The Love Score || Zhuo Zhi

90: D-Did They Ditch Us?

"Perfect."

It felt like she drew a swirl right in the centre of my forehead, but I wasn't too sure. The cool tip of the marker tickled my face when she was drawing on my skin. I scowled at Ai Qi as she lifted her green marker from my forehead. "How ugly did you make me?"

"Not much more than you are already." Ai Qi stuck her tongue out at me playfully, making me swat her hand away.

"Are you done yet?"I groaned as I saw her uncap another purple marker and aim it on my nose. "I hope these markers aren't permanent."

"Shh, they aren't," Ai Qi smiled to herself as she shaded the circle she drew on my nose. "Okay. A couple more strokes..."

I huffed and waited as she drew lines on my cheeks. My eyes darted over to Zhuo Zhi, Jia Le and Bai Yang, who were having their faces vandalised by Si Yang, Da Chi and Qiao Chen respectively. Zhuo Zhi had a third eye drawn on his forehead and his lower face was shaded with messily to imitate a beard. Jia Le had enlarged eyebags and even a kiss-imprint on his lower cheek, while the entirety of his nose was shaded blue. Bai Yang's face was splattered with tiny dots, making his face look like the design of a jaguar's skin, in addition to the tracings around his nose and mouth.

I pouted, recalling my initial excitement when I had thought we finished the Hunt quicker than the others. Not only were we being shamed to run around the park with clown-like faces, but my wallet was being emptied just to pay for others' hotpot meals.

But at least no one will recognise me with my face. Sort of like a... masquerade run.

"I'm done!" Ai Qi announced, satisfied as she capped her marker with a resounding 'click'. I whipped my phone out of my purse and scrutinised my reflection on its dark screen.

"I look hideous!" I gawked at what Ai Qi had drawn on my face. Besides the green swirl on my forehead and a purplish sphere on my nose, long lines of five were drawn on each side of my cheek to make me look like I had whiskers. A shaded block covered my chin like a squarish goatee, and black hairs sprouted excessively out of my nostrils above my lips. Lastly, just under my hairline, Ai Qi had written the Chinese characters for the word 'clown'.

Ai Qi skipped behind me and placed her hands on my shoulders, massaging them. "This is for sitting still while I decorate your face, your Highness Yue En!" I could feel her smugness radiating from that one sentence she spoke.

"Keep doing that and I'll consider murdering you," I grumbled, although secretly enjoying the massage Ai Qi was giving me. "I still have to run around and scare little kids with this face."

Ai Qi snickered, then sighed forlornly. "I'm still sad that we didn't get to spend the day together."

I lifted my arm to pat her hand gently. "We'll have more chances, don't worry," I grinned. "I'll make sure of that!"

I heard her hum in agreement before she noted, "You seem in a better mood now than you were this morning, Yue En."

"The rides were super fun," I said, keeping my posture straight in the worry that Ai Qi might find something amiss and ask questions. Biting my smile down, I twirled the ends of my hair, remembering how Zhuo Zhi and I had cleared up our misunderstandings during the Ferris wheel ride. My eyes averted over to Si Yang, who was focused on painting Zhuo Zhi's face, even down to the smallest details. They were talking between each other, then Zhuo Zhi chuckled at whatever Si Yang had said.

Zhuo Zhi's slight laugh caused Si Yang's marker to slip slightly, making an error on Zhuo Zhi's face. Si Yang sighed and shook his head, a thumb reaching up to wipe his error away from Zhuo Zhi's cheekbone. Just as Si Yang's thumb grazed Zhuo Zhi's skin, Zhuo Zhi shoved Si Yang away by the shoulders, both of them adorned with grins on their faces.