tentative // styles [au]

Three.

It's Friday. And I'm tired. Very very tired. God knows how I managed to come to work today.

When I walk in the office, the first thing that I notice is Lina's huge grin. When I say huge grin on a small, heart-shaped face like hers, I am not exaggerating.

'What's up with you?' I ask her as I sit down.

Harry glances up for a second, waves at me, smirks and goes back to working. I roll my eyes and don't wave back.

I don't like talking to him, and I don't. He's a complete dick to me and I know he does that on purpose. Just yesterday, he 'accidentally' dropped my file on the floor and all the papers were scattered and made a mess.

'Oops, I'm sorry Joyce, it was an accident', he had said, smirking at me, and sounding anything but sorry.

Asshole.

'Guess what!' Lina squeals excitedly.

At that, Harry looks at us.

'What?' I fail at hiding my own grin.

'Lu proposed me last night!' She exclaims, showing off her silver ring. The grin on her face gets wider, if that were even possible.

'Wow. Congratulations!' I give her a big smile.

'Congratulations Lina', Harry smiles at her.

'Thank you', she replies to both of us, blushing like crazy.

Even Mr Deng comes out at lunchtime and congratulates Lina.

During the lunch trip, Lina gushed about how romantic of a dinner she had yesterday (the-candlelight-under-the-moonlight-and-rose petal sort of romantic), before Lu proposed her.

Harry and I listened to her patiently. Harry has been coming to lunch with us. Which I totally disapprove off, obviously. Lina drags him along, but I don't say anything. He annoys me everytime, by stealing my food or drink, or passing rude and/or snide remarks in my direction, which, of course, Lina finds absolutely hilarious, and when I frown at her, she waves her hand and says, 'he's only joking Joyce'.

Yeah right.

We just get out of the restaurant, when Lina's phone starts ringing. She excused from us and walks away.

I take out my own phone, trying to appear busy, so Harry won't talk to me.

'Hello, Where are you from?' A voice says.

I look up and see a Chinese girl standing in front of us, with a huge smile on her face. Her tiny eyes are gleaming with excitement.

Typical.

Qingdao is not a very popular city. And foreigners are not mundane here, so people here are not used to seeing any. But when they do, they're all exhilarated and whatnot.

Harry smiles at her and says, 'Hi, we're from England'.

'Ni kam qilai hen kea (You both look cute)', she giggles, gesturing at the two of us, getting the wrong idea about me and Harry being together. I mentally puke at the very thought.

'What is she saying?' Harry asks, but I don't reply him.

'Boo, shuangfang bu shi Zai yi qi (No, we are not together)', I tell her politely.

'Oh sorry sorry,' she blushes.

'Joyce, tell me what she's saying', Harry pleads.

I ignore him completely.

'Pardon me, my English is not very good', she says in a Chinese accent .

'Mai sher (It's alright)', I smile at her.

'Ne da Yao pang Yao piyao le yan ( Your friend is beautiful)', she blushes, gesturing towards Harry.

'God, for fuck's sake, tell me what she's saying', Harry says.

'She says you are beautiful', I turn towards him with frustration and literally speaking through gritted teeth.

'Now lets's go', I tell him.

He smirks at the girl and says cheekily, 'Tell her she's even more beautiful'.

Fuckkkkkkk.

I, quite unwillingly, turn towards the girl, with a forced smile and try to tell her that. It's sort of hard, since my own chinese is quite shitty to be honest.

'Er.. Chegha shin chan (This mister here)... says..', and then I point towards her with a finger, 'Ne da (You are).. even more..', and I hold my hands out, spacing them, to indicate what I 'm trying to say, 'More piyao le yan ( beautiful )', I finish lamely.

Harry stares at me, like I've grown two heads or something.

The poor girl looks confused for a second, before her cheeks turn pink. 'Thank you', she says shyly.

Harry winks at her, which makes her cheeks turn tomato red. I simply roll my eyes at him and am about to walk

away, caring less about whether Harry or Lina are with me, when Harry stands in front of me.

I'm about to tell him to fuck off, when he shoves a phone in my hand, and walks back towards the girl.

I furrow my eyebrows and say, 'What the he-', I look at the phone.

I want to go and bang my head against the wall when I see the camera mode on.

Harry on the other hand, with his hand on the girl's waist is standing next to her. I notice now how fucking tall he is. The girl doesn't even reach his shoulders.

To my utmost frustration, I had to take about seven to eight pictures.

That asshole.

He kept on changing his poses; like kissing her cheek, smiling with his teeth and without his teeth, making silly face, etc. The idiot girl too, went along with it.

Just when I think it's all over and hand her the mobile back, the girl takes my hand and makes me stand next to her. With me on her right, and Harry on her left, she snaps a picture of us. I fake smile at the camera. While the girl and Harry smile really big. I notice Harry has a dimple, and his smile is absolutely gorge-

Shut up Joyce. Snap out of it. He's an asshole.

......

It's almost six when Mr Deng comes out and tells us that he has a business trip to Thailand coming soon. Plus a visit to the warehouses is also to be done.

'I don't know how we will manage all that; with what the work load and everything', Mr Deng finishes in a strained voice, exhaustion radiating off him.

'Don't worry, we will figure this out', Lina says assuringly.

Harry nods his head.

'She's right, don't stress yourself out; and you should rest this weekend', I add with a smile.

He rubs his eyes and gives me a small smile, and saying, 'Have a nice weekend, all of you. See you on Monday'.

With that, he turns and walks back to his office.

I hope everything turns out well. The poor guy worries way too much.

Hello everyone. Hope you liked the chapter.

For those who're wondering, Joyce has been living in Qingdao for a year now, so she knows a little bit of Chinese.

Just wanted to let you all know that Chinese people pronounce 'Q' as 'Ch'. So Qingdao is pronounced as 'Ch-ing-dao' (:

Please vote, comment and spread the word.

-Sara.xx