"Of course you didn't tell her you liked her, right?", Yi Fan finished for him.
"It wouldn't have been right", DiDi defended, "And I don't want her to be overwhelmed. I know I need to start-over. Clean slate. I have to introduce her again to who I am... who I really am outside the bitter and angry guy she knew."
"So... woo her?", Kido asked.
"Yes!", he responded confidently.
"Question is... do you even remember how you should woo a girl??? I mean – when was the last time you even tried to do that?", Xi Ze entered his kitchen, juggling plates of ribs, and served it to them.
They all decided to meet up after work so DiDi can update everyone on how his conversation with Shen Yue went when he apologized.
They've been at it on WeChat but it's still different being able to talk about it live.
Xi Ze volunteered his house since he just went grocery shopping and he wanted to cook his specialty for everyone else.
"I think the last time I really wooed someone was back in college – with Zuer."
"I actually think he doesn't need to woo her in the "traditional" sense" Xi Zi piped up and then focused on his best friend "First, you actually already know one another well enough. Second, she's seen the worst of you. There is absolutely nothing you can hide from her, bro. Third, she forgave you, even if she's already seen how bad you are so wooing her in the way you wooed Zuer before might not be the way to go."
Everyone nodded except for DiDi.
"Of course, I thought of all of that but... we've just agreed to become friends. And that was hard enough as it is. What is more important for me right now is I don't want her to freak out if I suddenly start putting the moves on her."
"You have a very good point but be careful staying in the friend zone for very long", Xiao Tian was biting into his ribs with gusto, "If she considers you as "just" a friend then you are absolutely done for."
A cloud of gloom covered DiDI's face before he shook it away. "That can't happen."
He had never been in the friendzone and he had no plans of starting now. He's sure he wouldn't be able to take just "being friends" with her.
"That's right. I mean just look at Xi Zi. He can't make moves on his secretary because he has already been "boss-zoned". Zones are hard, man, and you need to stir clear from them", Xi Ze followed-up.
Xi Zi's hand landed on the other man's forehead faster than one could say "peanut butter". "I already told you I don't like my secretary."
"Xi Ze do you really want to be taken to the hospital?", Kido shook his head at their host, "And you're barking up the wrong tree. Xi Zi likes Xiao Wen."
Everyone except for Kido, who had dropped a figurative bomb, looked wide-eyed.
DiDi saw Xi Zi's hand about to land on him and he stood up to deflect it.
"Why are you gonna punch me?!?!?!?!", he asked his best friend.
"WHO ELSE WOULD TELL KIDO?!?!?!?! YOU GUYS ARE BROTHER-IN-LAWS!!!!"
"SO YOU REALLY LIKE XIAO WEN?!?!?!", Xiao Tian shouted the same time that DiDi answered.
"I didn't tell Kido anything!"
"It was Zi Wei who actually noticed it during the tree-planting event, man. Also... don't be an actor. You would be terrible. I was just trying to catch you and it seems Zi Wei IS actually right", the man who brought in a bomb of a revelation explained calmly, as though he had not just ruined the sacredness of Xi Zi's secret.
" SO YOU REALLY LIKE XIAO WEN?!?!?!", Xiao Tian repeated, much louder than the first time he asked it.
"YES!!!!", everyone answered.
"Was THAT the reason you didn't talk to me when I said I wanted to date her????????"
Xi Zi looked down at his plate and nodded.
"I DIDN'T KNOW YOU LIKED HER!!!!"
"I only just told DiDi, ok? And... it's complicated so I didn't want to tell anyone else yet."
"But you still should have told me! I mean... what if I actually asked her out on a date and she said yes? That would have been chaos!"
"Xiao Tian, if she agreed to date you, I mean, what right do I have to be angry?"
There was an audible gasp in the room. "HOLY CRAP! You just don't like Xiao Wen... you LOVE her", Xi Ze exclaimed to the whole room.
Xi Zi looked visibly flustered. "CAN WE STOP TALKING ABOUT ME AND XIAO WEN BECAUSE WE CAME HERE TO TALK ABOUT DIDI AND THE BEAUTIFUL WRITER, RIGHT???? Let's focus back on them and whoever mentions anything about me and Xiao Wen again is going to get their ankle broken, I swear to God."
Yi Fan cleared his throat. "Gentlemen... gentlemen... there's no need to be violent. Xi Zi, sit back down and no one will mention Xiao Wen for the night AGAIN, ok? Xi Ze, stop smirking like a wolf. Xiao Tian, it's ok. You never went out with her and I am sure you won't go out with her now. DiDi, get back to your seat too. You didn't do anything wrong so Xi Zi should NOT punch you at all. And Kido... good job man!"
The two exchanged high fives. Trust Yi Fan to be both the most mature and immature person in the room at the same time.
"Oh! It's just a high five. Calm your tits!", he assured Xi Zi, who moved to stand up again from his seat and possibly smack down both him and Kido.
DiDi shook his head at this.
