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Mele is mesmerized by our Christmas tree - Peter Liu. PeterLiu47.com |
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas ♬:
On the night of the twenty third,
Zhengqing called Yin Ting and informed her that he was booked on a flight at
noon the next day.
Yin Ting screamed excitedly down
the phone, Zhengqing could not help but laugh. Then she sighed and said, ‘The
cooking lessons have not been successful, otherwise I would have personally
made you a romantic western style meal.’ (Zuben: What? Steak and potatoes?)
‘Ah that’s alright, thank you for the
thought,’ he said a little nervously, ‘Is my kitchen okay?’
‘Yes, it’s done. I got the work
rushed and it was finished today,’ she replied as she made effort to recall
whether there were other damages to his house. She’ll have to look through
tomorrow and check again.
‘I will land at two o’ clock, but I
will have to go to the office first and give my report and hand in the
documents. Then I’ll come home.’ He told her.
‘Alright, I thought so,’ she said
as she thought, she would have more time, ‘I will wait for you at home, since
you don’t have your keys.’
‘Um, can I still use my keys?’
‘Of course, of course.’ Yin Ting
said with a little guilty prick to her conscience.
‘I haven’t had time to arrange a
restaurant for us to eat. I’ll see if I can make a reservation somewhere.’
‘Don’t worry, I’ve already arranged
it,’ she said excitedly, ‘and if you can’t come back it won’t be wasted, I’ll
take my dad.’
‘….’ Zhengqing felt a sense of crisis
ah; it seems the boyfriend can be replaced by the father at any time. (Zuben:
Yeah, don’t try to get between a girl and their loving father.)
The next evening, Zhengqing wearily
dragged his suitcase to his door. He looked at his watch, it was just past
five. He just needed to take a shower and accompany Yin Ting to dinner.
He took a deep breath and raised
his hand to the doorbell.
It was the first time that he’d
ever had to ring his own door bell. Because he had no family who visited, his
house only ever had him in it. There was never anyone else to open his door. If
he was outside the door, there would be no one inside. It would be quiet and
lonely.
This feeling of ringing his
doorbell was very fresh.
There was movement behind the door
and his heart began to pound. He had a girlfriend; he was going to accompany
her to eat Christmas dinner. He suddenly felt nervous.
His girlfriend.
There was a timid intimate feeling.
The door opened, ‘Welcome home,’
she said in a loud vibrant voice. At Yin Ting’s sweet smile, his heart warmed.
His girlfriend. His family. (Zuben:
Really, rein in your heart, bros!)
‘I’m back,’ he said letting his
affection for her show in his eyes. His eyes felt warm.
‘Come in, its cold outside,’ she
said tugging him in, and pulling out indoor slippers. He noticed a new set of
slippers, they were red matching his blue ones, and they were very festive.
Yin Ting dragged his suitcase into
the house as she closed the door, while shouting, ‘Dada! Come see daddy, he’s
back!’
Zhengqing smiled, he was now also a
daddy. Miao-dada ran over, Zhengqing could not help but laugh. He was wearing a
splendid attire, he was dressed like Santa Claus, and he looked really chubby,
‘Miao, you’ve gotten really fat.’ He said as he help up the cat. The cat
struggled to get down; it was more interested in the suitcase.
Zhengqing crossed the threshold and
entered his living room.
Things had changed. It was strange
but he kind of liked it.
The brown leather sofa was gone. In
its place, an even larger beige and brown fabric sofa with many cushions as
well as a blanket. Near the floor to ceiling windows was now a tall evergreen
tree. The tree was decorated with glittering lights, and golden bells, and
pretty ribbons and cute baubles. Under the tree were a few wrapped boxes. His
beige curtains were tied back with their sash in a neat bow. He had never
really cared how they looked. The bookcase in the living room had a few new
things than a few red blue yellow ornaments, it was looking very festive.
‘Do you like it? She asked
tentatively. She pulled him to touch the couch and let him sit in it. The fabric
seemed to be made of the best cotton, and memory foam on the inside. ‘It was
cheaper than the leather one. And the seat covers can be changed, so I bought
another set; red and brown, so they go with your colour scheme. Do you find it
comfortable? The fabric is difficult to scratch.’
Zhengqing relaxed on the couch, it
was really comfortable. He pulled Yin Ting down beside him, this time she
blushed, but she cosied up next to him.
‘Very nice, I like it,’ he said.
Yin Ting grinned happily and said,
‘There is a true gift, oh,’ as she pointed to a box under the tree.
‘Did you buy all of that?’ He asked
surprised. The boxes were also very nicely decorated with wrapping paper.
