Nocturnal Reveries: A DiYue One Shot Collection

Premiere Night

Wang He Di wanted to get this night done with.

He was sitting at the front row of a huge movie theater. He was invited to the premiere night of what has been tagged as the year's biggest film, so he was very excited. But if he was being honest, he's getting more and more bored as the minutes fly by. He's 28 now and although he enjoyed films, he's had his fair share of the glitz and glam, and he would've gladly skipped the red carpet if he had a choice.

He was almost dozing off on his seat when the lights went dim and the film finally started. It was a historical epic, and although this wasn't his cup of tea, he had to admit that he was impressed. Unfortunately, critiquing wasn't his expertise. He loved a film or he didn't. That was it.

He has always been the consumer, and she was the analyst.

He sighed. For the hundreth time, stop thinking about her. He told himself. He got up from his seat and after a series of handshakes, congratulatory words and photo opportunities, he finally managed to sneak his way to the parking lot.

He was fumbling for his keys when he bumped with someone upon entering the elevator. "Sorry!" He looked sideways and saw her.

Wang He Di locked eyes with the woman. "It's fine," she said.

Shen Yue.

She hesitated and looked behind her before finally deciding to go in. The door closed with just the two of them inside. She was wearing a white knee-length lacy dress, like the ones she used to wear when they were younger. She looked like she just cried. In fact, she was holding a tissue and was still wiping her cheeks with it.

"The movie is that good, huh?" he said after a few awkward seconds, attempting to make small talk while pretending to look at something on his phone.

She turned to him with puffy eyes. "You shouldn't have been invited to this premiere, Wang He Di. You suck at appreciating masterpieces."

He looked at her, with tears still softly flowing down her face, and he said, "Yeah, tell me about it."

It suddenly came to her that what she said may sound differently to him so she backpedaled and said, "I mean.." she tried to explain. "You still haven't learned how to properly react after watching a great movie."

He just scoffed but didn't dare speak. She had always been like this after watching something that she genuinely liked. She would cry, sometimes inconsolably, even if what she just watched wasn't even emotional in the first place. Then she would stop and would go on to tell him about the best parts. She would talk about it for hours, sometimes even days, and they would always have to watch it more than once. When she had the time, she would write about it, and he would always be the one who gets to read it before it gets published on her blog.

But that was then.

The elevator stopped when they reached the basement. She alighted from the elevator first and went on to walk towards the parking area where her manager was waiting for her.

He felt a searing pain creep through his chest. He remembered all the times they went out of a movie theater holding hands or him comforting her when she wouldn't stop crying after seeing a good film. Before he knew it, his mouth opened and he spoke.

"Shen Yue."

She looked back, one of her eyebrows positioned upward, as if asking why he called her name.

"Would you.. like to grab something to eat?" he managed to say.

They used to always eat something after they went out for the movies.