mental note to self | meteor garden [REVAMPING]

13 | 雨

Liu Yuxin was right, and for once she was not happy about it.

The events of that particular night had changed everything. For one, Ah Si now forewent the company of his F4 brothers in favor of hers. He was obviously still giving Lei the cold shoulder. Meizuo and Ximen's persistent questioning of what had happened at The Cove and why Shancai was now rumored to be dating Lei tended to bring up bad memories. In other words, they grated on his nerves and so he avoided them too.

As such, Yuxin had acquired a constant companion with the temperament of an active volcano. He was chill enough when they hung out, but any reminder of what had happened and he'd return to simmering in his anger and hurt. After his first outburst, Yuxin had long since learned to avoid any mention of the beach.

If she was grateful for one thing out of the whole fiasco, it was that she was automatically invited to the Daoming mansion for meals (he would rather eat at home than risk meeting the friends he was avoiding). Their personal chef's cooking was Michellin star level, and Yuxin could not find herself disagreeing with that part of the—hopefully, temporary—arrangement. Being the buffer was hard and awkward and tiring, but at least she got damn good food out of it.

She hadn't wanted to pick sides. She never did. And yet, it seemed as if just letting Daoming Si do his petty cold-shouldering had done just that. She humored him out of a strange mixture of sympathy and fondness and, dare she admit it, selfishness. Yes, she did think she was being selfish by doing as much as she could to not get on his bad side, even if it reduced the amount of time she had for the others. She quietly apologized to Meizuo for it in his car one afternoon, parked outside of Ximen's family mansion.

He pinched her cheek and told her that being a good friend was something she shouldn't need to apologize for. "Besides," he added cheekily, "You keeping his temper in check benefits everyone."

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The first impression Yuxin had of Ximen's "humble" abode was that it was so warm. The Daoming mansion was all white marble and polished granite and monochromatic colors, imposing in a clean-cut, regal way. Her own was more Victorian in style while Meizuo's was completely modern. The Yan family had more traditional tastes; everything was in varying shades of brown, all ornately carved wooden furniture and gleaming hardwood floors. For such a large house, it was surprisingly homely.

Ximen led them through a set of sliding doors, into a room with a long wooden table surrounded by low chairs. The chandelier hanging above their heads had bulbs fashioned to look like candlesticks. Everyone knew that Ximen's family had a prosperous tea empire, but the sheer amount of tea in the room was a sight to behold indeed. Cannisters, jars, and boxes of tea lined rows upon rows of shelves and probably filled the antinque cabinet positioned against the wall as well. The gilded tea box that she had brought as a host gift would undoubtedly be lost among the others. There was an embellished porcelain teapot in the center of the long table, steam curling from its curved spout, probably the source of the light floral scent that hung in the air.

Ximen performed some elaborate tea routine that left Yuxin privately ashamed of her usual tea-bag-in-mug-of-hot-water practices.

"So," started Meizuo, nursing a cup of tea in his large hands. "What do we do about Ah Si and Lei?"

"What can we do?" Ximen grumbled, elegantly taking a sip from his own cup. "Jing was always the one who helped settle our little spats."

Yuxin shifted uncomfortably. It was times like this when she missed her best friend the most. It was also times like this when she was reminded of how recently she had joined their little group, how there was a gaping hole in the fabric of their dynamic where Jing should be. Sometimes, when the night was silent and her insecurities crawled out of dark corners, she wondered if they only kept her around as a replacement. And a mediocre one at that.