QTAMW

░Bing Shi's thoughts░

'Other's thoughts'

〖Xuan Mu's thoughts.〗

· · ─── · ⊱❈⊰· ─── · ·

It took Xuan Mu five hours to arrive at Bing Shi's hometown. When he arrived, Bing Shi waited for him on a bench.

Stepping down from a bus, the thing he saw was like a scene from a vintage movie. He stood there in a trance, staring at his girlfriend; Bing Shi wore a burgundy blouse with rolled-up sleeves combined with a long black skirt. Her black hair was braided to her left side while big black-framed eyeglasses covered her face. Her whole being exuded sophistication and maturity.

When Xuan Mu came near her, he lifted his hands; wanting to assure himself if she was real.

"No touching," Bing Shi looked at the tall youth clothed in all black with a guilty face.

*Thumb*

"Why are you so pretty? I want my murdered back," Xuan Mu responded with a light smile; he put his hands inside his pants pockets, clutching them hard.

"Your sense of beauty is so strange, that time, I was a fat girl with pimples all over my face! I'm not fat as before, but still, my plumpiness didn't diminish," she giggled, "But thanks."

"Bing Shi, shouldn't you be blushing from my compliment?" He raised his eyebrow.

"Nah, I'm overpraised. It's hard to make me blush. Even if you put a half-n.a.k.e.d male model before me, the chance of me puking is higher than me blushing."

"Bing Shi look at me," he requested and looked her way.

"Hm?" she looked him in the eyes; her face instantly turned red.

░Did he just give me a flying kiss?!░

"Easier than I thought," he laughed out loud.

Bing Shi hid her tomato face behind her palms, "You got me, how come you don't blush?" She looked at him through the gap in between her fingers.

░He doesn't blush at all!░

His face was pale without a color.

░And why doesn't he wear eyeglasses? Shouldn't his eyesight be as bad as mine?!░

"I don't know. Maybe all the blood is collected in my heart area," Xuan Mu answered as he ignored his rapidly beating heart.

"What a cheat! Do you see that shopping center? It's ours. My parents took a day off just to meet you." As a taxi drove across the road, Bing Shi pointed at the shopping center amidst the buildings of various colors.

He looked at the large shopping center then back at her, "Bing Shi, why me? I'm a nobody. Aren't there better men than me?"

"For me, you are the best!" Bing Shi showed him the streets where she spent her childhood, "You don't smoke, drink, nor gamble. You are faithful, gentle, caring, and smart. I like your sense of humor, and we have many things in common, like our opinions, likes, and dislikes."

They passed by a city square. In the middle was a fountain. A stream of water flooded out of a jug of wine in a female statue's hands. Here, the paths spread out in different directions. Every building was different. Weaving through the maze of streets, the trees and street lamps shuffled their order in a periodical manner.

Xun Mu couldn't care less about the city as his eyes and mind were filled with Bing Shi, "I have no money."

"You are only seventeen. You'll make money later. What's the rush? I, too, have no money. But our parents are rich, aren't they? We should use them while we still can. Let's use them to the fullest," said Bing Shi, full of determination.

He chuckled, "What a bad girl." Knowing that his relationship with his parents was beyond repair, she didn't ask him to reconcile, "Where is my innocent Bing Shi?"

Bing Shi giggled, "See? Another reason. We can be our true selves before each other, without pretending to be good."

Xuan Mu rubbed his chest in discomfort, "I'm nervous."

Bing Shi sent him a thumbs up, "No worries. I bragged about you so much that they think you are some kind of a god, haha!"

"..." Xuan Mu was speechless; he couldn't shrug off the thought of how inferior he was compared to her.

Seeing his downcast expression, Bing Shi ordered gently, "Show me your hand. I got a present for you." She pulled out a bracelet with transparent white beads from her purse and gave it to him.

"A bracelet?" he asked as he put the bracelet on; it was such a contrast to his all-black outfit.

"Couple bracelets! I got a black one for myself," she showed her hand. She had the same bracelet, but the beads were the color of black.

"Thanks, didn't you say no presents?" he caressed the bracelet, treasuring it.

"Yes, but I changed my mind when I saw them online~."

Xuan Mu smiled helplessly, "I have a surprise too. I started school again."

"Woah, are you sure? Which one?" Bing Shi looked at him in surprise.

"Because you always liked those CEOs in novels, I choose Economy and management high school, distance learning."

