After the both of them exchanged a series of precautions, she found out that his flight was actually tonight, which meant the dog must definitely come over tonight. But the problem was, she didn’t even have her own house keys. When Cheng Chen fished out his car keys from his pocket, she vaguely said, “It’s fine if you want to bring your dog over today but please give me two hours to settle some private matters.” She didn’t understand why but she didn’t want him to know about her predicament.
The car unlocking made a light noise. Cheng Chen opened the pa.s.senger door. “What’s wrong? Is it inconvenient?” “Not really,” she answered. “It’s just that there’s some people in my house that I need to settle before letting you come over.” She also needed to appease Cola. Cheng Chen motioned for her to get on. “Then I’ll send you home first, it’s on my way.” It was indeed conveniently on his way. She still had to hurry home to settle the problem so the dog can come over sooner. With such reasoning, Si Nian also didn’t refuse his offer. Cheng Chen helped her close the door before getting into the driver seat. The music drifted as they started their journey home. The rhythm was very quiet. There were only the sound of a guitar strumming monotonously and the voice of a young girl’s singing in a language she didn’t recognise. She couldn’t tell what song it was, only that it was a very gentle one. Neon lights flashed in the window as they drove past. In the end Cheng Chen still didn’t speak much. She was pretty bored, so she took the script that was in the driver’s seat earlier and read it very carefully and seriously from cover to cover. When she closed the script, she saw a contact form attached. It was a very simple form. It was commonly used during filming to avoid the staff from losing contact from each other. Usually she wouldn’t pay attention to such a form and even now she was just lazily looking at it, but she saw a name that surprised her. In the third row, it wrote: Si Nian. Next to it was a string of numbers. He knew, he knew all along. Si Nian stared at her own name and felt her entire body getting hot. On the day of the meeting, he was browsing through this script, looking as if he knew nothing. But after reviewing things that happened afterwards, she was certain that he knew from the beginning. She put the script behind her and quietly glanced at him. Cheng Chen was looking at the review mirror, as the car drove through the elevated bridge. He asked, “Do I turn left at the intersection?” She subconsciously made an “en” sound. When the car turned into a junction, she saw the newly-built convenience store and said, “I remembered that I had something to buy, you can just drop me off here.” The convenience store was just in front, walking home from there took only five minutes. She could also buy something for the old couple to show her sincerity. Cheng Chen braked and said, “Is it really inconvenient for you? If it would inconvenience you, then let’s call the thing off.” The car was parked safely in front of the convenience store. She was stunned. First she said that she was going home to settle private matters, now she deliberately didn’t allow him to drop her off in front of her house… he must be misunderstanding that she had someone at home. “It’s not inconvenient,” she said, pretending to look out the window. She was actually looking at his reflection in the window. “I have some misunderstanding with my neighbours, I need to settle it.” He t.i.tled his head, staring at her. She could not guess his expression or gaze, her heart fluttered a little. “Wait for my call. When I’m done, I’ll call you.” After she finished her sentence, she immediately exited the car. She didn’t even dare to look back and with big steps, she entered the convenience store. Matters were far from simple as she had imagined. The elderly couple called in three pairs of their daughter and son-in-law. The eight of them were standing outside her door, all of them discussing pa.s.sionately. The scene made her felt like she was seeing the illusion of reproduced in real life… Even if she was good at arguing, she was no match for eight people’s series of attack. Her heart was full of lamentations. If she had the foresight, she would have called in her girlfriends as well. At least then her presence would not be so weak. Two hours quickly pa.s.sed but the eight people were still relentlessly arguing. She looked at the time, getting more and more impatient. She thought since it was her neighbours, leaving her keys behind would show sincerity, but she didn’t expect that she had unwittingly trapped herself. She was afraid that Cheng Chen would be waiting too long and caused him to miss his flight, so she discreetly sent him a text: “I think you’ll have to wait a while more. I’m still not done here.” The reply was immediate: “I’m already downstairs. Which floor do you live on?”