‘Of course not, I only bought one,
and I will give you when we eat, the atmosphere would be nice.’ (Zuben: They
seem to be obsessed with ‘atmosphere’)
Zhengqing thought it was lucky that
he didn’t give her his gift right away, since she wanted to have the Christmas
atmosphere. He would wait till dinner.
‘The rest are from my brother,
Yufei, Gu Yingjie and Zhuzhu-jie. They are small gifts that they sent over,’
Yin Ting said with a smile, ‘I got them ready in advance.’
He laughed at her expression and
asked, ‘So when you were receiving the gifts, did they know about us?’
Yin Tin blushed but said, ‘I did
not say anything. It is Christmas. Whether they know or not, they sent gifts
for you. Of course, one expresses thing differently to different people. Who
knows what they thought. They handed me the gifts, and I delivered them.’
Zhengqing smiled, he estimated that
they all know.
‘I am not stupid, I must wait for
you to come back and we can tell them face to face.’
‘Yes yes, it is not good of me.’
‘It is not that you’re not good, I
am reasonable. You must work, but you have also hurried back, so I am very
happy.’
‘I am also very happy,’ he replied,
thinking that her face was really cute, would it be too much too quickly to
kiss her?
‘Would you like a cup of tea or do
we leave now? I reserved for half past seven, but there would certainly be
traffic.’ Yin Ting said reminding him of the time.
‘No I won’t have tea, I’ll quickly
take a shower and change clothes,’ he said as he got up quickly and went to get
his suitcase. He turned back and asked; ‘You know Yufei is pregnant?’ He had
heard from colleagues at work. Yufei confirmed and also told him she was
getting married to Yingjie.
‘I know,’ Yin Ting said nodding,
she was clearly very happy for her friend, ‘Yingjie telephoned to show off to
everyone. They built the fruit of virtue.1’
Qiu Zhengqing nodded and
calmly said, ‘We will too,’ then took his suitcase to his bedroom. He passed
the kitchen on his way and took a glance in. It had really been renovated. He
turned to Yin Tin with a raised eyebrow, Yin Ting giggled.
He went to his room.
Once his door was closed, Yin Ting
swayed back and forth on the sofa, ‘We can also…’ so sure, so calm, although it
was not like he was madly in love, but there was such self assurance, ah. But
the way he said it…!
Yin Ting grabbed a cushion and
clutched it to her face feeling shy.
He’d only been gone half a month,
when did he become so handsome? She really liked him.
She clutched the pillow, hiding her
face as she rolled about on the sofa, remembering his twelve points she giggled
happily (Zuben: You and I remember different things, dear) Then she was
imagining how he’d react when she gave him his gift. She giggled again. He most
likely won’t have a gift for her. She guessed that might be the case, but it
did not matter.
She was lolling on the sofa, lost
in thought, when she turned around and saw Zhengqing all dressed up standing in
the living room watching her.
She squeaked and jumped up, and
quickly sat in a lady like manner. Although it was kind of too late, she must
still display composure. How did he bathe so quickly, or had she been fooling
around too long?
Zhengqing tried very hard to hold
back the laughter. He has thought there was too little time to wash, so he
dressed and rushed out only to find his girlfriend giggling and rolling about
the sofa and his chubby cat hanging off the study door handle.
This cat really does worry a
person, ah.
He pretended not to have noticed
Yin Ting’s silliness and turned to Miao-dada, ‘What is he doing?’
‘What…?’ she asked, she could not
see the door from the sofa so she came to his side to have a look.
‘Oh he’s trying to open the door.’
‘…’
‘It’s the only door he can’t open.
So he tries really hard to do it.’ The door was very hard to open and close and
it needed a bit of muscle strength to open, so no matter how much Miao-dada
tried, it could not open the door.
‘…’ He looked at her then back at
the cat, ‘Will there come a day when I come home and find the door open and my
house robbed because the cat let the thieves in?’
‘…ah…’ Yin Ting also thought of the
problem but then whispered, ‘But think of the advantages, the cat can also…’
He stared at her as Yin Ting
quickly scrambled for an excuse, ‘It isn’t me who taught him how to open doors,
really. When I come over, it was already out of its room. Besides, it has proved
that it is a smart cat.’
‘Hmm, I am really pleased,’ he said
a tad sarcastically as he went to pry Dada from the door, ‘it didn’t have the
strength to open the doors before, but I will solve this problem.’ He said as
he took Miao-dada back to its room, and locked the door.
‘It really likes leather surfaces,’
she explained, ‘and your study has a leather chair. So I locked the door
properly, ah.’ Yin Ting said fiercely, her expression was like “I fought to
keep your chair safe!”
