The young man looked bewildered as he glanced from Julianna's finger to her face and back to her finger again.
It was only at this moment, with his face scrunched up in confusion that Julianna thought, oh crap, he's cute.
"Me?" He asked, his voice smooth like honey and his brows knit together in confusion.
Ah well, Julianna thought, I've already dug this grave for myself, I might as well lie in it.
"You… You…" Julianna took a deep breath and dived in, "You're baking pineapple tarts!"
The young man blinked, looking even more perplexed if that were possible. Slowly, he looked back into his apartment as though checking to see if he had come out of the correct unit.
"I am," He confirmed, shutting his door and locking it before subtly edging away from Julianna and towards the lifts.
No! She couldn't let him get away!
"Wait!" The finger that had been used to point at him became a hand with her fingers spread out, held up to stop him.
Obligingly, he stopped and turned to face her, head cocked at an angle, making him look like a puppy.
"Um," Julianna fumbled, "Do you… Make pineapple tarts often?"
The young man seemed mildly perturbed by her question and hesitated before answering.
"No… This is my first time," He mumbled before slowly but steadily sidling to the lift.
"Cool! I've done it before so if you need any tips or help, I'm in the unit right above yours!" Julianna offered weakly, feeling extremely embarrassed by her shamelessness.
He nodded and disappeared so quickly, it was as though he had a teleportation ability or talisman.
Wilting, Julianna trudged back to her apartment and spent a good while slouched in bed debating the pros and cons of being out of the country for Chinese New Year.
. . .
Three hours later, Julianna was spring cleaning her already very sparse apartment and trying to Marie Kondo her life even though her problem was more that she did not have enough things rather than had too much.
"I really hope this new year will bring more good luck to all of us!" Her aunt lamented over the voice call.
"Yeah," Julianna sighed, "I hope the year of the ox will bring all the good things!"
As if on cue, there came several smart raps on the door, she nearly missed it. But Julianna politely hung up and wandered over to the door when the knocks sounded again. It couldn't be that the parcel her parents sent had arrived so soon could it?
Peering through the peephole, Julianna nearly fell over. It was Cute Baking Guy!
Gingerly, Julianna opened the door and was immediately proffered a box.
"Uh, hi," Cute Baking Guy was blushing, "We met downstairs? I thought you might want to try some and tell me where I can improve."
Julianna looked down at the tupperware in her hands and her mouth fell open.
Pineapple tarts!
"Thank you," To her horror, she felt herself tearing up. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and smiled sheepishly at him, "Sorry, it's not easy for me to be away from home during this period."
She expected him to laugh or run away, instead he smiled ruefully and nodded.
"I know what you mean," He said wistfully, "I couldn't get decent pineapple tarts here which is why I tried making my own."
That made Julianna laugh, chasing the blues away and she opted to open the container and pop a tart into her mouth.
Her eyes widened and her lips curved up even as she chewed. The buttery pastry crumbled into her mouth, complementing the sweet, tart flavour of the pineapple jam.
Instantly, she was brought back to countless chinese new years with the exchange of pineapple tarts.
"May the year of the Ox bring us health and wealth!" They would say as they passed bottles of traditional snacks to each other.
A ghost of a smile crossed her face as she remembered how delighted she had been to go to someone's house for a visit and to be offered an array of delicious tidbits.
"Did you say this was your first time baking these?" She asked, and when he nodded, her eyes narrowed, "Lies! These are too good for a first try!"
His cheeks reddened slightly as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Um, this is the third batch that went in the oven, the first two weren't… Good enough to share," He confessed.
Her jaw dropped. The poor guy!
She took a good look at him, his cheek had a smear of flour and his eyes were tired but hopeful, while his hands were reddened, no doubt from hours of kneading, mixing and washing.
"You're stuck here too, huh?" She murmured before she could stop herself.
Cute Baking Guy visibly deflated, his shoulders dropping and his whole body slumping slightly.
"Yeah, my flight home got cancelled, so I'm stuck here for the Lunar New Year," He sighed, "It totally sucks."
"I know what you mean," Julianna nodded, then she hesitated before asking tentatively, "What are you doing on the eve of Lunar New Year?"
He looked up, startled and his dark hair falling into his eyes.
"Ah, well, I wanted to do a hotpot, like I would have at home, but I thought it would be quite sad to eat hotpot with a bunch of ingredients alone," He admitted, looking even more forlorn.
Julianna sucked in a breath. She was stuck, he was stuck, it was about to be Chinese New Year and they had no one to eat reunion dinner with!
It was tragic. But every cloud had a silver lining and Julianna thought hers was standing in front of her.
"Let's eat hotpot together!"