whirlwind: diyue ficlets

hopeless

he checked his phone for a new notification. there was none. then he looked at the time on the upper right corner of the screen. 23.01. okay.

he went back to reading his script, trying to memorize the lines for next day's shoot. he managed to go through two whole pages before his mind wondered and his eyes wandered back to the rectangular black screen on the coffee table. had it lit up when he was not paying attention? should he check it? his hands were itching to press the button and bring the display to life but he refrained. pull yourself together. she's gonna reply you when she's able to. you know she's working.

he went back to reading but this time he didn't even make it through the long monologue that took up half a page when his hands went to grab the phone and turn the display on. still no notifications. 23.08. it's only been 7 minutes?

he could've sworn at least 15 minutes had passed since he last checked his phone. where is she?

he sighed, stared at the script booklet in his lap, contemplating. he then put the script on the table and went to the bathroom, having decided to wash his face to clear his head a little.

he immediately reached for his phone again as soon as he got back to the living room but this time he didn't merely look for notifications, -- there still wasn't any -- he also opened the chat app, tapped on her name and scrolled through the messages. he'd sent 5 messages with not a single reply. the earliest one was about 6 hours ago and the last, he'd sent 42 minutes ago. where is she. what is she doing.

he closed the chat and launched his social media app next. he went to his special follow list and tap her username. no new post. he let out a stifled groan and exhaled in frustration. he resisted the urge to throw his phone on the table and threw himself down on the couch instead. he picked up his script and took a deep breath. stop thinking about her. learn your lines. call time is in 5 hours.

he managed to dilligently work on his lines for a while until he felt sleepiness starting to creep in. he looked at his phone and decided to send her one last message for today. "Shen Yue, where u at? work hasn't wrapped yet? call me as soon as you see this, babe. please."

no sooner had he pressed send, his phone rang. it was her.

"hey, baby"

"hey..."

"i just saw your messages. is everything okay?"

"yeah. why?"

"your last message. it sounded urgent."

"ah no, no. i was just wondering where you were."

"oh right. sorry for being mia the whole day. i had a lot of scenes to shoot. and in between takes the director wanted to talk to me about each one. i didn't have a chance to touch my phone at all."

"ah ic. you must be tired then."

"i feel okay actually. we shot a few fight scenes today and i felt so badass doing them. i think i'm still hyper from the adrenaline."

"oh. good for you."

"Dylan, are you okay?"

"yeah. why do you ask?"

"you sound off. are you sick? goodness, it's almost 1am. why aren't you asleep, Di?"

"why do you think?"

"awwh baby, were you worried?

"no, not really. not at all, actually."

"okay. but that's a pretty strong denial for someone who just asked me to please call--- "

"whatever, Yue. i really wasn't worried. i was busy practicing my lines the whole night."

"okay babe. you're probably just tired then, yeah? you should sleep now."

"i'm fine. i'll go to sleep in a little while."

"all right. well, i have to go now. we are shooting one last scene before we wrap for tonight. i'll text you when i'm done, okay. don't wait up."

"what?"

"good night, Dylan. love you."

"love you too ..."

he heard the disconnected tone and stared in disbelief at his phone. he let out a frustrated groan and flung his head on the sofa back. this time he really threw his phone on the table and watched as it glided on the glass surface. it was about to fall off the table when suddenly it rang and her picture flashed on the screen. he scrambled to pick it up before it fell on the floor. but he was too late.

it fell, screen up, with a thud on the floor. he breathed a sigh of relief and thanked his landlord for the carpet in the living room. he quickly swiped to answer the call, but before he could say hello, his girlfriend -- whom he has been missing like crazy the entire day -- started speaking very rapidly on the other end.

"i miss you too, Dylan. and i know you're upset because i didn't reply your messages for a long time today. i'm sorry, baby. i know you worry when you don't hear from me. and did i mention i really miss you? very much? i will have a break in a couple of days. i will fly to see you and you can punish me for today, okay. please dont be mad anymore? go to bed and dont wait up for me, okay Di? i'll text you when i finish later. promise. love you. see you soon. 'night!"

"Yue baby ..."

she hung up and he was left once again staring at his phone. except this time there was a wide stupid grin on his face. he slowly laid his body down on the sofa and held his phone close to his chest. still smiling, he closed his eyes and fell asleep right away.

(30 January 2019)
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author's note:

i'm sure we all have been in dd's shoes before, right? checking our phones, waiting to see that name we have been hoping for, pop up on our screen.
(or if you're old like me then you'll remember running to get to the landline phone whenever it rang and saying "hello" in the most hopeful tone ... only to be crushed with disapppointment whenever it wasn't the person you wanted on the other end 🙈). and so this fic is sort of a lengthy brain fart that came about when i was really bored one night and kept checking my phone to see if anyone has sent me a message or posted anything interesting on social media. my notifications stayed silent all night and so i opened my notes app 🙈

also, if anyone remembers, i tweeted a while back about wanting to write a fic in which dd sent yy a msg but she did not reply for a long time and dd grew more and more anxious by the hour. but then totally pretended he was fine and cool about the whole time when she finally did call. when i tweeted it, i was imagining a funnier scenario but i guess this one would have to do ... for now.