Me After Meeting You

As she left, she also took the convivial atmosphere of the gathering away with her. A colleague quickly addressed the situation. “Hey, hey you. Quickly leave with her so that she doesn’t have to go alone.”

And someone else suggested, “Shouldn’t we all just leave? We’re mostly finished anyways.”

And so, everyone left. Amber and Calvin followed them down, some chasing after the enraged female coworker, and the others paying the bill. When they got to the door, they found the male colleague who had enraged her defending himself, innocently saying, “I just saw that she hadn’t eaten and wanted to persuade her to eat something. After all, as the boss niece, she might as well be our manager. If she comes out with us, then we can’t let her leave hungry, can we?”

Someone else laughed. “You’re into her, aren’t you?”

The male colleague tried desperately to defend himself. Seeing that Amber seemed interested in the drama, Calvin gave his own take on the situation. “This guy’s pretty enthusiastic and considerate of others. He’s probably trying to take care of her, but also likes her at least a little.”

Amber smiled, neither nodding nor shaking her head.

“What, am I wrong?”

“No.” Amber smiled again. A colleague came over just then, and the two dropped the topic.

While Amber said goodbye to the others, she suddenly remembered that she hadn’t gone out with any friends to eat for quite a while now. Even though the atmosphere at the end had been somewhat disagreeable, Amber’s mood on the whole did seem to improve.

When she mentioned this to Calvin, he smiled. “Then it sounds like I should call you out more often in the future so that you don’t end up becoming detached from society.”

So he had finally admitted that this was just a disguised date on his part. She glanced at him. “Alright.”

Calvin laughed again, his bright eyes looking straight at her. He tended to express his emotions subtly, but after living in a capitalist country for so long, he seemed to have greatly improved his ability to express his emotions with his face-like what he was doing now, even putting his natural charm to use, staring at her with eyes that felt like they were sparking with electricity.

Amber felt that returning his stare would be too dangerous, so she instead changed the topic. “Are you liking your new job?”

“It’s not bad. At least so far, everyone has been pretty friendly, but I’m still somewhat inexperienced with my duties. In an eight hour day, it seems like people are only really working seriously for around half that time. I was probably working too hard when I first got here, and even annoyed some people with my attitude. Because of that, I decided to treat everyone to a meal today to develop rapport with them.”

Amber smiled, and was reminded of that girl who had disturbed the gathering. “Is she from your department too?”

“Yes. She’s even a major shareholder of the company. Even though her skills are somewhat mediocre, her position is undeniably important, so everyone was somewhat worried when she left in a huff.” This at least explained why such a lively gathering had dispersed so casually.

“Aren’t you anxious?”

“No, I’m a newbie,” he responded seriously.

Amber couldn’t help but laugh at his answer. “Does she usually act like this?”

“I’m not sure. But I heard that her personality used to be pretty good in the past, but for some reason, she suddenly became somewhat irritable recently. Besides losing her temper easily, she’s also become particularly sensitive too.”

“Only recently?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm ….”

As he looked at her thoughtful face, Calvin smiled. “You’re not trying to diagnose her right now, are you?”

“Actually, I am.” Amber laughed as well. “She added me on whatsapp today. If it’s possible, I might chat with her a bit.”

Calvin looked at her strangely.

“What is it?” She blinked innocently.

“You really think something’s up?”

Amber comforted him. “It’s not serious. A lot of people nowadays have some form of mental issue. It’s not a problem as long as they resolve it before it becomes too serious.”

“Then do I have anything like that?” he asked as he stood in front of her.

“You?” She looked him up and down, patted him lightly on the shoulder, and then smiled. “You’re such a handsome and sunny youth. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with you.”

As she was about to take back her hand, he suddenly grasped it with his own. Amber didn’t struggle, just looking back at him with a smile.

“Amber.”

“Yes.”

“I was very happy tonight.”

Amber thought back to their night together. Actually, she was very happy too. After encountering all sorts of patients in the hospital, she had come to miss the lively days when she would get together with her friends and go home together, talking about their lives as they walked back.

She had thought that interacting this way with Calvin was normal behavior, and that their social interactions and friendships, that their conversations and communications had all been normal. It was not at all like her interactions with Ian, where she had to constantly scrutinize his expression, consider the deeper meaning behind his words, and ponder whether or not each and every one of her words would impact him negatively.

Doctors were people too, and they also had times when they wanted to relax, so she nodded and returned the smile. “I was happy too.”

“Then … the words that I said to you that night-can I say them to you again, formally this time?”

“What?”

“.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Ich liebe dich. Je t’aime. Mro6io Te.”

He restated it in a few different languages in a row. In the cold night, every sentence he said came out with its own puff of mist. His face seemed to be hidden in light clouds that his smiling eyes pierced through like stars in the night sky.

Finally, he said it in English, three simple words, “I love you.”

She smiled, and asked, ‘Why did you say it over and over again?”

A noisy car drove past and gossiping pedestrians walked by them. However, at that moment, Amber seemed only to be able to hear his voice. “Because I want to tell the whole world that I love you.”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .