In a split second, the view of the hospital corridor replaced the posh interior of the hall, and I could see the gossipy onlookers whisper among themselves while Chen Lan still held me firmly. Or it could look more like I was still grabbing onto him.
I pushed myself away from him carefully, reminding myself not to lose my balance again. I simply stared at the ground. I knew I must be looking so dumb, but there was no other way I could avoid the eyes of the passers-by and especially Chen Lan.
Soon the onlookers moved away. I slowly glanced up at Chen Lan, not sure about what reaction I should give. However, I noticed that he was oddly too calm and appeared so relaxed as if such weird incidents were a daily occurrence to him.
And I also noticed that he was openly staring at me. I averted my gaze uneasily and after a few moments, I again sneaked a glance at him to find that he was still staring at me. I decided to break the silence before I get crazy.
“Thank you Mr Chen…” he kept staring.
“If it wasn't you, I might have fallen and hurt my head again.”
“…….”
Ughh! Say something! You can't just stand there and stare at me like that!
I chuckled nervously and continued,
“it's a surprise to meet you again Mr Chen.”
He didn't take his eyes off me and replied,
“You must have been going to take a stroll. Let me join you,” and continued to walk towards the exit.
What's wrong with this guy?
I didn't follow him but stood still in uncertainty, watching him walk away. As soon as he realized that I wasn't following him, he returned and stared squarely into my eyes. While I was guessing what he was thinking, he took me by surprise by grabbing my hand. Before I could protest, I found that we were already heading towards the exit.
We stepped out of the hospital and started walking along the path with a few other patients who were also taking an evening stroll. Paying more attention, I felt that his grip wasn't harsh and though he held my hand tightly, it was loose enough to make me feel comfortable.
I decided that I should question him than just go along with whatever he does. I stopped, so did he and turned to face me.
I eyed at our hands and again back at him.
He didn't let go but turned around completely and put his free hand in the pocket of his long beige trench coat while his eyes sparkled to life and gave off a mischievous look.
Huh?
I pulled back my hand. He even started to grin. This guy is getting on my nerves! I frowned at him,
“Mr Chen, what do you mean by grabbing my hand just like that and dragging me out here?”
“Grab? Drag? I think there's something wrong with your words.” His sarcastic grin was getting wider.
“Mr Chen, you can't just take the hands of a girl just like that.”
“Girl? Seriously? I guess you lost more than 10 years of your memory.”
Oh! Come on! How can he say that to any woman? Before I could say something out of anger, he cut in,
“Okay, let me apologize for all those that happened earlier. I came here just because I'd like to help you get your memories back.”
He knows that he can help me? He continued,
"Dr Wei called me to say that I should meet you again so that you can remember things. I remember you saying in the morning that you knew someone looking like me, so I decided to help.”
“But Dr Wei said that he didn't have your number.”
“Ah. About that… I dropped by here in the morning to collect some data from the hospital for a project I'm working on. So I left my number at the director's office.”
Dr Wei took the trouble to look up Chen Lan's number? That was too quick.
“But why would you want to help me?” I began to analyse his reaction to calculate his intention.
“Guess why?” Replying with another question! Such a shrewd guy.
“Do you think I'd know?” I also know to do that.
“Because I wanted to.”
“Huh? What?”
“To spend more time with you,” he stood there with the same playful grin like a prankster.
Was he joking? I blankly stared at him. The setting sun was giving off golden-red beams of light which reflected off Chen Lan giving a dramatic visual effect.
“I guess you'd want me to make it clear. I knew you had lost your memories and were even talking about some guy like me. But I too find it weird of me wanting to accompany you and taking a fancy for you.”
Taking a fancy? For a pale woman in hospital clothes?
He walked closer, leaving only a half feet distance between us which was short enough to make me feel flustered. I didn't look at his face to prevent him from seeing me blushing, but stared at the button of his shirt and waited for him to say something.
“Laia Parker....."
"......."
"Because of you, finally I get to experience what love-at-first-sight, feels like.”
I raised my head once I heard it to check his expression. That was too much for a lie. However, his eyes were no longer giving that impish look. Most importantly… I saw his pupils dilate.
