Chapter Four (Part 2 of 2)

At night, An Xiao Li and Qin Sang weren’t in the mood to see a movie. They went to the supermarkets to buy ingredients and went back to Qin Sang’s house. An Xiao Li was the a.s.sistant chef and Qin Sang was the head chef, they cooked a hearty meal in the kitchen.

Qin Sang ate dinner regally. An Xiao Li sat opposite her ice queen best friend, every ten minutes An Xiao Li lifted her head from her bowl to put more food into her bowl. An Xiao Li demolished two mountain bowls of food but still fell hungry.

‘Huh? What happened to all the food on the table?’ An Xiao Li asked.

An Xiao Li rubbed her bloated belly and stood to scoop a bowl of rice since all the food was eaten.

‘Enough, speak,’ Qin Sang said to stop her dummy friend’s stomach from exploding.

‘What are you talking about?’ An Xiao Li asked but avoided eye contact.

‘I just wanted to eat a peaceful dinner before I hear your grievances. Look at the moping state you’re in, it’s too tragic,’ Qin Sang said.

‘Sang Sang…’ An Xiao Li sulked. She put her chopsticks down on the table and went to plop her bloated body onto the sofa. She appealed to Qin Sang’s love counsellor mode. ‘I don’t know… he doesn’t say anything, but if he doesn’t say anything how am I supposed to know?’

Qin Sang gently kicked one of the dummy’s hateful legs. ‘Get to the point.’

An Xiao Li held her leg and cried out to pretend she was kicked hard. Then she rolled around on the sofa. ‘I’m not certain that he likes me and I don’t know if I like him.’

‘Then the first step is you need to be certain you like him,’ Qin Sang advised.

‘Does it count if I like his leather wallet and his money?’ An Xiao Li asked.

‘It counts,’ Qin Sang said.

‘Then I like him a lot,’ An Xiao Li said.

‘Are you happy when you’re beside him?’ Qin Sang asked.

‘Happy… not happy,’ An Xiao Li said.

‘That’s good. Go with it, happy and unhappy blends together, life merely has those two kind of feelings intertwined, hard to have one and not the other. Besides you don’t have another choice,’ Qin Sang explained.

Qin Sang patted the dummy’s cheek. She thought someone like Chen Yu Bai didn’t want the woman beside him to be too proactive.

‘Why? If it’s not certain that both of us like each other, why stay beside each other?’ An Xiao Li asked.

‘If he doesn’t like you then why would he keep someone who is an inexperienced IT graduate, not beautiful or brilliant to be his secretary? If you don’t like him then why is it every few minutes you torture me with your crazy obsession about him?’ Qin Sang asked.

‘So what you mean is… he likes me?’ An Xiao Li asked.

An Xiao Li’s frown opened into a wide grin like a sunflower under sunlight.

‘I didn’t say it, you said it yourself,’ Qin Sang said. She kicked the dummy’s feet off the sofa armrest and went to turn on her computer. ‘Boy crazy dummy, go wash the dishes.’

On the weekend An Xiao Li took a shuttle to visit hers and Qin Sang’s hometown. Qin Sang left a couple of days earlier than An Xiao Li so she saw Qin Sang waiting for her the moment she arrived at the terminal.

Qin Sang saw the dummy’s depressed aura and without asking anything she knew the dummy was still troubled by Chen Yu Bai.

Qin Sang thought that playing a game of cat and mouse was an interesting aspect to love. It was like opening a palm then fisting it into a ball and seeing the other half relieved one moment then tensed the next. What was more satisfying than the feeling of triumph having the ability to control the other half’s moods?

An Xiao Li and Qin Sang ate breakfast with Qin Sang’s mum Ye Dao. After dinner Ye Dao excused herself to go prepare a lesson to let them play on their own. The two girls held hands like they did when they were kids and strolled around the field of their old school.

An Xiao Li was frustrated that the ice glacier didn’t make a new move. She was an impatient and self-tormenting type of person. Meeting someone who was calm and collected like the ice glacier made her admit defeat.

An Xiao Li sighed. A stroll didn’t help her feel better. ‘Let’s go home.’

An Xiao Li walked Qin Sang back to Ye Dao’s house and An Xiao Li went to find her wicked mum.

After An Xiao Li left, Qin Sang’s phone rang and it was a number she didn’t recognise. ‘h.e.l.lo, I’m Qin Sang.’

‘Chen Yu Bai. Where’s An Xiao Li?’ Chen Yu Bai asked.

