whirlwind: diyue ficlets

he wakes up

Dylan wakes up and the first thing he does is check his phone. a few new e-mails, a missed call from his trainer, a voicemail, a text message from his manager, and a bunch of chat apps notifications. he eagerly opens those chats and sighs. nope, nothing. not from the one person he wants to hear from the most anyway.

it's been a while since he woke up to something from her. and he couldn't pinpoint when that started exactly. it just did.

he closes his eyes for a moment and contemplates something. then he taps on her name on the chat and types: "good morning. i love you. have a good day today." he presses send.

the reply comes in almost immediately, albeit not exactly what he had hoped for or expected. "omw to airport. running late. call you when i get to boarding gate."

he sighs again and gets out of bed. another long day awaits. and if he remembers his schedule right, he will be in the a different city by the time it ends.

.

.

.

he finishes showering and looks at his own reflection in the mirror. he cocks an eyebrow and grimaces. they're both flying out of beijing today. why can't their departure times be closer to one another? at least then he would be able to see her face, even if only from afar. and even if only for a minute or two.

they used to do that in the early days of their relationship. they flew in and out of the city for work so often, sometimes the only way they could see each other was at the airport. they'd try to match their departures and arrivals as much as they could. and they would make the best out of those precious few minutes.

sometimes he would be walking out of the arrival hall while she waited in her car outside, getting ready to check in for her flight. she'd see him and his entourage, and he'd see her van with her manager and driver in the front seats and her face peeking between them. then one of their phones would ring, and they would talk as they watch each other from afar.

other times they would be departing for different destinations, and one would try to arrive as late as possible for their flight while the other would arrive as early as was acceptable to check in. they'd exchange courteous greetings or nods of recognition if their paths happened to cross and then they would sneak looks at each other from across the departure halls as they sent text messages to one another.

it wasn't great but it was the best they could do and they were content.

now they don't even do that anymore. why did they stop? WHEN did they stop? did they just suddenly decide to stop making sacrifices for this relationship, or did it happen gradually?

.

.

.

the ring of his cell phone cuts his thoughts short and he hastily picks up. it's not her. his manager wants to know if he's ready to go. 

he quickly gets dressed and as he's drying his hair, he realizes that she hasn't called. he frowns and looks at the time. her flight should have taken off by now. he checks his phone to see if maybe she sent a message instead. she didn't. 

he sighs for the third time since he woke up this morning and slings his backpack onto his left shoulder as he turns off the lights in his bedroom and walks out the door. 

(25 March 2019)

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author's note: 

i am sorry. 

but i will just say this: my fics come with a guarantee of a non-sad ending. so rest assured, there will be a continuation to this one. and if that continuation doesn't end in a happy or a hopeful open ending then there will probably be a continuation to that one too.