*
'Not bad, not bad at all ! So far all is correct.'
The MC announced as Haoting and Shigu erased the answers from their respective small whiteboard. 'But those are only warm up questions. Ready for more?!'
Haoting smiles teasingly. They sat on chairs facing each other on the stage, with a whiteboard and marker to write down the answers. Shigu bites his lips, returning the smile.
Some guys in the audiences clutched their heart, urghhhhh! Too much love in the room. It's suffocating.
The rest of Haoting's colleagues seems to get more & more enthusiastic about the whole game. They kept sending new questions to the MC. The previous 10 questions so far are the basic favourite color, favourite food, hobbies, likes & dislikes, etc. The tame and safe ones. They all decided to spice things up a bit with this couple.
The MC suddenly take away the white boards.
Shigu scrunched his face, the usual looks when he is confused. Now the girls are holding their heart. Urghhhhhhh! How can a man looks that cute.
'It's boring if we just asked a questions with one liner answer. Let's have it in different format instead. ' The MC reasons. Then he continues, 'A lot of people have questions rolled up in this papers that they want to know. If you don't want to answer, you can pass. No pressure. Ok?' He looks at Haoting and Shigu, back and forth.
Haoting glances at Shigu. When he sees Shigu nods, he nods as well.
Now the MC clutched his heart. Urghhhh! I should have been gay or at least be more experimental before settling down. Damn my wife!
After the noises calmed down in the hall, the MC signals the couple to stand closer to each other. Haoting stands slightly behind Shigu, his hands hovering protectively around Shigu. Shigu matches his movement around Haoting with ease. Moving slightly to the left or right, observing Haoting scrambling the questions in the jar before picking up one. Then he passed it to the MC.
The MC unrolled the paper. He is stunned for a few seconds. The question is sure strong from the get go. 'Woaaaaa...Question 1 : Who's the top? who's the bottom?'
Shigu turned bright red.
Haoting answered without missing a beat, 'Up to your imagination.' He smirked and choose another paper.
The audiences roared.
He hold Shigu's waist with his left hand, patting him to relax. He knows Shigu is not comfortable being the centre of attention. The faster they finished this game, the better. He is also curious about some things that might be answered through this kind of game, a help of external forces sometimes needed to break some topics. So that it will be easier for him to raise it up.
'When was the exact moment you realised you are madly in love and decided he/she is the one?'
Haoting brings his face closer to Shigu. His action is enough to make his colleagues expressed their feelings in multiple ways. Some goes uwu, some turns to fansite fangirl mode - snapping photos non stop, some curses, some just decided to drop dead from the sweetness.
'You want to answer first?' He asked.
Shigu turns his body towards Haoting, almost tip-toeing and replies, 'Ummm...You first.' Haoting nods. His left hand still did not leave Shigu. It moves from the shoulder to the back, down to the waistline, then to the back again, or the nape while he replies to the questions thrown at him.
He took the mic into his hand, looking at his colleagues. Most of them has been with him for the past 2 years. This is the first time he openly bring Shigu with him despite them asking so many times. These bastards really did not hold back. He chuckled.
He decided to keep that question last.
They answered some 3-4 more questions about their relationship. How they communicate, how the manage their jealousy while maintaining long-distance relationship, their advice to new couple and poor single souls.
*
Shigu can't count how many times his expressions betrayed him on stage. He turns absolutely flushed when Haoting talked about their major first fight they had after their second year anniversary.
The audiences makes a 'woooww' when they heard the story. It is crazy how much trust they have in each other. It is usually not easy to stop playing around when you have so many new people in university.
*
Then it comes the time for the final question that everyone is waiting for.
