Chapter Six
Mai Wei Ze went back to training, only Old Mai and Li Yongxuan were left at home.
Two unrelated people, suddenly left alone at home to live together – this situation should have been embarra.s.sing, uncomfortable and strange. But there were no such feelings, as if her living there was completely justified.
When she got up everyday, she had a hot breakfast waiting for her, dinner was delicious as well, full of wonderful color and fragrances.
Whenever Li Yongxuan complimented the food, the stern expression of the old man would immediately soften
He had good skills, but because his grandson was an athlete, for many years, he had to restrict his skills to cooking only specific food. With Li Yongxuan, he finally had an opportunity to show off his skills.
And the old man did not let her lounge around just like that, he sent her off to do the various tasks at home quite unceremoniously
So washing dishes, mopping the floor, whatever task Old Mai did not like to do , it became Li Yongxuan"s work.
And one more thing was soon added..
One morning, when Li Yongxuan was vacuuming the floor, she watched the old man sitting at the kitchen table, solemnly typing out something on the computer using two fingers. She couldn"t help but ask , "Grandfather, what are you working on ?"
Old Mai looked up and stared at her.
His eyes, when angry, looked exactly the same as that of Mai Wei Zhe, he was indeed a worthy grandchild.
She was habituated to this stare. Whenever they were angry, embarra.s.sed,shy or did not know how to answer, they would always stare like this at people in response.
So she carefully asked again, "If you want, I can help. I can type fast."
She had just offered casually, but to the old man it was like a life saver. For his grandson, he had learned the computer at an old age, but it was a real struggle for his old bones!
Now that he had a helper, of course, he would make good use of her!
Immediately, the old man got up and pointed to the computer and said, "Emailing the physical records of Mai to the coach and his staff, collecting information about him over the internet, all of this stuff is now your responsibility."
So from then on, Li Yongxuan took over this additional task as well. Old Mai, sitting by her side, nodded his head approvingly as he saw her fast typing speed. But from then on, she also figured out that Old Mai"s recordkeeping of Mai was quite extravagant.
Every day, he would search online and update every little bit of news that appeared.
Whether it was just a newspaper report, an interview or a review by a sports channel, even a fan update…everything would be recorded one by one and archived by date.
No wonder that sometimes he would sit in front of the laptop for two or three hours.
With his typing speed so slow, how long would it take for him to finish?
It was really hard for an elderly person.
Did his solemn expression hide his enormous love for and his expectations around his sole grandchild?
Li Yongxuan pondered over this as she cut and paste the content pages one by one.
Was it good luck to have something like this? Mai Wei Zhe had not enjoyed parental love since childhood, so…
" Oh!" She hadn"t realised when Old Mai had appeared behind her. He had brought her a cup of cold, lemon tea for her.
He was standing behind her, quietly watching her skilfully cut and paste the pages to his archive.
He phone rang at 445 PM on time, and she rushed back to pick it up. She couldn"t help laughing at herself. This was the time when the afternoon session of ice training ended. Usually, before going back to the gym, Mai Wei Zhe would call in between.
"h.e.l.lo, what are you doing?" this was usually the first sentence, followed by , " What are you planning to have for dinner at night?"
Li Yongxuan sighed "Even if you ask, you cannot eat, so why do you ask ?"
"Did you have any soup?"
"Mai Wei Zhe, we are planning to have pizza"
As expected, a voice said angrily, "Pizza! Do you know how long since I last had Pizza?"
"Since the training started six months ago."
Then she asked, "Did everything go fine in today"s training?"
Earlier, when he had suddenly left the press conference, he had been scolded badly by his coach. As punishment, his coach had forbidden him to go home.But Mai Wei Zhe had said nothing to her, she had learnt all this from internet reports.
"Do you want to watch us shoot an ad? Do you want to visit the team?"
" Yes I"ll come. Old Mai has asked me to carry some things for you." Grandpa had also asked her to keep a close watch on the monkey b.a.s.t.a.r.d, but ofcourse this was not something she could convey.
"You can come and meet us in two days", he said.
"Ok"
They hadn"t met for a few days, but it felt like a long time. This feeling she safely secured at the bottom of her heart; she could clearly comprehend that this feeling of hers was reciprocated by the other person as well. As she hung up the phone,a secret, sweet feeling like lemon iced tea lingered in her heart
After two days, she took some of grandfather"s stuff and went to visit the team and the ad shooting.
The shooting was happening in the shed.
Yongxuan was not aware that they were actually shooting an advertis.e.m.e.nt for chocolate!
"Isnt this sponsor supposed to be a sports drink manufacturer?" She asked in confusion.
