Our Winter

she loved him

"Wah, you're Mei right? I haven't seen you in so long!" Mrs Xu cried out, leaning in for a light hug. Mei returned it with a smile on her face. Mrs Xu let go, and so did Mei.

"Hao Hao, how come you never told me you were meeting up with your friend?"
"I wasn't going to, she was at the place we went to for breakfast." He replied.
"Well, it's a lucky coincidence. Okay, come let's eat!" She said. Mei followed, with the other two boys behind her. She sat down next to Mrs Xu, and hoped Minghao would sit next to her. Ran however, beat him to it. She saw her boyfriend give him a piercing glare, before sitting opposite her. Mei noticed that Yiyun had trouble bringing out all of the dishes, and using it as an opportunity to impress Minghao's mother, got up to help.

"Ah, Mei, you don't have to do all that. Just sit back down." She said, waving to the chair for Mei to return.

"No, it's no problem, really." Mei replied before taking some of the dishes from Yiyun's hands and setting them down. Her eyes met Minghao's. He looked full of love. She couldn't help but smile before walking into their kitchen.

"You're such a nice girl, Minghao picked a good girlfriend." Yiyun said gently. Mei stopped in her tracks. She set down the bowls of rice she was picking up.

"H-how did you know?"
"It's quite obvious. I can see the way you look at each other. And you came over that day to take care of him without even eating. He talks to you so much over the phone too. You should see the way his face lights up when you call. Half the time, I'm the one giving his phone to him." She said, a smile tugging at her lips.

Mei blushed. "I-uh." She picked up the rice and scurried out, hearing soft chuckles behind her. She was more than happy to find that Ran's mother had taken her place next to the annoying boy, and sat down next to Minghao. His face lit up. She imagined that was what Yiyun was talking about; she was right, it warmed her heart.

"Ran Ran, why so sad all of a sudden?" Mrs Xu asked. "Nothing" she heard him mumble.

The rest of the family came down within the next few minutes. One of the two men was Mr Xu, so she assumed the other one was Ran's father. Mei noticed Minghao's back instantly straightening the second his uncle sat down. He looked like a pretty stern man; Mei wondered if he was a teacher.

Lunch passed by smoothly. Minghao put her favourite foods on her plate, and filled up her glass of water every time. While she loved the princess treatment, she couldn't help but think about Yiyun's words: "It's quite obvious." Was he making it more obvious? They hadn't planned to say anything to his family yet, so she didn't know if this was the perfect place for him to act like her boyfriend. She didn't want to say something that would actually make it obvious, so she stayed quiet.

"So, Mei Mei, what's new?" she heard Mr Xu ask. "How are your uncle and aunt?"
"Oh they're fine, thank you." She replied politely.
"What do you want to do after school? Have you decided?"
"I was thinking of maybe studying cosmetology. I've found it quite interesting these past few months."
"I see, I think you would be a good fit for that. I remember you did your makeup so well the other day we came over for dinner." Mei smiled, though the smile vanished along with the comment that came from Ran right after.

"You mean you look this beautiful without makeup?" He asked. She felt Minghao send a glare straight at him, before responding with a very deep and intimidating "yes". She whipped her head to the right — she'd never heard him like that. But it didn't seem to affect Ran, who clearly didn't get the hint that she was already uncomfortable.

"And you still don't have a boyfriend?" He asked, setting down his chopsticks. "Damn. The people here must be blind." He said, pulling a hand through his hair. Mei finally understood why Minghao said he got the creeps from this dude. His mother seemed to look uncomfortable too.