The premiere screening was at 7:30 p.m. Jia He assumed that Yi Wenze would go out to eat a working dinner, but unexpectedly, it seemed he hadn’t left yet at 5:30 p.m. She kept peeking at him while browsing the internet. In the end, he had noticed and lightly cleared his throat. “If I don’t leave soon, there won’t be time to eat.”
He glanced at the time. “Hungry?”
“Not yet.”
Do I look like a pig for you to keep asking if I’m hungry…
She lowered her head to continue looking at the computer, suddenly realizing there were many typos in her Word document. Shoot! She had to start over again. As expected, sitting beside him severely reduced work efficiency. She furrowed her brows in frustration. Yi Wenze looked at her again with a smile, saying Ah Qing had ordered food to be delivered soon. Jia He was baffled and asked why he wasn’t going out for the working dinner. He seemed surprised instead. “Do you have plans?”
Of course she didn’t. How could she possibly have any plans after making an impromptu trip to Tianjin?
“Don’t you need to eat with them?”
“No need.” Yi Wenze stood up and took out clean clothes from the closet. “I’ll eat with you first then head over.”
And so, he just calmly strode into the bathroom like that.
Only upon hearing the very distinct sound of water did Jia He finally dazedly retract her gaze. She lowered her head to look at the computer again, correcting typos. The sounds of typing on the keyboard, mixed with that of water flowing, gradually blending into one. Jia He stared at the screen where she had corrected the text several times, but it was still an incomprehensible mess of typos. She silently bled tears inside—her efficiency was simply at an elementary school student’s level, unable to spit out even 300 words for the entire day…
It wasn’t that her mind was filled with adult content. It was truly because this hotel emphasized on the mood too much. The bathroom was made of floor-to-ceiling glass. Although Yi Wenze had pulled the shower curtain when inside, that silhouette wavering to and fro was truly testing her self-control. She shook her head. Oh well, make good use of what you have. Time to write a passion scene.
She was stuck for three whole days on a passion scene in her document. If not now, then when?
She bit her lip and glanced toward the bathroom before swiftly starting:
?Exterior view of the hotel.
?Inside the room, M is flipping through magazines on the bed, feeling restless.
?S swiftly takes off his outerwear, grabs a dress shirt from the closet, stops at the bathroom entrance, and props his hand against the door to look at M.
S: (smiles) Why don’t you shower first?
M: (nervous) I’m waiting for a call. You go ahead first.
?S just smiles quietly and enters the bathroom.
?The water sounds gradually strengthen from weak. Behind the shower curtain, S’s silhouette faintly undulates.
…
A few thudding knocks sounded at the door.
Jia He nearly tumbled off the bed. She hurriedly tossed her computer on the bed and raced to the door. After taking a deep breath, she asked, “Who is it?”
“Screenwriter, it’s me,” came Ah Qing’s laughing voice.
She opened the door. “Come in quick.”
Ah Qing carried a large paper bag and had originally strode in eagerly, but in a flash, her face turned red as she hopped back two steps instead. “Bought randomly, don’t know if you’ll like it or not.” After speaking, she stuck out her hand and shoved the bag at Jia He. “Hurry and eat it while it’s still hot.”
Jia He silently accepted it, feeling endless despair at her situation yet being at a loss for words.
Based on her standing, she couldn’t possibly say anything had happened to Yi Wenze’s assistant right? She awkwardly gave thanks. Just as she was about to resign herself to closing the door, a voice sounded from behind her already, “Have the car ready downstairs at seven.” Ah Qing oh-ed and hastily added, “Still early, plenty of time!” Then zoomed off swiftly like a wisp of smoke.
He had…quite the timely appearance indeed.
Jia He woodenly turned around. He had already taken the bag from her hands. Water droplets still clung to the tips of his hair while his dress shirt wasn’t fully buttoned up yet, left half exposing his chest—he looked simply like he had stepped out of a bathroom advertisement shoot… Yet here he was, holding a paper bag and wearing a very faint smile, asking her, “Want to shower first?”
Behind was the bathroom filled with mist while opposite was the full height mirror, infinitely enlarging the space, along with his smile.
Jia He only felt her blood start boiling, nearly cooking herself.
After much struggling, she finally squeezed out, “We should eat first, trouble if there’s no time left.”