She hesitated, but still replied, “I live on the 13th floor. I’m currently on the 12th floor. Why don’t you bring in your dog first.” She originally thought he was just dropping off his dog but when an intrepid Shepherd popped out of the elevator, the situation truly became out of her control. Cheng Chen followed out of the elevator and because of the dim yellow light of the corridor, his tall stature made him very striking. When Si Nian, who has been bullied for the past two hours, saw him smiling at her, she immediately hid behind him. The Shepherd sniffed her a little, his tail wagging furiously… She also smiled, petting the dog. This dog was pretty smart, it can detect good and evil. Cheng Chen did not say much, he only asked to go inside the house to inspect the damage. They have already made preparations in advance so they allowed him in. The ceiling and wall stopped dripping water a long time ago but on the floor there was a plastic basin. The basin was half-full, to prove the devastation of the situation earlier. Si Nian frowned. This family could truly be part of the prop team, they made it look so real. Cheng Chen simply raised his head to look around. “I will send someone over tomorrow to inspect the damage. After the report is out, then we will meet to discuss the compensation. What we owe you, you won’t receive one cent less.” After this sentence, he took off his gla.s.ses and placed it inside the pocket of his shirt. His one movement efficiently killed all the conversation in the room. Taking the dog with him, he walked out. Before Si Nian could react, she had already followed him. The eight were stunned speechless for three minutes, before understanding one fact: as long as that man existed, there was no way they could take advantage of the situation. In fact it was possible that in the end they would even lose any form of compensation. Their fire immediately dwindled, watching the two stepping into the elevator. The old woman quickly rushed over to stop the elevator. Smilingly she reminded that they were neighbours after all, everything could be discussed. Therefore, the situation that Si Nian was stuck in for two hours, Cheng Chen used only two minutes to completely reserve the situation. Even until she reached home, she could not stop lamenting. “They think that because you’re just a little lady, they can try and take advantage of you,” he said. He took off his necklace. “Sometimes, a man’s presence is necessary to settle such problems.” Such logic, of course she understood. But she can’t exactly keep asking her parents to help out solve problems, can she? The Shepherd had finally regained freedom, he quickly toured the house. Sniffing here and there, he didn’t seem to be shy around strangers. She walked into the kitchen to pour him a gla.s.s of water, before seeing that her water dispenser had long dripped all the water in it. With no choice, she looked into her refrigerator. “I only have c.o.ke here. Why don’t you wait here for a moment, I’ll go down to buy water for you.” She heard no immediate answer, so she closed the refrigerator and walked out. “It’s okay, I’ll have c.o.ke. Now I will drink some occasionally.” He was sitting on the corner of the sofa, leaning near the light, making his shadow long and lean. The dog apparently got bored of running around and had settled down next to his leg. One man, one dog, both of them treated this place like it was their home… Si Nian made an “oh” sound. She took out the c.o.ke and two gla.s.ses. There were even traces of ice on the lid of the c.o.ke, causing her fingers to feel numb from the cold. She was afraid that her bedsheets were completely destroyed by her cat, so she put down the c.o.ke on top of a magazine and ran inside her room. She carried her cat into the kitchen, made sure it finished eating and drinking before carrying it to the living room. “My cat’s temper is pretty bad, be careful of getting scratched,” she explained, feeling a little embarra.s.sed. Look at his dog, how gentle and well-mannered he is… While she was lamenting about not training her cat well, Cola’s eyes narrowed and shrieked loudly, with all its hair standing. She was so shocked that she accidentally released her hold and a white shadow pounced forwards. Oh s.h.i.t. Subconsciously Si Nian chased after the cat. When she was about to catch it, Cheng Chen’s hand firmly grasped the cat by the scruff of her neck, separating her from the dog. His other hand firmly supported Si Nian who was about to fall over. One woman, one cat, both was successfully supported by him. The ball of white in his hand was indignantly brandishing her paws at him. Si Nian could feel the heat from his palm, there was a sense of anxiety in her heart. She thought he would release his hold on her, she didn’t expect him to look at the cat with one eyebrow raised. Two second later, the universe’s unrivaled cat Cola completely surrendered, even letting its tail drop in a loving manner. … “Just a paper tiger,” he said, ending the dispute with a smile. He glanced at Si Nian. In his clear eyes that showed that he knew how to differentiate between white and black, there were traces of laughter. Si Nian stared at him blankly. In her mind, she repeatedly thought that this man truly looked different when he was smiling. If those people downstairs saw him when he was smiling like this, they would definitely not be afraid of him. He released his grip on her. She immediately stood up to pour him a gla.s.s of c.o.ke.
The foam quickly bubbled up and the hissing sound seemed almost celebratory. In that moment earlier, it was her truly seeing him for the first time, the real him. Other than the familiar facial features, everything else was strange and new to her. The feeling was a little odd. This was a person whom she had once liked, it still felt like she would never like anyone else but him in her life. Even now she still remembered every word she had ever said to him. But from the way he spoke, the way he sat, even to the way he held her earlier, everything felt strange and unfamiliar. Both of them chatted idly. The past never came up, the conversation was stubbornly focused around work. Cola the coward had fallen asleep on his lap, as if she had forgotten who was the owner who fed it. The Shepherd occasionally raised its head to look around, sniffing the cat and looking at Si Nian, before falling asleep again. Only after she saw Cheng Chen off, while lying sprawled on her bed, she remembered that she had forgotten to ask something important. She immediately texted him: “I’ve forgotten to ask, what is your dog’s name?”
She waited for some time in a daze before her phone buzzed. It was a one-word reply: “Sprite.” She stared at her phone, and immediately had a mental breakdown. Back then, she enjoyed lying on the balcony drinking an endless stream of c.o.ke, whether it was in the height of summer or the middle of winter. On the phone he would keep on nagging that c.o.ke was unhealthy, so on and so forth. He was seriously strict. In the end she got fed up and said that she would keep a cat and call it Cola. Who asked him to dislike cats? She wanted to annoy him but he actually laughed and said, “Okay, then I’ll keep a dog and call it Sprite. They would be a pair then.”
Notes
I decided to use he/she for the adorable pets because using “it” is getting repet.i.tive.