After their pleasant dinner, the

two new lovers went for a walk.

They walked slowly down the busy street.

There was a lively atmosphere on

the street.

The neon lights looked even brighter,

and the people were smiling even wider. (Zuben: I guess we’re overlooking the

homeless and poor here.  Ah lovu)

And though the evening was overcast

and there were no stars to see, nor the moon, it did not affect the feelings of

the pair. They walked along silently holding hands. They went past a shop,

where Yin Ying stopped.

In the window display stood a male

and female mannequin wearing thick jackets lattice wool scarves around their neck.

Yin Ting wasn’t looking at the mannequins, she was looking at their reflection.

Zhengqing stood tall beside her; her hand in his. He was head and shoulders

taller than she was. His posture was tall, straight and dignified.

Very nice ah. They matched well.

Yin Ting thought.

‘What's the matter?’ He asked, they

were taking a walk.

‘I like the scarf,’ she replied absently.

(Zuben: You can’t tell him you were checking him out – checking yourself out –

checking both of you out)

Zhengqing looked at the scarf, ‘It

is nice.’

‘Ah,’ Yin Ting said, looking at the

scarf properly. It was really nice; it was a style she liked. Zhengqing pulled

her on to the store and asked for the two scarves. (Zuben: ¬.¬)

Two. Yin Ting giggled to herself.

He took the scarves from the sales

person and put one of them around Yin Ting’s neck, ‘Warm?’

She nodded.

He put on the other one and asked

her, ‘Looks nice?’

Yin Ting grinned and nodded.

Zhengqing went to pay.

Yin Ting was very happy with the

couple scarves. He had asked her if it was warm, it didn’t just make her warm,

she was feeling very warm. She looked at her reflection in the mirror, it was a

really nice scarf, and it was a pair with Zhengqing. (Zuben: Thirsty!)

Zhengqing returned and took her

hand to continue on their walk, ‘Wait a minute,’ she said.

‘Is there anything else you want to

buy?’ he asked.

‘No, but the light is good here,

let’s take a picture.’ She said as she took out her mobile phone. She aimed at

their clasped hands. Zhengqing laughed and left her adjust their hands to the

angle she wanted and took a picture. When she was satisfied, she nodded and

they were on their way.

As they left the shop, Yin Ting

took back her hand and typed rapidly on her phone. Zhengqing slowed down for her.

Once she was done, she took his hand again without prompting. Zhengqing was satisfied,

he gave a small smile.

‘What were you doing just now?’ he

asked out of curiosity.

‘I told them I am holding my boyfriend’s

hand, how about that?’ she said proudly.

‘On your blog?’

Yin Ting looked up at and grinned, ‘Yes!’

Zhengqing looked up her blog on his

phone. The shot of their held hands was on the front page, with four words: I am

in love!!!! And a smiley face (Zuben: Aren’t we getting ahead of ourselves

here?)

There were several comments below

(Zuben: Ain’t got anything better to do?) there were comments wis.h.i.+ng her well,

congratulations, and someone joking that she faked a picture so she won’t seem

lonely on Christmas.

Zhengqing frowned, ‘Delete that

one.’

‘Why?!’ she asked suddenly irate.

‘We’ll do it again.’

‘Eh?’ Yin Ting was surprised, ‘What

should I change?’

‘No need to change anything, just

do it again.’

Yin Tin was confused, she wanted to

ask why, but Zhengqing urged her to hurry,

‘Quickly, delete this one and put

it on again. When I am ready I will tell you when to post it.’

Yin Ting was confused but complied.

Then he told her, ‘You can post it.’

Yin Ting re-posted.

Just as she posted, there was already

a message from Zhengqing’s online account,

‘Sofa!!!!!’ (Zuben: I hope to the

G.o.ds someone can tell me what this means and why it is funny.) Yin Ting laughed,

this man was quite bothersome.

She watched him type on his phone

again, she looked at her blog to find the comment: So am I.

She looked up at him and laughed,

swinging his arms as she did. He looked a bit embarra.s.sed. He put the phone

away and tried to look calm.

‘Please be more serious, you

pretend to be proper.’ She said teasing him.

‘Do I seem very proper?’ he asked

as a raindrop hit on the middle of his nose. Zhengqing gasped, it actually was

raining?

Yin Ting smiled and wiped the water

off his nose, and pulled him on,

‘Come on,’ she said, ‘Heaven is

about to cry, let’s get back to the car before it does.’ (Zuben: Where do these

writers JP and CN find these cheesy things to say?)

‘You say such silly things,’ he

said as he ran. He ran faster than she did, but he pulled her along with him, ‘It’s

weeping,’

‘Because it is happy for us?’ Yin

Ting said laughing excitedly running lazily behind Zhengqing.

The rain got heavier and heavier,

the other pedestrians were running to get out of the rain as well. The pair

quickly squeezed under an already crowded eaves of a store.

‘Do you think it will rain a long

while?’ she asked as she watched the curtain of rain fell around them.

Zhengqing wiped the water droplets

from her hair. Fortunately, she was not drenched; else she would not be able to

stand the winter cold,

‘Cold?’ he asked her as he looked

into the shop, it was full of other people who had taken shelter from the rain.

The canopy wasn’t too bad, though.

‘I’m not cold,’ she replied

truthfully. Zhenqing was holding her, the scarf was around her neck and there

were lots of people around them. She felt very warm. Someone pushed past them, b.u.mping

Yin Ting closer into Zhengqing. Zhengqing’s hold tightened around her waist,

she took the opportunity to snuggle deeper into his arms. In her mind, she secretly

wished it would rain just a bit longer.

