f   i   n   a   l

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"Li Wei? Are you listening to me?" a blur was waving in front of the the young girl's face and she looked at the owner of the hand with annoyance.

 

"I'm trying to study, Zitao. You should try it, you have this test on Monday as well," she suggested, looking back at her books.

 

"It's Friday, we can study Sunday night, Li Wei," he smiled, taking her books away from her. "It's so nice outside, let's go out,"

 

"It's almost 10 PM, you idiot. Do you think Baba will let me go out now?" she reasoned, trying to grab her book back.

 

The young boy stood up and grabbed his hoodie, placing the book on the girl's highest shelf. "He will if I talk to him," he smirks and grabbed her hand, leading her out of the room and down into the girl's living room. Her father was reading a book by the fireplace, her 2 younger twin brothers, Xiao Ping and Jiao Long, were playing a chess game, and her mother watching a drama on the television.

 

"Uncle," Zitao started, "I was wondering if Li Wei and I may go out for bubble tea and a walk in the park? Our brains hurt after studying for so long,"

 

"Okay," he nodded after thinking for a few minutes. "But don't be out too late, children. Zitao, will you be staying here tonight?"

 

"If you don't mind, uncle. My parents are out on a business trip and Jie-Jie is out with her friends this week,"

 

"The air mattress will be set up in Li Wei's room by the time you come back," he smiled slightly, before going back to his book.

 

"Xie-Xie Baba!" Li Wei called before slipping into a cardigan and sneakers, her phone in her pocket at she left the house with Zitao. "Studying for so long? You did nothing, Huang Zitao!" the girl complained as the walked towards the local bubble tea shop.

 

"I still got us out of the house! You're welcome for that, baobei,"

"Hey, you sleep at my house almost everyday, half the time you come into my bed because you get cold, and I should be thanking you for this? And don't call me that! How many times have I told you. Aiya, where are your manners young boy?"

 

"I left them at the same place you left all the fun in you," he answered right away.

 

"HEY! I can be fun!" she pouted and walked ahead of him.

 

"Li Wei!" Zitao chuckled. He ran up to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and brought her closer to him, laughing. "Don't make faces like that, you'll get wrinkles as a teenager," he laughed.

 

Li Wei shook her head at him and smiled back at him. No matter how much they teased each other, she loved every moment she spent with him. They had known each other since they were in the first grade, and now as juniors, she couldn't tell when her feelings for him has developed into something much serious. She was in love with the boy and everything about him. The way he would complain and whine to get what he wanted, the way he would look with his panda-like eyes, they way he wasn't scared to admit when he was worried about her, his laugh, his smile, everything about him. Although she didn't confess to him as she might endanger their friendship, it was all the little things that made Li Wei fall in love with Zitao a little more each day; she couldn't help it. All his flaws and skills made him stand out compared to the other boys she had known.

 

She laughed along with him, wrapping her arms around his waist as they made their way to the bubble tea shop, ordering a caramel chocolate milk tea for Li Wei and mango with tapioca for Zitao. They decided not to sit inside the shop and go to the park instead, it was a beautiful night. It was nearing 10:30, but the two young people had no plans to leave any time soon.

 

"Li Wei? I have a question," Zitao started. She nodded in acknowledgement, waiting for him to go now. Just as he was going to answer, her phone rang.

 

"*那一年盛夏

心願許的無限大

我們手拉手也成舟

劃過悲傷河流*"

 

"Hello? Xiao Ping?" she answered. "Yes, Zitao are on our way now," she continued. After a few brief minutes of talking to her younger brother, she hung up and she started making her way back home with Zitao next to her. "So what did you want to talk to me about?" she asks him.

 

"I - nothing. Don't worry about it," he said, a small smile just barely visible.

 

"Does this have to do with Meihua?" Li Wei asked, referring to the girl that Zitao was dating.

 

"I don't know what I am to her anymore. Let's not talk about her," he quickly answered, dismissing the topic of his girlfriend. Li Wei, shrugged and let it go. Talking about the girl made her feel bad anyways.

 

The two walked in silence for the next few minutes, and arrived home just as it turned 11 PM. Her parents had already retreated to their rooms, and her brothers were watching the late sports highlights on TV. Zitao gave Li Wei a look, mentally asking if it was okay if he stayed with her them, watching the highlights. She chuckled and nodded, making her way to her room. She washed up and changed into her pajamas, shorts and one of her Zitao’s old hoodies. She sat in bed, all comfy when she got a text from her other best friend, Zhang Yixing.

