"Welcome! Welcome! Wah... all of you have changed a lot!"
I hear Ma is welcoming guests at the front door. From the kitchen, I can hear Su Lin's eccentric laugh. That must be my middle school classmates.
"Of course, Ah Ma! We're all grown up now!"
"Yes! Ah, kids nowadays grow up so fast! You can get married at this point, Ah Lin!"
"Aiya, I can't! Med school is hard! No one wants to date a busy person like me!"
"Eh? Really? How about you try dating my Ah Chen? I'm sure he is fine with it..."
"Aiya, Ah Chen is too fluff to even take care of girls! Don't bother!" My steps stopped right after I heard that from Pa. From my spot, I can see how Su Lin gulps while looking at me. The rest of the gang tries to merry the air with their insincere laugh.
"Come in! We need to meet Ah Chen and force him to come to the reunion tomorrow!" Su Lin awkwardly forces everyone to come inside.
Eh, is that—?
"Congratulations, Aunty Yi. This is from me."
What an audacity! He dares to show himself right inside the enemy's lair!
"Ehey, no need to, Minghao!"
"It's fine! I need your blessing so I can have a great life..."
"You already have a great life. Your parents are richer than we are!"
"Pa..." I quickly step outside and go straight to Ma.
"What are you doing here?"
"Aiya, Ah Chen! How can you say that to a guest? I'm the one who invites Ah Ming! Come, bring him inside!"
What? Since when have we had a peace talk? Did I miss something?
Minghao grabs me by my elbow and drags me inside. I halt for a while before dragging him to the corner of my house.
We're gonna talk about this!
"Why are you here? How did Ma manage to invite you?"
Yes, Yi Chen! Bombard him with questions!
"You Ma saw me coming out of your room—"
"Hw...what!!?"
Ops, I think, everyone is looking at us! Shit! Shit!!
This man! He is brave and shameless enough to ignore the weirdness of our situation—!
Wait. What situation? I don't have any situation with him!
"Tsk! I should've pushed you out of the window!"
"You would rather be a murderer?"
"With you, yes! Why not?"
How can you look at me with your calm demeanor when you realize that my mother saw you coming out of my room as if it was nothing??? What kind of stupidity is that, Ming to the fucking Hao???
"If you wanna kill me, at least let me have a lover first..."
"Suits yourself! Who stops you anyway? You're the one who is too busy meddling in my love business! Maybe you do have the same spec as I do with girls, but that doesn't mean you need to snatch all of them from me!"
There you go! A good lesson, exclusive to me and you! Come on, fight me! Admit your mistake!
"Last time I checked, my preferences are different from yours. If I do have the same taste, why do I never date all of your exes?"
Ah... now you do realize it!
"Oh yeah, I was thinking about the same thing? Why, eh?"
Answer me, Minghao! Stop looking at me with your sharp gaze and that silly grin!
"Dumb..."
"Did you just call me dumb?"
I am this close to grabbing Minghao by his mandarin collar of the red shirt that he wears, ars but Su Lin appears out of the blue, giving us a Solomon retreat gesture.
"That's enough you two. A feud during a wedding... it brings bad luck..."
My eyes glare at Minghao. This man is lucky that Su Lin the Solomon is here to save his ass! Had she not, I am seriously gonna grill him alive!
"Tell that to your friend."
You... what an audacity for you to say that to me, fumking Minghao! I lift my knuckle and almost target his head.
"Yah, no need to be violent, Yi Chen!"
"It's fine, Ah Lin..." Minghao nonchalantly pushes my knuckle away from him. "With that kitty punch, he can't even snip my hair..."
"You wanna real one, huh?"
"Ah Chen, what are you doing? Bring your friends inside and eat before the crowd floods in!" Ma suddenly yells at me.
Tsk! Again, the luck is with you, Minghao! But, don't ever dream of it next! I'll make sure my kitty punches land in your body soon!
The three of us drag out feet inside. There's a huge banquet table waiting for us. Ma purposely set up the table just for me and my friends. It's a bit secluded from the guests, so all of us can have a great, privacy time.
