Chapter 35: The wedding anniversary (5)

It Jianyu stiffened for a second but quickly composed himself.

Suyin was way over the moon. Finally! Her chance came. Her mother also signaled her to go ahead.

Liu’s and Chen’s were worried the most.

This situation…Mother Chen got tensed. No expression could be seen on Father Chen’s face.

All the guests were curious too.

Mother Chen was now Father Liu’s dancing partner.

“Brother, what will happen now?”, she asked worriedly.

“Don’t worry. Our Jianyu has grown up. He is not the same Jianyu from two years ago. He knows what to do.”

“I hope so too.”

—

Suyin was excited. She couldn’t wait to talk to him.

“Jianyu, How are –”

“Let’s just not talk, okay?”, He smiled and cut her off mid-sentence.

She froze.

Jianyu…why are you talking like this? Can’t we even have a proper chat now?

But, somewhere or the other she had expected this. It would be difficult to go back to normal so suddenly. You leave somebody on your own choice, so you cannot expect the other person to act like nothing happened if he meets you after a long time.

She knew she would have to take things slow. But she also knew that she would have to at least take that starting step right now.

Nana also sensed something strange between them but she shook her head. Maybe I’m thinking too much.

Suyin tried to talk nevertheless, “I-“

“I don’t have any problem leaving you stranded alone here in the middle of the dance. I don’t care what the guests would think. You talk and I’m off. You decide.”

He smiled the whole time when he was saying this, but his eyes were not smiling.

Suyin understood. Not to push him any further. Otherwise, he won’t hesitate to push her on the ground. He really won’t give a damn about his or her reputation. She wanted to cry but had to control herself.

She just smiled and silently continued the dance.

The other guests only saw them smiling and talking so they thought maybe everything is fine after all.

After one minute was over, they switched again.

Suyin was paired with some other man, but she excused herself. Madam Tang noticed her odd behavior and followed her behind.

In the lady’s room.

“Suyin, what happened? Why are you behaving so strangely? Did you talk with Jianyu?”

She started crying. “Mom. He hates me now. He didn’t even let me talk. He said that if I tried to talk to him he won’t hesitate to leave me in the middle of the dance without caring about any reputation.”

“What!? How can he do this?”, She got angry, “Forget about your relationship with him for a minute, you both are childhood friends as well. He ought to give you that much respect. He cannot ignore the friendship.”

“Mom. What will I do now? I couldn’t even take my first step.”

She sighed. “Don’t worry. We will figure this out. For now, let’s go back. Other guests should not think that there was any problem between you two. You immediately got away after the dance after all.”

She sniffled and nodded.

—

“Jianyu.”, an elderly voice came from behind.

Jianyu felt a headache coming. He knew who it was.

He turned around. “Grandma.”

“I saw what you did there. You were smiling but at the same time, you were not smiling either. And I could see Suyin’s pale face. You must have said something awful to her.”, Grandma Liu said in a stern voice.

“Wow. I’m surprised you could guess that.”, he mocked.

“Jianyu! Is this how you talk to your grandma?”, she raised her voice.

He kept silent.

She sighed. “Can’t you let it go? You both were young back then. Twenty four. There is a whole lot of difference between being twenty-four and twenty-six. People become more mature. There must have been a reason for her actions back then. Can’t you at least listen to her once?”

He smiled sadly and said, “Sometimes I wonder whose grandmother are you.”, and he left without even looking back.

—

The truth was when they were paired together, Jianyu had the sudden urge to hug her, to ask her about what happened at that time and to forget everything and start anew. He had decided that he will not let her affect him. But only he knows how badly he was in love with her.

But she left. And he started questioning himself if she ever felt the same for him. He couldn’t even think a day without her, and there she was…already leaving him behind, without turning back even once.

Only God knows how torn apart he felt right now.

—

In the party hall, the game was still going on.

Five rounds were already over. This was the sixth one going. Nobody knew how much more was left. Everybody wondered if Liu Jinhai and Huian could get back together by the last round or not.

The one minute of the sixth round got over and the men twirled their female partners once again.

And this time Nana ended up with Liu Jinhai.

Nana became the center of attention once again.

Nobody knew why but everyone took deep breaths. They were scrutinizing their every move more than ever now.

Huian also didn’t know why but she got a bad feeling. She was now already dancing just beside them. One more twirl and she’ll be back with him. And they win.