"I need to take this call, Mr. Li," Chen Jing said.
"Sure," he replied.
"Hey," she said after taking the call.
"When are you coming back? Should I come to pick you up, baby?"
"No need. We'll talk tomorrow. I'm hanging up now."
"B-but, Jingjing…"
Chen Jing hung up and said, "Let's finish our dinner, Mr. Li."
Even though the ambience was good, the arrival of Yang Chen left a sour taste in their mouths.
"I'll make a move then, Mr. Li. Good night."
"Shall I drop you? You didn't bring a car, right? And, it's not safe to travel in public transport this late," Li Xueyi said. He stood up and grabbed his coat. His eyes twinkled under the lamps but it gave Chen Jing a sense of security, as if he would never harm him.
Chen Jing shook her head at the sudden unwarranted thoughts. She stared at him blankly as Li Xueyi continued listing out more reasons to drive her back home.
Li Xueyi waved his palm in front of her face several times to break her reverie.
"Ah? Sorry. Were you saying something?"
"No. All I was saying is, let's go home. Ok?"
"Mm."
They walked towards the parking lot together. As soon as they did, Chen Jing started walking towards the road on her own in a daze.
"Miss Chen, hey, wait. What are you doing?"
"Going home."
Li Xueyi raised his brow. The gentle breeze messed his hair as he stared at the lady in front of him.
He flicked her forehead and said, "Why are you so lost? I told you I'll drop you. Besides, it isn't safe…. Nevermind… come here." He pulled her by her hand and had her seated inside his car.
"Miss Chen, what's wrong?" Li Xueyi kept his eyes on the road and asked.
Chen Jing did not reply. When he turned around, he saw her fast asleep. He shook his head but adjusted the temperature of the air conditioner and drove towards her home. Luckily he had asked for her address in advance.
The drive was neither long nor short but to Li Xueyi, it was one of the shortest drives in a lifetime. How he wished he could stare at the sleeping beauty for some more time.
'Get a hold on yourself, Xueyi. You're having thoughts about someone else's girlfriend,' he rebuked himself.
"Miss Chen, wake up!" Li Xueyi shook her but she did not respond. He was halfway through debating with himself whether to carry her back when he spotted someone coming out of the house.
It was a lady. She looked nothing like Chen Jing but there were a few similarities. The lady held her head high, just like Chen Jing did. Even though she limped a little, her back remained straight.
"Jingjing, you're back?" She asked and then stopped when she noticed the unfamiliar vehicle. "Who are you and why are you with my Jingjing? Ah, what did you do to my Jingjing?"
"Ah, you must be her mother, right? Auntie, I didn't do anything to her. We had dinner together a while back because she helped me with a problem. Um, since it is pretty late, I brought her back. But she seems to have fallen asleep and isn't waking up no matter how much I call her."
Chen Jing's mother kept her eyes trained on Li Xueyi as she proceeded to wake her daughter up. "Jingjing, baby. It's 11 o' clock. Don't you have work today? If you don't wake up now, you're gonna be late. And, I'm not gonna call you again. If you're late, don't blame me."
"But Auntie…"
"Shh…" She pointed at her daughter who rubbed her eyes and murmured, "Five minutes more, Mom."
Both Li Xueyi and Chen Jing's mother burst out laughing.
"Auntie, I'm Li Xueyi. Your daughter is very brave. She saved my life today."
"Li Xueyi, the actor?"
"Yeah, Auntie."
"I'm Cheng Yi, Chen Jing's mother. You can call me Auntie Cheng."
"Jingjing, wake up. Your boss is calling."
"Where where?" Chen Jing woke up with a start only to see Li Xueyi trying hard to suppress a smile and her mom giggling non-stop.
Chen Jing rolled her eyes and said, "Thanks for escorting me home and sorry for all the trouble."
"No trouble at all. Bye Miss Chen. Bye bye, Auntie."
"Bye bye." They waved back.
The next day:
"Mm hmph!" Chen Jing exclaimed in annoyance.
Her cell phone was ringing constantly, making her angry. She only had four hours of sleep after her mother's interrogation. Less sleep equals irritated Chen Jing. And now this cell.
Angrily, she answered the call, "Hello?"
"Jingjing…"
Hearing his voice, Chen Jing cut him off saying, "Chen, I'm sleeping. Please let me sleep. I'll call you back after a while, ok?"
Yang Chen did not say anything and hung up. Later, he texted her to meet him at the Riverside Park.
It was a five minute walk from her home. When she arrived, she noticed Yang Chen already seated near a banyan tree.
"What's the matter, Chen?" Chen Jing passed him a tub of his favorite ice-cream and sat down beside him.
"It's winter, Jingjing," complained Yang Chen but readily accepted the ice-cream. He scooped out some and licked it. A satisfactory grunt escaped his throat as he enjoyed the pure bliss.
"Jingjing," Yang Chen put his ice-cream aside and said, "keep your distance from Li Xueyi. You know he's an actor and actors are never good. Their profession has a lot of dirty things going on. Who knows when you'll get involved?"
"Okay," Chen Jing said. She did not want to hurt her boyfriend because of a person she only met yesterday. Although she did not agree with what he said about Li Xueyi's profession, she chose to stay silent.
"But I have a condition. Stay away from that girl-whats-her-name? Whatever. Just stay away from her. Ok? Most importantly, no bodily contact. Why was she hanging off your arms yesterday?"
"Sure babe. No problem."
No sooner had he said it, a call came through. Yang Chen answered, "Yes Boss, I'll be there in an hour. Yess. Ok."
Chen Jing thought nothing about it. They chatted for a while more before Yang Chen had to leave for office.
As Chen Jing got up to leave, Lu Man called. She was happy that everything got sorted without any arguments. So, she happily answered, "Manman?"
"Where are you, Jingjing?"
"Riverside Park, why?"
"Come to the Central Plaza. Your stuff is with me, remember?"
"Right. I'll be there in 10 minutes. Wait for me."
Chen Jing happily strolled towards the Central Plaza and had two cotton candies with her as she dialed Lu Man's number.
"Hey, where are you?"
"Jingjing, I think it's best for you to return home. In fact, let me come with you, aye?" Lu Man tried to act normal. Her voice was void of fluctuations but Chen Jing knew something was wrong. She said, "No need. Since I'm here, let's do some shopping. I haven't bought stuff in a long time. Let's go. Then, I'll treat you to a meal."
Before Lu Man could reply, Chen Jing spotted her and ran towards her.
"Why were you being so sus?"
"Me? Sus? Absolutely not. You must be hallucinating."
'Such a big reaction? Something's definitely up.' Chen Jing thought.
Before Lu Man could stop her, Chen Jing followed Lu Man's line of sight only to see Yang Chen happily carrying a few shopping bags. Holding his arm was none other than Zhao Mei Shi.