Before they were dating, she had already known that he was busy, but she had not expected that his workload was so intense.
He had not even been back in Shanghai for a couple of days before he was flying out again.
Then, the day he returned coincidentally was the day Chu Jian had to go to Guangzhou to prepare for the trade show. Hence, Jian Bianlin compared their individual flight details over the phone with her, hoping that they could manage to see each other briefly in the airport.
His flight landed at six o’clock; hers took off at seven.
Time was tight to begin with, and then on top of that, Jian Bianlin’s flight ended up being delayed. By the time he rushed to that VIP waiting lounge that they had arranged to meet in, Chu Jian was already sitting in an inconspicuous corner, leafing through some Japanese-written material that she was holding while munching, a small bite at a time, on an apple that was still half green and not quite red yet.
“Taste good?” He took from her hand that apple that had less than half left and was already showing the core.
“It’s okay.” Could apples really be categorized as “tastes good” and “doesn’t taste good”? Didn’t they all just have an apple taste? Chu Jian did not have a chance to savour that taste before she saw him bring his mouth down to bite into the spot that she had just bitten on the apple.
“What’s wrong?” Jian Bianlin gave her a puzzled look.
Their relationship had changed, so some of the barriers that they had never broken through before now simply disappeared naturally. For example, right now, he was eating the apple that she had practically finished eating with only the core left. In the past, only her dad and mom would eat her leftovers and not be repulsed at all by doing so.
Behind them, a few staff members of his company as well as Xie Bin one after another took a seat, tossing their backpacks on the floor if so needed and acting as a screen for Jian Bianlin. Looking on from the outside, this corner seemed more like a team of staff members centered around him.
Chu Jian shifted her gaze away awkwardly, spotting on the wall that Beijing time was already six forty. It was time to board, she thought as she worked out the times.
Jian Bianlin also glanced at the wall clock. “Sit for just a bit longer. Three minutes.”
Chu Jian nodded.
These two people who had not seen each other for eight days finally were able to meet up after overcoming the many obstacles, but, as it turned out, there was actually not much interaction between them. Xie Bin, who was sitting directly behind them with his back toward them, could not help fiddling with his box of cigarettes, putting it in order. Sure enough, there are thousands of people out there, so there will be thousands of weird and different ways to date someone. The way these two were gazing at one another—oh, wait, no, it was just one person gazing at the other person—was certainly… annoying enough.
He took advantage of this moment while answering a phone call to glance at Jian Bianlin’s expression. It was because of this type of expression that, the very first time he ran into Chu Jian, he had known that Jian Bianlin must have very special feelings for this girl.
Every time Jian Bianlin saw Chu Jian, his face that was normally tightly set would transform to become filled with sentiment. An extremely complicated emotion that he would be suppressing would meld into his eyes and brows—love. Or, perhaps it could be said, it was a feeling that was even more tangible and weightier than ordinary love.
Jian Bianlin pulled out a small red box from his pocket, stating, “Christmas gift.”
“Christmas gift?” She was puzzled. “There are still another seven days.” What was the rush?
