Flower among the thorns

Lesson 21

Kun

"Cai Xukun~ can you help me with the collateral over here? It's too heavy for me to carry.." AnQi said as she looked towards my direction. "Uhh.. Sure.." I put down the chair on the floor and went over to her side to carry the stack menu. All of us were at the cafe venue trying to set up the place for the opening next week.

"Thank you ~" she replied as she placed her hand on my bicep, giving it a squeeze, "Wow, your biceps are popping, you must have trained hard in your free time," she teased and I could only give her an awkward smile. What's this girl trying to do?

After placing the menu on the other side of the cafe, I looked towards YuXin direction where she's trying to carry the chairs on the table to the floor. "Yuxi, let me help you" I took the chair from her hand and placed it on the floor.

She looked at me with a slight glare and replied, "It's okay, I can manage this. You can help AnQi out with her stuff instead." She grunted as she carried the heavy wooden chairs down, continuing with a slight tone of sarcasm, "She's always looking for you to help her, calling you Cai Xukun~" Is YuXin jealous? I smiled as I took the chair from her again, "If I didn't know better I'd think you're jealous of AnQi" I teased.

"Wh-Who is jealous of her?" Yuxin glanced at me before continuing, "I was just saying.." she pouted as she looked away from me, concentrating on her task. Seeing her jealous expression and pouting makes my heart melt and I pinched her cheeks lightly, "For me, you are more important than anyone else." She looks so adorable like a sad puppy when she's jealous.

A red blush crept on her face as she looked tilt her head down before swatting my hands away, "Yeah, I know you care for me as a roommate. I must have done some good deed in my past life to have such a caring roommate."

Sigh, maybe I should have come clean to her and let her know that I'm aware of her identity. It's frustrating to not be able to care for her the way I could if she was a girl. "Hey stop your chitchat and move faster," Cheng Cheng commented, "if not we'd have to stay here overnight to complete it."

YuXin

I slumped down at the chair, heaving loudly after the arduous afternoon of carrying all the stuff and setting up the place properly. It took both committee groups several hours of shifting items around painstakingly for the place to look decorated and posh while AnQi busied herself with sticking around Kun like a bandaid, always calling for him for help in menial work. Meanwhile, Jiaqi jie jie and Yibo senior were talking with the suppliers and landlord on the miscellaneous, to ensure everything is fine.

"The food is here, let's eat." Yibo senior commented as he carried bags of food, placing it on the large circular table as we pulled the chairs out and sat down. Kun sat beside me and patted my head, "You look like you've just gone for a war." My stomach growled as the aroma of the food filled the cafe, all the moving has emptied my stomach.

"Here Yuxi, I got you your favourite milk tea," Yibo senior handed me the drink with a smile, "You've worked hard." Smiling, I took a satisfying sip of the cold drink, heaving a sigh as the cold beverage cooled my parched throat.

"Yuxi, you must be starving. Here, eat more," Kun placed a plate full of food in front of me and I flashed him a grateful smile. AnQi, who sat beside Kun, started whining, "Cai Xukun~ how come you only take food for Yuxi? What about me?" she pouted her lips and sulked. Ugh, Miss damsel in distress acting up again.

Kun looked at her with a troubled frown and Jiaqi jiejie answered coldly, "AnQi. You have hands, you can take food on your own too can't you?"