The next day, Arthur gave Yao a call.
"Hello?"
"May I speak to Yao?" Actually, Arthur recognised Yao's voice, but he just wanted to be on the safe side.
"Speaking."
"This is Arthur, from last night?"
"Oh! Arthur!" Yao sounded happy to hear from Arthur. Arthur presumed that it was a good thing. "Hello, aru!"
"Are you up for grabbing a cup of tea later?"
"Tea?"
"Uh, I remembered you said you didn't like coffee. And personally, I don't like coffee as well…"Arthur babbled.
There was laughter at the other end of the line. "You are funny, aru!" Yao said in an affectionate tone. "I would love to have tea later. But I have to go for ice-skating practice…"
"What time does it end?"
"At 3pm," replied Yao.
"That's alright! I'll meet you at 3pm then! At the ice-skating rink?"
"Huh? You want to pick me up, aru?"
"Of course!"
"Oh. Okay then. I'll see you at three!"
"See you too. Bye!"
"Bye!"
When Arthur hung up, he couldn't stop smiling.
Arthur reached the rink early. He was hoping to catch a glimpse of Yao practicing. He was not disappointed – Yao was in the midst of launching himself into an axel jump when Arthur arrived.
Yao's coach, a small middle-aged man, was clapping and nodding when Yao landed and did a little twirl on the ice. He made Yao perform the axel jump a few more times, and then he dismissed Yao. "I'll see you on Monday with Mei, okay?"
"Alright!" replied Yao. He skated towards the entrance of the rink. Yao caught Arthur watching him from the stands, and he waved at the Englishman.
Arthur waved back. He stood up and made his way towards the figure skater.
"Do you mind if I just run behind and keep my skates, aru? It won't take long."
"Not at all," the Englishman replied quietly. "Take your time."
When Yao reappeared a little while later, he was wearing sneakers. Arthur was impressed that Yao could make himself look so good in so little time. Not that he didn't already look good before…
"So where are we going, aru?"
"Just to a nearby café. It is quite heavily British-influenced. We can have some cakes and scones as well."
"Oh! I haven't tried a scone before! I have heard of English people talking about it…"
"Well," Arthur scratched his head and swung open the door for Yao to exit. "It's quite plain… but I think if you eat it with cream or jam, it's delicious."
"Okay, then I must try a scone, aru!"
Arthur smiled inwardly at how excited Yao got over food. "I shall order some scones for you then."
Yao grinned at Arthur as he was led to the latter's car. Arthur opened the passenger's door for Yao and he got into the car.
Arthur, himself, got into the driver's seat. "Mei isn't with you today?" he enquired, starting the engine.
"No," Yao shook his head. "We may be partners, but we don't always practice together. Sometimes, the coach just wants us to practice our techniques, and we don't have to be together for that, aru. Besides, Mei is still a full-time student, so she has to concentrate on her studies."
"I see," Arthur replied. He looked at the back and side mirrors of his car for any incoming cars. When there were none, he started driving. "The both of you skate very well together."
"Thanks," Yao replied shyly. "It started off as a hobby for me, but Mei eventually talked me into making it a profession."
Arthur smiled. "She's not wrong. You're a fantastic skater."
Yao laughed. "Well, you can tell that to my brother."
Arthur glanced at Yao through the rearview mirror. "What do you mean?"
"My brother – he's a bit apprehensive about this career choice of mine. He says an athlete's career is done by the time he's 25. 28 or 29, tops, if he's lucky. That gives me about three to seven more years."
Arthur did a quick mental calculation. That meant that Yao was 22 years old. He was 24, himself, so it wasn't too big of an age gap, and none of them could be considered a paedophile. Nowadays looks could be deceiving – one could be younger than he looked or vice versa. "I guess you can do other things then…"
"Or I'd have made a fortune by then, and I don't have to work anymore, aru," said Yao as he wagged his eyebrows suggestively.
Arthur chuckled. He liked that Yao also had a good sense of humour. "Perhaps."
Yao smiled to himself and turned his attention to the scenery passing by.
"So… this brother of yours… is he the one I saw yesterday?"
Yao turned towards Arthur and frowned. "Who you saw…? Oh, you mean Hong Kong, aru?" he said in acknowledgement. "No… Hong Kong's more of a 'do what you want and I don't care' kind of person," Yao told Arthur. "This brother is my first brother, Kiku."
"It sounds like you have a lot of siblings."
"Would four be considered a lot, aru?" Yao snickered. "There are five of us in total: me, I'm the oldest. Then there's Kiku, Yong Soo, Mei and then Hong Kong. Mei is the only girl, so she gets pampered quite a lot."
By then, they had reached their destination, so Arthur started to look for a parking slot for his car. "Well, your family sounds very interesting," he told Yao. "I'd like to meet them someday."
"I'm cooking dinner for them on Monday, so maybe you'd like to join us, aru? You can meet my brothers and sister for yourself then."
Arthur was so surprised at the invitation that he almost crashed into a tree. He stepped on his brake hurriedly and then looked at the Asian man in disbelief. "Don't you think it's kind of soon to invite me over to your house for dinner? I mean, we've only met last night!"
Yao shrugged and looked away bashfully. "You seem like a good person. And I don't feel threatened by your presence. I'd say it's safe, aru."
"If you're sure…" said Arthur uncertainly. He finally found a parking slot and turned his car into it. "Is it okay for you to cook for me as well?"
"Of course!" Yao waved a hand dismissively. "I'll just cook a little more, aru!"
Arthur grinned, mostly to himself. He was glad Yao was so easy-going and fun to be with.