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 must be something wrong with this guy. Furthermore, it was too unrealistic to receive a confession while I'm in this state. I was lost in his eyes again. There was a sudden blur in my vision which returned to normal immediately. The background was different. Whoa! I can't believe this! A rich dark green mountain background. Sturdy metal cables stretched upwards on either side. Facing me was Chen Lan. My hands tightly clasped within his, I was intently gazing at him. Why would I do something cheesily romantic like that? I was walking forward, while Chen Lan was stepping backwards at the same pace as mine without breaking eye contact. I suddenly averted my eyes and looked down. GOOD HEAVENS! How many feet is this?! Looks like 1000ft! Where the hell?! I could feel that extreme fear.
"LAI-A-WAKE-UP!-LAI-A-WAKE-UP!-LAI-A-WAKE-UP!...." "Ugh! leave me alone!" "LAI-A-WAKE-UP!-LAI-A-WAKE-UP!-LAI-A-WAKE-UP!...." These crazy girls! I feel like screaming! "STOP IT!" yelling out like that, I shot up from my bunk-bed and glared at the faces which were staring up at me. I felt so glad that I got the top bunk, not the bottom one. Or else, they'd have made me deaf with their chants. "Laia! don't you remember what day it is?", the short one asked. Before I could even think, "It's freshmen admission!!! There'll be a lot of cute and hot juniors", the tall one answered. "Yaay!", both cheered in unison. There they go again! I quickly climbed down and ran into the bathroom ignoring those two. Today, I had to go to college earlier than usual, so I soon hurried back into the room after cleaning myself up. Both of them were already dressed up. One was packing
Completely startled, I kept leaning back to prevent the tiny gap left between us from getting even smaller. Strangely, I didn't push him away, or hit him or do any sort of action in protest of his provoking behaviour. “You will fall backwards if you keep leaning back like that.” That sentence knocked some sense into me. I pushed him away and frowned at him. My brain began betraying me at that very moment by refusing to generate speech. However, I mustered up some courage and retorted at him, “Such an arrogant kid!” “My apologies, Senior. I startled you.” He was still smiling mischievously, his eyes twinkling with delight like a kid who had been rewarded with ice cream. Looking at his ridiculous expression, I wanted to shout more, but I was already running late, so I turned around for real this time and rushed back along the same corridor which we passed a few minutes ago. Behind me, I heard him shout out, “But it wasn't
WeiWei and Rourou looked at me with worried looks. "Both of you know me the best. With my conservative character, do you think that I'd be able to fall in love with someone but get married to another?" Both of them shook their heads either way in unison. "So, There's no such thing like love, or dating for me." Rourou hugged me from the side, hoping it would comfort me, while WeiWei clasped my hand within hers. We shared a few moments of silence. Both of them were feeling down. I didn't want to make them sadder, so I immediately cheered up. "Hey, both of you, are you mourning for someone? So melancholic. Back to your positions! No more sad faces!" Hearing that, both of them seemed to cheer up a bit and returned to their tables and continued with their study. Relieved, I let out a deep sigh. Born in a prestigious Indian family of high social status, it was my duty to continue the bloodline of my family, since I was the only child
“How can you casually say that?” “Because I know how you feel.” It might have sounded romantic, in a romantic atmosphere like this, with a romantic guy standing beside me, holding an umbrella for me, and walking me back to my dorm. But right now, I was feeling very much pissed off. “Huh. Do you know how I feel? Do you?” “Take a good rest, I don't think you can manage this conversation.” “Can you please stop it? Stop acting as if you know me! It's really irritating!” Only the pattering of the raindrops on the floor was audible and nothing else. “I hate it when people act up as if they understand me. Don't you even dare to try that!” Saying that I left without another word. I don't know why I was so angry, but it was painful, so painful to hear his words. Especially when he said that he knew how I felt. I felt my legs automatically leading their way up to my dorm. I flung the door open. RouRou and WeiWei gave me startled
I tried my best not to yell at him and took some deep breaths to ease out the fury building up within me. “Chen Lan, let's talk.” “Isn't that what we're doing right now?” Is he stupid? Now that I try to be calm, he is purposefully trying to get on my nerves again by making those sarcastic remarks. “Come let's go and sit somewhere.” Saying that I found a stone table with a few stone stools located under a tree. It was the nearest option. I went there and sat, so did he. “So finally, you call me by my name.” Ah! Shit! I must have called him 'kid' or 'little junior'. “When you call a senior by name, why can't I call a junior by his name?” “Sounds logical. But for me, it really seemed like you did that subconsciously.” I must make sure and check that this guys majors in Data Science, not Applied Psychology. “I'm not here to chat leisurely with you, let me come straight to the… “ Befo
.... After a few moments of thought, I was literally sober enough and made my decision. Why should I do what he says? Would he even know if I think good about him or not? Silly guy. I'm gonna continue to treat you like trash within my mind. What can you do? I shot up from my seat. Both of those silly roommates of mine were silently munching up their food without even looking up. I left without a word. Would it help if I blame everything on them or yell at them? No. When I was almost at the exit, a student who was sitting there suddenly ran up to me and gave me a folded piece of paper. "A handsome guy wearing blue told me to give this to you." Handsome guy... To hell with his looks! I thanked the student and unfolded the paper as I left the cafeteria. "With your personality, if my guess was correct, you would trash this challenge straight away even befor
He was looking at me keenly and didn't look very surprised, as if he was expecting I'd say that. “I admit that my behaviour was too hostile towards you, and other girls wouldn't probably have reacted unreasonably like me.” He didn't even blink. Now you must be expecting that I'd apologize. Huh. In your dreams. Here I come to break your expectation! I was about to speak when he cut in as usual, “Everyone is unique and so are you. Since it is you, you acted that way, and such things can't be judged with a common context. And it isn't like you are gonna apologize for behaving like that either. Then why bother saying those?” I was having goosebumps right now. Does he have the superpower of telepathy? Why does he always guess everything correctly before I say them out? I drooped my shoulders, totally lost by the interruption in the conversation. I took a deep breath. I must make things cl