Snap!

Qian Ying sighed before revealing the broken pencil of unequal halves on her palm. She threw them into the bin to the left of her study table almost instantly. Her eyes were still trained on the sheet of paper loaded with chunks of texts on the table. She mouthed the words and tried to get the texts into her head. After a while, she closed her eyes and tried to recall what she just read.

“…intermittent failure of…..of…” She furrowed her eyebrow and her fingers were now gently tapping on the table.

“Erm……of…..” She then slammed her hand on to the paper on the table before resting her head on the back of her hand.

She had been stuck in this part for hours now. She raised her head and looked at the papers scattered on the table, opened books on the floor near her legs. She reread the text again, trying so hard to get that part into her brain storage. After rereading the text for several times, she flipped her paper over and tried to recall again.

This time she couldn’t even remember a single word from the text she just read.

She felt like pulling her hairs out of her head. She glanced at the digital clock on her table and realized it was already midnight and she had been studying the same thing for an hour now. She flipped through all the chapters she would need to cover for her exams, all the report writings she had yet to finish and all the lectures she would still need to attend. She slumped into her seat, feeling hard to breathe out of a sudden, as if an elephant was sitting on her chest. Tears welled up her eyes and without knowing, they slipped out of her lower lid. Her lips quivered and she was trying her best to hold her emotion in.

She quickly searched for her mobile phone buried under piles of paper and unlocked it. She thought of who to call at this late hour, knowing that her best friends would be asleep by now. She shook her head and quickly pressed the familiar numbers she had already imprinted on her heart on the screen. Her need to talk was way more than the need to be concern about the state of others right now.

She heard a few ring before it was picked up.

“Hey babe.” Upon hearing the voice, her emotion was stirring again.

“Hey.” She managed to greet eventhough her eyes were now pooling with tears.

“Baby? Are you alright? Why are you crying?” Concern was transmitted over the phone and she was trying hard to muffle her cries.

“Baby?”

“I’m alright, Yi Fan. Did I wake you? ” She wiped her tears with the end of her long sleeved shirt.

“No. I was just about to go to sleep before I get your call. Tell me what’s wrong?” Yi Fan was feeling disheveled upon sensing that his girlfriend was upset now.

“It’s just that…..there’s just too much to do in so little time. I haven’t finished my assignments, exams are coming soon and I have yet to prepare myself and there are lectures that I have to attend and all those things combined…and I haven’t been really productive in uni now and I haven’t been eating well, and I couldn’t eat without feeling that I would vomit at any second and everything just seems to fall apart and I don’t know anymore….” She was now crying, feeling no heed of concealing her feeling anymore.

Yi Fan just let her cry her heart out, knowing how stressful she had been feeling.

“Shh…it’s alright…shh…I’m here….calm down alright?” Yi Fan was feeling bad that he was not beside her at the moment.

Qian Ying sniffled and was gradually calming down with all the coaxing Yi fan was doing over the phone. Her sobs were gone but judging from the tone, he knew she was still upset.

“Ace didn’t do his job, did he?”

“What?” She blinked at the sudden change of question.

“I told him to look after you for me and I guess he didn’t fulfill his task.” Yi Fan shook his head lightly.

She cracked into a smile before taking Ace away from its spot on her bed. She sank herself down to her bed, lying on her back and hugged Ace tightly with one hand.

“Nope, he’s doing perfectly fine in my arm right now.”

“Good…but now I’m jealous. He gets your hug and I am stuck here hugging air.”

She laughed at that statement and Yi Fan was smiling at the other end of the line.

“Good to hear your laugh now. It has been a while since it appears.”

“Hmm...” She could not remember when was the last time she laughed as well.

Qian Ying had been very busy with universities and extra-curriculum activities that there was hardly any time for her to meet Yi Fan except for lunch time in University. And that was only a short one hour break and she could tell Yi Fan was getting annoyed by it but he didn’t voice it out.

“Feeling better?” His voice lined with concerns.

“Yea…” She whispered loud enough for him to hear.

“Alright…I really wanted to stay and chat but I have to sleep now.” She could hear guilt in his voice. Only now, she noticed how tired his voice sounded.

She glanced at the clock and noting that it had been an hour of talking with him.

“Okay…goodnight and thank you for listening.” She smiled, thankful that she had an ear to listen to her ranting and making her feel better.

“Anything for you baby. Goodnight. Don’t stress out too much alright. I love you.”

“I love you too.” With that, she ended her call and stretched her hand which was holding the mobile.

After a few minutes, she got back to her feet and went back to sit by her study desk with Ace still in her embrace. 

She pulled her hair into a pony tail and decided that writing down whatever she was learning could help more with focusing. Choosing a solid pen this time, she started to scribble and became engrossed with revision almost immediately.

Her mobile vibrated. She knotted her eyebrows and noting that it was already nearing two in the morning. Who would bother to text at this time of the day? She unlocked her mobile and read the text message before scurried to her feet and tiptoed towards her door, paying extra care to the notes scattered on the ground. She checked herself in the mirror, noting that she looked alright, before opening the door with Ace in one arm.

