Well, that question certainly got Jun Yang stunned. He stammered, "I… I…"
He looked at Feng Qi and the smirk on the young man's face seemed to say, 'Well, there is nothing you can say but yes at the moment. Come on now, don't be shy. Let me hear it.' Naturally, Feng Qi probably would not have phrased his words in those exact way but Jun Yang pretty much had the whole idea down.
Oh, what Jun Yang would not give to wipe that smirk off Feng Qi's face.
Perhaps a part of him wanted to say yes and get it over with but he would not allow himself to admit that he had fallen into Feng Qi's verbal trap, his cunning scheme.
'Maybe I can match cunning with cunning,' thought Jun Yang even though cunningness was not an attribute that came to the young man naturally. 'Perhaps I can say yes for now and later call the whole thing void because it is within the capacity of an acting session… Yes, that does sound like a valid plan.'
Jun Yang knew that tactic was a bit underhanded, faking an admission, but sometimes you got to fight venom with venom. As that thought crossed his mind, Jun Yang realized with a sense of alarm that as he spent more time in Feng Qi's company, the more he got influenced by the young man.
This type of shameless retort was something right out of the young man's playbook. Jun Yang wondered if that was a good thing or not.
In any case, before Jun Yang could put his plan into action or figure out an answer to the question in his mind, another voice called out from the other side of the stage, "Mr. Sam, it has been quite some time since we started these exercise, do you mind if we take a rest?"
Jun Yang turned to look and it was Pei Ling who made that comment. The rest of the students stopped what they were doing and waited for Mr. Sam to call for a break.
Mr. Sam took up his wrist to glance at the time. It was almost time for his class to be over. He weighed in option in his mind and ultimately agreed with Pei Ling's suggestion. "Alright, since it is almost time for my class to end, those who are tired can go for a rest. The others may stay on stage to practice if you want. After all, the auditorium has already been booked for the whole afternoon.
"Remember to hand in the script by the end of the week and the rehearsal will probably begin by the start of next month. Should you have any question, I will be here to answer them. If there's nothing else, the class is dismissed!"
Some of the students did take up Mr. Sam's offer and went down the stage to ask for his opinion on their script; some wandered out of the auditorium to head back to the classroom; the rest stayed on stage to finish their exercise.
Pei Ling strode over from where she was and grabbed Jun Yang by his elbow and led him away from Feng Qi, saying, "Jun Yang, I'm sure you must be tired already. Let's go back to the classroom to rest."
"But… Wait, Feng Qi…" Jun Yang tried to say something but the hand that Pei Ling placed on his elbow was firm. Of course, he could have told Pei Ling he wanted to stay or just stood his ground but he was not sure he wanted to stay behind to face Feng Qi either. And that was how Jun Yang was 'rescued' from that awkward situation with Feng Qi.
Honestly, Jun Yang was not sure he wanted to be rescued or not. Perhaps this was a chance for him to be truthful to Feng Qi's question.
Regardless, due to Pei Ling's intervention, the moment had passed. The only thing Jun Yang could have done while he was dragged out of the auditorium was to turn back to Feng Qi to mouth his apology.
The latter acknowledged it with a smile.
…
The weekend soon arrived and it was time for their group outing at the theme park. Back at school, the group already decided to meet up at the entrance, that was the simplest solution.
When Jun Yang arrived, Feng Qi was already there. The rest of the group was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps it was the weekend, even at the entrance, the theme park was quite crowded. Most of them were families with children, coming to the theme park for a family day, to wind down after a whole week of work.
Feng Qi was dressed casually in a blue T-shirt and a pair of worn jeans. When he saw Jun Yang approach, he raised his hand and greeted him by saying, "Good morning, boyfriend, you look as handsome as usual."
Jun Yang paused for a moment as if fazed by the greeting. Then he hurried to Feng Qi's side and whispered in a serious tone, "Will you please stop calling me that?! Especially not in front of our other classmates!"
"But you are my…" Feng Qi started to argue but he was silenced by the severe gaze that Jun Yang was tossing his way. He pulled up his hands in surrender. "Fine, I can never say no to you. Alright, I'll stop referring to you that way when we're in company of our classmates but you owe me for this…"
"What do you mean? How does that indebt me to you…" Jun Yang was trying to say when he was interrupted by a cheerful female voice calling from afar, "Jun Yang, Feng Qi, sorry for making you wait. I hope you've not been waiting for long."
Jun Yang turned around and it was Cindy who greeted them. She was smiling brightly that morning. Jun Yang noticed she was particularly friendly not only to Jun Yang, which was normal but to Feng Qi as well, which was definitely out of place.
Jun Yang ascribed that to two possible reasons. One was because she did not need to put on a front when she was not around Pei Ling and the other reason was the young man next to her that she seemed to be attached to.