With only four days to go before the wedding, Shen Yue feels that she is so tired, her body could split in two and she would be relieved.
However, she does recognize that if she was tired and stressed, Xin must feel double, if not triple of what she feels.
"When I get married, there will be no ceremony. I will not wear a gown. And people can just arrive in whatever outfit they want to arrive in. We will all eat street food. I will carry daisies in my bouquet. And if my entourage decides they just want to wear pajamas, then I will let them. I don't care. As long as everyone enjoys, I am great", she told her bestfriend as they both deflated on the sofa, kicking their flats away and spreading both arms and legs as much as they can without hitting each other.
"Did I tell you that around the second week of prep, I asked Zhi Ting if we could just elope and be done with all of these?", Xin admitted, "But then I remembered how hard he worked for this to happen so after that, I just shut up and take it all in."
"Whenever that happens, I truly believe you love Zhi Ting."
"When what happens?"
"When you do your best to shut up and not say the truth because you know it could hurt him. You are only like that to Zhi Ting. You are savage with everyone else."
Xin smiled, her face shining after one of the longest days they have ever had. "Well... I'm always normally more savage with him but then... he's just always patient with me and I know that he deserves more than just me always whining and complaining. So I do my best to level the playing field. That guy loves me too, and I know I am hard to love... so, I can't help but love him right back."
Because of their situation before, Yue rarely ventured into talking to either Zhi Ting or Xin about how much they love each other or why.
Discussions like that only hurt her before.
That's why she feels that the past days have been so freeing. And it often feels like they have been catching up on years of missed opportunities for conversation as honest and stripped down as they are having now.
"Well, THAT is true. You could be very bitchy. That's why I wondered before how Zhi Ting liked you and not me."
Xin walloped her with a throw pillow. "I was an angel before! You were the bitchy one. And then I think somewhere along the way I rubbed off on you and you rubbed off on me and now we're like this."
"Excuse me! As far as I remember, I wasn't the one who suddenly just stopped talking to Jia Qi because she kept on gossiping during class reviews."
Xin raised a brow. "THAT is a very valid excuse to stop talking to someone. We all paid huge sums of money for that class! And from what I remember, you all thanked me for it because Jia Qi understood that we all wanted to study and we were serious about passing college so she shut up."
Yue was about to rebut when Zhi Ting walked in on them, all smiles, and dragging an obviously awkward Wang He Di behind him.
She and Xin immediately sat up properly!
It would be too late to pluck down one of the flats dangling against a picture frame in the far corner of the living room (that Yue realized to her horror was hers) so they can present a much more decent picture to the newcomer.
She tried to breathe in as much as she could so her face wouldn't turn to the color of a red tomato, just thinking that the Wang Corp. Heir might have seen her and Xin looking like dejected losers hanging around the couch.
"Hi Yue! Hi Xin!", he greeted.
"Wang He Di, what are you doing at our house AGAIN?", her bestfriend asked, throwing in an arched eyebrow for the full "villainess" effect.
Zhi Ting nodded at DiDi, signaling that he was going to take this for him so he could dodge to safety. "Babe..."
"Gao Zhi Ting, don't use "BABE" on me. I asked HIM. Not you."
The other man was not flustered but continued to smile at his intended. "DiDi comes bearing gifts."
"Gifts or bribe?", Xin asked shrewdly, her eyes closing into slits.
DiDi tapped at Zhi Ting as though to say he would take it from here. "You can call it whatever you want, Xin. I just hope that you and Zhi Ting enjoy it. You both look like you need it."
Dong Xin pursed her lips. "We need what?"
"DiDi said we'll find out if we leave now and go with his driver", Zhi Ting answered, walked towards his fiancée, and carried her up from the sofa.
"HOLD ON! HOLD ON!", Xin screeched, "Just the two of us?"
"Yes", DiDi interjected, "The gift specifically IS for couples."
"And how about Yue?"
"I'll take care of her."
"GAO ZHI TING PUT ME DOWN!!!", the bride-to-be commanded.
