The Stars In Your Eyes

Bai Yutang silently swallowed the fish soup which he found so heavy in his throat today. He helped auntie Ming cook this fish soup today, and it should be delicious. The bass groper fish was fresh and thoroughly cleaned. The pickled mustard greens were crunchy, perfectly infused with the broth. Ginger and spring onion sprinkled fried with the fish before boiled, completely rid the fishy smell. 

It is incredibly aromatic, gently simmered until a rich savouriness perfumes the broth. Not only that, but it's filled with melt-in-your-mouth bites of the most tender fish. But right now Bai Yutang found it was hard to swallowed.

Bai Yutang can't even memorise what ingredient used to recreate this fish soup for his lover. His brain was busy memorising parts of his presentation which he will rehearse today in front of his lover's family.

Bai Yutang stiffly smiled when his lover's mother scooped him another bowl of the soup, said this was good for him once his lover casually told her that Bai Yutang was easy to get sick in winter.

After lunch, as usual all of them moved to the living room for leisure chat. Bai Yutang was nervous. His lover's brother and sister in law look like they didn't remember that they told him to rehearse his presentation today. He was torn, whether he will stick to the original plan or just use this chance to silently spend this day without humiliating himself.

It was tempting, but in the end Bai Yutang braced himself and spoke. He had promised last week, and he won't break his promise.

"Uhm uhmm.. Jian Ge, Fan Jie, as m-mentioned last week, it will be my honour if y-you could give me pointers about my final project's presentation."

Bai Yutang really can't understand why he still can't speak confidently in front of his lover's family? He knew them for months. 

Fan Mingle raised his eyebrows, and her red lips slowly curved. Jian Kang Se stood up from his seat and told Bai Yutang that he will take the projector out.

"Did you bring your laptop? Otherwise let's use father's laptop to connect to the LCD." Fan Mingle asked.

Jian Kang Lu confused, what is this? His kitten never told him that he will present his project here in front of his family. This is not fair. Even his kitten never does this for him, and he dares not to ask. How could his brother and sister in law tell his kitten to do this? Jian Kang Lu worried, but mostly he was afraid his kitten would be in a bad mood and lash out at him after this.

"TangTang.." Before Jian Kang Lu finished his words softly spoken on his kitten's ear, his kitten already gave him that scariest smile. Jian Kang Lu knows very well what that smile means. He keeps his mouth shut and decides he will just help his kitten when his family slay him.

Jian Kang Lu didn't mean to look down on his kitten, but he knew very well his father and his brother's capability of making other people feel so low and crushed their pride in an instant. Jian Kang Lu prayed his family remember to restrain themselves.

"I bring my own laptop, Fan Jie. Let me take it from the car." His kitten turns his head and looks at him, seemingly wanting to ask for the car key from Jian Kang Lu. Jian Kang Lu pat his kitten's shoulder lightly, afraid of fuming his kitten's nervousness.

"Let me get it for you, TangTang." Jian Kang Lu hurriedly ran out and prayed his kitten won't be in a bad mood after this.

"Ooohh.. It's been so long since i haven't seen this kind of show." Lin Caihong clapped her hands. Her eyes brightened. Bai Yutang was having a bad premonition when he saw his future mother in law being so lively. This infected Jian Ming who jumped around in the living room and said he want to to presentation also.

Pair of Jian brothers setting up the laptop and the LCD projector. Bai Yutang wanted to help, but he was told to sit in comfort until all settled. Bai Yutang silently wants to wipe his sweat, rolling down from his temples to his ear. This is winter, but he was sweating.

Once the LCD was up, Bai Yutang walked to the laptop and opened his presentation. His lover gave him the remote to control the slide. The audience chose their own seat and looked at him with expectation. Bai Yutang gulped and his cold hand almost numb. He clears his throat several times before he stands next to the screen and faces the audience.

"Good afternoon honourable teacher and professors. Today I will be defending my undergraduate architectural thesis entitled 'Post Retirement Living'. In this presentation I will give an overview of the work I have done during the last five years, but before I begin I will explain the title of the thesis."

Bai Yutang's trembling hand pressed the next button in this small pen shaped remote. The screen was changed from the title slide into the introduction. He tried to remember what's next in his presentation, and he almost wanted to cry to hear his own voice squeaked, clearly showing his tense nerve.

"Spaces that can transform human performances and take care of their well being. The design goal was to enhance the quality of life for seniors by creating an environment that stimulates both mind and body. A world to explore, a vibrant community to come home to. Freedom from the chores of daily maintenance. It's time to enjoy retirement the way it's meant to be."

