Mingyu's POV...
"So, where are we going?" I ask Xiaoliang as I watch him start the engene.
"Well, there's this chicken soup restaurant not far from my home. Maybe we can go there?" Xiaoliang ask.
"Sure," I reply, feeling sort of interested in his idea. It's been a while since I had chicken soup.
The ride became quiet, since both of us have not much to talk about. I guess we both lack in finding topics, but once we did find a topic, it could go far and endless. In this case, Xiaoliang eventually brings up the topic about my mom's crowded noodle shop.
"I see you've been quite busy today," he says, forming a small smile on his lips.
I smile. "Not too busy. How about you?"
"Well, I guess I wasn't too busy. I only look after my grandma before going out," he says.
"I see. That's so nice of you," I say, while smiling as I turn my head to see him.
"Ah, it's nothing really," he says.
It didn't took long for us arrive at our destination. A small chicken soup restaurant not too far from Xiaoliang's home. He parks the car and the two of us exits, entering the small restaurant.
At Chicken Soup Palace...
We walk inside the small restaurant. The place is pretty crowded, with the waiters walking back and forth serving one customer to another. We didn't see an empty table, since it literally looks like a full house. The sight of this crowded place slowly makes me feel nervous. A waitress passed by and Xiaoliang ask her if there's an empty seat for two, in which she stated that we are still on the waiting list along with a few more people.
"This could take a while," Xiaoliang says.
"I'll say," I say, looking at the sight of the crowded restaurant.
"You want to go look for another place?" Xiaoliang ask.
"Sure," I say. We wouldn't wanna wait for hours just to get dinner. We are already hungry.
With that, Xiaoliang leads me to exit the crowded restaurant. We enter his car and he starts the engene, while thinking of another place to have dinner. As he start driving while looking around for a not-too-crowded restaurant, we start talking about other topics to light up the awkward mood. This time, we decided to talk about our everyday study, Business Management.
"So, what made you get into Business Management?" Xiaoliang ask.
"Well, my momma wanted me to take Business Management. So basically, I'm just doing it for her," I say, which was true.
"I see," Xiaoliang says. "You're a good daughter."
Hearing that coming from him, I sigh. Honestly, I didn't feel like I'm a good daughter, literally because I never feel like I'm good in anything. My momma used to tell me how I was never good in anything since I was a kid. It hurt at first, but I grew to get used to it.
"I'm just obeying my momma's order," I say. "What about you? What made you get into Business Management?"
"I figured that it was something that I'm interested and really wanted to learn about," Xiaoliang says.
"I see. That's good that you get to choose your interest," I say. I feel that he is quite lucky to be able to choose the major that he likes.
Xiaoliang forms a shy smile. "What is your interest?"
"Actually, I'm interested in pyschology," I say. I've been studying pyschology since middle school, yet my momma never agree since she believes that my interest is literally useless.
"Pyschology? That's interesting," Xiaoliang says. "Is that why you like to read about pyschology?"
"Well, obviously. I've been studying about it since middle school," I say.
"Then why didn't you tell your momma that you wanted to pursue your interest?" Xiaoliang ask.
I sigh. He doesn't know that my momma is not one who can engage in a normal conversation regarding different perspectives without getting furious or emotional. If I disobey her once, she'll take down my mental health even worse. For a moment, I hesitate to tell Xiaoliang about the actual reason. I never told anyone about my relationship with my momma, except Junhao. He is literally the only person who knows how crazy my relationship with her is. Yet, knowing that I trust him enough to go out with him tonight, I guess I could spill a bit about my story.
"Well, my momma insisted that I take business management, and I didn't want to argue much since she could be stubborn," I say.
"I understand," Xiaoliang says. "I think she sounded concern about you."
Well, maybe she's concern about my future, but not my mental health. If she was concern about my mental health, I wouldn't be feeling anxious the way I feel now. Not that I blame her, because I understand that blaming won't change anything. Besides, I also should have been stronger in dealing with all the stress. Just because she's my momma, I can't expect her to make me feel happy, or good, all the time. Especially knowing that she's been through hard times in her life, sometimes it makes me feel like everything is my fault.
