A month passed by so fast. Qingge was so busy managing the event that was held by Summit Property Development. He was staying in Shanghai for 5 days already. He missed his Dayu so much, and his junior missed Dayu’s touch too. All in all, he felt rather miserable these past few days. He wanted this event to finish already.

One more day, one more day until it’s finished and I can go back to Beijing.

Qingge sobbed a little in his heart.

Saturday, 17:00 at Mandarin Oriental Pudong Hotel, Shanghai

It was finally the event that many people was concerned about. A lot of important people has come and welcomed to the semi-formal party. They chit-chatted with each other and talked about their own business or company while listening to a lovely music playing on the background that was produced by a group of talented orchestra musician.

Then there was an awkward person standing awkwardly with an awkward expression.

“Dayu, relax,” Yang Jie was tapping Dayu’s shoulder and smiled a little seeing his subordinate.

“But Sir, I am really nervous. I feel out of place. My palms are all sweaty,” Dayu said while wiping his palms to his trousers.

“It’s alright. You’ll be fine. You should familiarize yourself with this kind of event.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Let’s go. I’ll introduce you with some of my friends.”

At 05:15 PM, finally the host of this event appeared. Zhang Yong Xing was standing side by side with his managers. He stood in the podium that was in front of the orchestra. The music has stopped, the light was dimmed, the standing mic was ready, and the spotlight was on him. All the invitee turned their heads to the podium.

“Ladies and gentlemen. First of all, please let me introduce myself. My name is Zhang Yong Xing, the CEO of the Summit Property Development. We are honoured that we could invite you all to this event. This is just a simple party, but because all of you are here, this party has become a luxurious event. We made this party, as a gratitude to all our clients and partners that help us to be what we achieve now. We hope that you could enjoy this event as a way to relieve our stress and pressure that we may always face in our daily work. Thank you for your kind attention. Have fun and have a nice evening.”

The invitee were all clapping their hands. Yong Xing got off from the podium and welcomed by his other co-workers.

Dayu was so surprised that this event was held by Yong Xing. He looked at his manager’s face and started to wonder.

If he was invited to this event, that means he already knew about Xing gege. Why did he pretend like it was their first meeting when we met at the restaurant? And Wang Qing? It means Qingge is here too!! But I don’t see him since I’ve arrived here. Where is he?

Wang Qing sneezed. Is someone talking about me now?

He actually has free time already. His co-workers were coordinating and handling this event well. But he didn’t want to join the merry of the event. He sighed and took a deep breath when a voice suddenly calling him.

“Wang Qing? Why are you here standing at the balcony?”

“Ah, Mr. Zhang, Sir.”

Yong Xing smiled, “Go inside and enjoy the party.”

“I don’t feel like it, Sir.”

“At least you can enjoy the food. You must be starving. You didn’t eat properly this afternoon, and it’s almost dinner time already.”

Wang Qing didn’t say anything. But he straighten up and fixed his suit.

“Let’s go,” Yong Xing patted Qing’s arm and turned around. Wang Qing followed him and joined the crowd.

When Qing was looking around, he spotted someone familiar. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief and it’s still the same person that he saw.

Dayu? Is it really him or my eyes has just tricked me? It’s not just a hallucination, right?

Wang Qing strode forward and grabbed Dayu’s arm.

“Qingge?” Dayu and Yang Jie were surprised. “Please, excuse me for a while.”

Dayu and Qing were walking away from the circle. “Dayu? Why are you here?”

“Eh, I told you that I would go to a business event, and...”

“No, you didn’t. You didn’t tell me anything. You didn’t tell me about the business event, moreover you come here with Yang Jie.”

“I did tell you. You just forgot. And I...”

“Dayu… I just remembered that you said you will go to a business event as a representative of your company. And you didn’t say that you will go with Yang Jie. You didn’t event say that the business event is here.”

“I also didn’t know it myself. Mr. Yang didn’t tell me anything about this event. I was so surprised when I saw Xing gege was standing there, talking in the podium.”

“Then you should know that I was here, right?”

“I know.”

“Why don’t you look for me?”

“I wanted to, I planned to call you, but Mr. Yang...”

“Mr. Yang, Mr. Yang, all your excuses are Mr. Yang.”

“Would you just listen to me for a while? Is it hurting your ears if I finish my sentence?”

Qing and Dayu stared at each other in anger. Then Qingge turned his face away, his hair and sighed deeply.

“So?”

“I apologize that we come to this misunderstanding. I really wanted to look for you. But Mr. Yang introduced me to his friends and other people in the business. I felt like it’s a great opportunity for me to learn about many things as a marketing.”

Qingge rubbed Dayu’s arm with an apologetic smile, then with a soft voice he said, “I’m sorry. I was just so tired and I’ve missed you so much.”

“Me too. I miss you too,” Dayu whispered and smiled.

At the time Dayu and Qing came back, the circle has been gone. They scattered around to eat. There are a lot of tasty foods here and there. It made their stomach grumbled. They looked at each other and without warning, they started to go to different direction and looked around their favourite foods.

After he satisfied eating his dinner, at one point Dayu met Yong Xing and Qingge joined together not long after.

“Mr. Yang Jie,” Dayu called him when he saw Yang Jie nearby.

“Ah, Dayu, Wang Qing and... Mr. Zhang.”

“It’s okay to call me Yong Xing. After all, you are older than me, Senior.”

“Senior?” Wang Qing and Dayu said it together.

Yong Xing laughed, “Actually, Mr. Yang Jie was my senior in the university. We met when I was still freshman and he was already in his 4^th year.”

“Oooohhhh...” a harmonious ‘oh’ was said by Dayu and Qing.

“But when we met at restaurant before, it looked like both of you saw each other for the first time,” Dayu boldly asked.

“Maybe because Senior Yang already forgot about me. He was Assistant Professor at that time and I was just one of his many students,” Yong Xing said with a little bitterness in his voice.

Yang Jie let out a simple smile graced his face and answered, “I’ve just realized that I’ve aged so much in the past years.” He laughed and reached out his hand, “Sorry that I forgot about you.”

Yong Xing shook Yang Jie’s hand. “Let’s be friends, Senior.”

“We are friends now.”

Dayu smiled so wide looking at the sight in front of him. Innocently clapping his hands for the new friendship that formed in front of his eyes. Genuinely being happy for the friendship of his manager and his Xing gege. Qingge on the other hand, feeling a bit uneasy. Like they shouldn’t be here and disturbed them. Something was not in the right place, or maybe it was him and Dayu who were not in the right position.

Something was wrong with Yang Jie and Yong Xing. Qingge could feel that, but he couldn’t name it. The way Yong Xing looked at Yang Jie was a little… strange. Then the way Yang Jie looked at Dayu was also weird. He wished he was wrong. He just didn’t want his Dayu to be included in a messy situation.

To be continued