But the groom-to-be just shook his head. "We could be late, babe. There's apparently a reservation for this and we don't want to forfeit that."
Both Dong Xin and Shen Yue's eyes widened at the sudden turn of events.
Zhi Ting winked at DiDi before he carried a visibly anxious Xin, who still did not understand what was going on.
"DiDi?", Yue asked the smirking entrepreneur, whose attention was at the couple who had just left.
He faced her, the smirk still plastered on him, and cocked an eyebrow.
"Explain yourself."
He shook his head. "I'd rather show you", he said and walked two steps closer to her, before extending his hand to give her support to stand up.
She was too curious and too stunned at what had just happened to note that there was something different about the man standing in front of her.
In the past, when DiDi smirked like that, it often boded bad for the person it was directed at (which was normally her). But this time around, that slight lift at the end of his mouth was good-natured, if not a little playful.
Yue stood up, expecting DiDi to withdraw his hand after helping her up, but he walked towards the veranda with their hands still linked.
It is a small thing, that is true, but she felt her throat go dry at the gesture.
It has been quite a while since the last time she felt the feel of his skin against her and something was tingling at the tip of her fingers, building up to something she knows she would find difficult to contain.
Distracted by her thoughts, Yue caught her breath when DiDi opened the doors to the veranda and the sight of an airbed set up in the middle of the garden greeted her eyes. There was a table that had all kinds of picnic food imaginable but there were no chairs. There was a blanket and a number of pillows on the side of the bed but nothing else OR, more importantly, no one else.
"What's this?", she asked, bewildered.
"We'll eat under the stars", he replied, pointed at the sky, and that was when she realized that all of the heavenly bodies looked like they were putting on a show.
This was a fairly weird phenomenon as the sky at night is normally covered up by smog, you could barely see anything.
"Wow! I did not even notice how clear the sky is tonight", she exclaimed.
"With the number of things, you and Dong Xin have been doing, I doubt either of you had any time to pause and just look around you."
She nodded in agreement, still looking up the sky.
"It is so beautiful...", she whispered in wonder, awed at the sheer magnificence the universe laid before her and feeling as insignificant as a speck of dust. Those stars up there have lived millions, if not billions of years, before she did. What was she compared to the grandeur of their existence?
"Yes... so so beautiful", DiDi agreed, in the same wistful tone she just used, and out of curiosity to know how he looked like watching the stars, she turned to him and found him looking at her.
They both looked elsewhere as soon as their eyes met.
Yue hoped he did not see her face glow as red as a warning light. She felt all of her blood rush up to her head the moment she realized he was looking at her.
DiDi coughed a little. "Uhmmm... so... I put the air bed out here so you could be more comfortable looking up the stars."
She immediately focused on the bed he was talking about and headed for it, trying to put a little distance between them.
She needs air.
"You look like you've done this a million times already", she commented, just to say anything.
She didn't want any kind of awkwardness between them because she might have just misread the situation a few seconds ago.
DiDi might have been looking at the sky too, and when she commented, he looked at her to agree, and it was just coincidental that she turned her head to him and found him looking at her. She will not be an idiot and think he is actually describing her "beautiful".
NO SHEN YUE.
YOU WILL NEVER ASSUME. YOU WILL NEVER ASSUME. YOU WILL NEVER ASSUME.
She repeated the statement in her head over and over again to calm herself down.
"Mommy, Zi Wei, and I used to do this a lot", he responded, "We pretended we were camping in a forest somewhere."
"Camping with food that is easily accessible?"
She knows he smiled at that even without looking because his voice held a lightness to it. "I did say we were pretending."
She plonked down the bed then, testing it for comfort, happily realizing it was just right to support her, and allowed herself to be swallowed by its coziness. "So... when was the last time you did this?"
"Almost two months ago. I was closing a merger in the US and the other group I was talking to suddenly wanted to back out the night before the official signing."
"And you did this to destress?"
DiDi nodded as he gave her more pillows.
"Why didn't you just prepare the same thing you gave Zhi Ting and Xin to me?"
