Persistence and Consistency

June 16th, Thursday - 2nd Day

Since Wednesday ended up with Lily sleeping her day away, all of her meetings were cancelled and pushed to the next day.

"Did you sleep well?" Zhuo Jingren asked in concern the moment Lily stepped out of the bathroom, having just finished her shower. At the present, the man was leisurely sitting on the couch inside her room, with his legs crossed. He was wearing a casual shirt, paired with dark blue trousers. He had a laptop in front of him and his right hand held a cup of coffee which he had been taking small sips from as he waited for Lily to be done.

"How did you get inside my room?" she asked before clutching the bathrobe tighter around her body. Lily remembered locking the door of her bedroom before she went to the bathroom. Seeing the cheeky grin that man just gave her, she instantly knew that he must have forcefully entered her room. "Did you break my door?" He shook his head. "So you picked the lock," she stated while shaking her head.

Yesterday, when Lily decided to give this man a chance to woo her, he was so thrilled that he cooked her another sumptuous dinner. During dinner, Zhuo Jingren kept filling Lily's bowl with food, making sure that she ate enough. He also made sure that Lily ate her medicine and vitamins as prescribed by the doctor before she turned in for the night.

Perhaps it was due to a full stomach or the drowsy effect of the medicine, or both, but Lily ended up sleeping soundly until the next morning. When she woke up, Lily could not deny that she was indeed feeling a little better. And she was not planning to let this persistent man in front of her ruin her mood.

"I brought you breakfast and this…" Zhuo Jingren pointed at the oversized teddy bear sitting near the door of Lily's bedroom. "That's a talking teddy bear. It has my voice in it. You can listen to it when you miss me."

"I won't miss you," she said while eyeing the brown teddy bear that seemed to be at least six foot tall. "Where did you get that?" she asked. A Teddy bear as big as this that came with Zhuo Jingren's voice must have been custom made and would have taken days to make upon order.

"It's from my bedroom," he answered while he watched Lily drying her hair with a towel. "That's not how you dry your hair. You are too rough," he commented. "Why don't I help you dry your hair?"

Lily eyed the man suspiciously before nodding. She was wearing her underwear underneath her bathrobe after all so there should not be any problems. "Alright," she said as she passed him the towel before sitting down at the edge of her king size bed.

"Why don't you blow dry your hair after taking a shower?" he asked while taking a seat next to her. He then carefully dried her hair with the towel.

"I don't like the sound of a hairdryer," Lily said. "Don't you have a company to run? Don't tell me you are going to do this everyday for thirty days?"

"I am planning to do this until you say yes. I could even do this forever."

"You are making me cringe," she said.

"Hmmm… men like me are so hard to come by." Lily rolled her eyes at Zhuo Jingren's narcissistic words.

"Why would you have an oversized teddy bear in your room with your voice in it?" Zhuo Jingren was six foot two while the bear looked like it was as tall as him too. 'Could it be that this man could not sleep without his teddy bear? That… isn't that a little too quirky for his age?'

"I got it made specially for you. When I went to Australia, I found this toy factory which made really good teddy bears. I remembered that you used to have a small teddy bear keychain. Since you like teddy bears, I decided to have one custom-made and give it to you as a gift when I see you again."

"You are lying."

"I won't lie to you," he said as he patted Lily's hair using the towel. "When drying your hair, don't squeeze it too hard or twist it. Just blot it like this. Let the towel gently absorbed the moisture."

"You seemed to be an expert of drying hair. I wonder how many women you did this for…" she noted.

"A lot," he answered, causing Lily to raise an eyebrow at him. "When I first arrived in Japan, I did a lot of odd jobs, including working at a saloon and dishwashing," he explained. "But this is the first time that I'm helping to dry the hair for a woman I adore."

Lily instantly let out a series of cough at the man's words. "Alright, that's enough. Go outside, I need to put on some clothes," she said before opening her walk-in closet, not sparing another glance at Zhuo Jingren. When she heard the door close, she instantly let out a sigh.

Zhuo Jingren bought a teddy bear because it reminded him of her. This man… could be crowned as boyfriend of the year ah. However, Lily needed to think of a way to discourage this man from pursuing her.

After donning on a casual yellow sundress, Lily brought out the breakfast that Zhuo Jingren had brought into her room earlier, choosing to eat it at the dining table instead. "Don't go into my room again," she said. "I hate it when other people invade my privacy."

"As you wish." The man smiled dotingly at her. "From now on, I will be your personal driver and security."

"I have already obtained your schedule for the next few days from Yang Mi…"

"Whoa… whoa…" Lily held her hand up. "Hold on… you did not even asked my permission about this." She stared at him in disbelief.

"This is me wooing you, which you have given your approval yesterday," he answered, his head high and lips curled into a smug smile. He had already decided that he would pester Lily until she says yes.

After all, his persistence and consistency were two qualities that Zhuo Jingren was proud of.

….

Editor: Swaning