The Beautiful Time With You

Didn't we already agree on this long ago? Is he reminding me lest I forget about it?

Thinking nothing much about it, Shi Yao tapped on her screen and replied: [I won't. It's still fresh in my head]

Perhaps it was because Lin Jiage was still holding onto his phone, barely a second after she put down her phone, her screen lit up.

Lin Jiage: [Un]

He is responding to me as an acknowledgment that he has received my message, so I shouldn't have to respond to him, right?

With such thoughts in mind, Shi Yao put down her phone and started on her skincare routine, starting with applying some moisturizer on her face.

By the time she was picking up her cotton swab to apply some toner, her phone screen lit up once more.

It was yet another message from Lin Jiage: [That's good]

That's good… Something feels really weird about these two words.

Shi Yao stared at her phone intently as she pondered for a long while, but she was unable to pinpoint just what that feeling of incongruency she felt inside was. Thinking about how Lin Jiage had sent two consecutive messages to her, she decided to reply to him, saying: [See you tomorrow.]

Then, she put down her phone and proceeded to apply her toner.

Her phone screen lit up once more.

Shi Yao knew that it was likely from Lin Jiage, and she thought that he was responding with a 'See you tomorrow', so she didn't bother to check it right away. She took her time to finish her skincare routine before she sprawled over her bed and began checking her messages.

It was then that she realized that her previous thought was very wrong.

Lin Jiage: [I just checked the route. Since we're meeting at 11 o'clock tomorrow, you'll have to head out at around 9:20]

It's not as if I'm dumb. This is pretty much common sense. Why are you telling me this?

Even though Shi Yao was really getting bewildered by his responses, she felt that he might have just been reminding her out of goodwill, so she replied as amicably as she could: [Thanks! I'll take note of the timing]

Shi Yao thought that the conversation would have ended here like that, but barely a minute later, she received yet another response: [Will you be able to wake up tomorrow? Do you need me to give you a call?]

??????

It's 9 in the morning, not 5 at dawn! Why would I be unable to wake up?

Is there something wrong with Lin Jiage's sense of time?

Shi Yao blinked her eyes a few times before looking at the message intently once more, thinking that her eyes might have been playing tricks on her. But at this moment, yet another new message arrived on her phone.

[Forget it, I'll just pick you up tomorrow morning. I can wake you up if you're still asleep then]

Huh? It's just a trip outdoors, is there a need for him to go to such an extent?

This isn't Lin Jiage's style at all!

The more Shi Yao stared at her phone, the more unnatural she found Lin Jiage's responses to be. She bit on her finger as she thought hard about all the messages he had sent her, and voila!

It suddenly struck her.

Her eyes lit up as she quickly typed on the phone and sent a message over: [I get it now! You aren't Lin Jiage but Sis Jiayi, right?]

Only Sis Jiayi would treat her like a child and worry about everything regarding her!

Without waiting for the other side to respond, the very certain Shi Yao began to construct yet another message.

…

As time ticked closer to the decisive moment, Lin Jiage was starting to feel more and more jittery on the inside. Afraid that he wouldn't wake up on time tomorrow, he set up ten consecutive alarms at a minute interval away from one another.

And his worry soon spilled over onto Shi Yao too. It was to the point where he began convincing himself that it was a good idea for him to simply fetch Shi Yao himself, so after sending her the message that he would fetch her tomorrow, he began typing out another message, saying 'It's settled then. I'll be waiting for you at your place at 9AM tomorrow.'