Out of his expectation, the more he talked the more he was confident with himself. He loved his project, this is his baby. He poured all the attention, doing extensive research, and he wanted people to appreciate his baby as it was the result of his long hours of work, in tears and blood. He knows his project well, and he studies a lot about it. He also spent many hours discussing it with his counselor. 

In the last 4 slides of his presentation, his voice was clear and not trembling like the first time he opened his presentation. He saw the audience all silently watch him, while Jian Ming was dragged to another room by auntie Ming's daughter to prevent him jumping around and disturbing the presentation.

"Finally, assisted living centres are extremely valuable for the elderly population because they provide a sense of dignity and independence while still providing the level of care needed. They utilize personalized care that is carefully shaped to the needs and desires of the elderly on an individual basis. Assisted living centres will be valuable for future generations provided the predicted trends continue"

Bai Yutang closes his presentation with thank you and bow to the audience. He was hearing clapping sounds and saw his lover smiling at him with pride expressed on his face. But Bai Yutang's heart sank when he saw only the ladies in this room clapping their hand along with his lover.

Bai Yutang heard auntie Lin's asking in a thrilled voice, "So, who will talk first? Can I?"

Jian Shen raised his hand to cut his wife, "I will. You can talk after me." 

His wife pouted and told Bai Yutang to drink first before listening to the long rant from her husband. "It will take a long time and not funny at all, trust me."

Bai Yutang felt his hands were numb again and he was really really nervous. 

"First, i will comment about your body language. This thesis also counts as your practice when you do your presentation to your future clients. You need to have confidence about what you sell, and your body language will be a focus on how you keep your audience entertained. On thesis defense, the audience understood well and might not need your explanation further. But in future, your clients won't understand, and better to elaborate in simple yet easy to digest. You need to maintain their interest, make your body language interesting, and don't forget eye contact."

This whole long rant was noted by Bai Yutang who started to scramble his notes on his tablet. His future father in law didn't take notes at all but he remembered all the presentations Bai Yutang just did. He points out which slides need to elaborate, he criticises Bai Yutang's over explanation, he also emphasises on reducing the slide's number to prevent Bai Yutang's over explanation.

After the whole 20 minutes lectured, Bai Yutang felt his brain already fried from this overload of information. When Jian Shen finished, Lin Caihong abruptly cut her son and told him that as a mother, she was the 2nd highest position in this room. Then she starts questioning Bai Yutang, and demands Bai Yutang to answer her questions in body language Jian Shen told him. 

This consumes 10 minutes for Bai Yutang to answer the same question again and again. Jian Kang Lu stood up and helped his kitten to fix his body language. He showed Bai Yutang the body language these people want to see. He was trained to do hundreds of presentations before, so his confident body language was clearly on a whole different level with Bai Yutang.

After another 15 minutes, Lin Caihong nodded and was satisfied with Bai Yutang's answer and body language. Then it was Jian Kang Se turn. His voice was icy and monotone, his questions and marks made Bai Yutang wonder whether this man was studying architecture before. His knowledge was wide and pointed weak points in Bai Yutang's presentation.

Last is Fan Mingle, who focused on the social impact. She was not overbearing like her husband, but still Bai Yutang found it was not easy to answer her detailed questions. After she finished, all of them looked at Jian Kang Lu.

"You don't have anything to point out or ask, gege?" Jian Kang Se was the one who spoke first among them.

Jian Kang Lu smiled, then he rambled his praise to his kitten. Once he finished, all of them still stared at him.

"That's it? I still remember you coldly and ruthlessly commenting on my thesis defence rehearsal." Jian Kang Se's tone is still monotone.

"You guys are already torturing TangTang for more than 100 minutes. I'm hungry again listening to all your comments. And honestly, I think his professors were not as demanding as you guys." Jian Kang Lu took the avocado egg rolls on the tables and started to eat. He truly famished from his nervousness listening to his family slaughtering his little kitten.

He is truly afraid of the consequences later when they reach home. He prayed his praise ease his kitten's mood, even though he only saw his kitten's face focused and dedicated to answer all these questions as best as he could. But then their eyes met each other, and Jian Kang Lu returned to the space where only both of them existed. It only lasted one second, but then he saw.

Looking at that white jade face layered with sweat, those phoenix eyes squinted focus on answering each question, and those pale pink lips didn't forget to smile, showing the whole determined expression of conquering his presentation, grew a different bud inside Jian Kang Lu's heart.

It was admiration. It takes strength to hold the best part of yourself, keeping that real, yet pushing onward as his kitten does. It takes courage to stand in front of strangers and bear your weakness, gracefully embrace the critique and use it to enhance your strength. It takes more than love for his kitten to do these kinds of things right now. 

His kitten loves his project. He could see it, as clear as the spring lake on a fine day.