CH 11.2

Chapter 11.2 — An Uncontainable Arousing of the Heart (2)

Out of instinct Jia He wanted to pull her hand back, but the grip around it unexpectedly tightened. The next second, Yi Wenze relaxed his hold again. However, as a result of this one action, she did not dare try to remove her hand from his anymore. Gathering her courage, she made herself stay calm, and stay calm some more.

Yi Wenze took a glance at Zhou Jun and nodded, saying, “Hello.”

Zhou Jun quickly patted around on himself in search of his mobile phone, and then finding it, he at once leaned half his body over and flashed a fervent smile. “Teacher Yi, I’ve always been your fan. I’ve watched your movies since I was a kid.” Yi Wenze gave a nod, indicating that he could continue speaking. But such an insipid expression actually put greater pressure on a person. Simply from watching the two of them, Jia He felt her palms grow clammy on behalf of Zhou Jun.

The film had already begun. The sounds reverberating from the sound system immediately buried all noise. All around, the people fell quiet.

Because there was now some illumination, Zhou Jun noticed, rather late, that the two were holding hands, and he was somewhat stunned. Then a broad grin immediately spread across his face again. “Jia He and I are good friends. I heard that, Teacher Yi, you have started up your own production company. I wonder if we will have a chance to work together in the future.”

Jia He secretly ground her teeth in irritation.

Zhou Jun snugged himself closer toward Yi Wenze. Gosh darn it! He was almost sprawled on top of him.

Yi Wenze continued nodding politely. “I hope there will be an opportunity to work together.”

Very much officialese.

He completely disregarded Zhou Jun’s action of pulling out his phone to try to ask for a phone number. Zhou Jun still seemed to be vacillating, but Jia He was already giving a light cough and kept nestling herself against Yi Wenze. Her actions were too obvious. Zhou Jun at last caught the signal that he was being shunned, but gritting his teeth, he still asked, “Would it be convenient for you to leave a number? If you have a chance to come to Tianjin again, I’ll treat you to dinner.”

Jia He glared resentfully at him.

Good thing you’re a man. If you were a woman, I’d bust your head off.

Hmm…

Even a man could pose to be a problem; people nowadays were relatively liberal about certain things… She swept a look at Zhou Jun’s tapered chin, which appeared as if it had gone through cosmetic surgery, then surreptitiously looked at Yi Wenze’s overly gorgeous eyes and his face, which, in her heart, never grew old. Actually, he honestly wasn’t old. Who told you to become famous so early? You’re just thirty-something, but everyone who runs into you makes that comment about having watched your movies since childhood, so it sounds like you’re in your fifties…

Yi Wenze smiled. “I’m not accustomed to giving out my personal phone number.”

After giving this answer, he finally met Jia He’s eyes, which seemed to be glimmering with countless words. Jia He at once twisted her head away in self-consciousness, as if her thoughts had been seen into, and composedly watched the movie.

Finally grasping the meaning of “tactfulness,” Zhou Jun tamely sat back into his seat and turned his gaze to the screen.

A short while later, Jia He murmured in Yi Wenze’s ear, “I totally idolize you. How come I just can’t seem to learn how to refuse people?”

He picked up a bottle of water from beside him and, unscrewing the cap, handed it to her. “You’ll slowly learn.” Jia He took the water from him and had a sip. When she was about to ask him for the cap to cover it back up, Yi Wenze also set a large bucket of popcorn on her lap… Jia He stared blankly at the popcorn. When did he buy this? Did the cinema give it out to the actors and actresses?

Due to the shifting picture on the screen, light and shadow were continuously interchanging. Jia He downed another mouthful of water. “Can you not be so wonderful? I feel like this is too unreal. I keep having a feeling like I’m acting in a movie…

A smile filled Yi Wenze’s eyes, and quietly he said, “I have a lot of faults. They’ll slowly come to light.” Then he took the bottle from her and folded his hand around hers again before turning his head to continue watching the movie.

Just where were the faults? He was obviously the “tall, noble, and all-round perfect” type…

Gazing at the continually flickering light in his eyes, Jia He picked up a flake of popcorn, but just as she was about to stuff it into her mouth, she felt this wasn’t very right of her. Timidly, she held the popcorn up in front of his face.

He smiled and took it between his teeth, then ate it.

Her fingertips brushed against warmth. A tremor shot through Jia He’s heart. Hastily, she grabbed another flake and shoved it into her mouth to calm herself down.

