Bab 46: Mrs. Claus
"Yay! It's finally time to head home! I can't wait to leave the office!" Feng Jiu stretched and eagerly packed up her stuff. She was feeling cold, and she wanted to get out of the meeting room as soon as possible.
"So eager to get away from me, huh?" Dong Hua silently thought to himself while looking at Feng Jiu packing her stuff in a hurry.
Feng Jiu then quickly left the room, and Dong Hua pretended not to notice her leave. After she left, he started to look out the door, trying to see what Feng Jiu was up to. As he wasn't able to see anything, he promptly stood up and walked over to the glass panels to open up the blinds.
Right at this moment, Feng Jiu came rushing in and almost bumped into Dong Hua, who was standing near to the door.
"You forgot something?" He asked calmly.
"Yeah, these." She walked over to the table and picked up Dong Hua's empty cup. Then she said, "I'll wash your cup. You probably don't do that, and I'm sure Chong Lin does it for you usually."
"Oh? So you think that I can't wash a cup by myself, just because I'm the President of Tai Chen group?"
"No, that's not what I meant! I mean... I just thought that it would be nice to do so since you 'accidentally' made two cups of tea. I guess I could 'accidentally' wash two cups too." Then she smiled at Dong Hua and slowly walked out of the room.
"Wait." Dong Hua stopped Feng Jiu from leaving. She turned around and replied, "Huh?"
Then he took the cup from her hands, and said, "I'll show you how good I am, at washing cups." Then he gestured for her to follow him into the pantry. Feng Jiu also picked up her cup from her own desk, on the way to the pantry.
The gossip duo, Si Ming and Lian Song, then started to 'drink their tea' again.
"What are those two trying to do?" Si Ming asked.
"Why is he carrying a cup to the pantry? Usually, Chong Lin does it for him! And if Chong Lin isn't around, there will be others doing it for him." Lian Song replied.
Then the 'gossip duo' crept slowly towards the pantry, trying to peek at what they were doing.
"Are you sure that you want to wash these cups?" Feng Jiu stood beside Dong Hua, in front of the sink.
"Wash the cups?!" Lian Song accidentally yelled out to Si Ming.
Dong Hua immediately turned around upon hearing his voice and noticed them peeking into the pantry. Then he stared at them intensively. Lian Song and Si Ming immediately pretended to be finding something from the pantry.
Then Lian Song tried to cover up the fact that they were eavesdropping, and he said loudly to Si Ming, "Oh. I forgot to wash the cups. Si Ming, you forgot to wash your cup, too, right?" Then they smirked at each other
Feng Jiu heard them talking and immediately replied, "Bring your cups here. We will help you wash it since we are washing our cups anyway."
"We?" Dong Hua silently thought to himself, and he tried to hide his smile by covering his face with his hand, acting like he was rubbing his face.
"Oh? Si Ming, go grab our cups." Lian Song raised his eyebrows at him and nudged him to bring their cups to the pantry while he waited there. He didn't want to miss any of this 'good show' in front of him.
"Here you go, Feng Jiu. Thanks for helping us wash the cups!" Si Ming said while he handed the cups over to Feng Jiu. Then the 'gossip duo' stood there, and stared awkwardly at Dong Hua and Feng Jiu.
"The pantry is small, and it's squeezy in here." Dong Hua said as he stared back at the 'gossip duo.'
"Oh? I don't feel squeezy at all. Si Ming, do you?" Lian Song replied sarcastically. Si Ming immediately took the hint, and he shook his head lightly. "No. I don't feel so too."
"Hmm... Lian Song, about that pay raise that I was mentioning to you earlier on. I think I'll have to reconsider it." Dong Hua said coldly, and he stared intensively at them.
"Oh! My legs suddenly feel so tired from standing, and I think I'll go back to my desk." Lian Song immediately replied, and he started to drag Si Ming out of the pantry area.
Before he left the pantry area, he also said, "Feng Jiu, we are heading out for dinner after this, and you're coming too, right?"
