Imperfect Desires

"You're late," said Darren as he looked at Dylan who was swaggering his way in. "Your girlfriend is already gone."

Dylan plopped down beside Darren, "Girlfriend? Cali was here?"

Darren put down the book in his hand to look at his best friend, "Didi, do you have any other girlfriend?" Before Dylan could say anything, Darren gasped dramatically, "Are you going back to your old ways? Tsk! Tsk! Indeed, a playboy can't stop playing, eh? Poor Cali! But I'm warning you, before your girlfriend, Calista is a precious friend to me. You play with her, I'm gonna break your jaw!"

Dylan continued to stare at Darren's face before he shook his head, "Dazi, take my free advice. Stop spending so much time with your wife. She is rubbing off on you in a very bad way."

Darren slapped the back of his head, "How many times do I have to warn you to stop talking about my wife in this way?"

"I'm talking about my cousin, what can you do about it?" retorted Dylan proudly.

Darren threw him a scornful look before he shook his head, "Anyway, I thought you won't be coming today. Since you said you'd be here earlier than this. Didn't you want to spend some time with Cali?"

Dylan sighed out, "Girls are busy with the surprise. I am not allowed to join."

"Aww! Poor you!"

Dylan glared at his best friend, "You can stop teasing me."

Darren chuckled at him and asked, "So, how is it going?"

"What?"

"This whole long-distance relationship," elaborated Darren. "How are you holding up?"

Dylan took a moment before replying, "As much as I'd love to see her every day, I don't think this long-distance relationship is that bad though. Although I can't hold her every day, however, whenever we get to see each other after days, the passion is ignited to a new height."

Darren put his hand on his mouth saying, "Didi, you better continue with the details. I really have no interest in learning about two of my great friends' passion for each other."

"How boring!" muttered Dylan. Then his eyes fell on the book that Darren was reading and he smirked, "Well, now I know why you're so boring. You and I are in two different leagues now. You're gonna be a father now. I'm still a bachelor who can enjoy his days with his girlfriend full of passion and love." He tsked at Darren as he continued, "But look at you now. Here you're reading books on parenting. And just last year, you're reading books on emotional developments. Just how fast the night changes, eh!"

Darren rolled his eyes at Dylan, "You better pray I don't catch you with a book on parenting. Or else, I'll roast you for life!"

Dylan stuck his tongue out at Darren, "Don't worry. You won't see me with a book like this."

"We'll see!" retorted Darren. Taking a pause he added, "By the way, you didn't tell me, what took you so long to get here?"

Dylan hesitated a little before answering honestly, "I went to see Sister Meihui."

Darren paused a little but didn't comment over this.

Seeing his expression, Dylan pursed his lips and didn't continue. 

Darren actually didn't mind Dylan going to see Qiu Meihui. After all, both were siblings. He couldn't possibly stop Dylan from keeping in contact with his sister just because of what she did to him. Just like how he couldn't stop talking to Dylan just because of what his sister did. It was all the same. His relationship currently was with Dylan and it had always been precious. He wouldn't compromise on this friendship for anything.

What Dylan did with his personal time was completely up to him. He had no right to dictate his life for him.

"Oh, I did the task you told me to," said Dylan after an awkward moment of silence. "And don't worry, I'll pick the parcel right on time."

"Do you think she'll like it?"

Dylan gave him a look, "Dazi, your wife will like anything as long as it comes from you. Stop worrying about such a nonsensical thing. In fact, Xiu can fly up to heaven just knowing that you did something for her. She is so easy to please."

Darren pursed his lips and nodded, "You're right. She really gets satisfied easily. Even if it doesn't seem like it. But I still want to give her the best of the best."

"Isn't it enough that she has the best of the best husband?" retorted Dylan.

"Sometimes, it's really difficult to have a proper conversation with you, Didi."

"Blame it on your wife. She ruined me completely with her sarcasm." He took a pause and added, "Yesterday, I called her fat. Do you know what she said to me?"

"What?"

"She reminded me that now she has a back garden, I should be careful with my words!" Dylan looked exasperated. "Can you believe it? She still wants to bury me in her back garden! That's a blatant threat!"

"Who asked you to call her fat?" retorted Darren in displeasure. 

"Because she is fat now," answered Dylan in a matter-of-factly manner.

"Try calling your girlfriend fat, then I'll see how you survive," said Darren.

*BANG*

Both Darren and Dylan were startled by the loud bang and looked at each other.

"What just happened?" questioned Dylan.

Darren stood up saying, "Let's see for ourselves."

Dylan quietly followed Darren as he led the way towards the kitchen where Xiu had been trying to teach Francesca to cook. But just as Darren reached the kitchen door, he could tell that this teaching lesson was not going well.

"Mama, it's alright. We can try again. We have plenty of fresh ingredients here." He heard Xiu say to Francesca in a consoling voice.

"But it's already our second try," replied Francesca.

"Third time's the charm," said Xiu. 

Dylan poked his head from behind Darren and asked, "What was that loud bang earlier?"

Francesca looked up at him and said, "I dropped the pot."

"Oh? How?"

"It was hot!" 

"Didn't use the..." Darren had already put his hand to cover Dylan's mouth before he could continue. He faced his mother with a smile.

"Mama, Xiu is right. The third time's the charm. You can do it. I believe in you."

Dylan tsked at this husband and wife, before he glared at Xiu, "Back when I mixed up salt and sugar, you gave me a lecture for an hour. I was almost on the verge of crying at that time because of your words. But now, you turned into such a good teacher. This is clearly called being biased."

"This time the student is my mother-in-law, who the hell are you!" Xiu shot back at him.

Dylan grinned at her, "I'm your cousin, sweety!"

Xiu took a deep breath and stomped her foot before pointing at him, "You! Come here and clean this up."

"ME?" Dylan pointed at him. "Why should I?"

"A teacher for a day, a teacher for life," retorted Xiu. "Didn't I teach you for one day as a cooking teacher and a week as a piano teacher? Although you didn't get better at anything, I still considered you my student. Don't forget you even called me Shifu! Now, as your Shifu, I'm asking you to clean it up. Hurry it up now!"

Dylan grumbled, "It's not that I couldn't better. It must be because I had a useless teacher." 

"What did you say?"

Dylan innocently shook his head, "Nothing. I'm just asking where is the mop. I need to clean it up before you get hurt."

Xiu eyed him but didn't continue, she led Francesca to a side and started working on the dish again. Meanwhile, Dylan looked at his best friend who was leaning against the doorframe with a smile on his way.

"You're enjoying it?" asked Dylan.

"I always enjoy it," replied Darren. "I can't take sides anyway. So, the next best thing I can do is to enjoy the show."

"Huh!" Dylan scoffed at him. "You clearly take side with your wife. Always!"

"I don't," refused Darren without any hesitation.

Dylan ignored him and looked over at Francesca, "France, why are you learning to cook?"

"I have to impress someone," replied Francesca.

"Take my advice and just let Xiu cook for you. I used the same tactic to impress Cali."

Francesca gave him a look, "Hedi, is it alright for you to be so shameless?"

Dylan shrugged his shoulders, "What can I do? It must run in the blood. After all, my dear cousin Xiu is the queen of shamelessness."

"Do you have to drag me into this?" asked Xiu.

"I follow your lead always," said Dylan. "Since you love to drag me into everything, I've come to enjoy the same as well now. I must say though, it's fun."

Xiu really wished to smack his head right now but she held herself back. There was no point in doing so. Besides, she had been refraining from violence in the past months. It was not good for her little tiger.