" The sponsor is a food giant, apart from sports drinks, they also make chocolates," Anrun explained.
He was also in the ad. He had to change clothes. Right now, he had put on a whte shirt and black trousers. It had transformed him from an ordinary athlete to a handsome male model.
The moment he saw Li Yongxuan, he was happy to run over to her side, like a cute puppy.
"But.. can you eat chocolate?"
Anrun made an innocent , hangdog expression.
Then Mai Wei Zhe also came out.
His dress was almost the same as Anrun, but the same white shirt on him was tightly stretched across his wide chest. Almost four b.u.t.tons of the shirt were unb.u.t.toned, exposing his chest almost all the way to the navel. His powerful chest, so exposed, was an amazing sight.
His eyes found her easily in the crowd and their gazes locked.
They silently gazed across the crowd, until the director who was talking to him also stopped speaking, clearly recognising his attention was elsewhere.
"Wow!" Anrun quietly exclaimed. The other female staff beside her also sensed something was up, and whispered among themselves. The whispers soon gave way to suppressed laughter. It was an atavistic instinct to the presence of a perfect male creature.
Checking the light meter, positioning etc were completed , the rehearsals pa.s.sed off without a hitch, now it was time to start the official shooting.
A bucket of colourful chocolate beans was sent up. They looked delicious, just looking at them made a person want to grab and eat them.
On top of that, the fragrance of thick, sweet chocolate filled the studio. Just smelling it, Li Yongxuan could feel her mouth beginning to water.
Then the director shouted "Cut!"The camera was switched off and Mai Wei Zhe immediately turned around and spit the chocolate in his mouth into a small garage bag handed to him by an a.s.sistant.
Li Yongxuan was stunned!
You didnt eat it!"
" You know we cant eat it."
" How strong is your willpower ?"
She looked at him, as over and over again, in front of the camera, he showed an enjoying, intoxicated expression but spit it out immediately as soon as the camera was off without the least bit of hesitation.
What kind of torture was this?
Li Yongxuan was really willing to admit defeat. If it were her, she could never exhibit such self control.
Once they were finished with the shooting, Anrun went out to play.
She looked on as Mai Wei Zhe walked back to the lounge with a cold face, then realised that she had to give him some things and walked up to him
As soon as she entered the lounge, she could not help but ask ," You really didn"t even have a little bit of chocolate?"
Mai Wei Zhe shook his head, and then looked at her with an odd expression on his face.
She had changed. But she probably didn"t realise it herself. For some time, she was having three meals a day made by grandfather. As a result, she looked a bit better, no longer as thin and anaemic looking as before. Dressed in a T shirt and jeans, she also looked a lot more youthful , very different from her past attire of a formal suit which made her seem distant and unattainable.
On top of all this, there was an expression of pure, unadulterated desire in her elegant face.
Ah! She loves chocolate!. She used to eat donuts, almost always of chocolate flavour.
"How can someone resist the magic of chocolate?" She looked at him with a mixture of fascination and confusion, her cheeks slightly rosy, her eyes slight narrowed, as if describing her dream lover, "the sweetness, the aroma…"
He could not help it.
They had been separated for a few days, and at the first meeting, she had this amazing, dreamy sweet expression.
He took a big step forward , took her face in his hands and kissed her lips. His kiss tasted of chocolate, mixed with the heady aroma of rich chocolate, it was like irresistible magic.
When the kiss ended, Li Yongxuan was blushing, her eyes widened and looked at him in surprise.
"What are you doing?" her voice shook slightly as she whispered.
"I thought you wanted to taste the chocolate. I fulfilled your wish, let you taste it", Mai Wei Zhe smiled mischievously.
She felt like her whole being was immersed in chocolate, warm, sweet, intoxicating chocolate. She felt like her head was spinning..
"That..I …", she stopped, then asked, " Will you try it again?"
He smiled. Then he hugged her boldly and let her taste it again for a while.
This kiss was deeper, hotter and more penetrating than the last one.
She tasted him, and he tasted her greedily, she was pressed between his hard chest and the door. It was almost hard to breathe. Her body felt like soft chocolate, melting in his tight hug.
It had been such a long time. Almost from the first glance, his eyes had locked into her. He had been trying to attract her attention from the beginning, watching her work through her emotions of impatient anxiety or loneliness when there was no one to take care of her..
And finally, he had to wait for her eyes to turn away from other men. So she could finally see him
He could no longer hide his love from her.
Watching her from afar, as she went to another man, wishing that she would leave immediately, alll of his suppressed feelings now surged like a flood, drowning them both.
Yes, chocolate was an aphrodisiac as well..