Chapter 14: Jessica

Jessica's sadness grew more profound as Lijuan remained quiet, sitting there with absolutely nothing to say. The tears dominated her vision, she couldn't explain the agony that sat hefty in her heart. 

"I'm sorry" Her friend's confession came unaware. She always thought Jessica just respected her, yet she neglected to see how deep her emotions had gone. 

"I should be the one apologizing. I wasted your time" 

"No, Jessica" 

The lady shook her head "It's fine." Her tears streamed down her cheeks and fell to the rug like raindrops as she got up. Her heartbeat slowed as she realized, after so long, Lijuan was never hers in the first place, and she'd moved on like everyone else.

"Goodbye. I hope you're always happy" It would take time to accept the fact someone she didn't trust had replaced her, and now that she knew how Lijuan felt about him, she didn't see the need to ruin it for her. If she does, there was no possibility that she'd have a chance...ever.

***

The next day…

Wu moaned as he put down his glass of vodka on the table and laid back in his seat. Not a single call from Lijuan ever since he dropped her at her place, and he was scared to call her. He wasn't sure, but then, there was a possibility that Jessica told her friend a thing or two, considering how close they were. Every night he'd send a message to his girlfriend, but the previous night, he was frantic, anxious, and ended up sleeping drunk.

He finally took the risk to text her. Whatever happens after, he had no other choice but to accept it. 

He turned on the phone and noticed she was typing in a message as soon as he wanted to do the same.

Lijuan: Hi Wu, sorry for not reaching you. Something came up. How are you feeling now? 

Wu was confused. How and why was she still the same after she met up with Jessica? He expected her to yell, or at least send a break up message. This was nothing close to the reaction he mentally prepared himself for. 

He typed in "I woke up with a little headache but it'll wear off later on. Were you okay last night?" 

She replied : No, I feel like I just lost a friend, and it wasn't easy for me to go to bed with that thought.

"What? Your assistant? How come?" He didn't have a clue whether that was something worth being thankful for a bad news. A threat was out of the way, but it seemed to have a major effect on lijuan.

Lijuan: We'll talk about it when I stop by your place later, around seven.

Wu sent one last message, "See you later then." 

Lijuan: Bye.

The next person Wu had to communicate with was Xin. He quickly dialed the number and waited for an answer. He called the first time, no answer, but once he called the second time, Xin picked up.

"Morning" Xin greeted.

"Hey, what's up?" 

"I'm horny." 

Wu grimaced "What's your sex partner for?" 

"I no longer have one. I'm not comfortable with one-night stands all the time." 

"Oh well, sucks to be you."

"Did you just shove my problems aside?" Xin asked, and Wu agreed, "Uh, yes. Maybe we'll talk about you more when you call first." 

Xin hissed before he spoke "So what happened? Let me guess. Is it about that lady we allegedly kidnapped?" 

"Very accurate. I don't think Lijuan knows yet, and I have no information whatsoever on why Jessica didn't tell her despite her burning hatred for me."

"The both of us actually…" 

"No doubt, that's true." 

"Lijuan's coming today to tell me what happened." 

"Tell me in details whatever she says, okay?" 

"Sure." 

"Talk to you later. I have to go to the gym." 

 ***

Under the moonlight and the gleaming stars, the avenue laid still, cocooned by an air so chilled. Lijuan looked at her watch before she moved forward and knocked on the front door of Wu's place.

She waited a while before it opened, and it surprised Wu that she still came, then his gaze lowered to the gift pack in her hand.

"Hello. You actually came" 

She gestured "Sorry I'm late." 

"You must really be exhausted" 

"Yeah." 

"Let me help you with that" He reached for the gift pack and moved aside for her to come in.

"I made dinner for you an hour ago, I'll have to heat it because I packed it away. I thought you changed your mind about coming here"

"No, no way. I want to be by my boyfriend all day. Work was just hectic, and I had A LOT of programmes to attend." 

"No problem dear."

"As for the food. Don't worry, I had breaks in between." 

Wu nodded before he took a seat beside her, but his eyes were still on the gift pack. He wondered who gave it to her, and if the person was a potential threat to his love life.

"I bought that for you."

"You bought it for me?!" He looked dazed. Never in his life had he had one of his girlfriend's buy a gift, no matter it's quality or size for him. It was too good to be true. All his life, he did all the buying.

"T-thank you" He appreciated with a weary smile, trying not to overreact at how happy he was for someone doing that for him.

"You're welcome." 

Before long, Wu's hand entwined with hers, and she drew nearer to him, laying her head on his arm.

"You're sad aren't you?" Wu asked, and she nodded.

"I can't get over it. I care about Jessica, but I've never loved her to the point I'd want to be with her."

"You had no idea she liked women?"

"I question her sexuality a lot. Growing up with her she'd always say she was lijuansexual" 

"Lijuansexual?" Wu raised a brow at the strange word "Never have I heard that." 

"That's because she was the only one that used it, but i thought it was all a joke. I never knew she was really attracted to me." 

"So suppose lijuansexual has to do with her love for you and just you."

"That's the summary." 

"Then I'm lijuansexual too" 

Lijuan pinched his arm, and he jerked in pain "Ow, ow, sorry...no more jokes." 

She sighed "Maybe If I'd have realised this sooner, maybe I would've fixed all this."

