Me After Meeting You

Amber tried to think of something that she could have done differently. Of course, at this time, she was completely unaware that she didn’t even need to do anything more-she had already stirred up plenty of interest from him.

The first thing Amber did when she got home was take a nice, long bath, and then immediately afterwards, she went to bed and had a comfortable sleep. The next day, she went to work as usual. But because her throat was slightly sore, she decided to cook some porridge for lunch. As she was staring at it, waiting for it to finish cooking, she suddenly thought, ‘If Ian could be lulled to sleep with my stories, then couldn’t I do the same with Elly?’

If she recorded some stories and played them by Elly’s ears, then even if Elly didn’t listen to them, would she become more familiar with her voice? Familiarity could reduce the distance between them, and similarly, reduce the wariness in her heart.

Inspired, she put her thoughts to action. Lowering the fire, Amber started rummaging through the house for a recording device. She remembered that she used to have one that she had used while studying, was it still functional even after so long?

When Calvin called her, Amber had just found her old recording device. As she continued digging around for a charger, she picked up. “Hello.”

Calvin noticed the change in her voice, and was silent for a few seconds. “You … is something up?”

“No. I’m just looking for something.” She finally found it. All of her chargers had been tidied up by her mother when she had moved places. They were all tied up with a thick piece of string, and then everything had been knotted together tightly. It was very difficult for Amber to untie everything, so she had to exert some strength, causing her voice to become slightly strained. “What’s up?”

Calvin relaxed. “I’m just about to get food with some friends, near where you live. Do you want to join us?”

She could hear him anxiously trying to maintain a calm tone, which reminded her of the sneaky kiss that he had given her before running away. She laughed at the memory and said, “Alright, I haven’t eaten yet.”

Calvin was very happy, and he sent the address over immediately after hanging up. It really wasn’t far from her house, just a few minutes by taxi.

Amber set the porridge on the stove to simmer, changed her clothes, and went to where Calvin had directed her. When she got out of the car, she saw Calvin standing on the second floor of the restaurant, waving at her from afar. She arrived at the entrance at about the same time as he did.

He asked, “Are you cold?” Amber was wrapped up tightly with a red woolen scarf that covered up half her face and made her look even smaller and more exquisite than usual.

“I’m alright.”

The two of them went into the building, and Calvin introduced her to his friends, all colleagues from his new company. Only now did Amber realize that he had found a job and had started working.

“Not far from the hospital,” he explained to her secretly, the slight smile of his mouth particularly attractive.

Amber couldn’t help but smile back.

All of Calvin’s colleagues seemed relatively carefree and young. When they heard that she was a psychiatrist, a girl by her side even looked at her carefully before asking in a small voice, “Can I add you on Whatsapp?”Material © NôvelDrama.Org.

“Of course!”

Later, she found out that that girl was the niece of Calvin’s company’s CEO, and she had an especially pretty name, Melody.

***

As Amber was enjoying lunch, Billy was sitting in Ian’s office with his legs crossed jovially while acting very proud with himself. “I’ve found someone for you, with an absolutely perfect background and skills. She’s someone whom a regular person definitely can’t reject.”

Ian continued to look at his laptop, indifferently asking, “Who is it?”

“The niece of Lee’s CEO, the daughter of his dead brother. His brother died saving his life, so he’s given her whatever she wanted, even handing over half of the company’s shares, so she definitely has a good background. Coincidentally, the Kennedy siblings stepmother’s son was just hired at Lee Corporation, so they’re in quite close proximity to each other.

“Perhaps it’s because the CEO is so protective of her that her temper’s particularly soft, like a pure little bunny. If the Kennedy siblings’ stepmother is really that ambitious, then she’ll definitely like her. As a wealthy and powerful girl with an easily manipulable personality, she’s the perfect match for her son.”

Only then did Ian become a bit interested, raising his head. “What’s her name?”

“Melody Lee.”

***

Calvin’s party with his new colleagues was quite lively; everyone was around the same age, so they all got along pretty well.

For most of the lunch, Amber made herself inconspicuous and acted as a quiet listener. Calvin himself also didn’t have much to say, but she could tell that his social skills were leaps and bounds better than before.

Occasionally, he would even tell some interesting stories about what he had done abroad, but his storytelling ability was really quite poor, and his colleagues all ridiculed him playfully for it.

“Calvin, even when you talk about this, it’s not as interesting as when you talk about computer programming. How did you ever manage to land such a beautiful doctor girlfriend with the way you are?”

They all thought that Amber was his girlfriend.

Amber didn’t bother explaining, and Calvin was also silent on the matter. When he heard their joke, he looked at her, smiled very sweetly, and cheesily replied, “Because I have a good eye.”

“Peh!” Everyone began to heckle him and they started pushing alcohol at them. Amber was unable to decline and drank a little, but Calvin ended up drinking most of it. His alcohol tolerance wasn’t bad, but his face would become red with even one drink, and his eyes would glass over, as if they had been dipped in the dew of the April peach blossoms, glossy and alluring.

Amber didn’t dare look at him. At the same time as this commotion was going on, one of Calvin’s colleagues tenderly pushed some food toward a girl by Amber’s side. “You didn’t eat anything last night, so why don’t you have some of this? I remember that you liked it a lot last time we came here.”

The girl pushed the bowl aside. “I don’t want any.”

The male colleague didn’t become deflated even after the rejection, and he picked up something else with his chopsticks before asking, “How about this? You have to eat something ….”

But before he could finish speaking, the girl shoved her bowl away forcefully. “I told you, I don’t want it. Can’t you understand what I’m saying?!”

Her loud voice and furious tone made the entire party suddenly quiet down, as everyone awkwardly looked at the two of them.

At this point, the male colleague was so embarrassed that his face had turned bright red, and the female looked somewhat vexed. She pursed her lips, didn’t say anything more, got up from her seat, and then left.