"Oh, yes! I'm coming as well. Are you guys leaving now?" Feng Jiu replied
"No, no. Some of them are still finishing up their work, so don't worry and take your time to wash those cups. We will wait for you outside." Then he raised his eyebrows at her, but Feng Jiu didn't understand what he meant by that.
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Then the 'gossip duo' left, and they started to gossip.
"Did you heard Feng Jiu say 'we?' I guess our plans did work after all." Lian Song said.
"Yeah. And Dong Hua even chased us out. Something must be up." Si Ming replied calmly, and then he folded his arms and started to think.
"Dong Hua washing cups. I bet it's even more exciting to watch that than the latest drama series! What a pity." Lian Song laughed and shook his head.
"Hmm... I was just thinking, should we talk to Feng Jiu about it?" Lian Song pondered, and then he asked Lian Song for his opinion.
"I don't think it's a good idea to do so now. Well, at least for now, it's based on our own assumption. We can try to create more chances for them to be together, but we should not interfere." Lian Song replied seriously.
"You're right. The last time we interfered when he had amnesia, it caused Feng Jiu to have so many heartbreaks. This time, we should just let them be."
"Don't worry; I know my limits. I'll make sure to create opportunities, but at the same time, not hurt Feng Jiu in the process of it."
Then the 'gossip duo' went back to their desks and started packing up for the day.
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Dong Hua rolled up his sleeves and began to wash the cups. "See, I'm good at washing cups." He proudly said to Feng Jiu, but she had already known that since long ago. Back then, Dong Hua would often fight with Feng Jiu over the dishes, and he didn't want her to wash any of it. But as usual, he was using way too much soap, and the whole basin was filled with bubbles.
She then reminded herself again, "It's all in the past now. It was nice while it lasted, but I should stop having false hopes."
Dong Hua then looked at Feng Jiu and said, "Are you impressed now?"
Then she smiled and thought to herself, "He's so silly, trying to impress me with his dish-washing skills." Then she replied sarcastically, "Yeah, yeah. I'm so impressed. I would never have expected that the President of Tai Chen Group would be able to wash the cups so well."
"I told you so." He smiled proudly. Right at this moment, one of the cups slipped out from his hands and fell into the water, and they were splashed by it. The bubbles flew everywhere, and it got onto their clothes. Feng Jiu immediately ran to take some napkins and started wiping herself off with it.
Then she looked over to Dong Hua, and he stared at her before saying, "What are you waiting for? Help me wipe the bubbles off my shirt."
Feng Jiu then replied, "You have hands, do it yourself." Dong Hua then gave a half-smile and held out his hands, which were covered in soap. He shrugged his shoulders a little and replied calmly, "I can't."
Feng Jiu immediately realized that his hands were covered with bubbles. "Fine! I'll wipe it off for you. But it's only because you're washing the cups." She instantly started to wipe the bubbles off his shirt. Dong Hua smiled and looked down at her, and then he thought to himself, "How cute."
Dong Hua started to tease Feng Jiu by blowing bubbles away from his hand, and it landed on her arm. Feng Jiu immediately looked up and said, "See. This is what happens when you used too much dish soap! You always do that."
"Always? How did you know that?" Dong Hua raised his eyebrows a little. "Uhh... I mean, it's common sense. Look at how many bubbles there are!" Feng Jiu tried to avoid the topic, so she blew the bubbles off her arm, and it landed on Dong Hua's face.
Upon seeing his face filled with bubbles, she couldn't hold back her laughter, and she started laughing out loud while pointing to his face. "Guess you're no longer Iceman. Now you're Santa Claus!"
Dong Hua started to laugh a little when he saw her laughing. "Do I look that funny?" He asked calmly.
Feng Jiu laughed even harder and replied, "Yes! You look so funny with all those bubbles around your face!"