I take my seat next to Su Lin. On my right is Huang; another classmate of us. But...
"Let me sit next to Eric!" Huang immediately stands up to switch his seat.
"Ehey, what's with the move?"
"I have some business deal with Huang. Now that we meet up like this, we can have a clear talk," Eric replies to me.
These two capitalists! All they can think about is how to make money; anytime, anywhere.
"Yah, you can take the convo later!"
"Aiya, this is a long term project! Why would you bother? See, Minghao is already sit next to you. Have a conversation with him!"
Tsk! The world will flips all the way to Mars!
I ignore Eric's suggestion before grabs a bottle of drinks on the table. We all have a great chat while having the banquet, with zero risk of drama. Although Minghao is sitting next to me, instead of acting like a brat, he is well behave today.
You better be, Ming fumcking Hao! Remember, you're in out territory! If Pa doesn't skinned you alive, I might be!
"So Yi Chen... are you in a relationship now?"
Jeez, what kind of question is that, Eric? I almost spurs my drink!
"Why do you wanna know, eh?"
"Ah... I have this friend. He saw our class's photo while making some editing for a video. He asked me if you're still available," Eric winks at me.
"He? For who? His sister?"
I don't feel good when I see Eric's questionable look at me. Yah, this man... and that friend...
"Yah... I don't think so. Nope!"
"Ehey, I'm just asking on behalf of him. It's up to you."
You better think like that, Eric!
"Even if Ah Chen wants a lover—quote 'boy'—there's no way your friend is eligible for him..." Su Lin replies on behalf of me. "I think I know which one is that shameless man. And I don't think I like him!"
I sense a pair of eyes lurk at Su Lin, and that sharp gaze came just next to me.
"You always hate anyone who dated Ah Chen! Don't tell me you like him?"
"I am his bestie, so I should be protective!"
"Now I am seriously jealous..."
Jealous?
"Eric... wait... you like Ah Lin?" Now, it's time to tease him. Weheheheh!
"She knows I like her."
My eyes dart on Su Lin. "Oh really? No spoiler whatsoever, friend?"
Su Lin gives me her so done look. "I don't like him. Simple."
Oho, this is a good drama!
"Since when did you like Ah Lin? You two always bickering when we were classmates. I can still remember, you snipped her hair when you sat behind her."
Everyone laugh at that memory. Up until now, Su Lin will ensure that she puts her hair in bun. Especially around Eric.
"Have you ever heard of people said; you might end up marrying someone you hate?"
Wow. That's...
I can see Su Lin is looking at me and Minghao. Just like how Eric and her, same goes with me and Minghao. When I turn my head to Minghao, that man just staring at me with a plain look.
"Ah... Ming and Ah Chen always bickering, too!"
"Let me rephrase; bullying. Not bickering," I quickly respond to Huang, just in case if everyone misunderstand the situation between us. "Can you see how we argue almost all the time? There's no way you can call that a bicker. We almost covered in bruises and scars."
"Men took a tease in another level," Eric is teasing me again.
What the—!
"I'm not teasing him. That's purely a bully."
Eh?
"Wow... you have guts to admit it..." Su Lin gasps. I look at Minghao. Confused by his words. I don't know how to interpret that; is he just flexing, or repent his sin?
"We all grown ups now. Eric, I don't think you want to snip Su Lin's hair anymore right?"
I look at Eric. He smiles and nods.
"For me to admit my mistake, I think it's a process of growing up. I have no chance to say this before. So..." Minghao turns his head towards me. We lock gaze as he clamps his lips.
"Yi Chen, I'm sorry that I bullied you."
Have you ever feel, there's a dark feeling inside you? You keep wondering how long is this dark route. I never say that my past affected me so much until to the extend that I want to end my life.
But, those dark times when I got bullied, I had a thought. Am I too weak to even fight them? And then, when I managed to fight back, those feelings, they never went away at all. I was still feeling lack of everything.
But today. With that coming out of Minghao's mouth, somehow... those feelings... they disappear. Now, I understand the power of forgiveness. And how precious the word sorry is.
And... one thing that I realize as well...
Minghao is the bravest man I ever meet.