Zhong Yu just looked at her quietly, but did not say anything.
He was just focused on grilling the meat for everyone. Every now and then, he would pick up the meat scissors and cut the meat to pieces. He would always put some to Shao Yan"s plate first, and then he start to distribute the rest to Feifei and Lu Qian.
This small action might not be easily noticable to anyone. But Lu Qian, who was sitting next to him and knew what happened back in university, saw his actions right away.
Lu Qian paused his chopsticks when he saw Zhong Yu pa.s.sed the meat first to Shao Yan, but he did not say anything to him. He continued to pick up his chopsticks to eat and drink happily with his sister.
Feifei really could eat a lot!
Shao Yan was staring at how her little mouth just kept on inhaling all the food. One by one, she would pick up this and that, and then they would disappear instantly.
Shao Yan was shocked!
"Feifei, why didn"t I remember you as a glutton?" Shao Yan finally could not help herself to ask, "In the university last time, you were so demure and so...how do I say it?" Shao Yan was speechless, she lost all of her capability to come up with the right words to describe what she was feeling right now.
Lu Qian suddenly burst out in laughs, "Xiao Yan, you did not see the whole truth! That time she was crazy in love with Zhong Yu, of course she would act so reserve and innocent!" his body shook lightly because of his laughter, while he pointed his finger at Zhong Yu who was sitting next to him.
Feifei hastily stood up from her chair and leaned over to her brother who was sitting across from her. His comment was rewarded with a smack on his head from Feifei, "Stinky brother! I was not!" And after saying that, she hastily turned her head around to look at Zhong Yu, "Don"t trust him! Don"t ever trust him!"
Feifei said a bunch of words in panic and her face was a little tinted with redness creeping from her neck to her cheek. No one in the table actually believe her words that she was denying. Everyone was siding more to what Lu Qian had revealed. But Zhong Yu and Shao Yan tactfully pretended otherwise.
Zhong Yu was genuinely surpised. He had never thought of Feifei that way before. He had always looked at her as his "best friend"s sister"; which technically he considered as his own sister too. In the past, he had never looked at other woman. His eyes had been fixed on someone, who then belonged to another man at that time.
He saw how this someone and her beautiful face lit up every time her friends told her some jokes. He saw how she fell in love with his own best friend. He saw how her gentle eyes would twinkle when they are looking at his best friend adoringly.
And he saw how she left everything behind to elope with his own best friend. He did not know when she finally came back, until his best friend called him three years ago to check on her. He started to look for her again, not wanting to miss his chance.
He went back to city B, but she was nowhere to be found. He contacted few other friends, but nothing came out as well. He was not able to find her anywhere and slowly, he grew numb from all the sadness and pain of being cast to the side.
Shao Yan giggled at the siblings who were arguing back and forth now. On certain aspects, people"s character would stay the same, for this case with Lu Qian and Lu Feifei was their siblings" playful discussion.
Lu Qian would not hesitate to give up the world for his sister, and she for him. They were each other best friends, yet also biggest enemies. Their playful banter had always successfully drew laughs from all of their friends during university days.
She remembered that Liwei would always tease Lu Qian on this. All of a sudden, Shao Yan could feel that she consciously pause herself from thinking about more Liwei and all the sad stuffs.
Ever since her talk with Li Xiqing, every time she thought about Liwei now, unconsciously, she would also see Li Xiqing and what he had said that morning when she told him about her past.
"Promise me that this will be the last time you cry for him" - and she always remembered that in her heart.
She tilted her head down, and smiled embarra.s.sedly by herself. She would have never thought that this day will come. The day when she would voluntarily stop herself to plunge to more sadness from disappointment; because she had found her happiness.
She subtly glanced at her watch, and noticed that it was almost midnight. Realization hit her. Why did Li Xiqing not call her yet?
Shao Yan put down her tea cup and then she reached out to her phone that was laying on the side. She unlocked it, and saw that there was no single message or any missed call from him.
She tilted her head to the side and felt confused.
Her fingers swiftly open a text messaging app and started typing, "Are you asleep? I am almost done here."
Li Xiqing"s reply came right away, "No, of course not. I am waiting for you. I"m watching a TV series. I will leave now, and should be there in 10 minutes."
Shao Yan smiled and texted back "OK, drive safe, don"t rush, I can wait".
After she put her phone down, she looked around the table and saw that everyone had stopped eating. They just chatted casually now while sipping on their Soju. Shao Yan lifted her hand and signaled the server to ask for the restaurant bill.
When the bill arrived, the four of them argued among each other on who should pay. After some time, they finally agree to just split it equally between the four of them.
The waiter came by again to leave a plate of fresh cut fruits for dessert. Shao Yan had just stabbed her fork onto a piece of honeydew melon when she heard Lu Qian asked her, "Xiao Yan, let us drive you back. Where do you stay?"
She raised her other hand to him, with a gesture of rejecting while shaking her head, "No need, thank you," She paused for a while, seeming to want to say more so Lu Qian patiently waited for her.
"My boyfriend is already on the way to pick me up," she finally said it out loud.
And then an awkward silence suddenly blanketed all of them.