Pandora's Heart | d.cx ✓

CHAPTER 33

'Oh man, she's so jealous, nice acting.' Jiaqi gave Chengxin a high-five the next day in Chengxin's room.

'Yeah, and that Rio kid is really good at acting.' Chengxin admitted. 'But how long till I do this? I don't want Pandora to think I'm too deep in my relationship that she won't even approach me.'

'Just wait a little bit longer, I bet she's about to snap.' Jiaqi told him. 'Oh, we have an activity tomorrow so you and Rio may not be able to spend much time together. So make the most of today okay? Make sure Pandora sees you two together being all romantic again.'

'Yeah, yeah.' Chengxin agreed. He was still getting sad too every time he saw Pandora with Chengxin, but he was trying his best not to show it. He had to focus on what he was doing now, it was the only way he was going to get Pandora at this point.

Meanwhile, Rio walked into Pandora's room that morning smugly. Pandora was still in bed but was on her cellphone.

'Morning Pandora!' Rio announced.

Pandora was surprised because Rio rarely came to her room, let alone greeted her with a good morning. She looked away from her cellphone and to Rio. 'Good morning to you too.' She answered after a while.

'Do you have any plans today?' Rio asked her.

'Nope.'

'Oh that's cool, I also didn't have plans and wanted to relax in my room all day long but my Chengxin says he really wants to hang out with me. I wish I could be alone for today like you though.' Rio complained, although Pandora knew that wasn't an actual complaint. It was just Rio showing off that her boyfriend will be around her.

'That's nice.' Pandora answered, anger rising in her chest once more. She just didn't want to hear about Rio or Chengxin again, or even bump into them like she now seemed to usually do. Whatever was going on between them made her feel sick.

Rio walked over to the window, seeing some of the boys outside the window with some cameramen. She looked at them closely, noticing that they were trying to pick fruits from one of the trees in the yard. Rio chuckled. 'Well, your boyfriend seems to be busy doing something useless like that rather than hanging out with you.'

Pandora curiously got off the bed and looked out the window as well. 'Haoxiang!!!' She screamed loud enough for him to hear her. 'Are those peaches!?'

'Yeah! I know you like them! I was gonna make sure you have some!' Haoxiang answered equally loudly, having stopped picking the peaches from the tree.

'Ohh! I'm coming!' Pandora ran out of the room excitedly, leaving Rio with a frown. Well, somehow she had given Pandora something to do by telling her about the boys in the yard. She folded her arms in boredom, because Chengxin still hadn't been out of his room.

Rio figured out it was best for her to join the boys and Pandora, she actually also enjoyed peaches as well. She left Pandora's room and walked outside, where the boys were still collecting peaches and placing them in a basket.

'I saved the biggest one for Pandora.' Haoxiang said as he took the biggest peach from the basket and handed it over to her.

'Aw, thanks Haoxiang.' She smiled.

Rio gave them a glare as she watched them. A while later, Chengxin showed up on the scene. He immediately looked away from Pandora and Haoxiang when he saw them standing together and turned to the others. 'So you guys just decided to gather some peaches?'

'Yeah they're ripe and it's fun!' Yaxuan answered happily.

Before Chengxin could answer, Rio walked over to him and gave him a hug, wrapping her arms around his waist. 'Where have you been Chengxin!? I missed you sooo much.'

'I was just tired.' he answered flatly then tried to return the hug awkwardly. Jiaqi face palmed. He felt that Chengxin was so lucky that no one noticed how poorly he was acting. He made it seem like he just wasn't into it.

Pandora looked away from the pair, that annoying feeling she felt when she saw Rio and Chengxin returned.

The director had now noticed that there were some couples blooming in the show, but he didn't care as long as the filming went well. The two groups dating among each other was none of his business, all he wanted was good footage. Besides, the seemingly romantic scenes were edited every time before the episode could air. He, however, knew that the two groups could get in trouble with their company if they found out about these emerging relationships.

...

'Chengxin,' Pandora walked over to him when he was sitting in the living room with his friends that evening. 'A word please.'

The boys looked at each other with curiosity, all of them wondering what Pandora wanted to say to him. When Chengxin got up from the couch, Pandora grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the living room.

'Wow, she's mad.' Zhenyuan whispered to his friends.

Once Chengxin and Pandora had made it into the empty kitchen, Chengxin waited for her to speak. He felt so excited being this close to her again, but this temporary closure also reminded him that they weren't being as close anymore because she had chosen another man. The moment served as both a beautiful moment as well as a painful reminder. It wasn't as if he needed to be reminded though, he thought about Pandora every day anyway. And frequently found himself about to cry in the shower or wanting to punch a mirror over the issue.

'What's going on with you and Rio? She keeps calling you her boyfriend and I want to know if that's true or not.' She asked him with folded arms.

Chengxin knew she was jealous, but it wasn't as satisfactory as he thought it would be. He was feeling too many emotions at the moment to feel as delighted as he thought he would. 'Well...maybe Rio and I are a thing just like you're a thing with Haoxiang.'

'How could you do this?! I think I already told you that Rio is like...my mortal enemy. I told you that I don't like her and she doesn't like me, then you go ahead and date her? Why would you do something so stupid Chengxin?' She ran her hand through her hair in frustration.

'And you think I like Haoxiang? In case you haven't noticed, me and Haoxiang have been having bad blood for quite some time now. If it's okay for you to date Haoxiang, why shouldn't it be okay for me to date Rio?'

'Listen to me, Rio is my enemy. She's probably using you just to make me feel bad. She doesn't care about you and she wouldn't love you, she's going to hurt you.' Pandora continued. 'You have to stop, I mean it.'

'So is the issue that Rio is using me or that you're jealous that I'm with someone else? Someone you hate for that matter.' he asked seriously.

Pandora didn't know what to say, because she wasn't sure as well. But she didn't want Chengxin to use her feelings against her. 'It's because she will use you...I'm not jealous Chengxin, I'm very happy with Haoxiang.'

'If I get hurt it's not your business. These are issues of my heart, not yours. So don't judge my relationship again.' he said bluntly.

Pandora looked at him painfully then nodded. 'Okay then. I guess that's all.' Pandora started to leave the room.

As much as Chengxin was proud of his statement, he felt so much conviction watching Pandora go away disappointed like that. Even though she had hurt him, the last thing he wanted was to hurt her. All he wanted was to make her jealous, not make her sad.

'Wait,' Chengxin followed her and grabbed her hand. 'I meant to say that I'm gonna think about it and thanks for your concern.'

'No, you're right. It's your heart and I'm sure you can make the best decision yourself.' She forced a smile.

The more Chengxin looked at her, the more his heart started to break again. 'Um...wanna hang out?' Chengxin tried to take his chance. At least spending a little time with Pandora would make him feel a bit better than he was feeling.

She smiled. 'Maybe next time, Haoxiang wants us to go stargazing.'

'Ah...I see.' Chengxin nodded and let go of her hand, holding in all the heartbreak he was feeling at that statement. 'Have fun then.'

'Thanks.' Pandora walked out.

Chengxin put a hand on his paining heart and rubbed it, as if that would stop the pain he was feeling at this moment.