CHAPTER 27

SAYING SORRY


When Tian Ming and Ai Eng met each other at the studio door, Ai Eng looked away awkwardly while Tian Ming stared at her full of passion. Then Ai Eng looked at him and looked elsewhere, and she asked, smiling awkwardly,

“Are you here for shooting?”

“Yes.”

Tian Ming said still staring at Ai Eng which made Ai Eng feel even more awkward looking elsewhere so she quickly said, wanting to walk away from Tian Ming as soon as possible,

“I have to go now.”

Before Tian Ming could give way to Ai Eng, Ai Eng was too nervous that she quickly walked and knocked onto Tian Ming. Ai Eng quickly moved backwards and looked at Tian Ming, realizing that Tian Ming was blinking on of his eyes. Ai Eng quickly asked him,

“Is it your contact lens drops onto the ground?”

Ai Eng looked down, feeling bad. She said with an awkwardness,

“I am so sorry.”

Tian Ming covered his eye and said with a smile,

“It’s okay. I will find it myself. You can leave now because you seem like having some important things to do.”

Tian Ming moved to one side so as to give way for Ai Eng to walk out of the studio. Ai Eng looked away sadly and started walking out. Tian Ming just looked at Ai Eng walking further away from him. Then Tian Ming just looked down sadly and squatted down to look for his contact lens.

Just as Tian Ming was touching the ground in search of his contact lens, he saw two legs wearing a pair of white high-heel shoes slowly walking towards him and standing in front of him so he looked up. To his surprise, it was Ai Eng had come back. Ai Eng looked down at him with a smile and slowly knelt down besides Tian Ming. Ai Eng started searching the contact lens too. When Tian Ming saw Ai Eng was helping him to search for his contact lens, he suddenly recalled Ai Eng helped him searching for his school bag when they first met so he just stared at Ai Eng and smiled dreamily.

When Ai Eng looked up at Tian Ming, she realized that he was smiling dreamily and staring at her so she waved her hand in front of him and asked puzzlingly,

“Are you alright? What are you dreaming about?”

Tian Ming jumped up a bit and said immediately, looking down and touching the floor so as to hide his embarrassment,

“Oh! Nothing! Let’s continue searching.”

When they were touching the floor with their hands, Ai Eng didn’t notice that Tian Ming’s head was just besides her head so when she moved to her left, she accidentally hit Tian Ming’s head with hers. Ai Eng touched her head painfully and looked at Tian Ming who was touching his head painfully. Looking at Tian Ming showing painful and blur expression, Ai Eng laughed out delightfully and said,

“I have always thought that you are the clumsiest person I have seen. But now it’s like I am clumsier than you.”

Tian Ming looked at Ai Eng and smiled stupidly. Looking at Tian Ming’s stupid smile, Ai Eng said with a happy smile,

“It’s so good to see you smiling this way again, as it is from the bottom of your heart.”

Then Ai Eng asked with a sad look,

“Tian Ming, can you promise me that you will always have this smile on your face no matter what happened and live as happy as you can with the right one?”

Tian Ming looked at her sadly as he knew what she meant so he just nodded his head and looked away sadly. Ai Eng looked down too and saw something shiny on the ground so she quickly picked it up and moved to Tian Ming, saying with a smile,

“Look! Tian Ming, I have found your contact lens.”

Tian Ming quickly grabbed Ai Eng’s hand and looked at the contact lens on her finger, smiling happily. When they turned to look at each other, they had a very passionate eyes contact. But they were awaken by a cat’s mew so Ai Eng looked at his hands and put the contact lens on his hand. Then Ai Eng quickly pulled back her hand and stood up. The Ai Eng looked elsewhere and said awkwardly,

“Now you found your contact lens so I will go now.”

Tian Ming looked at Ai Eng who didn’t dare to look at him and said with a smile,

“Thanks for helping me to find my contact lens, Ai Eng.”

