One Sweet Life c4

OSL – Chapter Four

Gu Tian Tian met her friend Lam Cheng when they were in year one. They sat next to each other in cla.s.s until Lam Cheng transferred to a different school. She sees Lam Cheng as a shy boy who always blushes.

‘Gu Tian Tian, it’s really you,’ Lam Cheng asks. ‘I thought I was seeing things.’

‘Do you two know each other?’ Hao Ting asks.

‘Um, this is my friend from primary school, Lam Cheng,’ Gu Tian Tian introduces.

‘Gu Tian Tian, tomorrow I want to treat you lunch,’ Lam Cheng says.

‘You only want to treat Tian Tian lunch?’ Hao Ting asks.

Lam Cheng laughs awkwardly. ‘I mean I want to treat everyone to lunch tomorrow.’

Gu Tian Tian doesn’t know what to do. Tomorrow she is promised to go shopping with Mrs. An, and An Yin Zhu is picking her up after work.

‘Tomorrow I won’t be here,’ Gu Tian Tian says.

Lam Cheng looks disappointed. ‘Oh, another time then.’

Lam Cheng exchanges phone numbers with Gu Tian Tian’s friends.

‘Tian Tian, the hot guy you were with this morning, is he your big brother?’ Hao Ting asks.

Mrs. Gu always wants to adopt An Yin Zhu as a son so Gu Tian Tian considers An Yin Zhu as a neighborhood big brother.

‘Yes,’ Gu Tian Tian says.

‘Does your big brother have a girlfriend?’ Hao Ting asks.

‘He hasn’t introduced his girlfriend to me,’ Gu Tian Tian says. ‘I don’t think he has a girlfriend.’

Gu Tian Tian answers An Yin Zhu’s phone call. ‘I’m parked outside.’

Gu Tian Tian hangs up the phone. ‘He’s here to pick me up.’

‘Tian Tian, remember to bring back yummy food to our dormitory,’ Hao Ting says.

Gu Tian Tian walks to the parking lot and sits in An Yin Zhu’s car.

‘Let’s eat dinner,’ An Yin Zhu says.

Gu Tian Tian nods, and An Yin Zhu drives to one of her favorite restaurants.

After dinner, An Yin Zhu drives Gu Tian Tian to his family condo.

‘My mum went to play mahjong at her friend’s house,’ An Yin Zhu explains.

‘Oh,’ Gu Tian Tian says.

Gu Tian Tian knows Mrs. An’s habit of sleeping over a friend’s house when playing mahjong.

‘What about your mum’s plans to go shopping with me tomorrow?’ Gu Tian Tian asks.

‘Tomorrow I’ll take you shopping,’ An Yin Zhu says.

‘OK,’ Gu Tian Tian says.

If An Yin Zhu’s software company didn’t need him to come into work then he would have taken the day off to be with Gu Tian Tian for the whole day of her college orientation.

Gu Tian Tian plays with Tian Tian on the floor in front of the TV.

‘Do you want to watch a movie?’ An Yin Zhu asks.

‘What movie?’ Gu Tian Tian asks.

‘A scary movie,’ An Yin Zhu says.

An image of a dead woman coming out of the TV pops into Gu Tian Tian’s head, and her skin breaks out in goose b.u.mps. An Yin Zhu always tease her for being a chicken.

An Yin Zhu always choose days when his parents and Gu Tian Tian’s parents aren’t home to watch a scary movie with Gu Tian Tian, because Gu Tian Tian will stick to him after watching a scary movie.

‘You’re a big chicken,’ An Yin Zhu says. ‘You always asks me to wait outside the bathroom for you to go to the toilet after watching a scary movie.’

An Yin Zhu antic.i.p.ates Gu Tian Tian crawling into his bed after the scary movie ends.

Later that night, An Yin Zhu hears his bedroom door creak open. ‘Are you such a chicken that you’re scared to sleep on your own?’

Gu Tian Tian ignores An Yin Zhu’s teasing. He makes room for her on the bed, and she lies next to him.

Gu Tian Tian remembers crying all night after watching a scary movie with her friends, to the point she’s scared to go to the toilet on her own. She only watches scary movies with An Yin Zhu.

An Yin Zhu turns off the lights. Gu Tian Tian scoots closer to him, and he let her lie on his shoulder.

Gu Tian Tian feels like the shadows in the bedroom are moving, and hugs An Yin Zhu’s waist. Although they’re lying in bed together, she doesn’t feel shy because in her eyes, he’s neither female nor male, he’s simply An Yin Zhu.

An Yin Zhu smiles, and turns on another scary movie.

‘Is it gone yet?’ Gu Tian Tian asks.

‘It’s gone already,’ An Yin Zhu says.

‘Why didn’t you tell me earlier?’ Gu Tian Tian asks.

Gu Tian Tian is too scared to notice something out of An Yin Zhu’s control is reacting to her body.

Gu Tian Tian pokes An Yin Zhu’s chest to get him to turn on the lights.

‘I need to get up to turn on the lights,’ An Yin Zhu’s says.

An Yin Zhu pretends to get out of bed. Gu Tian Tian is too scared to lie on the bed in the dark by herself so she lies on top of him, and clings to his body.

‘Don’t move,’ An Yin Zhu says.

End of Chapter Four