A Chance Encounter. Chapter Sixteen.

Mum would return home soon. She’ll definitely meddle in my affairs when she gets to know about Yixing. Then she’ll probably subject him to her deep scrutiny where she’d make a mental list of reasons why I shouldn’t be with him. Anyway, I think it’s way too early for him to meet Mum, but my mother isn’t one to listen. She’d always say, “There’s nothing called too early, if you’ve met the right person, you’ll know in an instant!” Yeah, like that worked out well for her and Dad! I do hope her views have changed now. I’ll only find out once she gets back and catches me going out on a date with Yixing. Until then, I’ll savor my freedom.

Somehow, Mum just doesn’t seem to grasp that I’ve grown up and gotten older now. But it usually happens only when you’re dating someone – they feel you’re incapable of finding the right person on your own. However, you ask them to help you renew your insurance and they’re always like, “You’re an adult now, you should do all these things on your own!” It’s kind of ironic, don’t you think? Anyway, I’ve always valued my parents’ opinion, even if I don’t exactly agree to it most of the time. So, if Mum requests to meet the person I’m dating, then maybe I would just do so. The only problem would be Yixing – I don’t wish to scare him away. We’ve been on like three dates so far, and knowing Mum, she’d probably even ask him if he intends to marry me!

“Hey,” I greet Yixing cheerily as I find standing outside my door. He’s dressed in his work clothes again.  “I thought you didn’t have to go to work,” I comment.

Yixing casually grabs hold of my hand and walks towards his car. “I had nothing else to do,” he shrugs. If I had the time to do anything, I’d probably sleep in or watch back-to-back episodes of a great TV show and make myself a nice snack! This goof here goes to his office instead. He is indeed very dedicated. Perhaps, I could learn a thing or two from him. Maybe I should stop showing up to work in my sweatpants; Kyungsoo would be the happiest the day it happens. At our company, they always believe in giving ‘space’ to their artists, so if I claim that taking naps in between work hours help me think, I’d probably be allowed to do so. I do admit that I’ve abused that power way too many times. But then again, I make Webtoons for a living, nothing grave is going to happen if I slack off once in a while!

Perhaps that’s why Chanyeol broke up with me! Who’d find a girl heading to work dressed in her sweatpants appealing? Anyway, I did decide to put all of than behind me. I’m supposed to be moving forward – with Yixing! Just like he said. Thinking of those words makes my heart swell. Yixing may not be very expressive with his emotions, but I think he’s someone who genuinely cares inwardly. When I’d first gone out with him, I had instantly regretted my decision. I just couldn’t see myself with him. He simply came across as a serious guy, who valued his work more than anything. But now, I realize how wrong I had been to form such an impression about him. There’s a lot more to him that his dedication for his work, which I’ve learnt to respect now, by the way.

“Your glasses look nice on you.” Yixing turns around to cast a crooked smile. “You look cute! Like Chicken Little or something!”

“Yixing!” I huff. A girl likes to hear a lot of things when she goes on a date, being called Chicken Little isn’t one of them! God! It’s like he’s allergic to giving out compliments or something. I agree that I didn’t put much of an effort today because I was a little worn out with everything that happened with Bona. But the day we’d headed to the pub, I’d tried my best and he didn’t even appreciate that! I’d let him off only because I like him, a lot. Also, this is how he is – not the overtly romantic kind. But he can be really sweet at times! And those are the times I feel lucky to have met him. I somehow feel that the only reason I could cope up with everything – with Chanyeol cheating, and Bona’s pregnancy, was because I’d met Yixing. I might have been miserable otherwise, and learning about Bona’s pregnancy would have been my last straw in that case.

Anyway, I did have a resolution of some kind I suppose– to not have a lot of expectations from people? I’m certain I was a very demanding girlfriend in my relationship with Chanyeol; I realized it the other day. And maybe it got to him, maybe he got tired of planning those extravagant dates and that might have driven him to…you know, cheat. The mere mention of cheating on someone makes my spine tingle. I know I’ve almost forgiven Chanyeol and not made an issue out of it, but I still can’t ignore that fact that he did cheat on me, moreover with my cousin. What kind of a messed up person does that? And my father – he cheated too, didn’t he? With someone way younger than Mum. It makes me wonder if every man finds the need to do so at some stage in his life. Perhaps they get annoyed of seeing the same person, and maybe they expect something new, something different. Would Yixing do so too? I’d like to think he isn’t that kind of a person, but then again, that’s exactly what everybody says in the beginning.

Yixing beams at me, his eyes crinkling in amusement. “Have you decided where to go?”

“Anywhere is fine,” I reply, grinning back at him. I simply want to spend some time with him. Perhaps, we could continue spilling our secrets to each other. I’d really like to know if he has any more embarrassing things to reveal. I have quite a lot of them, but I wouldn’t