November 10, 20XX (Saturday)
Grand Centre Mall
After buying the lip balm, Yang had begun dragging Mei Li to a shoe store that had the smallest amount of people inside. The least people, the better; no stares to disturb him.
Mei Li grunted when they enter the store. While this expensive Chinese brand focuses on professional footwear, their casual and gala shoes for women were also great and far above average. If it was not as expensive as Louboutin, she would have bought one to try.
"Hey, what are we doing here? Let's get back to the Manor!" Mei Li whispered to Yang which was louder than necessary because of how tall the CEO was compared to her.
"You always wear those tall heels that hurt your feet. Let me buy some flat shoes for you, treat this as another payment for helping with the interior design. You know, I'll be working you hard this month and probably more than that… The takeover and the merge are taking more time than I had previously estimated." Yang sighed at the end to show his displeasure. He must have been to over confided to think it would fit in a span of a month especially when he had decided to buy two building; a 25 storey building as their main office and an 8 storey building beside it for other purposes e.g. galas, conventions, conferences, and the likes. Of course, Yang had not told Mei Li that she needed to work on two buildings instead of one. In fact, Yang was sure Mei Li did not know that the first building had 25 stories.
Mei Li snorted, "I thought you were making me work because I lost your challenge."
"Trust me, you need to wear flats when you go to my company next week." Yang insisted while calling for a salesperson. Luckily for him, a man who looks like he was in his late 40's come up to him asking if he needed something.
"Do you have other designs for women that are flat and no heels?" Yang replied, ignoring the adamant protests from Mei Li.
The painter scowled seeing her being ignored. She wanted to bite him in her irritation. This man could really make her so easily irritated, and happy the next. She was so moody when they spend time together. Mei Li blamed his shamelessness.
The painter's scowl had stayed on her face for the remainder of their stay at the shoe store because Yang had manhandled her to sit and try the shoes that the sales clerk had given her. Her protests goes in from one ear and out from the other. Her tolerance of being manhandled and ignored is slowly thinning.
Meanwhile, Yang was crouched in the floor with his left knees on the ground as support while his left hand carried Mei Li's small feet. He marvelled at how big his hands were in comparison to her feet. From the tallest toe to her heel was the same length as his hands. He discovered that his hands must be 20 centimetres in length because that was Mei Li's shoe size. He briefly wonders how Mei Li could wear heels that were not in her size. She must have put padding on her toes to make it stay as she walked.
After having decided to buy classic black close shoes that had flexible soles, Yang left Mei Li to pay at the counter. When he turned back after he had swiped his card to Mei Li's direction, Yang was panicked when he saw she was gone.
Hurrying his purchase, he immediately searched the vicinity for her. Looking left and right and sometimes even scrutinizing the people that passed him just in case someone was behaving weirdly. He decided to try at the parking space while texting his hidden guards to check if she had ridden the bus or taxi.
Yang sighed with loud relief when he saw Mei Li crossing her hands while leaning at his Car's door.
Yang felt Mei Li's sour mood had turned ugly. Although her scowl was cute for him, her eyes told that he might have crossed a line. He hastily took his keys and pressed the unlock button of his car. He winched when Mei Li hurriedly sat down on the passenger seat, ignoring his presence.
He touched his nose helplessly thinking, 'What did I do wrong?'
Their drive back home was tense and awkward. Yang had wanted to tease her so he could break the silence but he was too scared the Mei Li would jump out of the moving car because of annoyance. She certainly was unpredictable. He needed to be cautious around her.
Just when he thought that all his efforts to cheer her up were wasted, Mei Li mumbled a soft, "…I'm sorry."
Yang stilled for a moment before asking, "For what?"
"For making you worry."
Yang did not understand why she was sorry. Wasn't he the one to say sorry to her since he made her mad? "For disappearing on me and making me look everywhere for you?"
Mei Li snorted, "No, I'm not sorry about that. You deserve that for forcing me to buy shoes I don't want."
"You want them, You're just too prideful to make me pay for it." Yang quickly glances at Mei Li before returning his eyes to the road. Women and their moods, you just can't understand them.
"Not what I meant…"
"What do you mean then?"
"I'm sorry for making you worry about Chen Zhong and Mother Chen…" Mei Li shifted in her seat before continuing, "Just because I don't comment on it, doesn't mean I don't see it. I know taking me to the mall was your way for cheering me up and I'm glad that you did but please refrain from manhandling me from now on,"
Yang blinked surprised at her words. He had thought that she was unobservant and a bit naive at times, he had not expected that she noticed these little things. He quickly agreed afraid to make her mad at him again, "Alright, as you say…"
"Next time," Mei Li drawled at Yang who had been a bit taken aback when she smiled softly before continuing, "When you want to cheer me up can I shamelessly ask if you can just bring me into someplace that have cheesecake with strawberry filling or bring me strawberry milkshake…"
Mei Li's smiled cheekily.
Yang sweatdropped, unfamiliar to this cheerful side of her.
She was too moody today for him to understand. He gave up and just returned her smile. 'I can't win any battles with her.' Was the thought that prevailed in his mind.