Shen Yue had slept through her alarm that morning. she wasn't sure how it happened but by the time the incessant rings of her phone finally woke her up, it was her manager, Yangjin jie, sounding frantic on the other end. they had exactly 20 minutes to leave for the airport if they wanted to make their flight.
fully awake then, she quickly jumped out of bed. but somehow in the flurry of movements, the pendant hanging on her neck had gotten caught in her blanket and she felt the chain snapped.
she caught the slipping jewelry just in time and let out a curse. what the fuck is wrong with today!
she was still frozen, staring at the glittering gemstones in her palm when her front door beeped open and Yangjin jie's voice boomed across her apartment.
"Yueyue! are you ready? we have to go in 15 min-- OMG WHY ARE YOU STILL IN PYJAMAS? SHEN YUE!"
she gave her manager a look and showed the broken necklace in her hand.
"SO? you can get it fixed later! go get ready! PLEASE TELL ME YOU HAVE PACKED YOUR LUGGAGE?!"
she walked to the bathroom in a bit of daze. the broken necklace gave her an uneasy feeling. a delicate white gold necklace with a diamond constellation pendant, it was a gift from him for her 25th birthday. he had enclosed in the box a small metal card engraved with "you guide me home. every time. i love you. always."
focus, Shen Yue. FOCUS. you're gonna be late. she washed her face and got dressed in record time despite the heaviness in her gut. by the time she stepped out to her living room, her manager already had one foot out the door with the luggage all lined up outside.
"oh thank heavens! one more minute and i was ready to drag you out of here half dressed, bed hair and all!"
.
.
.
they were waiting for the elevator when she asked Yangjin jie for the necklace and pendant.
"oh i put them in the jewelery box in your dresser drawer. we'll have it fixed when you get back."
she shook her head and quickly turned to run back, right as the elevator pinged and opened its door.
"where are you going? WE ARE LATE! YUEYUE!"
she jogged to her unit and rummaged through her jewelries as quick as she could. then she ran down the stairs all the way to the lobby. this time, when Yangjin jie saw Shen Yue coming, she looked about ready to lose her temper.
"what is SO important about that necklace?!? i swear to GOD, Yueyue. if we miss this flight ...."
tuning out her manager's rant, Yue silently climbed onto the van and sat clutching the necklace. then she felt her phone vibrate.
"good morning. i love you. have a good day today."
his message made her smile but her eyes teared up involuntarily. she couldn't remember the last time she had seen him in person. she could barely remember what his voice sounded like.
she closed her eyes and the tears spilled over. she missed him so much, but she didn't quite know how to tell him that. with every day that had passed, he felt a little more like a stranger.
still overwhelmed with feelings, she opened her eyes and typed a quick reply: "omw to airport. running late. call you when i get to boarding gate."
.
.
.
traffic was heavier than expected and her manager turned to her, all ready to scold her for making them late. but one look at Yue's face, and all she said was, "are you not feeling well? should we delay our departure and head to the clinic instead?"
she shook her head. and her manager looked at her intently for a while before exhaling with a shrug, turning her attention back to the road.
as they sat there in traffic, she pulled the necklace out of her pocket and stared at it again. she wondered what he was doing now. was he on his way to work? was he perhaps flying out of the city too?
she used to remember his schedule better than she did her own. she used to know exactly when his flights were supposed to depart and when he's scheduled to land back in the city. she had them all committed to memory because airports were sometimes the only place where they could catch a glimpse of each other in person, after weeks of only talking on messaging apps and brief face-time sessions at the end of their days.
their airport encounters were often the only times she could really be sure that she was in a relationship with an actual human being and not some virtual reality entity that only existed in her mobile gadgets.
she leaned her head back against the head rest and closed her eyes as she tried to brush off the ache blooming in her chest. people had warned how hard it was for someone of her caliber to date someone in the industry, let alone someone as popular as Dylan Wang. but she had dismissed those warnings and naively thought that they could make it work. which they had. for a while in the beginning, anyway.
the last year had been particularly difficult. they both had gotten even more popular and project offers never stopped coming. they were flying in and out the city way too much, and for longer periods of time too. as such, matching their flight times proved to be almost impossible. in the end, both their teams begged them to stop being so stubborn and making things hard for everyone.
slowly they accepted that the only way they could see each other's faces for weeks on end was through an electronic screen. weeks often quickly turned to months and after a while, she stopped keeping track. how long has it been since i last wrapped my arms around him? two months?
