"So… you won't care about the news?" She cocked an eyebrow, wondering what would Mo Li's parents say about him getting together with a divorced woman. She remembered that the current Mo Patriarch is actually not as strict as his wife.
"What news?"
"You…" she looked at their hands. "Getting together with someone like me?"
"No." He smiled while shaking his head. "I think it's good that we are together. You and me… we can actually conquer the world."
She glared at him. How could he still joke about all this? If he is planning to run as a mayor, he should take his personal affairs seriously. Unless… "You're not planning to hide this relationship, right?" She couldn't help but feel a little nervous as she waited for his answer. Was he planning to use her skills and just leave after the election? That is… very possible.
"No. I am going to announce our engagement before I would announce my plans. You don't have to worry about my father. He knows where I am now, and he definitely knows that I am here for you." He gave her a stubborn expression. "You shouldn't worry about the opinions of other people."
"I don't usually worry about other people's opinions. But this case is different."
"What's so different about it?" He chuckled. "I'm sure you would find a way to create some sort of an advantage out of this. I know you. I know how your brains work."
His statement almost made her tremble. Goosebumps started to slither all over her body. Why does it feel like he was talking about Lily and not Bella? A sigh of relief escaped her lips when she saw the waitress approached them with their food.
"I trust you." He beamed, his eyes were glued at her face before he turned towards the food. "Ah… I always knew the Ramen here is good."
Bella's eyebrows furrowed, but she quickly released it and focused on the food instead. For some reason, she felt that she had eaten some Ramen with Mo Li before. But from Bella's memories, the two haven't gone to a Japanese restaurant. They seem to love meat a lot and would prefer Korean when they were younger. So how did Mo Li know that she liked Ramen?
"Eat… I can't remember the last time that I had some Ramen. We should eat here every day from now on. Or at least, find a branch on the main city." She heard him say. Bella gave an easy nod before she dug in. Half of her was actually relieved that the food was here so she could focus on eating instead of staring at Mo Li's handsome face.
She just felt weird looking at someone this good looking. Was this man aware that his good looks might cause some problems in their relationship soon? Bella's emotions towards this man were complicated. It was like she was torn between liking him and hating him. But she couldn't seem to disagree with him. It was like they have been really close for so long. Even their banter doesn't have any awkwardness at all. She shrugged and decided to stop overthinking stuff.
After a few minutes, the two finished their food and decided to go to their own apartments since Bella still had a Yoga session while Mo Li also said that he needed to take care of few things like pack his clothes as they would soon leave after Bella would submit their resignation.
"So… let me make this clear. You are not really a professor, and you are just there to observe?" Bella asked, confused. Mo Li told her that he could leave anytime he wanted to.
"My father pulled some strings." He beamed. "He is very supportive of me."
Bella gave him a suspicious look. The two are currently on the elevator of the apartment building. "What floor are you on?"
"We are neighbors." He answered almost immediately. "I live just next to your apartment."
"You sounded like a stalker."
He laughed at that. "I am a stalker, alright. I would follow you anywhere."
Shrugging, Bella turned silent. She was perfectly aware that Mo Li might still be hiding stuff from her. Perhaps about his father's support on this sudden craziness. But she felt it would be inappropriate to ask him about these things. The two arrived at their respective apartments and quickly said goodbye to each other.
Bella made sure to lock her doors before changing her clothes so she could do her nightly Yoga. Because of her schedule, Bella just paid for some Yoga subscriptions that she could watch from her TV. After a few minutes of her preparation, Bella started following all the poses almost religiously. Then she paused.
Bella sat on the Yoga mat and paused the video on the TV.
"This is such a boring life," she heard herself say. Bella liked to follow a routine, her life was full of schedules. From the moment, she woke up to eating her breakfast and driving to work, everything had a specific time. Outside of her job, she doesn't have any friends and seemed to isolate herself from people outside of the academe.
Moreover, she was still depressed by her divorce. Bella sigh before she opened her laptop and started checking out the news in the city. She then looked into her social media, which doesn't really have a single post aside from her Pikachu profile picture from four years ago. Then she realized that she only uses this account to stalk her ex-husband and cousin. Of course, she wasn't friends with them or even following them. The original Bella seemed to love typing out their names and check out the images that they post everyday.
For a few seconds, Bella thought about posting a new profile picture. Should she change her Pikachu profile picture? That's when a new notification appeared. Mo Li just added her as a friend.
Smiling, Bella immediately accepted the request and received a chat from Mo Li.
[Yoga, huh. :D]
[Multitasking] she responded.
[You doing Yoga while chatting?]
[Yes, sir. I am going to stop multitasking now. Have a good night.] She said before she closed her social media account. When her phone rang, Bella immediately flinched and scrambled towards her bag to get her phone. Why was her ring tone so weird? The original Bella seemed to love Air supply and uses one of their songs 'Goodbye' as her ring tone.
"Hey!" she answered.
"Open your social media account. I sent an image that I took earlier." It was, of course, Mo Li.
"Alright." She went back to her laptop and immediately saw the photo that he was talking about. It was a side view photo of her. With her slender neck, unique bone features, and short hair. The lighting was perfect as well as the bamboo background. She actually looked sophisticated in the picture. "I didn't notice you taking a picture of me." If she was right, he took the photo of the Japanese restaurant.
"It's beautiful right?"
She nodded. "Yes. Are you trying to make me change my profile picture?"
"Up to you. Though… Pikachu is really cute too. I remember you like Spongebob too?"
She bit her lips as she looked around her two-bedroom apartment. Most of the decorations were actually Pikachu and Spongebob. Even the original Bella's clothes and accessories were mostly yellow. "You remember." She immediately concluded that this was because of their past relationship. She even remembered that Mo Li actually gave her a Pikachu stuff toy when they were younger.
"Hmmm. I am sleepy."
"Then, you should sleep." She rolled her eyes.
"But I want to show you something."
"What?"
"The new Pikachu set that I bought from Japan. Can I come over?"
For a few seconds, Bella turned silent. Yep, smooth— So smooth. She beamed. "No. Show it to me tomorrow." She heard him chuckle on the other line.
"I know you would say that. It's fine. I will try again, tomorrow." His voice was warm and mellowed. "Goodnight." There was a few seconds of silence before he added, "I miss you."
"Goodnight, Mr. Mo." She responded, still smiling. "I will see you tomorrow." She ended the call and held the phone on her chest.
Then she frowned. Why was she so happy?
This Bella was actually acting like a teenager who just ended the call with her crush.
