The moment Wu Chen tried to tell himself that he wasn't in love with her was the moment he realized that he was. He knew her for about 2 months but you cannot measure love with time. He wasn't exactly sure how it came to be but seeing her smiling after cooking, with sweats glistening on her neck, he realized that he wanted to cherish her forever.
"Brother, are you hungry already? I am almost done. Sit and wait patiently okay" Yi Fei clasped her fingers while smiling brightly and leaned towards the counter. Wu Chen on the other side of the counter sat on the stool.
Wu Chen looked at Yi Fei and he felt as if his heart will jump out from his chest; it was beating erratically. Yi Fei was staring at him and Wu Chen tried his best to calm his heart before speaking.
"Fei Fei, are you going to be sad after I return to City K?" Wu Chen leaned on the table and his head rested on his hand.
Wu Chen was curious about how Yi Fei felt towards him. While he knew that he might have a chance with Yi Fei, he knew that Bai Jing Ting was also interested in Yi Fei and Yi Fei called both of them 'brother' so he couldn't really tell.
"Of course ar… But don't worry Brother Chen, I will always remember you" Yi Fei gave him a thumbs up.
Hearing the word 'brother' came out of Yi Fei's mouth, Wu Chen's thought drifted to his conversation with Liu Shi. According to Liu Shi, when the girl called someone a brother, he had been friend zoned. Wu Chen did not want to be friend zoned.
"Will you?" Wu Chen looked for a hint of sadness in Yi Fei's expression. He hoped that she felt a little bit sad because he was returning to City K but he could not decipher any.
"Of course, Brother Chen. I had too much fun whenever I'm with you" His lips twitched because Yi Fei kept on mentioning the word 'brother'. He was not sure whether she was like this to every male older than her.
Calling him 'brother' over and over again just like how she called Bai Jing Ting 'brother', did not sit well with him. He did not want to be just like anyone else.
"But we are not siblings" Wu Chen looked at Yi Fei in her eyes.
Yi Fei was confused and could not grasp the meaning behind the sentences. She thought that Wu Chen was trying to reprimand her not to call him 'brother' casually. She felt bitter.
"We are not a sibling, don't think of me as your brother" Yi Fei was getting more confused. She tilted her head and frowned without saying anything.
Wu Chen could see that Yi Fei was confused but he needed to make things clear. He did not want her to call him 'brother' or acted like a sibling to him. He wanted so much more at this moment.
Seeing how beautiful her smile was, he wanted to keep it for himself. Of course, he could not prevent Yi Fei from smiling to other male other than himself but at least, he was a real person after all. He just wanted to have a place in her heart and he did not want to settle for less than that.
His heart moved for the first time in 8 years when he thought he forgot how to love. It was so crazy what a single smile could do to him.
"Brother, what do you…" Before Yi Fei could finish her question, Wu Chen interrupted her.
"I don't want to be your brother" Wu Chen looked at her in the eyes.
Her mental capacity was overloaded. Yi Fei was the type of person who was ignorant when it comes to love. Even though she was a writer of a romance-type of the novel, all that was learnt from reading and movies she watched. When it comes to real life love involving herself, she had zero experience.
Still, with a tilted head and a frown on her face, Yi Fei looked at Wu Chen silently; trying to figure out why Wu Chen did not want to be like a brother to her. She had a lot of things going on inside her mind. Is it because he was embarrassed by her?
Yi Fei's thought was so transparent that Wu Chen could see right through her. He knew that the direction of her thinking was not in the direction that he wanted. Nobody talked for sometimes.
"So, do you want to be a friend instead?" After thinking for so long, Yi Fei concluded that Wu Chen must be embarrassed to be called brother when there was only 3 years difference in their age.
Wu Chen did not know whether he should laugh or cry. He really needed to spell it out for her every single thing he meant. He cannot help but think whether Bai Jing Ting did approach her the way he did. If Bai Jing Ting did, he was very thankful for how ignorant Yi Fei was.
Because if she was a bit sharp in the love matters, she might be the girlfriend of someone else now. For that, he was grateful that she was not sharp. Wu Chen reached out to tuck the fringe behind her left ear.
"Fei Fei" His hand stayed on YI Fei's cheek.
"You are beautiful when you smile" He looked straight into her eyes.
"Do I have a chance or not?" Wu Chen asked earnestly.
The whole time, the two of them never broke the eye contact.
"Why are you doing this to me?" Yi Fei touched Wu Chen's hand; her hand on top of Wu Chen's hand.
"What do you think?" Wu Chen did not answer her but returned her question with another question.
"I don't want to be just a brother anymore…" He caressed her cheek with his thumb.
Yi Fei was taken aback. Her face reddened. If it was a random male friend who caressed her face, she will kick him in the groin as punishment. For some reasons, she could not really kick the man who was in front of her now. Or more like, she did not want to. She liked whatever they were doing at the moment.
Suddenly...
"Click…Click…Click…Click…" A shutter sound of a camera could be heard out of the blue. Two heads turned to the direction of the sound and found NaNa sneakily hiding while holding her camera. Yi Fei's face reddened to the point that it was the same with cooked lobster. Wu Chen, on the other hand, had a disapproving look on his face. He thought that he really needs to have a word with NaNa.
"You guys can continue whatever you are doing. I'm not here…I'm not here" Slowly, NaNa retreated.
The interruption from NaNa jolted them out from their own shielded world. Yi Fei retreated two steps while displaying a very shocked expression.
Then, Yi Fei turned her back to Wu Chen and pretended to chop the leftover vegetable.
"Fei Fei…" Wu Chen wanted to continue the previous conversation.
"Why don't you sit and wait in the living room. I'll be done in a minute" Without turning her back, Yi Fei banished him from the kitchen.
Wu Chen smiled and nodded his head. He walked towards the living room, ready to deal with his cousin. He decided that he should just stop for the day, in case Yi Fei will be scared of him. At least for now, she had stopped calling him 'brother'. He would take one step at a time.