“Yang and Jessica, in Love!”
The cover of the entertainment section of the Los Angeles Times was exactly the photo of Wang Yang and Jessica kissing each other. In the photo, there was a giant tree behind them, with bright sunshine filtering through the green leaves. It was a pretty professional photo, even with some artistic taste, and it showed clearly that the two were in love. It was an unquestionable and undeniable fact. The Los Angeles Times said, “When Magic Yang and Natalie Portman’s rumor is provoking much discussion, his real girlfriend has finally come to light. It is Jessica Alba, a leading actress in High School Musical, whose popularity has been rising drastically lately as well.”
Paparazzo Cole, who took the photo, said, “I have been following Yang for a few months. I have been spending more time with him than with my family. I owe an apology for that to my wife and my son, but this is what I do.” Cole was pretty proud of the mention of the photo. He said, “It is one of my best works. Magic Yang and Jessica were hugging, and I told myself to wait so that they would not be alarmed. Then, they started to kiss. I adjusted the lens and the light and shot the picture from a perfect angle. I was so excited when I knew I had gotten the photo. Guys, it took me several months! At last, I have got some reward for the big effort I made.”
Speaking of Wang Yang and Jessica’s reactions back then, Cole said, “They looked like they were crazily in love. When they found out I was there, Magic Yang was quite kind to me. He smiled at me and told me to take a great photo of them. Jessica was a little shy. However, they both got very angry later. They seemed to think I was disturbing them. But I just have to repeat what I gotta say,” Cole said in a righteous and serious manner, like a person with a strong work ethic, “this is what I do.”
This report was like a thunderbolt that had struck in a clear sky. Los Angeles Times’ entertainment section sold extremely well. The news was also reposted online. In less than half a day, the whole world seemed to have learned about it. The fans of High School Musical, Wang Yang, and Jessica reacted especially strongly to the news.
Wang Yang was nineteen years old, and Jessica was eighteen. It was extremely normal for them to date someone. However, not many people were happy to see them together. Most of the fans seemed to refuse to accept such a fact. Wang Yang was a new idol for them, but they were instantly told that “you are out”. How frustrating that was!
On the internet, the comment section of High School Musical’s official website, the website constructed by fans and school forums were full of discussions about the news. “Yang and Jessica in love?! Oh, my God! It can’t be. They don’t match!””Jessica doesn’t deserve Yang! She is only a pretty Barbie doll. She is even worse than Natalie! I would throw up my hands if there were a thing between Yang and Natalie. But him with Jessica? It is such a disappointment!”
These comments were kind of gentle. There were harsher things. “Jessica is pretty? Not at all. Her lips are so thick, and her boobs are so small, like a kid who hasn’t fully developed!””They will break up very soon!”
Certainly, Wang Yang was cursed by many of Jessica’s male fans as well. They were all very disappointed. The sweet, pure Gabriella was taken, and not taken by them, but that young and rich “phenomenal director”. Jessica, how could you be so vulgar as well?!
In fact, not only the fans, but also many media outlets did not think the thing between Wang Yang and Jessica would last, but the latter would not be so unreasonable as the fans. They simply did some analysis with a cool mind. The Los Angeles Times did not only get the scoop but commented on it. “Apparently, the sparks between the two started during the shooting of High School Musical. For young people of their age, it is easy to understand. One of them is the youngest billionaire, a super new directing star, while the other is the ‘America’s Sweetheart’ of the new generation. They seem to make a great couple. However, the reality is the reality. It is not a fairytale. How long will their relationship last in Hollywood, a place full of temptations and where people are living a fast-paced life? Good luck to them! That is all we can say to them.”
Entertainment Daily, the tabloid that made up Wang Yang and Natalie’s scandal out of nothing, certainly would not miss such a topic of considerable interest. The next day, it published a report titled “June 2, 2000, an Insider Exposed Yang and Jessica Had Already Broken Up!”.
In the article, the reporter argued that the two had some cultural differences between them. Most importantly, unless they shot another movie together, they would not be able to spend time together for a long time, which was exactly the main reason many Hollywood couples split. It was especially true for teenagers of their age because what they had was mostly passionate love. However, as time went by, passion would fade. When there were other potential people with whom they could start a relationship around them, they would probably choose to break up.