 

So how's your date going? ;)

 

Li Wei chuckled and typed a response.

 

What date? He left me for the twins to watch sports highlights

 

She shook her head and took out a notebook from under her pillow and started writing. The notebook was filled with all her thoughts, scenarios, imaginations, and dreams she thought of ever since she was 10 years old. She had her headphones in, listening to soft music and she would answer the text messages occasionally, but she lost track of the messages as her phone was on her bedside table, and her music from her iPod blocked out majority of the sounds she heard. She had lost track of time and it was when someone was shaking her body that her attention drifted away from her writing.

 

"Who's this babe?" she heard Zitao asking, her phone in his hand. Her eyes widened in shock as she jumped up trying to grab her phone back but the boy's reflexes were slightly faster, standing up so she wouldn't be able to reach the phone.

 

"Zitao! Give me back my phone!" she exclaimed, jumping up and down trying to grab it out of his hands but the said boy was too tall. When she realized she was failing, she decided to play it old school. She fell on the bed, pretending to be hurt. "Ow!" she shouted. Zitao immediately dropped down next to her.

 

"Are you okay? Do you need an ice pack?" he worried over her and paid no attention to her phone anymore. Li Wei saw this opportunity and grabbed her phone, rolling away. "Hey! That's not fair!" Zitao pouted realizing what she had done. Li Wei could only smile and laugh back at him, pushing him off the bed and into the air mattress and held her phone close to her, answering the messages. "Why can't I know who he is?" he gasped. "Do you have a secret boyfriend that I don't know about?" he sat up, alerted.

 

"No!" she answered. "He's this guy I like. Yixing just refers to him as babe," she explained. Zitao seemed satisfied with the answer, nodding his head and laid down on the air mattress. Li Wei put her notebook under her pillow, bid Yixing good night, and put her phone on charge on the bedside table next to her. She quickly braided her hair, and got underneath her blankets. She almost fell asleep, but a deep voice has awoken her.

 

"Li Wei?" Zitao whispered, shaking the young girl. She hummed back, indicating she was listening. "How do you know if you like someone?" he asked

 

"What do you mean?" she answered, sitting up to look at him.

 

"Meihua texted me. She wants to break up," he answered.

 

"Oh..." she answered. "Well do you like her?"

 

"I don't know. I mean when we started dating, then I knew and was sure of my feelings. But now...she's been distancing herself from me for a few weeks now and my feelings have died down and lately, I actually think I like someone else," he explained.

 

"I think," Li Wei started carefully, "that you should break up with her. You should never be with someone if you don't have the same feelings for them, or have difficulty sharing that mutual feeling. I know that I would never want to be with a guy that doesn't like me back, no matter how much I may like him," she looked down from her bed to see Zitao, staring at the ceiling with his arms folded back, his hands between his head and the pillow. There was a silence between the two as they were staring at the ceiling, lost in their thoughts.

 

"Is this babe guy someone you really really like?" Zitao spoke up.

 

"Eh? Why?" she questioned.

 

"Well if you like him, then it's my responsibility as your best friend to make sure to find out how he feels about you," he reasoned, smiling at her.

 

Best friend.

 

The two words pinched Li Wei's heart, but she ignored the feeling and tried to smile back at him. "Aiya, forget about that job. Tell me about this girl you like, Zitao," she quickly asked.

 

"The girl I like?" Zitao asked. "Well she reminds me of a xiao maomi - little kitty. She's kind of shy, but with her best friends, she's a total crazy person. She's shy too, but her voice is like an angel and I wish she spoke more in the classes I had with her. And her laugh?" he unconsciously smiled largely. "It's the best thing I've heard in my 19 years of living. She's so close but..."

 

"...it feels like she's so far," Li Wei finished off. She smiled to herself bitterly. It sounded like Zitao liked this girl a lot, more than he had liked Meihua. And it hurt a lot. But she couldn't do anything; one cannot force feelings.

 

"Tell me about this babe," he asked, looking at her.

