Inextricable

Huangfu Yiduo came over as soon as Xu Xingxing arrived and exclaimed joyously, “Jiejie, you wear a hat too!” 

Affected by the current atmosphere, Xu Xingxing smiled and leaned over, and Huangfu Yiduo quickly put a hat on her.

As soon as Xu Xingxing put on the hat, the little reindeer, Huangfu Yiduo’s cheerful voice surrounded her. “Hee..hee…hee, Santa Claus, where are my presents?”

Then Xu Xingxing actually pulled a gift box out of her luggage and handed it to Huangfu Yiduo, grinning once again while saying, “Merry Christmas.”

Huangfu Yiduo had been joking, so she hadn’t anticipated the outcome.

Being caught off-guard, she questioned, “For me?”

With a smile, Xu Xingxing stroked her hair and said, “Yes, now open it and see if you like it.”

Huangfu Yiduo smiled as she opened the gift box after casting a quick glance towards Du Yizhe. Inside the box was a beautiful pearl flower crystal headband. Huangfu Yiduo beamed with joy and hugged Xu Xingxing, saying, “Thank you jiejie… I like this so…much.”

Seeing that she liked it, Xu Xingxing also felt happy. Seeing that Du Yizhe was the only worker in her store, Huangfu Yiduo frequently lent a hand with things. Also, she got along well with Huangfu Yiduo, and Xu Xingxing considered her to be a younger sister.

Because it was Christmas Eve, the shop was crowded and Du Yizhe was very busy, so Xu Xingxing took on the task of distributing the store’s promotional leaflets. This was not the first time she was doing this, so she handled it well. While she was doing this, she received a call from Huai Jing.

After the call, Xu Xingxing went to the parking lot in Jiating Plaza. Since today was a holiday, the parking lot was packed with vehicles. After searching for a while, she found Huai Jing’s vehicle. As soon as she got near the car, Huai Jing noticed Xu Xingxing, and he smiled at her while gesturing to get in the car. So she sat in the passenger seat and returned the smile.

It seemed to be extremely chilly outside as the woman’s eyes and nose were red. Her jet-black hair was styled to the side and covered with a red hat that added a playfulness to her usually gentle appearance. 

“Are you pretending to be Santa Claus??” Huai Jing chuckled as he inquired while glancing up at the top of her head.

Startled, Xu Xingxing quickly remembered that she still had a hat on her head. She blushed and murmured, “Store activities,” as she removed her hat and smoothed the top of her head.

“What is happening today?” Huai Jing smiled as he questioned her.

Before Xu Xingxing could speak, Huai Jing looked down and saw the cup in her hand. Huai Jing moved slightly, reached out and took the cup from her hand, and asked, “Is this a Christmas present for me?”

It was a blue coloured cup with the logo of Wuyin printed on it. The cups are made of plastic, and the craftsmanship was neither excellent nor poor.

“…um…” Xu Xingxing responded that it was actually for the shop’s promotion activity, not for Huai Jing.

He simply raised his lips after hearing her response, grasped the cup in his thin fingers, and twisted it just a little.

“Giving me a cup, does it mean you’re giving me a lifetime?” Huai Jing’s soft voice spread around as he looked at Xu Xingxing deeply, with some unknown emotion lurking in his eyes.

Huai Jing’s thoughts caused Xu Xingxing to become anxious, she was unaware that gifting a cup had a deeper significance. “No… no, this is simply a cup for drinking water,” she cried out urgently as her face started to turn crimson.

Seeing her flustered appearance, the man leaned slightly on the driver’s seat, and his smile deepened.

“You… don’t you need to accompany your sister?” Xu Xingxing quickly changed the subject.

Still focusing his gaze on the cup, Huai Jing replied, “She’s already an adult, she doesn’t need me to accompany her.”

“But… I’m going to be late tonight,” Xu Xingxing apologised, knowing why Huai Jing had come here.

The man’s light brown eyes met hers, his eyebrows raised a little, and his voice was quiet as he declared, “I’ll be waiting here for you.”

Her heart suddenly thumped loudly, something flashed in the depths of her eyes, she pinned her hair behind her now heated ear, and said softly, “Ok..good.”

…………………….

There weren’t many flyers left in her hand when Xu Xingxing went back to the shop, and even the cup was gone. Huangfu Yiduo, who was holding Ah Jin and standing aside, noticed this and asked, “Jiejie, where is the cup?”

“Huh? Ah…the cup…While I was handing out the leaflets, I saw that a child liked it, so I gave it to him as a Christmas present,” Xu Xingxing claimed in a panic. 

………………..

At ten o’clock in the evening, when the shop’s crowd lessened, Du Yizhe told Xu Xingxing to go home.

Xu Xingxing put the leaflets aside and then said, “Okay, I’ll go first then. Now that there are less people around, you can lock up and get home soon.”

“Ok boss, don’t worry. I’ll look after it,” Du Yizhe replied.

When the young pair gave each other a loving gaze, Xu Xingxing realised that although she was there to help, she was also being a light bulb.

She smiled at that, said goodbye to the two and left.

……………………….

Xu Xingxing walked to the parking space she had found earlier and got in the car. Huai Jing was looking at his phone, and looked up at her as soon as she was seated, with his light brown eyes lit up slightly.

After she fastened the seatbelt , Huai Jing started the car and asked in a deep voice, “Do you want to go back and feed Mimi?”

Xu Xingxing shook her head and stated, “No, Mimi seemed to be uncomfortable these past days, so it has been under observation at the pet hospital.”

“Is it serious?” Huai Jing inquired.

“No. If it was serious, I would have stayed with it. Mimi will be alright after receiving a few treatments,” Xu Xingxing stated as she turned to face him.

After this brief conversation, the car rolled out of the underground garage.