"I hate you," Eden mumbled as she sat on the shotgun seat of his car and threw him a side glance. 

Yifan wanted to laugh at how gloomy and deadly she looked, as if she wanted to murder him alive, but he couldn’t since he had to focus on driving.

The two of them were currently on their way to a mini-vacation - the one that his and her mother planned without telling them.

It was the next weekend after the one where the two went on a VR arena, where Eden kicked . Two of them were sitting in their living room; Yifan reading a script on an offered project while Eden sat with a book, both of them enjoying the silence.

An hour later from that point on, Yifan and Eden found themselves on Yifan’s SUV, which he was driving towards the countryside.

It all started from his mother, and hers.

“We’re going on a family weekend trip!!!” his mother excitedly announced just as she appeared at the front door. Yifan groaned. His mother is at it again, her habit of doing things as she pleases and never telling him anything.

Even though he did not have anything planned that weekend, he didn’t want to go anywhere. “Mama, I have schedule this weekend,” he tried his luck.

Mrs.Wu shot a beautiful glare his direction, “Nonsense! I called Angela. She said you don’t have anything planned until Tuesday.” He groaned again. He might need to tell his director that he actually enjoys time off.

“Mom, I have projects lined up,” Eden spoke with a straight face, her eyes were looking at her mother; her eyes could easily unnerve a faint hearted person and let that person fall apart in front of her.

Yifan’s mother took over just as she cooed Eden. “You can bring the work with you! It’ll be a relaxing weekend, we’ll all recharge.” Eden’s expressions softened as she looked at his mother and bowed, which surprised him.

That was a short account of how they both ended up in the car which was driving towards a countryside.

Along the journey, Eden sat beside him with a gloomy face and sulked the entire way. Occasionally, she would blame Yifan about how he could have saved her from her mother, at which he defended with “I can’t defend against my mother. How can I with yours?”

An hour later, both of them were following the three of their parents as they walked through a field in the countryside. The vast green grass expanded across them and climbed over the hilly area. According their parents, ‘it is a relaxing walk to take you two out of the city’

Both of them didn’t speak, as they tried to focus on the footpath, while keeping a distance away from their parents. They didn’t want the parents to hear what they were talking about under the guise of couple’s sweet words exchange.

“Have you been here before?” Yifan asked a sullen faced Eden who had sweat beads lined up on the side of her forehead.

“I usually come with my parents at least once a year.”

“I’ve never gone hiking or countryside walk,” Yifan confessed.

Eden gave him a blank look, “You’re not missing out much,” she smiled, “it’s just walking on the endless grass and breathing cleaner air.” He laughed. “Also,” she continued, “eating a lot of fresh produce.”  

The two kept walking together - talking about random topics, helping each other if they had to climb over fences that divided public properties, keeping a distance away from their parents. As they did so, Eden quickly decided to quickly run behind him, using him like a human shield.

It confused Yifan, “Eden, what-” She shuddered and ran to his left, her head ducked in and her shoulders hunched in, as if she was really terrified. He looked around to see if there was some kind of wild beast that got lost and got onto the field they were walking on. There was nothing.

Except, a huge bumble bee buzzing around them.

Eden’s eyes were on the flight pattern of the bumble bee and trying to keep herself away from the bee as much as possible. Yifan had a huge urge to laugh. It was extremely amusing to see someone, who played action games like a pro, had gambling ring, and deal with privacy invading fans like a boss, trying to run away from a bumble bee, which was about a few meters away.

“Can we walk faster please?” Eden tugged onto his rain jacket as they walked. He wanted to so he deliberately slowed down. She tugged his jacket even harder to the front as she tried to charge forward. “Please?”

Unfortunately, mother nature decided to play a trick on her. The bee decided to dive bomb in her direction. Eden screeched in a terrified voice and ran away from Yifan, who laughed so violently that his stomach had started to hurt.

“It is not funny!” Eden wailed as she ran away from the bees, circling Yifan, her make-shift human shield. He was still howling in laughter as she did so. “It is really not funny!!” she wailed again and he could now see how pale she had became from fear.

He took a deep breath in to compose himself, “Okay, okay, okay. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he apologized at the girl, who was still on the look-out for her enemy. He took off his rain jacket and placed it over her suddenly, making her stop moving. “Do you feel warmer now?” she nodded. He pulled up the hood and covered her head, “There. Now you won’t hear the buzzing. Keep close. I’ll watch out for you.” He tugged the sleeve of his jacket and pulled her forward.

Eden followed him like a terrified puppy but still managed to squeak, “Thank you.”

“I can’t help you if the bee decided to dive into the jacket though,” he teased.

“Don’t!” she squawked, “it’ll hear you!”

He laughed.

Yifan was enjoying the memory of Eden’s terrified battle with the bee when he stepped into their shared holiday cottage bedroom to take a shower before going back out to meet their parents for a family dinner, when he spotted something that rid of his entire soul.

A cockroach.

Relaxing on the wooden tiled floor in the bedroom.

“ARRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!” he screamed murder and jumped onto the bed, his brain has stopped thinking and all he wanted to do was to remain on this bed and never come down.

The door to the living room burst open and along came Eden, with a terrified and worried expression, “Kris, what happened? What happened?”

Because of the door impact, the cockroach has moved closer to the bed, making Yifan cry out even more so. “EDENNNNNN! NO!” he pointed at the cockroach to stop her from moving further. Upon seeing the cockroach, Eden’s face colouring drained once again and within a blink of an eye, she was on the bed, clutching onto Yifan, crying her out.

“BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” both of them kept screaming, while bobbing gently on the bed, as they shook in fear. If the cockroach had a visible face, Yifan was sure that it would be having an irritating smirk at the two of the completely freaking out. Of course, it had to creep closer to the bed and Yifan was very sure he would be dying soon.

Eden’s scream brought back into reality and Yifan tugged her arm before jumping onto the couch, placed near their bed. She joined him soon after.

“MAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!” she kept screaming in addition to Yifan’s “BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” while they hugged each other tightly, scared that if they had let go of the other, the cockroach might swallow them as a whole. He was certain that they both looked like a mess despite their titles; a super star actor and a very capable CEO screaming their lives out, over a cockroach approaching them.

The door opened once again and along came Yifan’s mom and her mother. Upon seeing them, the two women started laughing and her mother walked out and came back with an insect spray soon after.

“There,” she announced and reassured them that the cockroach was dead as she sprayed the insect spray onto the poor creature, who spasmed a little before death. Her mother tittered at the two, who were still on the couch, on their knees and their arms still clutching at each other’s. “You two are safe now,” her mother spoke calmly and with a controlled laughter in her voice.

His mother, on the other hand, started laughing unapologetically, while telling her mother that he is extremely scared of cockroaches despite his height. The two women left them alone and walked out.

“Oh,” Eden exclaimed as she let go of his arm and Yifan frantically followed her suit. “Thank you,” she muttered before getting down back onto the floor in a calculated step. He followed her. They didn’t speak to each other that evening, as if they were trying to recover from shock.

That night, at the family dinner, the two mothers couldn’t stop laughing at how the two are similar to each other in a way that they are both scared of insects; Eden has a fear of any insect while Yifan has a particular scare towards cockroaches.

Yifan laughed by himself as he tried to make himself comfortable on the couch he took as his bed, while Eden slept on the bed. He found it funny how the tough-looking woman has an unexpected weakness.

The pseudo-marriage had been quite funny so far, for him.