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Seriously, this should have been such a good film. However, after staring at the screen for the whole two hours, she did not even know what she had watched. The reason was simple. In those two hours, Yi Wenze had shifted three separate times with her hand still in his, from lightly holding it, to interlacing their ten fingers together, to eventually pulling her hand over and setting it on his thigh. Though Jia He had never gathered up enough courage to go on a rollercoaster, she swore, this entire process absolutely was in no way inferior in terms of stimulation on one’s nerves.

Countless times she had peeked at Yi Wenze, but seeing him watching with such focus, she had not dared to withdraw her hand.

The film was nearing its ending when Yi Wenze asked her softly, “Would you like to leave with me?”

Jia He was about to nod, but then remembering his car that she had parked in a certain community compound, she could only glumly lower her voice and answer, “I need to go get the car. The place I parked is too complicated to describe. I’m guessing that apart from me, no one will be able to find it.”

“All right. I’ll go back to the hotel first. When you arrive, come find me.”

He finished saying this before finally letting go of her hand, standing, and leaving his seat first. To avoid obstructing the view of the people in the rows behind, he politely bent at the waist. However, his silhouette was simply too eye-catching, and despite leaving the venue so swiftly, he still caused quite a stir.

When the film had completely come to its end, Jia He, holding the bucket of popcorn in her arms, rose to her feet. Immediately, Zhou Jun beamed and asked her whether she needed him to help her hold it. The tone he used sounded as if he was offering to help her carry a natural gas cylinder. Giving him a look that showed she found him beyond comprehension, she uttered a goodbye and then was about to go on her way.

“You and Teacher Yi are…?” Zhou Jun, slipping on his sunglasses, purposely assumed an enigmatic tone to ask this.

Jia He smiled at him, not giving any reply.

What a waste of words! Weren’t we… holding hands already? What, do you think he really needs to hop on my casting couch before he can get a part in a film?

She deliberated for a long time even after leaving the cinema, but ultimately she could not bear to throw away the popcorn and simply carried it in her arms to go get the car. Twenty minutes later, having circled through that community compound three times already but still not finding the vehicle, she very pathetically realized that she was lost. In the end, she could do nothing except dial Yi Wenze’s number. “What’s your car’s license plate number?”

Yi Wenze stated a string of digits. “What’s the matter?”

Jia He was unable to hide her dejection. “I can’t find the car. I was planning on asking the security guard to help me look for it after I got the license plate number.”

On his end, he held his silence. Jia He hurriedly hung up.

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When she was back at the hotel and had just come through the revolving door, she saw walking towards her several hotel staff members who were getting off their shift. One of them was the desk clerk who had checked her in, and spotting Jia He, she immediately smiled and asked, “So how’d it go? Did you see Yi Wenze? It was his film’s premiere today, but I couldn’t make it.” Hemming and hawing, Jia He replied that she had gone out for a meeting and did not get to see it either.

Right as she strode out of the elevator, her mobile phone began trilling with all its might.

Surprisingly, it was Friend Qiao Qiao, from whom there had been no news for a long time.

There was no talking on the other end of the line at first, only a while of sobbing. Jia He instantly knew what was going on: Friend Qiao Qiao was once again recovering from a broken heart. Jia He waited wordlessly for some time until Qiao Qiao, with sniffles and chokes, gave a whimper, and then she asked, “What was the reason this time for the breakup?”

“How did you know?” The heavy nasal tone did not at all mask Qiao Qiao’s astonishment.

“I guessed.” The way she was crying, besides getting broken up with, what else could it be?

“I know right now you’re in the honeymoon phase of your relationship,” Qiao Qiao said, extremely sincere in admitting her wrong, “but I called Xiao Yu and she only said five sentences before swatting me away. That’s the only reason I came to find you to seek some comfort.”

Jia He immediately grew invigorated. “Toxic-Tongue Xiao Yu” was not an undeserved, exaggerated title. Only five sentences to get her KO?

“What did she say?”

Qiao Qiao hatefully repeated, “She said, ‘You break up seven or eight times with every man, to the point I’m sick of just listening to you talk about it, so next time, until you’ve broken up for six months, don’t even tell me.’ ”

Jia He stifled a guffaw. “That is the absolute truth.”

Qiao Qiao kept complaining, “I know she’s got a toxic tongue, but I need her toxicity. And then, I was really humble and submissive and told her, ‘I just want to hear you tell me off. Just berate me until I wake up and then it’ll be good.’”

“And what did she say?”

“She said, ‘Get lost! I’ve scorned and raked that guy over the coals three times already and have no new words to use on him. Next time, just record and play back.’”

……

“What was the fifth sentence?”

“ ‘Goodbye’…”

“Ohhh.” Jia He understood now. “So that’s why you came to harass me?”

