Chapitre 50: Journey to the 'Art Gallery'
Feng Jiu silently sat on to the passenger seat. She also remembered how much she liked the sandalwood smell in his car. Dong Hua then looked at her, waiting for her to put on her seatbelt.
"What is he looking at again?" She thought to herself, and then she said, "Why are you not driving off?" Dong Hua then gave a half-smile and replied calmly, "Did you forget something?"
Feng Jiu immediately thought to herself, "What did I forget?! My phone? My bag?" Then she rampaged through her belongings quickly and replied, "No. I didn't forget anything."
Dong Hua then shook his head lightly and started to leaning over to her side. "Wait! What is he doing?!" Feng Jiu froze.
"You always forget to put on your seatbelt. I'm starting to wonder if you're doing it on purpose so that I'll have to do it for you." Dong Hua then put on the seatbelt for her and proceeded to drive off. Feng Jiu blushed extremely hard and replied softly, "I'm sorry. I forgot all about it." Dong Hua then smiled to himself, "Silly girl. What would she do without me?"
They stayed quiet for a good 5 minutes before Feng Jiu took out some sweets from her purse and offered it to Dong Hua. "You want some?"
Dong Hua quickly glanced over at what she was offering him. Then he replied, "You must really like snacks and sweets."
Feng Jiu immediately replied, "I'm not a glutton! It's just because I get hungry easily, so I need to have some food in my purse. I once fainted on the streets because I was so hungry, and my blood sugar levels dropped."
"Oh? Do you want me to get you some food? We can go to a drive-through. Just let me know what you want to eat. I'm only doing this because I don't want you fainting in my car, and people would think I'm a bad boss." Dong Hua replied.
"No, it's fine. I'm not hungry now. Try my sweet. It's really good!" Then Feng Jiu excitedly popped the sweet into his mouth. Dong Hua then started to chew on the sweet and he thought to himself, "This actually tastes good. I'm always eating salty snacks, and maybe I should start eating sweets."
Then he nodded his head lightly and replied politely, "Yeah, it's good. Thank you."
"I told you so!" She replied smugly. And then she continued to enjoy her sweets.
"By the way, I heard what happened this morning." Dong Hua said calmly. Feng Jiu immediately panicked, "Is he going to fire me now?!" Then she calmed herself down and replied, "And?"
"So, do you want me to do something about Ji Heng?" He asked softly. Feng Jiu was taken aback, and she would never have expected that Dong Hua would say something like that. "Why is he asking me this? Is he testing me? Shouldn't he be protecting Ji Heng? Maybe Si Ming was right; maybe he doesn't have any feelings for her?" Feng Jiu's mind was in a huge mess.
"So?" Dong Hua nudged her for a reply. Feng Jiu then swallowed some saliva nervously and replied, "No. I don't think you should do anything."
"Oh? Why?" He asked curiously.
"Because I don't want to stoop down to her level. Just because she bullies me, doesn't mean that I have to do it back to her. I already told her off, and I think we should leave it at that. Why are you asking me this? Are you going to fire me now?" Feng Jiu then frowned and looked down at her feet, and she was afraid to hear his answer.
Dong Hua thought to himself, "That's my girl! So kind-hearted. Wait, why is she worried about me firing her?"
"No, I'm not going to fire you. Why would you think that?" He asked curiously.
Feng Jiu knitted her brows and replied, "Because... I did something bad, and I scolded someone." Feng Jiu didn't want to mention Ji Heng's name, in fear of infuriating Dong Hua, and then she would lose her job.
Dong Hua then thought to himself, "Why would she even feel bad for standing up for herself? Did Ji Heng bully her so badly, until she had to feel this way? I mean, I have been bullied a lot in my childhood life, so I know that would definitely affect someone's mindset. I need to find a better way to protect her."
Then he carefully replied, "You won't lose your job just because you scolded someone. Nobody would be able to fire you, except me. You have my word on that." Dong Hua also didn't want to mention Ji Heng's name, because he was afraid that she would be upset.
At this point, it appeared that both of them were misunderstanding each other's words. And this is why people often said that communication is important. If not, everything would just be based off assumptions.
Feng Jiu then thought to herself, "Oh? At least he's an upright boss, and he didn't fire me just because I scolded his beloved. But what did he mean by nobody would be able to fire me, except him? Sometimes I really don't understand what Dong Hua is thinking." But she felt relieved to know that she won't lose her job.