"You! I give up...You are a lost cause..." she facepalmed herself, "Why don't you choose something you like?"

"There's nothing I like besides you," he grinned at her 'cringe face'. If it were before being her boyfriend, such cheesy words would send him into a block list. Xuan Mu smiled in victory, as her boyfriend, he had so many privileges, "Jokes asides. I have some plans in business already."

"You matured fast, didn't you?" she smiled back at him.

"That's because my girl is going to be a leftover woman soon," he looked away innocently, muttering, "I have to catch up fast."

Bing Shi whined in protest, "Stop it! I'm only nineteen!"

His taunting was so obvious; she could see that he wanted her to break the 'no touching rule' by having her beat him!

░Smart move~░

After a long chatting session, Bing Shi made a distance from him, "We have a problem. I'm falling for you more and more."

Xuan Mu got closer to her, "A huge one because you are not the only one."

"We are doomed," she said, her face filled with misery as she looked at him, "Are we going to turn into love-struck fools?"

Xuan Mu chuckled and copied her expression, "I suppose so."

· · ─── · ⊱❈⊰· ─── · ·

Bing Shi, Xuan Mu, and her parents were in the spacious kitchen, about to have lunch together. As if taken straight out of the magazine, the simplistic, geometrical layout of colors and trendy furniture added a modern touch to the house's architecture.

Bing Shi said, she looks like her late grandmother, and Xuan Mu couldn't agree more, she looks nothing like her parents. While her mother was a beautiful woman in her mid-forties, her father was below average with a beer belly pot. Both of them clothed luxuriously, ready to welcome the mysterious boy.

"This is Xuan Mu, seventeen years old. You know lots of things about him already. Even though he dropped out of school, he is better than me in everything! Don't worry; he won't touch me until I finish school, a promise. If he breaks this rule, we are done," Bing Shi said proudly, her tone serious.

Her parents stared at her in disbelief, "..." Did she have to introduce him as a dropout? Is it something to be proud of? They looked at Xuan Mu skeptically, "If you don't attend school, do you at least work?"

Xuan Mu facepalmed himself, feeling embarrassed, "I'm sorry, I'm living off my parents," his legs were shaking, "Few hours a day, I help with managing one of our family's branch offices," he smiled to himself, "So my father could go play golf with his friends."

Bing Shi chimed in, "And he is doing it for free! When he is at home, he does all the house chores like a Cinderella," she said with displeasure, "But never did he receive a word of thanks from his parents..."

Both Bing Shi and Xuan Mu cooperated to change her parent's opinion. None of them was lying, just the way they presented it...

When her parents first saw this boy, they were more than dubious; how could this boy assure their daughter's comfort in the future?! He looked like a kid who was still wearing diapers! What was their daughter thinking, bringing a boy home? Most importantly, what did she saw in him?! He wasn't even that handsome or rich!

But the more her parents chatted with Xuan Mu, the more they fell for his charming manners. Just like their daughter, he was so kind, so polite! They didn't believe the boy, but Bing Shi had their full trust. She told them about how she found a male friend online, preparing them beforehand, so they wouldn't receive such a shock if that friend, one day, appeared before their front doors.

During lunch, they noticed this pair's interaction; from a distance, Xuan Mu's gaze would always switch between them and the giggling Bing Shi, the perfect soft smile never left his face.

"Bing Shi we know you treasure yourself, but aren't you torturing him too much?" reasoned her parents. They looked at her with accusing eyes when they thought how long it would take her to finish school.

Every man would toss away a girl like her! On the outside, she acted like a perfect daughter, but they knew how difficult it was to move her feelings, even they couldn't do it. This Xuan Mu had to be someone, they thought.

"Am I torturing you?" Bing Shi asked Xuan Mu.

"No, not at all. I feel honored," Xuan Mu smiled at her parents.

"See? He says I'm not torturing him," she said with a smug smile, "Wait, what?" when she thought it out again...

░This brat! Does he feel honored to be tortured?!░

When her parents saw his smile, they looked at Bing Shi even more accusingly.

Xuan Mu was already planning how to win her parent's ower — not touching until she graduates university? That's too easy; it's not like he was with her because of her body — props for being a younger man. After five years, he'd still be young, he thought to himself.

Both Bing Shi and Xuan Mu didn't fall behind when it came to socializing. Even though they didn't go out to meet others, their communication skills were top-notch, same as their straightforwardness, that's because they trained on themselves.