Scenes from the passion scene she just wrote rapidly flashed before her eyes. With the realistic sense of imaging, scene after scene sprang out from her mind, instantly turning her face red as even her fingertips started heating up. Jia He swiftly avoided looking at him. “Want water?” After speaking, she instantly went to the bar counter and squatted down to open the mini fridge, waiting for his reply.
Say something, just say something. This is too awkward.
Her fingers unconsciously skimmed over all the cans and bottles inside. So cold, yet still unable to quell her earlier embarrassment. She peeked at him walking over out of the corner of her eyes, then he bent down. Using one hand to prop himself against the counter while the other reached into the fridge for mineral water. This pose trapped her right inside the circle of his chest. The water droplets from his hair brushed past the tip of her ear, instantly stiffening her body.
Luckily, he had only taken two bottles of water in the end.
“Help pick an outfit for me to wear tonight,” he said.
Jia He was a little silly hearing that. “I’m not too good with choosing men’s clothes, don’t have much taste.”
Yi Wenze straightened up and grabbed two more glasses. “It’s fine. My clothes are all very simple colors. For public events, it’s always a dress shirt and suit, very easy to pick.”
Jia He oh-ed and watched him start pouring water, signaling for her to head to the closet to select an outfit. She could only dutifully launch into action. Actually, Yi Wenze definitely had exceptional taste in outfits. Merely from all the years of news and street snapshots over time, she was already extremely familiar with his style. But having to personally select…still made her a little apprehensive.
However, upon opening the closet and seeing rows of black, white and grey, she instantly calmed down.
With these colors, it’d turn out fine no matter what she chose.
“I remember what you wore for the Promise of Forever press conference was this, right?” She took one out and asked while holding it up.
The impression was truly too deep—this had been the first time she saw his clothes. She would definitely have to carefully keep it in the future.
The sofa was situated right beside the window. By now, the skies had already darkened outside so when looking out from here, it was as if the view was an immaculate backdrop accentuated by the distant glowing lights. The very petite mineral water bottle was clasped inside his palm. He had casually twisted it open and lightly hmm-ed in agreement.
The sound of water flowing suddenly turned very distinct. She turned around, thumbing through each dress shirt.
There weren’t actually a lot, but she still scrutinized for a long time. “Wear a casual dress shirt ba. I like it best when you wear white.”
“Mm.”
“Actually casual wear makes you look better, but not suitable for an occasion like this,” she took out two dress shirts. “Which one’s nicer?” There were only subtle styling differences so she still couldn’t decide.
Yi Wenze took a sip of water. “Which do you like more?”
Jia He struggled for a bit before lifting up the one in her right hand. “This one.”
“Then this one it is.”
After getting an initial approval, she gradually eased up and started discussing each piece with him. Yet she later discovered that no matter what she said, he would just nod and agree to all her suggestions. By the end, she was too embarrassed to continue. “Are you deliberately just going with everything I say?”
He smiled slightly. “For things like this, your decision is good enough.”
His tone was very indifferent, his gaze gentle, simply saying your decision is good enough.
She finally walked over, still seeming unsatisfied. “What about accessories or anything?” Yi Wenze only took out one box after another of food at that. “No need to be so meticulous. It’s merely a premiere.” Jia He still wanted to ask more but he had already passed the chopsticks to her. “Plenty of chances in the future. Eat first.”
Jia He oh-ed and reached to take the chopsticks. Yet he smoothly grasped her hand while she stretched out and pulled her onto his lap to sit down. “The shirt you wore the other day is the same one right now. You were wearing a pink puffer coat on the outside, looked very nice.”
A very regular line, yet it turned so flirtatious from him.
Jia He’s eyes shifted around uneasily as she tried hard not to look at his open collar. Very unfortunately, those scenes instantly sprang up again. It was practically live rehearsal—she absolutely could not write this kind of thing again in the future, especially not using him as the model… In the end, the final vestiges of rationality screamed for her to calm down. She finally struggled free from him. “Your injury on that leg has just healed. It’ll easily relapse like this.”
Then she stuffed him with iced water.
Calm down, everyone needs to calm down.