 

"Babe? Is that what we are calling him now?" she chuckled. "Well, where do I start? I've known him for a long time but I'm always learning new things about him everyday. He's one the quietest kids at school, but he's smart and the teachers love him. He also gets along with almost everyone in school. Although, I live for moments when he's caught off guard and smiles a real smile, or laughs without suppressing himself. Whenever we hang out, it's like a totally different person, but honestly? He's so hard to read. He sends me all these mixed signals, and I don't know how he feels about me. The only thing I'm now positive of is..." she sighed. "Well, that he doesn't really like me in that way,"

 

"Hey, you don't know unless he directly told you that. You should confess, no matter how you think the person feels," Zitao commented.

 

"He basically did," she smiled a soft yet sad smile. "It's not important, Zitao. Go to sleep now," she said, pushing his head that was leaning against her bed. She got comfortable underneath her pillows once again, pulling her soft blanket closer to her, and sighed to herself.

 

"Good Night, baobei," Zitao yawned. "I love you," and moments later, he was knocked out and in a deep slumber.

 

"I love you too, Tao," Li Wei whispered, as she waited for sleep to fall upon her.

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T H E   N E X T   M O R N I N G

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The sun was shining brightly at around 10:30 AM that Saturday morning when Li Wei woke up. She opened her eyes a few times, blinking to adjust to the sun pouring through her window. She sat up, and found the floor cleaned up of the air mattress and pile of blankets and pillows. She found a note on her bedside table and read it.

  

You were sleeping, and you looked very tired so I woke and left for work. Meet me at the park tonight at 10! - Tao




She shook her head at the note, but still smiled. She went into the bathroom and showered, changing into a summer dress and her house slippers as she wanted down her stairs.

 

"Happy Birthday, Li Wei!" she was greeted by her parents and her brothers. She smiled, hugging them.

 

"Xie-Xie," she smiled brightly at them. She sat in between her brothers who had their presents with them. The two younger boys had pooled their money together to buy her a very cute phone charm and each created a card for her. She thanked them both once again, before they dug into their brunch.  They finished eating around 11:30, and afterwards everyone went off doing their own things. Li Wei's father had left for work as an accountant at the bank, Xiao Ping and Jiao Long were leaving for their friend’s house, and her mother had started cooking for the party that was to be held tonight. Li Wei was about to head upstairs again when the doorbell rang. She went to answer the door and instantly smiled when she saw who it was.

 

"Happy Birthday, Li Wei!" the angel-voiced young man had said, a smile on his face as his dimples were evident.

 

"Thank you, Yixing!" she exclaimed, hugging him. She then let him into the house, and he greeted her mother. "Mama, Yixing is here!"

 

"Oh! Nin hao ma, Yixing?"

 

"I'm fine, thank you," he replied, being the polite boy he was in front of her parents.

 

"Why don't you two go upstairs? The cooking will disturb you two," the older woman suggested. The two nodded and made their way to the room upstairs that was merely for playing games. They had made themselves comfortable and had a drama, In A Good Way, playing in the background but they weren't paying attention to the plot line.

 

"So what happened last night? You stopped answering, and then said that you'll explain to me today," Yixing started off.

 

"Well, Zitao saw my phone last night, and he was asking who this "babe" person was, and I explained to him that "babe" was this person I liked. Obviously I didn't tell him that it was him, because I can't. After that, I tried going to bed but he woke me up...Meihua texted him saying that she wanted to break up with him," Li Wei started telling the events from the night before.

 

"Well, isn't that good for you? That girl is no longer in the picture? I don't even know what Zitao had seen in that girl - " he started blabbering but stopped when he noticed the girl staring at him. "Sorry, continue," he smiled sheepishly.

 

"He likes someone else..." She finished. "And it sounds like he really really really likes her....I can't tell him,"

 

"But Li Wei, he didn't tell you the name of this girl. It could be anyone. It could be you! You wouldn't know unless you told him about your feelings. He already knows that you like someone. Just tell him who this someone is. Him," Yixing explained.

 

"No...there's no way that I am that girl. And me confessing to him would only confuse him and potentially damage our friendship. I don't want to do that to him..." Li Wei tried explaining to him. Yixing saw the small glint of fear and sadness in her eye, and sighed.

 

"Fine, if you say so," he sighed. The two stopped talking and looked at the TV in silence. They weren't paying attention to the events, they just didn't know what to say to each other anymore. It was almost 12:30 and Li Wei's mother called them downstairs.

