These moments and words brimming with endearment brought agony and a weird kind of ecstasy for Xu Mey. It was an agony that they were hugging and yet she could feel a space between them. That space was her own secrets.
It was pure ecstasy that she felt drawn to his brown eyes... Oh, those brown eyes that slowly were engulfing her in their enchantment. It felt like a spell that could change not only her life but also her beliefs as well. Yet, she so badly wanted to stay enchanted.
In her dark life, he entered as a firefly and that small firefly was beginning to turn into a beautiful moon drawing light to her dark world. She didn't know whether she was ready to face that light but she knew that she wanted to explore that bright world for once. To see what it felt like to stand under the care of a beautiful moon guiding you through the dark night.
When they both left that place, they felt relieved like the barrier between them had formed cracks in it. And through those cracks, they were able to see each other in a different way.
-First Emperor Hospital-
Since Xu Mey asked Lin Shen for help and he promised to come at night, both Xu Mey and Ye Jie came to the hospital as well.
"Little Mey!" Xu Mey heard a sweet voice and instantly turned to Lin Shen with a cheeky grin.
"Shen-Ge, thanks for coming." Lin Shen frowned a little.
"When did my Little Mey started thanking her Shen-Ge?" He rubbed her head like a pet and said, "Shen-Ge can never say no to his Little Mey."
Ye Jie shook his hand with Lin Shen to show his gratitude for coming. Lin Shen walked inside Azalea's hospital room leaving Xu Mey and Ye Jie outside to wait.
If Ye Jie said that he wasn't hopeful then he would be lying. He definitely wanted Azalea to wake up. She was the key to his reality and somehow he was scared of opening that vault of reality and yet he wanted to open it. There was as much fear as much there was anticipation. He was fidgeting in his seat while tapping his foot on the clean marble floor constantly.
Seeing Ye Jie fidgeting, Xu Mey placed her hand over his knee which halted his movement of tapping. As Ye Jie tilted his head to look at her with arched brows, he was met with her radiant smile reassuring him. "Relax, Ah Jie! Everything will be alright."
When he heard 'Ah Jie' again combined with that smile, it made his mind go blank for a moment. He kept staring at her eyes without blinking. 'Gosh! Her face was enough to tempt me, why does she have to say Ah Jie so sweetly?' He thought to himself.
"Let me bring some coffee for you," she walked away saying that leaving Ye Jie stuck to his seat in his frozen posture.
As he saw her figure disappearing out of sight, Ye Jie was jolted awake from his daze. He rummaged out his cell phone and dialed a number. It took a while before he heard a displeased voice, "What the hell do you want at this hour?" Ru's voice was a bit sleepy and Ye Jie realized that he must have woken her up which meant she was burning with fury at the moment.
"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Ye Jie commented with amusement.
"And who the f*ck woke me up?" She asked with indignation.
"How would I know?" Ye Jie deflected her tone and asked with sheer curiosity.
"You!" She roared making Ye Jie laugh. Ru calmed herself and asked, "Why did you ruin my sleep? I barely slept for half an hour." Ye Jie was right when he said that Ru was insomniac. She barely slept and that was what made her so moody. Although Ye Jie felt guilty for ruining her sleep he wasn't going to accept it.
"I needed to tell you something," he said with a pleasant voice and a fawning smile.
"What is it?" She asked giving him attention as she was awake anyway and there was no way to sleep anymore.
"You once said that the amount of sugar I consume will make me diabetic one day."
"Uh huh... I said it, so what?"
"So, I think it's not the sugar that's gonna make me diabetic but rather the way my baby calls me Ah Jie," he told her with a pleasant tone.
"Omo Omo Omo[1]! When did you have a baby? And why didn't anyone inform me? This is such big news and I'm left in the dark? This is so not fair!" Ye Jie had the urge to get inside the cell phone to punch her face for being so dramatic. She really was taking revenge for waking her up.
"That's enough, Ru'er!" He said through clenched teeth.
She smirked at the other end and added, "There are so many words used for endearments like Honey, Cookie, Sugar and blah blah blah... Why do you have to call her baby?"
Since she was being impossible, Ye Jie decided to reciprocate her feelings. "Because if I called her Cookie then I'll want to eat her and if I called her honey then I'll want to lick her."
"Yuck!" He heard her voice making him giggle. "Ewww... F*ck Off, you shameless person!"
"You're the one who started it," he replied calmly taking pleasure in her feeling disgusting.
"Get to the business," she said annoyingly.
"You know when she calls me Ah Jie, I feel a tug at my heart as if it's melting like a marshmallow." He told her thinking about the times Xu Mey called him Ah Jie.
"Congratulations, my friend!" He heard Ru's loud voice with a couple of clapping sounds. "A big round of applause for you."
"Why?" He frowned.
"Because you've finally moved on from your ex." She said in a matter-of-fact kind of tone.
His frown deepened. "I tried to forget her for 6 months and it didn't work. What makes you think that it changed in 2 months?"
"Aish! You seem to have forgotten that I told you; there are two ways to fall out of love, either someone has to push you out of it or someone has to pull you out of it." She explained in a languid manner getting over her earlier frustration. "In your case, Lu Yuhan pushed you out but you were stuck somewhere and Xu Mey managed to pull you out from wherever you were stuck."
"Are you sure that I'm over Lu Yuhan?" He asked with uncertainty.
"I just said her name and you said her name as well, did you feel anything?" She asked in return.
"Not really." He retorted. "It was like saying any other name."
"There you have it. That was the crux of all my banter. Her name had an effect until she mattered in some way. Right now, you seem to have let her go because you unconsciously believe that her leaving you made your life better."
"Because her departure brought Xu Mey in my life." He realized the meaning behind her long explanation.
"Finally, you got it, Ah Jie."
Ye Jie scowled. "Hei! Don't you dare call me Ah Jie from now on."
"Why? I always called you Ah Jie. What changed now?" She asked seemingly amused by his antics.
"Because now only my baby can call me Ah Jie. No one else is allowed to do it. It only suits when she says it in her soft, sugary voice."
"Huh! Now, this is the classic example of Beauty before Bros." With that, Ru hung up the call.
[1] Omo Omo Omo: Oh My Gosh!