"Guess I can't be the only one who looks funny." Dong Hua then blew more bubbles onto Feng Jiu, and it also landed on her face. Then he laughed back at her, "Now you're Mrs. Claus!" Dong Hua then immediately avoided eye-contact because he knew that he said the wrong thing, and he felt awkward.
"Mrs. Claus?!" Feng Jiu silently thought to herself, and she started to blush. She tried to avoid the awkward situation, so she picked up the remaining cups, and said, "I'll wash the rest of the cups. You can go back to your office and relax now."
"No. I said I would wash it, so I have to finish washing it." Dong Hua snatched the cups from her hands. Feng Jiu then stood aside and thought to herself, "He's still the same, huh? Always snatching the dishes away from me."
Dong Hua then continued to wash the cups, and he took a long time to clean it because he put too much dish soap.
"You know, that was actually fun." Dong Hua smiled and said softly to Feng Jiu.
"What was fun?" Feng Jiu asked curiously.
"Playing with bubbles. I have never done that before." Dong Hua replied, with just a hint of melancholy in his voice.
"You never played with bubbles before?! Not even when you were a kid?" Feng Jiu replied, and she widened her eyes with shock.
"I used to watch other kids play with bubbles, and I always wondered how it would feel like to play with them. Now I finally know how it feels like."
Feng Jiu stared at Dong Hua with eyes filled with empathy, and she replied, "Why didn't you join those kids playing back then?"
"I was never invited, and I was an outcast. Wait, why am I even telling you about this? Pretend that I had never said it."
"Your secret is safe with me." Feng Jiu then lightly touched Dong Hua's arm and smiled warmly at him, as a form of consolation.
Dong Hua smiled back gently and immediately changed the topic to lighten up the mood. "I'm done with washing the cups. Stand aside, in case you slip and fall from all these bubbles on the floor."
"Hey! I'm not that clumsy!" Feng Jiu protested. Right at this moment, she slipped on some bubbles and began to fell backwards. Dong Hua immediately put the cups down, grabbed her arms, and pulled her towards his body, thus saving her from falling.
Feng Jiu felt her heart pounding when she realized that she was hugging on to Dong Hua. She immediately pushed him away and looked away while her face blushed extremely hard.
"Not clumsy, you said?" Dong Hua said sarcastically, and he smirked at Feng Jiu.
Feng Jiu then blushed even harder, and she looked like a tomato. She replied in a shy voice, "I'm usually not this clumsy. Thanks for washing the cups!" Feng Jiu then ran like the wind out of the pantry.
Dong Hua kept the cups on the top shelves, and thought to himself, "Silly girl." Then he started to think back about the 'hug' that had just happened.
Out of a sudden, Dong Hua experienced brief flashbacks again. He felt like he had saved Feng Jiu from a fall in the past as well.
The scene of him catching Feng Jiu in his arms when she fell from a chair, flashed through his mind. "Where is that place? When did this happen?" He then started to massage his temples, and it went away.
Dong Hua couldn't understand why he was having flashbacks so often, but he brushed it aside, and he presumed that it was just due to stress from his work. He didn't think of going to the hospital to get a check-up, as he also didn't feel that it was a big deal.
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"You're done with washing the cup? That was fast." Lian Song raised his eyebrows at Feng Jiu. Si Ming then noticed Feng Jiu's blushed face, and he asked, "Are you feeling okay Feng Jiu? Your face looks so red."
Feng Jiu tried to hide her embarrassment, and she quickly replied, "Oh? Is it red? Maybe it was stuffy in the pantry. Are we leaving now?" Feng Jiu acted calm and pretended to change the topic, and she also thought to herself, "Phew. I can't let this two know about what just happened, especially Lian Song!" Then she grabbed her purse and said, "Let's go."
Lian Song smirked at Si Ming, "Stuffy?" Then he raised his eyebrows and added on, "Now they even talk alike. Something is up for sure." Si Ming then smiled and nodded his head lightly, "Yeah, yeah. Let's just go now."
Everyone left and went to a hot pot restaurant. Si Ming, Lian Song and Feng Jiu sat at the same table, while the others sat on the next table.