His pitch sank deeper as he said, “This is no joke…Laia”
Prolonged eye contact, dilation of pupils, invasion of personal space, deep tones of speech- the physical signs of being attracted to someone…
There was a huge pause. "So you did think that it was him." Rou Rou sighed. "What are you sighing for?! If some guy had been pestering me for days and if suddenly something like this had happened, I would have also thought like, 'ugh, I think that guy is back again.' ...So we haven't done concluding yet." Wei Wei yelled through the phone. "Then Laia, tell us how you felt when you turned back and saw him holding the umbrella?" With my eyes closed shut, I brought into my mind slowly the thoughts that had crossed my mind in that brief moment. Unable to hold my eyes shut anymore, I opened them despite the sudden glare of light that met me from the ceiling as well as the screen of my phone. "Wei Wei, Rou Rou, I'm sorry but I have to hang up now. I think I quite have gotten those thoughts organized up. Thank you for the help. Hope you understand. I'll call you later." Without even waiting for their reply, and not even bothered an inch by the
“Fine. I’ll tell you everything. I don’t think I can deal with it by myself.” Slowly I narrated everything I had kept from them, in detail. Except for a few gasps & frowns, nothing came from the other side until I had finished my narrative. Wei Wei was the first to reply, “Laia, before we tell share our opinion, I think I should say something.” “I’m listening.” “Reasonably, anyone would find it very hard to take your side, but since this is your story, we have to look it from your perspective. So what’s more important here is your feelings.” “And Laia, to say the truth, the Umbrella scene sounded really romantic. Wei Wei and I have dated in the past but we never got to e
Jason? A chief psychologist named Jason... I don't think there's much to doubt... Was he talking to my supervisor? I badly wanted to eavesdrop on the phone call, but he might notice me lurking around. Though I was itching with curiosity, I had no choice but to leave. It soon began to rain heavily, and I had to run to take shelter as I was getting wet despite my umbrella. The bus stop seemed the nearest. Fortunately, the bus arrived as I was sprinting towards it, so I decided to take a ride back home. Closer to reaching my home, the rain stopped, and the sun shone brightly. Getting down at my stop, I walked my way down to my apartment. On my way, I was enjoying the sight of the whole scene covered with raindrops that glistened colourfully like gems, under the bright sunlight. I found my happiness level rising up. That's right. Simple things make our life a lot merrier. It's just that we fail to notice it
After convincing the cab driver, and also having spotted Laia outside, I told him to pull over the cab near her. She seemed as if she was simply ready to get into whatever vehicle that came by. Isn't she being too distressed over a simple misunderstanding? I quickly opened the door for her from inside, but she tried to push the door close once she had caught the glimpse of me inside the cab. Fortunately, since I was securing it with a firm push, the door didn't budge. "Get in. I can drop you off at your place." "No, that's okay. I don't want to bother you." "Don't you already owe me a huge apology?" "Yes." Her reply seemed quite hesitant. No matter how reluctant you're, I can't let you be at risk "Then get in quickly." This won't do. I quickly got out of the cab and lifted her roller suitcase.Let me divert her attention from that guilt that seems to be devo
On my way back to the room, the cancellation was successfully done. Feeling so triumphant about it, I rushed to get ready to check out. Only then did I notice that Chen Li Yi was nowhere to be seen. Before I could call him, I received a text. |"Uncle, I'm at the gaming lounge, Have a safe trip, Bye Bye."| That mischievous punk! But thanks to him, I was kinda able to reserve a passenger seat for her. In 15 minutes, I was ready and was already on my way to check out. In another 5 minutes I was out and following a taxi ride, I arrived at the airport. Having completed all the airport checking and stuff, I seated myself with my earphones, apparently waiting for her to appear. Time was passing but she wasn't here yet. Did someone else occupy the reservation?!... Impossible! I couldn't think of a way and found myself feeling the urge to go back and check, beginning to walk towards the exit while there were o
[The last day of Chen Lan's beach vacation & at the meantime the day Laia and her friends arrived at the beach] |Click| I took a close look at the snapshot I took just now and admired one of the last moments of the endearing sunset that had been captured in my phone. So dreamy and romantic. "I wish I could watch it with her." I let out a huge sigh as reality hit me hard, reminding me that she wouldn't probably think the same while admiring the sunset. For a few moments, I just stood there staring at the waves in a hope that they would wash away my worries. But I soon felt that it wasn't doing any help but only making me miss her even more. Not even once had she acknowledged me, but I can't help but think about her. She has her own way of making me amused, though it had never been intentional. Girls like her are very rare nowadays, and I'm glad to have found her. "I hope the heaven and the earth bless us and destine u