Basic Respect

When Shui Xian had come down, he had heard Raelle and Zhai Yanjun's conversation. And that blind date stuff reminded him of the very first time he saw her. She was on a blind date even then which didn't end very well. Not only didn't end well, but it also left a bitter taste on his tongue even though he was just a bystander at that time.

"Hi, Xian!"

Zhai Yanjun was the first person to notice Shui Xian who gave him a small nod in acknowledgment. He came to sit right beside his wife.

"Haven't seen you in a long time," Shui Xian said to Zhai Yanjun.

Raelle pointed at Zhai Yanjun as she asked, "Hubby, is he your friend?"

Shui Xian looked at Zhai Yanjun and shook his head in reply, "Our grandfathers were friends. That friendship didn't continue for the later generations. Neither our fathers are friends nor are we." He turned his eyes towards Raelle and went on, "It's just because of our grandfathers that we know each other."

"I absolutely agree with that," said Zhai Yanjun. Then he turned to Shui Xian and went on, "Congratulations on getting married! May your love be modern enough to survive the time and old-fashioned enough to last forever!" Shui Xian rolled his eyes mentally at that while he continued, "I feel like I should take some credit for this marriage. If I had shown up for that blind date, who knows whether you had this chance or not."

Shui Xian gave him a look, "You don't get any credit at all." Zhai Yanjun's brows arched up at Shui Xian's confident look while he went on, "Even if you had shown up back then, my wife would have kicked you out of her life cleanly." And that's something he was very sure about.

"Oh?" responded Zhai Yanjun.

"Hubby is right," Raelle agreed immediately. "All of my blind dates were kicked out by me. I'm an expert at breaking up even before the date could start." She noticed how Shui Xian was about to spread jam on the toast and added, "I want butter today."

Shui Xian turned his head towards her and asked, "Who said it's for you?" Raelle continued to look into his eyes and he sighed inwardly before saying, "It is for you. I'll go with butter."

Raelle looked satisfied with his reply and leaned back in her chair in a relaxed posture. It just took one day for her to get too comfortable with having her husband do such a thing for her. And yes, that's how spoiled she was and the credit for that went to Mu Chenyan.

"Ah-Yan," called out Shui Koshing when he noticed the shock on Zhai Yanjun's face at the interaction between Raelle and Shui Xian. "When are you getting married?"

Zhai Yanjun's eyes didn't move away from Shui Xian who was spreading butter on the toast for his wife and replied, "Will I have to do that after marriage?"

Shui Koshing chuckled softly, "Who knows? Maybe your wife ends up doing it for you."

Zhai Yanjun waved his hands saying, "I'll still pass."

"I guess your girlfriend is still not agreeing to marry you," said Shui Xian as he passed the toast in his hand to Raelle who took it silently.

Zhai Yanjun narrowed his eyes at Shui Xian and replied, "We broke up!"

Shui Xian nodded his head, "There is nothing new about that. It's neither the first time you broke up with her nor it'd be the first time if you both got back together. It's been going on for years now."

"I should have never told you about that," said Zhai Yanjun in a low voice. "But this time, we are never ever getting back together! It's final!"

"You said the same thing when you're drunk last time," reminded Shui Xian without a fraction of change in his expressions.

"You also said you'd never get married again in your whole life at that time," Zhai Yanjun shot back. "What do you have to say about that now?"

Shui Xian looked at Raelle who seemed completely unconcerned about their conversation and shook his head at her. She was really focused solely on eating. "I only said it to make you feel better."

Zhai Yanjun stared at him and repeated, "Make me feel better?" He scoffed, "Your exact words were, 'It's good that you broke up before it reached the stage of marriage. Trust me, it'd have hurt more if after investing all your feelings, emotions, and time, she'd still say everything you did for her was suffocating her.' Not only that, you even told me to just date casually. There is no point in expecting too much from anyone."

Shui Xian licked his lips and feigned a cough as he answered, "Who told you to listen to me, I was also drunk."

Zhai Yanjun looked at Raelle's nonchalant expressions as she told Shui Koshing, "Bà, we'll be going out for dinner together. So, we might come back late. Instead of having dinner alone, you should go over to Opa's place."

"I wouldn't want to bother, Uncle Tianyu," replied Shui Koshing.

"I think he'd be more than happy to have you around," said Raelle. "But I won't force you. It's still up to you. If you feel like it, you can go over any time."

Since she was done with her breakfast already, she stood up to leave.

She said to Shui Xian, "I'll see you in the evening." He nodded in reply before she turned to Zhai Yanjun and said, "And the guy who flaked out on me, it's good that I finally got to see your face. But I have an advice for you, next time try showing up on a blind date and have the guts to say what you wrote in that letter yourself. That's the basic respect you can give to the other person who made time for that appointment."

Shui Xian held up his fist against his mouth to hide his smile. His wife really didn't go easy on anyone. She didn't forget to throw a jab at Zhai Yanjun even now for not showing up for that blind date which she wasn't even interested in herself.

She took the coat of the red pantsuit that she was wearing from the back of her chair before putting it on her white shirt. Her heels made a tik-tock sound as she left without looking back.

However, Zhai Yanjun was left staring at her receding back with an unreadable expression.

"What are you looking at?" asked Shui Xian.

"Your wife's face kinda reminds me of someone," answered Zhai Yanjun honestly.