Feng Jiu then carefully replied, "So... I still get my 10% pay raise, and you'll still consider the free meals, right?"
Dong Hua then chuckled, "Of course. I'm a man of my word." In his heart, he was thinking about how cute she was, "Silly girl. She got bullied, but all she thought of was her free meals. She's really a glutton."
Then he calmly replied, "You know, to be honest, I actually wished that I was more like you."
Feng Jiu then widened her eyes with shock, and she thought to herself, "Huh? Why would a perfect guy like Dong Hua, wants to be more like me?" Then she replied, "Why?"
"Because I would never let my bully off, and 'forgiveness' is not in my dictionary." He replied casually.
Feng Jiu pondered for a while, "Forgiveness? I wonder what Dong Hua went through in the past, that makes him think this way?" Then she replied softly, "I forgive, but I don't forget."
"I'm neither of those. I don't forgive, and I don't forget." Dong Hua replied coldly, and he felt slightly mad because he thought of his bad past.
Feng Jiu then noticed Dong Hua looking uneasy, and she asked worriedly, "Hey, are you okay? You can talk to me about anything. Your secret will be safe with me. What happens in this car stays in this car."
Dong Hua immediately softens, and he thought to himself, "It's weird how I feel so calm and comfortable around her. It's like as if I could forget all my unhappiness when I'm around her."
Then he replied with melancholy in his voice, "I grew up in an orphanage, and I was bullied a lot when I was growing up. Nobody wanted to be friends with me, but I'm guessing that's my fault as well. So I learned how to survive on my own."
Feng Jiu immediately touched his arm and reassured him, "Hey, it's not your fault, so you should also learn how to forgive yourself and move on." Then she silently thought to herself, "This is why Dong Hua became the way he is today. How I wish I were there for him back then."
"Forgive myself? Would I ever learn how to forgive?" He thought to himself, and then he replied, "It's fine. I'm already used to be alone, and I'm also doing well now."
Feng Jiu felt for a moment that they connected on a deeper level, and she saw Dong Hua's soft side for once. Then she replied, "Having friends is nice as well."
"Friends...?"
"Yes. True friends. I'll be your friend. And hey, you still have Si Ming and Lian Song! They are really nice people, and you just need to learn how to open up your heart and let people walk in." She smiled warmly at Dong Hua.
"Open up my heart? And risk getting hurt?" Dong Hua struggled internally. Then he replied, "I'll try to."
"Good! Now, you earn one sweet." Feng Jiu then offered another sweet to Dong Hua. He smiled at her and accepted the offer.
Right at this moment, Feng Jiu's phone rang, and she was startled by it. She threw her phone out of shock, and it fell underneath her chair. Then she tried fishing for it, but she was having a hard time.
Dong Hua, who was driving, noticed her struggling. He couldn't entirely focus on the road because he was looking over to Feng Jiu from time to time and asking, "Can you reach it? You need my help?"
Feng Jiu then told him to focus on driving and that she could manage it by herself. Right at this moment, Dong Hua didn't notice the traffic lights turned red, and he was about to hit some pedestrians crossing the road. Feng Jiu immediately yelled, "Brake! Step on the brakes!"
Dong Hua reacted fast, and he immediately stepped on the brakes hard. Fortunately, nobody was injured. Out of a sudden, Dong Hua experienced flashbacks again. This time, he clearly remembered a car speeding towards them, and it also hit them. After that, he couldn't remember anything.
"Were we in an accident before?" He looked at Feng Jiu, and then he began to suffer from major headaches. He clenched his fist and started hitting his head, trying to make it stop. Feng Jiu panicked, and her first natural reaction was to give Dong Hua a big hug.
She hugged him tightly and made him stop hitting his head. Then she tried to calm him down, "It's okay, I'm here. Tell me where it hurts, I'll massage it for you."
Dong Hua then calmed down, and his headaches subsided quickly. Then he replied, "I'm fine now. You can stop taking advantage of me."
Feng Jiu immediately let go of him and replied, "I'm sure you're feeling better if you could tease me like that now." Dong Hua then smiled gently at her and replied, "You stole my first hug, and now my second hug was also stolen by you. How are you going to repay me?"