Haoting goes first, 'I was a spoiled asshole when I met Shigu. Out of spite caused by a childish misunderstanding, I made Shigu missed an important exam that contribute marks for his scholarship. A total ass. I felt guilty but I don't know how to apologise. Sooo... I stalked him'
Shigu tensed. He felt shy hearing Haoting recounting their time together. Haoting smiles at Shigu and continues, ' Then I found out more and more about him and realise I might actually fall in love - for real . My heart beat so fast when I'm with him. Just thinking about him makes me smile like a madman. But still I was not 100% sure. I seek helps from my best-friends, my ex-girlfriend, my ex-girlfriend best-friend, everyone I could think of. So I confessed - over and over again until he accepts that I'm serious. I stuck to him everyday that he lost his temper a couple of times. He thought I was just playing around. '
He paused for quite sometimes. Everyone just waited. No one interrupted. Those that previously dropped dead came back alive to hear the stories.
'My parents found out about our relationships and forbid us to meet each other in our final year of highschool. But Shigu bravely fight for our relationship. Offering a deal to my parents. He offers to tutor me personally, making sure I got accepted into a national university, making me the man I am today.
I cannot choose an exact moment because it is the accumulation of the journey itself. Before I knew it, I already madly in love.'
His colleagues melted like puddles at their table. Shigu suddenly looks so manly in their eyes.
Haoting smiles and passes the mic to Shigu. The MC brings back the chairs onto the stage. Now it almost look like a wedding press-conference. Whatever.
'Lunches and snacks.' Shigu started. Haoting sits closer, holding Shigu hand. He is curious too. 'Haoting dropped by between classes and lunch break to give me food. And when he walks me home every night. I felt cherished and loved. When he studied so hard that he falls sick. When he tries his best to make me happy. All of them makes me fall in love with him.' He smiles dearly.
Yu Hao walks into the hall with the other F&B staffs to serve the dessert. He almost cried but he has job to do. He is so telling this to Zi Xuan when he got home.
Haoting and Shigu looks so happy as always.
The MC thanked them before he proceed to wrap the party up. It's almost 10PM. He wants the younger staffs to have time to find love, especially the single and miserable ones. They can head to nearest bars or wherever they wished for. Himself included.
Haoting and Shigu is already loss in their own world. Shigu took a sip of alcohol and now stuck to Haoting even more, he wrapped his arms around Haoting although he felt a bit hot. Haoting took some photos together with his colleagues. Shigu is still wrapped tightly in his embrace at all times.
'Are you drunk Yu Shi Gu?' Someone asked when they noticed Shigu is not participating in the conversations.
'Are you hot?' another asked when he noticed the lgiht bead of sweats on Shigu. Somehow he looks so tempting now. A few others exchanging their glances.
Shigu nods, then shakes his head, then nods again. He looks at Haoting, as if asking if he is drunk or not.
Haoting pecks Shigu's hair.
Big mistake.
Shigu tilted his head upward and kissed Haoting on his lips. He is pent up and this party doesn't seems like its going to end anytime soon. He needs Haoting.
Haoting excused himself immediately, 'I'm sorry. I guess he drinks too much caffeine before we arrived earlier so he is easily drunk with alcohol tonight. Thanks for tonight!' Then he brings Shigu with him.
Haoting's colleagues look at each other and grinned.
'Damn, that's sexy.'
***
A/N : Anyone read The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman? I find that book is quite helpful when I communicate with my partner. Do read it.
- Haoting's love language is seems to be Words of Affirmation and Physical Touch. He bought a phone for Shigu to be able to hear his voice and knows that he is okay. He is also very direct and intimate, he holds hands, steals a peck, hug - as a form of affirmation of his love.
As for Shigu, he is more of Act of Service and Quality Time. He likes to be able to contributes and he also felt loved when people do things for him. That's probably why he is closed to Zhigang. Zhigang cares for him by getting him works and feeding him food. It is not merely verbal. Words doesn;t affect him as much as actions did. That's why when Haoting confessed, Shigu still does not believe it. He prefers actions compared to words. When Haoting is feeling down after Zhigang refused to help his relationship, Shigu obviously waited for Haoting at school to walk him home. He tries to cheer him up by making jokes. It is not about what they do, it is just about spending time with each other.
Damn, their character is so beautifully written to complement each others.
See you in the next chapter. This story is longer than I intended.