Hiraeth ; Meteor Garden 2018

Chapter 37

Shuijing

"Thank you so much for meeting us, dear. It's a pleasure to have you in our brand." Sooyeon said and I smiled.

"No. Thank you. This is a really great opportunity and I feel honored that you guys chose me as a brand ambassador for BLANC & ECLARE." I said and they both smiled.

"Well, tell us about yourself. We would like to get to know you." She added and I smiled.

"Well... I'm 22 years old. I have an older sister who lives in Paris with her fiancé. I graduated with a degree in business.." I rambled on.

"And you have a fiancé as well?" Tyler asked and my eyebrows furrowed.

"Huh?" I asked and Sooyeon pointed to my right ring finger where a rose gold ring with an opal gem twinkled brightly.

"Oh. This is just a birthday gift." I blushed as I answered which prompted them to share a knowing look.

"Mhm. And may I ask where it's from?" Sooyeon asked as she sipped her wine.

"From a friend." I answered nervously and she laughed.

"Shuijing, I'm an engaged woman and I've been in love with the same man for the past 8 years. You must be very special to this 'friend' of yours." She teased.

"Is he.. a boyfriend perhaps?" She added and I nodded shyly.

"Aww. Young love, how sweet. May I?" She asked and I showed her the ring on my finger.

"Well, your boyfriend's got good taste. This is gorgeous." She said as I retracted my hand back, giving her a small smile.

"He is very sweet but.." I trailed off.

"What's wrong?" Tyler asked and Sooyeon listened in.

"We kind of got into a little fight before I came here so.." I confessed and they frowned.

"May we know the reason? I know we just met but I just feel so at ease with you." Sooyeon said as she lightly squeezed my hand and I squeezed hers back.

"Me too. Well, he kinda got a little jealous that I was meeting a guy for work and we ended up arguing about it." I said and she hummed in understanding.

"I get where your boyfriend's coming from because Tyler and I used to argue about that too." She said and I looked to Tyler who nodded.

"Really?" I asked and she nodded.

"You see, I travel a lot for business and fashion shows all around the world to get some inspiration for my clothes. And most of those trips include meeting up with designers and stylists who are men so Tyler really chewed me out regarding that." She explained.

"So what happened after?" I asked and she smiled, holding Tyler's hand in hers.

"We talked about it and all. It's not that big of a deal." She said and I looked at her in disbelief.

"Didn't you feel offended?" I asked.

"I did at first since he was treating me like an object rather than his girlfriend but we talked about it and, what was it that you said to me sweetie?" She said as she looked at Tyler.

"Being protective is okay because that just means you really care and love the person but don't let that become the reason why that person pulls away from you. You should trust them and you never treat that person as an object you can control. Treat that person as a person." He said and I nodded in understanding.

We talked for a few more hours before I went home. They reminded me about my first shoot the following day and they said it would take about 2 days so they gave me the details and things I should bring. It was about 7 pm when I got home so I was so tired when I laid on my bed and opened my phone to find a thousand messages and phone calls from Ximen, Lei, and Ah Si but none from Meizuo. I sighed and contemplated calling him. I sighed and threw my phone on the bed before heading to the bathroom.