At this moment, the cars behind them honked, and Dong Hua started to drive off again.
Feng Jiu then pouted and folded her arms across her chest. "Hmph! Dong Hua, you're so calculative. So should I start being calculative too? For consoling you just now, how are you going to repay me?" She replied, and she stuck her tongue out at Dong Hua.
"Wow, I guess I really must repay you for your kindness then. How does free food sound?" He chuckled and replied sarcastically.
As usual, her eyes lit up whenever she hears "free food." But she didn't want to make it obvious, so she looked at Dong Hua with her side-eyes and replied proudly, "I'll think about it."
"Oh? The offer expires in 10 minutes. So make up your mind." Dong Hua replied calmly.
Feng Jiu then pouted and replied softly, "What kind of food?" Dong Hua then laughed internally, "So easily appeased?" Then he replied, "You pick. It's totally up to you."
"Up to me?! I'll definitely eat till Dong Hua gets bankrupt!" She smiled to herself upon that thought. Then she wiped the smile off her face and replied sternly, "Hmm... Of course, it's going to be seafood and all the expensive stuff."
"Oh? You're going to make me bankrupt for sure." Dong Hua replied.
"Why does Dong Hua always knows what's on my mind?! I'm starting to believe that he's a mind reader!" She thought to herself, and then she whined, "I don't care! I want to eat that!"
"She's cute even when she's whining. At this rate, I won't be able to control my feelings for her. She's just too cute, and everything about her seems so perfect." He silently thought to himself, and then he replied calmly, "Fine. I owe you an expensive seafood meal then."
"Good! You better not forget that!" Feng Jiu then smiled widely to herself, thinking about how she's going to rip him off.
"So, how you going to repay for stealing my hugs then?" Dong Hua said.
"Dong Hua is sure shameless! I thought he forgot about it." She thought internally. Then she replied, "So now, you're trying to rip me off?"
"Learning from the best." He chuckled. Feng Jiu then pouted, "Fine! Name your terms."
"Hmm... Since we are talking about food, I think you should cook a meal for me to repay my loss."
"Loss?! You didn't even lose anything! I'm the girl, so I should be the one losing out. I already make you coffee every morning, and now I have to cook a meal for you too?! What am I? Your maid?"
"If you want to be my maid, I won't stop you." Dong Hua replied calmly, teasing Feng Jiu.
"Hmph! I can't win Dong Hua in being shameless." She thought to herself, then she immediately replied, "Fine. I'll cook a meal for you. I'm good at cooking anyway. What do you want to eat?"
"Oh? I see we have a master chef here. How about I make it simple for you? Since I owe you an expensive seafood meal, I'll give you some money to buy as many seafood as you want from the fresh seafood market. Then you can come to my place to cook it for the both of us." Dong Hua suggested.
"Your place?!" Feng Jiu exclaimed.
"If it's not at my place, then where else? Your place?" He replied sarcastically.
"Fine. Your place it is. So when do you want me to cook for you? Next weekend? I'm busy this weekend."
"Oh? Busy with what?" He asked curiously.
"I'm having dinner with my friends."
"Who?" Dong Hua instantly felt a little jealous, and he also wanted to know what she was doing since he won't be able to see her over the weekends.
"Why do you want to know? It's none of your business!"
"Just curious."
"Fine. If you really need to know, it's Lian Song, Si Ming, and one of my best friends, Cheng Yu."
Dong Hua then smiled to himself, "Oh, it's them. I thought she's going on a date."
At this moment, they realized that they were stuck in a jam, and no cars were moving. Feng Jiu then tried to look at what was in front, but she couldn't see anything, as the jam was really long. Then she remembered that her phone was still underneath the chair, and she bent over to retrieve it.
She noticed a text message from Lian Song. "Hey, there's a huge jam ahead, so take the right exit on Exit C to avoid it. If not, we would take 2 hours to reach the art gallery."
Dong Hua then peeked over and asked, "Who texted you?" Feng Jiu immediately turned her phone away and replied, "Stop peeking!"
Dong Hua then smiled and replied, "You should tell that to yourself. You're always peeping at guys."
"Since when did I do that?! I don't need to peep at any guys! They peep at me instead!" She blurted out.
"Oh? Are you sure that they were peeping at you and not because you're just shameless and overthinking?" He teased her.
