"You did what?" Nora shouted in shock as she moved the curtain slightly to see Xiu.
After leaving with Dylan, Xiu had called Nora and both of them met at their usual hangout spot: Spa. Right now, they were having a ma.s.sage and feeling her tense muscles easing up, Xiu had blurted out all the events of the day.
Xiu turned her face to look at Nora"s wide-eyed look and said, "What? I just did what I had to do. You and I both despise those hypocrite white lotus b.i.t.c.hes."
"I"m proud of you, my baby Xiu"er," said Nora while wiping fake tears of pride. She looked like a mother being proud of her kid. Xiu rolled her eyes at her performance and put her head back down. "By the way, why didn"t you just drive the car for your boss? You mostly have no problem with driving in the day. Night driving and parking lots scare you more."
Nora"s statement was somewhat true. Xiu was like a blind person during the night. And parking lots were her nightmare.
"I"m not his babysitter! Why should I drive?" Xiu replied straightforwardly.
"Touché!" Nora answered before the silence dawned in the room.
Later, Xiu was feeling refreshed and lighthearted after a relaxing ma.s.sage session. The colors of sadness or hatred or anger all were gone. Her bright and rejuvenated spirit was back. She had let Hu s.h.i.+s.h.i.+ slip out of her mind way easier than she had thought it"d be.
"The ma.s.sage was good right?" Xiu casually asked while entering the salon.
"Absolutely delicious," said Nora with a dreamy look. "That tingling sensation on my back and those dancing fingers... Sigh. I was too lost."
Xiu slapped the back of her head and said, "I was talking about ma.s.sage, not the ma.s.seuse." Nora scrunched up her face in discontent. "Also, that was a trainee. A freshman in college. How can you even have schemes about him?"
"A freshman in college. That means he"s out of high school. Meaning... I won"t have to face a lawsuit for dating a minor." Nora answered in her usual indifferent manner.
Xiu sighed while shaking her head at Nora. "Hey, Neil!" Seeing the hairstylist, Xiu waved at him.
"Hey, gals!" Neil gave both of them a hug. "It seems like I haven"t seen you both in years."
"That"s called exaggeration. We were here just last month," Nora replied lifting her arm and placing it around his shoulder.
Following that, Neil was looking at Xiu"s hair with a worried look. "Bai Xiu, what the h.e.l.l did you do to your hair?"
"Nora brought some new hair products from New York, I started trying those..." Xiu stated while looking at his weird expressions through the mirror. He looked like a heartbroken beauty. But Xiu could understand his feelings. Hair was for Neil just as a painting for an artist. He took pride in his art.
According to him, the beauty of a woman lied in her hair. He was very serious about that.
"You used those products?" Xiu nodded in response to Nora"s question and she added, "Good to know. I"m definitely not gonna touch those products."
Xiu picked up a brush and hit her head. "You used me like a guinea pig!"
Nora hugged her saying, "Baby Xiu"er, you know I love you."
Xiu snorted, "If I were you, I"d also love me."
Nora was left speechless at her conceited reply. Neil had to part them as he said, "You both don"t have to rub your love in like this. Can"t you be considerate of a recently dumped person?"
Both Xiu and Nora looked at him weirdly and asked simultaneously, "Neil, you got dumped?"
"Thanks for asking," he rolled his eyes at them and pushed Xiu back on the chair saying, "Bai Xiu, I told you that you have a sensitive skin type. Why did you use something without consulting me?"
"Sorry about that," Xiu replied guiltily. "But can you please help with this dandruff. I had an itch all day to scratch my scalp off."
"We"ll do something..." was his reply.
"Give her a haircut while you"re at it," Nora jutted in from the side couch while she was skimming through the pages of a magazine she had picked up out of boredom.
"I don"t need a haircut," Xiu shouted back.
"Yes, you do," said Nora with an urging tone.
"No, I don"t," said Xiu with the same stubbornness.
"Can you both stop arguing like husband and wife? My employees already think you both are a couple."
Hearing Neil"s words both of them looked like they have eaten a fly.
"WHAT??!!"
Both of them screamed at him in horror. Neil chuckled at their reaction and said, "I know you both are just friends but people don"t know that. So mind your actions in public once in a while."
"This is giving me a headache," Xiu remarked while rubbing her temples. "Why do I have to be paired with Nora? Eww!"
"I"m not that bad of a choice," Nora said with a playful smile. "Actually, I think I"ll be better boyfriend material. What do you say, Baby Xiu"er wanna date me?"
"No way! Go away! Before I throw you away!" Xiu snapped at her bitterly.
"Seriously, I have known you both for three years and you"re still the same. One date too much and the other is still a single soul wandering on this earth." Neil was familiar with their antics. In a way, they had grown quite close in these years. In Xiu"s pathetic social circle, he was the member no 2.
Xiu shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and said, "I am not a single soul. I also am dating."
"Who?" Neil and Nora gave her a curious look.
"My perfectly perfect self," replied Xiu with self-confidence that might bring shame to a peac.o.c.k.
"Baby Xiu"er, I do love you but you"re really a pain in the a.r.s.e sometimes." Xiu stuck her tongue out at Nora. "You don"t listen to her at all Neil. Just give her a haircut and some highlights to her boring look. Then I"ll take you out for drinks to heal your broken heart. Or your dumped a.s.s. Whichever is hurting more."
Xiu chuckled and said, "Will I be joining this drinking escapade?"
Neil and Nora turned their faces to look at her strangely and shook their heads in practiced synchronization. They both had their fair share of dealing with drunk Xiu. It was safe to say that she was a handful for them both.