After they had lunch together, her parents went back to work, while Xuan Mu helped Bing Shi to put the dishes into a dishwasher.

"Why civil engineering? Isn't it an occupation dominated by men?" he asked while putting a plate into a dishwasher.

"I want to build a skyscr.a.p.er. Wouldn't that be cool?" She gave him a plate from the sink.

"Mm," he took the plate and put it neatly inside the dishwasher, "Are you going to be fine being alone in a foreign country?"

"I'll be fine, aren't you always accompanying me? I never felt alone since I met you. Let's play some games before I depart," she gave him a cup from a sink.

"Sure," he took the cup and put it inside the washing machine.

Their synergy in real life was as scary as in games. They just met and they were already behaving like an old married couple.

· · ─── · ⊱❈⊰· ─── · ·

Bing Shi brought him to her bedroom; a room without colors, there was only white and gray, bare, with no books nor plushies. Even her large table which occupied her whole wall was white. She seated him in front of her desktop computer while she sat in front of her laptop.

Xuan Mu looked around and started to comment, "It doesn't look girly at all, my sister's pink bedroom is full of plushies."

Bing Shi turned on her laptop, "Plushies are dust catchers. I don't want my room to be dusty. Also, l don't want unnecessary things in my room."

When she wasn't looking, he looked around again. It was full of Bing Shi's scent, clean and mildly soft, like a creamy soap bar. So this was the place she always stayed in? So this was the bed where she slept? The chair he was sitting on, was usually occupied by her? Xuan Mu looked down between his legs in bewilderment, then up at the ceiling, he took a deep breath and started to pray for everyone and everything to give him strength.

They started to play games, but Xuan Mu couldn't erase his dirty thoughts of her, the thing between his leg was getting more and more painful. "Bing Shi, where is the bathroom?" he asked with furrowed brows.

"Oh, use my bathroom. The door near my bed..." She didn't even finish, and Xuan Mu rushed into the bathroom, "..." Bing Shi looked at his running back in shock; then, her face turned red. That was so awkward, she thought.

Bing Shi's bathroom was white too; nothing was missing - a toilet, a bathtub, and a sink with a big mirror. There were some cosmetics and makeup neatly placed on the shelves.

Xuan Mu rested his back on the wall and slid down until he reached the floor. He put his arm on his knees and tried to calm himself by banging his head against the wall — a very pitiful sight.

It didn't help at all. If he didn't take care of this annoying thing, it would never calm down. Helplessly, he pulled his zipper down and put his hand into his boxers. He started to rub the top of his phallus. When it was fully erect, he slid down his pants and began to jerk himself. His mind was full of Bing Shi. He wanted to touch her so desperately. Closing his eyes, imagining her lips on his, he bit his lower lip and fastened his pace, "...Nngh..."

"Xuan Mu?" Bing Shi called silently behind the door.

When he heard her soft voice calling out his name, he gripped his thickness, and came all over his hand, "...Y-yes...?" he started to bang his head against the wall again.

"Xuan Mu, I'm going to get some drinks and snacks, take your time. I'll wait," she informed him.

"Ok," he sighed helplessly. She'd be the cause of his death one day. Now, his life was really in her hand.

When Bing Shi came back, Xuan Mu was already seated behind the computer.

She put a cup of water before him with a plate of fruits and a bowl of popcorn. Both of them started to play games.

"Bing Shi, do you wear makeup?" Xuan Mu asked as they played. He noticed many cosmetics in her bathroom.

"Haha, do you remember my acne on my ID? It was hormonal, I started to use foundation to hide my acne, but it got worse. The problem was my skincare. So now, I always use sunscreen to prevent wrinkles and wear everything except foundation, too scared to use it. I use everything eyeliner, mascara, lipstick, blush. But skincare is the most important; you should start too. Like..." Bing Shi started to talk about her half an hour skincare routine for an hour...

He rolled his eyes and listened to her half-heartedly.

"Hey, are you listening to me!?" she asked.

"No," he answered truthfully.

"Never mind. I'll take care of your skin later."

"Ok," Xuan Mu's lips showed a sly smile.

▽

▿

▽

▿

╔════ Author's note ═════╗

This chapter is named after this song: Zombie Love - Bohnes. So hot! ((ﾉ〃ω〃)ﾉﾞ

╚═══════════════════╝