Chapter 14
Near the lake on the hills, the senior arrived along with the two friends in front of her small cottage house, which was all made of wood.
"This is where I have been living the past 30 years of my life" The woman explained.
"You've been living there alone for thirty years?" Jin asked shocked at the amount of time she was alone.
"I've been living here with my husband, but unfortunately he passed away three years ago and I've been alone here since that day" The senior explained making Jin and Yi exchange sad looks.
"That sounds awful" Yi admitted remembering her mourning of her late father. "This month it marks four years, that my father passed away due to a heart attack"
"Oh," The woman responded tragic at Yi's comment. Jin listened to the two women in sorrow, then glanced at the older woman.
"Do you have a family?" Jin questioned seeing the woman shake her head.
"I and Chen could never have children because in my young years I had gotten cervical cancer and I had to get my uterus removed" The woman explained, which made Jin feel really sad.
"Oh no"
"That's horrible" Yi mentioned earning a nod from the woman.
"That's how life is my girl"
"If we could help you, we would immediately" Jin mentioned earning a nod from the woman.
"You're quite a nice gentleman, my boy. It's been a while I've come across children or teenagers around your two's age"
"T...thanks" Jin thanked the woman a little embarrassed while Yi chuckled at seeing her friend turning a little red due to the comment.
The senior opened the door of her house, then got into it followed by the two raven-haired teens and they were in the living room which consisted of a small dining table for four persons, an old couch and a coffee table in front of it with a radio standing in the middle of it.
"Well I don't have this modern stuff you all find in your places like a computernator or a keyless telephone or anything like that as you see"
"That's fine for us, we can live without it for a while too" Yi mentioned making the dark-grey haired woman smile.
"Imagine my past me would be here right now"
"He would have gotten offended just by the way she calls the various devices" Yi mentioned making Jin laugh.
"I'd be crying about it" Jin added making Yi snicker.
"That would be hilarious" Yi confessed looking up at the boy still amused by them bantering together. Jin had his eyes glued on the girl grining at the friend, then both heard an echo from the outside and the elderly woman got out of the house to recognize a brown-colored dog run the hill up towards the house.
"That crazy wolf is back again" The woman mentioned looking back at the two teens, which looked at the woman, then Yi wide her eyes as she realized, what she was talking about.
"That's not a wolf, that's Kai!" Yi announced happy, then she stepped out to watch the Shepherd mix approach and get up on his hind legs placing his front paws on Yi's hands. "There you are!" She happily stated watching the dog excitedly shake his rear while panting.
"Great he managed to find us," Jin said stepping beside Yi to pet the dog on his back. "You know we would never let you back. I hope you know that" Jin told the dog, then Kai jumped at Jin licking his whole face with his large tongue. "Argh no, Kai, not my face!"
"Come Kai" Yi pulled the dog off Jin, then he sat beside Yi panting and watching the boy sat up in front of the two.
"That is one beautiful dog" The senior commented observing the dog look up at the woman, approaching her to sniff her.
"An old friend of ours gave his custody to me and he seems to befriend people really quickly" The raven-haired girl explained the woman, which patted the dog on the head giving him joy.
Yi removed her shoes, then took off her socks and wrung it out over the earth and placed them over the handrail of the small steps at the entrance.
"Come in you two, you can dry yourself inside the house" The senior offered earning a nod from Yi and she followed her into the house.
"Thanks, Mrs…..."
"Tsui. Shan Tsui" The gray-haired woman introduced herself to the teenager.
Later Yi stood in the small kitchen helping Mrs. Tsui making her soup and Jin was just finished putting the table in the living room. Jin leaned his back on the arc of the door watching Yi cut herbs on a board real quickly with the help of a knife, which the woman found astonishing, including Jin who widened his eyes at seeing how skilled Yi was with the knife.
"Can I help anywhere?" Jin offered stepping into the kitchen.
"It's good for now Jin, thank you" Yi pointed out, then Jin looked from behind Yi at the cooking pot, where she dropped the freshly-cut herb into the pot and mixed it with the cooking spoon.
"It smells nice" Jin complimented sniffing from afar the scent of the meal, followed by Yi hitting him on his nose with the cooking spoon making him open his mouth in surprise at Yi's deed. "Hey!" Jin complained making Yi smirk.
"Ops"
"Haha you're so funny," Jin said ironically, then looked down at Yi mixing the soup, then she took a spoon, that lied in front of her next to the stove and used the other spoon to put a bit soup on the soup spoon and held it up to Jin's face, who raised his right eyebrow up smiling at the girl and he tasted it while getting burned on it. "Whoa!
"Uh you know the soup is hot, don't you?" Yi questioned the boy, which nodded at the girl while warping his face.
"My bad" Jin croaked then Yi held up the spoon again, then Jin carefully blew at the soup and took a sip from it to check the flavor. "A very sweet taste. Is that honey?" Jin questioned the girl, which nodded.
"She's got another type of honey, not the one Nai Nai uses at home" Yi mentioned.
"I still find it tasted good" Jin complimented making the girl smile.
