"Relax. All you have to do is sit down, have a meal, and maybe chat a little with her. She will definitely reject you."

Yifan was not buying what Luhan said to him. It irked him. Luhan might have reassured him with an obvious fact that the girl will definitely turn him down. As a true Scorpio, he feels the obsessive need to be secure. He needs to calculate things, plan it, and execute it well so that he could feel safe and comfortable. Even though it's impossible, he loves the 100% assurance in whatever he does.

His desire to enjoy the youth was not to date someone. He wanted to decline his mother’s offer but as someone who always feel the need to keep his mother happy, he felt guilty to oppose her since she sounded happy, for the first time in a long time, when she called him to arrange a meeting with the girl for him.

‘Mama, I’m sorry. I really need to be selfish,’ he muttered and got up from the bed to get dressed to meet the girl. An array of clothes that were sent from designer lined his wardrobe; from suits to basketball jerseys. He put his hands on the hips and carefully assessed what he should wear. Then, he moved on to choose the footwear. ‘Perfect,’ his lips curved into a smirk as he looked at the ensemble on his bed - a sleeveless shirt to reveal his tattoos, tight leather pants, and patent leather shoes. ‘This is going to be a killer,’ he smiled in content as he dressed and admired the way the tattoo was revealed. He had been careful about exposing his tattoo since tattoos are usually associated with delinquents in where he lives, and he tries his best to cover them up, but this time was different, he needed the help from the tattoos - the delinquent image, though the reason he got the tattoos were for self expression. He wanted to appear as an abhorrent delinquent for the blind date and he now looked perfect; he looked like an absolute trash, who flips his fingers towards the society. After carefuly studying his image in the mirror, his lips twisted into a smug smile, 'perfect' he muttered to himself before he picked up his car keys.

There were a few inquisitive eyes on him as soon as he entered the restaurant, which located in a secluded area of the city. Even though the restaurant is filled with people who don’t usually care about celebrities, there were a few curious souls who eyed at him but he is already used to that type of public attention. With a smile, he approached the maitre d’ and asked for the reserved table under the name of Eden as he was instructed to do so by his mother. The maitre d’ led him upstairs, where the atmosphere was quieter.

The girl was waiting for him already when he got to the table. She was looking down at the table on the menu card. She looked up when his shadow blocked her line of vision. Yifan was surprised for the girl didn’t look the way he was expecting. He anticipated to see a girl who looks unkind, and pompous - someone full of herself, from the way he heard from Luhan, but never had he expected to see a girl who looked quite demure and, surprisingly, calm.

“Good evening, Mr.Wu,” she greeted politely as she stood up. She spoke softly with a fruity voice but it was hearable from a distance despite its softness; another feature that he was surprised at since he was hoping a shrill, girly yet obnoxious voice. She was wearing an outfit that was deemed date-appropriate, a silvery gray pencil skirt with a white silk blouse and finished the outfit off with silver accessories that had little diamond embedded in them.

“Miss Zhou,” Yifan jerked his head as a greeting. They didn’t speak for a while but Yifan saw that her eyes were slowly drifting from his head to toe, pausing at his exposed tattoos and shredded jeans; an ensemble that is not appropriate for a meeting like this. He smiled inwardly knowing how her eyes turned wary. “Please, call me Kris,” Yifan suggested. He prefers to be called Kris on business meetings since it keeps things business-like while creating a certain distance between him and the other person, making things easy for him to sound professional, despite it sounding like he has bi-polar disorder.

“I’m Eden,” she smiled fondly. The mystery of the name, which the table was booked under, the one he had been so curious about, was solved. It was hers, not her secretary like he initially thought.

He tilted his head and smiled, “Isn’t your name Bai Xue?” She smiled and nodded, which looked very business-like and held back, “Yes, it is, but Eden is how I prefer to be called,” she spoke as-a-matter-of-factly “Shall we order some food now?” she picked up the menu card and suggested with a slightly forced smile.

The dinner was extremely quiet. Eden spoke quite little. She focused mostly on her dinner as she slowly chewed on it. The way she behaved was fluid and business-like, keeping everything as professional as possible. She would smile when needed, she would ask him a few question about his work and would listen attentively when he answered. Yifan felt like he was attending a formal interview session rather than a blind-date set up.

It bothered him. He didn’t know what to do or where this meeting was going. He needed to cut this off as clean as he could and make it clear that he disliked this and that he wanted this meeting to wreck.

When the dessert finally arrived, he couldn’t hold it anymore. He was angered by the way the girl expressed nothing about the intention of the meeting, “Eden,” he called her name, feeling slightly strange at the fact that her english name is usually for males. Her eyes lifted up from her dessert to his face, “Yes, Kris?”

“I’m so sorry to bring up the topic so hastily,” he continued, “but you do know why we’re both here, don’t you?”

She smiled weakly - the smile that lacked soul, “As a matter of fact, I do.”

Yifan sighed a relief, “I want to talk to you about it but listen, I don’t know how you feel about this but let me get this message across. I don’t like you. In fact, I seriously dislike you,” Her smile faltered, as her eyes widened. He continued, “You,” his eyes scanned from top to bottom, “are absolutely not my style. I cannot go through with this and I want nothing to do with you. You disgust me.”

Bai Xue kept looking at the cake in front of her for a long time, which angered him even further. Even at a situation like where someone was insulting her, she looked exceptionally calm - borderline chilling. He was expecting her composure to be shaken by what he had said, also he was expecting a splash of water in his face or a slap on his cheek.

