‘Gun Gun, I’m building a castle for you using my own hands,’ Na Liu Ting Du said. ‘Will you be my queen?’

‘Queen?’ Yuan Gun Gun asked.

‘Yes,’ Na Liu Ting Du said. ‘Are you willing to be my wife?’

‘Wife?’ Yuan Gun Gun asked.

‘Yes,’ Na Liu Ting Du said. ‘You’ll be my wife and I’ll be your husband. That way we’ll always be together.’

‘Impossible,’ Yuan Gun Gun said. ‘It’s not practical if we’re always together. What happens when you want to eat, but I want to go to the bathroom?’

Na Liu Ting Du laughed. Yuan Gun Gun’s backward way of thinking dispelled the romantic atmosphere he weaved.

‘Gun Gun, you’re amazing,’ Na Liu Ting Du said. ‘What should I do with you?’

‘What are you saying?’ Yuan Gun Gun asked.

‘Gun Gun, forget I’m your big brother,’ Na Liu Ting Du said. ‘I’m Na Liu Ting Du, and you’re Yuan Gun Gun. I’m a man, and you’re a woman. In your heart, I don’t want to be your big brother. I want to be your husband.’

‘Are you saying you want to take me?’ Yuan Gun Gun asked.

‘I want to marry you,’ Na Liu Ting Du said. ‘Not take you.’

‘I understand,’ Yuan Gun Gun said. ‘Like how if you take mummy away from daddy, daddy will kill you.’

Na Liu Ting Du was lost for words.

‘But big brother Du, you can’t marry me,’ Yuan Gun Gun said. ‘You’re my big brother.’

‘Starting from today, don’t think of me as your big brother,’ Na Liu Ting Du said.

‘But…’ Yuan Gun Gun said.

‘Gun Gun, you don’t need to give me an answer today,’ Na Liu Ting Du said. ‘I’ll wait three years to hear your answer.’

Yuan Gun Gun sat in silence. She didn’t know what to say or think.

At half past one, Hao Yan Che returned to his office but he didn’t see his rice ball. He immediately called her phone.

‘Hello,’ Na Liu Ting Du greeted. ‘Are you looking for Gun Gun?’

‘Where is she?’ Hao Yan Che asked.

‘Does she need your permission to see me?’ Na Liu Ting Du asked.

‘Don’t provoke me,’ Hao Yan Che said. ‘If you do, you’ll only make her suffer.’

‘You dare?’ Na Liu Ting Du asked.

‘Why don’t you ask her if I dare or not?’ Hao Yan Que asked.

‘Don’t be delusional,’ Na Liu Ting Du said. ‘You only have three years with her.’

‘I get to decide whether I’m with her for three years, thirty years or three hundred years,’ Hao Yan Che said. ‘You’re the delusional one.’

Na Liu Ting Du saw Yuan Gun Gun coming back from the bathroom. He hung up and put the phone in its original spot.

On the other end, Hao Yan Che smashed the phone against a wall.

‘Yi Tu, Jia Tu, go find her and bring her back here,’ Hao Yan Che ordered.

Yi Tu and Jia Tu didn’t want to end up like the broken phone. They quickly left Hao Yan Che’s office to look for Yuan Gun Gun.

At Ting’s cafe, Yuan Gun Gun looked at the clock above the counter and panicked.

‘Big brother Du, I need to get back to work,’ Yuan Gun Gun said.

‘Eat your meal first,’ Na Liu Ting Du said.

‘But I need to go,’ Yuan Gun Gun said.

‘I said eat your meal,’ Na Liu Ting Du said.

Yuan Gun Gun was shocked. She didn’t know when Na Liu Ting Du turned temperamental like Hao Yan Che.

‘You shouldn’t waste food,’ Na Liu Ting Du said.

Yuan Gun Gun heard Na Liu Ting Du’s usual gentle tone, and felt like she was seeing things before.

Yuan Gun Gun ate her meal and occasionally looked at Na Liu Ting Du’s face to be certain it was Na Liu Ting Du.

Na Liu Ting Du broke the pair of glasses in his hands, and vowed to be himself.

At ten to two in the afternoon, Yuan Gun Gun ate a plate of egg tarts, a sundae and drank milk tea.

‘Big brother Du, I’m done eating,’ Yuan Gun Gun said. ‘Let’s go.’

‘Alright,’ Na Liu Ting Du said. ‘I’ll take you back to work.’

***

End of Chapter Eighty-Five