Tao - First date

I sighed as I looked at him.

“Yah, Lanying!” my friend Jia said to me as she elbowed me. I turned to her and looked at her with my head crooked to the side.

“Stop staring at him. He’ll notice you soon and take out that wushu stick and hit you down to the ground so that you won’t be able to walk again” she mumbled and I shook my head.

“Trust me. Tao would never do anything like that” I said and turned to look at the handsome boy at the other side of the class room.

“You sure? Have you seen him in the competitions?” Jia asked and I shook my head.

“How can you even think that he is cute? I don’t get it… He just looks so scary all the time. Like he’s staring into your soul and ready to kill you when you turn your back to him.” Jia said and glanced over at the boy she was talking about.

“Besides, I think Luhan is way more attractive, and he knows how to sing” she continued and looked over at Luhan who looked back at her.

I shook my head and then turned to Tao again and watched him. I saw him stiffen just a tiny bit and slowly he turned his head. I quickly turned back to look in front at the teacher but I could feel his gaze on me.

Let me tell you a little about him.

His name is Huang ZiTao, we’ve been in the same class since start of high school and we’re in junior year now. We’ve never talked; I haven’t seen him talk to anyone except a Senior called Wu Fan in our school. He does Wushu, which is one kind of martial arts, I’ve never seen him preform though. People at our school are scared of him. I’ve actually never seen him smile or laugh, but I guess that’s just who he is.

Even if we’ve never spoken, I feel attracted to him. Just the flow in how he moves and how his eyes pierce through you when he looks at you. How his hair falls into his eyes and he flips it away.

The bell rang and I stretched my arms up.

“Yah, Lanying! Do you want go watch Tao’s training?” Jia whispered to me and I turned to her.

“Eh?”

“Yeah, he trains every day after school in the gym. And don’t you want to give him his birthday present?”

Oh, did I forget to tell you. Today is his birthday and Jia had made me promise to confess to him today.

“A-ah… I-I don’t know Jia…” I mumbled and she glared at me.

“You promised.”

“I-I didn’t know what I was doing that time!”

Somehow she dragged me to the gym. There were only the center lights on and there in the middle stood Tao. It was dead quiet in the gym as we had tip toed inside and were hiding behind the big basket with foot balls. We looked over it and looked at Tao. He held his wushu stick firmly.

He slowly raised it and glided his foot back and turned.

I watched him preform and I felt my mouth open.

“Wow…” I whispered as I saw him drop the stick to the ground and doing a flip before grabbing it again.

“Go.” Jia whispered and pushed me out. I stumbled forward and then I walked towards Tao who was had his back facing me. I heard the gym door open and close and Tao turned around with the wushu stick pointing at my face.

“EEK!” I yelled out and stared at the tip of the stick. Slowly he lowered the stick and looked at me.

“What do you want?” he said with a cold voice. I flinched a little.

“I-I…” I stuttered. I couldn’t form real words. I just took the present I had in my hands and stretched it out towards him.

“H-Happy B-Birthd-day T-Tao…” I said and bowed. He stared at the present for a while before putting down the wushu stick and taking it from my hands. I swallowed hard. Would he like it? Would he even open it? I was scared to death.

“I-I also wanted to tell you one more thing” I said and fiddled with the hem of my shirt. He looked at me, as if telling me to continue.

“This is going to sound really silly but….” I sighed and looked up at him.

“I like you.”

Silence. Staring at each other.

“I- It’s okay. I just wanted you to know. I know we haven’t even spoken before but… I just had to get it off my chest.” I said and turned away. I left the hall and walked home.

The next day I walked to school with a heavy heart. I was scared to see Tao again and I sighed once before entering the classroom. It was still rather empty and I walked over to my seat and sat down. I leaned my head on the table and looked out of the window.

“Lanying!” Jia yelled out and entered the room.

“Oh~” I said and looked at her.

“So, how’d it go yesterday?” she asked me and sat down. I sighed heavily and her smile fell.

“Oh, Lanying” she said and patted my shoulder. I buried my head in my arms. I didn’t cry, I’m not a girl who cries over small things like that. The bell rang and the students flooded inside and took their seats. The teacher entered the room and started her lesson. I glanced over at Tao who was writing in his book.

I looked in front again and immersed myself in the class.

The lunch bell rang and the teacher left the room and the students packed their book and pulled out their lunches. More than half of the class left the room to sit outside with friends from other classes.