"Talking about shameless, nobody can beat you at that game! I guess I also learned from the best then. Hmph!" She then pouted and folded her arms across her chest again.
"Guess we will be stuck in this jam for a long time. If you're tired, you can take a nap." Dong Hua said casually.
"Hmph! Dong Hua must be trying to shut me up because he's speechless. But I'm not going to fall for it, and I'll stay awake and 'fight' with him till the end!" She proudly thought to herself, and then she replied, "No! I'm not sleepy at all."
After a while, she started to feel sleepy because there was total silence between them. She began slouching in her seat, and she struggled to keep her eyes open.
Dong Hua looked at her with his side-eyes and said, "I see someone here is feeling sleepy." Feng Jiu immediately sat up straight and replied, "No. Who's sleepy? Nobody is sleepy." Then she widened her eyes, to prove a point.
She then reached out her hand and turned on the car radio. "That's better. With some music, I won't feel sleepy anymore." She thought to herself.
Then they heard from the radio that the jam ahead was due to an oil spill on the road. The road was then temporarily closed so that they could clean up the mess.
"We will be stuck here for hours." Dong Hua said to Feng Jiu, and she nodded her head lightly to agree with him. Then her stomach growled. "Not at this time! Where can I even find food?!" Feng Jiu thought to herself.
Dong Hua heard her stomach growling, and then he told her to look into the bag that was sitting on the back seat.
"Wow! Why do you have so many snacks here?! You're secretly a glutton, aren't you?!" She replied excitedly.
"Well, I actually got Chong Lin to prepare these for you because you mentioned that you liked it. I forgot to bring it up to the office, and it was left sitting here. I guess it's a blessing in disguise then."
Feng Jiu blushed and thought to herself, "He actually remembers what I said? Don't think too much, Feng Jiu! He's probably just afraid that I'll finish all his snacks, so he bought more! I knew it! He definitely thinks I'm a glutton."
Feng Jiu then opened the bag of snacks and started munching on them happily. Then she turned over to Dong Hua and asked, "You want to eat some?"
"Yes, I want some. But I'm driving so I can't eat it. You want to feed me?" Dong Hua smiled and teased Feng Jiu.
"Fine! I'll feed you since you bought all these snacks. But don't think too much, I'm only repaying your favor."
"Oh? Still being calculative? At this rate, we won't be able to finish paying off each other's debts. Guess you're stuck with me forever."
"Stuck with him forever?!" Feng Jiu instantly felt nervous, and then she stuffed some chips into Dong Hua's mouth.
"Hey, slow down. If I choke and die, what would happen to you? Didn't you say that if I die, you'll lose your job, and then you'll be broke?"
"You won't die from a few chips!" She exclaimed.
Dong Hua then pretended to choke on the chips and started coughing, "I can't... breathe!"
Feng Jiu immediately panicked, and she patted Dong Hua's back to get him to spit it out. "Quick, spit it out! You can't die now!" She was visibly worried, and Dong Hua actually felt a little happy deep down, knowing that she cared about him.
Then he started laughing out loud, "I'm just fooling around with you. You actually believed that?"
Feng Jiu immediately turned away and folded her arms across her chest. She pouted and thought to herself, "Hmph! Stupid Dong Hua! I was worried for nothing. So mad!" Then she looked out the window and refused to look at Dong Hua. She also continued pouting.
Dong Hua then noticed her pouty face, and he said, "Are you really mad at me?"
"Hmph!" Feng Jiu still refused to look at him.
"Free food?" He tried to bait her.
"Hmph! Don't think you can bribe me with food. I'm not that easy to appease." She replied with a petty tone.
"Oh? So what should I do to gain your forgiveness, your highness?" Dong Hua smiled.
"Hmm... Let me order you around like a boss, for one whole day. You can't say 'no' to me during your punishment too. Then you will know how it feels like!" She replied, still pouting.
"Oh? That's my punishment?"
"Of course! Are you scared now? Serves you right for tricking me!"
"So, on which day would I have to be your "servant?" He replied politely.
"Make it the same day as the one that I'm cooking for you. So next Saturday?" Feng Jiu replied sternly.
"You have a deal. So does this mean that you're not angry anymore?" Dong Hua replied.
"Hmph! Not yet! Until next Saturday, just in case you back out on your words. I need to play by the safe side." Then she folded her arms again.
