Lollapalooza | Zhu ZhengTing

twENty eiGht

"Are you free this weekend?" Wenjun asked ZhengTing as they were eating lunch at their company's cafeteria. The friends were enjoying a quiet, peaceful meal after hectic hours of work.

"Yeah, I think so-" ZhengTing trailed off mid-sentence when he noticed a rather fuming Xiaoqin stomping towards their table.

"You!" She jabbed her finger towards him when she reached their table.

"This is all your fault!" She didn't care to lower her voice so everyone in the cafeteria had their eyes on them, curious to know the latest gossip.

"What do you-"

"This! This is all your and your girlfriend's fault!" She said as she shoved her phone in his face. On the bright screen, ZhengTing could see Xiaoqin's profile on a social media platform. His eyes automatically went to the number of followers. He remembered her having quite the following online, but the number that stared back at him was enough to prove him wrong. More than half of her followers were gone, and ZhengTing didn't feel any sympathy.

"How is that my fault?" ZhengTing asked.

"Don't act dumb Zhu ZhengTing, you ruined my life and you're very well aware of it!" At this point, the whole cafeteria went quiet, even the serving ladies were interested in the drama.

Wenjun gave ZhengTing a questioning look, as if asking, what's going on?

ZhengTing shook his head and stood up. "Look."

"I don't know what I possibly did to "ruin your life", but if you're expecting an apology from me, you might as well go hunting for unicorns."

Xiaoqin's eyes widened at ZhengTing's words, she wanted to retort with something smart, but she found herself speechless.

"You went out of your way to annoy the daylights out of my friend at her workplace, and you got your minion to do the same for me. I don't know about you but it's time people knew the real Xiaoqin. Greedy, selfish, and a cheater," ZhengTing spat. He was surprised at his own words; the ZhengTing weeks ago wouldn't have stood up for himself like that. It was as if Meirong was speaking and not him. The worst part is, he didn't regret a single word he said as he saw Xiaoqin storm away, flipping her hair as if to declare none of that affected her.

ZhengTing tried hard to ignore the looks his coworkers gave him as he sat back and resumed eating.

"Everyone's staring at you," Wenjun told him, as if he didn't know.

"I hope they enjoy the view, I guess," ZhengTing said with a shrug and Wenjun raised an eyebrow, "getting bold, aren't we?"

ZhengTing rolled his eyes. "Anyways, I was saying I don't have anything in mind this weekend. Why?"

"We're planning a picnic for the company. There's this popular spot and it's attracting many visitors, we thought we'd give it a visit," Wenjun explained.

"What is it exactly?"

"It's actually a filming spot for a popular drama. The confession scene was filmed there," Wenjun added as if the information was extremely valuable. "Many couples go there but I was thinking that visiting it as a company isn't a bad idea."

"Where is it?" ZhengTing asked, suddenly interested.

"It's somewhere by the suburbs of the city, like a forty-minute ride from here. But it's worth it. It's a gorgeous landscape." Wenjun pulled his phone out to show his friend the place he was talking about, and he wasn't lying when he said the place was gorgeous.