Tea of Summer

Chapter 45

Spring Sunshine 3.2

It was afternoon at a private beach in Florida.

There were many people scattered around the large beach.  There were children on vacation and seniors from the nearby retirement community.  On the beach near the half exposed coral reef, there sat four young Asians underneath a big beach umbrella.

Song Qiyan and Xia Liang sat in the middle with Wei Jian and Lin Qian on each side.

Xia Liang looked to the left at Wei Jian who had very uneasy expression.  Then she turned to look at Lin Qian at her right who had a poker face.  She silently pressed her lips into a thin line and pulled back closer to Song Qiyan.

Song Qiyan held her waist and gave her the peanut butter and jelly sandwich he had just made. 

The four of them were dressed in T shirts and beach shorts.  None of them had put on swimming suits.  Neither of the men really needed to.  Xia Liang didn’t because she was still at the tail end of that thing that all women suffered monthly from.  While Lin Qian was hardly in the mood for swimming and so was just here to keep Xia Liang company.  Thus, the four of them sat awkwardly like this on the beach.

Song Qiyan took a bag of cleaned strawberries out of the cooler.  His slender fingers opened the zipper of the plastic bag and slowly ate one.  Then he fed Xian Liang one. With Xia Liang’s eager gaze, his eyes twinkled and fed her another one.

Wei Jian and Lin Qian were used to their public display of affection and chose to ignore it.  They ate their own sandwiches.

After eating the sandwich, Xia Liang used the wet wipe that Song Qiyan had handed over to clean her hands.  Then she peeked at the two people who were still in their cold war.  She tried to ask, “Uh, Qiyan and I are going to take a walk to help digest the food.  Are you two coming together?”

“Who wants to go with him? !”

“Who wants to go with her? !”

Xia Liang: “……”

Xia Liang helplessly looked at Song Qiyan for help.  He stood up calmly then he dragged Xia Liang up to her feet.  He faced the other two who were still sitting and said, “I and Xia Xia are going to take a walk.”

The implication was very clear.

Do not come and interrupt our private time together.  Solve whatever problem between the two of you in the meantime.

Five minutes later, Xia Liang with her bare feet in the sea looked back at where they had sat before in the distance.  She pinched the large hand holding hers.  “Is it really alright to leave those two over there?”

Song Qiyan’s expression remained unchanged.  He adjusted Xia Liang’s black cap, which was the same as his.  ‘Uhm, give them some space to cool down.”

“Oh……”  Xia Liang trusted Song Qiyan wholeheartedly.  If he said it was alright then there was nothing more for her to think about.

But besides her, the upstanding man with a poker face was actually a narrow minded person. He pulled his hat a little bit down to cover his eyes.  Those two people were just tag alongs for this trip.  Who cared what they were doing.