How Are You?
Without knowing it, Jiang Ying Yue's heart was thumping loudly. It was the same feeling she used to get every time she was left alone with him. Scared that the other person in the line would be able to hear it, she started, "Hello?"
The soft voice hit him like cool air. The last time he heard the voice was probably seven months back.
Jiang Ying Yue held her breath and waited for him to speak but was left disappointed when she did not hear him say anything. Wasn't it expected? Qin Zihao might have forced him to talk...
"How are you?"
The deep husky voice crashed on the shore of her mind, erasing all the thoughts from her mind, leaving her blank. It was the same vocal tone that had kept her bewitched for years now.
Feeling the unforeseen emotions whack her, she bit her lips hard while pinching the front of her thighs, repeating continuously like a mantra in her head that she was not allowed to feel like this.
She had to bring a full stop to the never-ending saga of this feeling!
Clearing her throat while taking an inaudible deep breath, she replied in her usual tone, "I am fine. What about you?"
The distant feeling exuding from her voice pricked his heart.
"I am fine as well."
Silence again befell between them, not sure how to proceed with the conversation, both the parties were thinking about what to say.
Can't believe things had gone so awkward between them that from having no time but lots to converse, they came to the point where they were having enough time but did not know what to speak.
Destiny played its part well!
Thinking it was all, Jiang Ying Yue cut in before him who had opened his mouth to say something, "I will hang up the call now if that's all."
The nonchalance in her voice stopped him from speaking further. Somehow it fueled his anger, giving out the two words, take care, as a reply he hung up the call fastly and threw it at the wall behind him.
Damn it!
The beeping sound was all that fell on her ears. The change in his voice had made her feel uneasy and just when she was going to call him back, she halted.
Clenching her fingers tightly, she stopped herself from re-dialling the number that had been saved in her heart for years after recalling what she had already planned to do.
She need to start drawing the lines between them and keep them fixed and firm as much as she could.
It was best for them; the only option.
As she gazed at the moon, her soul felt trammelled thinking back at how she was even scared to dream of him when she was young. What was left now? She somehow got her dream but why can't she feel the contentment?
Getting back to the hall in her usual guise, she gave the phone back to Qin Zihao and exclaimed when her eyes fell on the dishes spread on the table, "Wow! The smell is so nice, if the smell is this good then I wonder how amazing would be the taste!."
Zhou Jingyi was not able to tell if she was only pretending or that was her real expression. Knowing very well her strained relationship with her husband, she was inclining more towards the latter option.
Meeting eyes with Qin Zihao, she knew he was thinking the same and alluded him to let her be.
All of them ate dinner in peace without any other event occurring. Jiang Ying Yue by now had already attained her calmness inside as well and was busy conversing with the other two who were mostly bantering.
After having their dinner, Mr Miller who had disappeared from the sight to let them have privacy reappeared, carrying a small dark black box in his hand. Even though this box was small, still it was quite catchy due to the glittering black colour.
Jiang Ying Yue at the first glance felt as if she had seen the box somewhere, the appearance felt really familiar but she couldn't pinpoint where exactly.
Qin Zihao knew exactly what the box was about and cursed inside his mind, 'Stupid bas****!'
Coming to stop in front of Jiang Ying Yue, Mr Miller handed the box to her, "Here! Give this from my side as a present to your husband! I will be going out of the station for some time so am afraid that I wouldn't be able to meet him in the meantime."
Jiang Ying Yue was mesmerised by the box, looking at it from so near, it was marvellous!
Unconsciously she moved her arms and grabbed the box without taking in the whole meaning of his words. Only after taking in the beauty of the box to her heart's content, she blinked her eyes and slowly looked upwards at Mr Miller.
"I will, Thank you!"
Zhou Jingyi, at the side, was unaffected while looking at the present. He gave something to them as well the first time they came there, so she felt there was nothing extraordinary with it.
He had told them at that time that he love giving presents to others.
But Qin Zihao knew what the box was and even what was inside it. The guts of this man...was really something. Wasn't he afraid that he was triggering the sleeping tiger?
After bidding him bye, Jiang Ying Yue and Zhou Jingyi moved outside followed by Qin Zihao. Somehow, the man who was ignoring Qin Zihao from the start was now walking down his steps.
Feeling a lingering presence behind him, Qin Zihao raised his eyebrow at the huge silhouette falling on his front following the comparatively smaller one of his and paused his steps.
Qin Zihao had only stopped because of the curiosity, but he was still having his back towards him and that's when he felt a hand appearing from the side, opening right in front of his eye and having a small object lying in his palm.
It was a...key!
Staring at the key, he felt the man was quite smart! He handed her the box but the key was still with him. What exactly did he want? Was he handing him the key?
Silently, he picked the key from Mr Miller's palm and kept it inside his pocket. All of this occurred within the span of a minute. No words were spoken, just actions were enough.
He kept on walking forward after this and did not feel any more presence behind him.
Coming out of the dark street, Jiang Ying Yue and Zhou Jingyi were still chatting about everything whereas Qin Zihao had grown too silent.
Taking notice of his unusual quietness, Jiang Ying Yue found him eccentric but shoved it off without thinking much. Today was an eventful day, probably he was tired.
While entering the car, Jiang Ying Yue looked back at the street from where she came when she felt someone moving behind the bushes on the side but dismissed it after being urged to move quickly inside by Zhou Jingyi.
Just when the car departed from the sight, Huang Meijuan who had hidden behind the bushes on seeing them came out. Throwing the car a deep look, she switched to look at the darkened street they had appeared from.
After dropping Zhou Jingyi at her apartment and bidding her good night, they started moving towards the Old House.
Jiang Ying Yue had not used her energy so much in the past two years as much as she did today, in a single day. The tiredness was killing her whole body because of which her last wish for the day was to just get back home as soon as possible so she could lay on her smooth soft mattress and calm her stretched muscles.
On seeing they had entered the residential area, she moved her eyes from outside and looked at Qin Zihao who was sitting there unmoving with his eyes closed. To others, it might appear as if he was sleeping but she knew he was not sleeping.
"Qin Zihao?"
He hummed lightly, still not opening his eyes.
"Are you acquainted with Mr Miller?" She was very careful with her question, she thought the way they were behaving with each other was a bit off.
Normally people don't interact with the ones they just met like that, right?
Qin Zihao opened his eyes and stared at her from the rearview mirror. He should have been careful, he really forgot that Miss Jiang had been good with her senses and was very sharp intellectually. She just did not show off that.
He should be glad that currently all her focus was wholly on her family business and she had been trying to ignore all the other matters except for that.
With a faint trace of a smile on his lips, he joked, "Miss Jiang, If I was really acquainted with that person, do you think he would be treating me like a plague?"