Chapter 76 - Red Sea

"Is Amour better than Priscilla?" Feng Xuan asked as she and Wang Yimin examined the almost identical shades of beige-pink. They were at a makeup shop where they allow you to get a liquid foundation the exact same shade of your skin. While they were waiting for their orders, Feng Xuan took out the mail she had received from their hired designer to make the final decisions.

"Yeah," Wang Yimin nodded. "It's pink looks brighter."

She put a smiley sticker on the palette. "Okay, next," she said and flipped the page. It was an arrangement of plastic flowers for the ceiling of the shop. It had been suggested to her that they could use real flowers for the design but it would take a lot of time in the mornings to prepare. Feng Xuan then optioned to have the flowers be changed every season. She did not know many flowers but the arrangement had almost every size and shade of pink in it.

"I love this one with the wisteria!" Wang Yimin said and pointed at the very panel she was looking at.

"Yeah, that looks really great. It will look like it's falling from the sky." She put another sticker on it. The last and not the least page of the little binder was a collection of logo alternatives. She told her designer that she wanted the brand to look soft but elegant. The fonts used were cursive and swirly, some looked like it had been handwritten.

But what caught her eyes was the logo with a mixing bowl and a whisk with flowers on the handle. Small hearts were floating from the bowl. The font's rose gold color was in gradient to give it an illusion that it was shining. "This looks pretty, right?"

"Uh-huh, looks professional," Wang Yimin said and sipped on her gr.a.p.e juice. "Are you done?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Feng Xuan said and closed the binder.

"Sooooo…"

Feng Xuan groaned at Wang Yimin's prying voice. She knew this was coming. She tried to stall this conversation from happening but she knew by the end of the day, she would spill the beans to her cousin.

"Are you going to tell me what happened? Or are you just going to tell me what happened?"

"Uhm, letter C?" Feng Xuan tried.

Wang Yimin grinned at her. "That's not even in the choices!"

"I know," she grumbled before straightening up.

"Of course," Wang Yimin sounded alarm and held on her hand with both of hers. "You do not have to tell me what happened. If it makes you uncomfortable. But I should tell you, ever since I saw this afternoon, you look like you're a bomb about to explode."

Who was she kidding? Wang Yimin was her best friend. There would be no other person she would want to talk about her first kiss—possibly her mom but that was not in the cards. She had been wanting to tell another soul about what happened in the Isles.

Feng Xuan launched into the events that happened over the past couple of days. It was hard to believe that only less than forty-eight hours passed since that night they first kissed. It felt like ages ago. Wang Yimin was listening to her, her eyes serious like she did not want to miss anything that would come out of Feng Xuan's mouth.

When she finished, Wang Yimin's mouth was open a little. "Okay," she breathed out. "That's all? That's everything?"

"Yes," Feng Xuan sipped on her lemon juice, her mouth had gone dry with her monologue. "That is about it."

"It really worked?" she was shocked.

"It sucks that he found out about it though," Feng Xuan grumbled.

Wang Yimin poked her on her side with a lazy grin. "Not that it took out any of the fun in it."

Feng Xuan wanted to hold her lips to keep them from smiling but she failed miserably. "It was great."

"I'm really happy that you two finally overcame a physical barrier."

"Yeah, the only scary thing right now is that we could not seem to stop," she said, remembering this morning when she could not really let go of Qing Chen.

Wang Yimin's smile widened. "I know, right? The honeymoon phase of the marriage."

The corner of Feng Xuan's lips turned downwards. "Will it pass?"

"It always passes," she said. "But you're going to be fine. Of course now, you're both fueled with your desires and you can't keep your hands off each other. But later on, you'll both find a balance in it where you'll be more comfortable."

Feng Xuan thought it would be a nightmare. "I'll deal with it when the time comes," she said, not really wanting to think about it at the moment. Of course, she had heard of marriages that lost its flavors over the years.

Someone even said that love was like a chewing gum, sweet at first then tasteless later. She shivered at the thought of a dried chewed gum.

Then Feng Xuan's phone suddenly vibrated on top of the table. She immediately answered and could not wipe off the huge smile on her face. "Yeah?" she tried not to sound too joyous, but she was unsuccessful.

"Hey," Qing Chen said from the other end of the line. "Are you still at The Kingly?"

"Yes," she answered. "Why?"

"Are you done with your date with Wang Yimin?"

"Uh," she looked at her cousin who was nodding at her and mouthed 'I'll leave'. "We still have to buy groceries."

"Is that so?" Qing Chen asked. "Can I come with you instead?"

Feng Xuan mouthed, "HE WANTED TO BUY GROCERIES!" which Wang Yimin laughed at uncontrollably, spilling a little of her juice on the floor.

