Chapter 121: The experiment
I was semi excited and semi curious as I opened my eyes and gazed into the mirror.
Was that really me?
I stared at my skin. My eyes were like peach blossoms; red lips and white teeth. My appearance had an unspeakable charm to it. People often say that makeup artists had superior craftsmanship. Today, I finally believed it. This was comparable to plastic surgery!
“Customer, someone is looking for you outside.” The worker came in to notify me.
Just as I was about to get up to show Suyang my look, the makeup artist stopped me. He smiled and asked, “Do you want to surprise your boyfriend?”
“What do you mean?”
“Follow me.” The makeup artist secretly led me to an area behind a curtain. He said, “You only have to sit here and be pretty. In a bit, I’ll play music for you and the curtain will fall down to surprise your boyfriend.”
I liked his idea... so I obediently listened to him and remained behind the curtain. I shifted my body around and tried to figure out the pose that would accentuate my beauty the most.
Suddenly, there was an odd yet touching melody playing in the background. My emotional state instantly adapted to the context and I subconsciously played my character.
The curtain fell and Suyang was standing right in front of me. He froze.
“You....” Suyang was only able to utter one word; everything else was replaced by astonishment.
I had no idea where the photo studio got the cherry petals from, but they were fluttering in the air like snow. It wasn’t until later that I found out the lyrics to the Japanese song that was playing in the background.
The general translations were :
After farewell, everything passed by like water.
When will we meet again?
The result of years led to collapse of beauty.
The only thing that dragged me down was my longing.
Today, the moon was round again.
The cherry blossoms fell and piled up upon the resentment.
When will my dream reach the Heavens?
I reflected as if my husband was in front of me...
The melody started off soft, but then it became very sad. Afterwards, it took a different turn. It seemed to give the listener a glimmer of hope, before pulling them back to reality.
Oh yes, my man was right in front of me.
I had never separated from Suyang, but why was I able to relate to the song? It felt like a story about me.Perhaps, as a woman, I was too sentimental.
Suyang slowly walked towards me. He lightly bent his waist and offered his right hand. At that moment, I reenacted my role again.
I took Suyang’s hand, but since the head ornament and my outfit were too heavy, I tripped and fell right into Suyang’s arms.
“You’re so beautiful.”
This was Suyang’s first complete sentence. The long makeup was definitely worth it.
“You didn’t know until today?” I retorted.
Suyang smiled and shook his head, “No, I knew early on. I already knew the first time we met.”
“Perfect! We’re done!” The worker had terrible timing and broke off our sappy moment. When I heard her voice, we returned back to reality and awkwardly separated. Then, our eyes wandered around the studio.
“We’re done?” I had no idea when the pictures were taken.
“Our photographer thought the moment you two shared was truly beautiful, so he snapped all the shots already.” The worker brought the laptop over to show us.
She was correct. The truest emotions were always unplanned. After a long time, I still couldn’t choose a picture out of the ten. Seeing how difficult it was for me, Suyang simply told the worker to print them all.
Having a rich boyfriend was great...
“How did you know I wanted them all?” I was curious to know how Suyang always seemed to have the ability to read my mind.
“How can I share that with you? That’s my Dao of survival.” Suyang grinned as he looked down at his watch, “By the way, Shaoqian and Shaonu are waiting for us in the coffee shop. Hurry and remove your makeup so we can go find them!”
“Remove my makeup?” I was reluctant. It was rare that I could look so pretty...
“You want to walk out like this?” Since Suyang was urging, I followed the worker back into the makeup room. When I entered, the makeup artist was busy tidying up.
“Today was great experience. Thank you so much!”
“As long as you liked it.” Then, he stopped tidying up and asked, “Do you want me to help you remove your makeup?”
I was so happy with myself for finding such a great photo studio. So, I made a solemn oath and declared to the makeup artist, “In the future, if I come to Japan again, I’ll definitely return!”
“Haha!” He laughed like a child as he helped me remove the head ornament and makeup. “In the future, if your friends plan to come to Japan, don’t forget to recommend our studio to them!”
Friends...? I wanted to tell him that the closest people to me were already on this trip. But it sounded kind of awkward so I simply nodded.
“Also, just mention my name and they’ll give you a discount!”
“Oh yeah, I don’t know your name...”
“Anson.”
“Anson!” I was worried I’d forget, so I repeated once more.
The makeup artist smiled, “That’s right. My name is Anson.”
——
Ever since we returned from Japan, all of Suyang’s inspiration appeared. The moment we got back, he immediately began to type nonstop. He said the day at the photo studio gave him a lot of inspiration.
“Here!” One day, Suyang handed me a walkie-talkie.
Initially, I was pleasantly enjoying my wonderful weekend. But the moment I saw Suyang, I had a bad gut feeling. I stared at the walkie-talkie and was too afraid to accept it from him. I was scared it was a prank.
“What is it?”
“This is related to my inspiration. As my assistant, it is time for you to do your job.”
I had nearly forgotten that I was his assistant... recently, I’ve been living as Suyang’s girlfriend. I forgot that I had to cooperate with him at all levels when he writes his novels.
“What do I have to do this time....?” I was a bit worried as I shrunk my body on the couch.
“It’s very simple. Just carry this walkie-talkie and be on standby on the 30th floor. I will be on the 1st floor. When you hear my command, run down as fast as you can. Understand?”
I understood but I was confused at the same time.
“You want me to run down from the 30th floor? Do you think I’m Superwoman?”
“I’m not telling you to fly. Just run. I want to know how long it would take.”
“Then you run, I’ll be the timer.”
“Men and women have different build. I want to test the female stamina.” Suyang giggled. He knew it was a tough task but still forced me do it. Suyang stuffed the walkie-talkie into my hand.
Then, he nudged me with his arm, “Let’s go. After the experiment, we’ll go out to eat dinner. My treat, okay?”
I glared at Suyang, “Do you think I’m the type of woman who only requires a meal to be satisfied?”
“I think....” Suyang avoided eye contact and I knew what he was thinking.
“What are we having for dinner?” I frowned. Although I was somewhat unwilling, this was part of my job as an assistant.
“Whatever you want.”
I got up from the couch and took a deep breath, “Let’s go do this before I starve to death!” Then, I went over to the entrance to put on my running shoes.
“Ok!” Since I agreed, Suyang smiled and quickly followed along. The two of us waited for the elevator. I went up to the 30th floor, while he went down to the 1st.
I held onto Suyang’s walkie-talkie and stood in the passageway; in a runner’s position. I had no idea how the inspiration from the Japan Edo photo studio could lead to this experiment. What a qualitative leap. What was he doing on the computer these past few days?
“Are you ready?” I could hear Suyang’s fuzzy voice from the walkie-talkie.
“Yes, I’m ready.” I stared at the long and endless staircases and sighed and waited for his command.
“Start!”
I began to run down as fast as I could. Deep down, I was glad that Suyang wanted to find out how fast it would take to run down the stairs instead of up...
“As long as I get down as fast as I can, it’s okay, right? I don’t have to run...” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“My literal meaning!” I smiled and began to slide down from the handrail. Back when I was in Primary School, it was very common amongst children. Who would’ve thought that it would come of use in the future?
“Which floor are you on?” Suyang asked.
“I have no idea... I wasn’t counting!” I casually responded and continued my method. It saved me a lot of energy.
“Lin Yixin.” Suddenly, I vaguely heard someone whispering my name.