Honestly, did any one of them ever grow up?
"So going back! DiDi! Don't you have any idea whatsoever whether Shen Yue likes you?"
Yi Fan's question had everyone refocusing on him.
"We were enemies, remember? I doubt she'd even consider THAT a possibility."
Xiao Tian sighed at him hopelessly. "Exactly! You guys were enemies but you still managed to like her. Who knows? The same could be true for her."
That made DiDi pause before answering. Could Xiao Tian be actually right?
He was indeed very angry with her before but that did not stop him from appreciating how beautiful she was.
He remembers that the first time he became fully aware of her as a woman was at the Gala. He even kept scolding himself then because he kept thinking he shouldn't be attracted to her at all.
But he could not remember a time where she looked at him that possibly hinted at attraction.
She normally had her brows arched or her eyes shooting out daggers at him or she would often refuse to just directly look at him so it's hard for DiDi to try to recall a time that could possibly have been a sign of attraction from her.
Xi Ze immediately understood his predicament and then turned to Kido. "Since you know so much from Zi Wei, why don't you spill? Doesn't she and the writer talk about DiDi?"
The way Kido looked right after Xi Ze turned to him did not look promising at all.
"Honestly, from what Zi Wei tells me, they often talked about how angry she is with DiDi because... well... man... you were an asshole."
Yi Fan shook his head. "Di, Xi Zi, stop hanging out so much ok? Your lack of luck with women is starting to rub off each other. Also, Kido, I think I'm going to start hanging out with you more often. You've got your life together."
"Says the guy with the most luck with the fairer sex", Xi Zi scoffed.
"THAT is exactly my point. Why would I hang out with you? I can't grow old alone Li."
Kido laughed. "Guys, calm down. I am sure that none of you will end up alone. That's impossible. Also Di, Shen Yue apparently admits that you are good looking though. Zi Wei says that she always mentions how you are far too good looking for your own good and well... if she notices that then..."
Five eyes twinkled like diamonds back at Kido.
"She wouldn't comment on your looks like that if she hasn't looked, my man", Xi Ze encouraged.
"And she probably didn't just look at you. She stared. She stared long enough to know how good looking you are", Xiao Tian added.
DiDi tried to keep his heart beating normally.
Without being bias, he knows he is good-looking. It is often the first thing that someone notices about him. But he can't help but wonder whether Yue noticing THAT would be enough to prove that she is attracted to him.
"I'm sure that she would say the same thing about any of you. That's just an observation, it doesn't prove anything."
Xi Zi howled. "You can go ahead and "hope" you know!"
DiDi sent his best friend the most chilling glare and lifted his brow to remind the other man that he could turn the discussion back to him and Xiao Wen if he wanted to.
Xi Zi raised both his hands as a white flag.
He took a deep breath and looked back at the rest of his friends. "It's ok with me that she doesn't like me... yet... ok? I mean, that's the whole point of wooing her right? So she can start to like me back."
"REALLY?!?", Xi Ze looked as if DiDi had grown another head.
"Xi Ze, not everyone is like you who dates girls who already likes him. We have balls", he responded.
"Whoa! It doesn't mean that just because I like things easy, I don't have balls. Besides, I am not talking about me here. We're talking about you and your suicidal tendencies."
"Suicidal tendencies?"
"Isn't it suicide to go after someone who potentially can never like you or feel the same way you do? The risk is too great and the possibility of dying from the pain too high."
"Yep. You don't have balls", Xiao Tian shook his head at him and then faced DiDi, "You think Shen Yue is worth it?"
DiDi considered that question and turned it over before answering. Xiao Tian has been coming up with a lot of interesting things to think about and he didn't mind it at all. These were things he did want to think about. These were the things he knew he had to really dig deep for.
"Yes.... She's worth it."
Kido smiled. "Someone who can forgive you THAT easily really is, bro."
They all became silent, each man contemplating on his own how important that fact was.
"I think that... at the end of the day, that is all you will need really", Yi Fan eventually broke the sudden silence that embraced them, "Someone who sees you at your worst but still accepts you."
"Well... if she could love me too, I think I'd probably be set for life", DiDi declared and all his friends smiled at him.
"You have to woo her with everything you've got then. If she falls for you too, then I'm going to start hanging out with you again", Yi Fan responded and just like that, the moment was lost and they were back to jeering on each other again.
Boys.
***
Author's Note:
We're half-way through this story so that means yes... this has 80 chapters.
I am very grateful who is reading this re-work and supporting it and loving it and I apologize for any delays in my updating of it as I am juggling between translation for this and Plutocratic (which is already ending quite soon).
I hope you continue to enjoy this as these past five chapters I uploaded are some of my most loved writings - especially the chapter between Shen Yue and Zhi Ting.
I guess all of you already know how I am such a believer of love and I am excited for all that is up ahead for you in this story.
You are going to want to learn how to melt. Hahahahaha.
Again, thank you my dear dear angels and I am absolutely grateful to all of you.
See you soon!
- Mai