Imperfect Desires

A silent girl is the most dangerous one. How? Because women have a natural ability to create scenarios in their minds that don't even exist. 90% of the times when a girl is silent, she's either overthinking, falling apart, crying inside, cursing her luck or all of the above.

Xiu wasn't any different especially now when her emotions were in a full swing. She was also creating her own zoo in her mind. According to her, she was lowkey scared to get happy because every time she got too happy something would just go wrong. Like it did this very day.

Spontaneously, a moan escaped from her mouth while she was trying to look around her bed for her phone. A soft knock at her door caught her attention and Xiu frowned since Nora would never knock before barging inside her room. And when the door was pushed open, Xiu's brows arched up slightly to see Darren.

"Didn't you leave?" Xiu asked in a daze.

Darren didn't answer her question. Instead, he helped her in sitting up and passed a bowl to her saying, "Drink this brown sugar water while it's still hot." When Xiu didn't move, he urged again, "Go on. Stop daydreaming already."

"Oh," with that, Xiu took a sip of brown sugar water while keeping her eyes on Darren who went out and brought a hot water bottle.

Silently, he helped her with the hot water bottle to keep her warm and frowned when he touched her ice-cold feet. Wrapping her up in her duvet, he said, "I thought Nora was exaggerating but no... You really are a careless person." Seeing the way she was smiling to herself, Darren asked, "What's so funny?" Xiu shook her head in response. "If you're done with drinking that, then lie down."

"Okay," Xiu passed him the empty bowl and lied down. 

"What do you want to eat?" 

"Hmm... Ice cream" replied Xiu with a grin.

"Ice cream? No, can't do." Xiu pouted and he added, "Ice cream is overly yin in nature. It's harmful to the body in this condition."

"But it's my favorite comfort food," said Xiu.

Darren pulled out a chocolate bar and said, "For now, eat this. Let me see what I can do to compensate for that ice cream of yours." Xiu happily snatched the chocolate from his hand and nodded her head.

Seeing Darren in deep thought, Nora had to come up to him to ask, "Anything I can help you with, neighbor?"

"Point me in the right direction," said Darren as he looked in the direction of the kitchen.

"Wow! You can even cook?"

"Doesn't everybody know how to cook these days?" retorted Darren with a frown.

"I can't cook even if my life depends on it," replied Nora in all honesty. "That's why Xiu says that I should find myself a good husband. However, Xiu also says that my estratetraenol (EST) only attracts trashy men. And the worst of all is, I can't even refute."

Although he wanted to point out that her dating choices had been questionable, he decided against it. "Tell me what you need. Although I can't cook, I do know where to kind everything."

"Hmm... Do you guys have any leftover rice?" 

"It's in the fridge," said Nora and went around the counter to get it for him. Afterward, under Darren's instructions, she had to pass him every ingredient he asked for. "By the way, what are you cooking?"

"The all the time comfort dish of Chinese cuisine," replied Darren.

Nora thought about it for a second before saying, "Chicken fried rice?" 

"Bingo!" Seeing how Nora stared at him with her mouth agape, he asked, "What's wrong? Sweets don't like it?"

Nora shook her head in a daze and answered, "It's her favorite food during these days. I'm just trying to make sense of how you know about it?" She sat on the stool staring at him for a while before she went to keep Xiu company. "Baby Xiu, can you tell me where you ordered him from?"

"Ordered? Who?" Xiu asked in confusion.

"Your boyfriend," replied Nora matter-of-factly. "He's making me feel like a failure in life right now."

Xiu laughed at her reaction, "What did he do?" When she saw Darren coming back with a tray full of food, she didn't need to hear a reply from Nora anymore. Her eyes brightened up seeing the bowl of food. Pushing Nora off her bed, she said, "Go away, I'm not sharing."

Nora glared at her and turned to leave, "I wasn't gonna stay around anyway. I'm already fed enough for a week." Saying that she left Xiu's room and locked herself in her own room.

Back in Xiu's room, Darren accompanied her while she ate with fervor and rubbed her tummy saying, "This has to be one of the best-fried rice, I've ever had."

Darren ruffled her hair lightly, "Glad to hear that." He took the utensils and only came back after cleaning them. Xiu was dozing off when he came back. He sat beside her to fix her blanket when Xiu held the lapel of his jacket and snuggled on his chest.

Xiu buried her face in his chest and sniffed because the cologne smelt so damn good that she couldn't stop herself from leaning closer. "You're making me jealous," she mumbled in her half-sleepy state.

"Jealous of whom?" Darren stroked her hair while holding her in his arms in a comfortable position.

"Myself..." replied Xiu in a soft voice before adding, "I always lose what I get comfortable with. Don't make me so comfortable that I forget what reality feels like." Darren stayed quiet in response while she continued, "For instance, take this moment, just because I'm here in my blanket, I can't forget that it's raining outside."

"But just because it's raining outside doesn't mean something is gonna go wrong. Your problem is that Sweets, you like to overthink. You believe in your own superstitions so much that everything around you happens according to your beliefs. It's a known fact that we always have to face what we fear the most."

Xiu opened her eyes slightly before closing them as she wondered, 'Right now, my biggest fear is that I might fall for you. Would I have to face that eventually?'