“The start of a relationship is always passionate and sweet, but it might not be able to last long. Today, we have been betting in the office about how long Yang and Jessica will stay together. A colleague said two years, and he was booed by all of the others because of his unrealistic optimism. Many people said one year. Actually, I think the game will be over in only half a year. That being said, I will say it will last a year. Take it as my good-intended wish! If news comes out on June 2, next year, saying that ‘an insider exposed Yang and Jessica had already broken up’, please don’t be surprised, because we had seen it coming.”
Jessica, sitting on the sofa, was frowning at the Entertainment Daily she was holding in hand. Danny, the Labrador retriever, was lying by her feet. Joshua was sitting on the other side, with a smile hanging on his face. Jessica gave the newspaper a few more glances. Then, she suddenly threw it onto the side table disdainfully. She said in an unhappy voice, “Joshua, why did you show me that? You are annoying.”
Shrugging his shoulders, Joshua said with a smile, “Nothing. I thought it was funny.”
“Funny? How come it is funny?” Jessica snorted coldly. Closing her eyes, she pulled a cushion over, not bothering to argue with Joshua. She felt a little sad and annoyed. She had thought people would congratulate her. However, all she had received these days were doubts and even curses. The whole world believed she and Yang would break up very soon, but the fact was that their relationship was pretty good. She said unhappily, “I don’t care what others say. They know nothing at all.”
“I know,” Joshua said seriously. He said in a deep voice, “Jessica, seriously, I think these newspapers do make some sense.”
Opening her eyes wide, Jessica cut in, “No, they don’t make any sense at all!”
Spreading his hands, Joshua went on in spite of Jessica’s interruption, “You and Yang are great now, but you know, I’ve already had three girlfriends. I just broke up with the third one a few days ago.” He sighed helplessly. Then, he said in a desperate voice, “I know how fragile a relationship can be. You can be perfect together today, and then break up tomorrow without any signs.”
Jessica burst out laughing. She was amused. She said, “Joshua, stop speaking in that tone. None of your three relationships were serious. But it is different between Yang and me!” A smile pulled up the corners of her lip. She said intoxicatedly, in a low voice, “I know how he feels about me. And I know how I feel about him. We are in love, and we will get married.” She suddenly paused. Looking away, she murmured, “Why am I telling you this?”
“Get married?” Joshua opened his mouth in surprise. He said, “You are already thinking about marriage?”
Rolling her eyes at him, Jessica did not respond. She certainly would not tell him she was thinking about having babies as well. Over there, Joshua kept saying “Get married? Get married,? Get married?” Jessica got impatient. She threw the cushion at him. Danny was disturbed, so he sprang to his feet. She said in anger, “Yeah, I am already thinking about marriage. What’s wrong with that? Isn’t that life? Falling in love and getting married? The only reason Yang and I won’t get married is that we break up. Do you want us to break up so much?”
“No, I don’t want you to break up.” Joshua shook his head seriously. He did not speak again until he had spent some time thinking. “Jessica, I just think Yang is a little… hmm, dreadful!”
Jessica frowned. Then, she heard Joshua’s voice again. “One year ago, he was still a nobody. I still remember how I went to lease furniture with him. Moving the furniture really exhausted me that day. Then, he suddenly became the youngest director—the youngest millionaire. And now, he is becoming the youngest billionaire! One year… it only took him one year. Who knows what he will be like in another year?”
Jessica nodded silently. She said, “Yeah, I am proud of him. He is amazing.” She added with a smile, “But anyway, he is still Yang. He isn’t dreadful.”
“Isn’t he, in your own words, ‘the most popular guy’ in the world?” Shrugging his shoulders, Joshua said seriously, “I just feel there must be a lot of girls chasing him. You don’t go to parties, so you have no idea about it. Those girls are crazy!”
Jessica said confusedly, “When did you go to parties? Those girls? What parties?”
Scratching his head, Joshua said, “Uh, just some regular parties thrown by classmates.”
Staring at him, Jessica said seriously, “If you dare to smoke marijuana or do drugs, I’ll kill you!”
Joshua waved his hands to deny immediately. He said, “No. How is that possible?! Those parties had a healthy vibe!” Rolling his eyes, he said, “But sure, Jessica, you might dump Yang, too. Maybe you’ll fall in love with Jack suddenly. Who knows? No one knows what will happen in the future.”
