Chapter 40
After that night, Yun Duo did not see Tang Yi-Bai for two weeks . She gradually calmed down, and she slept especially well every night after she changed to use her new sheets and covers . This made her even more convinced that her previous flustered emotions and accelerated heart rate were all just a momentary thing, the kind that would not last for long .
And yet, a corner in the depths of her heart seemed to have become occupied . A corner no one could see clearly, a corner no one could touch .
Sometimes, she really felt like seeing him, just to see his face and maybe chat a little . Yun Duo felt like this was very similar to how one misses an old friend . After all, she also often missed Chen Si-Qi .
One afternoon in late May, after Yun Duo was done with her interviews for the day, she went out for tea with Liang Ling-Chen .
And this was upon the invite of Liang Ling-Chen . Liang Ling-Chen highly suspected that if he did not seek out Yun Duo, Yun Duo would never have thought of reaching out to him on her own . This left him feeling rather defeated . He, Liang Ling-Chen, was not lacking in family standing, looks, education, or character . All this while, he had never been short of suitors . Why then, when it came to Yun Duo, did his charm become discounted?
Yun Duo was swamped with work, and after leaving work, she was still delayed for a bit due to office matters . By the time she arrived at the cafe they had agreed to meet at, Liang Ling-Chen had already been waiting for quite a while . Liang Ling-Chen gave her a cup of tea — it was at the perfect temperature . She was not particular, grandly gulping it down in one go .
Liang Ling-Chen smiled pleasantly .
After finishing the tea, Yun Duo said, "Sorry, big brother Ling-Chen . A newbie newer than me at the office was in some trouble, so I had to do some fire-fighting . Really sorry for keeping you waiting . "
Liang Ling-Chen shook his head in response . "No need to be so polite with me . Besides, being late is a girl's privilege . "
Frankly, Yun Duo did not like indulging in such privileges . She was always very punctual when meeting others . She stuck out her tongue and asked, "Big brother Ling-Chen, did you need my help for something?"
"Can't I meet you if I don't need any help?"
"Ha, well, it's not like that . "
"But I do have something I wanted to tell you today . " He smiled and, lifting two fingers, he gently pushed up the frameless glasses resting on the bridge of his nose . "Yun Duo, actually, when I first met you, it was completely just out of respect to the elders . I was planning to just meet with you at least once so I tell them I tried . "
Yun Duo scratched her head and said with a grin, "It's about the same on my end . "
"But after meeting you, I find that you're really my type, whether it be in terms of appearance or personality . "
Yun Duo did not know how to respond, but Liang Ling-Chen pushed forwards and asked, "What about me then? How do you feel about me?"
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She could only continue grinning . "Big brother Ling-Chen, you . . . you're quite nice . . . "
Liang Ling-Chen looked into her eyes, and said with a dry laugh, "So are you handing me the 'nice guy' card right now?"
Yun Duo did not know how to answer . Answering 'yes' or 'no' both seemed inappropriate?
Right then, her phone on the table buzzed twice . Yun Duo rushed to look at her notifications, using this move to defuse the faint awkwardness in the aftermath of the question .
Liang Ling-Chen cradled his teacup as he looked at her carefully . He saw her break into a smile . The smile was warm and bright, somewhat dazzling . But when had she ever turned such a smile on him before? No, never .
He sighed almost imperceptibly and asked, "What is it? Making you so happy?"
"It's Tang Yi-Bai," Yun Duo replied, smiling . She shook her phone . "He said he's going to Australia for training and will be tanned very dark at the beach . So when he comes back, he'll become Tang Yi-Hei . "
Liang Ling-Chen chuckled in amusement as well, but after the amusement passed, he found himself rather surprised . Was this the Tang Yi-Bai he knew? As far as he knew, this younger cousin of his was especially remarkable for his maturity beyond his years, very calm and steady — it was very rare to see this cheeky and mischievous side of him .
Yun Duo put down her phone and Liang Ling-Chen poured her another cup of tea . As he poured, he asked, "Yun Duo, are you afraid that I will confess to you and ask you to be my girlfriend?"
Yun Duo was silent .
Liang Ling-Chen continued, "Don't worry . Before this, I did indeed have plans along those lines, but now, I have decided to give up . "
Yun Duo secretly breathed a sigh of relief .
Liang Ling-Chen was rather disappointed at her reaction . "Are you not at all curious why?"
"Uh . . . why?"
"There's someone else inside your heart . There isn't any room for me for the time being . "
Yun Duo gaped, staring at him in shock .
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"So, I can only choose to give up before I fully fall for you," he said .
That night, Yun Duo received a message from Qi Rui-Feng .
Qi Rui-Feng: Next month, on the 6th, 4pm in the afternoon, I'll be boarding a flight to Brisbane . At that time, there'll be many fans coming to send me off . You're my fan so I must of course give you a heads up . No need to thank me .
Yun Duo: . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Yun Duo: Since I'm your fan, of course I would keep a close eye on your every move, so there's no need for you to remind me!
Qi Rui-Feng: ╭(╯^╰)╮
Yun Duo: Don't worry! I definitely won't go!
Qi Rui-Feng: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Qi Rui-Feng: Tang Yi-Bai's going as well . We're headed for the same club for external training . We just have different coaches .
Yun Duo couldn't stand to see the words 'Tang Yi-Bai' right now — they somehow made her feel guilty . It was all Liang Ling-Chen's fault . Why did he have to be so astute and speak so frankly?! She hesitated, then finally asked Qi Rui-Feng: Why didn't Tang Yi-Bai tell me himself?
