Prompt Me

Jealousy: The Zoo

Daoming Si glanced at his watch for what seemed like the hundredth time. It was already past noon and she was nowhere in sight. He had been so excited to see her and to go on their official date that he had gotten to their rendezvous point an hour early just in case she showed up a few minutes before their scheduled meeting time. He had worked so hard just to get to this point, to have Shancai finally, finally agree to spend time with him on her own accord, that he wasn't about to miss any potential extra time with her.

He kicked a few pebbles out of the way as he paced back and forth, trying to temper down the frustration and annoyance that was starting to creep into his heart. What was wrong with that girl? Why was she late? Didn't she care about their date? Did she even care for him at all?

No, he knew she felt something for him. They had played card games and she had shared the same bed with him. He had basked in the warmth of her smile during the cooking competition. She even thanked him publicly on national television! And last night at the dinner table, he had caught her staring at him when she thought he wasn't looking. And not with her usual look – the one that made him feel like he was a thorn in her side that she was working tirelessly to remove. No, last night she had looked at him with gratitude. With appreciation. With softness and something else that had set his heart racing.

Which is why he is so upset that she is late again. He was up until four in the morning researching potential activities for their outing and the later she was, the less there was for them to do. And more importantly, the less time he could spend with her.

Something smacked his shoulder and he spun around to see Shancai standing in front of him, a small smile playing on her lips. The silly girl didn't look the least bit guilty that she had kept him waiting. Does she even know who he is? Countless girls would have killed to be in her place and yet she showed up late and with absolutely zero concern about how that would affect him. He couldn't believe she didn't open with an apology!

"Hey, can you be more punctual? You're always late for our dates. Is your watch using local US time?" he couldn't help saying even though he could feel his anger subsiding just by her presence.

"I was late by just ten minutes. Don't be so irritated."

Is she kidding? Ten minutes late meant ten minutes they've lost on their date! Why couldn't she be more appreciative of the time they had together? What if something happened one day and they couldn't be together anymore? Would she even care? He groaned internally. She probably knew he'd chase her down, come hell or high water, if that was ever the case. Which made him feel like she took him for granted, and that ate at him like acid.

"I'm irritated? You're the one who's late, but you're complaining about me?"

The minute those words left his mouth, he regretted them. It was extremely churlish of him to react this way to her being only a few minutes late. It wasn't like she was privy to the fact that he had spent so much time in preparation for their date or that he had shown up early just to wait for her.

On hindsight, maybe one hour was too early.

He made a mental note to play "Harriet" next time. He had no idea why Ximen and Meizuo called it "Harriet" but he knew that he was supposed to play it cool. And he was definitely failing so far in that aspect.

He was about to apologize when he heard a small voice say, "It's not nice to shout at a girl. You're such an embarrassment to us men."

He looked down in surprise as a little boy popped out from behind Shancai.

"Where did this brat come from?" he thought.

He winced internally when he realized that he had actually voiced those words aloud.