Lian Song then turned to Feng Jiu and asked, "So did anything interesting happened at the resort?" Feng Jiu looked up slowly and replied, "No, not at all." Si Ming then replied, "Oh. It was a pity that you weren't there, Lian Song."
"I know! I wanted to go so badly, but I was tied down with the business trip. I can't even find time to meet my beloved Cheng Yu!" Lian Song whined, and Si Ming shut him up by stuffing food into his mouth. "Just shut up and eat." Lian Song then pouted, "Aww. You're just jealous because you have nobody to miss." Which Si Ming immediately replied to, "Who says so?"
Lian Song immediately slammed his chopsticks down on the table and exclaimed, "Oh ya! I totally forgot about it. So who's that mysterious lady friend of yours?!" Feng Jiu then widened her eyes with shock, "You know about her too?"
Si Ming then tried to avoid the topic by stuffing himself with more food. "I'm so hungry, you guys should eat more."
Lian Song then patted Si Ming's back lightly and leaned in closer to him, "You can't escape this one, buddy." Feng Jiu also replied, "Yeah! Come on, tell us about it!" Si Ming then swallowed his food slowly and replied. "Fine, fine. It's a long story, so I'll cut it short."
He briefly explained Yu Xi's situation to both of them. And then he told them to keep it a secret because she didn't want rumours to spread. This was to prevent Yu Xi's dad from finding her.
"I'm usually big-mouthed, but you have my word that I'll keep it a secret this time." Lian Song replied seriously. Feng Jiu also made a promise to keep it a secret, and she replied, "But can we meet her? I would love to be friends with her." Si Ming then nodded his head, "I'll ask her how she feels about it before letting both of you know." Feng Jiu then smiled at Si Ming, "Sure. No pressure. Just thought we could offer her some help and companion too." Si Ming smiled back at her, "You're still so kind."
"Enough of me. We have something important to ask you, Feng Jiu." Si Ming changed the topic. Feng Jiu replied with her mouth full of food, "Huh?" Then Lian Song raised his eyebrows and stared at her. Feng Jiu immediately thought to herself, "Uh oh. Every time Lian Song gives this look, it must be something bad."
"So. What's up between you and Dong Hua?" Lian Song asked curiously. Feng Jiu then continued chewing on her food, "Oh? Nothing is happening between us. Why?" She pretended to be busy with eating and acted calmly.
Deep inside, she was thinking, "Gosh. If they knew what happened, the whole company would know it by tomorrow. I can't let Lian Song know about it. What if Ji Heng heard about it? It would be ruining their relationship. I'd have karma if I came in between them. No, no, bad idea. I need to change the topic now."
Si Ming then replied calmly, "Yeah. I also noticed that something is going on between the both of you." Feng Jiu immediately dropped her chopsticks on the floor on purpose "Oh. How careless of me to drop my chopsticks. I'll go find a waitress to get a new one." Then she stood up and ran away, trying to avoid the situation.
Si Ming then shook his head lightly, and he told Lian Song, "She ran on purpose. Usually, you could just ask them to bring new chopsticks to you. I guess we should just stop asking about it, and she's obviously uncomfortable about it." Lian Song then nodded his head seriously, "Yeah. I guess it's time for Plan C."
"Plan C?! How many plans do you have?!" Si Ming exclaimed. Lian Song chuckled and replied, "Too many." Then they both laughed out loud. "Just because she didn't want to say anything, doesn't mean that we should stop matchmaking them." Lian Song raised his eyebrows at Si Ming. "True, true. So tell me about your Plan C."
"So Plan C is... I'll try to find another chance to switch places with her tomorrow morning, using the same excuse. I'm confident that Dong Hua would be in your office tomorrow as well." Lian Song said. Then Si Ming replied. "How do you know if he would come to our office tomorrow?" Then Lian Song smirked, "I just know. Just wait and see."