"I gifted them with a couple's massage, Miss Shen. Unless... you want to third-wheel? Or... you probably have a boyfriend lurking around here somewhere I know nothing about? I can still take you and him to where they are. I'm sure they will make room for you guys."
She punched his arm at the jibe.
DiDi laughed and then turned to her very seriously. "Uhmmm... but do you want a massage too? I can still arrange that."
She was about to say "Yes" immediately but then paused to think better of it.
A massage would truly be glorious, however, she looked back up at the sky and knew that being right here is so much more perfect.
ALSO! Some selfish part of her wants to just be near DiDi for the time being.
She did not expect to see him so soon after his apology yesterday, but she isn't going to complain about that.
There is a certain lightness to how they interact now and it is tempting her to bask in this lightness more.
It certainly feels so much better to know that the person you like isn't an enemy.
"I'm just kidding", she answered him bravely, "This is actually perfect for me. I am glad you thought of it."
He nodded, content. "I was actually wondering whether you would like this so I am happy you did. Since you are an old soul, I shouldn't have wondered."
They were both lying down on the bed now, surrounded by pillows, and Yue felt something squeeze her insides when he described her as an old soul.
"You think I have an old soul?"
"Yes", he answered, "You're not just intelligent. You're wise far beyond someone your age and you have a beautiful heart. Old souls are normally a combination of that."
She fought the urge to cover her face with a pillow or make any unnecessary movement for fear of DiDi turning to her and seeing how her face is burning enough to warrant firefighters to sound an alarm for second-degree fire.
That was such a touching description of her, she didn't know how to react.
"Speechless?" DiDi's voice almost made her jump.
She risked a look at him and he was smiling like an imp against the night sky.
Yue immediately threw a pillow at his face.
"STOP TEASING ME!!!"
DiDi furrowed his brows. "I'm not teasing you AT ALL! Why the hell did you throw a pillow to my face?!?"
"Your smirk said otherwise!"
"THAT WASN'T A SMIRK AT ALL! That was a full-blown smile! Can't I smile at you now?"
"YES! YOU CANNOT SMILE AT ME!", she told him as she looked away from him and back up at the sky.
The man propped himself on his elbows and turned to her.
From her periphery she could see him continuing to smile at her.
She gave him the side-eye.
"What are you doing?"
"Smiling at you."
Yue turned to him and once again felt the full impact of that smile. Dear Lord this man is really going to kill her.
She took the pillow she slapped him with and put it between the two of them.
Her heart felt like jumping out of her chest and she closed her eyes to try to ward off everything she is feeling.
Why did he have to come back today – of all days? Couldn't he have just stayed away until the wedding? Or better yet... couldn't he have stayed away for a whole year or until she could get a better hold of her emotions for him?????????
DiDi removed the pillow between them and pulled her face towards his direction.
Yue caught her breath at their closeness. SHE HAD NOT REALIZED HOW CLOSE THEY ACTUALLY WERE!
She immediately took another pillow to place between them.
"Shen Yue, what are you doing???" DiDi asked, sounding confused.
"Well! WHAT ARE YOU DOING???", she responded as the beat of her heart crescendoed like a thousand church bells decided to ring all at once.
They ARE friends, aren't they? Why is he flirting with her?
That was flirting right? Or was it just normal for friends to be like that and she just feels like this because she likes him? DO FRIENDS OF THE OPPOSITE SEX DO THAT???????
Her heart struggled to be kept in its place, her brain fired up in a thousand ways, her insides clenched, her hands became clammy as though someone decided to insert water pipes in them, and question after question exploded inside her head about how friendships work and is it normal for two friends to be -
"What do you think am I doing?"
By the way DiDi is positioned, it seems he continues to face her.
WHERE IN THE WORLD IS SHE GOING TO GET COURAGE TO FACE HIM RIGHT BACK??????
She has to calm herself down.
She has to –
"Shen Yue."
DiDi pulled away the pillow again and her wide horrified eyes came in contact to his.
She closed her eyes.
"SHEN YUE GODDAMMIT! GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!", she screamed inside her head.