BAD NEIGHBORS

SPEED DATE

"I swear I'll kill Jaqi" Shen Yue sighed after yet another bell ring.
Her best friend had managed to deceive her into a speed date.
Fifteen boys had already sat down in front of her, of whom she couldn't even remember a name.
The evaluation forms she had filled out were a riot of "I don't like him".
Although each meeting lasted only three minutes, that night seemed to be eternal.
She still had to meet five guys before she could escape from that club, throw off the heels Jaqi had given her on loan, and take refuge in her comfortable, warm bed... Alone.
Shen Yue had been out of a two-year relationship a few months ago.
No betrayal, no bad fight... She simply realized that what she felt for her ex-boyfriend was no longer love.
It hadn't been an easy decision to make, because she knew she would hurt the person she'd shared two years of her life with, but letting him go was still better than pretending that everything was okay.
"Hey, cutie!"
Shen Yue looked up at the boy who had just sat down in front of her.
Tall, charming, certainly a beautiful sight for the eyes... But Shen Yue had already spotted him during that night and she understood what kind of guy he was.
She had heard him flatter every single girl in a chaotic and cheeky way.
"Hi" she greeted him.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Wang He Di. But you can call me Dylan. What's your name?"
Yue didn't like the way he was looking at her... With that sly grin on his face. As if he already considered her his prey.
"Shen Yue".
"Wow! Shen Yue, let me tell you: you are the most beautiful girl in the whole club! I couldn't wait to sit at this table!"
Yue snorted loudly and checked her watch.
"You have lovely eyes. And those lips..." Dylan started flattering her so exaggeratedly that Shen Yue couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Please stop" she cut him off.
"What? Oh... I get it. You're shy. Compliments make you blush... Aaaah, you are exactly my ideal type of girl!" Dylan exclaimed, winking.
"You're not my type" Yue replied simply.
"What?! How can you tell?!"
"I heard you say the exact same words to all the girls you sat in front of..."
"Oh... So you've been watching me all night? Did you eavesdrop?"  Wang He Di's sly gaze made her laugh out loud again.
Flirting was supposed to be his job.
"I didn't eavesdrop, but your voice is at least twice as loud as normal people. You have to be careful, this way the other girls will hear you and your rating will be bad" she smiled at him.
"For your information, every girl in this place has rated me highly. Every one of them can't wait to go out with me."
"Well, I'm happy for you. Fortunately, the three minutes are almost up. Good luck, Wang He Di!"
"Hey! What evaluation are you going to give me?!" the boy asked, shocked by that unfriendly attitude.
He had really managed to fascinate all the maidens of the place.
That Shen Yue was weird.
"Try to guess" she winked at him.
Just then, the bell rang and Dylan was forced to get up.
But before he left, he just had time to see Shen Yue scribble a cross on the "I don't like him" box on his evaluation sheet.
"You're not my type anyway" he mumbled, then he gave way to the next guy.