“I’ll be right back!” Jia said as she scurried out of the room. I took up my bag and searched for my food container as a shadow hovered over me and I looked up to find Tao looking down on me.

I gulped and my eyes widened.

“H-Hi T-Tao” I stuttered and he continued to look at me.

“Hi Lanying” he said with that melodious voice. “Would you like to go on a date today after school?”

I froze and my eyes widened once more. Then I stiffly nodded and a smile came up on his face.

A smile.

My heart skipped a beat and then he leaned down to face level with me.

“I’ll wait for you after class” he said and my cheek with a finger. Then his face turned into his normal emotionless face and he left the room. I slumped down in my seat and Jia came back into the room, looking at me weirdly.

“Hey, you okay?” she asked and I nodded with a ridiculous smile on my lips.

She looked at me with a raised brown and shook her head.

“Let’s eat”

The last bell rang and I packed my things slowly as people started leaving the classroom.

“Do you want to walk home together?” Jia asked and I shook my head. Just then Tao came up to us.

“Ready to go Lanying?” he asked and I nodded. Jia looked at me with widened eyes and I nodded silently and then I left the classroom with Tao.

We left the school grounds and walked towards the center of the town.

“S-So… What are we doing?” I asked and tugged a little on the straps of my bag.

“I thought that we could maybe eat something and then walk around the city a little” he answered and nodded. I felt how his hand slowly took mine in his and I looked at him.

“Since we’re on a date, why don’t we hold hands?” he said and that adorable smile came up on his lips. I nodded and smiled a little while a blush crept onto my cheeks. I carefully held his hand a little tighter and I felt him answer my hold with an equally tight hold.

Tao took me to a cafe and we entered carefully.

“Jie Jie!” Tao yelled as soon as we got inside. A woman who stood behind the counter turned to us and looked at Tao.

“Ah, Tao!” she yelled back and ran out from behind the counter. Tao hugged the girl and I stood there, awkwardly watching them. They spoke and then the girl looked at me.

“Who is this?” she asked and stepped in front of me.

“Oh- Ni Hao. I’m Lanying” I said and bowed to the girl. She smiled and looked over at Tao.

“Ni Hao, I’m Tao’s older sister.” she said and smiled.

“Ah, Jie Jie, here’s the keys. I’ll be late tonight so I came by to drop the keys so that you don’t have to be locked outside tonight. We’ll be going now!” he said with a smile before kissing his sisters cheek and pulling me out of the shop. I waved to his sister who just smiled and shook her head.

“I’m sorry about her. She’s a bit curious” Tao said and we continued walking down the street.

“Let’s go in here” Tao said and pointed at a dumpling shop. I nodded and he opened the door. He let me in first and we sat down at a table in the back. We ordered the food, two different types of dumplings and then something to drink.

The food arrived and I smiled looking at the food. I took up the chopsticks and took one bun in between before I bit of a part of it.

“Mmm~ So good” I said and looked at Tao. He smiled and took up one bun before eating a part of it. We started eating and talking.

It surprised me how much Tao actually could talk when you get to know him. He would just talk to you and smile. When I asked him about Wushu his eyes lightened up and I saw a new light in them. It seemed like wushu was something he loved doing.

And during that meal, I heard him laugh for the first time. It was a melodious laugh, like his voice. And when he laughed he seemed so carefree. I smiled. I felt my heart skip a beat as the sound of his laughter filled my ears. We finished the food and left the shop and started walking down the street.

I carefully took Tao’s arm in my hands and stepped closer to him. He looked down at me with that small smile that seemed to have been plastered on his face the whole afternoon. I was happy for him. But I was also scared.

Was he doing this because I confessed to him yesterday but I decided to enjoy the moment. We walked in silence as we passed a shop which sold only chocolate. I stopped and Tao looked at me and I smiled, letting go of his arm.

“Wait here, I’ll be back in a minute” I said and went into the shop. I hurriedly bought my favorite chocolate. They were like Hersey’s Kisses but without the paper and much tastier! I came out of the shop to find Tao waiting. I walked up to him and held his arm again.

Tao looked down at me and then the candy bag I was holding. He raised a brow and I opened the bag carefully. I popped one candy in my mouth and sighed.

I then looked up at Tao and held up a candy toward him, expecting him to grab it but to my surprise he bent down and captured the candy between his lips. I blushed furiously and looked at my feet as we continued walking.

“Ah, it’s really good” he said and smiled. We continued walking down the street.