“Okay, enough. I am going to walk Danny.” Jessica did not want to linger on this topic. She stood up. Clapping her hands, she said, “Danny, come on!” Danny sprang to his feet and followed her, wagging his tail.
Seeing her pick up Danny’s traction rope and walk out of the living room with Danny, Joshua looked back at the Entertainment Daily she had left on the side table. He picked it up and started to read. He frowned at what he was reading. Breaking up in one year? Looking at the photo of Wang Yang and Jessica holding hands and smiling in the newspaper, he said to himself, “Buddy, if you hurt my family, I won’t let go of you. I’ll beat you to a pulp…” A few seconds later, he suddenly asked himself, “Will I be a match for Yang? He practices Chinese kung fu…”
Leading Danny, Jessica was walking on a tree-lined track in the neighborhood. There were verdant trees growing on both sides of the track. Tree leaves fell onto the ground from time to time. However, such a good view still could not cheer her up. Somehow, she just could not get Joshua’s voice out of her head. Those online comments, saying “she is just a pretty Barbie doll”, were also lingering there. And there was another voice that really bothered her, “Yang, what do you want to get? A female friend whom you can spill your guts to and share your hobbies with?”.
That day, she had wanted to apologize to Rachel. However, she saw how Rachel blamed Yang. After that, she obviously felt Yang and Rachel were distancing from each other. She was not too bothered by it, because she had the confidence to be the best girlfriend. Afterward, Yang had tried to talk about literature and many other odd things with her, but she knew nothing about those things, and she was not interested. What she liked was cooking, pets, and sports games. She did not think of it as a big problem because people loved different things. Yang could talk about literature with Rachel and sports games with her.
However, at this moment, Jessica felt rather insecure. Didn’t Rachel know sports games too? She was the worst at acting. She could not follow Yang’s ideas most of the time during the movie shooting. And she always fell down like a fool… at the thought of this, Jessica felt very pressured. She let out a sigh, bothered by questions like, “Am I good enough?”, and “Will Yang and I break up in a year?”.
“Yang?” Jessica blinked all of a sudden. She saw a tall figure in the distance in front of her going across the tree-lined track, wearing a blue greyish jacket, black-haired, and with that profile that she was so familiar with. Without noticing her, standing down the track, he continued walking on the right side. She shouted involuntarily, “Yang!” Danny got excited, too. Wagging his tail, he was eager to rush at Wang Yang.
The familiar voice made Wang Yang stop. He turned around and saw that it was Jessica. He waved at her with a smile. Then, he walked toward her.
Danny was running ahead, pulling Jessica, so she had to speed up to catch up. She ran confusedly after Danny, and she had come up to Wang Yang. “Wang, why are you here?”
Wang Yang took Danny’s traction rope. Smiling, he said, “Leave this to me. I haven’t walked Danny for a while.” She nodded and let go of the traction rope. Led by Danny, Wang Yang walked ahead, and Jessica walked by his side.
The two were walking along the tree-lined track. Without the harassment of paparazzi, it was so tranquil and comfortable at the moment compared to the date a few days ago. Looking at Jessica, Wang Yang said while walking, “I checked out a house for sale nearby just now, and I was looking around to see the surroundings here. I was going to call you, but then I saw you here.”
Jessica was dumbstruck. “House?”
Nodding and smiling, Wang Yang said, “I want to move here. It’s only hundreds of feet away from your home. We could go running together every morning.”
Wang Yang had started to have this idea a long time ago, and by then, the whole world had learned about their relationship, so there was nothing to be afraid of anymore. If he lived close to Jessica, he would not need to spend one or two hours driving every day to meet her, and they could date every day. So, he contacted a real estate agent of this neighborhood the day before. And this day, he came to check out a house recommended by the agent. It was pretty nice.
Seeing Jessica a little silent, Wang Yang asked, “What’s wrong? Don’t you like this idea?”
“No, of course I like it!” Jessica shook her head immediately. Smiling at him, she said, “I am very glad. We could see each other every day if you moved here.” If it were a few days ago, she would definitely have jumped for joy, but at the moment, she was a bit unsettled. Like what was said in books, if they saw each other every day, would the “vitality” of their relationship be consumed quickly?