"In about five minutes or more the soup will be done" Yi mentioned earning a nod from Jin, which walked out of the kitchen and from the outside he heard Kai barking which made Jin curious at what the dog was doing on the outside. He got out of the cottage to see Kai standing in front of a tree barking at a small chipmunk, that stood on one of the branches nibbling on a nut.
"Whatcha doing boy?" Jin asked watching the dog turn his head to Jin, then wag his tail. "You're hungry?" Jin asked watching the dog jump and bark. Jin chuckled at the dog's reaction as he spoke about food. "Don't worry, we will get you something. Maybe fish, is that good?" Jin questioned watching the dog showing Jin his happiness with the tail. Jin got down on his knees and caressed the dog on his head.
"This is weird, but I actually really like you," Jin said receiving gentle licks on his hand from the dog. "It would be so cool if Nai Nai or Yi's mom would keep you," Jin said making the dog sink his ears a little sad. "You don't need to be sad, if you can't stay with them we can always find you another home, where people will like to have a good companion like you" Jin assured the dog, which jumped at Jin's arms licking him on his face, making him warp his face "NO!" Jin complained from the sticky tongue on his face, then he placed his arms in front of Kai's chest, pushing him gently away afterward the Chow-Chow mixed breed sat down vice versa to the boy. Jin looked at the cottage, where he saw Yi carrying the pot to the table, then Mrs. Tsui held under her arm a book and opened it showing it to Yi, then Yi looked into the book and nodded at the woman telling her something. Jin smiled lovely at the girl, then looked back at Kai, which grunted shortly nearly sounding as he had just said a curiously Oh at Jin's behavior.
"Am I being obvious?" The Chinese-descendant boy asked the dog, which just sat there in front of him. Jin sighed followed by the dog dropping his ears at Jin's state of the mood. "I love her" The raven-haired boy gushed in front of the canine, which moved closer to the boy and licked his nose and gazed at him. Jin had an idea and looked at the dog, which was gazing at him. "I'm trying to talk to you, as if I was talking to Yi, alright?" Jin asked watching the dog get up to make his way back to the house, making Jin wide his eyes in shock and step in front of the dog. "No stay" Jin ordered and the dog stopped moving and looked up at the boy. "Good boy, look you just have to listen to me. The only thing you have to do is listening to me. If I did good you can lick me all you want or if I do bad you leave okay?" Jin said looking at the dog hopefully this would work out somehow. Jin sat down in front of the dog, thinking of how he should start his practice then he snapped with his fingers coming to an idea. "Yi, I'd like to talk to you…..uhm how are you?…...That's great, me too…..look uhm…..I've been wondering…..erm….." Jin sputtered unsure if it would work out on a normal conversation. "Believe me, Kai, if she would listen to me like this, she would think I'm incapable of asking her or any girl out. She probably even would ask me how I even got on dates like that….Well I mean I asked many girls out at that time, but most of them were per messages. Some even asked me, because you know I was the most popular and most good looking guy back in high school and yeah….I don't know, look I've never really have been in love with any of these girls I asked out on dates, I…..just wanted to get Yi out of my head since my chances stood real low after her father has passed away. But no matter how many times I tried, it never worked. I think…..." Jin sighed followed by Kai drop his ears in sadness.
From the cottage, Yi walked out with a small plate with the rest of the fish scales and meat, then stopped a few feet away from her friend as she observed him talking to the dog.
"Yi I…..would like to know if you were interested in going out with me?" Jin said making Yi drop her mouth in surprise at Jin's conversation.
"Yeah I know this probably sounds ridiculous due to my past, but if it wasn't you, I would probably be the same narcissistic jerk I was back there," Jin told the dog while Yi behind him smiled enchanted by the boy's words, then she rolled her eyes down thinking about it.
Jin smiled a little gently at the dog, which tilted his head at Jin's talk bewildered, followed by the teenager groan annoyed.
"Come on, let's get back," Jin said making Yi wide her eyes stepping back as Jin got up from the ground, then he bumped into Yi letting her fall the plate on the ground spreading half of the rests on the ground.
"Sorry!" Both apologized, then Jin looked at Yi a little shocked.
"Where you here the whole time?" Jin asked Yi, which after a few seconds shook her head denying the actual truth to him. "Not even, what I talked about?"
"I just heard you saying something about you being a narcissistic jerk in the past. I wasn't really listening" Yi lied without having a problem. "Was it bad?
"No, it's just I…..spoke about, that….you know…...the past…...if we didn't leave Shanghai on that night we wouldn't have changed for the better, you know" Jin tried to convince Yi to buy his lie, which she, of course, didn't, at least in her mind.
"Alright. Hey, I came here to bring Kai his meal and it's time for us to join Mrs. Tsui for lunch. You're coming, right?"
"Sure, I'll be coming right behind you" Jin answered making Yi smile charmingly at the boy and they head both back into the cottage.
In my head, I believe Jin never had a real crush on all these girls he dated in the past nor had he a problem to ask them out, since most of the time it's per message and it's easier to be confident that way. This is just my input thou.