When Ai Eng turned around and took a step forward, Ai Eng turned back to look at Tian Ming who was looking at her sadly, asking him,

“Are you able to put it on yourself?”

Tian Ming looked away and smiled embarrassingly. Ai Eng knew that Tian Ming couldn’t put the contact lens himself so she took the contact lens from his hand and put it on for him. During the process of putting the contact lens, Ai Eng tried not to look at Tian Ming’s eyes but she couldn’t not to look as she was putting the contact lens on Tian Ming’s eyes, while Tian Ming was enjoying looking at Ai Eng. After putting on, Ai Eng asked curiously,

“Who put the contact lens on for you before you come here?”

Tian Ming turned his eyes around and said with a dishonest look on his face,

“Oh! It is my driver. I have asked him to put them on for me. But he’s not as gentle as you. It hurts my eyes when he put it on.”

“It’s better that you can’t find anyone to put it on for you. I mean you can’t always depend on other. You have to try to do it yourself. Understand?”

Tian Ming nodded his head obediently and smiled secretly. Ai Eng sighed and said, turning to walk away,

“I have to go now. Take care. Tian Ming, bye.”

Looking at Ai Eng walking away again, Tian Ming took a few step forwards but he stepped back again, saying sadly to himself,

“No! Yu Tian Ming, you can’t go after her even you really want to. You must keep this in mind that all you want to do for her is to made her happy and not hurt her.”

Then Tian Ming turned to walk into the studio, looking ahead sadly. Without anyone noticed, there was a strange guy taking pictures of Tian Ming. That guy put down the camera from his face and took out a picture from his pocket. He looked at the photo with a wicked look and said.

“I think I have found enough evidences.”

On the photo, there were Tian Ming and Ai Eng hugging together when Ai Eng went mad because of Yun Xi’s disappearance that time, and Tian Ming was comforting her. That gut put the photo back in his pocket and walked away, patting his camera.

On a snowy night, when Ai Eng opened the house door and walked into the house, she saw Jun Tai and Jun Xuan were watching TV programme. When Jun Tai saw Ai Eng walking towards them, he said with a smile,
“Auntie, you are back. Come and watch this new drama. It’s very funny.”

Jun Tai said, pointing at the TV. Ai Eng stood behind the sofa which Jun Tai and Jun Xuan were sitting on and said with a smile, touching Jun Tai’s head with her hand in glove,

“Both of you watch first. I will join you all later.”

“Have you eaten, Ai Eng?”

Jun Xuan tilted his head up to look at Ai Eng and asked. Ai Eng put down her hand from Jun Tai’s head and looked at Jun Xuan, saying with an awkward smile,

“I have taken my dinner outside. Thanks for your concern, Jun Xuan.”

Jun Xuan looked at Ai Eng and asked with an unhappy,

“Why did you thank me for my concern for you? Don’t you think it is like you are treating me like an outsider?”

“I mean.”

Ai Eng said, trying to explain. But then she looked away and backed at Jun Xuan angrily, asking him,

“Why do you have to think this way when this is not what I mean?”

Jun Xuan looked back at the TV and said.

“Just don’t thank me. All you have to do is just accept it with an open heart, and don’t take it as a pressure. This is all I ask for.”

Ai Eng looked at Jun Xuan feeling a mixture of touch and sadness in her heart, as she knew what Jun Xuan meant. She moved forward a little and moved her lip, as she wanted to say something at that time but she didn’t. Instead she just turned and walked towards the kitchen, saying to herself in her heart,

“I am sorry, Jun Xuan. This is all I can say to you.”

Ai Eng looked ahead sadly while walking into the kitchen. In the kitchen, Ai Eng stood at the refrigerator and held the handle of the refrigerator’s door, looking emotionlessly at the things inside the refrigerator. At that time, when Madam Han who had just finished washing dishes saw Ai Eng was standing there and not moving for sometimes, she looked at Ai Eng puzzlingly and grabbed a cloth from the table to wipe her wet hands. After wiping, Madam Han put the cloth back on the table and started walking towards Ai Eng.