 

"Your grandma is here!" her mother's voice reached the two of them, with a smile appearing on her face.

 

"Nainai!" Li Wei called as she ran down the stairs. She tightly embraced the elder woman, a huge smile evident on her face. The elder woman, small and frail with wrinkles of a long life full of wisdom, smiled and laughed as well.

 

"Look at my beautiful granddaughter! You look so beautiful, my dear. Aiya, you'll need to watch out, you'll be breaking hearts everywhere you go!" she exclaimed, everyone in the room laughing along with her. "And Yixing," she smiled towards the young male. He smiled at her and embraced her as well. "How are you, dear?"

 

"I'm fine, Nainai. How are you?" he smiled, ever so politely with his dimples evident.

 

"Oh, just a bit tired but it's my granddaughter's birthday. I wouldn't miss is for the the world," she smiled brightly. Li Wei smiled back, and hugged her grandmother.

 

"Why don't we go set up outside? It'll help you ladies out," Yixing volunteered, and Li Wei nodded in agreement. The two young adults went in and out of the house, carrying paper plates, cups, napkins, food, and drinks. After that, they decorated the small backyard with minimal decoration as much wasn't required. By the time they had finished, the rest of her family and friends had started arriving. Li Wei was soon caught up with welcoming her aunts, uncles, cousins, that she almost forgot that she had to go meet Zitao.

 

"Mama, it's 9:50 and I told Zitao I would meet him at 10. I'll be back soon!" she said before she left the house and made her way to the park. She got there in exactly 8 minutes and she looked around for Zitao. She couldn't find him but something else caught her eye. A small part of the park was lit up with decorations and Li Wei couldn't help but walk towards the area. As she got closer, she noticed a familiar figure standing there, and smiled when she recognized him. "Zitao," she smiled.

 

"Happy Birthday, baobei," he smiled hugely, engulfing her in a hug. She wrapped her hands around his waist, hugging him back.

 

"You did this all?" she questioned, looking back at the lights. He nodded.

 

"I decided to take my own advice from last night," he said softly.

"Advice? What - " she stopped as her eyes widened when she realized what the boy in front of her meant.

 

You should confess, no matter how you think the person feels.

 

"Me?" she whispered, looking up at him.

 

"You. It's always been you," he replied. "Even when I was with Meihua, I thought I had liked her but now I realize I was only with her because I wanted to make you jealous. I wanted you to be in her place. I want to go out on movie dates with you, I want to spend my holidays with you, I want to be the first and last person you talk to, the reason you're laughing, and the one to stop you when you're crying. I don't care that you like some other guy, who's perfect while I'm - " he was cut when something soft came into contact with his lips.

 

Li Wei pulled back from the short kiss, her cheeks pink. "It's you. You're the guy I was talking about," she said loudly. "You're the perfect guy I was describing last night. Not some other guy. You. I don't know how many years it's been, but I've always liked you," she said.

 

"Last night, when we were describing them," Zitao chuckled.

 

"We were walking about each other," Li Wei finished for him, also chuckling. The two looked at each other, and burst into another round of laughter.

 

"This didn't go any way that I planned," he started. "I came up with this whole idea, but I didn't even need it. But at least, I didn't end up as the friend-zoned idiot," he laughed. The two walked away from the area hand in hand.

 

"What are going to do about that area now?" Li Wei asked.

 

"Give it to someone in need," he smiled, pointing to a couple who just had an argument. Zitao ran to the man and whispered something into his ear, pointing out the area the young couple just came from. The man thanked Zitao, who was making his way back to Li Wei.

 

"You're so weird," she laughed, as the continued walking back hand in hand.

 

"Yes, but you chose me, baobei," he smiled, kissing her cheek. "You can't even stop me from saying that anymore,"

 

"Hey, it was different before than it is now!" she explained. "Whatever," she chuckled, swinging their hands back and forth. They walked the 8 minutes back to her house to go back to the party in a comfortable silence, before he spoke up.

 

"So I was the guy that you and Yixing were talking about this entire time, huh?" Zitao smirked, as he stopped to turn her around so they were facing each other as he wrapped his arms around her waist to bring her closer to him.

 

"Oh, shut up, babe," Li Wei chuckled before their lips met in a sweet kiss.

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