She made her way quickly yet cautiously down the stair before moving swiftly towards the door. She unlocked the door and opened it to reveal the “tower” she had a call with not too long ago.

“Are you crazy? What’re you doing here?” Qian Ying whispered to the smiley Yi Fan in his black hoodie and black long pants, looking so casual but yet still very handsome.

Yi Fan revealed his gummy smile and raised his left hand and shoved the bag in her face.

“I’ve brought food.”

She raised her eyebrows. “At this hour?”

Yi fan nodded before put a slight force against the door to make space for himself to enter the house. Without hesitating, he made his way to the kitchen since he was already familiarized with almost every corner of this house. He had met her parents months ago and was given blessing to continue their boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. He would occasionally stay for dinner with her family and had a rather good relationship with her parents now.

Qian Ying locked the door and followed him to the kitchen and pushed the sliding door closed before putting her hands on her hip.

Yi fan had made himself comfortable on the chair and placing every things he brought out of the bag and onto the table.

“Stop looking so confused.” Yi Fan put the bag away before proceeding to wash his hands in the sink.

“What’re you doing? I thought you are sleeping.” She moved right next to him and raised her head to meet his eyes.

“How can I sleep when my girlfriend is stressing herself up, hm?” He smiled and landed a kiss on her lips.

“But-…what’s with all these?” She gestured towards the table of lettuce in box, a half loaf of whole-grain bread, two tomatoes and ham.

Yi fan answered with a smile before asking her to just sit back and relax. He got back to the table with a saucer, a knife and a wooden chop board. He then proceeded with whatever he wanted to do.

She supported her head with her arm at one end of the table and was just looking at him confused but then it changed into a silly smile. The room was only filled with the sound of knife against the chop board but they felt comfortable with each other.

After a few minutes, Yi fan presented a sandwich in front of her and she gladly received it. He sat right next to her and urging her to eat after washing his hands.

“Seriously, what’s this though? You came all the way here just to make me a…..a sandwich?” she raised one of her eyebrows.

“Well, you were mentioning something about your feeding pattern, didn’t you??” He took Ace out of her embrace and left it on another chair.

“And so I thought maybe you should start with simple food. At least this is healthy enough, filled with Yifan’s abundant of love.”

Her face cringed at that disgustingly sweet statement and Kris laughed.

“I will get fat.”

“Non-sense. These are healthy things I put in.” he showed her the lettuce and tomatoes.

“Just eat it. Let this sandwich be a start of your healthy feeding again, alright?” He caressed her hair.

“It has been a while since I see you. Like really see you and not you dashing off to nowhere after lunch break. I know it’s stressful and you’ve a lot to study, a lot to work on as well. But just relax a bit, tensing up is not good and you should know more than me in this field.”

Concern was evident in his eyes as he planted a kiss on her forehead. She gave a tired smile, feeling so grateful of him being there for her. She repositioned herself so that her back was against his chest with his viable hand playing with her hair, a habit he had since both of them started dating. He had always loved the soft sensation of her hair between his fingers.

After finishing the sandwich and cleaning up, both of them walked up the stairs to her room and of course not forgetting Ace. She shyly put away her papers into a stack, making room for him to walk.

He sighed before sitting on the small sofa she had in the room. He patted on the seat next to him, motioning her to sit as well. She complied.

Kris had his hand on her waist and pulled her close to him and they remained cuddling in that position in comfortable silence.

“Hey.” Kris rested his cheek on her head.

“Hm?” She had her eyes closed and positioned her head on the crook of his neck.

“What time are you planning to sleep?” His fingers instinctively found its way up and brushed the hairband off her hair.

She snuggled closer to him and yawned. “After I finish the chapter.”

He sighed and his hand was rubbing circles on her back comfortable enough to draw her close to sleep.

He shifted in position so that she could rest her head more comfortably on his chest and hummed a tune.

Not too long after, he could feel his girlfriend’s body relaxed. Judging from the constant breathing, he was sure that she had already entered dreamland.

A smile broke on his face as he slowly shifted to get a better look at her face. He then carried her to her bed, avoiding the papers and books on the floor and tucked her in.

After he was satisfied with adoring her features, he left the bed and walked towards the door.

“Then who’s going to look the door?” He stopped in track and thought about the scenario that would be unfolding the next morning.

Without doubt, her father would be fretting and tried to figure out how on earth was the door not locked. This neighbourhood had an increase in crime rate recently and a high chance thieves would be lurking around the area at this time.

He sighed before looking back at Qian Ying and looked back the door once again.

He pondered for a while, weighing his options.

He raised his hand and locked the door from the inside. He then turned off the light and made his way to her bed with hands outstretched.

He then made himself comfortable under the blanket, holding her in his arms as he dozed off.

 

 

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Cutie Kris for you

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