Twenty-Nine

I thought you were my fairytale, A dream when I'm not sleeping

A wish upon a star, That's coming true

But everybody else could tell, That I confused my feelings with the truth

When there was me and you...

I can't believe, That I could be so blind

It's like you were floating, While I was falling

And I didn't mind, 'Cause I liked the view

I thought you felt it too, When there was me and you....

---When There Was Me and You lyrics © Walt Disney Music Co. Ltd., Walt Disney Music Company

One month after the vacation, Altria and Lyrid are happily dating and she is still working at Dong's Group of Companies.

"Ly, I forgot my pouch," a flustered Altria said. They were about to leave for dinner at a classy Mexican restaurant downtown, but she had just recalled that she had left her pouch in her office. As Lyrid rushed  to retrieve it for her, she began browsing in the vehicle for a USB port to charge her phone before it ran out of juice. As she reached into the storage compartment for his mobile car charger, she unexpectedly found a brochure for a diamond ring. Curiously, she scrutinised the advertised ring to realise that it had an exquisite marksmanship and the embeeded diamond was significantly large, suggesting it was very expensive. It had to be a six-carat ring, she realised and confirmed the same by going to the jeweller's online store to check the price of the ring in the brochure.

Upon noticing from the window that he was about to return to the car, Altria quickly shoved the brochure back into the compartment and pretended to be looking at something else on her phone. Lyrid handed her the pouch, and they started on their journey downtown. 

As they were having their main course, Lyrid slowly extracted a maroon box from his pocket and handed it to Altria, requesting her to open it. Albeit that she was expecting it to be the ring from the brochure earlier, she was aware that it was not a good way for a man to present an engagement ring to a woman without flowers or gifts. To her surprise, it was a red bracelet. The bracelet had a bell-and-arrowhead resembling the bells and arrowhead that Dijun had retrieved from the mortal realm following his mortal trial as the Song Emperor. He had it brilliantly designed and made into a bracelet as a gift to Altria. The bells were made of gold, and the arrowhead of silver.

Altria had been curious, but just smiled warmly since it was a token of his kindness and sincerity as he put on the bracelet for her. It was not as stylish as those manufactured by Pandora Jewellery Company but appeared perfect on her wrist. To satiate her curiosity, she inquired why he had given her this gift, and to her displeasure, he casually answered that he would know that she was around with the rattle of the bells on the bracelet on her wrist. Recalling a story, Belling the Cat, which she had heard as a child, telling of mice planning to place a collar with bells on a cat's neck to nullify its threats, she chided Lyrid that she was not a pet animal or a cow that required a choker that would make sounds as she approached. Teasingly, he commented that she was just too beautiful and intelligent to be a pet, but if she wanted, he would gladly pet her on the head. Irked by his words, she flashed a glare at Lyrid, only to incur a pinch on her chin and a kiss on her cheek. Seeing how she blushed at his kiss, he whispered in her ear romantically that she would always be his Purple Empress (as her other name Ziyu meant purple). 

Hastily she changed the topic to avoid further stares from the other diners, and informed him that over the weekend, she would be joining Astrid and Ceries in some volunteering work whereby they would be planting trees in the hills. She suggested that he could join them if he wanted to, but Lyrid politely refused to join them as he had an appointment overseas on behalf of his cousin Yun, since Yun was away on a business trip as well.

Thursday Afternoon

In the office, Altria pulled a long face as she had been unable to reach him and his phone was engaged. He was also non-responsive to chat messages and email. Since he would often drive her home, she attempted to focus on work to occupy her mind and time, in the that he would drive her home after her overtime job. Just then, while she was restoring a document in the laboratory, she heard footsteps, followed by the appearance of the little mean lady, Cassandra Chen.

Cassandra greeted her shoddily and then acted like she owned the place. Altria behaved professionally and considered the fact that she was after all, the daughter of one of the shareholders, so calmly inquired what was her purpose in coming to the laboratory. Arrogantly, the woman walked closer towards her and slung her right wrist under her chin, deliberately exhibiting the diamond ring on her finger, which Altria instaneously recognised as the ring from the brochure. The woman told her that she was just conducting a site inspection since her supervisor, which Altria knew to be Lyrid, was not around. Mockingly and yet calmly, Altria informed her that everything was fine and she didn't have to waste her precious time to come and check up personally on the laboratory since everything was running well as usual and the CCTV in the laboratory was functioning well, hence not requiring her time and energy for her to conduct a routine check-up. She watched in glee as the woman tried to hold in her breath but still maintained her smile as she walked off, obviously mad at her words, but Altria just turned away and continued working without losing her cool. 