“I absolutely understand,” she smiled weakly and stood up. He was surprised at how well she was taking it - no anger, no frustration; unperturbed by what he had said. “Then, please excuse me, Mr.Wu. I’ve already picked up the tab for dinner. That’s the least I can do for taking up your time.” She bowed and her heels to go back. Before she walked away, she turned her head and spoke, "Consider it done. Good bye, Mr.Wu." Her clicking footsteps left him alone on the upstair of the restaurant. Yifan felt quite bad about how he had to talk ill of a girl in front of her but he needed to do it - to protect his own independance.

A few minutes after she left, his mother called him. “How did it go?” she asked eagerly. “It was okay. She looks pretty cute. I quite liked her,” he let out a lie, hoping that Bai Xue wouldn’t let his mother know what happened and decline him without a reason, which is a done deal from the way he had insulted her. No one would take that and still want to agree to be with him. “But, I don’t think she likes me though. She didn’t speak much to me and kept avoiding me,” His mother sighed, “I was hoping you two would hit it off.”

“Sorry, Miss Wu,” he apologized. His stomach churned in discomfort as he lied. “There’ll be some other person.” The mother and son bade farewell after telling each other to take care and that they would meet very soon.

Yifan smiled as he pressed on the ‘hang up’ button on his phone. ‘Victory is mine,’ he laughed in delight as he sipped on the wine from the glass in front of him.

~~~

He quickly forgot about the meeting as his life resumed; meetings, acting classes, unwilling gym sessions with his trainer, and hangout with friends. New projects were in need of his review before he could accept and there were a few collaborations with brands waiting for him.

The previous life that he had ran away from had resumed back and he was back into his schedule of hibernating in the comfort of his home and concealing himself as much as possible if he ever wanted to get out in the public.

“Fanfan, we need to attend a dinner together with my friends,” his mother called him up on afternoon and arranged a dinner plan out of the blue, which is not that unexpected since his mother tend to enjoy calling him up to parade around her friends. He went to the designated restaurant unwillingly, after a day’s schedule, only to find out that there were a couple of unknown people of his mother’s age at the dinner table - a vast difference from a huge group of friends she usually has for dinner gatherings.

He bowed at the couple and then looked at his mother questioningly. She smiled, “This is Bai Xue’s parents. I invited them for dinner tonight. Is it okay?”

He nodded, completely perplexed at his mother’s action. He took a seat beside his mother, opposite of Zhou couple. Mr and Mrs. Zhou were a couple who had a smile tattooed each on their faces. Mr Zhou looks like a composed businessman at every inch of his existence; from the way he dresses to the way he speak, tactful and gentle. Mrs.Zhou, on the other hand, is a woman of grace. Her lips curved into a smile at the end and her voice - soft and mellow. Yifan sat through all the time the three old people spoke to each other about their lives, what they did and what they should do, while wondering whether Bai Xue had told the Zhou couple about what he had said to her. He started to sweat a little.

“I’m so sorry that I’m late,” a slightly familiar voice appeared from the door as it opened, a slender figure and clacks of heels on the marble tiles emerged along with the figure, “I was caught up in a really bad traffic.”

It was Eden. Yifan sat up from his seat in alarm. He was not expecting the girl to make appearance, “Eden?” he called her name. Her eyes found him and smiled gently before bowing to greet him. “I didn’t know that you were going to be here, Kris Wu. I thought it was going to be my family dinner.”  

“Well, look at these two,” his mother spoke as if she was hinting something, “I thought it’d be nice for two families to have dinners together. Sit. Sit. Everyone.”

Yifan felt uncomfortable by this dinner. It felt awkward, especially since he had to meet someone whom he treated rudely. He did not expect to see her again when he told her off. Now, he felt hesitant to even meet her eyes. Eden, however, was the complete opposite of him. She meekly smiled at him before sitting at her designated seat across him.

The dinner went as his mother wanted. The three older people talked while the younger two remained silent as the dinner progressed. Eden remained like the girl that he met a some time ago; she would only speak and talk when needed.

“So,” his mother tried to get attention half-way through the dessert course. She looked at the two younger ones, “I heard you two met up. How did it go? I have never spoken to you about it, Bai Xue. How did you think of my son?” her blatant intention of wanting to set the two of them up was painfully obvious to Yifan.

“I already told you, Mama,” Yifan replied without looking at Eden. “It was lovely,” was what she quipped, “It was lovely meeting him. He is such a gentleman.” Yifan’s head slightly jerked in surprise before he looked at the girl, not knowing whether she was being truthful or sarcastic. She was smiling warmly at him although he noticed that her eyes were no following her expressions; cold and frozen.

‘What is up with this girl?’ he thought to himself as he looked at the girl.

Eden’s cheeks started to redden before she took the wine glass in front of her and took a sip.  

“Oh, our little Baibai is nervous around Fanfan!,” Mr.Zhou laughed, All of the eyes in the room fell on this girl, who sat at the seat across Yifan. He wanted to die at the affectionate way they call the cold-looking girl 'Baibai'. He shuddered slightly, hoping they wouldn't notice what happened.

Eden looked down at the table before uttering a few words that shattered Yifan’s mind as though a lightning had  struck through his soul, “Actually, I might sound a bit too straightforward but... if it is possible, I would really like to date Mr.Wu Yifan with the thoughts of a marriage. I think I have found the one I really want to marry.”

Yifan's jaws dropped. It might take some time for him to pick it up from the floor. He couldn't believe what she had said.

~~~

[Author's monologue:] I didn't realize it was sitting in my draft box for so long. I hope you enjoyed this.