Imperfect Desires

While Xiu was sleeping peacefully with a huge smile plastered on her face, Nora's night was restless. She kept tossing and turning in her bed but the sleep didn't come. She even tried singing herself to sleep with...

♪♫When it's time to go sleep

And I can not fall asleep

I close my eyes and count the sheep

From one to ten.

One little, two little, three little sheep,

Four little, five little, six little sheep

Seven little, eight little, nine little sheep

Counting 10 little sheep to sleep

10 little 9 little 8 little sheep

7 little 6 little 5 little sheep

4 little 3 little 2 little sheep

Counting 1 little sheep to sleep...♪♫

But poor girl, just couldn't sleep no matter how much she tried. "Argh!" In frustration, she sat up and pulled her hair. Knocking on her head, she shouted, "Stop thinking about him already!"

However, she had no control over her mind and even if she did, she had no control whatsoever over her heart. Turning on her laptop, she opened her secret folder and scrolled through the pictures she had collected in secret of his. 

It wasn't like Nora had never tried to delete this folder but she just couldn't do so. She was the kind of person who would randomly get attached to anything. She was the girl who had difficulty while deleting a stupid screenshot much less the photos of a person she really loved with all her heart.

She still remembered how she met him for the first time. Her first encounter with him was at the old-age home where she went with her mother for a meeting with her mother's client. Who knew when she was wandering around, she would come across him.

He was like a dazzling sun, warm, bright and fascinating. His kindness, patience with those old people, his smile and everything about him touched her deeply. Indeed, he was the reason why she decided to do volunteering at the old-age home.

"His name is Xin Xiaosi," a deep voice beside her startled her while her attention was solely focused on admiring him. With a hand over her chest, she turned her face to glare at the person who spoke. "Oh, by the way, I'm Hedi. Qiu Hedi."

Nora narrowed her eyes at him hatefully and said, "I didn't ask for your introduction." Taking a brief pause, she added, "Anyway, I'm Nora. Nora Cartwright."

Dylan smiled beside her and said, "Why don't you just go and talk to him? Hiding behind the bushes just to sneak a peek at him... Tsk. Tsk. What era are you from?"

"Why are you so concerned about my matter?" Nora questioned looking at Dylan squarely.

Dylan looked at her with a complicated look before holding her wrist and dragging her with himself as he said, "I'm naturally a very nosy person."

"Let go! Let go of my hand!" Nora kept squirming but Dylan didn't loosen his grip at all. 

Dylan only stopped right in front of the boy she had been admiring from afar whose name was Xin Xiaosi. "Ah-Si, what's up?" 

Xin Xiaosi looked at Dylan before his eyes fell on Nora who lowered her eyes, then his eyes trailed down to their entwined hands. Dylan noticed the look in his eyes and said, "Ah-Si, she's a new volunteer. And since we are gonna have to face each other every week, I thought I should do the introductions. Her name's Nora and I'm guessing she's in her freshman year in high school."

Nora pinched her hand and corrected, "Junior. Not a freshman." 

Xin Xiaosi extended his hand towards Nora and said, "Nice to meet you, Nora." Seeing him smiling at her, Nora was dumbstruck for a moment. She wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans before she shook his hand with a trembling hand. "Am I making you nervous?" He asked seeing the way she was acting and Nora frantically shook her head.

"Of course, she's nervous. Lose your big shot vibes," Dylan cut in making Nora glare at him again which he decided not to pay heed to. "And Ms. Cartwright, Ah-Si is not that scary. You just have to spend a bit of time with him to know him better."

Nora wanted to slap Dylan's face for embarrassing her like that. Of course, she didn't find him scary. She was just a nervous wreck before him which had never happened to her before.

Xin Xiaosi shook his head at Dylan and said, "Hedi, where is your Qiuqiu? Isn't she gonna pester you today?"

Dylan's expressions shifted as he looked at him, "Ah-Si, don't rub the salt where it bites. Qiuqiu went home and I don't know when she'll be back." Then he turned to Nora and said, "But today is about our new little friend. Join us for lunch."

Nora shook her head in negation, "It's alright."

"Don't be so modest," replied Dylan. "You can pay for the meal to feel better."

Xin Xiaosi slapped his head and apologized to Nora saying, "I'm sorry for that. But you should come with us to lunch. Of course, we won't ask you to pay."

Dylan rubbed his head as he grumbled, "Seriously, man, you're the only one who would say no to free meal."

"Hedi, you're old enough to pay for your own food. She is a high school student. Are you seriously gonna make her pay for your food?" Xin Xiaosi reprimanded Dylan while the latter seemed carefree and indifferent.

In the end, she did take their invite and went to lunch with them. Although she was nervous, Dylan's antics made it very easy for her to blend in. And that's when she learned that Dylan and Xin Xiaosi were actually cousins. However, it was hard for her to believe that since as much as Xin Xiaosi was reserved, Dylan was that much unrestrained. 

There were literally no similarities between them except for the fact that they both were very sweet. They didn't let her feel left out at all. But since Xin Xiaosi was a year older than Dylan, he used his authority as a big brother very well to educate Dylan.

Coming back to the present, Nora snickered to herself as she mumbled, "Qiu Hedi if you're still the same it makes me wonder... Is he also still the same?"

She stared at the screen for a long while before saying, "You're gone from my life, why am I still hung up on you then? Is this what they call the curse of first love?"