บท 89: Rage, Fizzle & Yearning

Ye Jie turned to see Lin Shen and Sun Ju at a stall with some bulky guys standing beside them.

"What is happening there?" Ye Jie was about to walk to them to help but Xu Mey held his sleeve and shook her head.

"I can explain everything from right here." She said with self-admiration. Ye Jie arched his single brow at her. "Look!" She pointed out where Lin Shen and Sun Ju were standing. "Ju-Ju loves teddy bears. And it's obvious that she must have asked Shen Ge to win one for her through that darting game. But Shen Ge doesn't like these kinds of activities. He must have refused and those street thugs must have provoked him by saying something about Ju-Ju. So, now Shen Ge is going to win those teddy bears for Ju-Ju." She related the whole scenario in a single breath and started panting.

Ye Jie was giving her a weird look. "Do you think, he can win?" He asked uncertainly.

"Don't underestimate my Shen Ge… He worked as a military surgeon for 3 years. This is child's play for him." Xu Mey assured him and dragged him to another stall.

Meanwhile, Li Qiao was walking around the park with Yu Kim beside him. They were walking side by side and their hands occasionally brushed together because of all the people around. As per Xu Mey's order, Li Qiao took Yu Kim to the horse carousel and after that, he didn't know where to take her.

"Do you want to ride the trackless train?" Li Qiao asked softly unlike his usual self.

"Sure Sir, " She replied obediently making Li Qiao's mood sour with that 'sir' word.

After the train ride, he asked again, "Would you like some cotton candy?"

"Sure Sir, " She repeated in the same demeanor enhancing his sour mood.

After eating the cotton candy, he asked again, "Would you like to take a ride on a rollercoaster?" He knew she was afraid but he deliberately said it to make her say no for once.

But to his dismay, she said, "Sure Sir, " Although this time she wasn't that calm as she was before.

In his fury, Li Qiao held her wrist and pulled her towards himself, "Aren't you scared of heights, Ms. Yu?" The pitch of his voice was dangerously low.

Yu Kim squirmed in his grasp due to the pain his grip brought. "I'm scared… But… You want to ride it, Sir." She felt a sting of a tear in her eyes.

"Just because I want to?" Li Qiao scoffed. "So, if I tell you to jump down from a cliff would you really jump?"

Yu Kim looked up into his eyes. His piercing gaze was prickling her heart. "If that'll make you happy… I will." She replied without hesitation.

Li Qiao kept looking into her deep eyes. The eyes that always felt like a chasm. They stayed quiet like that for a while and the silence chagrined Li Qiao to another zenith.

Abruptly, he dragged her with him saying, "Let's see how much you care about what I want." He made her take the rollercoaster ride with him.

From the start till the end, Yu Kim didn't leave Li Qiao's wrist. Her nails dug deeply piercing his flesh but he didn't bother saying anything in retaliation. His focus was on her. He wanted her to say no. He wanted her to scream or yell or do anything. But she silently passed the trial of her fear.

It wouldn't have been about 5 minutes that they got down from the ride and Yu Kim started puking her guts out. Li Qiao stretched his arm intending to rub her back or to soothe her but at some thought, he clenched his hand into a fist and brought it back.

Not far away, Ye Jie and Xu Mey were buying the cat ears for each other. Ye Jie saw the look of hurt in Li Qiao and the look of hope in Yu Kim. But the common thing he perceived in both of them was; Yearning. They silently were asking the person to stay but they both didn't say it out loud.

Li Qiao walked up to Xu Mey and pointed towards Yu Kim with his eyes. Xu Mey looked behind and saw Yu Kim's pale face making her frown. "Can't you be a bit nicer?" Xu Mey said with a shake of her head and headed to Yu Kim.

"You have something to add?" Li Qiao gave Ye Jie a challenging look.

Before Ye Jie could reply, He Jian's voice rang behind them. "He might not. But I have a lot to add."

He Jian's one hand was in his blue slacks while the other was holding a camera. He alone was enough to capture a lot of attention but with Li Qiao, Ye Jie and Wu Wang in the picture, they were like a striking boy band.

"Are they celebrities?"

"I think I've seen that one on a magazine." Someone pointed at Li Qiao.

"They are so handsome."

"They are the real definition of flower boys."

"Why is the temperature getting hotter?"

A lot of people turned to look at them but none of the boys were paying any attention to bask in all the praises around them. They had a more important staring competition with each other at hand.