Imperfect Desires

"Ok, I'm confused here. You love calling her Sweets? Why?" 

Hearing that question from Calista, Nelly hit her head saying, "Cali, you're really clueless."

"What did I say wrong?" she asked in reply.

Darren smiled at her and said, "I love calling her Sweets because of her reaction." Calista looked at him earnestly waiting for him to continue. "She unknowingly ends up smiling whenever I call her Sweets. And I'd be lying if I said I don't like seeing her smile. I've never made jokes in life and yet I tried being funny just to make her smile."

"Are you still gonna say that you don't love her?" came the question from Asher who had been keeping silence for a while. "But if you still want to deny then I must say you're lying to your own self."

When Darren saw all of his friends nodding in agreement, he was left silent. He frowned a bit wondering whether he really was in love. Asher patted his shoulder and said, "Don't waste time wondering again. Last time, your biggest mistake was taking your feelings too lightly. And the result was... You lost her."

Darren's hands clenched into fists as soon as he finished his sentence. Chen Xiu's death was etched in his mind to the point where it had become his scourge. But he couldn't overlook the fact that now his Sweets had opened up the door of the feelings he thought he had lost. He raked his fingers through his hair in exasperation and sighed out.

Back in An City...

Xiu was eating a deep-fried dough stick with soy milk in the morning when Nora came and dropped on the chair beside her with her head on the table. "What's wrong?"

Nora looked at her with a sulky look and said, "Xiu baby, I ended up going against my rules and kissed a co-worker last night. I don't know how to face him now?" She ruffled her own hair and added, "What should I do?"

"Why do you do such mistakes?" retorted Xiu while rolling her eyes at her best friend.

"Honey, you possibly don't know but the problem with mistakes is that sometimes they are darn good kissers," replied Nora making Xiu hit her. Nora rubbed her arm where she was hit and went on, "From now, if you see me chase a man, trip me so that I can fall and bump my head back to reality."

Xiu narrowed her eyes at Nora suspiciously and the latter raised her hand saying, "I swear you can trip me. Or even hit me with a baseball bat. For now, I have no motivation to work today. Tell me, where can I download some motivation?"

"Should I send you the link?" replied Xiu, playfully.

However, Nora took her way too seriously as she held her hand in her own and nodded her head, "Send it already. I really need it today."

Xiu shook her head and contemplated for a moment before pulling out a VIP invitation card from her purse and offering it Nora, "There is a new boutique opening today. I worked with them, so I have this special discount voucher. Is it enough for motivation?"

"You're allowing me to shop?" Nora gaped at her in disbelief while Xiu shrugged her shoulders and got up to leave. For Nora, the world was bright and sunny as long as she could go shopping. And what could be better if she could get a discount? Now, who doesn't like discounts? 

Today, Xiu mostly had fieldwork and she was expecting not to see Dylan at all. This one thought had put her in a good mood but who knew that Dylan would call her to his office first thing in the morning.

When Xiu entered his office, he said, "We're going to Xia Capital tomorrow night. Arrange everything for that."

Xiu looked at him in silence for a while before saying, "Xia Capital? Why?"

At first, Dylan didn't notice that she was acting weird as he said, "For a business meeting, obviously."

"Okay, I'll arrange everything for your travel and stay," said Xiu and turned to leave.

"Stop!" hearing Dylan's voice, Xiu halted in her steps and turned to look at him with an inquisitive look. "You're coming with me."

"Why? Do I have to? Can't you take any of your other assistants?" 

Xiu's insistence on not going made Dylan look at her with a thoughtful look. 'Your reluctance is irking me for some reason. I've never seen you back out like this before,' wondered Dylan to himself while rubbing his index finger on his chin. "You'd be the one joining me and that's final." Xiu opened her mouth to say something when he cut her off with, "You can get back to work now."

Xiu looked at him hatefully before stomping her foot like a kid and trudging out of there. She came back to her office, looking like a defeated soldier. She had avoided going to Xia Capital for years on purpose. That place was where she grew up and had the memories that pushed her to her death. Every single place in that huge city was too familiar.

Did she want to face all those memories? No!

But she had to do it for her own sake. It was perhaps her time to pull herself completely out of that shadow of past life. 

Xiu was lost in her own thoughts when the door of her cabin was knocked. She looked up and raised her brow at her co-worker, Gu Luli who held out a beautiful bouquet of forget-me-nots and said, "Someone left this for you at the reception."

Xiu was dazed and even took the bouquet from her hand in her dazed stated. She looked curiously at the flowers in her hands but since the sender had sent no information about himself, she really had no clue about the sender. Well, she had her suspicion and it was proven true when her phone buzzed with a message alert and she clicked it open to read...

"Are you feeling blue?

But don't forget,

Blue has different hues.

Yes, Blue is a bit sad

But you just remember 

to forget me not."

Xiu ended up laughing as she read it and another message came.

Mr. McSpicy: "Sorry! I know it sounds really bad. I can't believe I sent that."

Sweets: "Why? I loved it. It made me laugh."

Mr. McSpicy: "That's even worse. Darn it! I missed that laughter! *sad face*"

Sweets: "To make me smile, you don't need words."

Mr. McSpicy: "Really? What do I need to do then?"

Sweets: "Show up!"

Xiu hit her head after pressing the send button but there was no point in regretting it. The message was sent already. 

Meanwhile, when Darren read the two words that held a beautiful feeling behind it, he sat up on his bed with a goofy smile. He typed the reply and sent the message before turning off the side-lamp to sleep.