With Yin Ting holding him so close,

Zhengqing’s heart began to beat faster. He looked around self-consciously, and

saw people staring at them but they quickly looked away. He looked down at Yin Ting;

she was looking out at the rain seemingly unconcerned about the intimate

picture the two of them made. There were so many people around them, he

wondered if some were not comfortable, but he really wanted to hug her even

tighter.

Sensing his increasing hold on her

Yin Ting turned to him and gave him a smile. Her smile turned his brain to mush

and made his mouth dry. His head lowered, but he stopped suddenly remembering

he was in public, with people very much near them.

He raised his head gave a cough,

and put her head on his chest. He needed to be calm, and restrain himself.

(Zuben: I am such a contradictory

person. I am both in the ‘kiss G.o.dd.a.m.n you!’ Party and the ‘this is to G.o.dd.a.m.n

sweet stop it!’ Party)

Yin Ting began to laugh; her

laugher shook her body that was held against him. He knew she must be thinking he

was shameless. He coughed and said,

‘I’m back at work tomorrow.’

‘Oh,’ she replied, still smiling.

‘I’ll be very busy because I’ve

been away for a long while,’ he continued.

‘Oh,’ she said, she was unable to

stop smiling.

‘But I want to have dinner with

you,’ he said.

She looked up at him, and he could

not help but look down at her,

‘Do you have free time?’

Yin Ting grinned and said, ‘If I don’t

have free time, how would you react?’ but she answered her own question, ‘Another

time, perhaps?’

(Zuben: The people around them must

be thinking: Sickening! These two are sickening!)

Zhengqing looked thoughtful, then

asked, ‘Why aren’t you free? If whatever you’re doing tomorrow is not urgent

then there is no reason we can’t have a date tomorrow. If it is very important

then we can decided the closest convenient date, otherwise, you have to turn

the other party down and accompany me for dinner.’

Yin Ting laughed. Zhengqing heard

someone laugh next to them. They must have been listening.  He frowned, besides Yin Ting, he did not like

when others thought that his words were funny. (Zuben: Please be not so

serious!)

Yin Ting reached up to ma.s.sage

between his eyebrows, relaxing his frown lines, ‘I am free. There is no urgent

reason not to meet up. I’ll pick you up from work.’

He was very happy. She was coming

to pick him up, therefore, he can save some time and do more work. There was a

lot of backlog to get through.

There was nothing else to say, so

Yin Ting continued to hold him, with her head against his chest and his arms

around her waist, hoping the rain will fall a little longer. The rain let up a

little and the more impatient people ran into it. There view cleared of people,

so Zhengqing put his chin on Yin Ting’s head and watched the rain with her.

Actually so small, this rain is

really not live up to expectations. (Zuben: did not understand what was

happening with this line and so I did not change it.)

‘Why do you think it rains? Tell me

an answer.’ She said suddenly.

Zhengqing looked out in the rain

silently for a few moments then turned back to her and whispered,

‘Because the rain fell in love with

the earth, the sound of raindrops is its heartbeat.’ (Zuben: Which one, rain or

earth?)

Yin Ting looked up into his eyes,

‘Those days I haven’t been able to

see you, my heart was unsettled.  Once it

rained so hard, as the rain hit the gla.s.s, I thought of you, and my heart

skipped.’

Yin Ting did not speak but just

looked at him. She suddenly stood on her tiptoe and gently kissed him on his

chin.

Zhengqing was still, at that moment

his heart was beating faster than the fall of the rain.

Yin Ting was attracted by the look

in his eyes; she rose on her toes again and kissed him lightly on his lips. There

was a big palm holding her up behind her back, keeping her close as he held the

kiss longer.

They lost track of where they were

and the fact that there were people next to them.

He kissed her.

His answer was sweet, though the

earth was strong and majestic, it also needed gentle care. It needed the rain.

Zhengqing had never kissed anyone

before, it was the first time his lips had ever touched another’s. (Zuben: Did

I read this right? Never been kissed? I can’t decide if the rando t.i.tle should

be never been kissed or world of two)

But she did not refuse him, she

felt very warms and she put her arms around his neck and kissed him harder.

His tongue brushed against her

lips, and her face turned red.  He was

also rather excited and felt very good, he really loved this feeling. He loved

her. (Zuben: He l.u.s.ted after her more like)

Suddenly there was a sound of

applause. (Zuben: Ew voyeurs!) The people around them were cheering. The rain

had reduced in intensity, so Zhengqing pulled Yin Ting away and off into the

drizzle. They ran splas.h.i.+ng into the puddles, getting their shoes and legs wet,

but they did not care.

‘You really are shy,’ Yin Ting said

laughing.

‘I am not,’ he replied most

a.s.suredly.

‘I think you are very shy,’ she

said as they ran back to the parking lot where they left his car. They got in

and Zhengqing pulled out a few new clothes from his emergency case. He switched

on the heater as he dried her off.  

‘You’re not cold, are you?’ he

asked.

‘Not cold. And you’re shy.’ She said

laughing.

‘I am not.’ He replied as he wiped

his hair and looked at her, ‘You looked so delicious when you blush, I did not

want to share that look with other people.’

Yin Ting stopped laughing and

blushed, then she pulled him closer to her and kissed him. 

Zuben: I can't decide whether I should be worried or swept along with this thirsty couple. Enjoy. 

Two more to come. 

The t.i.tle is from a song by Cake called World of Two in their Alb.u.m Comfort Eagle. I always think of it when I see lovers.

 ❀ Chapter 43