Wang Yang gazed at her. He could see she had something on her mind. He took the traction rope with his left hand and pulled with some effort so that Danny would slow down. Holding her hand with his right hand, he said in a gentle voice, “Jessi, what’s wrong? You don’t look very happy.”
Jessica broke into a sweet smile. She said, “Yang, I am fine. By the way, what about the house you just checked out?”
Wang Yang did not answer her. Looking into her eyes, he said with a smile, “Stop lying to me. Did you forget what I am? I am a director. I can see when someone is acting by a simple glance.”
Jessica laughed. She responded, “I really am fine.”
“Is that because of those boring comments?” Wang Yang asked. In last night’s phone call, Jessica had not seemed to be happy with others’ pessimistic opinions about their relationship. Wang Yang saw Jessica’s smile grow even more awkward after he had asked her about that. Then, he realized he had guessed it right. He said with a smile, “Come on! Ignore those people. Breaking up in a year? What do they know? They know nothing!”
His comfort made Jessica smile. She had said the same thing. No one knew about the story of their childhoods. No one knew what they had experienced together since last year’s reunion.
“Jessica.” Wang Yang looked like he was really serious. Looking at her, he said, “Why are you worried? Tell me. What are you worrying about?”
Avoiding his look, Jessica hesitated. She did not open up to him until a few moments later. “Yang, I am afraid I don’t deserve you. You are advancing so fast, and I am just an average girl.”
Wang Yang was dumbfounded. He had not expected that. He said helplessly, “So, you are afraid I will fall in love with other girls, or you won’t like me anymore when I become some bullsh*t youngest billionaire?”
Frowning and shaking her head, Jessica said, “No! Yang, that’s not what I am thinking.”
Wang Yang asked, “So, you have no confidence in our relationship?”
Jessica nodded slowly. She said, “Yes, I do have confidence.”
“I am not a great guy at all.” Knowing her doubts had not been completely lifted yet, Wang Yang stopped walking after thinking. Looking into her eyes, he said, “Jessica, you know what? You know why I decided to make a film on DV? On the one hand, it was because it had been my dream to make a film. And on the other hand, it was because of you.”
Unblinking, Jessica felt her heart beating faster. He opened up, “My thought was simple back then. If I became a real estate salesman, I would drift apart from you, and we would end up in two different worlds. I am where I am today because I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to catch up with you.”
Holding her hand, he kissed her on the back of the hand. Wang Yang added with a smile, “If I still have some kind of dream, it is you. You are my dream.”
Jessica’s heart was beating extremely fast. Those annoying doubts were disappearing as her heartbeat accelerated. She asked, joking, “It is not Natalie?”
Wang Yang burst out laughing. Shaking his head hard, he said, “No, it’s never Natalie. I don’t know her. It is you, Jessica. It’s always you.”
Seeing Jessica so happy, Wang Yang repeated his question with a smile, “Are you confident in our relationship?”
Jessica nodded without hesitation. Smiling, she said, “Of course!” Suddenly full of confidence in their future, she finally got those stupid ideas out of her head. She trusted Yang, and she believed she would be the best girlfriend for him and the best wife in the future! Looking at Wang Yang, she said with a smile, “But, Yang, if you had become a real estate salesman, I think we still would be together.” She looked shy. But in a resolute voice, she said, “It is also my dream to be with you.”
“Then, we both realized our dreams.” Wang Yang smiled at her. Looking at her ardent look and sweet face, he could not help but give her a kiss, and Jessica kissed back. The two went on with the kiss they had not enjoyed enough last time.
Wang Yang pulled Jessica into her arms when they were so absorbed in the kiss, but he suddenly felt there was something wrong. “My hand?” Then, he realized what the problem was. He shouted immediately, “Crap. Danny!”
Jessica was struck dumb as well. Looking at his empty hand, she also shouted, “Danny!”
They looked around and then saw Danny, dragging the traction rope, had run very far away.
Laughing, Jessica shouted at him, “Stop. Bad boy!”
Wang Yang also said with a smile, “Okay. Now I am a superman!” He roared, “Danny, freeze!”
Danny looked back at the two, running toward him and laughing. His ears twitched. Then, he started to run again.