“I must tell someone. It’s just too suffocating,” Qiao Qiao rushed to explain, worried that Jia He would hang up on her also. “Do you know? He’s just too scary. He asked me today, if we were to get married, what would I want? I was keeping in mind that his career is just starting off, so I was really considerate and said that just a little diamond ring is enough. Like, a really small one is enough.”

“That’s a very reasonable request.” Jia He was puzzled. “Isn’t he the number one bass player in Taiwan? He can’t even afford to buy a little diamond ring?”

“Exactly.” Qiao Qiao was indignant. “He actually had the nerve to get really mad right away and say that I’m marrying him just for the diamond ring. Then guess what he said!”

Jia He grimaced. “That boyfriend of yours is one-of-a-kind. I can’t guess.”

“He actually said, ‘Fine, I’ll give you a diamond ring but you have to give me something, too. I want a 100,000-RMB watch.’”

……

“Use your artsy words to comfort me a bit.”

Jia He had just stepped up to Yi Wenze’s room door, and she gave a few light knocks on it. When Yi Wenze appeared, she mouthed the words “Qiao Qiao” to him, then carried on talking on the phone while she walked into the room.

“Well…” Resigning herself to this task, Jia He pondered for a moment. “You need to think about this from the perspective of overall history, like really big-picture thinking. Think, this thing of losing a love and getting broken up with happens every day to people. To put it bluntly, life still goes on, and at most you’re just going to change out one of the people by your side. It’s not a big deal.”

“Hey, not bad.” Qiao Qiao mulled this over. “I’ll post it on my Weibo for my next update and be artsy for once. If you say a couple more sentences, I’ll have my QQ signature for the next half a month, too.”

Jia He fell silent, then was silent some more. “You’ve gotten used to using me as your ghostwriter, haven’t you?”

Qiao Qiao gave a “hee hee,” her unspoken admission to this.

On her end, Qiao Qiao sniffled and sobbed and talked for another lengthy period before finally hanging up.

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Only a wall light was turned on inside the room. Yi Wenze had sat back down on the couch and was smoking, his smile very profound. Feeling an uneasy guilt from his smile, Jia He reflected on her own words from just earlier. They were indeed a teeny bit inappropriate. So, smiling sheepishly, she set the popcorn onto the glass table and grabbed a can of cola. “Qiao Qiao just got broken up with. I was comforting her.”

The subtext: Anything I said is not what I really believe, absolutely not what I believe!

“That guy is just too one-of-a-kind. He was the one who asked Qiao Qiao what she wanted if they were going to get married. Qiao Qiao only said that she wanted a really small diamond ring, but he actually threw a fit at that and said that Qiao Qiao’s reason for marriage was just to get his money.” With a crack, Jia He opened the cola and took a small sip. Empathizing with Qiao Qiao, she denounced, “He actually even went so far as to say, since Qiao Qiao wants him to give her a diamond ring, Qiao Qiao needs to give him a 100,000-RMB watch.”

Giving an “mm,” Yi Wenze remarked, “Tell her, the next time she goes to get glasses, she needs to find a better shop.”

Jia He had to run these words through her mind once before she caught the underlying meaning, and then she could not help giggling. All of a sudden remembering that tomorrow was Monday, she asked, “Have you arranged things with Director Liu yet?”

Yi Wenze stubbed out his cigarette. “He’s coming to Tianjin tomorrow for about two days.”

Jia He blew out a long breath of relief, her mind only now set at ease. Walking over to the window, she gazed at the lights outside. She was about to ask when they would be returning to Beijing when, from behind, Yi Wenze completely enclosed her in his embrace. His one arm circled around her waist while he tilted her face up with his other hand. His touch was light, but it caused her heart to quiver furiously. Her face tilted upwards, she was pulled from the bustling magnificence below, where the street lamps dimly cast their glow, to those intense black eyes, wholly falling into them as she allowed his kiss to come down on her.

His hand was scorching. Their breathing slowly became ragged, and they were long since unable to distinguish themselves from the other person.

Jia He’s only feeling was that she was lightheaded and faint. Yet, there was a nagging sense in her that something was not right. What was it?

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Oh, yes, that was it: all this time, music had been playing in the room. But why did it sound so familiar? Only when she was practically about to lose her awareness of everything did she abruptly remember—this was the music from her computer. When she left, she had not shut off her computer, so it had been playing this song on repeat the whole time. Her Microsoft Word had not been shut down either. And her computer was not set to go to sleep after a period of inactivity…

Oh no. The love scene… That love scene inside her Word document…

He saw it all?!