The Popstar & Me

Chapter 26 - Anything But Euphoric

Chapter 26

Liyuan is gorgeous. How can I compare to a girl with an entire glam squad picking out her every look? I expect her to make a snide remark about how Fang has downgraded since she dumped him, but instead, she approaches us with outright anger all over her lovely face.

"This is the girl you've left me for?"

Left her? I wonder. Wait, my mind is spinning. I wonder if I'm misunderstanding. She was the one who dumped Fang when he confessed he was sick. He wanted to bring her out to meet his family.

"Can we talk about this later?" Fang suddenly sounds distant. He tries to keep his eyes off in the distance.

"You... animal!" Liyuan hisses. I'm not sure if she means me or Fang but as Liyuan glances rapidly between the two of us, I'm going to assume she means both of us. Some of the other bar guests stop what they are doing when Liyuan starts repeating that word and then adding more color to it — chù sheng whose mother is a turtle!

"Yuan yuan," Fang replies through clenched teeth. "Do we have to do this here?"

"Then where? At the Grand Ballet Gala? You won't answer my calls or speak to me. I have been coming here hoping to bump into you."

"You're not answering her calls?" I whisper in shock. I immediately regret it because Liyuan turns her fury in my direction.

"Who in the world are you? A nobody? Why do you think you have the right to speak here?" Liyuan puts her hands on her hips and seems to scan the bar counter for a glass to throw at me. I've never been in a fight over a boy before but I guess a superstar like Fang is worth losing my catfight virginity over.

When Liyuan catches sight of Fang's wineglass, he decides to step in. Fang catches her by the wrist, but she twists her body and attempts to jam her stiletto heel into his shin. By then, every patron within miles could see the violent fury brewing behind Liyuan's frantic flailing about. The wine glass tips over and smashes on the tiled floor. People are standing up from their seats to move away from us.

"Stop it, stop it!" Fang hisses and restrains her against the nearby wall. She continues to scratch and kick him, despite being completely immobilized. I didn't know people did things like this except in dramas. "You're humiliating yourself."

Liyuan goes wild and breaks one of her hands free. She slaps Fang in the face with it. It makes a loud sound, but he barely flinches. She breaks down crying and shoves her way past me.

"Don't you dare come to the gala with your new whore," Liyuan snaps. She looks beautiful even with her face stained with tears. Her long perfectly permed hair is strewn all over in a practically Shakespearean fashion. If my father were here, he would wonder how a painfully normal, pimply high school student like me could possibly compete with this modern-day Ophelia who had stepped straight off the silver screen. "Or I'll make sure you never step in front of a camera ever again."

"Are you and Kang going to finish the job?" Fang asks, his voice devoid of emotion. Fang doesn't look at her. He straightens out his rumpled jacket cuffs. "Maybe I wouldn't have left you if you didn't cheat on me first."

"I slept with him but I loved you," Liyuan's sadness is turning into fury again. She spins around on her heels and approaches us again. I expect her to slap me too, but instead, she shoves me in the shoulder with her fist. I don't flinch. I spent my life taking the New York City subway. I've been shoved a million times before, and in many cases, it was on a moving train. Even though I'm a little buzzed, I don't budge.

Fang steps between the two of us before she can start something. Yet, Liyuan is able to meet my eyes by standing on her tippy toes to look over Fang's shoulder. She's staring at me with a death glare. Her face is so close to mine that I can see a tuft of her ridiculously long eyelash extension is hanging off her eyelid at a weird angle. That is the only sign that she's actually disheveled from the fight, and not just artfully — cinematically—roughed up. "He'll lose interest in you just like he did to me."

Liyuan steps back and blows her perky nose into her hand. Even this looks graceful when she does it. "How can you point fingers at me when you know perfectly well that your coldness and distance left me no choice but to step out on our relationship? You left me no choice, Fang Yao."

~*~

After Liyuan leaves, Fang decides he doesn't want to go back to dinner with his brother with a shiner on his cheek. He calls his driver to pick us up and promises to drop me off at my apartment. 

I am touched that he still remembers that I exist. He has a lot on his mind now that he has his hands full doing damage control after that widely witnessed public meltdown. As we are leaving the bar, Qing suddenly appears from the private room. He notices the commotion and storms over to us. Qing is in full-onset disapproving older brother mode now, with a frown as deep as my future college debt on his face.

"What happened here? Did you cause a scene?"

"No, just a crazy fan." Fang lies through his teeth and puts his sunglasses back on. "I'm going to head back to my apartment."

"Are you seeing your doctor?" Qing demands and catches Fang by the arm. Qing notices the shattered wineglass on the floor and comes to the conclusion that Fang is spiraling out of control. "Tell me the truth, are you well enough to be going places alone?"

"I'm fine. Leave me alone," Fang says and shoves Qing's arm away.

"You're not doing drugs, are you?"

"God no," Fang hisses back. "The only thing I ever took was the medication you picked up for me, every morning like you told me."

"Are you sure?"

"Can you stop it? If you want to talk, let's not do it here, in front of people."

"Okay," Qing says and backs back. He takes several deep breaths to quell his disapproval. "I won't tell ma and pa about this, but you need to get your act together, little brother. They read the newspapers too. You can't keep the accident from them forever."

"I know," Fang answers and runs his fingers through his now messy hair. "I'm trying to get to normal. Can't you see that I'm trying?" He gestures to me in a way that tells me he's trying to keep me from noticing. I'm flattered that I'm part of his plan to re-emerge in society. I'm still in shock that I nearly got into a fight with the most famous and eligible female star on this side of the Pacific Ocean.

"Do you need me to go to the hospital to pick up your medicine for you, like old times?" Qing offers as Fang takes my hand to leave. "Are you able to...make your appointments?"

"Yes, yes," Fang replies in a hushed tone. "I'm not a child, gēge."

"Are you sure you have someone you can trust?" Qing asks but his eyes are on me. I'm starting to wonder if I'm in over my head. Is Qing looking to me to keep Fang from setting his life on fire?