A Chance Encounter. Chapter Two.

I suppose Yixing meant ‘now’ when he said sometime. We’re walking towards the nearest café, and I’m clutching on to my small bag of purchased treats. Yixing had put my pack of oat noodles back on the shelf and picked a bowl of delicious shrimp ramen, which I had originally intended to purchase. We even argued slightly about the best flavor of Pringles, and I settled for Barbecue, even though Yixing had been adamant about the Salt and Vinegar one. He’d sulked a little and dumped two of those in his own cart, along with heaps of grocery he’d already purchased.

Apparently, he has a personal maid who takes care of everything for him, including his meals. I suppose that makes sense – he doesn’t really come across as someone who has any knowledge of household chores, or has time to do it. I prefer a guy who can cook for himself, knows how to do laundry and can water the plants when necessary. Chan- why do I keep bringing him up? But he could do all of that, and that was what I liked about him... well, along with a lot more things. My mother’s constant complains of my father being useless when it came to housework might have shaped that particular aspect of my preference.

“So, you head back to the city today?” I ask Yixing as the waiter sets down our cups of coffee and cupcakes. Again, we’d argued over the red velvet one, and the dark chocolate one. I'd die for cream cheese, I obviously picked red velvet. I’ll get the bridesmaid dress altered without Bona’s knowledge. Cupcakes are essential for my brain to function, and I’ve promised my team leader I’ll work on the Webtoon whilst I’m on my holiday here at home.

“No,” Yixing says, setting the packets of brown sugar aside. Guess he likes his coffee black and bitter. “I’m going to work from home for a couple of weeks. Besides, I have to monitor sales at a local unit here in town, so I won’t be heading back to Seoul anytime soon.”

I reach over to his sugar packets and dump more sugar in my coffee. I think it’s kind of sweet how he’s using work as pretence, when I’m certain he’s taken that time off to attend Bona’s wedding.

“And you?” Yixing asks.

I hesitate slightly before answering, “I’ve taken the whole month off.” I know what he’s going to think. It must be a nightmare for him, to have employees like me. He must have never taken a day off at work, not even pretended to be sick when he felt like sleeping in. Great, he’s frowning again.

“I didn’t know you were allowed to take your maternity leave in parts,” he remarks. And he looks completely serious. Maybe no one in his company gets more than a day’s leave. One month off must be luxury.

I fumble, trying to answer him when he chuckles softly. Okay, he was joking. I should have known.

“Uhmm…I’m getting a surgery done. I need the time off,” I answer, trying my best to sound sincere. I just want him to feel guilty.

“Oh.” He looks taken aback. “When’s the surgery?”

“Day after,” I reply immediately. Wow, I’m on a roll. I’ve never been this good at lying. He looks up, his mouth is twitching slightly again. Oh no, have I given myself away? But I’m doing such a good job at trying to sound convincing.  I think I know what’s coming next. Please, please don’t ask what surgery it is. I can’t seem to think of anything.

“What surgery is it?”

“I have a cyst in my ovary.” I don’t know how that happened. “I’ve been diagnosed with polycystic ovary disorder,” I continue grimly. Hah, I can see his expression changing. I’ve got him. “The doctors say it could have progressed to cancer if it hadn’t been diagnosed earlier.”

“Oh.” His lips are stretched in a thin line. He’s probably cursing himself for even doubting me. “Juyeon…” he says after a while.

I hum softly in response. He’s probably going to apologize. I mustn’t laugh, I mustn’t laugh.

“There’s no surgery, is there?”

“How did you-” I’m speechless. I thought I did a great job at convincing him.

“Your eyes gave it away,” he chuckles. Damn it. I need to practice on that later.

“Well, I did get a surgery done for a cyst in my ovary…seven months back. I’m on contraceptive pills for prophylaxis.” 

Why did I need to tell him that? I just wanted to defend myself, and tell him the story wasn’t entirely made up. And the doctors really said it could have progressed into cancer. Mum was convinced I’d die; she’d even started pampering me. Alas, it only lasted a few weeks. The adept surgeon apparently got rid of the entire cyst, and told my parents they had nothing to worry about. And everything had gone back to being the same.

“Must come in handy at times.” He grins cheekily.

“Yeah, not really,” I answer wryly.  Now that I’m being truthful, I might as reveal that my love life is non-existent. If anything, the pills have only added on to my weight gain, and nothing else. And my appetite has drastically increased.

Yixing hums softly, sipping on his bitter black coffee. “Will come in handy sometime.”

Okay, what’s with him and ‘sometime’? I don’t really know what context I should take his words in. Sometime with someone else, or him? Forget it. It’s never going to happen. I’m certain this is a onetime thing – grabbing coffee. I’ll just concentrate on my delicious red velvet cupcake.

“Are you seeing someone?” Yixing asks, nibbling on his bitter cupcake. Well, I presume it’s bitter. The patissier was explaining how they use fresh ground cocoa to make those cupcakes, and they contain no su