At this moment, they noticed Feng Jiu walking back, and Si Ming immediately whispered, "We will start Plan C tomorrow morning. Now let's just change the subject." Lian Song then replied, "Yes, Sir".
"Did you manage to get your new chopsticks?" Si Ming asked Feng Jiu. Then she held out her hands and showed the chopsticks to Si Ming, and then she sat down and continued stuffing herself with food.
Lian Song then asked her, "How is Cheng Yu doing? I missed her." Feng Jiu immediately brightened up and replied, "Oh! She's doing fine, just busy with school. I also have not seen her for a long time, although we still keep in contact often. Maybe we can arrange a dinner together soon?" Then she winked at Lian Song. And he immediately replied cheerfully, "Ah! This is what I like to hear. Feng Jiu knows me best!"
Feng Jiu then smiled and thought to herself, "See! How smart of me to change the topic so quickly? Lucky me! Or should I say 'smart-me'?!" Then she continued eating happily.
They talked and joked the whole night, and finally, it was time to head home. Everyone paid their share of the bill and then began to head their separate ways. Si Ming then offered to drive Feng Jiu back home, and they left together.
"Great dinner!" Feng Jiu said to Si Ming, while he was driving her home. "Yeah. It was good." Si Ming nodded his head. Then Feng Jiu looked at him seriously and replied, "So I didn't want to ask you back there in front of Lian Song, but what are your feelings towards Yu Xi? Your eyes lit up every time you talk about her."
Si Ming then smiled, "I can't hide anything from the smart Feng Jiu, huh? Not going to lie, I kinda like her, but it's impossible. She's way out of my league." Feng Jiu immediately replied excitedly, "Really?! I'm so happy for you, Si Ming! You totally deserve happiness. Hey, don't give up too fast. You still don't know how she feels about you. And if she felt the same way, you should fight for what you love."
Si Ming then replied calmly, "Well. It's easier said than done." And Feng Jiu knitted her brows, "Yeah, that's true. I know that best." Si Ming then asked, "Be honest with me, Feng Jiu. Do you still like Dong Hua?"
Feng Jiu kept quiet for a while and thought to herself, "I do. I don't know if I could ever fully move on." Then she replied to Si Ming, "Yes. But he belongs to Ji Heng. I don't want to have any false hopes like before."
"But have you ever thought before, that maybe he doesn't like Ji Heng?" Si Ming asked. Feng Jiu then pondered for a while, "No, I have never thought of that. But like I said, I rather believe that he likes Ji Heng than have false hopes and get hurt again." Then she thought to herself, "I need to protect my heart."
Si Ming nodded his head lightly, "I guess that's the best way then." And he thought to himself, "Guess it's better not to tell her about it then." At this moment, they reached Feng Jiu's apartment, and she thanked him, then headed up to her apartment.
She immediately washed up and changed into comfortable clothing before lying down on her bed. She sprawled out on her bed, thinking about what happened between her and Dong Hua.
"Hmm... Si Ming brings up a valid point, what if I misunderstood his feelings for Ji Heng? But even if that's the case, he wouldn't like me too. Or would he?"
"Wait. What happened to protecting your heart, Feng Jiu?! You can't just fall back for him just because he treats you a little nicer." She was feeling conflicted. Then she started to think back on the part where they played with bubbles. "Dong Hua had never played with bubbles before? His childhood must be awful. Is that why he became this cold?" Then she snuggled her pillow and continued to think.
"Hopefully, I won't get to see Dong Hua tomorrow. If I keep seeing him, it will be hard for me to move on!" Feng Jiu then started kicking her blankets. "Argh! Why can't I stop thinking about Dong Hua?! Never mind! I'll try to go to sleep now." Then she tossed and turned in bed and tried to sleep, but she was unable to do so.
"Santa Claus." She giggled to herself. "Mrs Claus." Then she started rolling around on her bed happily, like a pig in mud.
"Stop! Feng Jiu, go to bed now!" She stopped herself from thinking, and she fell asleep eventually after some struggle.
"Mrs Claus."
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone