When Zhu Yaya heard this, she was delighted: "Alright then! I'll trouble you with it."
Holding the flowers Yan Heng had given her, she looked up at him with a smile, her face and the blossoms complementing each other: "Brother Yan, we've never taken a photo together. Let's take one as a keepsake!" Her tone was light and sweet.
Yan Heng gazed into her eyes, the tips of his ears turning red, and said softly, "Okay."
"Then let's use Brother Yan's phone! I'm in my gown, and I don't have my phone on me," Zhu Yaya said to Li Hao.
A flicker of panic flashed in Yan Heng's previously calm eyes, and his voice carried a hint of urgency: "Use Li Hao's."
Zhu Yaya gave him a somewhat puzzled look.
"Sure! Using mine is fine," Li Hao agreed readily without overthinking it. "I'll send the photos to you both later."
He placed the bouquet Duan Zong had given him on a nearby storage cabinet, pulled his phone from his pocket, and got ready to take the picture.
Zhu Yaya immediately adjusted her position, standing next to Yan Heng, cradling the flowers he gave her, and smiling sweetly into Li Hao's phone camera. Yan Heng stood beside her, his expression and posture somewhat stiff.
"Brother Yan, why do you look so stern even when taking a photo with your junior? Smile a little! Junior's smile is great, hold it!"
Yan Heng sighed, thought of how Zhu Yaya usually looked up at him laughing, and the corners of his lips curved upward.
"Ah, that's much better!"
Zhu Yaya blinked and asked, "Is it done?"
"Wait, let me take another one for you guys."
"Fine! Hurry up!" Li Hao was really quite slow at taking photos, and Zhu Yaya's smile was starting to feel stiff.
She thought to herself, Brother Yan's photography skills are still better. Once Li Hao finishes, she'd ask Brother Yan to take a few photos for her.
"Hey, move closer, a bit closer," Li Hao called out.
Zhu Yaya then shifted closer to Yan Heng, but she didn't expect Yan Heng to also take a few steps towards her. Their bodies bumped, and Zhu Yaya, being slight of frame, started to tilt backward. Yan Heng swiftly reached out and hooked his arm around Zhu Yaya's waist.
A look of shock and lingering fear was on Zhu Yaya's face as she looked up at Yan Heng. The black men's jacket draped over her shoulders slipped a little, revealing half of her fair shoulder. Yan Heng's expression was serious, his eyes fixed intently on hers.
Li Hao said excitedly, "Got it."
Once steady on her feet, Zhu Yaya hurriedly lowered her head slightly and used her hand to pull up the jacket that had slipped off one side. Yan Heng's hand around her waist was also instantly withdrawn. Both their ears were flushed red.
Li Hao put his phone back in his pocket and picked up the large bouquet of roses from the storage cabinet: "I took two. I'll send them to you when I get home! I'm off to follow my goddess Dandan now, won't disturb you two any longer." With that, he dashed away.
Zhu Yaya bit her lip. It was all Li Hao's fault, always telling them to get closer, leading to that situation just now.
Yan Heng cleared his throat tactically: "Ahem, it's getting late. Go change your clothes. This afternoon, Uncle Zhu called me and asked me to see you home. He and Aunt Zhao are both on the night shift today."
"Wait," Zhu Yaya, forgetting her shyness for the moment, said urgently, "Brother Yan, could you take a few photos for me? I'm not too confident in Senior Li Hao's photography skills. Use your phone, okay?"
After saying this, Zhu Yaya felt a bit anxious. After all, Yan Heng had just refused to use his phone for the photo earlier.
"Okay." This time, Yan Heng didn't hesitate.
He was always swift and decisive. He pulled out his phone and immediately took several photos, nothing like Li Hao's dawdling.
"That's it?" Zhu Yaya asked in surprise. "I want to see."
She moved her face closer to Yan Heng's phone but was blocked by his hand.
"No rush, I'll send them to you later. It's late now, go change quickly. I'll wait for you here."
Zhu Yaya grumbled inwardly, what secret could Brother Yan's phone possibly have? He wouldn't even let her look?
The evening party had ended at 8:30, and now with the delay, it was almost 9 o'clock.
Zhu Yaya wanted to take off Yan Heng's jacket draped over her shoulders, but Yan Heng stopped her.
"Give it to me after you've changed. I'll hold the flowers for you."
"Alright." With Yan Heng saying so, Zhu Yaya didn't press further. She placed the flowers in Yan Heng's hands and turned to go backstage.
Because Yan Heng was waiting, Zhu Yaya quickly changed back into her own clothes, carefully packed the gown she had changed out of into a large paper bag, and draped Yan Heng's jacket over her elbow.
A staff member came over and asked if she needed help removing her makeup. Zhu Yaya declined: "It's okay, I'll do it myself when I get home!"
After a thought, she couldn't suppress the joy in her heart and gave the staff member a pursed-lip smile: "Someone's waiting for me outside now."
She bid farewell to the kind staff member and hopped over to Yan Heng: "Brother Yan, I've changed. Let's go!" As she spoke, she didn't forget to hand Yan Heng his jacket.
Yan Heng nodded, took his jacket, and handed the flowers back to Zhu Yaya. He waited for her to take the flowers before putting on his own jacket.
Once he had his jacket on, he very naturally took the large paper bag Zhu Yaya was carrying: "Let's go."
On the way home, Zhu Yaya breathed out a puff of air, white mist forming by her mouth: "Brother Yan, where exactly were you sitting tonight? There were so many people, I didn't see you."
"I was sitting in the back rows on the right side of the stage."
"Oh, no wonder I didn't see you. So you were at the back." Zhu Yaya seemed to understand, then her expression became excited again. She straightened her back proudly. "Brother Yan, you haven't said how I did tonight!"
Yan Heng looked at her expression, which practically had "praise me" written all over it. He chuckled lightly: "Very good. Excellent!"
"Of course! Who do you think I, Zhu Yaya, am?" Zhu Yaya gave a proud hum, instantly puffing up. "It was just a small New Year's Eve party. I didn't even use my full strength. Even if you asked me to host a TV show right now, it'd be a piece of cake, right?"
"Right." Yan Heng's eyes were full of amusement.
...
When Zhu Yaya got home, sure enough, no one was there. She found a vase in the utility room, washed it, filled it with some water, and carried it back to her room. She unwrapped the flowers Yan Heng had given her and carefully arranged them in the vase. After finishing, she happily brought her nose close to smell their fragrance.
After a quick wash-up, Zhu Yaya lay on her bed and opened her phone. Both Yan Heng and Li Hao had sent the photos over.
Li Hao's photography skills turned out to be not bad after all. The first photo showed her and Yan Heng standing. She was beaming brightly at the camera, while Yan Heng's lips were also slightly upturned. The warm yellow light shone on them, creating a gentle atmosphere.
The second photo carried a different implication compared to the first. In the picture, Yan Heng had his arm around her waist, they were looking at each other, and coupled with the panic on her face and her exposed half-shoulder, it gave off a rather strong vibe of a forced marriage or an aggressive courtship.
Zhu Yaya's face was flushed crimson. The scene hadn't been like that at all back then, so how had Li Hao managed to capture it looking this way with just one click of his camera!