Ai Eng jumped up pretty high and looked at Madam Han, touching her heart when Madam Han patted her arm and asked in a worried tone,

“Are you alright, Madam?”

“Oh! I’m…..”

Ai Eng said breathlessly so she paused awhile to get some breaths so as to calm herself down first, lifting her palm up in front of Madam. Then Ai Eng swallowed her saliva before she continued saying,
“I am fine. I am just thinking about something regarding my job. So you don’t have to worry.”

Madam Han shook her head and sighed, telling Ai Eng,

“You have to learn to leave your work matters behind when you are back at home. Remember this, home is a place where you can get some rest and at the same time you can get warmth and comfort from your family from a day of hard work. So go out and watch TV programme with Jun Xuan and Jun Tai.”

Madam Han pushed gently Ai Eng out of the kitchen, closing the refrigerator’s door behind. Looking at Madam Han, Ai Eng smiled warmly and took Madam Han’s hands, nodding her head. Then Ai Eng said,

“Okay, okay. I will go out now. But you have to come along because I have two things to announce to all of you.”

“Including me?”

Madam Han said and looked at Ai Eng puzzlingly, scratching her head. Ai Eng put her hand on Madam Han’s shoulder and gently dragged her to the living room. When they were standing next to the TV at the living room, Ai Eng saw Jun Xuan was looking at her so she quickly looked at Jun Tai and announced, smiling brightly,

“I have two things to announce to you all. This coming Saturday is Madam Han’s birthday so like past few years, we will take her out so as to thank her for taking care of our daily needs. But this time, it will be a little different. And this is the second thing that I want to say. That is……”

Ai Eng stopped talking when she saw Yun Xi opening the door and slamming the door real hard. Yun Xi just walked towards the staircase with a very black face. Before Yun Xi climbed up the stairs, Jun Xuan said, walking towards her,

“Wait.”

“Shouldn’t you just stay here a little while longer to listen to what she is announcing? Where has your manner gone to?”

Jun Xuan asked, while standing a few distances behind Yun Xi. Yun Xi turned around and looked at Jun Xuan with a very scary eyes as if she was going to kill him on the spot which made Jun Xuan looked at her worriedly. Then Yun Xi turned her head to look at Ai Eng the same way she looked at Jun Xuan. Ai Eng looked at Yun Xi sadly as Yun Xi looked at her with great hatred and slowly turning around to climb up the stairs.

After looking at Yun Xi climbing up the stairs, Jun Xuan looked at Ai Eng with much worries. Ai Eng looked back at Jun Xuan and looked away sadly with much worries too. Jun Tai could see the tense atmosphere so he started to asked Ai Eng in very delightful tone,

“So what’s the second announcement you are going to say, Aunties? And what is going to be different for this year’s Madam Han’s birthday’s outing?”

“Don’t make us guess. I really want to know it.”

Jun Tai said with a smile. Then Ai Eng looked at Jun Tai and remembered what she wanted to announce just a while ago. So Ai Eng continued saying but now with a heavy feeling inside her heart as her forehead was wrinkled,

“What I want to say just now is that we will be having our outing with an old folk’s home organization. Which means that we will be bringing them out to Jamsil and taking care of one of our seniors each this weekend.”

Then Ai Eng turned to Madam Han and asked,
“Madam Han, are you happy with this arrangement?”

“Of course, we will have fun and share our fun with the old folks at the same time. It will be a meaningful birthday for me. Thank you. You are very thoughtful.”

Madam Han said and smiled contentedly, patting Ai Eng’s hand.



Just as Ai Eng was walking towards her room door from outside, she saw Jun Xuan standing next to the door leaning against the wall. Ai Eng looked at Jun Xuan awkwardly and looked at the door. She quickly walked to the door and grabbed the handle. When she was turning open the door handle nervously and was about to go into the room, Jun Xuan asked, looking at her,

“Why are you so afraid of me?”