Yi Wenze rode in the vehicle arranged for him while Jia He directly drove over using his car. Since it was the premiere event, parking spots around the cinema had long been snatched up already. She circled and drove for a very long time before finally finding a residential neighborhood to park crookedly. Then she depressingly walked another full ten minutes back to return to the cinema.
The area was filled with people and discussions on all sides—excited chatter.
Seeing all these people, Jia He suddenly also felt anticipation welling up. Such a good response, so many fans—she really felt like she could be proud. She swung the car keys around as the edges of her lips perpetually tilted up. She looked all around and finally chose a spot at the east side corner on the second floor which gave a nice open view.
She had just stood in position when calls of Yi Wenze’s name immediately rang out from the entrance. Jia He hurriedly craned her head out to take a peek, but someone suddenly patted her on the shoulder from behind instead.
“Jia He?” Uncertainty colored the voice of the person behind her.
Jia He turned back. A very handsome face that seemed familiar… She rapidly rifled through her memories before recalling, “Zhou Jun?” A small supporting role from their last drama. She truly never expected to run into him here.
Zhou Jun removed his sunglasses. “It really is you! I thought I saw wrongly. What a coincidence?”
“Yes, huge coincidence.” Jia He gave perfunctory responses. Meanwhile the situation had devolved into chaos downstairs. She hurriedly strained to see again—Yi Wenze had already entered the lobby, lightly smiling as he walked toward the elevators. Beside him was a woman in a little dress, smiling very sweetly. Jia He was still trying to recall the name of this female lead when Zhou Jun softly spoke again beside her, “Here for a new role?”
Jia He smiled with a shake of her head. “No, just here to hang out with a friend.”
“Boyfriend?” He was rather direct with his questions.
Jia He blanked briefly. We’re that familiar? How do you manage to ask everything?
Still, out of courtesy, she hmm-ed in agreement. Seeing Zhou Jun seemed to want to keep asking, she swiftly said, “It’s starting, I need to go inside.” Zhou Jun regarded her gleefully. “You’re also here to watch Dark City?” Jia He nodded. He took out a ticket. “Me too. Someone gifted me this ticket so I thought I’d come have a watch, maybe run into some old friends.”
Jia He oh-ed in acknowledgement. He then asked, “Let’s see if our tickets are together.”
This person…was truly overly familiar.
Jia He fished out her ticket and handed it over. Right after just glancing over it briefly, he already exclaimed in surprise, “Such good seats! They’re the production team’s right?”
He sighed in amazement for a good few sentences. Jia He was extremely embarrassed listening. Since she had obtained such tickets, she couldn’t just tell this stranger she wasn’t close to anyone from the crew. She could only find Ah Qing to ask for another ticket. Jia He had originally wanted to brush him off casually, but Ah Qing readily treated it as a huge matter the moment she heard Jia He herself was directly asking. She insisted on snatching Jia He a ticket right beside Zhou Jun’s seat.
When the two of them sat down, Zhou Jun still incessantly spoke in low murmurs, purely casual teasings.
Jia He felt a little uncomfortable. She suddenly recalled the rumors about this person. Actually she was pretty bad with remembering actor names. The only reason she remembered this small-time actor was because his girlfriend was one of the screenwriters for their previous drama. She remembered overhearing private criticisms back then. His favorite thing to declare on set was: My girlfriend is a screenwriter who can add scenes for whoever she wants and kill whoever she wants to die…
Thinking about this, she grew embarrassed.
Couldn’t be…
Shouldn’t be right…
The routine speeches, sharing of thoughts, interactions all carried on until Yi Wenze finally appeared on stage when the atmosphere thoroughly erupted into chaos. The host was very engaging but no matter what questions were raised, Yi Wenze would just lightly describe a few words, neither painful nor ticklish—not too aggressive nor too mild. Whenever she watched his interviews and news in the past, Jia He had always felt her idol was very sophisticatedly eloquent. But listening right now, she instead found it funny…
By the end when the lights turned off, there were still people shouting out his name.
Beside her, Zhou Jun was still carrying on and off about idle chatter. Jia He truly couldn’t stand it anymore and shushed him. “It’s starting, watch the movie first.”
The moment her voice trailed off, someone had sat down in the vacant seat beside her—Yi Wenze.
He lightly grasped Jia He’s hand, just about to speak when Zhou Jun immediately popped his head out in pleasant surprise. “Teacher Yi?”
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