Qin Sang heard the angry tone in Chen Yu Bai’s voice and didn’t need to ask why. She laughed at his swiftness. He arrived in hers and An Xiao Li’s hometown before An Xiao Li slept one night in their hometown.

Qin Sang hesitated to give Miss Chen’s address because she was conflicted. Her best friend was a dummy and Miss Chen was wicked as h.e.l.l. If Chen Yu Bai barged into Miss Chen’s home unannounced there would be bloodshed.

‘Meet me outside the school in front of the tallest section of the school, I’ll be right there,’ Qin Sang said.

Qin Sang hung up, changed into shoes and ran outside.

Qin Sang rushed to the planned meeting place and as she expected Chen Yu Bai arrived before she did. He was his tall and handsome self, which caused the school girls in their spring years blush and secretly stole glances at him. If it wasn’t for his cold aura then those girls would have dared to start a conversation with him.

Qin Sang greeted Chen Yu Bai. The school girls saw Miss Qin talking with the handsome man they didn’t recognised stirred their curiosity more and they pretended to be pa.s.sing by to eavesdrop on Miss Qin and the mystery man’s conversation.

Qin Sang laughed at the school girls obvious attempts to eavesdrop but Chen Yu Bai looked like he found the school girls a nuisance and they increased his anger.

‘It’s a little hot. Let’s go grab drinks from the canteen then go find a shadier spot to sit,’ Qin Sang suggested.

Chen Yu Bai nodded his head, the nosy school girls got on his nerves.

‘Can’t you give into the dummy a bit?’ Qin Sang asked. She and Chen Yu Bai sat shoulder to shoulder on a long bench in front of the canteen and they each had a drink bottle in their hands. ‘Whatever she wants you can just be generous and give it to her. You don’t show any of your cards and give her mixed signals, can’t you see it’s a sin to waste time?’

Chen Yu Bai was still angry. The last few days An Xiao Bai was upset with him. When she was at his place she didn’t bother trying to cook something slightly edible, lingered in the kitchen for a long time and came out with a plate of fried egg rice. If he said a few words to her, she’d be more upset and ignore him. He couldn’t believe she didn’t come over to his place last night and when he called she didn’t pick up. He had to use his connections to find out where she ran off to without saying a word to him.

Qin Sang sighed and looked into the distance. ‘You have your own principles and so does the dummy. Why must it be the dummy who gives into you? Besides you know the dummy isn’t someone who can unconditionally put up with another person who isn’t openly affectionate. You can’t fault her ideals, what girl can wait forever for a man who can’t even say one loving word?’

‘I know,’ Chen Yu Bai said.

‘Of course you know. There’s nothing Chen Yu Bai doesn’t know but you don’t want to reveal anything. Have you thought perhaps… you’re too sure of yourself?’ Qin Sang said.

‘I have reasons to believe in myself,’ Chen Yu Bai said.

‘The dummy doesn’t,’ Qin Sang said.

‘She has me that’s enough,’ Chen Yu Bai said.

‘Before she has you, the dummy was able to survive on her own. Chen Yu Bai, you’re not an emperor. What gives you the right to call all the shots for both you and her?’ Qin Sang asked.

Chen Yu Bai narrowed his eyes and his index finger pushed the bridge of his gla.s.ses up. He glared at Qin Sang. ‘Can you be certain if I followed your advice… things will be better?’

‘Not certain. But it’ll be better than how things are now,’ Qin Sang said.

Qin Sang squeezed the bottle lid in her hand and shook it but couldn’t open the bottle.

Chen Yu Bai opened the lid of his bottle and gave it to Qin Sang. He exchanged it for her bottle. Indeed the bottle lid was tight and he had to use a lot of force to twist the bottle lid off.

Qin Sang laughed. She couldn’t believe Chen Yu Bai was capable of being courteous and used her bottle to toast him, because he wasn’t completely hopeless and could catch the dummy.

Ye Dao came back home from visiting Miss Chen’s house for lunch. She saw Qin Sang came downstairs with a packed suitcase. ‘I’m back from Miss Chen’s house, An Xiao Li was in a rush and left before you.’

‘She’s gone?’ Qin Sang asked.

Qin Sang was surprised. Did An Xiao Li have a brain haemorrhage? Why else would An Xiao Li prefer to take the bus then get a lift from her? It couldn’t be Chen Yu Bai was that quick and managed to convince An Xiao Li to leave with him. She got a bad feeling that something was wrong.

End of Chapter Four (Part 2 of 2)