When Xuan Tianmei came to, she scanned the hospital room wearily. Su Yang was sitting beside her, while Fah was sitting on the chair adjacent to the bed, headphones in ear, asleep."Hey, you"re awake, how are you feeling?" Su Yang asked. Wearing a strange look on her face.
"Who"s that?" Xuan Tianmei gestured at Fah.
"Something your brother moves around with now." Su Yang replied with unconcern in her tone.
"Huh?"
"Xuan Tianyi probably brought him here to make Boss jealous. He and your brother are the male leads in the movie Xuan Tianyi"s acting."
Xuan Tianmei furrowed her brows. "And where"s Xuan Tianyi?"
"He was just here a while ago. I think he may be with the doctor or something."
"I thought he"d look for an excuse to not come here because he"s too worried about me."
"Why"d you think so?"
"He really just can"t bear it when he"s helpless." She shrugged. "President Hua isn"t here?"
"He was. He left when your brother came in with the Thai. He called me and said he had something to do, but I think he just went away because he was jealous."
Xuan Tianmei stared at Fah distastefully. "He"s not much to look at. Cute, but nothing compared to President Hua at all. Why would he be jealous?"
Su Yang sighed. "They say people don"t think with their heads when they"re in love."
Xuan Tianmei nodded in agreement. Then tilted her head at Su Yang. "What"s that look on your face, are you worried about me?"
"No. I"m just upset." Su Yang sighed again. "I wanted to be in the room when they were ripping your face apart. The doctors wouldn"t let me."
Xuan Tianmei shook her head. "People have partners who worry about them all the time. And I just happen to have you."
"Are you tired already?" Su Yang asked with a smile.
"Not a chance. I won"t give up at the beginning."
"Good then. Because when you get discharged, I want you to come stay with me."
"Really?" Xuan Tianmei"s eyes sparkled in delight. Then thoughtfully, she asked, "Isn"t that a bit fast?"
"I offered because you"re homeless. What are you thinking?"
Xuan Tianmei pouted. "That you wanted me to stay with you because you can"t live with the thought of being away from me for that long."
"It"s just until your apartment gets fixed."
"Oh!"
"Yes."
"Well, I think you"ll get so used to living with me you wouldn"t want me to leave after my apartment gets fixed."
"I don"t like people in my private s.p.a.ce. I can almost a.s.sure you I"ll want you to leave even before your apartment gets fixed."
"I won"t mind it. Your apartment is just opposite mine. I"ll visit you every minute."
"That"s not where I live, you silly girl."
"No?"
"I was only staying there, so I can keep an eye on your brother. Since I don"t have the job of watching him anymore, I don"t have a reason to stay in that c.r.a.p of an apartment."
"Well, where do you live then?"
Su Yang leaned into Xuan Tianmei"s ears.
Xuan Tianmei could feel Su Yang"s breath tickle her neck a ferocity that made her heart skip a beat.
"I can"t tell you, I can only show you." Su Yang whispered before withdrawing from Xuan Tianmei.
Xuan Tianmei breathed hurriedly. When she finally caught her breath, she asked in an almost broken voice. "You"re being mysterious again, aren"t you?"
"No, seriously. If I told you, you"d never be able to find or describe it. It"s kind of an underground apartment."
"I"m scared."
"Really?" Su Yang"s voice had an amused ring to it. "I was trying to flirt with you."
"Huh?"
"Yeah. I was trying to make you feel special."
"By telling me you"re going to take me to stay in an underground apartment?"
"Yes. It"s a secret apartment that no-one knows anything about. Except for my gang members."
"I"m not any less scared."
"Silly girl." Su Yang stroked Xuan Tianmei"s chin. "You"re the first person outside the gang who"ll know where the apartment is. Or get to live there."
"Oh!" Xuan Tianmei"s face broke into a sweet smile. "Now that I understand, I do feel special."
"Silly." Wearing a broad smile, Su Yang shook her head at Xuan Tianmei.
"Mei Mei, you"re awake." Xuan Tianyi"s voice from behind Su Yang ruined the girl"s moment.
"Well, I"ll get you something to eat then." Su Yang made an excuse to give the siblings privacy.
"Thanks." Xuan Tianmei smiled at Su Yang as she left. When she finally turned her attention to Xuan Tianyi who had taken Su Yang"s place on the bed, she saw him staring at Su Yang"s retreating back with an undisguised annoyance in his eyes.
"Oh! Don"t look at her like that." Xuan Tianmei complained.
"I"m not fond of her."
"Why not?"
"I don"t know... She has... A quality that upsets me."
Xuan Tianmei rolled her eyes. "Can you not dislike my girlfriend?"
