis whines, rushing towards me as he jumped onto me. Laying his head against my shoulder. "I am trying my best. I just need some help."
I raise my eyebrow, and I began to remember Mimi. This was an assignment we were given over the summer. It's on sociology as well as world culture and what has changed or come and go like cultures, trends, even people.
"Maybe Mimi can help." I state, and Louis glares at me. "What?"
"Why do you refer to him? He can't help us. He didn't live here the whole summer-."
"Yeah, but he was in a different culture. He could tell you the differences of trends, people, all of that! If I wasn't done with my end of the project, I'd do that." I nod adamantly.
I see Louis raise his eyebrow. That's when he seemed to be really considering what I said. I wait in anticipation until he sighs.
"Fine-." I stand up abruptly, and see Louis narrow his eyes at me. "But I can ask myself-."
"No. You need to get this done. I'll get what we need by voice memos and good memory." I smile at him, and I see him blush. When he nods I leave his room.
I go to Mimi's and take a deep breath. I don't know why I'm so nervous. I'm being ridiculous!
I just knock on his door now, I don't need to be nervous! Mimi is so nice... What's to be nervous of?
Seeing the door open, I begin to wait. Only to see it open wide and his hair was wet. He clearly got out of the shower a few minutes ago or something because it dripped some.
He had a towel around his neck, but clothes on everywhere else. I was taken aback by how he looked...
"Oh!" Mimi exclaims, bowing deeply before me. His towel slipping onto the ground and I crouch down to grab it. When I do I see him still bowing, looking down at me as I was below him now.
I saw his face turn pink, and I just looked at him. I don't know what to say...he's so...
"You're very beautiful Mimi." I breathe to him, and he stood up straight so fast. That's when I stand up and he looked away from me. "Sorry, I just had to say it."
"I-It's fine." He just continued to blush as he leans against his door. "You c-compliment me so easily. I-I don't deserve y-your kindness."
"Of course you do." I speak up fast, going towards him. I wrap the towel around his neck and he looks up at me. I begin to dry his hair for him and he blushes. Just looking into one another's eyes... "Are you busy?"
"No, I a-am not."
"Can you help Louis and me with a project we have?" I ask him as he frowns. "Yeah, school hasn't started; but it's an over-the-summer assignment. It's world-culture and sociology. Seeing differences and the changes, with cultures and trends...whatnot."
Mimi nods in understanding, and I stop drying his hair right when he steps back. I see him go over to his desk, handing me a notebook.
"Y-You can look in here. I a-actually have pictures from China and y-you can see the d-difference. You'll get what you n-need here." He tells me as he hands it over.
Right when he hands it over I feel our hands touch. His face turning pink again and I grin at how cute he was.
"Our d-differences...are in our g-government and people. You can t-talk about that...news that h-happens, check the news. It is q-quite biased, chosen. You can speak on th-that too." He grins at me, and I appreciate his words.
Now it was silent, the both of us just looking at one another. Except the more I stared I realized I...didn't want to leave.
"I-Is that good?" He asks to make sure.
"Yes, perfect."
"Then...?"
"Sorry..." I found myself apologizing. "I just could look at you...be around you for all this time and I wouldn't get tired of it. If I'm bothering you-."
"No! You're n-not bothering me!" He interrupts me fast, blushing more when I smile. "I promise-."
"Travis it shouldn't take that long!" We hear Louis yell. I notice Mimi flinch and I go towards him.
I hug him nicely, grinning even more when he hugged me back. As we hugged I had this desire to kiss-.
I gasp, pulling away from him. I see him look up at me completely red-faced. Except I just realized something and it's been so long since I felt this way...
I like Mimi?
"I'll see you later." I say to him, and he bows again. Even as I walked back I felt my heart beating quite fast...since when did it ever race this way?
It didn't even race for my ex like this...
Wow...I like Mimi.
____present time____*
"That t-time?!" Mimi gasps as we sat in the living room now. "I thought I s-smelled weird or made y-you uncomfortable because I c-clung too hard, or l-laid my head too c-comfortably into your chest."
I shake my head fast and lay down. Laying my head on his lap, I feel him start to press his fingers to my face.
Wrapping my arm around his waist, I turn and press my face into his stomach. Hugging him close, I smile.
"I wonder now, when did you know you liked me?"
"As soon as I saw you. I didn't k-know per say - the words t-to give it, but I knew I l-liked you a lot. C-Couldn't get you out of m-my head." He murmurs down to me as he plays with my hair. "I liked y-you so much."
"Yeah, now look at you two."
We both look, seeing Louis have his suitcase as he rolled it up to the door.
"Where are y-you going?" Mimi questions him with slight concern.
"I'm going to our grandparents earlier. I'll see you guys tomorrow anyway, just want to give you guys some time before you actually can't do anything for a week. You should be thanking me." He snorts, smirking at us now.
I sit up, nodding at him as his eyes softened on me. I just grin politely since there was no point in so hating him. If Mimi is fine...I am.
"Thank you." I thank him, and he nods. That's when he left and I smile, looking at Mimi. "Well, you heard him. We won't be able to do anything so...wanna make it c-."
Right when I was about to kiss him he pressed his hand to my lips. I look at him in shock as he smiled shyly.
"N-No, we can w-watch a movie! We d-don't h-have to have sex, don't w-w-worry. I'll go f-find one." He stands up and starts to walk away. I didn't understand that.
Why would I worry?
We're about to leave here and he's not going to take advantage of this opportunity? What's up with that?
...what is baby thinking?
___________________😲
I wonder the same thing. 🙇🏽♀️
"what is Mimi thinking?" 🤨
it will only make it harder on you both. 🤷🏽♀️
and...I can't wait. 😀
- yolo✨