She had been slightly shaken by the fact that the ring on the woman's finger had been exactly the same as in the brochure. As she felt distressed, she placed the document being restored on the table and promptly left the laboratory, returning to her room and checking her phone if there was any missed calls or messages from Lyrid. Upon finding none, she attempted to give him another call, but it had not occurred to her mind that Lyrid was in a 19 hours' flight to NYC to meet Cassandra Chen's parents to personally speak to them to demand the cancellation of his wedding with the mean lady. As she reclined back in her chair, she heard her co-workers gossiping about the planned engagement party between Lyrid and Cassandra.  Due to her distraction and inability to focus, she engrossed herself in her room pretending to be occupied with paperwork. 

Before office closed at five p.m., she received a bouquet of white roses from Ming's Florist, a renowned florist in town. All her team members were hysterical to learn who was the mysterious sender was and smiles were plastered all over their faces, probably due to the fact they detested Cassandra and was hoping for the news that Altria and Lyrid were the real couple. Of course, they had concealed their relationship meticulously from their closest co-workers to avoid gossip. 

Altria opened the sealed envelope to read the message he had written for her. "Sorry I have to leave, I always love you .... Lyrid", it had read, and in her dismay, Altria tossed the entire bouquet of flowers into her wastepaper bin. Upon seeing her wordless reaction, her co-workers quickly resumed work, returning to their cubicles and not saying a further word of gossip.

So....just like this? she thought, and did her utmost to prevent tears from flowing from her eyes. Why? she asked as she slumped on her desk, as her emotions churned within her.

It then took her several tries before she was willing to enter the laboratory to clear out her items as she was in the process of restoring an old document. Every corner and area of the laboratory would remind her of him as he would often stay inside the laboratory to have some private time with her or pester her when he had nothing to do since she was mostly the only person using the laboratory for document restoration. Though the Dong Gallery had previously hired a curator, she had to go on leave for two weeks temporarily due to a family emergency. Sometimes, he would await her patiently to drive her home after working overtime. After knocking off work together, they could spend all the time they had together without her co-workers realising. Since Lyrid lived alone and had plentiful rooms, she would also spend some time with him at his place before returning home. But most of their time together had been at the laboratory. As she reminisced on the moments they had shared together in the laboratory, she broke down and wept uncontrollably.

Back in their apartment, both ladies, Altria and Astrid, were drinking liquor as Altria told her sentiments to her cousin. After hours of attempting to reach out to him, all she received had been the flowers and a note from him, which she perceived to be a goodbye message and hence, severing the romantic ties between them. From her experience with Lyrid as a couple, she believed him to be a jealous, possessive and over-controlling lover, but the reason she was broken was how he had just departed without proper closure. She found it so implausible that she had been dumped for the second time without any proper explanation, although her first relationship had ended due to her ex-boyfriend finding a rich girlfriend. She had thought Lyrid to be different since he often dressed like an average commoner. She couldn't fathom why this was happening to her again.

Astrid tried to calm her down and cheer her up, requesting for her to reconsider her resignation from the Dong Group. She suggested that it could be that Lyrid has some unspeakable woes and from her point of view, as a couple, it would be best if they could find a time to sit down and discuss on it. She hinted that it may be a misunderstanding and suggested that Altria take a break from everything by venturing to the hills for the tree-planting charity event. This way, she could take her mind off things and would be able to think clearly after that, given the new ambiance and environment. Listening to her cousin, Altria took a day's leave the next morning and instead, used the time to pack her things to go for the charity event with her cousin. She was startled to realise that he had sent her a message earlier with the words 'I hope you got the flowers', but upon calling him, she was still unable to receive any response.

...................................

On the plane, Lyrid struggled to make himself comfortable in his business class seat, but due to his tall height, he had trouble doing so, due to the inadequate leg room in the Airbus. A glance at his phone screen told him that it had yet to receive a phone signal due to the high altitude of the plane in the sky. He recalled that despite his urgent plans, he had managed to find a florist at the airport before his flight. He had scrawled a message hurriedly on the note card, and due to his large handwriting, his message had taken up the entire front portion of the card. He continued to write on the back portion of the card, "once I came back, I will fulfil my promise in making you my Empress". 

While the plane was in the air, he retrieved a small black velvet box from his pocket, and opened it to admire the luxurious ring inside the box. Smilingly, he replaced the ring box into his pocket, and scrolled through the vast number of images stored in his phone. Every single one of them had been either of her or of them together.

Altria, he whispered in his heart, I love you.