“Where do you live at?” he asked. I told him where I lived and we started walking home. It was already dark out so he accompanied me home. Our walk home included laughing, eating candies, exchanging phone numbers and an occasional aegyo from Tao.

It was the first time I’ve found Tao cute. His aegyo, I didn’t he was a type of boy who would do that but he was like a little puppy. I just wanted to smash his face to the ground when he did it because I couldn’t stand it. But I didn’t.

We arrived at my house and stopped outside the gate and I turned to look at Tao.

“Tao. I had fun today” I said and smiled, wishing that this day wouldn’t end.

“So did I.” he said and gave me a soft smile. “And I want to tell you that… what you did yesterday was very sweet. No other girl has ever done anything like that to me before” he said and looked down at his feet.

I nodded and he continued.

“So, I accept your confession and I want to ask you if you would accept mine.”

I froze a little in my place and my eyes widened. Wait, what? Tao was going to confess?

“I’ve noticed you since freshman year. How you’ve always been looking at me” he started and my face flushed deep red. Oh god, this is so embarrassing.

“And… I wanted to talk to you but… I never had the courage to do that. So when you came to the gym yesterday… I was happy… to know that you liked me to.” He said and I looked down at the ground. He took my hands in his and we looked up at each other again.

“W-Would you like to be my girlfriend?” he asked and I nodded.

“Yes” I said a smiled spread across his face.

He pulled me closer and hugged me close. I put my arms around his waist and buried my face into his chest. He pulled away and took my chin I his hand. He slowly leaned down closer to my face and I closed my eyes slowly.

I could feel his breath on my lips and his lips brush-

“LANYING! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” a voice behind me yelled from my house, interrupting us. I sighed and Tao let go of me. I turned around to see my brother fuming.

“This is not the time Yixing!” I glared at my brother who just stared at Tao.

“Who’s that?” he asked and glared at Tao who was standing behind me.

“It’s my boyfriend!” I yelled and he narrowed his eyes on me.

“You never told me you had a boyfriend.” He said and started walking down the approach.

“Well, maybe because he became my boyfriend today” I mumbled and held Tao’s hand and intertwined our fingers. I looked up at Tao who seemed a bit scared from my brothers and my screaming. I squeezed his hand a little and he looked down at me.

“It’s okay, he’s not dangerous.” I whispered to him. Yixing was staring Tao up and down and Tao shifted under the intense stare.

“Okay… He seems fine. But if you hurt my little sister I swear to god I will-“ Yixing started but got interrupted by Tao.

“I won’t hurt her.”

Yixing didn’t still look convinced but nodded none the less. He looked at me and then at the door.

“Fine” I grumbled and turned to Tao.

“Thank you for today Tao.” I said and kissed his cheek.

“I’ll call you later” he whispered in my ear and I nodded while smiling. Then I turned to Yixing who waited for me to walk inside first and then he followed me inside. At the door I stopped and looked over at Tao. I waved at him and he waved back before walking away. My brother pushed me inside the house and I stumbled over the shoes at the entrance.

“Why’d you do that?!” I yelled while throwing him the closest sneaker I could get at him.

The next morning I walked down the stairs to the kitchen and grabbed an apple before saying good bye to my brother to leave for school. I pulled on my shoe and as I was pulling on my other I opened the door with the apple in my mouth like a pig on Christmas. There, outside the door at the gate was Tao standing. I stood up and smiled.

So it wasn’t a dream

I closed the door and he turned to look at me when I came running down to the gate. He smiled and I opened the gate. He brought me into a hug and kissed my head. I smiled and he took my hand in his and we started walking to school.

At the school I felt people look at us, whispering things. I looked up at Tao who was just looking forward with that emotionless face. I sighed and squeezed Tao’s hand a little and he looked down at me.

We entered the classroom and Tao escorted me to my seat and I sat down, Jia hadn’t arrived yet so he sat down next to me and held my hand. I looked at him and smiled. Tao leaned his forehead against mine and looked at me. I felt my cheeks flush and he kissed me softly on the lips.

It was a short but sweet kiss. I then looked at him again and saw a small smile come up on his lips.

“I like it when you smile” I said quietly against his lips and he chuckled.

“Then I should smile more for you” he said and kissed me on the lips.

Jia came running inside the next second yelling at me.

“Lanying, what is it that I hear about you and Tao coming to school together, hand in- Oh… sorry”

I broke away from Tao and we looked at Jia before we laughed a little.

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TADAAAAAAAAAH~

So I felt to write a oneshot with Tao... because he is such an adorable panda!