My Mr. Mermaid

Untitled Part 40

Chapter 40 by ryuxenji

After that night, Yun Duo did not see Tang Yi-Bai for two weeks. She gradually calmed down, and she slept especially well every night after she changed to use her new sheets and covers. This made her even more convinced that her previous flustered emotions and accelerated heart rate were all just a momentary thing, the kind that would not last for long.

And yet, a corner in the depths of her heart seemed to have become occupied. A corner no one could see clearly, a corner no one could touch.

Sometimes, she really felt like seeing him, just to see his face and maybe chat a little. Yun Duo felt like this was very similar to how one misses an old friend. After all, she also often missed Chen Si-Qi.

One afternoon in late May, after Yun Duo was done with her interviews for the day, she went out for tea with Liang Ling-Chen.

And this was upon the invite of Liang Ling-Chen. Liang Ling-Chen highly suspected that if he did not seek out Yun Duo, Yun Duo would never have thought of reaching out to him on her own. This left him feeling rather defeated. He, Liang Ling-Chen, was not lacking in family standing, looks, education, or character. All this while, he had never been short of suitors. Why then, when it came to Yun Duo, did his charm become discounted?

Yun Duo was swamped with work, and after leaving work, she was still delayed for a bit due to office matters. By the time she arrived at the cafe they had agreed to meet at, Liang Ling-Chen had already been waiting for quite a while. Liang Ling-Chen gave her a cup of tea — it was at the perfect temperature. She was not particular, grandly gulping it down in one go.

Liang Ling-Chen smiled pleasantly.

After finishing the tea, Yun Duo said, "Sorry, big brother Ling-Chen. A newbie newer than me at the office was in some trouble, so I had to do some fire-fighting. Really sorry for keeping you waiting."

Liang Ling-Chen shook his head in response. "No need to be so polite with me. Besides, being late is a girl's privilege."

Frankly, Yun Duo did not like indulging in such privileges. She was always very punctual when meeting others. She stuck out her tongue and asked, "Big brother Ling-Chen, did you need my help for something?"

"Can't I meet you if I don't need any help?"

"Ha, well, it's not like that."

"But I do have something I wanted to tell you today." He smiled and, lifting two fingers, he gently pushed up the frameless glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. "Yun Duo, actually, when I first met you, it was completely just out of respect to the elders. I was planning to just meet with you at least once so I tell them I tried."

Yun Duo scratched her head and said with a grin, "It's about the same on my end."

"But after meeting you, I find that you're really my type, whether it be in terms of appearance or personality."

Yun Duo did not know how to respond, but Liang Ling-Chen pushed forwards and asked, "What about me then? How do you feel about me?"

She could only continue grinning. "Big brother Ling-Chen, you ... you're quite nice ..."

Liang Ling-Chen looked into her eyes, and said with a dry laugh, "So are you handing me the 'nice guy' card right now?"

Yun Duo did not know how to answer. Answering 'yes' or 'no' both seemed inappropriate?

Right then, her phone on the table buzzed twice. Yun Duo rushed to look at her notifications, using this move to defuse the faint awkwardness in the aftermath of the question.