"Don't blame yourself…"

"But, there's no one else that can be considered liable for this. We made a promise to each other. I was supposed to look out for her. Aside from her grandmother, I'm all she has. Her only friend till date, but after what happened, I don't know if she'd be able to cope with her heartbreak."

"You're aware people don't like her, right?" Wu asked

"I won't be surprised if you feel that way as well. But, if you get to know her, she's a sweet Lady with a good heart." 

Wu cleared his throat "Well if she stopped acting nice to only you, and treated people equally, maybe they'll see her good side from within." 

"Do you know she hates men?" Lijuan asked.

"I think it's pretty obvious." 

"There's a reason to it. Not like I support it, but her reason is somewhat understandable. She's been through a lot. Without me, I wonder if she'd have continued her self-harm." 

"She self harmed?"

Lijuan nodded "I can't tell in details why, but Jessica…" She placed a hand over her face and groaned. She had nothing to say without trying to bring up her past.

"It's okay. No need to worry about explaining." 

"She didn't come to the office today, and I had to tell my father she called in sick, which isn't like her. Not one bit..."

Before she could speak anymore, he raised his hand to her face, touching lightly, tilting her head up just a little "Precious, I said it's fine. If you relax, you won't be stressed so much. Please. Just rest. I'll take you to the bedroom"

Lijuan twirled her hair casually after his last words that sounded so erotic, especially by his deep tone and the way he smiled. 

She got up, and in a flash, she found herself in his arms, and her body high above the ground. 

"Wu...I can walk there…"

"Ssh and enjoy the view from here." They both looked at each other's eyes, no words uttered between them. 

Her breathing becomes softer, the pensive look melting into a soft smile, then she bit her lip, shifting her gaze elsewhere to stop herself from getting mesmerized completely by his eyes, but Wu's stare remained glued until he stepped into the room.

"You can put me down now" 

"Of course" He assisted her to land on her feet and she did a brief stretch. 

"I need to shower. Want to join me?" 

Wu shot her a confused look. But before he could give a genuine answer, she spoke "I'm just messing around." 

"Well, I'm looking forward to that day." 

She looked at him with then flashed a smirk "Maybe that day is sooner than you can ever imagine" She cooed before strutting into the bathroom.

"There's a towel in there already. So you don't need to worry about stepping out buck naked...although you can if you want to."

"I thought that was the only option I had, but thanks for telling me about the towel." 

Wu face palmed himself "I think I messed up" He whispered to himself. He sat at the edge of the bed, and thought of the how much his life had changed ever since he started living as his dream self.

Things changed for better, especially his constant daydreaming. He no longer did that. There was no need to dream about those things when he already had what most people were struggling for, and the cherry on top was his pleasant relationship with Lijuan. He considered himself truly lucky for how smooth everything was going.

Lijuan stepped out of the bathroom a couple of minutes later, and her eyes met with Wu who was staring at her legs with his tongue slowly lapping his lower lip.

She ignored him and went to the other side "Don't turn back." 

Wu pouted "Can't I look a little?" 

"No"

He mumbled with his back turned to her direction while she dressed herself. Once she was done, she took him unaware by slowly wrapping her arms around his body then whispering into his ear, "I love you." She traced his arms with her long fingernails, moving casually along the skin covering his muscles, then stopped once she reached his hand. 

"Lijuan…"

"Yes?" 

"We've never kissed before" 

She moved back the moment he said that, and she giggled, trying to understand why he brought that up all of a sudden. 

"We have actually… That day at the car" 

"That's not a kiss…"

"Our lips made contact" She said as he slowly turned back to see the beauty behind him. 

"That's not a kiss...this is…" he said, his voice low and husky. Lijuan's heart skipped a beat and her breath was shaky as he gently moved in, angling his head to the side, their lips barely an inch apart.

She urged herself to push away before she loses herself, but at the same time; she didn't want to. She came to conclusions that Wu had seduced her senses and she could no longer think straight and focus.

"Precious Lijuan..." he whispered slowly, prolonging each letter as if to savor them. She unconsciously smiled, her heart fluttering at his voice as he clasped his hands on either side of her heart-shaped face.

"Forgive me for this" The next thing she knew, he had slammed his lips to hers, denying her of any words she'd have to state. She hardly had a moment to react before he pressed his tongue to the seam of her lips and at her unconscious grant of access, he delved inside her mouth, deepening the kiss.

The world slowly disappeared around them, along with all of our worries, troubles and problems. It was just Lijuan and Wu, just the two of them alone.

Her eyes closed as her body was lowered to soft sheets of the bed, and Wu hovered over her. He'd long waited for a moment like that, a moment where he could kiss her the way he wanted to, 

Their lips united again, and this time, Lijuan wrapped her arms around his neck, epiphany and elation coursing through her veins, sending wild tremors along her nerves as Wu's slimmer Lip's pressed against her plump ones.

He grabbed hold of the sheets as he raised himself to gaze into the eyes of his girlfriend. His desire was to touch her, to move his hands under her smooth layers and feel her perfect softness. Thinking about it only made him savour her lips even more to pay up for the days he wasn't allowed to. A kiss like this was a beginning, a promise of much more to come, but there would be a better time for that.

"Wu" She said as he pulled away. 

"What is it?" 

"Can you kiss me more often?"

He smiled, "I'll kiss you whenever and wherever."