Qi Rui-Feng: He's afraid it would disturb your work .
Yun Duo: Aren't you worried about that?
Qi Rui-Feng: No . When it comes to work vs idols, of course idols are more important .
Yun Duo: -_- What refreshingly unusual values .
Qi Rui-Feng: So are you coming to send us off or not?
Yun Duo: I'll come! As your loyal fan, how can I not go? For my idol, I must go even if I get fired!
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Qi Rui-Feng: Very good . That's how a fan of mine should act .
Yun Duo thought, 'This must be some evil cult . . . '
On the 6th of June, Yun Duo went to the airport as promised . In order to emphasize her character as a hardcore fan, she made a sign with 'Qi Rui-Feng dominates the world forever and ever' . The sign was like a turret — not only was it very big, its content was grand and in-your-face . As soon as she took it out at the airport, she immediately attracted a lot of attention . At that instant, Yun Duo felt as if she were a fighter jet among hardcore fans, an existence much like the leader of a cult .
Qi Rui-Feng was not mistaken — there really were many fans here to send him off . However, among the crowd of Feng-fans, there were scattered groups of 'White-addicts' (Bai-fans) . . . This sketchy sounding name was the title Tang Yi-Bai's fans had dubbed themselves — heaven knows what they had been thinking . According to senior White-addict Chen Si-Qi, whenever their fan group was shooting the breeze online on forums, they would often receive heavy monitoring and scrutiny from the site administrators . Yun Duo couldn't tell if Chen Si-Qi had been joking or not .
Out of occupational habit, Yun Duo randomly interviewed the two groups of fans before the main leads arrived . When she asked the Feng-fans why they liked Qi Rui-Feng, the fans replied "Because he's stupid" "He's such a Chuunibyou" "Oh, I'm an M" . . . Yun Duo silently sweatdropped . She then turned to interview the Bai-fans, and the responses were "Handsome" "Handsome" "Handsome" . . .
From this, Yun Duo came to a startling conclusion: Tang Yi-Bai was only attracting fans by the power of his face alone, and the one who was truly conquering fans with his personality was Qi Rui-Feng . Oh, heavens . . .
They didn't have to wait for very long for the main leads to appear . Flowers, applause, screams, and waving signs — all of this was a given . Yun Duo's sign was the most dominant, and so she was the first to catch Qi Rui-Feng's eye .
Tang Yi-Bai was walking alongside Qi Rui-Feng, so he naturally saw her as well .
He saw the 'Qi Rui-Feng dominates the world forever and ever' sign in her hands . Qi Rui-Feng, Qi Rui-Feng, Qi Rui-Feng . . . those words were like needles piercing his eyes .
The two of them stopped in front of Yun Duo, and Qi Rui-Feng nodded with satisfaction . "Well done . "
Yun Duo used the sign as a shield before her body; it covered half her face . She did not pay any attention to Qi Rui-Feng, instead secretly sneaking a peek at Tang Yi-Bai . He was still so regal and dashing, his features handsome and refined .
The surrounding fans were very worked up . They pressed in around Yun Duo, making her sway left and right . It was very noisy, but she could still clearly hear the sound of her own heartbeat .
Bthump, bthump . . .
Boo hoo hoo, it wasn't that long ago since they saw each other . . . did she need to be so dazzled by him . . .
Tang Yi-Bai was also looking back at her . His gaze was a bit resentful . Like a sudden lilt of flute song over a tranquil lake, faintly arresting, deeply plaintive .
Yun Duo kept her face half-hidden behind the sign but greeted him, "Hi . "
"Why don't you have one for me?" In the end, he could not stop himself from asking .
Yun Duo cocked her head . "Huh?"
He pointed at the sign with Qi Rui-Feng's name .
"Cough, cough . " Yun Duo was a little embarrassed . She explained, "I thought you liked keeping a low profile . " Of course, that wasn't the main reason . She would never tell him that she had not made a sign for him out of bashfulness .
Many fans were crowding around them asking for their autographs . At first, Qi Rui-Feng was mainly the one being surrounded, but then the Bai-fans finally managed to squeeze through and swarm Tang Yi-Bai for his autograph .
"Here, here!" said an enthusiastic fan to Tang Yi-Bai, pointing at the notebook he was holding . "Please sign above Qi Rui-Feng . "
What kind of strange request was this? Tang Yi-Bai was troubled . Purposefully signing his autograph above someone else's . . . it felt like pushing that person down and lording over them? Tang Yi-Bai would never do such a thing to Qi Rui-Feng, so he very conservatively signed beside the other's signature .
Yun Duo giggled and said, "Luckily you didn't do as she asked . "
"Why?"
She only grinned in silence . Some things just could not be mentioned . For example, if your name was above Qi Rui-Feng's, then that would become a talisman for the BaiRui shippers . . .
Tang Yi-Bai saw Yun Duo's grin and the irritation he had just managed to suppress reared up inside him once again . He shook his head and stretched out a hand towards her . "Give me your hand . "
"???" This wasn't very appropriate in public like this, right . . . ?
Seeing Yun Duo zoning out, Tang Yi-Bai went ahead and took her hand .
Swimmers tended to have large palms . Resting on his broad palm, her soft little hand was like a little boat parked on a lake . She ducked her head, her cheeks flushing with a burst of heat .
Tang Yi-Bai signed his name on her palm . When he was done, he said, "Remember, I like being high-profile . "
Yun Duo stared dumbly as he turned and walked away . When his back disappeared from sight, she opened her hand and looked down at the three neat black words on her palm . She mused to herself, "Is this a sign that you will never be able to escape from my grasp?"