As soon as I enter the house, it's red all over the place. Looks like the wedding is real. Big time! I know red is a lucky color, but these decorations... the level of redness is top notch to the max.
Lucky for Leo, his fur remains golden. Or else, Ma might dye him in red as well!
"Lucky pup!" I rub Leo's head as the Golden Retriever sticks out his tongue.
"There you are! Why are you late?"
I lift up my head and lock eyes with Ma. There's nothing much to say as my defensive argument, so all I can do is grin and hug her warmly.
"Train got delayed for some technical reason. And, I couldn't find any Grab. So, I have to wait."
"Told you before, ah boy! You should drive a car. You're a sophomore now!" Ma pats my shoulder as she offers me a wooden stool. "If you have a car, you can always come home!"
"I don't think Pa will love that idea..." I feel bitter inside while chanting the name. "Besides, I'm too busy to always come home."
Not to mentioned, Pa hates seeing me wander around the house! He might chase me away like a stray!
"Aiya, you're not working, yet you're already busy! Now I am afraid!" Ma grabs my hand softly. "Once you graduate, come home and work. Don't try to find a job elsewhere! I will miss you even more if you live far from me."
Her eyes sparkle, but not delighted. Ma is on verge of crying, but she's a strong woman who always keep everything by herself. Living in a house where the majority are men, she must feel lonely. Besides, Pa never truly shows affection to her.
Typical old timer couple.
"Where's Yi Wen gege?" I try to divert her from the sadness.
"Tsk, that brat! Tomorrow is his wedding day, so he told me, he wants to spend the last night as a bachelor with his friends! Such a waste of time!"
Ah, bachelor party! Sounds so Yi Wen to me!
"Let ge enjoy his freedom, Ma. He'll never get it after this..."
"He got so much freedom, that's why he ends up having this gunshot wedding! Aiya, I don't know these young people anymore! You never think about marriage until your girlfriend is pregnant!"
Yelp, that's a harsh truth! Somehow, the point is right.
"Where's Pa?" I dare not to ask more about Yi Wen. Or else, Ma might having hypertension!
"That man is still at the restaurant, working like he might die tomorrow!"
Okay, wrong question again! Everyone in this house are walking on the eggshells today!
"Steam bun, let me take a look at your face..." Ma grabs my hand softly. I quickly paints a smile on my face. Who knows, maybe she finds a peace in me!
"Aiya, my handsome son... You're too handsome to be true..."
"Ma..."
"Do you have a girlfriend? What about the girl that you told me before?"
Ah... Ma must've thought that I am in a relationship with Yu! I did told her about it.
"She rejected me..."
"Why? Are you not handsome enough?"
"Yes. She told me, I'm too polite, a softie. Not... manly enough?" chuckles escape from my lips.
"She must be crazy! Don't listen to her!" Ma amuses me so bad that I end up laughing so loud. "Whoever got you as their partner is lucky; you're a smart student, handsome, a great cook, polite—"
"Ma... girls nowadays, they prefer manly and macho man..."
Suddenly, my heart pounds. A glimpse of Minghao; a macho with a height and well build body, is running across my mind.
Ehey, why am I thinking about him! I have a lot of preference, yet this moron still haunts me!
"Steam bun? Steam bun!" Ma slaps me back to the real time. "Are you okay?"
I nod at Ma, wiping away that man's image from my mind. Ma continues admiring me.
"Don't get heartbroken. She's only a grass among the forest. You'll find another girl that suits you the best in the future!" Ma pats my hand softly. "Remember Ah Chen, choose the one who sincerely loves you. Not the way around. Value ourselves first."
True. We should always value ourselve before others. But, it's hard to find the love that works like that now. People are getting selfish all the time, manipulative for their own good.
"Thanks, Ma. I'll pin that in my mind..."
"I just want you to be happy. You deserve it."
Why am I feel sad all of a sudden? Ma seems like reading me so well, inside and out!
She excuses herself to the kitchen. A group of neighborhood ladies gather there to prepare for the wedding. I climb up the stairs and goes straight into my bedroom.
Ah... nothing changes in this bedroom! It's always warm and cozy. This is my escape pod at home. A place where I can be myself! This is the one thing that I'm grateful, even though Pa always treats me harshly, I can still have a speck of freedom by having my own room.
I swing open the wooden window when my eyes catch a glimpse of someone from a room at the upper level of another shop across the street. He is pacing around the room, occupies with his phone.
Then our gaze meets in the middle.
Shit! That's Minghao! What the hell is he doing here?
Oh yeah, he's coming back home as well! Jeez, why am I panicking for no reason... tsk! You dumb, Yi Chen! Of course that's Minghao! How can you forget that he is your neighbor!
Wait... why he is still looking at me? Yah, you better—!
Buzz!
I grab my phone to answer a call.
"We do look like Romeo and Juliet..."
"Romeo and Juliet my ass! Why are you calling?"
Minghao crooks his brows while lurking at me.
"Feels romantic, isn't it?"
What the—? There's nothing romantic in this!
"Ah... yeah... keep living in delulu, bro!"
Let's cut the call and shut this window...
"Wait."
For what? Jeez, this boy really is demanding!
"What? I have no time to talk. I got a wedding preparations!"
Crap! Why he's looking at me like that?! As if he wants to jump off the window and run towards me!
"Who's getting married?"
Yeah, lock that jaw like that! May your jaw locks forever!
"Me. Got a problem with that?"
Haha, if only I can hand him a mirror so he can take a look at his ugly face!
"How can you get marry? You're still have college to attend. And you're jobless to the core!"
"Eh, it's my business. Why would you care anyway?" I swat him with my sassy attitude. Hope you butt off and stay away from me, sucker!
I heard a hard slam before the call cuts off. I turn around, peeking through the gap of my window.
Minghao shuts his window. I can't see him anymore.
Jeez, why he always tense? He'll get a hypertension if he keeps doing that! Ah, why should I care anyway! That's his life, not mine! Hehe!
***
There's chaos downtown as everyone flood in to prepare for the wedding. As a good son, I'm trying to help, but knowing these aunties, they refuse my help totally.
Guess I have no choice but hiding in my room! Well, too bad then, I have this resting moment all by myself...
What a freedom!
I lay down on my bed, flipping over a photo album. I found it stuck in a cabinet, so I took it along with me before anyone finds it and using it as a weapon against me; I swear that happens a lot of times already!
Times pass by so fast while looking at these pictures. I missed those moments when I don't have to think a lot about my life. This innocence will never come again, only happens once in a lifetime.
I'm thinking about what Ma told me before. Loving someone is what we thirst for. But, it will be nicer if we have someone who loves us even more. I seldomly got that from those girls, anyway! They like me, but to the extend of loving me that way... that never truly happened.
Humans are selfish, no doubt!
Come to think of it... what if Tuo is right? If my fluff doesn't work on girls, how about boys?
....
Nah! That will never happen! I don't mind others, but me... I choose flowers over bees. They both stings, but I do know which one is severe.
Thud!
"What the—! Yah! Why... How... What are you doing in my room!"
My eyes grow bigger.
It's Minghao. And, right now, this dumbass is standing in the middle of my room!