"Oh, I see... I guess you won't be able to share snacks with me in the office anymore. I mean, you're angry at me, and I'm sure you wouldn't want to see me at all, right? I totally understand, guess I'll just eat the snacks by myself. Sadly, there's so many, and I don't know if I could finish them. Maybe I'll have to waste food this time."
Feng Jiu then sat up straight, and she replied, "Since I'm such a kind-hearted and forgiving person, I'll forgive you temporarily. But I'm only doing so because I don't want to waste those snacks."
"Temporarily? No, no. Don't force yourself to forgive me now. I can just force myself to finish all the snacks by myself." Dong Hua replied.
Feng Jiu then thought to herself, "I already knew it! He just doesn't want to share the snacks with me. See, I was right all along. No! I won't fall into his trap!" Then she replied, "I changed my mind. I'll forgive you now."
Dong Hua then raised one eyebrow and replied, "Oh? Why now? Was it because of the snacks? You really don't have to force yourself, if it's that hard to forgive me."
Feng Jiu laughed internally, "See! Now Dong Hua lost, and he's using reverse psychology on me. I bet he's saying this because he wants to confuse me. Hmph! I'm so smart!" Then she replied, "No. I forgive you now because I'm a forgiving person."
"Are you sure that you forgive me now? So you promise not to stay mad anymore, right?" Dong Hua said.
Feng Jiu was completely oblivious to the fact that Dong Hua had already outsmarted her.
She then thought to herself, "Still trying to change my mind. I won't give in, and I won't lose to Dong Hua!" Then she promptly replied, "Yes, I'm not mad anymore. I forgive you now. So now, can we still share the snacks in the office?"
Dong Hua then smiled and thought to himself, "Silly girl! And she still thinks that she had the upper hand. She's getting cuter and cuter by the moment." Then he replied, "Of course you can since you're not mad anymore."
Feng Jiu then had a huge smile on her face. Dong Hua also smiled upon seeing her so happy. Feng Jiu's favourite song then started to play on the radio, and then she started humming along to it.
Dong Hua also subconsciously started to hum to the song. "Weird, why do I even know this song?" He thought to herself.
It turned out that Feng Jiu used to sing this song a lot when they were living together, and he loved to hear her sing too.
When they hit the chorus part, Feng Jiu couldn't hold herself back and started singing to it. Dong Hua then looked at her sing, and he smiled to himself. He then subconsciously started to sing along with her, and Feng Jiu looked at him upon hearing him sing.
Dong Hua immediately kept quiet because he felt embarrassed. He knew that he wasn't that good of a singer and he had never once sung in front of someone else.
"Why did you stop singing?" Feng Jiu asked curiously.
"Uh. No reason why. I'm a bad singer anyway, and I don't want to shatter the windows and deafen you with my singing too."
"It's more fun if we sing together! I don't sing that well too. Come on, don't be a wet blanket!"
Feng Jiu then started to sing again, and she was having so much fun with it. She kept nudging Dong Hua to sing along, and he eventually gave in and starting singing softly.
Then his favourite song came on, and he started to sing more. Feng Jiu smiled at him, and she became his backup singer.
Their karaoke carpool session then slowly turned into a mini-concert. Dong Hua and Feng Jiu were clearly enjoying singing and having fun. They both felt so comfortable around each other, and it was as if they were back to the times where they were living together.
For a moment, Feng Jiu forgot all about her having to hold back her feelings, and then she truly enjoyed the time with Dong Hua. At this moment, Dong Hua also let his wounded inner child that was hiding beneath his cold facade out. He felt like he didn't have to hide his true self in front of her.
Dong Hua then looked at Feng Jiu, and he smiled warmly. "I love being around her. She also brings out the best side in me."
Feng Jiu then smiled back and thought to herself, "I like this side of Dong Hua. At least now, we can truly start to be friends."
The jam then started to move, and it appeared the road was open again. Then Dong Hua continued driving to the Art Gallery. At this point, they were already 2 hours late, and everyone had already arrived long ago. But 2 hours felt like 2 minutes for them, as they had a lot of fun together.
It was indeed an 'Eventful Journey' for Dong Hua and Feng Jiu.
They fought, they had fun, and they got to know each other better.
But most importantly, they got way closer.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone