Mingyu's POV...
After conviencing Xiaoliang to stay for a while, I'm glad that he actually agreed to it. As promised, I'm preparing a nice bowl of my momma's famous pork noodle for him. It's a favorite dish among the customers here at the noodle shop, where it would usually sold out after lunch hour. I've been wanting him to try this for some times, and I'm glad that tonight I can actually serve this to him, by myself, with my own hands. If I could be honest, one of the reasons I wanted him to stay a bit longer is because I wanted to make him a bowl of noodle. I didn't expect to get closer with him after our first encounter during our first day at college. However, after the various awkward events that happened, from him returning my pen, defending me from Liqiang at the KTV, to all the library lunch time which eventually got us closer. When I realized that we're growing closer, I assumed that he could be another best friend to me, just like Junhao. Yet, during every encounter we had with each other, I start to experience some sort of weird bond with him, which I had never experience before, not even with Junhao. His present calms down my anxiety, making me feel comfortable to be near him, which is a rare thing for me since I usually feel nervous around people. The way he approached me by any chances, didn't scare me at all.
In fact, I'm getting far more comfortable the more I get to know him more. At a young age, he is able to act with calmness and maturity, portraying a brother-like figure in front of me. At least, that was what I wanted to view him as. A brother, who is caring and concern of me. That's why, I thought he could be a second Junhao, but I guess I was wrong. The feelings he gave me when I'm with him are not what I experienced when I was with Junhao. Despite all the comfort he gave me, I could feel my heart oddly beat faster by chances when I'm with him. Butterflies would dance inside of me like crazy, with my cheeks blushing and making me hope that he won't notice. These are symptoms I never experienced before when I'm with Junhao, however I always feel whenever I'm around Junhao. Even the thought of him already gets my heart beating faster in a somehow comforting way.
With all these thoughts about him running inside my head, there are times I question myself. Do I like him more than a friend? Even though the symptoms I experienced is an answer itself to my question, I still wonder if I really do like him, since I don't want to believe in my own thoughts too fast, since I assume that I could always be wrong about my assumptions about my feelings. Other than that, I don't think it even matters whether I really like him or not, since I don't think he actually likes me that way. I mean, why would he go out with an anxious girl when there are many other options? To believe that someone actually likes me with all my quirks is a tough one for me, since I never experienced a guy who actually has genuine attractions towards me. All the guys from high school eventually made fun of me for being anxious, and that's after they tried to flirt with me a few times. Since that, I believed that no guy would ever be attracted to me genuinely.
Ok, enough with all the thoughts in my head. As I continue stir-frying the noodles along with the main ingridients, I decided to add some of my own ingridients as well. Tonight, I thought about adding some of my ingridients to my mom's famous pork noodle. Since my mom is asleep, I want to try adding my own ingridients and try out my cooking skills. Honestly, cooking had been a secret interest of mine, since I've been seeing my mom cook since I was little. Even though my mom had taught me how to cook all the dishes she made, sometimes my curiousity gets the best of me, making me want to try to create my own dish. I love my mom's cooking. To me, she's simply the best cook in the world, but I also want to try something new and express myself. Other than that, I told Xiaoliang that I'll make him a tasty bowl of noodle tonight, by that I really want to make this dish extra special.
It didn't took long for me to finally finish the tasty dish. For my added ingridents, I've added a boiled egg, coriander, fish balls, along with some spices for the pork noodle. I want to call this the "special pork noodle". Hopefully, Xiaoliang will like it. With my heart already feeling excited, I grab the bowl of noodle along with a pair of chopsticks and walks out of the kitchen. As I enter the dining room, I see Xiaoliang still doing his homework on the table. I think he didn't notice that I just walked in, since he looks like he has his full focus on his homework. I placed the bowl of noodle on the table along with the chopsticks. After that, I pull out an empty seat across him, and took this chance to stare at him doing his homework in peace. Even when he's focus on something, his calming aura never fades. Staring at him now already gives me a comforting feeling. Slowly, I form a small smile on my lips.
He eventually turns his head to face me who had been staring at him. Our eyes meet and my heart starts to beat faster. I could feel my cheeks starting to blush in this awkward situation. Though I always love the chances I got to stare into his eyes, I eventually turn my head away shyly. I'm afraid things will get more awkward if I stare at him longer.
"Umm...enjoy your meal," I say awkwardly. Damn, I wanted to pinch myself for sounding awkward just now just because I still have the thought of his sweet look in my head.
"Ok," Xiaoliang says. He then puts his homework back inside his backpack, before grabbing the bowl of noodle and chopsticks and placing it in front of him.
Xiaoliang starts eating the pork noodle. I didn't want to stare at him since I find it weird to stare at someone constantly while they're eating. By that, I decided to look the other way to reduce the awkward tension. Yet, I still took some chances to glance at him. Sometimes, I find myself to be weird that my heart feels in peace when I look at him.
"How is the noodle?" I ask him, trying to break the awkward silence. Hopefully he didn't find it to be bad. The thought of the possibility that it could turn out bad starts to triggers my anxiety.
He turns his head to face me, his deep brown eyes sparkling as I found myself again mesmerized by his gaze. Usually I'm one to avoid eye contact since it makes me feel uncomfortable. However, after spending some times with Xiaoliang, I found myself getting addicted with his beautiful eyes. In any chance, I would always find a way to get some glances of those gorgeous brown eyes.
"It's good," Xiaoliang says, before continueing to eat his noodle.
Hearing his answer, my lips couldn't help to form a smile. His answer reduced my anxiety level. I felt relief that it didn't turned out bad, remembering that it was my first try. However, a part of me still wonders if there's something missing. Maybe the dish could have been better? I need to ask him for an honest review.
Xiaoliang's POV...
I finally finished my bowl of noodle. The taste of it was really delicious, which was quite surprising for me since Mingyu had stated before that she's a beginner in cooking. She literally cooks better than me and I had been practicing since high school. She could definetly be a professional cook at a young age. Thinking about the fact that she is so much more than her quiet personality, I can't help to find her more interesting by every chance. She definetly knows how to allure me without trying.
I turn my head up to face Mingyu. Turns out she had been staring at me just now. When our eyes met, she quickly looked away to the other side shyly. I almost burst out a small laugh at her cute behaviour. Her shyness is definetly one of her attractive charms.
"Thanks for the noodle. It was delicious," I say, slowly forming a shy smile myself.
Mingyu turns her head to look at me. Our eyes meet again, but this time her eyes looks restless. She didn't look calm, but wasn't too nervous like usual. Her eyes are filled with questions and doubts, as if her wondering mind gives her agitation.
"So...umm...are you ok?" I ask her.
Hearing my voice, her eyes widens as she snaps back to her sense. Her cheeks starts to blush the perfect shade of pink. I took this moment to silently admire her radiant beauty, while studying every inch of her face. From her pretty brown eyes, to her adorable small lips. She is indeed an attractive woman, but one thing I that caught my attention the most, was her strong and generous personality. The way she walks through life, even though I don't know much about how she eventually got so anxious, yet the way she struggles while still remaining kind to to others really fascinated me. Before meeting her, I never imagined someone who had been broken can be so gentle to others. It's not everyday that I get the chance to meet someone who's inner beauty shines to the outside. I could say, our encounter was a miracle.
"Yeah, I'm ok. But...I wanted to ask if the noodle was good enough," Mingyu says as her gaze slowly moves away from me and to the table. She starts to look more restless now.
"Was the noodle really good enough?" Mingyu ask in a low tone.
I wanted to raise my eyebrow upon hearing her question, but decided not to since I understand that the possible reason behind her question was probably because she's restless. Come to think of it, she needs more support to boost her confidence.
"The noodle was very delicious, Mingyu," I say to her with a small smile, hopefully it will reduce her restless feelings.
Mingyu stares at me deeply in the eyes, before letting out a sigh. She now looks more relief than before. I guess she is happy with my answer. Well, I'm glad that she's feeling better.
"Thanks. I was just worried, that it won't turn out good. To be honest, I've actually added some of my own ingridients to the noodle, but after that I was afraid that I ruined my mom's original recipe," Mingyu says. The way she said that was like she was letting out some sort of burden in heart. So she actually got restless after adding her own ingridients to recipe. Well, that was something new to now.
"Well, your ingridients made the dish better. That was a tasty bowl of noodle," I say to her, in an attempt to make her feel more comfortable after being restless.
"Thank you, Xiaoliang," Mingyu says as she smiles at me shyly, before turning her head down again.
This girl really looks like a shy person. Not that I don't like it, but I think she needs to know that she has so much to be confident about. Sometimes she would look like an insecure person with a mountain of fears when she's anxious. She simply doesn't know how interesting she is.
I let out a small chuckle, "I should be the one to thank you for the nice dish."
Mingyu turns her head to face me. Her smile had faded into a frown by now. It was just a few seconds ago she was smiling, yet now her smile has faded into a frown. She must have been through a lot, that her mood becames unstable. If she was ever disappointed by someone, I wonder what kind of person would even dare to hurt such a kind soul like her. Poor girl.
"I should thank you first for the zongzi. Honestly, you're a way better cook than me," Mingyu says in a low tone.
I smile at her. "Zongzi and noodle are two different dish. We can't compare which one is better, since both of them are good in their own way."
Mingyu slowly forms a smile on her lips as her eyes looks away from mine. I could tell that again she's trying to avoid eye contact, which I thought was so cute.
"Well, your momma will be so happy that you made a fantastic dish," I say while smiling at her.
Mingyu's smile suddenly fades. She lets out a sigh. "I hope so."
Silence fills the air as Mingyu suddenly moves her gaze down, again. It all happened so fast, I start to rethink if I had said anything that offended her. Looking at her suddenly looking down again makes me feel guilty.
"My momma, doesn't really know that I like to try something new, which includes putting my ingridients to her recipe," she says all of a sudden.
I raise one of my eyebrow. "Why don't you just tell her about what you like?"
She sighs. "I don't want to convience her when I know that will only make her doubt me more."
I didn't expect to hear that, by that I was surprised by what I just heard from Mingyu. Why won't her mother just try to listen to her for a bit? By that, maybe she can understand her daughter more? One thing that's quite obvious, is that her daughter is really trying to understand her, by that she doesn't want to give her more problems by speaking out her mind.
"I'm sorry to hear that," I say, feeling uncomfortable now at the awkward situation. "But, do you consider telling her about your noodle? Maybe she could give it a try and like it."
Mingyu sighs. "For now, no. I'm afraid she won't like it."
I start to wonder why does she sound like she's really afraid of her momma. She doesn't even have the courage to speak her mind to her. It makes me wonder... why would a child need to be afraid of someone who has given birth to them and raise them with love?
"I just want to do what's best that could make her happy. For now, I don't think I have that ability," she says in a low tone.
I raise my eyebrow. "Why is that?"
"I just feel like I'm not doing enough," she says, her gaze looking down.
Her statement made me speechless. Was this the reason why she always looked restless? If so, I never expected it to be that way. Little did I know, that we might have a lot more in common despite our similar yet different stories.
"You're a good daughter, Mingyu. I'm sure your momma is happy to have you," I say, in an attempt to cheer her up.
Her eyes shifts to look at mine. The feeling of anxiety can still be seen on her face, yet her eyes looks more calm now.
"Thanks, Xiaoliang," she says, slowly forming a small smile at me. I smile back at her.
To be continue...