Heartline

Chapter 4: Warm food, warmer feelings

Shen Yue doesn’t really know what to think of her relationship with Dylan Wang. They weren’t really close friends. Dylan would sometimes go over to Charms Café to order a black coffee and 2 bagels and would sometimes converse with her in small talks while leaving a generous amount of tips while giving her his infamous smirk that makes every girl fall for the charming Doctor Wang.

Li Jiaqi would fawned over their little interaction which cause Shen Yue to blush and playfully hit Li Jiaqi on her shoulder.

Sometimes during Yue’s lunch break, she would join the doctor on his cigarette break and they would sit outside of the café. She’d offer him the leftovers from her mom’s cooking while Dylan would be more than happy to eat Yue’s home cooked meals. She actually memorize Doctor Wang’s schedule and she would be over the moon with joy whenever Dylan has the time to join her for lunch break.

“I never thanked you for the sweet and sour pork the other day.” Dylan said to her when they were both eating lunch outside of the café.

“Did you like it?” Yue can feel her heart thump.

“Yes, very much.”

“Good, I had a hard time microwaving it.”

Dylan laugh at her poor excuse of a joke.

“How about I’ll make it up to you? Next time, I’ll be the one who’ll treat you to lunch.” The way Dylan says it is firm and dismissive but he has a soft smile on his face that makes Yue more attracted to him.

“Okay.”

“Tomorrow?”

Shen Yue took a long sip of her water bottle, the familiar feeling rushing all through her at once when he offered to buy her lunch. She wanted to think that maybe, just maybe it’s his way of asking her on a date but she knows that guys like Dylan Wang are confident. He wouldn’t be subtle in asking someone out, she thought to herself. He’d be straight--- or direct to the point.

“Oh, my cousin is visiting me tomorrow.” Shen Yue sighs almost disappointed.

“Hm, another time then.” Dylan took a long drag of his cigarette

“Sure, okay.” Yue says a little too quickly before she can stop herself.

Dylan’s page made a beeping noise, an indication for him that his break is over. He turned it off then gave Yue a kind smile.

“Well, it’s nice hanging out with you, Shen Yue.” Dylan stands up and stared at Yue.

“I’ll see you around then.”

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One Saturday night, Yue locked up the café and as she was walking towards the bus stop, she caught sight of Dylan with other doctors, smoking outside of the hospital and laughing. Dylan’s gaze saw her and like the flirt that he was, he smirked and winked at her causing the doctors who were with Dylan turned their attention towards her.

Shen Yue blushed and quickly walked away from them.

“Who’s that?” Caesar asked Dylan who was leaning onto the white wall outside of the hospital.

“A friend.” Dylan casually replied while lighting up his second cigarette stick.
Caesar raise an eyebrow at his friend, an amuse smile forming on his lips.

“Hey Wang, didn’t you also have a friend on that sandwich shop from across the street? Wonder what happened to her” Caesar teased making the other doctors laugh. Dylan rolled his eyes but gave them an all too familiar smirk.

Dylan Wang is very popular with the ladies and he definitely likes the attention. If he was in the mood, of course he would shamelessly flirt with them which would lead to him waking up the next morning naked, and in a random apartment or house He wouldn’t speak nor talk to the girl ever again. Surprisingly, girls’ wouldn’t mind that Dylan would give them a cold shoulder. They were just thrilled that the famous neurosurgeon in Shanghai gave them a bit of attention.

There was even a rumour that he had hooked up with an intern on the break room a few months ago, which caused some of the senior residents to look down upon him and at the same time, slowly admire him for being the ladies’ man and being excellent in his line of work. Dylan never confirmed nor deny the rumours for he really likes the attention.

So it wasn’t a big surprise to Caesar when he learned that Dylan befriended the cute barista girl that’s beside from the hospital. The girl is cute and very small which made her appear a few years younger than what Dylan would normally go for. Nevertheless, he just hope that sooner or later, Dylan would change his way and start taking dating seriously and not just casually.

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Shen Yue looked at her watch and realize that it’s now 2pm, perfect. Her stomach has been grumbling since she hasn’t eaten anything yet.

She grabbed her coat and an umbrella since it looks like it’s going to rain and left the coffee shop to get some food. She didn’t have the time to prepare her lunch before leaving for work so she opted to just eat at some cheap fast food joint.

Shen Yue saw Dylan Wang, seated in one of the café’s benches, with a cigarette in hand. He caught her gaze and smiled at her. Dylan threw his cigarette stick near the trash can and walked towards her.

“Shen Yue, where you going?”

“Food”

“Perfect timing, I was also headed to grab some food before surgery, would you like to come? My treat.”

Shen Yue smiled at Dylan’s offer.

“There’s this really good restaurant just a few blocks away. It’s a favourite of mine.”

Shen Yue was about to respond when a few drops of rain started hitting her skin. Dylan grabbed her umbrella from her and opened it. They then started walking side by side into the busy streets of Shanghai.

If they were really close friends or more, Shen Yue have taken Dylan’s arm, leaned into his side, and touched his elbow. She would have laughed at all the right notes, flirted a little when the doctor made a joke, tilted her head to the side so that her face was close to his.

But Shen Yue isn’t Dylan’s girlfriend and she is sure that they weren’t really the best of friends, so she keeps their shoulders at a respectable distance and tries to avoid the puddles that were on the ground.

The rest of Shen Yue’s lunch break was filled with random conversation and warm food. She can understand why this is one of Dylan’s favourite restaurant. Its comfort food and the staffs were very accommodating and polite.

They ordered dessert and shared one slice of blueberry cheesecake. They waited for the rain to stop as they both finish the cheesecake.

Dylan paid for the bill and gave a generous amount of tip to their waiter. Shen Yue admire at how Dylan is very kind towards the staff.

They stayed there for a few more minutes, the rain is still pouring down. Shen Yue is grateful that she still has a 10 more minutes left before her lunch break is over or else her manager would get angry with her again.

“I’d like to take you out” Dylan calmly said

Shen Yue almost chocked on her saliva and she looked at Dylan dumbfounded.

“W-what?” She manage to say and all Dylan could do was shrug and place his hand on top of the table, fingers tapping lightly.

“You, me and food? When’s your free day?” Dylan asked her casually and it takes every ounce in Yue to not freak out.

“Oh.” Yue can’t help the warm fuzzy feeling inside the pit of her stomach and she’s pretty sure she was red as a tomato judging by Dylan’s amused look at her.

He’s asking me out on a date? Does this mean I have a chance with him?

I’d like that. I’d really like that

“Sunday.” She mumbled not sure if Dylan heard her.

Dylan nodded his head, took one last gulp on the water glass before looking up at Shen Yue

“Sunday it is then. 7pm.”

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AN: Hello! I'm sorry if this was a short chapter but online classes started last week and my professors have been giving us so much work that I didn't have enough time to write a longer one. Next chapter, I'll make sure that its longer!! Stay safe everyone and thanks for reading ❤