"What's wrong?" her husband asked.
"It's just...so sad. The acting in Meteor Garden is so good." Tears were streaming down her face.
"Oh, you're watching Meteor Garden again."
"I haven't stopped! The main guy and main girl have broken up, but it's for circumstances beyond their control. I mean, the guy's mom has total control over her son because she's head of this big company, and he's supposed to take over the company. She is against the guy and girl's relationship because she thinks the girl's not good enough for him and doesn't have the right pedigree. The mom did all these things to the girl, but then the last straw was that she went after the girl's friends, and the girl's not going to let that happen, so she broke things off with the guy, and said some really hurtful things to him, and now the guy's best friend is going for her, and the main guy's pretending to be happy for his friend, but he's really not. He's completely broken up inside, and he's drinking and laughing and crying at the same time..."
"Uh-hmmm."
She could tell that her husband had stopped paying attention, but she didn't care. She wasn't sure what drew her into Meteor Garden, but she had become attached to the characters as if they were real people, as if they were her friends.
She went back to her laptop and pressed the play button so she could continue the story of Daoming Si and Dong Shancai.
I hope things work out for them, she thought as she teared up once again.
***
What are our two lovebirds up to today? Did they drop any crumbs for us?
She looked at her feed and saw that there were no new Weibo posts from either account. She sighed, not unhappily.
She decided to revisit an oldie, but goodie: a video of DiYue crumbs that were made from the Inn 2 footage. She missed seeing the two together. She wondered yet again why it made her so happy to see them interacting behind the scenes and being in the same frame together. Their fun and youthful exuberance, their playful antics, their pushing and shoving, and their many, many side glances brought her an incredible sense of peace and joy.
I hope you two are happy and well.
***
Shen Yue had been reading and memorizing lines for the last couple of hours. She felt the heavy pull of her eyelids. Her body was telling her it was time to sleep. One more page, she thought, as she marked where she had left off.
She went to the bathroom to remove the face mask that she had left on for the last 20 minutes. After rinsing her face and patting it dry, she applied a nighttime moisturizer to her face and neck.
She turned off the bathroom light and the light at her desk and climbed into bed. She wondered what he was doing now. It had been awhile since they had last spoken, and even longer since they had last seen each other. She knew he would be in Paris for Men's Fashion Week soon.
Why don't I send him a signal of encouragement? She thought of a way to do so without initiating a fan war.
I've got it! She broke out in a wide smile. It will be my little message for him, the same way he left me that runway douyin when I was in Paris in October.
She was giddy. She wanted to call him to talk, but she knew his schedule had been jam-packed, even more so than usual. She decided to send him a text instead, like she usually did: "I know you are busy, but make sure to eat and rest, too. You are looking too pale and skinny!" She inserted pig and cow emojis.
She immediately got a response: "About to go to sleep now. Miss you. See you in my dreams."
Her cheeks reddened and she felt her body temperature rise. She put away her phone and closed her eyes. Miss you, too.
***
Dylan put away his phone and closed his eyes. He was completely exhausted. He also had an early day tomorrow, but he couldn't resist seeing if the message was from Shen Yue. He felt immediately gratified and after shooting off his message, he was ready to dream about his girl. He wished he could put his arms around her soon, envelop her and meld her body close to his. He sighed, turned over to his side, reached for the extra pillow on the bed, and held it close to him, imagining it was Shen Yue he was holding. As he leaned his head farther back into his pillow, he recalled the last time they were together, and feeling relaxed and content, he drifted off to sleep.