"I guess," I say.
After a while of driving, we finally stop at a restaurant which specialize in Guangzhou cuisines. The restaurant also have outdoor tables. Seeing that the place is not too crowded, we decided to have dinner here. Xiaoliang parks the car and the two of us exits the car to enter the restaurant.
At Guangzhou Kitchen...
We decided to sit in the outdoor table, since it wasn't as noisy as the indoor where a lot of people are chatting to each other. The outdoor view is not much, other than the scenery of the night street, but it's pretty nice. We take a seat and the waitress hands us the menu. Both of decided to order wonton soup with rice, along with rice noodle rolls and steamed chicken. For drinks, I decided to go with a glass of orange juice, while Xiaoliang ordered soy milk.
As the waitress walks away after taking our orders, I turn my head to see Xiaoliang. The two of us get into an awkward eye contact for a second, before he breaks it with a small smile, and a random topic.
"So, umm...is it ok if I smoke?" Xiaoliang ask me.
I didn't quite expect to hear that from him. He could have just smoke and I wouldn't mind, but well, maybe he just wanted to ask me.
"Sure. Go ahead," I say.
"Thanks," Xiaoliang replies. He pulls out a box of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket and puts it on our table. After that, he opens the box and grabs a cigarette and lights it up.
I start to stare at the young boy sipping on his cigarette peacefully. Though I have never tried smoking before, but looking at the way he smokes gets me curious. Somehow, he looks relax, like for a moment he forgot about all his trouble.
"You wanna try?" Xiaoliang ask, making my skip a beat for second. I didn't expect him to say that to me, but when he did, it only got me more tempted to try.
"I guess," I say, with a rather shy tone.
He forms a small smile. He grabs another cigarette from the box and hands it to me, before lighting it up.
"Bit of relaxing escape, if I say," Xiaoliang says.
As I try to sip on the cigarette, honestly I didn't feel anything, which surprises me. I've seen a lot of people got addicted with it. I look at the cigarette for a moment with a bit of a confusion, wondering what makes people so crazy about it.
"Haven't get the feeling?" Xiaoliang ask.
I turn my head to see him with an awkward look. I could feel my cheeks starting to burn red as embarrassment starts to fill me up. He must have caught me staring at the cigarette like an idiot with no idea of what is a freaking cigarette.
"I guess. I feel nothing," I say, already feeling embarrassed with my lame explanation.
Xiaoliang lets out a small chuckle. "Well, it takes time to feel the relaxation."
Well, I can't argue with that. His explanation is on point.
"Well, you're right," I say to him, before taking another sip of the cigarette.
Xiaoliang forms a small smile at me, before lighting up another cigarette. As he takes a sip of it, again he looks relaxed.
"So, umm..speaking of psychology," Xiaoliang says, before taking another sip of his cigarette. I sense he is starting to feel nervous at the sentence he just said to me.
"Yeah, what is it?" I ask him. I hope I didn't make him feel more nervous. I'm just trying to light up the awkward situation.
"I think it's pretty cool to find someone who is actually concern about pyschology these days," Xiaoliang says.
"Well, people have different interest," I say.
Xiaoliang forms a shy smile as he turns his head down. Looking at the way he smiles shyly, I start to get mesmerized just by the sight of it.
"What got you interested in pyschology?" Xiaoliang ask.
I stare at the young boy as I thought about a proper answer. To be honest, I got interested in pyschology after discovering that my mental state wasn't in the best condition, and it all started after my dad left the family, which caused my mom to become stressful. For years, while receiving mental abuse from my momma, I've also been told that my mental state is perfectly fine and that I am suppose to be happy. However, as I grow older, I've come to realize that I am not fine. Thinking about it now I feel like I was manipulated to believe that I was ok when I'm not. Though Xiaoliang seems like a pretty nice person, I don't think I'm gonna spill him the whole story just yet.
