Meeting By the Shop

"Hey, that question is wrong, you're supposed to divide this with that."

"Really? I thought I followed all of the steps right."

"Well, the problem is set up like this, so you need that extra step."

"Oh! I see."

Seated in the school library, a pair of students sat next to each other, one helping the other. It was quiet and they sat by the window, allowing the natural light to shine in.

One of them, the girl, stopped and looked out at the sky.

"What do you think that cloud looks like?" she asked, pointing out one of the many floating clouds.

The boy looked up and shrugged.

"I don't know, looks like a cloud to me", he replied bluntly.

"What? Come on, you've never looked at clouds before?"

The boy shrugged once more.

"No... They're just clouds."

"Yeah but look at that one, doesn't it look like a horse?"

He looked out before glaring at her.

"We have plenty of time to look at clouds but this homework isn't going to finish itself."

"Okay, okay, but let's go look at the clouds after this."

"Sure."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday flew by and Friday arrived quickly, Liu Yang woke up earlier just to head to work and finish quickly, clocking out nearly several hours earlier. This surprised many, especially Manager Zhang, who did not take kindly to this action.

"Leaving this early? What makes you think you can do such a thing? I'm the manager here, aren't I?"

Standing in his office, she looked at his irritated face before dumping a large pile of documents onto his desk.

There was so much that it made an audible thump and his mouth was wide open, awestruck by the pile of work in front of him. Manager Zhang looked up at her, facing the same polite face she always had.

"I'm just not feeling too well today so I did all that I could. Are you sure I can't leave a little bit earlier?" she asked.

She didn't show it but Manager Zhang could feel it, the quiet intensity within her. In his mind, he knew that there was no stopping her, there was even a slight fear within him.

"O-okay then, you can leave early, I'll see you next week."

Compared to his usual haughty and arrogant tone, he was a bit meek in front of her.

Her polite smile curled up into a proud one as she tasted a rare victory against her manager.

"Thank you, Manager Zhang. I'll see you next week."

There was a little hop to her step as she turned around, leaving him to look at this tall stack of papers.

Outside his office, she went back to her cubicle and began to tidy up her desk, grabbing her bag and putting on her jacket.

"Ms. Liu, you're leaving already? It's only 2 PM."

Xiao Yin glanced at her watch before looking at her senior in confusion. Liu Yang looked at her while quickly dressing up.

"Oh, I finished my work early so I decided to leave a bit early."

"O-oh, come to think of it, you came here really early, didn't you? Are you going somewhere after this?" Xiao Yin asked.

Liu Yang had a somewhat blank face when she answered.

"Yes, I'm meeting with someone later."

"Is it that stall owner? The one who was your classmate?" Xiao Yin asked.

Liu Yang stuttered momentarily before nodding. As usual, her junior was quite perceptive.

"Yes, he wanted to talk about what happened a few weeks ago. He wants to apologize and I want to as well. I knew he meant well and I just walked away from him", she explained.

In her mind, she knew that her emotions had gotten to the best of her. But there was also another reason she wanted to meet with Wang Li.

"I haven't seen him in so long... I want to take this as a chance to talk again."

Thinking about him, she nearly lost herself in the nostalgia before snapping out of it, grabbing all of her things and whatnot.

"Xiao Yin, I'll see you next week!"

She waved goodbye and quickly vanished from her junior's view.

Xiao Yin watched her go before returning to her work with a happy smile on her face.

"Ms. Liu must be really excited to see that guy again. I wonder what sort of relationship those two had when they were classmates. Ah, I think I'll ask her next week!"

Outside of the firm, Liu Yang quickly made her way to the station, glancing at her phone for the time.

"I might be cutting it close but I won't be late!"

Feeling determined, she walked a bit faster than before.

On the other side, Wang Li stood awkwardly outside the dessert shop, one filled with women. It was a rather popular place with great desserts and a very cute interior. There were a few empty tables outside sitting under the awning, big enough for only two. Inside were more tables along with a colorful design, neon signs shaped in cake and ice cream. There were all sorts of desserts on display, eclairs, crepes, various cookies and pastries.

Not to mention the number of women there, eating together and socializing while enjoying what they ordered. However, a fair amount of them shot glances at Wang Li, who was dressed quite impeccably. He wore a white long sleeve under a dark blue bomber as well as black jeans and dress boots. All of which was under the recommendation of Lu Wen and really did fit him well. It matched his lightly tanned skin and fit body, not to mention, he took care of shaving his face and fixing his hair up.

There was a sense of ruggedness from his time as a stall owner but also sharpness which stemmed from being a top student.

All in all, he was pretty much eye candy for the women to look at and the stares made it more than awkward for him.

"Ah, could she be running late?"

He checked his phone for the time but finding it getting ever so closer to their agreed arrangement. There weren't any messages from her either which made him somewhat worried. But in a distance, he heard the sounds of heels hitting the ground as Liu Yang left the station running. Still carrying her bag and clothes, she tried to be as careful as possible while heading there.

Glancing at her phone, she still had that determined face.

"I still have some time, I'm not late yet!"

She ran and ran until finally reach the dessert shop, standing right in front of Wang Li. But Liu Wang was hunched over, trying her best to catch her breath as she slowly straightened up. Finding herself face to face with Wang Li, who looked at her with a rather funny expression, a bit of shock and also amusement.

"You didn't have to run, you know. Here, let me."

Wang Li reached out and held her bag for her while she tried to recover from the sudden run.

"No, no, that's alright. I didn't want to be late, that would be disrespectful", she spoke quickly.

He smiled at her.

"Well, you're out of breath and I'm pretty sure your feet hurt. Let's grab a seat."