Feng Xuan released a sharp breath and turned to the phone. "You're coming with me to the supermarket?"

"Yeah, can I?"

"Of course," she said, biting her lip to contain her excitement. "I'm on the third floor. I'll see you by the elevators?"

"Sure, I'll be there in about five minutes."

As if on cue, their foundations were already in separate crisp expensive-looking paper bags. They both said their thanks and promise to post about it on social media if they liked the product.

The moment they went out of the make-up shop, Feng Xuan saw the men guarding outside and her mood turned slightly sour. It bothered her to know that she was always being followed and that she would never really be alone.

"It's fine," Wang Yimin said in comfort upon seeing her sad face. "It's for your own protection."

Feng Xuan just shrugged. "I'll just pretend they don't exist." They started walking.

"That's probably the best way to look at it."

People were looking at them and saw that they were not a actresses they could knew and turned away with a confused look on their faces. Yeah, who were they anyway? They were only popular with the circle of the rich people. They were nobodies in the eyes of others.

Suddenly, there was another tall man in a black suit and tie, striding towards them. Feng Xuan clutched on Wang Yimin's arm. Oh no, something was wrong! her mind screamed. But then the man stepped away from the front and to the side, revealing Qing Chen who was tapping on his phone.

"Qing Chen!" she called and he lifted his head.

Upon resting his eyes on hers, he smiled and pocketed his phone. "There you are," he said and walked towards her, immediately pressing a kiss on the side of her head. Then turned to the cousin. "Hello, Wang Yimin."

"Hello to you too, Qing Chen," she said with a shake of her head but she was smiling. "You kids have fun, okay?" Wang Yimin gave Feng Xuan two air kisses. "I'll be seeing you two around."

After Wang Yimin left, Qing Chen looked down on Feng Xuan. "Ground floor, right?" Qing Chen lead her to a sort of secret elevator that made Feng Xuan more aware of their bodyguards as they cramped on the limited space. "Are you done making decisions for Gretel's?"

"Yes," she answered. "I also saw the place you got for it. Thank you for putting us near the middle entrance and you even got the one with a balcony."

"Of course," he smiled at her and she melted a little on the inside. "That's a prime spot here."

She clutched onto Qing Chen's arm once they were out of the elevator. She felt like she wanted to hide her face. Oh well, it was one thing to walk with the owner of the hotel, and another thing to walk in the middle of the mall, but it was a whole new dimension to walk in the middle of a box made up of body guards.

Feng Xuan just wanted to hide her face.

"Are you alright?" Qing Chen asked her, taking her hand in his. Her fingers had gone cold and seemed to thaw in his.

"Yeah, it's just really weird to be the center of attention of these people. Just look at how they are splitting the people, like how Moses parted the red sea."

Qing Chen chuckled quietly beside her. "You're shy about this?"

"Well, news flash, Mr. Qing: Your wife does not like attention from strangers."

Qing Chen tugged at her hand. "But you like my attention, right?"

Feng Xuan gave him a fake incredulous look.

"I'm kidding," he said.

Once they entered the supermarket, Feng Xuan felt relieved that she could finally duck behind aisles and away from their guards. She was walking fast and took things off the shelves like she was picking flowers.

"Why are you in so much of a rush?"

Feng Xuan looked behind her shoulder. "Because I want to go home."

Qing Chen pulled her next to him. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I just…" she sighed and averted her gaze. His eyes were in the same color of the sea in the Isles—blue and green. "I want the privacy of our home. I want to get away from these eyes ASAP."

"The guards are bothering you," he concluded. Then he snapped his fingers and signalled something in the air. The guards scattered away. "You do know that they are here to protect you."

"I know," she mumbled. "But you know, ever since they've been in the house I no longer feel safe. It's like their presence is making me more of a target."

"Okay," Qing Chen nodded slowly. "If you don't see them then you'll be fine with it? What if they blend in the crowd?"

"You mean they'll wear normal clothes?"

"Yes."

"Then I guess I am fine with that."

Qing Chen pulled her behind their abandoned shopping cart. "Okay then, it shall be done." He took an energy bar from a shelf, opened it and bit into it.

"You can't do that!" Feng Xuan said.

"What do you mean?" he grinned and crunched on the nuts on the coating. "I own this mall. Besides, I'll pay for it in the counter. I'm really starving."

Right, she thought. She wanted to punch his arrogance but at the same time she wanted to smother his face with kisses. "You could be an ass sometimes."

"As if you don't already know that." Qing Chen shrugged, one corner of his lip quirked up in a half smirk. "I don't really remember the last time I was in a supermarket. This could be fun," he said and took another another bar.

And Feng Xuan's mind whispered, oh boy.