"Your what?" Xuan Tianyi asked for clarification. He wasn"t sure he heard right.
"My girlfriend. We"re dating." Xuan Tianmei replied without any reservation.
"You"re kidding." Xuan Tianyi chuckled amusedly.
"I"m not. We got together just the other day."
"That... That"s what you"re into?" The tone of Xuan Tianyi"s voice revealed a genuine surprise.
"She saved you before. It"s not really a shock I"m into her, is it?"
"Jesus, Xuan Tianmei." Xuan Tianyi shook his head. "I couldn"t have guessed. Well, I"m glad you found someone. Even if it"s that."
"Don"t call her "that". Her name"s Su Yang."
"Well, Su Yang."
"And what are you doing with him?" Xuan Tianmei pointed at Fah whose eyelids were still closed in an adorable fas.h.i.+on.
"We shot some scenes together today. We got talking after and I told him I had to come be with you at the hospital. He offered to follow me and I couldn"t think of a reason he shouldn"t."
"So, you didn"t just bring him here to annoy Hua Zhendan?"
"No. Not initially. But when I got the chance to do just that, I couldn"t resist."
"You know Su Yang found out Shen Rui isn"t our mother?"
"Actually, I knew that already. Shen Rui told me herself."
"Then... Why are you still giving President Hua a hard time?"
"I"m not. He was supposed to win me over. I talked to him politely to give him a chance. I thanked him for being here with you and everything. Instead of taking the opening I gave him, he told me he was no longer asking me out."
"Why didn"t you just tell him you wanted to get back together?"
"I can"t. He has to be the one to win me over."
"Why?"
"I can"t tell you."
"Why not?"
"It"s a bit difficult to explain. But never mind all of that. I wanted to ask you for something."
"What?"
"I don"t know if this is too much to ask. But, Shen Rui... Can you forgive her for what she did?"
"Sure. Why not?"
"You"re not mad at her?"
"At first, I was. But then, I thought about it and figured I could only get with Su Yang because we were stuck in this room together. Then I wasn"t so mad anymore."
"I can"t understand your fascination with the tomboy."
"I don"t expect you to. You don"t know her like I do."
"Okay then. But she"d better not hurt your feelings."
"She asked me to come live with her when I get discharged."
"Isn"t it too soon?"
"It"s just until my apartment gets fixed. And didn"t you start living with President Hua the moment you guys got together?"
"That"s different."
"How?"
"We had the hots for each other long before we started dating."
"And that"s an excuse?"
"It"s complicated, alright? And I never really officially lived there."
"You just spent every night and every minute of your spare time there?"
"Not when we weren"t in good terms."
"Don"t judge me for doing the same thing you did, Xuan Tianyi."
"I"m not judging you. You barely know this lady."
Xuan Tianmei rolled her eyes.
"You know what? As long as you"re happy, I support you."
Xuan Tianmei pulled Xuan Tianyi into a hug. "I love you so much, you know?"
"I love you too."
"Don"t I get any hugs?" Tan Yao who had entered the room unnoticed asked.
The twins pulled away from each other. "Hey." They both greeted with a smile.
"What are you doing here?" Xuan Tianmei asked.
Tan Yao gave Xuan Tianmei a bouquet. "Your brother told me you were having your face changed so I came to take a look." He scanned her curiously. "You don"t look all that different."
"I didn"t have my face changed, I had it fixed." Xuan Tianmei corrected him.
"It"s still good you"re okay. I know your brother goes everywhere with that one nowadays..." Tan Yao pointed towards Fah. "But I"m the one he cries to whenever he has a real problem. If something happens to you, I wouldn"t know how to console him."
"You don"t like him either?" Xuan Tianmei asked while her brother rolled his eyes.
"He"s actually not that bad. But I can"t imagine how President Hua feels about him."
"Don"t worry your pretty head about it. We"re not together anymore." Xuan Tianyi said.
"Oh! But he wouldn"t come to the hospital and not come here, right?"
"He"s been here all day. Left only a while ago because he had to attend to something."
"No, he"s still here."
"He is?"
"Yes. I saw him at reception. But he didn"t see me. He looked very anxious and was asking for someone"s room number."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course, I"m sure. Why wouldn"t I be?"
"Who could be the reason he was that anxious then?"
"Don"t know, didn"t really listen for the name. But it was someone who had him as his emergency contact."
"Could it have been Shen Rui?" Xuan Tianmei asked.
"G.o.d, I hope not." Xuan Tianyi said. Looking at Tan Yao, he asked. "Do you remember the room number? I"ll go check."
"Of course, I remember it." Tan Yao said.