Chapter 173 - In Flames

When Dai Xiaodan and her sister went home, their mother asked about everything that was said in the conversation that she bit back her tongue. She wanted to tell her mother that she should've been there instead of just asking her to repeat everything verbatim.

She tried to find him on social media but didn't have the nerve to add or follow him in any of those. She didn't want to acknowledge it but she knew she was already starting to have a crush on him. It was not really his face that made her want him.

It was that he saved her sister.

Just how many boys their age would actually step in and do what he did?

The new school year came and that was when she knew she really had to move. At one lunch break, she saw Qing Chen at the canteen with some of his friends. She barely ate her lunch because she was keeping her eye on him.

He stood up, carrying his tray and Dai Xiaodan almost tripped while getting out of her seat. Thankfully, she did not and was able to catch up with him placing his tray at the kitchen window. She placed hers next to his.

"Dai Xiaodan?"

She turned, like she was clueless. "Qing Chen! I didn't know you also chose to study here."

"My parents chose it," he said. "How have you been?"

She took a look at his face and her hand involuntarily reached on the fading bruise on his cheekbone. It was already barely noticeable. "Did you get into another fight?"

"I'm fine," he answered, gently took her hand off his cheek. "I'll see you around."

She had seen Qing Chen a few more times around campus then and all times they exchanged pleasantries. Until one weekend, there was a doorbell and it was Qing Chen who was holding a ceramic. 

"My mother made too much beef casserole and wanted to share," he explained, looking a little shy and out of place. 

That was the start of the exchanging dishes between the families. When the holidays came, Dai Xiaodan's family got the party invite and their mother spent a lot of money on their new dresses. 

"I dont want to wear red," she complained the day of the event. 

"You have to wear red," said her mother in a clipped tone. "They need to have an idea on how you'd look like on your wedding day."

"I'm thirteen," she said. 

"Not that young anymore," her mother replied. "You're going to marry that Chen boy. Do you hear me?"

"What if he doesn't like me?"

"Then you'll do your best to make him like you."

Dai Xiaodan was already annoyed even before the party started at the hotel. She hated that her mother was trying to control her life. Sure, she liked Qing Chen but who was she to say that they would end up together? What if someone better comes along?

As these parties weren't really meant for children, a lounging area was provided for them. She found Qing Chen coatless, carelessly sprawled on the puzzle mat with a video game console in his hands. 

"Are you bored too?" His blue eyes blinked up at her. "Wanna play?"

"I can't really lie down with my dress."

Qing Chen scrambled to a sitting position and she dropped to the ground, wrinkling her skirt. Qing Chen did not seem to mind and handed her the game. "It's a race."

He thought her the basic controls but mainly, she could only focus on the warmth of his hands. 

As was said, it had been no easy feat to snatch the title of being Qing Chen's girlfriend. They stayed friends for eight years and in the midst of that, they had been linked to many people, none of which they really liked. They went together as "dates" in events. Dai Xiaodan's parents got in deep in The Kingly Empire and had gotten close. Everyday, the probability of them ending up together got bigger and bigger. She was sure that they were each other's finish line. 

She was there for Qing Chen in the hardest days of his life, when his mom died, and when they graduated high school.

At parties, they had built the habit of sneaking out and finding a space where it would be quiet and comfortable. But as most of these events happened at The Kingly, most of its secrets were already theirs. 

Everyone else was at the rooftop, that was why they decided to lounge around the pool instead. It was already closed and they were alone. They sat on one of the couches with canopies above them. 

Qing Chen was slouched against the seat, his tie loosened and the first buttons of his shirt was open. There was a drink in his hand. 

They basically grew up in front of each other. Qing Chen's face lost all the roundness and his jaw sharpened. His cheekbones and nose looked stronger and made his face more angular. He shot up to six feet and his body got built. 

There was no denying that over the years there had been tension in between the two of them. Everyone knew they would get married one day—and maybe they did too that was why they were in no rush to actually start a relationship. 

They were already both twenty at that time and she could no longer wait. "What do you think about us?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I meant this," she said and kissed him. When he didn't pull away, she grew braver and deepened it.

They had been together since that night, happy and contented, until she decided to set everyhing up in flames.

**

True, she had been wrong to let him go but it had been a long journey. All the more reason why she wasn't going to give up Qing Chen to a woman he married on the first night they met each other.