Imperfect Desires

*Flashback Continued*

There always comes a time when we come across a person we can't just get out of our head. No matter how hard we try or how desperate we are to forget them, we can't. Especially the ones we never even saw coming and yet they ran into our life at a high speed and finally crashed into us in a way that it left a unending impression.

That's how one could describe Darren and Chen Xiu's first meeting. Xiu had escaped from her apartment to this cyber cafe for a date. 

Yes, a date.

A date with herself.

And strangely, her dates always were at the cyber cafe where she would spend hours playing games in the hustle and bustle of normal people. Even though she always sat in an inconspicuous corner, she felt a lot less lonely with a lot of people around her. It was satisfactory in its own way.

Who knew what happened but a couple of paparazzi managed to get wind of her. Xiu had no idea how since she had taken safety measures carefully and cautiously. She was wearing the most ordinary tracksuit and even wore her mask to hide her face along with her cap and hood. How can someone recognize her with this much packing, she was baffled about that.

However, she had no time to think as she ran and saw an open door of the cabin. Without thinking, she ran inside. But to her surprise, she had run into another person and she had to push him back inside as well. If she had let him out, he would run into those paparazzi and she'll be in trouble if he opened his mouth.

"You!" She heard the male voice and on instinct, she shut his mouth with her hand as her eyes kept looking around cautiously.

When Xiu didn't let Darren talk, he bit her hand making her yelp. "Are you running from loan sharks? Or some thugs are after you? Listen don't expect me to help at all."

Xiu wasn't listening to him at all. Well, she could hear but couldn't understand as her mind was focused on seeing the people behind. Of course, that yelp had caught some attention. "Shit!" Seeing how those paparazzi were gonna enter the cabin, she placed her hand over his mouth again and looking around, she pushed him down and hid under the table with him.

Darren wanted to resist but weirdly, she had a strong vice-like grip because of her anxiety at the moment. "Listen, if you don't want me to knock you out, stay still. Once they'll be gone, I'll let you go."

Darren couldn't see her face but he saw her black eyes like beautiful obsidians. Beads of perspiration had appeared on her face. Darren's hand had lifted up to wipe her sweat but the way she stared at him, he ended up slapping her hand which was around his mouth. 

"Okay. I'll let this hand down. But if you even squeaked, I'm throwing you out the window." With that warning, Xiu lowered her hand slowly. 

"Who are you hiding from?" He asked through gritted teeth while she kept her eyes on the door of the cabin that was pushed open from outside. 

"Shush..." Xiu placed a finger on her lips and whispered, "It's paparazzi. I'm in no mood to get into trouble."

"Paparazzi?" Darren's eyes widened and he immediately pulled out his own mask.

When Xiu lifted her eyes, she was surprised to see him wearing the mask. Why was he hiding? She was the one being chased right now! Who did he think he was? However, now was not the time to think or say anything. It was a survival game now. If her mother got to know that she went to the internet cafe again, Xiu knew how she was gonna react.

As they both silently waited, they heard someone speak, "He's not here. Are you sure we got the right cyber cafe?"

Another one of those paparazzi replied, "We are at the right place. But seems like we're late. Regan must have left already."

"We followed him all the way to China and yet we found nothing noteworthy. This guy is really a definition of mystery on his vacations," said the first paparazzi.

Darren's body stiffened to hear his name while Xiu's brows snapped together. 'Regan? They were not here for her? Then?' her eyes shifted to Darren who fixed his mask and glasses. But she shook this idea away. 'How can they be here for him? But he is the only one who is hiding like her.'

After another five minutes, the paparazzi people left the cabin and Xiu heaved a sigh of relief, so did Darren. They both looked at each other with a suspicious and cautious gaze before trying to come out of under the table. 

However, they ended up hitting their heads together and crawled out while rubbing their heads. "This is all your fault!" Xiu snapped at him while she massaged her head.

"You're the one who pulled me under the table. How's it my fault?" 'Although that saved me from getting into trouble, I won't accept it before you.' 

Xiu huffed and crouched down to look for her cellphone that fell down when they bumped into each other. She picked up her phone and stuffed it into her pocket before pointing at Darren. "Don't talk about this to anyone."

"Same goes to you," replied Darren calmly, since he didn't want to be angry with her now. After all, unknowingly, she was the one who saved him from getting caught by the paparazzi.

"Naturally, I won't," was Xiu's reply in a matter-of-factly manner. Walking out of the cabin, Xiu held her hand over her heart and said, "What is this? Why is my heart beating so fast? Is it because he had a smooth voice that tugged at my heart?" She shook her head vigorously before slapping herself, "Shake out of it, Xiuxiu. My heart is beating fast because we were in big trouble just now. That's all."

With a huff, she extended her legs to walk but couldn't help looking back at the door as she whispered, "I wonder if his voice is this good... He must be really good-looking, right?" She slapped her head this time and ran out of the cafe from the back door.

Back on Darren's side, he also picked up his cellphone from the floor and left the cabin with more caution this time. As he walked to the front of the cafe, he almost ran to their car and shouted at Dylan, "I almost got into trouble because of you two." As he told them about the paparazzi, they immediately drove out of that area. 

"Darren, you should have called us. We could have stalled the paparazzi." Darren looked at Zhou Jinhai and frowned.

"That aggressive girl didn't let me even say a word," Darren spoke in frustration.

"You even managed to get aggressive with a girl in a cybercafe? Daebak!(Amazing!)" Dylan patted Darren's shoulder and the latter twisted his wrist making him grunt.

*End of Flashback*