𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐞 ||| 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐯 (𝟏)

[ 𝟑𝟎 ]

"Hendery and Mingxia, your friend is on the phone," Mrs. Wong announced.

The both of us were in the living room opening our Christmas presents. Hendery smiled brightly and stood up right away.

"C'mon, let's go Panda," he took my hand and we ran down to the living room.

My mother and I had stayed overnight at Hendery's house for Christmas Eve -- yes, another sleepover because why not. It was past noon and everyone was getting ready for lunch. Mrs. Wong passed her phone to Hendery and headed back to the kitchen where the lunch was being prepared.

"Yangyang?" Hendery spoke as he put the phone on speaker.

"Hey Hendery, long time no talk!" Yangyang said on the other side. "Merry Christmas!"

"Hi Yangyang, how are you doing?" I asked.

"Hi Mingxia, I'm doing good. How about?"

"I'm good too. What time is it in Germany?" I glanced at the clock; it was a little past noon in Hong Kong.

"Oh, it's 6:07 in the morning. I just got woken up by my sister and my mom told me that Mrs. Wong was on the phone so of course, I had to talk to you guys."

I grinned. Yangyang hadn't forgotten about us.

"Wait, you have a sister?" Hendery asked.

Yangyang has a sister?

"Oh um right I totally forgot to tell you guys," Yangyang replied. "She went to high school in China—not in Macau—and we moved because she just started college in Germany."

"Oh, cool," I said.

So basically he lied to us. Yangyang never told us he had a sister.

"Did you open your Christmas presents yet? What did you get?" Hendery shifted the topic.

"He just woke up, he probably hasn't even had time to brush his teeth."

Yangyang laughed and agreed with me.

"Yeah, what about you guys?"

"Oh, Panda got me a Naruto figurine!" Hendery exclaimed.

"That's cool- wait who's Panda?"

"Oh, it's a nickname I gave Mingxia since we started dating," Hendery said nonchalantly.

My nervous eyes glanced at Hendery who was not bothered.

"Oh, you guys are dating?"

"Yeah, since like September."

The room grew silent. I wasn't sure if it was the best thing to bring up the fact that Hendery and I are in a relationship. Not that Yangyang would be jealous since he clearly had no feelings for me but it did make things awkward between the three of us.

"How are things in Germany?" I broke the silence.

"Life's great, Germany is an awesome place! It took me no time to make friends since I'm so good at it and I'm pretty popular with the girls too."

Hendery raised an eyebrow.

"Sounds great, I'm glad you like it there," I said.

"Yeah," Yangyang spoke, quieter than before. "Life's totally awesome."

Hendery crossed his arms and started tapping his right foot. I sighed and asked for the phone from him which he gladly passed.

"It was fun talking to you Yangyang," I said politely. "We should keep in touch."

"Sure, do you want my phone number instead of this one?"

"Oh, you got a phone?" I asked in surprise.

"Yeah. Do you or Hendery have one yet?"

"No," I shook my head. "But we can still note down your number."

"Okay." He told us his number and Hendery scribbled it on a piece of paper.

"Bye, Merry Christmas once again."

Yangyang hung up the phone before Hendery or I could reply. Hendery put the phone on the table and let out an exaggerated sigh.

"That was kind of rude of him," Hendery noted. "I didn't know Yangyang liked to brag so much to his old friends."

I nodded in agreement. I got that he has a perfect life in Germany but he has no need to shove it in our face. Yangyang hadn't even said a single thing about the letter I had given him before he left—he must've forgotten about it.

"By the way, you're really good at keeping your calm," Hendery smiled at me and I thanked him. "Thank goodness you took the phone away otherwise I would've definitely said some bad words in Cantonese. It wouldn't matter anyway since he can't understand what I would say."

"That's why I kept calm. Who knows, maybe he was just having a bad day and we made it worse -- which I don't get how I thought we were his friends but oh well. Kindness is better than hate."

Hendery got up and patted my head.

"You're my Panda for a reason."