He laughed, ‘This proves my girlfriend
is really smart.’
Yin Ting looked up at the word
‘girlfriend’, it sounded nice to hear. (Zuben: Finally?)
After getting the cat settled for
the evening, the two of them left the house for their dinner.
In the building where the
restaurant was, they took the elevator to the restaurant. As they moved up, Yin
Ting was deep in thought wondering how to express intimacy with Zhengqing. When
it was time to go, did she put her hand in his and pretend it was all natural
and casual. Or did she wait for dinner then hold his hand? Or should they go
for a romantic walk in the evening? That would certainly be more natural…
While deep in thought, her hand was
suddenly enveloped by a bigger warm hand.
Yin Ting’s heart was pounding as
she glanced surreptitiously at Zhengqing, he was staring intently at the
elevator panel. Yin Ting tried not to grin, but smiled. She grabbed onto his
bicep with her free hand, and laughed, ‘You’re shy.’
‘I am not.’ He answered with a low
rumble
‘You are.’ She teased.
‘No,’
‘You are, definitely!’
‘What is there to be shy about?
Holding my girlfriend’s hand is perfectly justified.’ He said with a stubborn
look on his face.
Yin Ting laughed, she was so happy,
really happy.
The restaurant looked good as they
entered. Around them there many other couples enjoying each other and their
meals. Yin Ting and Zhengqing were both excited and shy; they didn’t talk much
as they ate their very nice dinner, but couldn’t help looking at each other and
couldn’t help but laugh
When it was time for dessert, Yin
Ting took out her gift and handed it to Zhengqing. He opened it to find a pair
of drop shaped cufflinks; he liked them so much he immediately put them on.
‘Very nice, I like them.’
Yin Ting was very happy.
At this time Zhengqing took out
from his jacket pocket a flat, not small but not big box.
‘This is my gift to you.’
A little excitement bubbled up in
Yin Ting, ‘Is that your little notebook?’ she joked.
Zhengqing smiled but did not
answer, he simply said, ‘I hope you like it.’
Yin Tin laughed and opened the
gift; it was an electronic photo frame
‘Nice, we can put our pictures!’
she said, but Zhengqing reached over and clicked the on button.
The pictures began to run their
slide show.
The first picture was:
(Zuben: I can’t believe I have to
type this out again)
‘Firstly, feelings are the most
important thing; I like you. You said that if people like each other there’s
nothing inappropriate about it, and they can adjust to suit each other. But if
people don’t like each other mutually, then everything is useless. So the most
important thing is; I like you.
He had re-written the negotiations
by hand on a clean sheet of white paper and took photos of them and made them
into a slide show on the electronic photo frame.
The second picture was:
I have a car, no loan, a house with
five years left on the mortgage and a lot of annual dividends, and large
savings. Although, my circumstances are not as good as yours, I have enough to
give you a good quality of life.’
As the eight picture came up, she
couldn’t help but cry:
‘The eighth point, how long would I
like you? There are two conditions. First; you like me. Second; we work
together diligently. If we meet the above conditions, we should be together a
long time.’
Ninth, tenth ... Yin Ting wiped her
tears till she saw the thirteeth.
‘Thirteenth point, I am not with
you all the time, so please be sure to take care of yourself and don’t make me
worry.
Yin Ting’s tears flowed
freely, ‘So hateful,’ she said through her watery smile, ‘making me cry in
public.’
Zhengqing silently handed her a
paper napkin. (Zuben: Paper napkin? What kind of shoddy establishment are they
in? Cloth serviettes, if you please.)
Yin Ting took the paper napkin,
as she complained, ‘So hateful, how could you come up with this gift.’ This gift
was much better, so romantic. She had misjudged him. So romantic, he must be
the first.
‘Well, it’s nothing. I got the
inspiration at a meeting where they were showing me things on PowerPoint.’
(Zuben: Bwhahahah! Such a dork!)
‘…’
Only her proper gentleman can see
inspiration in a PowerPoint presentation, right?
[1] I assume this is a something the Chinese say about
marriage and babies. I couldn’t find any site that would easily confirm or deny
that for me.
N.B.: If you choose to comment, don't be worried they don't show up right away. Comments get moderated and I publish them as soon as I can.
Thanks for reading. Be well :)
I could not help to giggling whole reading time... Wonderful chapter. Inspiration can come from anything. (Falling apple)... Thanks a lot...
ReplyDeleteAhh too much sweetness
ReplyDelete😆😆😆
Thank you for the chapter!
i like reading your little notes
ReplyDelete