"Well, I used to be bullied back in school, which affected my mind at some points. Since that, I wanted to understand about the human mind and behaviour more," I say to him, which I could say is true, but that wasn't the whole story.
"Oh, I see. Umm...I'm sorry about that," Xiaoliang says. His face suddenly looks uncomfortable and awkward.
I smile, "Don't be. It's all in the past."
I didn't want to create any dramatic vibes in this already awkward tension. I didn't want him to suddenly feel bad all of a sudden, just because I told him a bit of my bittersweet past.
"Well, the past remains in the past. What we have now is the present," he says, forming a shy smile.
"Yeah. And future," I add, making him let out a small chuckle. Honestly, I love to hear his chuckle. Somehow I find it to be mysteriously attractive, just like his smile.
Luckily, it didn't took long for the waitress to come out with our orders. I was already starting to feel hungry with all this waiting. We eventually get to know each other deeper through out dinner, sharing stories in which both us didn't expect to hear. I was surprised to find out that he had lost his parents when he was very young, and that now he is living with his grandma. Maybe that's why he had been acting quiet and mysterious, making his smile look rare. Looking at him, it made me wonder why he had the courage to tell me his life story. We are on the process of getting to know each more, but doesn't this seem like a bit of an extra jump? Like he's brave enough to tell me everything, while I'm just being slow like a slug. Seeing how he trusted me enough to tell me a big part of his story, I figured that it wouldn't hurt to tell him more about myself.
"My parents...they divorced when I was six years old," I say in a low tone.
Xiaoliang turns his gaze from his bowl to me, but he didn't look too surprised. Could it be that he was already suspicious? Or maybe he thought that it was the answer for my anxious personality.
"I..I'm sorry to hear that," he says in a low tone.
"Don't be. It was for the best," I say. Honestly, I wasn't hurt about my parents divorce anymore. What still hurts me is the fact that I have to carry the guilt my papa put to my momma. Even after thinking about it multiple times, I still think that I don't deserve to handle the pain I didn't cause.
"I wouldn't want them to go on with their life, knowing that they would only hurt each other more," I added.
"Well, that's a mature thing to do. You're a wise person," he says.
Hearing that, I look at Xiaoliang. He turns his head to also look at me, where his gaze meet mine and we enter eye contact. Both of us not letting out a single word, but deep down it's as if both of us could read our hearts and the wounds in it. Hard to believe, but some say that we attract those with similar energies as us. Is that what made me connected to Xiaoliang in a way? Was it because both of us have wounds in our hearts, or because both of us still has this small hope to recover?
"Umm..are you ok?" Xiaoliang ask all of a sudden, making me snap back to my sense. I feel my cheeks suddenly blushing a deep shade of red.
"Umm...yeah, I'm ok," I say, shyly turning my head to look back down. He lets out a small chuckle at my action.
Time passed, and we eventually finished our dinner. During the ride back home, Xiaoliang and I continue to talk more, sharing different stories and experiences. After a while not having any deep conversations with anyone, tonight I feel like I just made a new best friend. Other than that, I feel like I've found someone who has a soul that is similar to mine.
"We're here," Xiaoliang says, signaling that we finally arrived at my home.
"I'll be going now. Goodnight, Xiaoliang. Stay safe," I say to him, before exiting his car.
"I will," Xiaoliang says as he opens his car window to wave at me.
I wave back at the boy in the car, before he drives off leaving the neighbourhood.
I take one last look as I see his car disappearing from a distant. Tonight, I am happy to say that I'm feeling good and relief, after a while of feeling anxious.
The next day...
3 PM...
At Bubble-Cha...
Xiaoliang stands in front of the colorful theme bubble tea shop as he waits for Yifei's presence. She had called him saying that she'll arrive in a few minutes. As the tall boy continues to wait, he suddenly gets surprised by a surprising touch from his back, along with a familiar voice tinkling through his ears.
"Hey!"
To be continue...