A few mornings had passed. Chanming and Changchang made it their goal to make everyday feel different for Aiyu, and for that she was grateful. Changchang was a fresh graduate like her and Chanming was a university student on holiday, so they both had heaps of free time, at least a lot more than usual.
"So we're meeting Yang Jinhai and Liu Junyi today right?" Changchang asked, scrolling through her phone with her head lazily on the hospital bed. "Mmhmm." Aiyu's eyes were half open, her fingers threading through the green ends of Changchang's hair. Her natural hair was a dark black, but about a year ago, she dyed her ends green. "What time? And where? Oh! I think I found a good movie, what about this one?" Changchang held her phone up to Aiyu's face, her eyebrows raising as she looked up. "Romance sounds good. We're meeting at 3pm here," Aiyu replied nonchalantly.
When Changchang heard this, she jolted up from the bed. "What! Here? In like, two hours? Why not at the lounge or cafeteria? This place is a mess from out movie marathon, and we also look like messes." Aiyu chuckled and said, "Wasn't this part of the plan? I even reminded you we were meeting them today, and you still insisted you wanted to stay up all night for a move marathon." By now, Changchang had her face in her palm as she let out a groan.
A sudden burst of motivation overcome her as she turned to Aiyu. "2 hours is enough. Go freshen up, I'll clean up the place and go home for a bit to get some stuff," she said, full of profound energy.
-
*
The days flew by quickly. Soon enough, Chen Ai Yu had been discharged from the hospital. Everyday leading up to her discharge day, Liu Jun Yi would a message and ask how she's feeling. From a friend, she would think it was sweet, but this was Liu Jun Yi she was talking about! It was pretty overwhelming for her, definitely.
Mo Chang Chang came to pick her up after she was discharged. Chanming had to go for work so he wasn't able to come with. "Freedom!" Chen Ai Yu said as she breathed in the familiar scent of... cars... Just then, a honk was heard. There was a jet black Audi R8 parked at the front of the hospital. It's windows were tinted so they weren't able to see who was, or who were, inside. Chen Ai yu's eyebrows creased as she looked at the car suspiciously.
She walked towards the car, a slightly scared Mo Chang Chang following behind her. She bent down and knocked on one of the windows. It rolled down and in it sat... Liu Jun Yi!
Chen Ai Yu was so taken aback she almost stumbled backwards when she saw him. "What? Is my face so ugly that it almost made you trip?" He joked as he unlocked the car doors. "Get in." They did as he told and got into the back seat. Chen Ai Yu was pretty sure she knew who's doing this was — Chanming! She knew sending him a message now would be useless, he only ends work at 6pm.
"Are you sending both of us home?" Chen Ai Yu asked, looking into the rear-view mirror. They made eye contact. "Do you want me to?" He replied with a question. This was very much surprising! Normally, there'd be no way he'd let someone tell him what to do! Even those who weren't close to him knew that. Even so, Chen Ai Yu remained calm. She smiled and said, "I'd like for you to drop us off at Kibo Residence, it's at Kun Yi street." He nodded in response.
Liu Jun Yi add, "In return, you have to send me a voice message everyday." Mo Chang Chang was completely baffled by the conversation that was happening in front of her! She tried her best to keep her cool, but it was definitely hard. "Eh?" Chen Ai Yu stared blankly at him. A voice message? Why? "Okay... anything else?" Hearing this, Liu Jun Yi's eyes lit up. "It'd be good if you could add a picture too. Just a selfie," he said, shamelessly. She nodded, a little confused.
By then, Mo Chang Chang's eyes were so wide open that they looked like they could pop out their sockets at any second. Upon reaching their destination, Liu Jun Yi reluctantly waved them goodbye. "Stay safe. Call me if you need anything or anything happens," he said, as the two got out the car. "Alright. You stay safe too!" Chen Ai Yu said.
They walked to Chen Ai Yu's apartment. The door had been fixed! Was this done by Chanming? Even the mess from before had been cleaned up! They settled down and started chatting.
"Wasn't that weird? It was freaking Liu Jun Yi! Caring about nobodies like us!" Mo Chang Chang exclaimed as she took a sip of her cup of wine. "A few days ago, Chanming actually became friends with Liu Jun Yi. I don't know how close they are, but I know that they're friends. So this might be because of him," Chen Ai Yu said after thinking for a while. "What? That happened and ya'll didn't tell me?" Mo Chang Chang said as she pouted. She was once again shocked. "It feels like you've been shocked a lot lately. Especially your eyes, they've been open real wide. Careful, don't let them pop out!" Chen Ai Yu joked.
"Speaking of which, I should send Liu Jun Yi his daily selfie and voice message... should I combine them and send a video instead?" Chen Ai Yu said as she took out her phone. "No, not yet! Maybe, like, every 10 days. Make him wait," Mo Chang Chang said evilly, a sly smirk slowly emerging on her face. Chen Ai Yu shook her head and smiled. She followed Mo Chang Chang's instructions and took a quick selfie with a non-suspecting Mo Chang Chang in the back. She sent the picture and then recorded a voice message, "We're talking about you~ bleh."
Seeing her adorable friend, Mo Chang Chang's heart warmed. It was extremely hard to imagine this girl had such dark thoughts in her head. Her determination to help pull Chen Ai Yu out of the dark zone increased dramatically.
After Chen Ai Yu finished her daily duty, the two continued chatting for a while.
-
Liu Jun Yi was in the middle of a meeting when his phone beeped. He always put his phone on silent, but he set a special ringer for when Chen Ai Yu messages. He did a gesture, telling the person presenting to pause, and checked his phone. He realised it was what he had asked Chen Ai Yu to do and left the meeting room to listen to the voice message. He clicked play and the corner of his lips curved into a smile. Jinhai, who had followed him, out was in complete shock. In his many years of working for Liu Jun Yi, he has never seen his boss smile like that before!
Everyone in the meeting room were in an uproar. Liu Jun Yi always had meetings as his top priority, yet today he was stopping one for a simple message. They only quietened down when Liu Jun Yi returned to the meeting room. The meeting then continued, the aura in the room much lighter than before.