.
.
.
the car abruptly came to a stop, jolting her out of her reveries. she opened her eyes and peeked out the window as Yangjin jie got off the van, unloaded the luggages and hurried towards the departure hall entrance with their driver in tow.
she exhaled. then she put the necklace back in the inside pocket of her jacket before plastering a practiced smile on her face and stepping off the van to a crowd of waiting fans.
.
.
.
as she approached the check in counter of their airline, her manager looked back at her in dismay. they had missed the cut off time to drop off their luggage.
"you could still fly on this flight, Yue. the production team will send a car with one of the PAs to pick you up at the airport over there. i'll get on the next flight with the luggages. "
she shook her head vehemently at the suggestion. the thought of being on a 7-hour cross continent flight all by herself made her nauseous. maybe on a different day she would be fine, but not today.
"are you sure? the next flight wont be for another 6 hours. it would be very late by the time we arrive. and you have costume and makeup fittings very early tomorrow... ", Yangjin jie trailed off as she watched the determined expression on Yue's face.
she shrugged. "okay then if youre sure. let me rebook us on the next flight and then we'll find a place where you can rest. i'm worried you may be falling ill again. what is it with you and winter?"
Yue's hand instinctively went up to her forehead to feel her own temperature. she frowned and rolled her eyes at her manager. she was fine. she was gonna BE fine. she had to be.
.
.
.
they had been sitting in the airport lounge for over 2 hours when Shen Yue realized she never called him as she had promised. how could i have forgotten?!
at the thought, Yue's hand automatically went to the pocket where the necklace was and pulled it out. her manager looked at her with raised eyebrows. Yue pulled out her phone and excused herself.
she went to a quiet corner of the lounge to make the call but stopped short of actually pressing the dial button on his contact. was he at work? would she be interrupting?
she held the pendant up and stared as it twirled and glittered under the light. suddenly she felt an overwhelming need to get out of the quiet, dimmed space of the vip lounge. she shoved her phone into her pocket and ran into the brightly lit hallway of the departure terminal.
she froze momentarily upon seeing the vast open space filled with people. then she realized she didnt have a face mask on and scanned the signs for a pharmacy or convenience store where she could get one.
she spotted a sign and turned to jog in its direction only to run smack dab into a person's chest.
she kept her head down, mumbled a quiet apology and tried to get on her way. but she immediately realized that she had dropped the necklace in the collision. in an instant, she dropped into a crouch and frantically started looking for it.
"Yueyue? ..."
she froze. that's ... no it couldn't be. a pair of AJ clad feet appeared in her vision. and soon someone was crouching in front of her. she slowly lifted her eyes and his face filled up her sight. he was holding the necklace in his hand and smiling that beguiling smile of his she loved so much.
"are you looking for this?"
her eyes welled. and then, before she even realized what was happening, she threw her arms around him and exhaled a sigh of relief.
(April 8 2019)
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author's note:
sorry it took so long. but here it is finally. the companion piece and sequel to "he wakes up".
i feel like my diyue writing momentum is ebbing and i am no longer feeling satisfied with the stuff i'm churning out.
having said that, i recently read an interview with an artist in which he said that all he strived for was to get his work to the point where he could no longer make it better. and so this is what this fic is: something i could no longer make any better.
if this fic could make even just one person feel a positive feeling after reading it, then my struggle with it would have been worth it.
thank you for reading. and hope you all are happy and well.
(i also have posted a longer, fluffier ending for this fic as the next chapter. it used to be in my other book, "what's up, diyue". but i figured it felt complete enough to be in this book. )