#WATTYS2020
The lives of rap songwriter, Wang He Di and aspiring singer, Shen Yue, intertwine at a music club in Suzhou. It is love at first sight for him. But for her, love at first sight is the scariest thing, next to falling in love again.
*****...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Kyoto, 2 years ago, Spring Somewhere in Gion
It was him again. He was not dressed up as Dragonball but she could recognize his deep set eyes and that burning gaze. This time, he looked relaxed and was smiling a lot. Her heart skipped a beat. That smile. Those eyes when he smiled. They literally lit up. She caught herself smiling. But stopped herself in time.
Today was a test. She would need to present herself as a maiko, geisha apprentice in the public's eyes. While most maikos took six years to train and graduate as a geisha, she had only six months to learn traditional dance and singing, play the shamisen and the etiquette of a geisha. It was an eye-opener for her.
She had been intrigued her whole life about geishas but now that she was experiencing herself, it was hard work. She had to talk in a certain manner, her hand gestures needed to be soft (Okami said she was stiff) and wide smiling or big laughing was not permitted.
She straightened herself and took small steps. Her geisha sensei or Okami, as she called her, had taught her this "Walk softly. Don't stride. Make a figure of eight with your feet." For someone who had never walked gracefully in a kimono, that was a huge task. But she was doing her best.
She noticed his gaze turned towards her as she walked in his direction. He stopped talking to his friend. Then, he nodded and smiled. Her upper lip curled slightly upwards. She noticed that a professional camera hanging around his elegant neck. Was he a tourist?
Shifting her feet in her tight red and white kimono, she finally reached in front of him. He was taller than she remembered. She bowed low and asked in Japanese, "Sumimasen. Do you happen to know if Nagari-san is in the theater today?"
She must have caught him off guard as he looked flustered and stammered a little "Sumimasen, wakarimasen. I'm not familiar with this area yet." Her eyebrow raised, questioningly. His friend elbowed him and laughed. "Sumimasen, my friend just came back here. He grew up in China."
She smiled. So, he was also Chinese. "Ah, so-desu-ne, wakata. Sumimasen. I will be on my way. Arigato." She bowed again, her eyes skittering, instead of looking right at him and walked away. When she was quite a distance away, she turned to look at him. What a beautiful creature. When will she meet him again?
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
