Nocturnal Reveries: A DiYue One Shot Collection

Everything Has Changed

Sequel to 'Premiere Night'.

Wang He Di walked out of the restaurant with three boxes of Japanese food — mostly sushi — and he proceeded to his parked car where Shen Yue was waiting.

He decided to order takeout from her favorite Japanese restaurant because she wouldn't talk to him the entire time they were on the road.

He entered the car and handed her the boxes. "These are all your favorites from that restaurant," he said.

She was still looking out the window, as if in deep thought. Didi had to nudge her, and only then did she look at his direction. But even then, she only reached for the boxes, opened one and started nibbling the food. She wasn't her usual self and he knew.

"Shen Yue," he called her name. "Eat up. You haven't eaten anything."

If she heard him, she didn't show the slightest hint at all. She just sat there in silence, her one hand balancing a box of sushi in her lap, the other holding the chopsticks.

Didi echoed her silence. It was deafening. They were in a closed space, but it seemed like they had never been farther from each other than now. He let out a sigh. She let him hold her hand a while ago but she was still mad at him. It's alright, I deserve it. Didi thought.

"You really do," she answered out of the blue.

He was shocked upon realizing that he actually said that out loud. But maybe it was for the best, because he really deserved it.

Yue Yue didn't even finish eating her sushi but she already decided to put it aside. Didi had hoped that it would help appease her like it did most of the time in the past, but it didn't. So he picked it up and moved it to the backseat along with the unopened boxes of food.

She leaned back into the car's headrest and closed her eyes.

"I've always been calm and collected, you know that right?" she said softly, almost murmuring.

"That was the first time I saw you like that," he said.

"So.. are you gonna say something or should I just sleep?" she asked.

He turned sideways to look at her and he saw exhaustion. Her eyes were closed, her hands were crossed on her chest and her legs were stretched out. Her breathing became rhythmic and he listened to it for a while, as if gathering the courage from the thought that she's alive and beside him.

He knew he needed to say something but he didn't know what to say. So he began where it all started.

"Do you remember when we were filming 'The Inn' and a guest proposed to his girlfriend?"

He finally got her attention. She opened her eyes and turned sideways to look at him. "Wang He Di, you don't forget something like that. Ever. In your entire lifetime," she said then closed her eyes again.

"I know, and it's good that you remember," he paused. "Because that's when I started to see you in a different light."

She didn't even flinch with those words. She kept her eyes so tightly shut this time that he thought she had already fallen asleep. So he decided to continue.

"It's true. I still remember how I stole a glance at you after they got engaged and how something shifted inside of me. It was like something clicked, you know? Like a light bulb lit up, as if a storm settled. And what's weird is, I only glanced at you, it wasn't even a stare. I've looked into your eyes so many times before that but it was a glimpse Yue, that's all it took for me to realize that you were different," he explained.

He turned to stare at her this time but her eyes were still closed.

"I can still picture how you stood up when you realize what was happening. You had your hands clasped together in front your chest and you had this hopeful smile. I was behind you and I didn't really stare at you, but somehow, I was very aware of your reaction. It was as if I wanted to take it all in and remember it, you know? I can still recall that inkling that kept bothering me when I sat down afterwards. So when Tao Jie started singing that song, I finally gave in and glanced at you. And it was in that instant, Yue, that's when I knew that everything has changed."