***

The night was over and Wang He Di handed his evaluation sheets to the organizer of the speed date.
Obviously, he had ticked "I like her" to  every girl.
He hadn't listened to a single one and almost none of them seemed particularly attractive to him, but it had never been a problem.
He lived on one night stand adventures.
He enjoyed his bachelor life, carefree. The important thing was to have fun.
This is why he loved speed dates... He just needed to spend a few minutes with the women sitting at the tables, fill out an approval form and the following day he would receive a message from the staff of the club with the names and contacts of all the girls who liked him in return.
Usually, he received at least twenty different contacts each time.
His charm had never failed.
And he had never discarded any contact, even if it was always the other sex who called or wrote to him first.
He had lost count of all the women he'd been with.
Dylan put on his coat and left the club.
When he got to the parking lot, he immediately noticed a girl struggling with a small white car.
With one hand she was holding the hood open and with the other she was  pointing a flashlight at the engine.
Wang He Di felt a shiver down his spine... The girl, dressed in a provocative leather dress, had the most beautiful legs he had ever seen.
He watched her as she took the flashlight between her teeth and began to touch something inside the hood. He felt another thrill. Women and cars were his greatest passions... The mix of both was lethal to his heart.
He jumped at the chance.
"Stop! I don't want your beautiful hands to get dirty!" he yelled, running towards her.
The girl turned around and her eyes widened.
She was Shen Yue.
Dylan was surprised to remember her name... Usually he forgot everything about the women he talked to on speed dates after about five seconds.
Maybe he remembered Yue's simply because she was the only one who rejected him. Or maybe because he, for the first time, hadn't lied when he told her she was the prettiest in the whole club. Dylan had noticed her eyes and her lips as soon as he entered.
"Oh, it's you! Let me help you!" he smiled at her.
Yue rolled his eyes and took the flashlight out of her mouth.
"There is no need. I think the timing belt is the problem" she replied, practically.
Dylan's mouth dropped open, surprised.
He definitely had to have that girl.
"May I check? I'm a mechanic" he asked her.
"You? A mechanic?"
Dylan snorted and showed his hands.
Although he tried to take care of them, some scars were not easy to hide, as well as some small spots. He wasn't used to using gloves.
Yue watched him for a moment, then she stepped back to let him look inside the hood.
"Ouch, ouch... You're right, princess. The timing belt is the problem" Dylan said, after examining carefully.
Yue nodded, resigned.
"Thank you. I have nothing left to do but leave the car here and call the tow truck tomorrow morning" she said.
"Yeah, that's the best thing to do. If you allow me, I can fix it" Dylan suggested.
"I already have a trusted mechanic, but thanks anyway.
Now I have to go".
Wang He Di saw her lock the car and take her cell phone to call a taxi.
"I can accompany you!"  he exclaimed.
"No, thanks".
"Oh come on! Why waste money on a taxi when you have a handsome guy here ready to help you?"
"Because I don't know this guy and he's not even that handsome" Yue replied.
Wang He Di hid his disappointment behind a captivating smile.
"Cheeky... I like it. You're exactly my ideal type of girl" he commented.
"I seem to remember your ideal type of girl was shy" Yue muttered.
"Shy and cheeky... Isn't that a perfect match?" he winked.
"God, you're hopeless" she sighed.
She took a few steps away and finally managed to hail a taxi, which arrived after a few minutes.
"Hey! Shen Yue! Wait! Give me your number! I want to know you!" Wang He Di exclaimed, stopping the taxi door before she could close it.
"Look, no offense... I wasn't kidding when I said you're not my type. Thanks for helping me with the car, but I have no intention of getting to know you any better. Goodbye" Shen Yue replied.
She managed to dodge Dylan's hand slightly and close the door, then she told the driver her address.
"Sure, go ahead, snobbish lady! Those like you end up becoming spinsters! And you're not even that special!" the boy yelled, frustrated.
He hated not getting what he wanted right away.
Why was she so difficult?
He certainly didn't want to marry her!
He gave a little kick to a car parked next to him and then walked into his, totally dissatisfied.

***

When Shen Yue got home, the first thing she did was take off her heels and throw them in a corner.
She slalomed between the various boxes scattered throughout the house and she reached her room.
She quickly pulled off the tight black leather dress she had been trapped in all night and, despite it being late, she took the time to take a relaxing bath.
It was not a quiet time for her... She had just been moved to another animal clinic and this had forced her to look for a home that was not too far from her workplace.
Luckily she had found an apartment a few kilometers from the clinic and she would move there tomorrow.
Shen Yue was never ready for such major changes, so she felt stressed, tense and worried.
But for some reason she also had the feeling that all this news would bring a positive change in her life.
After a long bath, she slipped on one of her extra-large T-shirts and snuggled into her own bed.
She thought of all the boxes she would have to take to the new house the next day, of her poor car that had been abandoned in a parking lot away from her, she thought of the money she would have to steal from her emergency deposit to get it repaired... The effect of the relaxing bath vanished in an instant.
But then she remembered that funny guy at the speed date...
"What was his name?" she wondered.
She didn't remember it anymore.
Yet she laughed as she thought back to his face when she closed the cab door.
It was clear that he was not used to receiving no.
"Oh well, tomorrow he'll get nineteen phone numbers from the speed date team... They'll comfort him" she whispered, shrugging.
For some time she had gotten into the habit of talking to herself.
Those who knew her made fun of her for this, but they got used to it.
Eager to start her new life in a positive way, she decided to stop thinking too much and get a good night's sleep. The next day was going to be long and tiring, she needed all possible energy.
She closed her eyes and in a few moments fell asleep.

Author's Corner
Ciao!
How are you? ☺️ Here I am again 😄
It's always exciting to come back and write something new ☺️ I've been writing for DiYue since 2018 and I hope to have improved a little bit since then 😄
If you have decided to take a look at my new little work, thank you very much ❤️
I hope you will like it and that you will keep me company throughout the journey 😉
Thanks to  pai_rachana  for creating the cover of "Bad Neighbors" ❤️ I love it and I really don't know how I would have done without her 🥰
See you in the next chapter!
A big hug,
Lucrezia