Hiraeth ; Meteor Garden 2018

Chapter 23

Shuijing

I met up with Jongin at this Italian restaurant that one of his friend's mom owned. I was dressed in a white collared button-up long sleeve shirt under a yellow sweater, some light blue skinny jeans, and white sneakers. He and I made an agreement not to wear such fancy clothes whenever we went out since we were just gonna talk and eat. I walked inside and saw him waving me over with a bright smile.

"Hey!" I said as I gave him a hug which he returned.

"Good to see you." He said as we sat down across from each other. The food was already set out on the table. There were two platters of pasta, Chicken Alfredo and Shrimp Aglio Olio. A large pepperoni deep dish was on the center of the table with some potato wedges and garlic bread on the side. I smiled as I inhaled the smell of the food.

"They smell so good! I should've went here ages ago!" I said as I started to mix the platter of chicken alfredo before forking up some and placing it on my plate. Jongin sliced through the pizza and placed a slice on my plate before getting one for himself.

"So do your parents know about our master plan?" I joked as I bit my pizza. It was so good. The cheese was melted and it just went so well with the pepperoni.

"Yeah I told them about it and they promised not to tell your parents. My question is, if you're best friends with the famous F4, why didn't your parents not think about setting you up with one of them?" He asked as he ate his pasta.

"Huh... I guess I never thought about that. I guess they think that I'll never see those boys as anything else but family. Well, not all of them." I answered with a shy smile as I reached for my soda.

"Ahah. That best friend of yours? Feng Meizuo was it?" He asked and I nodded.

"Yeah." I said as I drank my soda.

"So why haven't you told him you loved him?" He asked and I shrugged.

"I'm scared of being rejected I guess. I've been rejected my whole life by my parents and I don't think I can take another one from one of the most important persons in my life." I said and he gave me a comforting smile.

"I see. But what makes you think he won't like you back? You're smart, you're pretty, you're nice... Any guy would be lucky to have you. Damn, if you weren't in love with him, I'd make you my girlfriend." Jongin joked but I stood back in shock. Did he..like me?

"Jongin um.." I started but he held his hand up.

"I know okay? Stupid isn't it? I've known you for 2 days and I already like you. But I couldn't help it Shuijing. Yet I know, you don't feel the same way." He said and I gave him a sad smile.

"But hey, it's okay. I would rather have you as a friend than nothing at all. And if one day, you decide to tell him how you feel and he doesn't react the way you want him to, I'll be here okay?" He said and I nodded.

We continued to eat and just talk about random stuff like my modeling career and his training to become a singer. Jongin was actually a pretty amazing dancer in fact he even invited me to one of his dance recitals that was happening in a few months.

He's a great guy.

He's just not the one I'm in love with.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The next day, I met up with the boys at Ah Si's house to do some research on Shancai's opponents. Shancai was in the kitchen with Zhuang jie while we stayed in the basement.

"Zhou Caina is probably Shancai's most formidable opponent." Meizuo said as he read through the article about the said girl. Her father had founded the Double-X Real Estate Group. She had graduated from the University of California and was engaged to the son of the Tian Chinese Medicine venture.